Forget automated process mining, the business may finally get the collaborative discovery tools they need !

It’s no secret that the race is on for vendors to create a BPM platform based on a mashup of their suites with a social network hub. But do they really understand the power behind what it can achieve in the hands of the business community or are they caught up in the rush to have a product out in the market as fast as possible ?

The social medium has grown exponentially in the last 2 years, with social networks, communities and DIY sites aplenty on top of OEM companies trying to emulate and better the success of Facebook and Twitter such as Microsoft’s Vine and Google’s Wave. The more creative uses of these platforms are being generated outside of the product’s original design and it could be a glimpse into how the mashup between BP tools and social media will play out.

Blueworks and AlignSpace are notable in their different approaches to creating this new process paradigm; on the one hand IBM’s baby seems to take a technical approach to the solution, on the other SoftwareAG leans heavily towards the business user. There’s no correct or best way since it’s all new territory but taking some cues from the Twitter scene here’s how I think the business community generally could benefit.

1) Much like social media marketing where a company can engage is external consumer audience with interactive messaging a company can employ the same techniques for its internal customers across the business. The key here is not to create a simple bulletin service but an engagement platform.

2) Where it may be useful, again in the same way companies monitor brand awareness and brand image externally, is monitoring the communications between individuals and departments to gauge the general mood and ambience within the company, something which is only measured culturally by static questionnaires sent out during scheduled periods.

Now, add in process management and suddenly you have an extremely powerful collaborative engine for not only sharing process design, improvement and management tasks across the enterprise but also a way for the business to conduct process discovery itself without the need for complex and IT driven data analysis techniques.

We all know very well that when embarking on a process exercise actually gleaning the correct and relevant information can be a task in itself, invariably with gaps in understanding the process end-to-end or little manual factories of work which are hidden away. One of the hardest things to achieve is getting a large audience around the workshop table (whether they’re all based in the same building or spread to the four corners of the globe the issue remains the same, getting them to attend in the first place !) and extracting the information from them, it can be a contentious and intimidating environment for some. Having a tool that not only allows conversation to take place simply but to share process instantly and collaborate on design and improvement can and should lead to information being discovered much more readily, with interaction from dependant parties in the process easier to engage with.

Not only is this aiding process discovery from a business perspective but also ownership becomes a lot easier to understand as the nature of the network allows the relationships in the process to be more visible than just being captured in a swimlane which creates imaginary boundaries and silos for the wrong reasons.

The importance of the success of such a combination of tools and platforms is down to two factors alone: whether the solution provider truly understands the power it can arm the business community with and whether the business community truly understands the power it’s being given. Without both we’ll just end up with a limp diagramming tool and internal chat channel. And I can’t see a company’s procurement buying into either.

Footnote: I worryingly read a couple of Tweets this week suggesting that AlignSpace should combine with ARIS Express now that SoftwareAG and IDS Scheer are bedfellows. If Thomas is listening, for God’s sake don’t let it happen my friend, the world is not ready for BPM’s own Frankenstein’s Monster.

Sometimes, when a man loves a woman a whole bunch (or when a man gets a woman pregnant), they get married.

Sometimes these two people will discover during the years that they’re very different and get divorced. If they work through their differences and stick together, they become material for a sitcom on CBS.

In a recent example of the former, a woman who had been divorced for more than two decades only recently started to collect alimony payments.

When Paul and Theresa Taylor divorced in 1982, they split amicably and waived any right to alimony. Through the magic of the justice system, Ms. Taylor convinced a Massachusetts judge to make a new $400 per week charge to Mr. Taylor’s pocketbook.

The Taylors’ situation exemplifies the need to reexamine alimony, or finally just wipe out marriage and let the homosexuals win. (Haven’t they been trying to ruin it for years? That’s what I heard on the radio.)

Alimony has changed over the past few decades. Women have gone above and beyond the glass ceilings that hindered them in the 1950s. Why do we still treat alimony as if everything’s still black and white? Any spouse who sacrifices a career and health to raise children is obviously at a disadvantage in a divorce, but this is not always the case.

