Kuan Yean

Author: Lee Kuan Yean

  • The end-game password

    The end-game password

    I spoke on the radio a few weeks ago about how you might control what happens to your social media presence after you’re… no longer present. When you’ve gone to the big social network in the sky it’s a bit late to start figuring out how to shut down your Twitter, facebook and Tumblr accounts, so why not prepare for it well in advance. After all, many of us have wills, so why not incorporate a digital will into it?

    So my idea is this: a social network could provide you with an option that they could call a terminal password, or perhaps even an end-game password. I don’t know – those are just minor details. When this password (and this password alone) is used to access your account, it sets in motion a pre-planned event that either automatically shuts down your account, or memorialises your profile (a common procedure already in use by facebook). This password can be specified in your will alongside other mundane details, potentially saving dozens of lines of instructions and making life a little easier for your survivors at what will probably be a difficult time. The same could work for cloud email accounts such as GMail and Windows Live accounts.

    By doing this, the provider is absolved of a painful duty to survivors of a deceased user, and that user can have their will exercised without having to reveal any sensitive information. Win-win, no?

  • Ambition

    Ambition

    The newly-minted PM, the Right Honourable Jim HackerTony Jones interviewed Clive Palmer on the ABC’s 7:30 programme last night, and when Tony Jones asked if there was any purpose to his recent noise-making, he responded:

    “If I went into parliament, I’ve got no ambition for me personally to be a minister or Prime Minister. I’ve had a good life. I’ve done a lot of things but whatever way I [can] serve the country I certainly will.”

    Ring a bell? Of course, it’s straight out of the Humphrey Appleby School of Spin. When Ludovic Kennedy asked Jim Hacker the same questions in the final episode of Yes, Minister, here’s what he said:

    I have no ambitions at all in that direction… All I’ve ever wanted to do is serve my country. I’ve never sought office. Of course, if my colleagues were to persuade me that the best place to serve it from was number 10 Downing St, well, I might perhaps reluctantly be persuaded to undertake the responsibility, whatever my own private wishes might be.

    Of course, Jim Hacker shortly after that went on to become PM…

  • Bad form

    Bad form

    Example of the power of websites put to shameful, rather than good use:

    http://getridofrob.com/

    My position on his politics can have some bench time; whoever set up this website is playing the man and not the ball. Poor form.

  • Falling like flies

    So my last post looks a little bit out-of-date…

    Aside from Steve Jobs, the world has last night lost John Linton, boss of Australian ISP Exetel. Linton was known for his outspoken views, and his lack of enthusiasm for the National Broadband Network put him at odds with much of the telco industry here in Australia. But his views were respected, and I for one think we will feel his loss badly.

  • Out of a Jobs

    Steve Jobs - pic by Matt YoheNews just in: Steve Jobs has resigned as CEO of Apple Inc. His resignation letter doesn’t say why, but I don’t think there are any surprises as to the reason.

    Jobs has had a major influence on the destiny of Apple, with his recent decisions positioning Apple very strongly in the short term. It’s said that Apple today has more cash reserves than the US Treasury. Whether this position can be maintained by his successor Tim Cook remains to be seen, but it’ll be a tough job.

    All the best to Jobs – a man who has arguably changed the world.