Data Security – It’s in the Name!

December 20, 2012 2 Comments


I have just come out of my last meeting before Christmas in which security has been forefront (again) on both business and IT principles minds, and tongues…

The bizarre thing is that despite the obvious, the prevalence of IT security systems protect the ‘Environment Boundary’ in which data resides or is transmitted, whilst understandable form a certain perspective, it is somewhat medieval in its approach to the core ‘Data Security’ problems facing organisations and individuals today.

It is all good and well using SSL (Secure Socket Layers ) to ensure your communications (data exchanges in transit) are secure. BUT a waste of time if the communicating entities do not apply similar levels of security when the data is stored (data at rest). Even the most inept hacker knows that the easiest point to attack in any data exchange is the client (workstation, notebook, mobile device). The server end of the chain is likely to be more secure environment (not necessarily) than the end users. Hence the prevalence of end user vectored attacks, email being the weakest and most convenient conduit to perpetrate a hack. Once a Hacker can get some malware on a user’s PC they can just about do what they want with it, and that includes all the data unless the documents and or data is encrypted.

Thus we get to the headline of the article. DATA SECURITY. If all data adopted the same protective measures as the entertainment industry tries to do with their music and movies then less of our private lives would become public, and organised crime feeding off corporate systems selling inside secrets or blackmail would be poorer overnight. Organisations should be securing their CONTENT as well as their IT environments. Currently most organisations actually do ‘Environment Security‘ NOT ‘Data Security’.

Information Rights Management (IRM) has been around for decades in various guises.. ISV’s (Independent Software Vendors) are largely ignoring a HUGE market opportunity to tap this capability. Some understand it and build their business on this core feature, but most ignore it and defer security to the IT department’s ability to secure a whole environment. IRM has never been easier today to implement, without even needing to deploy a service it is possible to tap Windows Azure AD Rights Management and have this capability on tap. For organisations using the Microsoft Office 365 Online Software as a Service (SaaS) suite it is possible to enable this with ease:

Microsoft Office 365 with Windows Azure AD Rights Management enabled represents one of the most secure and feature complete collaboration environments available on the market today. I would challenge some enterprises to prove a more secure data environment, and this is available to the smallest of organisations for less than £15/mth per user. This default functionality in Microsoft Office 365 is just a baseline, for the more security conscious this can be enhanced exponentially with third party products.

IRM is not full proof, nothing can stop someone re-typing a document or photographing a screen. BUT it represents a significant convenience barrier to those perpetrating corporate espionage and removes any ‘accidental’ disclosures.

I suspect though there will be a few more fruitful Christmas seasons for the corporate espionage crime syndicates to roam deserted corporate systems before the penny drops.

Filed under Cloud Computing, Computers and Internet, Home Computing, Legal, Mobile, Office 365 and Azure, Privacy, Security, Small Medium Enterprise (SME)

Still paying for eMail & Website Hosting? Think again…

December 1, 2012 Leave a comment


If you are a sole operator and still paying for email and website hosting then you are throwing money away. It may not be a lot, but then I guarantee there are richer featured options that you can benefit from. Read on.

For many the reasoning is practical. You have your own Domain and you believe this requires you to pay for an email service that supports this. For others it is simply evolutionary, you have had an email and website packaged service many years with Vendor ‘X’ and have never evaluated your options so you are still paying for something you don’t need to.

For many of you in this scenario you may also find the interfaces for mobile connectivity and browser access are retro, as for website management solution (if at all), some websites are still limited to FTP (File Transfer Protocol) management access to a bare directory on the vendors servers, forcing you into the hands of a commercial agency to get any half decent site built and maintained at more cost.

The solution is simple:

  1. For eMail = Outlook.com
  2. For WebSite = Windows Azure Websites (See a follow-on blog for details on this)

If you want to see why and fancy a punt at other options such as ‘Google’ apart for the privacy issues that you may not be aware of with Google’s terms and Conditions, have a look at a straight Outlook.com v. GMail Feature Comparison which tells you why Outlook.com is the

If you are still not convince, just one feature should make it for you in this new mobile world we live in and that is Exchange ActiveSync (EAS)

For those who like a 3rd party opinion then head over to:

The following is a summary guide as to how to set-up your eMail and domain on Outlook.com, a separate Blog will cover the Free Website feature in Windows Azure and the rich content management options this can include.