Alimony shouldn’t be enforced as some sort of punishment for a marriage being dissolved, but as a transaction to ensure either person’s burdens are taken care of until they get on their feet.

We have prenuptial agreements, but it’s an option not usually used. Students have a hard enough time convincing their roommates to split the Netflix account. How can we expect people to come to rational decisions about this on their own when the game of love is involved? States such as Pennsylvania and Oklahoma are currently battling to change these laws, but there is another solution.

When a couple approaches the altar or public servant to dedicate their foreseeable futures to one another, why not have them sign one more document after saying “I do”? If they wish to tie their finances to one another forever then so be it, but get it in writing first. Save us time in the court proceedings.

Did you waste away five years of your life in an unholy alliance? Get five years of alimony pay. If I had that many years of paid free time, I would have invented a new color by now.

If it’s that awkward to talk to your bride-to-be about this, then maybe you shouldn’t be getting married. I understand the uncontrollable love you might feel at that moment, but your “perfect” man was an imagined version of Maverick from “Top Gun” – that’s not a real person.

If you think this makes divorce too easy, go ahead and lock yourself in financially for the rest of your life. You can’t buy love, but you can become in debt to it.

Originally published in the Indiana Daily Student on October 4, 2009.

Republicans, you need to step up your game. I’ve always strived to be independent and not side with any particular party, but you guys are making it hard.

If you want to win over the new generation of voters, becoming the political equivalent of a Disney villain is not the best step. Let’s not debate the intricacies of your policies; let’s just look at the thesis statements that most young people see.

Gay marriage: You don’t want certain people to get married. You’re King Triton, keeping Ariel from being with Prince Eric. Never mind the fact that Eric loved a girl he hadn’t talked to who seemed to be extremely dumb. I’m sure that attraction wasn’t based entirely on Ariel being a cartoon babe. But kids don’t care about that.

Republican Minority Leader John Boehner, be more singing-Jamaican crab, less mermaid king with a trident.

Hunting: Think Cruella de Vil or the villains from The Rescuers Down Under. Kids like talking mice, not mean Australian poachers. Try to move away from having your politicians take photo ops with dead animals. No one needs to see Tom Delay hunt down and kill the last unicorn, and eating it raw on live television during a press conference was a step too far.

Health care: You don’t want people to get medicine. Balto ran across some ice country with medicine for sick children. Don’t become the evil dog. Be the talking goose.

Republicans should realize more than anyone that most Americans don’t look past the first layer of an issue. The Bush administration’s entire re-election platform was based on the idea that Kerry’s appointment would drown the nation in a sea of Teresa Heinz ketchup. The related ads were only shown in a few counties. That’s why you didn’t see them.

There’s got to be something you guys can be cool with. You have country music and 3 Doors Down. Democrats have everything else. The situation has been mishandled so much that the slow jazz of NPR is seen as hip.

How are you letting the nerds that are Ira Glass and Anderson Cooper beat you?

At this point, if people started gaining superpowers, I’d expect the conservative platform to be, “We’re not in favor of people getting to fly.”

Some suggestions to get the public back on your side: three-day weekends. All the time. Justify that our extra free time will lead to more spending and stimulate our economy. Call the new day off Screaming Eagle Day and put it in the middle of the week.

Instead of fighting the public option, find a better alternative. Give national discounts on NyQuil and Band-Aids. That will appease the majority of people’s problems. Not everyone has kidney failures or needs cancer treatments.

These are just a few ideas. If any Republican strategist wants to get a hold of me, I can field any and all questions via e-mail, which I’m sure will be completely positive and not angry in the least.

Originally published in the Indiana Daily Student on October 4, 2009.

Digital communications in conjunction with the use of the modern internet have grown exponentially to the point that to communicate digitally has become an indispensable facet of everyday life. From cellphones, to netbooks to email, blogs and online portals, the transfer and exchange of electronic data controls the way many interact with each other and communicate both personally and for business. Now with the current trend moving towards “cloud” computing where all a persons or companies keep important documents stored and accessed online or in the “cloud”, cyber security has now become the number priority of many.

