Stories by Michael Crawford

Poor data handling and lax PC disposal practices by some Australian organizations has made corporate espionage easy.

An inquiry into the potential of e-democracy in Victoria has recommended Internet broadcasting for parliament, the use of videoconferencing for parliamentary committees and the use of open source code for electronic voting kiosks.

The NSW Department of Health is undertaking a sweeping review of IT architecture to meet interoperability requirements for a nationally connected system of electronic health records.

The Department of Transport and Regional Services has called for tenders to develop a Web site as part of the IT strategy for the federal government's AusLink program.

Queensland Premier Peter Beattie has enraged the state's IT industry by approving a 10-year, multi-million dollar contract extension to German behemoth SAP without going to tender.

Emboldened by its Senate majority, the federal government is pushing ahead with a proposed national database to monitor firearms and their owners in Australia, with Justice Minister Chris Ellison describing the project as a "radical overhaul" of firearms licensing, registration and tracking.

The annual Telecommunications Performance Report for 2003/04 has found high levels of customer dissatisfaction with the service Australia's biggest carriers currently provide.

A Federal government review of so-called expert systems software used by public servants making policy decisions has found the software is useful but recommended human beings should ultimately retain control and responsibility over decision-making rather than computers.

South Australian councils have grouped together to use a content management system to store information and offer state-wide searches from a single Web site.

Telstra has announced plans to outsource what could potentially be 400 jobs in the applications, development and billing services division through Electronic Data Systems (EDS).

Senator Helen Coonan has retained the Information Technology, Communications and Arts portfolio amidst speculation the Liberal government would replace her position with Finance Minister Nick Minchin.

A million-dollar venture to ease IT burdens for small business in remote Australian locations could potentially find itself an exported as a wireless business model.

Shadow Defence Procurement Minister Chris Evans has lambasted the Department of Defence supply-chain cost blowout, saying such an IT project disaster in the private sector would see shareholders demanding the CEO's head.

In an announcement that has been foreshadowed for months, the Australian Customs Service today confirmed it has extended its outsourcing agreement with EDS by more than two years.

When the Bagle virus struck at the University of NSW last week it was forced to pull infected PCs off the network.