Why proposed internet security measures will do more harm than good
Last month I published a piece in The Age about the ‘dark web’ – sites that can only be accessed through anonymity software. What became lost beneath graphics of demons emerging from computers was a line I wrote in response to proposed legislative changes that could lead to the web history of any device connected […]
Keep Banksy’s identity to yourselves, spoilsports
This is something a little different. I’ve had an obsession with Banksy for a while now. Recently a new biography was released. The author claims to know Banksy’s true identity but chose not to reveal it. I’m glad. Here I say why. It was the rats I first noticed. I moved to London in 2006 and […]
Why politicians and law enforcement should embrace Silk Road
Online drugs marketplaces are far better than the current alternative. Despite what certain newspapers and ‘current affairs’ shows would have you believe, the vast majority of drug users – even chronic drugs users – are happy, non-violent people who hold down regular jobs. They don’t take drugs because there’s something lacking in their lives. They […]
BASE Jumping – SO not illegal
Earlier this year I had the privilege of being invited along to watch a pretty spectacular event – four lads, dressed in suits, who had a drink at the bar on the 55th floor of the Rialto, then donned parachutes and jumped off – all in peak hour. Here’s the (vastly incorrect) story: Leap of […]
The Dark Web
So The Age surprised me this morning by pulling my latest feature forward because editorial staff were on strike and Management came in and just ran whatever they could find, adding any photos they could find. Here she is: The New Underbelly. What makes me sad is that, judging by most of the comments beneath […]
The Great 420 Scam
A drug dealer ripping off customers? The nerve! Silk Road, as I reported previously, is the online illicit drug marketplace that has defied law enforcement efforts to close it down. Last month, Silk Road reported the greatest scam in its fifteen-month history, which cost the site’s users over a hundred thousand dollars in just two […]
The Drug’s in the Mail
Below is the full text of an article I wrote for The Age, which was the Focus Feature on 27 April 2012. http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/the-drugs-in-the-mail-20120426-1xnth.html More Australians are buying illegal drugs from internet websites and having them delivered by regular post straight to their door. Eileen Ormsby reports on the new frontier of drug dealing. IT’S JUST […]