Methods to protect data as encryption, antivirus software, firewalls, and access passwords have been around long before the modern day data revolution, but unfortunately none of such have grown as effective security solutions to accommodate the modern day modes of digital communication. Devices which can connect to the global data network or Internet, have become increasingly smaller and more intelligent. For example with just a modern cellphone, a person can access their email, post updates to blogs, and access personal or corporate documents all through the internet.

The typical security approach in the past has been based on the model to restrict access using firewall systems or detect intrusions as viruses using signature based scanning systems. All such solutions are based upon the concept to restrict, channel, hide and limit access to data. A firewall, for example, borrows its name from “fire retardent walls” which are designed to create safe areas where fire cannot pass because of the material from which they are constructed. In this case any external access that has not been deemed necessary to an internal or public network is considered fire and simply blocked. Antivirus solutions and the Virus signature model have also proven inadequate because of the turn around time required to update signature files and the amount of resources such systems use to scan 1000’s of files. It is like the concept of sending the police to everyones house in a city of millions of people to try and find where the bad guys are hiding. With modern computers containing several 1000 files, and the ever changing almost polymorphic nature of modern viruses, the signature based scanning model no longer is practical.

The problems with the current approaches, is with the increasingly widespread use of digital networks, there has never been any method in which to dynamically update firewalls or signature databases to accommodate for new types of access and threats. Almost daily there are new applications which are constantly becoming necessary for people to effectively gain access to digital services and equally new threats. The current security model was never meant to be a solution that determines quickly between good activity and bad. In fact it restricts the freedom of the entire group to protect from the potential threats of a few. A truly useful security system has to be able to allow and maintain access to the group and then only limiting or denying access to those activities that are out of line with the established norm of operations.

Each security technique brings with it a cost of ownership and generally firewalls, antivirus software, VPN networks, and access control methods serve more to limit access to modern day digital networks than actually protect them. System administrators and corporate IT security directors can no longer feasibly follow the restrict everything model since in the end they are merely restricting legitimate access and extremely limiting the ability of their users to take full advantage of the digital information revolution and doing little to prevent actual “hackers” or unauthorized access to their networks.

A truly effective cyber security solution has to be as dynamic and flexible as the score of every changing applications and digital services and digital access devices being used. It is no longer a feasible model to restrict everything, or scan everything, as this only serves to hinder users from taking advantage of the increased productivity and power brought by the modern digital networks and internet and is a tremendous use of computing resources.

The cybersecurity security model for data networks can be defined as something which protects data and data systems by denying access to unauthorized users, preventing downtime of authorized services by unauthorized activities (Denial of Service attacks), and preserving the overall functional state of health of a digital network at 99%.

1)Protecting of data and data systems from unauthorized access

As more and more information is being stored online as financial information, credit card numbers, classified documents and information that cannot fall into unauthorized hands, data protection is the top concern of cybersecurity. Unfortunately there have been many famous security breaches of important data as millions of credit numbers stolen, to theft of corporate trade secrets and even concerns of foreign countries retrieving national security information by the use of trojans and other intrusion methods.

Methods for intrusion include

The installing of backdoor network intrusion applications hidden in or disguised as legitimate applications that enter inside a network by authorized users inadvertently opening infected emails or websites.

Brute force attacks, where common user names and weak passwords are exploited by systems that try millions of combinations of username, password sets to gain access.

Exploits in operating systems as Microsoft windows that allows a secure or authorized service to be exploited by found flaws in the softwares design.

Problems caused by poorly designed software, operating system flaws and misuse which of themselves may not be intentional.

Theft or breach of internal networks by employees or persons normally authorized with allowed access to the systems, or who hold access to certain areas where by internal snooping they are able to find passwords and authcodes to secure areas. (Notes left on desks, computers left logged in to secure areas.

Exposing of data to external breach by placing documents on USB pendrives and laptops in order to present such data in meetings outside of the network. Many times employees place a document on a USB pen that is for a presentation at a remote location, but they happen to also have secure documents unrelated to the current meeting which got left on their USB. Then they place their pen drive in a third party computer in order to present 1 document, not knowing that particular computer has a trojan which quickly copies all of the data on their USB to an unauthorized 3 party location.

