Optus’ CEO is frustrated by the debate around the NBN. The telecommunications industry faces a “critical period”, he says, but the discussion is little more than a polarised argument about whether to build it.
Articles by Stilgherrian 
About Stilgherrian
Opinionated writer, broadcaster & consultant about digital things, based in Sydney. All hail Eris! Vive les poissons rouges sauvages!
AFACT versus iiNet appeal decision resolves nothing
Perhaps it’s time the movie industry paid attention to what happened with the music industry.
WikiLeaks isn’t cyber war, but maybe it’s piracy
The consensus is in. Stuxnet, the malicious software that inflicted physical damage on Iran’s nuclear program, is cyber war. But China’s attacks on Google a year ago and the whole WikiLeaks thing are not. WikiLeaks, in fact, is more like piracy.
Egypt and the NBN: the internet, it’s made of people
Egypt’s recent internet shut-down and Australia’s NBN have one thing in common: ultimately their success or failure depended — or will depend — not on technology but on people, a US telecommunications policy advocate says.
Hosing down the hype on wireless internet technology
There are two reasons the opposition is such a fan of wireless broadband. One is political: fibre equals National Broadband Network equals Labor equals something to destroy. The other is that the Liberals are being sucked in by the wireless vendors’ glossy brochures.
Microsoft’s record revenue, but for how long?
Microsoft announced record second-quarter revenues of $19.95 billion overnight.
Google kids have grown up, but where will they take the firm?
“Day-to-day adult supervision no longer needed!” tweeted Google CEO Eric Schmidt early this morning Australian time as the company announced that Larry Page would take over in April. So without a chaperone, what now for the Google kids in charge?
Forget Steve Jobs, Apple’s rolling in cash
Steve Jobs disappears and Apple’s share price drops. But then the company announces its biggest problem is it can’t move iPhones fast enough, and everything looks rosy again.
Reading Steve Jobs’ entrails, is it time for Apple to come clean?
Here we are again: divining the future of the world’s biggest technology corporation, Apple Inc, by reading not the entrails of a chicken but the entrails of Steve Jobs. But this is as it must be, given Apple’s infamous culture of secrecy.
Vodafone’s infosec balls-up a symptom of wider problems
Vodafone’s apparent information security breach, if it’s being described accurately, certainly suggests a botched approach. But corporate Australia’s blasé attitude to our personal identity information is as much to blame.
2010 on the internet: the empire strikes back
Those who represent the ways of the past, those who see themselves as losing out in this Brave New World, have been fighting back. They’ll continue to do so in 2011.
It’s network neutrality, but it’s neutered
Today the internet changed forever. Despite appearances, it’s no longer a level playing field, where individuals and organisations large and small have equal access. From now on, if you’ve got the money, you can buy a better deal.
Letter from...: Letter from: San Francisco, and Bill Clinton on instability, sustainability … and WikiLeaks
“The great thing about being a former President is you can say whatever you want. The sad thing is, nobody cares anymore,” said Bill Clinton to Stilgherrian and 15,000 others in San Francisco last night.
WikiLeaks in the clouds: why attempts to shut down Assange will fail
Despite attacks by hackers, despite takedowns by its service providers, WikiLeaks’ ability to keep on publishing is proving remarkably resilient. That’s less to do with their technical skills, and more to do with information ecology.
Note to The Australian: Twitter is not a newspaper
When Oz editor Chris Mitchell complains that Julie Posetti didn’t contact him to get his side of the story before tweeting, he completely misses the point.
WikiLeaks slammed by Wikipedia co-founder, disrupted by hacker
WikiLeaks’ website is currently offline — not due to excessive traffic but a denial of service (DoS) attack.
NBN Co business case — truly a curiously inadequate document
“It is a curiously inadequate document,” wrote Malcolm Turnbull of the NBN Co Business Case Summary. He’s right. A business case that doesn’t, y’know, present a case for the business, supported by proper numbers? WTF?
Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement: not so evil after all
The final text of the controversial Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) has been agreed upon following a flurry of phone calls and emails.
Online privacy dangers: they’re not what you think
Forget your drunken photos on Facebook. They already know about them, and you know they know. Don’t worry about tracking cookies either. It’s what you don’t know they know that you should worry about.
Senate to re-open bloggers versus journalists
That tired “bloggers are not journalists” debate looks like it’ll surface in Australia’s Senate soon, thanks to the Greens. It’ll be annoying. But it’ll be a good thing.
Timeline of misinformation: Twitter’s plane crash down to human error
Yesterday, in the real world, a Qantas A380 landed safely in Singapore. On Twitter word spread it had exploded and crashed — while distracted by the dog s-x. Crikey presents the timeline of misinformation.
Citizen journalism is dead, long live crowdsourcing
Citizen journalism is dead, delegates to the Future of Crowdsourcing Summit were told yesterday. But the new tools for crowdsourcing remain an exciting opportunity for journalism.
Indonesian e-commerce held back by uncertain laws
Investment in Indonesia’s digital economy is being held back by the country’s uncertain legal framework, according to one of the region’s leading experts in internet law.
Information Commissioner’s toe in the Government 2.0 waters
The Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) may only have opened for business yesterday, but already the commissioner, Professor John McMillan, is showing political nous.
