With the expectation, if the polls are to be believed, that we’ll have a new government installed in September, does the federal Budget mean anything to the IT industry? [ + ]

Lawyers of Megaupload founder Kim Dotcom last week launched a white paper discussing America’s prosecution of Megaupload, in which they accuse the US of using “dirty tactics” and “due process abuses” in their case against the file sharing company. [ + ]

The New Zealand government has declared that software alone cannot be patented under NZ law, in a move it hopes will please local software developers. [ + ]

CeBIT StartUp 2013 is a dedicated three-day event for Australia’s vibrant and growing startup ecosystem. [ + ]

Researchers from the UK and the US claim to have found a link between reader activity on Wikipedia and subsequent falls on the stock market. [ + ]

Earlier this week at Interop in Las Vegas and to a small group of journalists in Sydney, ShoreTel announced a new product for its unified communications users. The ShoreTel Dock fuses the office phone with mobile devices. Is this a sign that UC is coming of age? [ + ]

The cloud gives unprecedented opportunities for IT to adapt to rapidly shifting business priorities. [ + ]

Details of potential data breach notification laws in Australia were revealed last week when the Federal Attorney-General’s Department shared its Exposure Draft Privacy Amendment (Privacy Alerts) Bill 2013 with a small number of key stakeholders. [ + ]

Personalisation is one of the most polarising aspects of e-commerce today: while many website operators love the potential benefits to their bottom line, users often consider it a breach of privacy and a corruption of the levelling effect the internet has on markets around the globe. [ + ]

Last week ispONE agreed to stop booting Kogan Mobile customers from its network without Kogan’s approval and the federal government launched an issues paper on the topic of multinational tax trickery. [ + ]

The rapid global take-up in mobile devices has been breathtaking - a trend that is creating opportunities as well as serious challenges for organisations. [ + ]

Tablets have completely changed the nature of information access for users right across the enterprise. But are they a long-term solution or a flash in the pan? [ + ]

Many companies use partners to support their core business needs. Do those partnerships leave you and your data vulnerable to attacks? [ + ]

Last week, insurer QBE announced plans to cut 100 IT jobs in Australia and take them to India, while a hoax tweet about a bombing at the White House sent US stock markets plummeting. [ + ]

Last week the Federal Court found SA-based mobile operator Excite Mobile guilty of “unconscionable conduct”, while the ACCC put new unfair contract laws to the test, launching legal action against ISP ByteCard for its allegedly unfair contracts. [ + ]