2)Preventing downtime of authorized services by unauthorized activities

Brute force attacks, scanners and denial of service attacks can cause a network, its servers and main access routers, to be brought down to the point that the network is no longer usable in any form. Such attacks cause considerable damage and downtime to networks on a daily basis. The ability to detect such attacks and cut them off at the source farthest away from the core network and its services is very important to the overall health of a strong cybersecurity program.

3) Preserving the overall functional state of health of a digital network.

Preserving the health of a digital network is not just in the prevention of attacks and unauthorized activity but also in the preservation of core services and data access that its authorized users depend upon. It is not a viable solution to stop an attack or prevent potential attacks by also preventing or limiting authorized access. A cybersecurity solution has to be able to isolate and prevent attacks and breaches to its integrity by at the same time not limiting or denying access to its resources by authorized users.

It is clear from the many different ways that security can be breached in data networks, and the overwhelming dependence on such networks that the current security methods are not only no longer adequate to protect such networks, but themselves serve to further cause more security problems and network access issues. As such an urgent need has arisen to change the current mode of approach to cybersecurity and create a new dynamic model that is able to constantly adapt to the ever changing needs to protecting data networks.

A new IDS model must be created that has to adhere to the following goals:

The goal of any IDS system must be to preserve the integrity of the network in which it protects and allow such network to function in its ideal operating state at 99.99%.

An IDS system must be lightweight and dynamically deployed. An IDS system cannot itself become another intrusion and must not break the first rule by comprising the networks integrity in using too much computing and network resources in its attempts to protect the network.

An IDS system must be able to constantly adapt to an ever changing environment and self update its own signature records based on evolving threats. An IDS system must not require extensive hands on resources to constantly update its signature files and require manual verification that the threats it detected are actual and not false

An IDS system has to be able to simultaneously protect the network against attacks, unauthorized use and downtime, without preventing nor limiting network access and use of network resources to authorized clients. As such it must be unobtrusive at all times and preserve the network in an open state where its core services and resources are 99.99% available to the networks authorized users while detecting, isolating and preventing unauthorized activity.

Truly only research in proactive defense mechanisms will hold usefulness in protecting the digital networks of now and in the future. Brandt Hott EMX Inc

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Here are the details on the two internships this semester for my DIVA 300 class – the first being the Motion Capture Studio at Emily Carr University and the second being CODElab, a look into surveillance during the Olympics taking place here in Vancouver in 2010. Click final_report_john_deveaux for a PDF download.
– FlashAddict

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Did you have a transformative experience over the internship? How you may have changed since starting the internship?
MoCap – “John has grasped the principles of motion capture quite well. He has already exhibited thoughts of how to use the technology in areas outside the norm.” The paradigm shift for me in working with Rick in the school’s motion capture lab was seeing the ways in which the technology can be applied to multiple products, company and individual requirements. From biofeedback, to ergonomics, the applications for MoCap are endless.
CODElab – I and the CODELab artists mutually admitting errors were made and working to rebuild our collective relationship together.

How you may use the skills that you’ve learned in the future?
MoCap – I am presently building my own company to provide ongoing project management consultation with some key friends of mine; Paul Cordick who was a Producer/Project Manager at both Mainframe Entertainment and Electronic Arts along with Kirk Hutton, who just completed his MBA. Both of them will be assisting me in developing our business plan, scope/vision of the company and identify key clients and competition – having my own company will allow me the freedom to create and develop the projects that I truly want to work on.
CODElab – Learning how to setup and edit a Wiki page will greatly help me in the near future as one of my company’s first clients requires a wiki page to be setup and content input and maintained.

Do you have goals for continuing with the internship? Was there an on-going relationship that was developed or a network of contacts that will benefit your practice?
MoCap – Not directly with Rick in the MoCap lab, but he asked that I keep him in the loop as to the progress that the company makes moving forward.
CODElab – I will be doing some additional research for the CODELab artists later on this week for the project Wiki page and will be meeting with Simon later on in order to finalize what he needs me to look up. On a long term basis, I am not sure if I will be working with them down the road, but if our paths cross in the future, I would be open to talking with them to see if there are areas in which we can join forces.

