www.case.org.au

Electronic Frontiers Australia today announced that over 500 web Australian sites will be “blacked out” on Australia day in protest against the Rudd government’s mandatory Internet filtering plan. Included among them are the Australian Greens, an Internet service provider, media outlets, and hundreds of other Australian businesses and organisations. See the EFA website for more information on this critical issue.

A year ago we posted the following suggesting that members keep an eye on the issue of Internet censorship in Australia:

"The Conference Where Social Action and Technology Converge"

This year CASE President, Darrell Burkey, will make two presentations at the conference being held in Melbourne;

Rural Connections (329kb pdf)
Is it possible to install network services totally remotely? and

How Secure Are Your IT Systems? (1.02Mb pdf)
What are the real threats to your IT systems and how to manage them.

CASE will hold it's Annual General Meeting on Tuesday 22 September 2009 following our guest speaker:

5.30pm Senator Kate Lundy
Government 2.0 & Citizen Engagement

6.00pm - 7.00pm AGM
at the Offices of Volunteering ACT, Canberra Labor Club Community Chambers, 55 Chandler Street Belconnen ACT.

Members  - please log in to the web site for access to agenda and documents.

The Winter edition of the ACT Council of Social Service Inc (ACTCOSS) printed newsletter, 'Update', included an article about CASE's work. This edition focussed on the theme of Strengthening the Community Sector.

 ACTCOSS is the peak representative body for not-for-profit community organisations, and disadvantaged and low-income citizens of the Australian Capital Territory. 

Key social policy areas that ACTCOSS examines include housing and homelessness, mental health, disability services, health, employment and economic policy, corrections, gambling, community sector workforce issues, consumer rights and complaints bodies.

At the end of June, CASE president Darrell Burkey and Committee Member Sam McKeon travelled to Walgett, New South Wales, to pay a visit to the Dharriwaa Elders Group. CASE had previously undertaken a completely remote install of a server to peer network and associated services and now there was a need to tidy up some issues and perform upgrades that could only be undertaken by an on site visit.

It was felt that this was the perfect opportunity to get to know the Group better whilst ensuring that their systems were in order. The Groups project manager, Wendy Spencer, was very hospitable and introduced Darrell and Sam to some of the Elders who shared a wealth of knowledge of their area.

Earlier this year CASE member SHOUT requested the set up of wireless access for staff to their network. This came about due to the acquisition of several laptop computers and the need for the users to be able to use their equipment from multiple locations within SHOUT's premises without having to run additional cable.

This also provided CASE with an opportunity to research available wireless routers and test configurations that provide automatic connection to a network in a secure manner to provide internet and files access. The result is a setup which is physically secure (unobtusively placed modem mounted in a lockable casing) and allows only registered equipment and users to connect to the network from any location within the organisation's accommodation.