Talking Point

Curriculum vitae to go the way of snail mail and fax machines, Wall Street Journal says

2012-01-25T13:05:00+11:00

Between jobs? In this digitally-connected, social media-driven world, there are lots of options before you enter the revolving door of recruitment companies.

The Pope commands you to get off the Net

2012-01-25T12:14:06+11:00

Holy smoke! The Australian newspaper online reports The Pope wants people using the Internerds to chill out just a tad.

Operation Global Black-Out - a stunt or real?

2012-01-25T09:55:52+11:00

By Elizabeth CoadThe internet activist group ‘Anonymous’ plan to take down Facebook at 12am eastern standard time on 28 January 2012. Or maybe not. Alleged members of the group posted a You Tube Video overnight calling for people worldwide to join the ‘Greatest Internet Protest - the first official Cyber War’. In the YouTube video they provide instructions on how to disable your local Facebook server. They claim that if enough people participate and simultaneously disable all 60,000 worldwide Facebook servers the system will collapse. They also claim you can’t get caught! Called Operation Blackout this latest call to join their protest action or ‘hacktivism’ by members of the online community. As they profile in the You Tube clip, the group have previously hacked the CBS and Warner’s Bros websites amongst other sites. Anonymous is a decentralised community that employs leaderless resistance which is a political resistance strategy in which independent groups and individuals, challenge an established adversary, such as a government. In this case their protest is centered on the now-stalled US Government's Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and their desire to uphold the Internet rights for people worldwide. As their You Tube video states “An online war has begun between Anonymous, the people, and the Government of the United States”. This latest video posting could be just a splintered subset of the community or in fact a hoax. Other members of Anonymous also tweeted from their @AnonOps Twitter feed that they would not attack Facebook. Although as their motto states: "We are Anonymous. We are Legion. We do not forgive. We do not forget. Expect us." Regardless of the outcome, the YouTube posting last night and other recent videos are some of the best entertainment on the internet – bring on the cyber war!

Fly a flag for poor research

2012-01-24T16:45:51+11:00

A lot's being made of a study by a West Australian academic that supposedly says Australians with Aussie flags on their cars tend to be more racist than those whose vehicles are flagless. What it actually says is that 100 people in a Perth park on Australia Day will give a range of responses to loaded questions about immigration and multi-culturalism.

You've been Quick Rolled: Tonight With Julian Assange

2012-01-24T15:29:42+11:00

Today's news that Julian Assange will host his own chat show reverberated around media circles today. Rove went to LA and couldn’t manage to make a fist of it so maybe this eminent Aussie expat can.

K-Fed media express leaves the station

2012-01-23T17:35:55+11:00

Excuse the cynicism. I'm sure his pain was real, but there's no way the media won't jump in boots and all after this afternoon's story about K-Fed going into an Australian hospital with chest pains while filming a celebrity weight loss program for the Nine Network.

When porkies and dodgy research combine to do a brand in

2012-01-23T15:14:08+11:00

Mark Twain wrote: "Everybody lies—every day; every hour; awake; asleep; in his dreams; in his joy; in his mourning." Bearing that in mind, you have to wonder about the sense, or lack of, behind some PR campaigns.

Wiggling away from trouble: Three lessons for reputation management

2012-01-20T14:33:57+11:00

As odd as it might be to devote double-page spreads in daily newspapers to a changing of the guard in The Wiggles, it’s still the silly season in Australia. The Wiggles are the country’s highest-earning entertainers and stories like these do sell papers.

Deaths on our roads trigger call for pollies and media to act

2012-01-19T08:55:00+11:00

By John Hanrahan There are thousands of grieving, angry people across Australia right now – family and friends of the thousands of mostly young people who have died on one or other of our roads or highways. They, like me,...

Most hated lists and the art of reputation management

2012-01-17T16:43:37+11:00

On a list of America’s most hated companies, is it surprising to find the world’s largest social networking site?