Comment on the working relationship with the organization, working in a collaborative environment, the organization’s flexibility and communication about the projects.
MoCap – Not really applicable here as Rick and I were 1 on 1 all of the time and did not have a major project that needed to be worked on or completed by the end of the internship. That being said, I had a very good working relationship with him and would definitely work with him again in the future.
CODElab – There were a few bumps along the road in my internship with CODELab but at the end of the day, we were able to move forward based on mutual respect for one another and a common interest in putting forward a kick-ass art piece.

How your expectations of the internship changed over time? (what you ended up actually doing vs. what was initially proposed.)
MoCap – The complexities of the software itself are so immense that constant trouble shooting and tech support was required. In those instances where Rick was madly working away to try and solve the problem, rather than pester him with questions, in some instances it was better to just stand back, shut up and let him work the problem.
CODElab – Do to some miscommunications, the only concrete item that I have produced so far for CODELab was the Wiki page that I briefly showed during the mid-term assessment: http://codelab.blprnt.com/wiki/index.php/Information_on_the_Olympic_Games

Mention the tasks and accomplishments that occurred after the midterm presentation
MoCap – Working with Rick this week to ascertain whether data could be captured without the black rubber mats being laid out in the studio. By moving the mats off of the floor and dialing up the threshold of the cameras, we were able to prove that while possible, the square footage of area that is seen by the cameras is greatly diminished which would result in limiting the movement of the actors within the space.
Since the infrared cameras are very light sensitive, a potential project coming down the pipeline was looking to see if they could do mocap without the mats, as they are cumbersome to move and stack and also emit a fairly potent smell each time they are moved. The studio needs to be aired out as a result which means more time is lost
CODElab – still to be determined…

NEW DELHI — In a fresh move to strengthen security in India, telecom authorities this week imposed a ban on all services to mobile phones without a valid identification number.

The order for banning illegal mobile phones was issued in August, and mobile-service providers were asked to comply with the order as of Dec. 1.

A 15-digit International Mobile Equipment Identification, or IMEI, number is used to identify a handset on an mobile-phone operator’s network, which allows individual calls to be traced. The number helps track lost or stolen handsets that the country’s security agencies monitor.

Mobile-phone providers are required to issue an IMEI number when a new phone is activated, something they didn’t always comply with before Dec. 1.

The order by the Ministry of Telecommunications is seen as addressing concerns over the use of unregistered phones by terrorists. It bans mobile connections to phones using fake IMEI numbers.

“Mobile phones with an incorrect IMEI … number have been disconnected from December 1,” an official at the telecom ministry said Wednesday.

The order doesn’t apply to prepaid phone cards except for the state of Jammu and Kashmir. The government in that state last month banned pre-paid phones, although the ban doesn’t address this issue of pre-paid phones being brought into the state from another part of the country.

The order leaves users of millions of unregistered mobile-phones with two options: purchase a new phone with a valid IMEI number or register their existing phone number using software through the Cellular Operators Association of India, a mobile-industry group.

The Indian Cellular Association on Tuesday, which represents the mobile industry, said it “firmly stood” by the decision of the telecom ministry to block services to banned mobile phones. The association said this week that all unregistered mobile-phone users were disconnected as of Dec. 1.Mbt shoes   discount Mbt shoes

The group says that low-cost unbranded phones — mostly from China — without an IMEI number account for nearly 30% of all sales in India. Roughly, 100 million mobile phones are sold annully in India, according to the association.

China has made a major foray into the Indian cellular-phone market in recent years, many of which are sold as unregistered phones. These phones are sold throughout India and tend to be popular with low-income consumers.

“This is a must for security reasons and also for tracking lost phones in terms of identification,” said Arun Goyal, regulatory affairs advisor at the India Cellular Association in New Delhi. Mr. Goyal also said that all mobile-phone operators have been ordered to disconnect services to unregistered phones.

Vodafone-Essar Ltd., a major service provider, said it supported the government’s move. “Millions of consumers have been affected but security issues have to be given utmost importance,” a company spokesman said.