A PDF version of this Guide is available for download – ‘Outlook.com Admin Configuration Guide‘ (PDF 428kb):

Outlook.com Configuration & Admin Overview Guide

Step 1.

First off you need a ‘Microsoft Account’, formerly known as Live ID/Hotmail ID/ Passport amongst others. If you already have one then that’s easy, just jump straight to the Outlook.com Webmail Login  and voila, you are now running ‘Outlook.com’. If as an existing Microsoft Account holder you get the old Hotmail interface, it is simple to click on the ‘Options’ then ‘Upgrade to Outlook.com’ link and that is you upgraded, per the image below:

That’s you set-up with free Outlook.com email on your Microsoft Account. This is not yet active on your own domain or domains. To get your email on your own domains working you need to continue to Step 2.

It is advisable to be ready to move ALL our email accounts to Outlook.com BEFORE you commence Step 2. This should include being clear who controls your domain(s) DNS settings. If in doubt contact your hosting provider AFTER reading through the rest of this guide so you are clear on what is involved.

Step2.

Configure your domain and get access to Multiple User accounts on your own domain FOR FREE.

  1. Head over to the ‘Windows Live Admin Center‘ at http://domains.live.com
  2. Click on the ‘Get Started’ link’ Assuming you’re already logged in!

  3. Enter your domain name. Don’t get confused by the ‘www’ prefix, it is perhaps not the most intuitive way of simply requesting a domain name! Then Click ‘Continue‘
  4. Next you will have to go through a formality, check the setting s are correct and assuming your OK with the Terms & Conditions click ‘ I Accept’

  5. The next screen is a little overwhelming for the non-techies. If you have access to your domain’s DNS or DNS management page then I assume you know what yru doing, if not you will be emailing a copy of this page to your Domains Registrar or Hosting provider who controls your domains DNS.

    In summary this page update your DNS records so that email etc will start getting pointed to your new Outlook.com profile.

    DO NOT initiate this till you’re ready for email to STOP arriving at your old email service, and you are ready to set-up all your email accounts on Outlook.com.

    You can pre-configure this and leave it as is, note the ‘Prove Ownership’ box highlighted in Blue. Until you have either made the changes or instructed someone else to and this box is replaced with a ‘Your Service is Active’ statement your email routing is unaltered.

  6. Assuming were good to go with Outlook.com and you have made the changes noted above in DNS instead of the yellow ‘Prove Ownership’ box, you should now see an ‘Your Service is Active’ message box as illustrated below:

Now you can configure a variety of features from the left hand Admin menu:

Custom Addresses – This allows you to create additional Domain URL prefix’s for your mail domain ie:’mail.yourdomain.com‘ :

User / Members Accounts – user mailbox’s (Up to 500!!)

Open Membership – Great commercial angle to allow you to share your Domain with subscribers to a service or your website:

Co-Branding – Allow you to brand your email experience, ideal if you are using Open membership features:

Domain Reports – All important management tool to monitor activity on your email usage, a summary list of available reports below:

You should not be set-up with your Outlook.com service. You can add additional domains to this all managed by your principle Microsoft Account, or any other Microsoft Account you may wish to designate.

Other features you may wish to explore will include the Microsoft Live SkyDrive and Office Web application linkage that you get for collaboration with Outlook.com, you can access this from the Outlook.com mail interface at http://mail.live.com, top left click the down arrow next to the Outlook banner, see image below:

This will open up a link menu to other rich interface features and SkyDrive for document sharing and Office Web Apps integration:

Filed under Cloud Computing, Computers and Internet, Home Computing, Small Medium Enterprise (SME)

Windows 8 To Go Workspace Creation Guide

November 24, 2012 Leave a comment


The following guide will allow you to configure a USB device that is Windows 8 To Go ‘Ready’.

