michaelwyres.com

Essendon Watches The Suns Go Down

Michael Wyres — Sun, 16 Jun 2013 02:43:04 +0000

ESSENDON	4.3	9.3	13.7	17.13 (115)
GOLD COAST	1.2	5.5	7.5	11.6 (72)

GOALS
Essendon: Daniher 3, Crameri 3, Hurley 2, Ryder 2, Davey, Myers, Howlett, Kommer, Goddard, Stanton, Hibberd
Gold Coast: Rischitelli 2, Brown 2, Nicholls 2, Harbrow, Ablett, Prestia, Hutchins, Day

BEST
Essendon: Goddard, Ryder, Watson, Hibberd, Crameri, Pears, Daniher
Gold Coast: Ablett, O’Meara, Harbrow, Thompson, Brown, Sumner

INJURIES
Essendon: Hurley (wrist)
Gold Coast: Lynch (knee), Rischitelli (arm), Wilkinson (foot)

SUBSTITUTES
Essendon: Alwyn Davey substituted out for Jackson Merrett in the third quarter
Gold Coast: Tom Lynch (knee) substituted out for Jack Hutchins in the second quarter

Reports: Nil

Umpires: Farmer, Schmitt, Mollison

Official crowd: 31,452 at Etihad Stadium

Why Are We So Shocked About PRISM?

Michael Wyres — Wed, 12 Jun 2013 22:29:55 +0000

Ever since The Guardian started revealing details of secret internet surveillance against private citizens undertaken by US government agencies – (such as the NSA) – which ultimately lead to the whistleblower Edward Snowden outing himself as their source, there has been international outcry as to the nature of these activities.

As there should be.

Many constitutions around the world have specific provisions for privacy and free speech, and such surveillance activities arguably and directly infringe against these principles.

Most of this surveillance happens without warrants, or at very least, without warrants anyone knows about.

In the United States, these warrants come from the secretive Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, under the auspices of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA).

Exactly how many “foreign” – (as opposed to “domestic”) – surveillance operations fall under this structure seems to be one of the biggest questions at the moment.

What really frustrates me is that people only show this level of outrage when high profile stories – (like that of Edward Snowden) – come to light, and hit the mainstream media.

It frustrates me because this kind of activity has been going on for decades. Ever heard of ECHELON?

Quoting directly from its Wikipedia entry:

“ECHELON is a name used in global media and in popular culture to describe a signals intelligence (SIGINT) collection and analysis network operated on behalf of the five signatory states to the UKUSA Security Agreement (Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States, referred to by a number of abbreviations, including AUSCANNZUKUS and Five Eyes). It has also been described as the only software system which controls the download and dissemination of the intercept of commercial satellite trunk communications.”

Despite what some would argue were benign beginnings – (for the record, I don’t hold that view) – there is plenty of plausible suggestion that ECHELON has been used for purposes other than military and/or diplomatic purposes:

“Intelligence monitoring of citizens, and their communications, in the area covered by the AUSCANNZUKUS security agreement has caused concern. British journalist Duncan Campbell and New Zealand journalist Nicky Hager asserted in the 1990s that the United States was exploiting ECHELON traffic for industrial espionage, rather than military and diplomatic purposes. Examples alleged by the journalists include the gear-less wind turbine technology designed by the German firm Enercon and the speech technology developed by the Belgian firm Lernout & Hauspie. An article in the US newspaper Baltimore Sun reported in 1995 that European aerospace company Airbus lost a $6 billion contract with Saudi Arabia in 1994 after the US National Security Agency reported that Airbus officials had been bribing Saudi officials to secure the contract.”

ECHELON is apparently implemented through a network of monitoring stations throughout the world, including Australia’s Pine Gap. Of course, no official admission of the existence of ECHELON has ever been forthcoming.

Then there is the so-called “Room 641A Case“, where it is claimed that the NSA has had equipment installed to directly tap internet traffic from deep within AT&T’s network facilities:

“Room 641A is located in the SBC Communications building at 611 Folsom Street, San Francisco, three floors of which were occupied by AT&T before SBC purchased AT&T. The room was referred to in internal AT&T documents as the SG3 [Study Group 3] Secure Room. It is fed by fiber optic lines from beam splitters installed in fiber optic trunks carrying Internet backbone traffic and, as analyzed by J. Scott Marcus, a former CTO for GTE and a former adviser to the FCC, who has access to all Internet traffic that passes through the building, and therefore “the capability to enable surveillance and analysis of internet content on a massive scale, including both overseas and purely domestic traffic.” Former director of the NSA’s World Geopolitical and Military Analysis Reporting Group, William Binney, has estimated that 10 to 20 such facilities have been installed throughout the United States.”

It may in fact be these 10 to 20 “641A-type” facilities that Edward Snowden indirectly speaks of as the enablers of the PRISM surveillance system he has lifted the lid upon.