India is the world’s second biggest mobile phone market with 427 million users, lagging behind China, which has 600 million mobile users.

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I was interviewed by The Hindu newspaper last week and this is the resulting article published yesterday

This is the version with photo.

In a bit of fun and interesting timing it turns out I’ll be going to flocon in New Orleans this January.

Since I’ve spent the past 2-3 years doing business risk and security architecture, national sector level strategy, policy, etc….but now find myself getting into the technical details of building a CERT (ICS-CERT, specifically)…it’s suddenly time to get more up to speed on flows and how people are using them these days (Especially since I’d previously spent most of my time with firewalls and IDS data and not netflow / SiLK stuff).

My work on and release of pkviz this past weekend has helped a bit to get me re-focused on data analysis and playing with correlation tools and methodologies, but I’m still finding it odd going back to my earlier technology-centric security role  – which I’d thought I’d given up.  My head space has to be completely different than it was and I have to work around what some have called my fatalistic belief that technical security measures and analysis are doomed to fail in the face of our complete lack of interest in doing business risk architectures.

What scares me a little, though, is when I’ve been talking to people and doing research lately, it seems the state of the art of IDS, Flows, SEMS, SIEMS, network data analysis, etc. hasn’t changed all that much in the past few years. More vendors have sold more products, but they still do the same (questionable) things it seems. What gives? Am I off base?

Still, I’m pretty excited to get back into this type of thing and about the con. Who’s going to be there?

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Here are the details from one of the performances that I saw over this past weekend’s Interactive Futures conference here at Emily Carr. Click critical_review_john_deveaux for a PDF download.
– FlashAddict

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t2:Echo – by Henry Daniel

Due to the fact that my schedule was quite full this past weekend along with the fact that I get quite severe motion sickness from watching 3D movies, ride films and IMAX movies, I was not able to see most of the presentations that were shown at this year’s Interactive Futures conference at Emily Carr. That being said, the one performance that I was able to see in at least some form was t2:Echo by Henry Daniel.

While I was not able to see the entire performance, due to the fact that the concourse gallery walls that were blocking my seeing most of the actual dancers’ performances. On top of this, I was also helping direct the audience members to their respective locations, facilitating their viewpoints and actively going to get benches for more vertically challenged people to stand on.

By positioning the dancers in two separate yet interlinked locations, the director was able to create a bridge between the performances. This was further articulated by the video coding and processing for telepresence technology that was used to create the concurrent ghosting effect that was seen on the wall of the ECUAD concourse gallery and the main display screen in the IDS Motion Capture studio.

The ghosting effect that was projected onto the concourse gallery wall showed the dual performances and interlaid them onto one another and provided a somewhat random video playback quality as each dancer took centre stage in front of the crowd. They also entered the stage from multiple entry points and once their rotation in each location was complete, they then ran either to or from the concourse gallery and IDS MoCap studio in order to continue their respective performances there.

I have never seen a live dance performance like this before and it was quite the sight to see, as the dancers themselves were able to glide through the space with the greatest of ease and truly encompass it. From what I could see, it was a beautiful and creative bridging of technology and human performance into a multi-faceted co-locative art piece and would enjoy seeing more performances by Henry Daniel and his accompanying dance troupe.

IDS Sports and FDA notified consumers that five of the IDS’s dietary supplement products (Bromodrol, Dual Action Grow Tabs, Grow Tabs, Mass Tabs, and Ripped Tabs TR) contain the following undeclared substances, which FDA considers to be steroids: “Madol,” “Turinabol,” “Superdrol,” and/or “Androstenedione.”

Acute liver injury is known to be a possible harmful effect of using steroid-containing products. In addition, steroids may cause other serious long-term adverse health consequences in men, women, and children. These include shrinkage of the testes and male infertility, masculinization of women, breast enlargement in males, short stature in children, a higher predilection to misuse other drugs and alcohol, adverse effects on blood lipid levels, and increased risk of heart attack, stroke, and death.

The recalled products were distributed in either black boxes containing blister packs of 60 capsules or white bottles with black labels containing 30 or 60 capsules.