This guide is designed for users who are not yet running Windows 8, and whilst it can be followed if you are running Windows 8 IF you have Windows 8 Enterprise then a much simpler option is to use the ‘Windows To Go Creator Wizard’ (accessible from the Windows 8 Enterprise Control Panel or search) which automates:

  • USB Device provisioning process,
  • Windows 8 Instalment (you still need to have the Windows 8 Enterprise install media for this)
  • Bitlocker enablement options that can activate Bitlocker automatically during the Windows To Go creation process.

As you are creating a portable instance of your Windows 8 Operating System which is likely to contain private data we strongly recommend you activate the built in bitlocker drive encryption technology.

The process below does not allow you to enable Bitlocker during creation, it requires you to enabled bitlocker drive encryption AFTER creating your ‘Windows To Go Drive’ from within the Windows To Go workspace.

You can download a PDF version of this guide for ease of reference from here: Windows To Go Creation Guide (220 KB PDF)

This process requires Windows 8 Enterprise install media and does not work with other versions.

For a Windows To Go Feature Overview and more information please visit the Microsoft TechNet site.

Preparation Phase:

Step 1. Get the imagex.exe from the Windows Automated Installation Kit (AIK):

  1. Download the Windows Automated Installation Kit (AIK) for Windows 7 (1.7GB) http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?displaylang=en&id=5753
  2. Download WinRAR, then uncompress the AIK ISO file that you downloaded, browse and extract the Neutral.cab file.
  3. Uncompressed the Neutral.cab with WinRAR, and extract the file name F1_imagex.
  4. Rename the file F1_imagex to imagex.exe.

Step 2. Get the install.wim Windows 8 Enterprise Install File:

  1. Download or get your copy of Windows 8 Enterprise
  2. If you have this is ISO format (if you downloaded from MSDN for example) use WinRAR to uncompress the Windows 8 Enterprise ISO file.
  3. Browse the uncompressed Windows 8 Enterprise files going to the \sources\ folder, extract the install.wim file that it should be in there.

Copy both the imagex.exe and the install.wim files to a separate directory.

USB To Go Creation Phase:

Step 1. Configure your USB drive:

  1. Open a Command Prompt (in Administrator Mode)
  2. Run the following Commands allow each to finish before proceeding to the next:
    1. DISKPART
    2. LIST DISK (Note down the Disk number of your USB Device, ie: Disk 1 in my example below)


    3. SELECT DISK 1 (Replace 1 with the number of your USB Device from the step before)
    4. CLEAN
    5. CREATE PARTITION PRIMARY
    6. SELECT PARTITION 1
    7. ACTIVE
    8. FORMAT FS=NTFS QUICK (Format process may take few seconds, longer if you opt to do a full format by leaving off the ‘QUICK’ option)
    9. ASSIGN
    10. EXIT

Step 2. Install Windows 8 Enterprise onto the USB:

  1. Open a Command Prompt (in Administrator Mode)
  2. Browse to the folder that has the Imagex.exe and now the install.wim
  3. Run the following command: imagex.exe /apply install.wim 1 D:\
    (Replace D with your USB drive letter)
  4. This write process will take a bit of time, progress is displayed.
  5. Once the write process has completed configure the boot record in the Windows To Go USB drive. Type the following command: bcdboot.exe D:\windows /s D: /f ALL
    (Replace D with your USB drive letter)

Volia!

Now you should be able to boot to your external Windows 8 Enterprise USB To Go device and complete your installation. Some helpful hints on how to configure the traditional desktop Start Button etc available at Windows 8 Desktop Prioritisation Guide


Filed under Computers and Internet, Home Computing, Small Medium Enterprise (SME), Windows 8

Windows 8 Desktop Prioritisation Guide

November 20, 2012 1 Comment


As promised a guide to how you priorities the boot order to your conventional Windows desktop and return certain critical efficiency assets most notably the Start menu. Remembering that we don’t want to throw the baby out with the bathwater so the following maintains 100% the Windows Modern UI in all its tiling glory.