These facilities appear to have been in place since at least 2003.

Similar activities have been underway since the height of the Cold War, including the snooping of undersea communications systems:

“One of the most successful of these missions, code-named Ivy Bells, was the tapping of a vital Soviet undersea communications cable. The mission was carried out by USS HALIBUT, which crept into the Sea of Okhotsk, the bay separating the Kamchatka Peninsula from the Soviet mainland. Divers descended to the sea floor 400 feet below the surface to install a recording pod.”

The intelligence community has had the will and the means to conduct this kind of surveillance for many years. As communications technology has evolved, so to have their snooping methods.

People would probably be most naive to think that snooping on private citizens with these systems is a new phenomenon.

In Australia, the Greens are already seeking to enact legislation to eliminate warrantless use of these systems on Australian citizens.

We shouldn’t be so shocked about PRISM, just because it makes good news copy at the moment – it’s been happening for years.

It’s all well and good to be shocked about PRISM; if you are, be more shocked at just how long this has been going on for. We are right to be outraged right now – but we should maintain that rage.

Pressure our politicians.

Particularly when this all disappears from the front pages of our newspapers in coming weeks – because it will, yet it will all still be happening.

The evolving news cycle won’t change it – at all.

Bombers Storm Home Against Carlton

Michael Wyres — Sat, 08 Jun 2013 02:35:54 +0000

ESSENDON	2.1	3.4	6.7	11.11 (77)
CARLTON	1.4	6.5	8.9	10.12 (72)

GOALS
Essendon: Melksham 3, Hocking, Hurley, Stanton, Crameri, Kommer, Howlett, Carlisle, Myers
Carlton: Waite 7, Murphy, Betts, Casboult

BEST
Essendon: Carlisle, Hocking, Heppell, Goddard, Fletcher, Melksham
Carlton: Waite, Henderson, Casboult, Murphy, Walker, Gibbs

INJURIES
Essendon: Nil
Carlton: Nil

SUBSTITUTES
Essendon: Alwyn Davey replaced by Will Hams at three-quarter time
Carlton: Mitch Robinson replaced by Chris Yarran at three-quarter time

Reports: Nil

Umpires: Rosebury, Meredith, Jeffery

Official crowd: 82,639 at the MCG

Asbestos: Lets Just Fix It

Michael Wyres — Tue, 04 Jun 2013 01:20:53 +0000

Shall we be honest here for a moment?

There’s been a lot of heat in the last week over the issue of asbestos lining in thousands of telecommunications pits around Australia, being remediated as part of the National Broadband Network (NBN) rollout.

Certainly, it would seem that a number of Telstra sub-contractors – (and probably more accurately, only a few work crews working under those sub-contractors) – have grossly mishandled the deadly material as part of the works in a number of areas around the country.

For this, they should be condemned – the carcinogenic nature of asbestos is well known, and in this day and age there should be no complacency with regards to how it should be dealt with.

Telstra is contracted to remediate all pits and ducts on behalf of NBN Co, in preparation for their contractors to actually roll the NBN fibre.

Which is why all the finger pointing at NBN Co is so badly misplaced.

This is a Telstra responsibility, and that’s what people – (and in particular, many of our politicians) – need to start being honest about.

The Government has been well aware of the issue for some time, and asked Telstra to act on this issue in 2009, at about the time the NBN planning was being finalised, and about the time – (presumably) – that the asbestos issue was identified as a risk to the project:

“Workplace Relations Minister Bill Shorten revealed on Monday he asked Telstra in 2009 to act on the danger that asbestos-lined underground boxes used for the network could pose a health hazard to workers and residents.”

In recent days, it has been clearly identified that Telstra is the responsible authority in this regard:

“Federal workplace safety agency Comcare admitted on Monday the system had failed to stop a breakdown in communication between Telstra executives and subcontractors handling the deadly fibres at thousands of sites.”

To their credit, Telstra seems prepared to take responsibility for the issue. Given they are contractually obliged to do so, this seems a fairly straightforward position for them to take. Steps are already underway to make good on the issue.

Telstra’s governance of their project to conduct the remediation activities seems to be at fault here.

Of course, the opposition has been firmly on a front-foot attack posture over the issue, claiming another failure in the league of the “pink batts” project.

Given that it was apparent that NBN Co identified the risk and that they sought to remediate the issue via Telstra, exactly how anyone can suggest the government and NBN Co didn’t take the issue seriously is something of a mystery.

Unless of course it is a politically motivated position? Surely not?

(PREVIOUS COMMENT MAY CONTAIN TRACES OF SARCASM)

Significantly, the current opposition knew about the asbestos issue in telecommunications pits for at least six years during their last period in government before they lost the 2007 election. Interestingly, it was current opposition leader Tony Abbott who appears to have ignored the problem in 2001:

“Telstra tried to fast-track compensation arrangements for its employees exposed to asbestos but was rebuffed by Tony Abbott’s own department back in 2001.”