Customers who have any of the products in their possession should stop using them immediately and contact their physician if they have experienced any problems that may be related to using the products.

CLICK HERE to read the MedWatch safety summary, including a link to the Press Release.

Full article here.

A number of Meridian staff members were reported as having kindly offered to voluntarily run the courses for 14 days, so that students will be able to complete the remaining two weeks of the year. However, this proposal has been rejected by ACPET.

Why??

ACPET has offered design students a new home: Holmes Institute

However the college doesn’t seem to offer any design courses, the closest I could find was an IT program. I think ACPET is offering this option to students who are completing their diploma. I’m not sure but maybe they have a different school for those who are in the middle of their course, like me.

Also I don’t know why, but I’ve stopped receiving emails from ACPET since the Belongings Pick-up one. They still send me text messages but no more emails. I’ve checked my spam folder and they’re not there. So I emailed them and copied in the ESOS email address as well. Hopefully that’ll sort it out for me. Is anyone else having the same problem?

One more thing, I’ve gotten some bad feedback about Holmes College… is there anyone here that knows someone who has gone there?

Senate Inquiry into International Education in Australia

Apparently this has been going on for a long time.

Group description:

Recent upsurges among the overseas students indicate that there is a scam consisting of private colleges,migration and education agents exploiting and abusing the system and rendering scores of students helpless.

The ESOS Code has clearly not been implemented in the private sector and ACPET continues to avoid responsibility of member institutions.

Lack of regulation from the state governments in Victoria and New South Wales have allowed a multi-billion dollar industry to prosper with little governance and rule of the jungle.Furthermore the exorbitant and unjustified fee increases and introduction of the Student Amenities Bill will add to the burden on overseas students who are already paying through the roof and receiving little services in return.

The state governments in Victoria and New South Wales have also discriminated against overseas full-fee paying students by denying them transport concessions inspite of contributing up to $15billion in the economy.

The NSW government has introduced laws to prevent overseas students utilising the Equal Opportunity Commission to challenge the discriminatory policy of the state.Its about time that international Students stand up and speak against unethical and unfair treatment of ‘builders of the economy’

The email address meridian [dot] mel @ acpet [dot] edu [dot] au is the one we need to send our details to when we send them inquiries and requests. Let’s see if they’ll reply.

Hi
I know there’s an information meeting on Monday and that you’ve got a list of answers prepared for the hundreds of questions you’ll be bombarded with. If you could have answers to the questions I’ve got, I’d really appreciate it.

The details you need are at the bottom of this email.

My situation is this:

I started in April 2009 (Term 2 intake). This interrupted term was supposed to be my Term 3. I was supposed to finish my Cert III at the end of Term 1 2010 (what was to be my 4th term at IDS).

My questions are:

1 – What are my relocation options? Can I select an ACPET-affiliated school on my own? ACPET’s course finder online had a few options. I was looking to transfer to Grenadi School of Design.
2 – Do I have to restart my Term 3 (I had 2 weeks to go but do I restart this or do I continue from where we left off?)
3 – Will I be tied to the new education provider for another 6 months before I can move on to another school?
4 – If I don’t think any of your offers are suitable for my situation, who could I speak to regarding a refund? Under ESOS Act 2002, the student is entitled to a refund when the course is cancelled and when TAS has failed to find a suitable alternative course.
5 – Do we get appointed an attorney to handle legal proceedings?

The students from the last school that closed down (St George) were given only one option: Cambridge International College. I don’t know if that school can accommodate all displaced IDS and Meridian students though. But have you seen their building? I’d say they should be shut down instead of IDS, really.

News from ABC

Victoria’s Skills and Workforce Participation Minister, Jacinta Allan says the Government is reviewing legislation covering such colleges.

“The buck stops with the state regulator having oversight, and that is why we are making sure we strengthen the guidelines. We are reviewing the legislation,” she told ABC radio’s Jon Faine program.

“This is a company that’s made what appears to be a reasonably quick decision on withdrawing their financial support for the ongoing operation of the company.

I guess they’ll provide them at the meeting but maybe some of us can get a head start and not have to worry about grabbing a copy of the form and filling it out.

Download it here (92 kb)