Census 2016

[JackOutback]

Haven't we always put our name on the census forms? Why is this now an issue?

Most people find it different when someone demands something, as opposed to asking for it.

This was just a debacle from the beginning. They never accurately explained why the name and address information was required (the only reason I ever heard was for 'more dynamical statistical analysis', which means exactly nothing), they never addressed concerns over linkage keys and the idea that the information might not be as anonymous as claimed, they obviously didn't consider or didn't prepare for a DDoS attack. They have destroyed a lot of goodwill that the Census used to carry. I like the objectives of the Census but I didn't care for the way they went about it this year.

 

[Messenger]

Most people find it different when someone demands something, as opposed to asking for it.

This was just a debacle from the beginning. They never accurately explained why the name and address information was required (the only reason I ever heard was for 'more dynamical statistical analysis', which means exactly nothing), they never addressed concerns over linkage keys and the idea that the information might not be as anonymous as claimed, they obviously didn't consider or didn't prepare for a DDoS attack. They have destroyed a lot of goodwill that the Census used to carry. I like the objectives of the Census but I didn't care for the way they went about it this year.

On the DDoS issue the press debacle from this morning made it clear these attacks are frequent on government domains. I think it's fair to ask why geoblocking wasn't instituted from the start and whether some of the DDoS traffic wasn't actually legitimate census traffic and they didn't load test their servers adequately.

 

[Ratts of Tobruk]

Apparently they're claiming it came from the US. Given the amount of people who it was publicised last year were using VPNs to access overseas TV options like Hulu and Netflix, I'd be intrigued as to the future detail. The stories seem to keep shifting from the Govt - feels a lot like arse-covering.

 

[Messenger]

Big Footy. Hanging around stupid Scats / Poo and Wee threads.

Please. Dignified discussions between supporters of a highly successful football team and some country bumpkins.

 

[JackOutback]

On the DDoS issue the press debacle from this morning made it clear these attacks are frequent on government domains. I think it's fair to ask why geoblocking wasn't instituted from the start and whether some of the DDoS traffic wasn't actually legitimate census traffic and they didn't load test their servers adequately.

I have a VPN and I switched from an international region to Australia because I guess I assumed it would need to know I was in Australia (I didn't really think about it at all, just did it). As you mention it, it seems like a no-brainer, given it is a survey of people in Australia on the night. It really has been poorly thought through and executed.

 

[DELIBRATE !!!!!]

I did my census early in the afternoon because I knew the website would crash.
One big waste of time and money.

 

[Long Live HFC]

Don't kid yourself that the data isn't abused.

do you have some examples of this abuse?

 

[Farm Boy]

I'm not surprised, Turnbull is always in a rush. The job is never done properly. This is an absolute shambles.

 

[coerced]

do you have some examples of this abuse?

It's used by the GOVERNMENT to determine where spend the money it collects through TAXES.

 

[coerced]

I'm not surprised, Turnbull is always in a rush. The job is never done properly. This is an absolute shambles.

in fairness this was Abbott's disaster

 

[Long Live HFC]

It's used by the GOVERNMENT to determine where spend the money it collects through TAXES.

sorry, could you elaborate? i can't tell which part you're taking the piss about

 

[Sinjin Smith]

On the DDoS issue the press debacle from this morning made it clear these attacks are frequent on government domains. I think it's fair to ask why geoblocking wasn't instituted from the start and whether some of the DDoS traffic wasn't actually legitimate census traffic and they didn't load test their servers adequately.

That's the mind boggling part, this is too simple for security 101. I'm not overly read up on the latest however IBM won the tender and built it and I'm really keen to know where and what data centre it was hosted within. Th census application and front end is pretty simple stuff. Most of the cost (depending on the tender process) would have been used within the network and infrastructure architecture and deployment. I find it hard to believe that did not involve any security service to geo block or soak the threat traffic (still can't get my head around no geo blocking, you can do it on a perimeter load balancer ffs), especially from IBM. I'm not convinced this was a ddos attack.

 

[H2F]

I just alerted ASIO to your existence.

You wouldn't do that Mess.

You know I'm retired and done as a Commando.

Could handle everything but the darn sea sickness.

 

[JackOutback]

The Coalition is determined to screw up the post-Census message as much as it did the pre-Census message. Depending on who you speak to, shutting down the Census was a precautionary measure to protect our data, was not even an attack because it didn't succeed (lol) or an unfortunate confluence of events.

 

[Bomberboyokay]

Last night I filled it all out but at the end it came up with error messages. Tonight the site won't load.

 

[AM]

I'm not surprised, Turnbull is always in a rush. The job is never done properly. This is an absolute shambles.

I'm far from a Turnbull fan. But to lay the blame at his feet - really?

 

[coerced]

Apparently all the census data is safe. All 50 of them.

 

[Jiska]

Privacy laws make it difficult for government agencies and departments to share such information between them. It's often an issue when one government agency knows or suspects that a child is at risk but can't disclose that information to another agency (eg., the police) due to privacy restrictions.

Change the law.

We have no privacy these days anyway. May as well let the various Government departments share information.

Besides, a lot of departments already share person information; AEC, ATO, CSA etc.

 

[Farm Boy]

in fairness this was Abbott's disaster

The idea perhaps, but not he implementation. Plus, there are no guarantees Abbott would've rolled it out if it wasn't ready to be implemented. That is a hypothetical (to suggest he would've). But what we do know is that Malcolm has rolled it out, and it is currently a shambles. This is a debacle, and the bucks stops with Turnbull.

 

[Long Live HFC]

Most people find it different when someone demands something, as opposed to asking for it.

? other than input method, what's been "demanded" differently from previous censuses?

 

[armpit]

So what? It crashed because of over use or was it hacked? Whose interest would it best serve to stop the census?

 

[Messenger]

You wouldn't do that Mess.

You know I'm retired and done as a Commando.

Could handle everything but the darn sea sickness.

Of course I wouldn't. In fact I got a bit nervous about giving my name to the government, so I used Chism's instead.

 

[H2F]

Of course I wouldn't. In fact I got a bit nervous about giving my name to the government, so I used Chism's instead.

No jokes I got about a dozen fines as kid for no train tickets and always gave the name of this guy across the road whose Dad would ring the cops every time I ride out on my mini bike ...

Gave his name on the census.

 

[Procrastinator35]

I'm not surprised, Turnbull is always in a rush. The job is never done properly. This is an absolute shambles.

Where's Ted Bull-pit, when you need him?

 

[Dugdale2Dwyer]

Out of all this is the poor leadership from politicians and the head of the ABS, blaming hackers is the weakest excuse available, as someone said whenever someone does an abusive facebook or twitter post, it is always blamed on 'hackers', heads should roll, another thing, how many people today said 'stuff it, wont bother with the census after last nights debacle'?, so in essence the whole exercise is compromised, another waste of money down the gurgler.