You can download a PDF version of this guide for ease of reference from here: Windows 8 – Desktop Prioritisation Guide (234 KB PDF)

Why is this needed? As I said in my earlier blog ‘Microsoft leave the Control Freekery for the Fruitcakes‘ the Windows 8 Modern UI is ill-suited to workstation environments. The uncharacteristic step by Microsoft to throw users uncaringly into a whole new world of their Windows 8 Modern UI (User Interface) and at the same time cut them off from the comfort of a the Conventional Desktop is the most ill thought through and poorly thought through marketing faux pas since their Vista launch horror. Why throw away the trust and familiarity of the Conventional Desktop, when those characteristics actually represent the gateway to adoption of the Modern UI is beyond me. But then I guess that is why Steve Sinofsky was seen making such a fast exit, and good riddance to his Steve Jobs attitude to bullying consumers through product changes. What would have been more engaging is the Modern UI and the Conventional Desktop introduced as distinct principle software environments for different device formats.

  1. The Conventional Desktop should never have had its start menu removed, it alienated users immediately from any sense of a familiar introduction to Windows 8 where they would inevitably explore end up exploring and getting familiar with the Modern UI on their own terms.
  2. The boot order should have been set as an elective as part of the install wizard, and in the same way allow users the flexibility and choice to safely adopt Windows 8 without the fear of being forced into the unknown and steep learning curve of change which we humans are inherently wary of.

So this Blog redresses this by giving you back that familiar and reliable fully empower conventional desktop environment from where in time you can build out your skills into the new world of the Modern UI.

This guide will step you through what I have now found as a robust process to re-establish a Windows 8 conventional desktop for power users and real multitaskers. I am hopeful that this will become somewhat redundant if Microsoft redress some of the Steven Sinofsky aberrations. Some of this will work with Windows 8 RT, but find that Windows 8 RT is largely on Tablet style devices that it suites very nicely so the priority is very much the Modern UI over the Conventional Desktop.

So let’s get started.

This assumes we are starting from a clean installation of Windows 8 Pro or Enterprise.

  1. Reinstate the Start menu – Download Classic Shell (http://classicshell.sourceforge.net/features.html) Full details and alternatives summarized in my earlier blog ‘Windows 8 – Boot to Basics’
  2. Download the attached file which I have had to give a .DOC extension so you can download it (NRG Menu Settings.xml.DOC) but it is in fact an XML file with XML script of the configuration I use in the Classic Shell that will help you get going. Right click on the link and save the file to your hard drive then remove the .DOC file extension to leave a native XML file you can then import it into Classic Shell from the Backup option in the settings menu. This will:
    1. Configure your Start menu with a Windows 8 look and feel.
    2. Automatically set your OS to boot to the Desktop. (You can always return to the Modern UI by hitting the Windows key on your keyboard).

So now you have a Conventional Desktop with a core asset returned to its usual location, reducing the laborious screen switching to the Tiled interface or heavy-handed use of search.

For some that will be enough and you will be capable of doing your own Conventional Desktop modifications from hereon.

Those of you who would like some more tips I can recommend casting your eye over the following that will ensure your desktop experience does not regress into Frankenstein moments by popping into Modern UI applications not best suited for large non touch screen environments.

Re-set Default Programs – One of the issues with Windows 8 is you will find many file types are automatically set to launch with Modern UI applications. The following steps will allow you to ensure you will priorities your desktop applications.

    1. Install desktop applications so that you can re-assign file types to use the Conventional Desktop programs over the Modern UI apps. Some applications you may find useful will include:
    2. From your re-instated Start menu go to ‘Control Panel\Programs\Default Programs\Set Default Programs’ and click through your newly installed programs to prioritise them. Some key ones I would suggest include:
      • Those listed above
      • Windows Media Player – Playing & managing music
      • Paint – Image viewer and basic editor.
      • Windows Photo Viewer – To view and print images instead of the Modern UI Photo Viewer.
    3. The other big one is Internet Explorer – make sure the dropdown election is set in the ‘Internet Options > Programs’ to always use IE on the Conventional Desktop. I also tick the ‘Open IE tiles on the Conventional Desktop as well so even if I am in the Modern UI I will prioritise a desktop instance of IE.

