ACS executives met with the President of the Computer Society of South Africa (CSSA) during his recent visit to Australia, discussing issues affecting the IT professions of both nations as well as opportunities for cooperation.

Peter Aspinall flew to Australia after attending the IFIP 2000 Congress in Beijing, seeking to develop a closer working relationship with the ACS as well as meeting with potential Australian partners for his training company, Strategic Business Services.

Although smaller than the ACS with 3500 members, the CSSA faces many of the same issues and challenges in an industry struggling to deal with a major skills crisis.

"We lost a lot of professionals to overseas markets in the lead-up to 2000 and continue to lose 3000-4000 people every year to the US, UK and Australia as the international shortage worsens," he said.

"We're also having to pay IT professionals international level salaries in order to keep them in South Africa, but there are some consultants whose families live in Cape Town but who commute to London for work because of the money they can command there."

Mr Aspinall said the CSSA saw the European Computer Driving Licence (ECDL) as one solution to the skills shortage, initiating the change of name to the International Computer Driving Licence (ICDL) that is also used in Australia to avoid any hint of apartheid.

The CSSA introduced the ICDL 12 months before it was adopted in Australia and Mr Aspinall was able to share with the Australian ICDL team some of the insights he had gained through their experiences with the program.

"We have accredited 70 training institutes and 10 testing centres, and have also worked hard to get the ICDL into the schools, technical institutes and universities as a way of promoting the Society and raising awareness of IT careers.

"We've managed to align the ICDL with the curriculum for high school computer studies and will see our first students matriculate in December, with major growth predicted for next year," he said.

Australian takes leading role in world IT bodyACS Immediate Past President Prins Ralston has been elected to the peak decision-making body of the global International Federation for Information Processing (IFIP). Mr Ralston, who is managing director of Darwin-based IT services company eNTITy1, has been elected a Trustee of the IFIP Council, an elite group of 16 people responsible for governing IFIP.

IFIP was established in 1960 under the auspices of UNESCO with a mission to be the leading, truly international, apolitical organisation which encourages and assists in the development, exploitation and application of IT for the benefit of all people. IFIP has 44 organisations as Full Members, representing countries from all regions of the world, including the ACS as Australia's representative society.

Australia's official representative to IFIP, Mr Ralston is only the second Australian to sit on the Council in IFIP's 40-year history. A former President of both the ACS and the South East Asian Regional Computer Confederation (SEARCC), he also serves in the highly responsible role of IFIP's Chairman of Publications.

"It's a great honour to be recognised in this way by my international peers," said Mr Ralston on his return to Australia.

"Having already served as President of the ACS and of the regional professional body, SEARCC, I'm excited about the challenge of going to the next level and taking a major role on the world stage. IFIP deals with over 50 different nations so there are lots of cultural and language issues to deal with apart from the different technology issues," he said.

ACS welcomes NSW Government crackdown on hackersACS President John Ridge has applauded plans by the NSW Government to impose harsh new penalties on those found guilty of cyber crime.

Mr Ridge said the announcement of new legislation, to be introduced into Parliament later this year, was a significant advance in the fight against hackers and those who create damaging computer viruses.

"The ACS strongly condemns anyone who uses technology to commit theft or fraud or to interfere with computer systems in any way and will apply its disciplinary powers to the fullest extent if one of our Members is found to have carried out this kind of illegal activity," he said.

Chairman of the Society's Economic, Legal and Social Implications Committee Philip Argy also commended the Government on its August 15 announcement, saying that NSW was also one of the first jurisdictions in the world to introduce legislation relating to computer crime when it amended its Crimes Act in 1989.

Mr Argy, who is also Chairman of the NSW Branch of the ACS, offered the assistance of ACS Members to help governments in fighting computer crime, noting that most police forces around the world lacked the sophisticated technical expertise that is needed to thwart modern cybercriminals.

IFIP Update

The International Federation of Information Processing (IFIP) celebrated its 40th birthday this year, marking the anniversary with a reception in Washington to coincide with the Council meeting there in March.

The anniversary was also a key focus at the highly successful IFIP World Computer Congress held in Beijing last month with more than 2000 participants from over 70 countries.

For many, this was their first visit to China and the positive impressions and experience were stepping stones toward future professional and personal contacts.

The President of the People's Republic of China, Jiang Zemin, addressed the Opening session. An electrical engineer by training, Mr Jiang followed his opening address with ‘off the cuff' remarks in English and was rewarded with a standing ovation.

Many attributed the official Chinese interest in the 16th IFIP Congress to the importance China attaches to IT for its economic and social development and as a recognition of IFIP's prominent role in the international IT community.