[ACS LOGO] Australian Computer Society

A community of purpose

The ACS, Strategy for Information Technology Research and Encryption in Australia

By Tom Worthington, President of the ACS

Presentation for the School of Computer and Information Science, University of South Australia

29 May 1997, 12 noon

Announcement

Tom Worthington argues that professional bodies, such as the ACS are important in providing a common direction for IT in Australia and to bridge the gap between Government, academia and industry. While there may be mutual interest in co-operation between IT organisations and sectors rivalries make this difficult to do directly. Mr. Worthington gives examples in the ACS's work on a strategy for Information Technology Research in Australia and the availability of encryption technology internationally.

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For further information regarding this seminar, please contact the school seminar co-ordinator, Elena Trichina, on +61 8 302 3553 or Trichina@cis.unisa.edu.au.

Draft of 26 May 1997 1996: The content of this talk will be developed here. Suggestions and comments welcome: tom.worthington@tomw.net.au

< Contents

< Introduction >

Thank you to the School of Computer and Information Science, University of South Australia for the opportunity to talk to you today. I am in Adelaide to chair the Annual General Meeting of the ACS on Friday.

As well I plan to look at some IT and do a record of the trip. Two questions for me on this trip are:

I spent Sunday to Tuesday this week at a defence communications seminar at Elena Trichina what you would like to hear about and what from previous presentations might be of interest. She selected:

Inspiration then came: what these have in common is a community of purpose. The Australian IT community is made of disparate elements: academic, commercial and Government. In working on subjects such as R&D policy and encryption for electronic commerce there are benefits for all by co-operation, but difficult for the parties to do this. Professional bodies, such as the ACS provide neutral ground for the otherwise competing or non-communities to co-operate: locally, nationally and internationally.

< The ACS: 30 years of Radical Change >

Worthington, da Cruz & Macdonald Last December we celebrated the ACS's 30th birthday. This is a photo of Andy Macdonald, Chief Government Information Officer, who gave the keynote address at the party (with Marghanita da Cruz and myself), Also I had the honour of opening the NSW Branch's conference the same day. This is from that talk:

IT is an industry which keeps reinventing itself. Not only the technology, but the terminology changes. What doesn't change is that there is a constant enthusiasm for new ideas and a need for this to be tempered by experience. Through the last 30 years, the Australian Computer Society has been part of making the change happen and attempting to make those changes positive.

The ACS continues to provide the standards for professional knowledge and conduct, even though the technology being worked on keeps changing. The ACS has set Australian IT professional standards through its accreditation of IT courses and with examinations for decades. Our new ACS Core Body of Knowledge has brought those standards up to date. The Code of Professional Conduct and Professional Practice expands on the ACS's long standing Code of Ethics. The ACS certification program shows how all IT professionals need to keep expanding their skills.

< Strategy for IT R&D in Australia >

Steering Committee The ACS is assisting with funding and expertise for a Government supported study to formulate a research strategy for Information Technology in Australia. This is a photo of the steering committee.

Preparing this report is an opportunity to showcase and "sell" Australian IT research. The ACS issued a media release asking researchers and business leaders to be involved in the project. However the real obligation is on IT researchers, who are the ones who want resources (money) and need to justify why this would be a worthwhile investment. Otherwise the community could ask why it should continue to fund IT R&D through government research grants and tax breaks.

One current example is the building of AARnet2, the new data network by and for our universities. The experience gained in this will be of great value to industry and Government who will need to build similar networks.

Those building AARnet2 could package their experience and make it available quickly. Even if they don't want to make money out of it, universities can exploit the PR value of the work.

There are useful proposals for the project to consider in previous reports, including Australia's Science and Engineering Base for Information and Communications and Chapter 5.2 of "Developing Long-Term Strategies for Science and Technology in Australia", by ASTEC.

A problem, due to the devolved nature of the Australian Government, is the number of separate enquiries and committees. Currently there are the: National Information Industries Strategy, by the Information Industries Taskforce for DIST, the Information Industries Competitiveness Study, by a consortium of The Allen Consulting Group Pty Ltd, Roger Allen & Associates Pty Ltd and Cutler & Company Pty Ltd for DIST and the Information Policy Advisory Council, chaired by Dr Terry Cutler for DoCA. These are working on aspects of IT which overlap with each other and with the IT R&D project.

A similar problem of proliferating enquiries was encountered a few years ago with InfoBahn policy. The ACS responded by preparing one report to all enquiries and conducting a public discussion of all the issues, particularly via the Internet. Something similar may be required now.

< Encryption & Electronic Commerce in Australia >

Professor Robin Milner and Tom Worthington

Public Key Authentication Framework (PKAF) in Australia

 PKAF is a proposal prepared by a Standards Australia committee for an Australian infrastructure for issuing authentication keys for use by Government, industry and the general public. I gave a short talk on it University of Cambridge Computer Lab last year and this is a photo of me handing Professor Robin Milner, Head of Department, a copy of The History of Computing In Australia, published by the ACS.

You can read the PKAF summary provided by permission of Standards Australia yourself. Here is a few things PKAF isn't:

The PKAF report provides a very good overview of the issues involved in setting up a system for authentication and the infrastructure required. It may be of value to other countries and to organisations considering the issues and as a tutorial for those interested in the issues.

In its simplest form the infrastructure would allow me to go to the local post office, pay some money, prove who I am and be issued with a private key. I can then use that key to do business on-line.

By addressing only authentication, PKAF side-steps the many difficult regulatory issues with use of encryption. However, this really just puts off addressing that issue, rather than solving the problems. Encryption will be required for on-line transactions.

On Friday 23 May 1997 the ACS backed calls from international IT security experts to end restrictions on the availability of cryptography technology.

The Computer Security Technical Committee (TC11) of the International Federation for Information Processing (IFIP), called for cryptography to be freely and voluntarily available to protect IT&T systems. The ACS is the Australian member of IFIP and Professor Caelli, is the ACS representative and Immediate Past-Chairman of the IFIP Computer Security Technical Committee.

< See also >