    4. An alternative way is to use File Explorer and right click on the individual files want to assign to a specific program and click ‘Properties’. On the general tab will be an option to ‘Open With:’ and a ‘Change’ button. This is a little more long winded than the earlier step but gives more control.
    5. A clean way to reduce conflict with Modern UI apps and also save a bit of disk space is to uninstall the Modern UI variants. (The reality is I have removed all my Windows Modern UI apps as they serve no purpose and only add to network congestion in the background. All the news and other functionality apps I bypass as the websites are richer using the Conventional Desktop IE v.10 as our counterpart Conventional Desktop programs).  This is likely to include as a minimum:
      • Video Player
      • Photo Viewer
      • Mail (this will also remove Calendar, Messaging and peoples hub) but assuming you are running Microsoft Office as a power users these are fripperies you will not need and only serve to duplicate content on your hard drive and increase network activity if you do.
      • SkyDrive (Modern UI version only)
      • Skype SkyDrive (Modern UI version only)

       WARNING – Do not install the same apps both in the Modern UI and on your Conventional Desktop, this can cause conflicts such as with Skype also you will find you end up duplicating data and network activity. Windows 8 is chatty enough on the network without adding to it!

‘Free’ Media Pack for Windows 8 Pro
A time limited offer you can take advantage of at – http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-8/feature-packs

Optional free or Shareware utilities

I also find useful that you can take or leave include:

Desktop Gadgets

This is something I have been asked by just about every user I have helped convert to Windows 8, they miss the convenience of having some of those core gadgets ‘just there’. Key favourites include the Calendar, currency conversion, weather. Post it’s and power monitor. You are in luck head over to 8Gadgetpack at http://8gadgetpack.bplaced.net/ . It’s not quite a full Windows 7 gadget style experience more Vista with the sidebar limit, but you can remove the sidebar and have just the gadgets on the Conventional Desktop.

Conclusion

What you should now have is a fully tuned up conventional desktop environment (with a few utilities if you elected for them) that will allow you to leverage the full potential of Windows 8 whilst maintaining the luxury of the Modern UI tile environment 100% intact. The key difference being you have prioritised the Conventional Desktop experience over a touch screen experience with no compromise.

Filed under Computers and Internet, Home Computing, Small Medium Enterprise (SME), Windows 8

Microsoft Partner Network Refresh ALERT!

November 19, 2012 Leave a comment


Welcome to Monday morning, as if there will not be enough on a Microsoft Partners agenda with all the exciting new technology coming out of the Microsoft warehouses, without having to worry about housekeeping issues.

With the great wave of innovation coming out of Redmond comes some tweaks to the Partner Competencies that ALL Microsoft partners need to pay attention to and review their status on the Microsoft Partner Portal. There was a refresh across the Microsoft partner Portal that will have implications on your Partner status and benefits.

Whilst I cannot qualify across all Regions, which were caught up in the refresh I suspect all since it goes to the heart of the Competencies. But the following headline items should be reviewed by Partners:

Competency Status

  • Competency consolidation could mean you now are no longer Gold or have a different mix. For example Web Development no longer exists it is part of Application development, and Portals and Collaboration has been merged with Content management. A big one being the ISV Competency now merged with Application Development.
  • Competency requirements have changed within some of the competencies which could mean a Gold or Silver status change. For example the Microsoft Accredited Advertising Professional Exam requirement for Digital marketing, amongst others.
  • Qualified MCP assignments may no longer be optimal, or some may be unassigned against Gold so you could be missing out.
  • Customer References may no longer be optimally assigned to competencies so again you could be missing out.

Read more about the new shape of the competencies in Julie Bennani (General Manager, Microsoft Partner Network, WPG) Blog http://www.digitalwpc.com/GetInvolved/MSPartnerPerspectives/JulieBennani/Pages/MPN-Evolution-Areas-for-FY13.aspx#fbid=zXpRj2f4gTu

Partner Benefits & Branding

  • MSDN privileges revoked and need to be reassigned as a result of the changes above.
  • Review your internal use rights to ensure you are still compliant as a result of the changes above.
  • Requirement to renew MPN branding on sites and marketing collateral to reflect changes.
  • Communicate the changes to your team so you are all up to date and singing from the same hymn sheet and do not appear out of sync with what your customers will be hearing and reading from Microsoft.

Read more at Karl Noakes (General Manager, Partner Channel Marketing) Blog http://www.digitalwpc.com/GetInvolved/MSPartnerPerspectives/KarlNoakes/Pages/Home.aspx#fbid=zXpRj2f4gTu

This list is by no means exhaustive in detail, each Partner will need to validate their own unique blend of Competencies.