“With the opposition on Monday leading a parliamentary attack on the government over its alleged lack of urgency in addressing asbestos discovered in Telstra junction pits being handed over to the NBN, Fairfax Media has learnt the giant telco wanted to create an independent body to accelerate compensation and sought approval from the Department of Workplace Relations.”

“However, the department, then under the ministerial leadership of Mr Abbott, rejected the plan.”

The thing that irks me the most is that the Coalition seems to have stuck their head in the ground – (no pun intended) – on the issue, with Malcolm Turnbull seemingly happy to leave most of the asbestos in the ground, even when his version of the NBN is potentially rolled out:

“Because we will simply bring fibre out to the distribution point, the street cabinet, all of the conduits and pits beyond that – the ones outside people’s houses for example – will not be disturbed at all.”

Under his plan, most of the asbestos lined pits in your street, in front of your house, or even in your garden, are going to be left there.

Would you be happy with that?

The current FTTP NBN plan not only provides for Australia’s telecommunications needs well into the future – (and with a far longer lifespan than the current alternative FTTN plan) – it also gives us the opportunity to fix the problem of asbestos in our streets, once and for all.

Despite their bluff and bluster about the dangers of asbestos, they are proposing to just leave it in the ground – for someone else to fix another day.

Their plans to kill the current NBN look more irresponsible as time goes by, and we deserve so much better than that.

This is a chance to fix it, and to fix it now.

Bombers Go Down In Wet Weather Slog

Michael Wyres — Sat, 01 Jun 2013 12:03:06 +0000

SYDNEY	3.4	6.7	11.10	17.13 (115)
ESSENDON	1.4	3.7	7.9	10.11 (71)

GOALS
Sydney Swans: Goodes 4, Malceski 2, Parker, O’Keefe, Mumford, Mitchell, McGlynn, Kennedy, Jetta, Jack, Everitt, Bird, Pyke
Essendon: Goddard, Crameri, Carlisle 2, Winderlich, Melksham, Hibberd, Bellchambers

BEST
Sydney Swans: Kennedy, Grundy, Goodes, Bird, McVeigh, Jack
Essendon: Stanton, Goddard, Heppell, Zaharakis, Watson, Winderlich

INJURIES
Sydney Swans: Walsh (hamstring)
Essendon: Dempsey (body), Gumbleton (ankle), Howlett (shoulder) replaced in the selected side by Hams

SUBSTITUTES
Sydney Swans: Tommy Walsh replaced by Tom Mitchell in the second quarter.
Essendon: Scott Gumbleton replaced by William Hams at half time.

Reports: Nil
Umpires: Donlon, Dalgleish, Rosebury

Dereel NBN Tower Finally Gets Approval

Michael Wyres — Mon, 27 May 2013 01:18:06 +0000

NBN Co has finally won the fight to erect a wireless tower for their network rollout in the tiny Victorian town of Dereel:

“A National Broadband Network wireless tower has been cleared for construction in Dereel, after the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT) quashed residents’ objections.”

“The ruling was handed down on May 17 after a hearing last month and means the area – a notorious mobile phone blackspot – will soon have access to high speed broadband.”

The battle has been raging for a long time, and has even been misrepresented in the local media.

Common sense wins through in the end.

Essendon Returns To The Winners List

Michael Wyres — Sun, 26 May 2013 06:44:54 +0000

RICHMOND	2.2	4.5	6.5	9.8 (62)
ESSENDON	2.3	7.7	11.9	13.13 (91)

GOALS
Richmond: Riewoldt 2, Cotchin, Edwards, King, Martin, McGuane, Nahas, Vlastuin
Essendon: Crameri 3, Watson 3, Zaharakis 2, Hibberd, Howlett, Melksham, Stanton, Winderlich

BEST
Richmond: Rance, Grigg, Chaplin, Vlastuin, Newman, Jackson
Essendon: Watson, Zaharakis, Stanton, Goddard, Hibberd, Hocking, Dempsey

INJURIES
Richmond: Ellis (hamstring) replaced in selected side by Nahas
Essendon: Hurley (ankle)

SUBSTITUTES
Richmond: Matt White replaced Tyrone Vickery in the third quarter
Essendon: Jake Melksham replaced Michael Hurley in the third quarter

Reports: Nil

Umpires: Donlon, Rosebury, Findlay

Official crowd: 84, 234 at the MCG

Closest Motor Racing Finish In History?

Michael Wyres — Fri, 24 May 2013 23:30:18 +0000

Overnight, did Peter Dempsey – (running in the Indy Lights series) – just score the closest race victory in a motor racing event?

At 0.0026 seconds, he probably did.

It was closer than even the previously recognised closest finish – (0.014 seconds) – between Ayrton Senna and Nigel Mansell at the 1986 Spanish Grand Prix:

Damn impressive.