Get your new Partner Logo from the Microsoft Partner Logo builder site at https://mspartner.microsoft.com/en/uk/Pages/Sales%20and%20Marketing/logo.aspx

A good resource to keep an eye on are the Microsoft Partner team bogs at http://www.digitalwpc.com/GetInvolved/MSPartnerPerspectives/Pages/Home.aspx#fbid=zXpRj2f4gTu

After a couple of years of transitional program structural change, rapid branding to the identity and competency maturing of the Microsoft Partner Network (MPN) we can only hope this latest change will see some stability for a while. It is a costly exercise rebranding and managing this, not to mention the complications it injects in communications with customers and the market understanding of our channel. We can but hope!

Filed under Computers and Internet, Microsoft Partners, Skills

Microsoft leave the Control Freekery for the Fruitcakes

November 18, 2012 1 Comment


Demonstrating unwavering leadership, whether driven by necessity or not, Steve Ballmer has created a unique window of opportunity to redress some issues with Windows 8 reception into the marketplace.

Steven Sinofsky President, Windows Division has gone from headline grabbing darling to departed http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/news/exec/ssinofsky/

Conspiracy theorists abound need little imagination as to why. As a Microsoft Partner at the consumer and enterprise coal face it has been black and white since the latter preview releases of Windows 8 that there was a temperature change in the Windows Division that was blowing the good ship Windows into dangerous waters, and it appears the Captain had decided to ignore the feedback from his instruments. It appears Captain Sinofsky had been ardently fighting a one man war against the traditional choice characteristics of the Windows OS and had achieved internal persuasive success at Microsoft, with resistance and reservation, for his drastic surgery on the traditional Windows desktop. This was also in the face of a full blown gale of online, Partner channel and general technical audience commentary against the removal of the Start menu and promotion of the Modern UI previewed in early iterations of the Windows 8 OS.

It looks like the Admiral was on board and he has placed a trusted hand on the tiller, could we be heading back into calmer waters? ….. I am by no means alone in hoping so since it has made headlines in USA Today ‘Will Microsoft restore Start Menu to Windows 8?‘, to think a Start menu could cause such headlines, and ‘With Sinofsky Gone, Start Menu Could Return to Windows 8′ , we could never have guessed ;-)

The detail surrounding the relevance of 2 features such as the Start menu and the default Modern UI I cover in my earlier blog ‘Windows 8 – A desktop demotion?‘

That was almost three months ago. I have now lived and breathed Windows 8 can firmly state that on a dual monitor (27inch) desktop environment that can see me running multiple Virtual Machines, Visual Studio amongst the usual cascade of Internet Explorer windows and instances of Microsoft Word, Outlook and Excel there is only one existence – THE DESKTOP. In fact the use of Modern UI applications on a 27inch monitor is very poor where most are designed for tablet sized screens. Having reviewed my Modern UI usage I can state that since making a few tweaks to return the Start menu and not straight to my Windows 8 desktop (and a few others that I will cover in a blog shortly) I have not had to revert to the Modern UI.

That does not mean it is redundant. I have my Surface which I live in the Modern UI. That is the spin here. For all Steven Sinofsky’s engineering and project management competence he has missed the ball completely on the critical issue of communication and management of end user expectation. As a result we have a Kick Ass Operating System in Windows 8 hobbled by the lack of FLEXIBILITY to allow users to CHOOSE.

  • Flexibility because Windows is trying to hit a much bigger target end user device based than just tablets, so to all but Sinofsky, it was fundamental that the desktop was maintained as a first class citizen.
  • Choice – The consumer and enterprises friend. Where there is doubt and engineering capability, budget and time permits, put in options. DO NOT taken them out!

Microsoft has always been about Flexibility and choice, to the point of criticism. How many of us have gasped at the number of ways we have been able to do things in the UI when confronted with support requests for end user guidance. It has been a hidden grace, that has made the platform INCLUSIVE.

Windows 8 is a fantastic platform with unique dual facets unlike any other. Power on the tablet and prospectively Power on desktop, IF the Admiral encourages his new captain (whomever he or she will be) to reflect overwhelming demand.

I recall the horror that was the Vista launch, which completely missed the Enterprise messaging of the script. This time it has been the control arrogance around the traditional desktop demotion AND on the consumer front the poorly communicated messaging around Windows 8 RT as a distinctly separate experience for users. As a result we are currently staring out across a Vista of troubled waters instead of the plain sailing that the Windows 8 desktop truly deserves.

If I could as Steve Ballmer to do anything, it would be win back the Choice Moniker for Microsoft leave the Control Freekery for the fruitcakes by:

  1. Desktop Start menu.
  2. Option for direct boot election into Desktop v. New UI.

Windows 8 should be an absolute no brainer for Enterprises, but for the lack of this flexibility and choice.

Amongst some much needed communication clarification around Windows 8 and Windows 8 RT.

PS -Oh yes, maybe stand up when you do your bit at the next WPC, Steve you are shear effervescence speaking on your feet!

Filed under Computers and Internet, Home Computing, Mobile, Small Medium Enterprise (SME), Windows 8

Social Media Corporatocracy – Self-Regulate or Be Damned

November 17, 2012 Leave a comment


My earlier Blog on the subject ‘Social Media – Accountability’ made for some heated debate in a post event drinks session championed by a defensive cadre of the twitterati advocating the freedom of speech argument. An old chestnut I empathise with, but see it as a worn out defence. My view being it is time the Social Media Corporatocracy confronted their responsibilities and got their house in order. Addressing a need to become more accountable for the content they syndicate from their membership or put in place mechanism’s that prevent the kind of free-for-all we have recently witnessed to the detriment of innocent parties.

That appeared un-satisfactory to the twitterati, I came away somewhat disturbed by their underlying attitude, that of a ‘brave new frontier’, somehow exempt from societies rules on defamation, slander, denigration amongst other poignant terms. I do not believe it has, and on a broader canvas of the Internet this is a dangerous attitude that strikes at the heart of the Internet’s credibility as a platform for democracy and in the battle against ‘Big Government’ to coin a phrase championed by Ron Paul in his ‘Farewell to Congress’ speech in which he champions the Internet in this very context.

Back to the point ….

The issue I believe is the engagement process by which social media sites attract membership and the mechanisms put in place by those site operators. It is time that the Social Media Corporatocracy applied a Moral Compass to their actions if they wish to avoid litigation and formal regulation which means they need to better self-regulate.

I would suggest more robust self-regulation as a minimum reasonable demand by the litigants who have recently fallen victim of the invidious public social media feeds, as part of any settlement. Such self-regulation could include:

  1. Social Media owners who wish to have an uncontrolled (no mediation or content validation delay) public information feed accept and take FULL responsibility and are FULLY accountable for that which they publish.
  2. Making their environments EXCLUSIVE MEMEBERS ONLY, with a clear set of warnings that content is unregulated, un-validated and not mediated, and as such individuals consume at their own risk.
  3. The option of a Public information feed service as an Opt-In for members. By so Opting-In members accept FULL responsibility and are FULLY accountable for that which they publish.
  4. It would be mandatory that any individuals wishing to Opt-In to public and unprotected Social Media information services have their identities validated BEFORE they are permitted to publish to an unprotected live feed. Validation through a current Credit Card would suffice, with public feed rights withdrawn in the event of the Card Expiring and non- renewal.

The above suggested self-regulation measures are by no means exhaustive in detail but aim to provide a flavour of what would help address the current waves of Social Media abuse.

A by-product of this type of self-regulation is the containment of the ‘anonymous’ voices. The proposition is that the ‘anonymous’ can still persist BUT they are contained behind the membership closed doors of their elected Social Media forum.

I have no doubt that this would be contested very strongly by the social media corporatocracy after all they feed on this kind of perverse publicity, which in turn pumps there hugely overinflated and in many cases economic gravity defying valuations.

The reality is the Social Media Corporatocracy must start to demonstrate a responsibility to protect the innocent from rogue users, they have little more than a fig leaf in their own defence at the moment. …..  The Emperor’s New Clothes.

Filed under Cloud Computing, Computers and Internet, Legal, Privacy, Security

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