title: STRATUS: Towards returning data control to cloud users

authors: Ko, Ryan K.L.

subjects: Cloud security

abstract: When we upload or create data into the cloud or the web, we immediately lose control of our data. Most of the time, we will not know where the data will be stored, or how many copies of our files are there. Worse, we are unable to know and stop malicious insiders from accessing the possibly sensitive data. Despite being transferred across and within clouds over encrypted channels, data often has to be decrypted within the database for it to be processed. Exposing the data at some point in the cloud to a few privileged users is undoubtedly a vendor-centric approach, and hinges on the trust relationships data owners have with their cloud service providers. A recent example of the abuse of the trust relationship is the high-profile Edward Snowden case. In this paper, we propose a user-centric approach which returns data control to the data owners – empowering users with data provenance, transparency and auditability, homomorphic encryption, situation awareness, revocation, attribution and data resilience. We also cover key elements of the concept of user data control. Finally, we introduce how we attempt to address these issues via the New Zealand Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment (MBIE)-funded STRATUS (Security Technologies Returning Accountability, Trust and User-centric Services in the Cloud) research project.

text: STRATUS: Towards returning data control to cloud users When we upload or create data into the cloud or the web, we immediately lose control of our data. Most of the time, we will not know where the data will be stored, or how many copies of our files are there. Worse, we are unable to know and stop malicious insiders from accessing the possibly sensitive data. Despite being transferred across and within clouds over encrypted channels, data often has to be decrypted within the database for it to be processed. Exposing the data at some point in the cloud to a few privileged users is undoubtedly a vendor-centric approach, and hinges on the trust relationships data owners have with their cloud service providers. A recent example of the abuse of the trust relationship is the high-profile Edward Snowden case. In this paper, we propose a user-centric approach which returns data control to the data owners – empowering users with data provenance, transparency and auditability, homomorphic encryption, situation awareness, revocation, attribution and data resilience. We also cover key elements of the concept of user data control. Finally, we introduce how we attempt to address these issues via the New Zealand Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment (MBIE)-funded STRATUS (Security Technologies Returning Accountability, Trust and User-centric Services in the Cloud) research project.

year: 2015

title: Symbolic order and material agency: A cultural ecology of native forest remnants on Waikato dairy farms

authors: Jay, Grace Mairi M.

subjects: New Zealand

abstract: Loss of native biological diversity is a world-wide problem of growing international concern.  One of the main causes of native biodiversity loss is destruction and degradation of native habitat through land development for agriculture.  

The Waikato region is an example of the destruction and degradation of native habitat in association with the development and intensification of farming, including dairy farming.  This thesis explores cultural reasons for the loss of native forest in the Waikato region, and reasons why fragments of native forest remain.  The research involves a participant observation study of 'typical' dairy farm families for 9 months of the dairy year, in-depth interviews of dairy farmers who have protected a significant proportion of their land for conservation of native habitat, a questionnaire of dairy farmers, and an examination of dairy farm magazines and other literature to identify the values and attitudes that motivate dairy farmers in relation to land management and protection of native habitat.

The title of the thesis suggests two elements that are important for understanding the loss and persistence of native forest in Waikato's farmed landscapes.  Symbolic reason refers to the values, attitudes and perceptions of farmers that derive from socio-political and economic forces which encourage productivist practises that leave little opportunity for native forest to survive.  Material agency refers to the local circumstances of particular farms and individual people which enable native forest to persist.   The thesis argues that persistence of native forest depends on the idiosyncrasies of material circumstance in the face of relentless pressure to transform the production landscape for economic purposes.  

The thesis concludes with a suggestion that policies to assist survival of native habitat in farmed landscapes need to include ones that encourage the odds in favour of fortuitous circumstance.  In the face of globalised economic pressures, policies for conservation of native biodiversity need to involve a 'portfolio' of measures that apply to individual landowners and the wider rural community by recognising, assisting and rewarding management for non-production values.

text: Symbolic order and material agency: A cultural ecology of native forest remnants on Waikato dairy farms Loss of native biological diversity is a world-wide problem of growing international concern.  One of the main causes of native biodiversity loss is destruction and degradation of native habitat through land development for agriculture.  

The Waikato region is an example of the destruction and degradation of native habitat in association with the development and intensification of farming, including dairy farming.  This thesis explores cultural reasons for the loss of native forest in the Waikato region, and reasons why fragments of native forest remain.  The research involves a participant observation study of 'typical' dairy farm families for 9 months of the dairy year, in-depth interviews of dairy farmers who have protected a significant proportion of their land for conservation of native habitat, a questionnaire of dairy farmers, and an examination of dairy farm magazines and other literature to identify the values and attitudes that motivate dairy farmers in relation to land management and protection of native habitat.

The title of the thesis suggests two elements that are important for understanding the loss and persistence of native forest in Waikato's farmed landscapes.  Symbolic reason refers to the values, attitudes and perceptions of farmers that derive from socio-political and economic forces which encourage productivist practises that leave little opportunity for native forest to survive.  Material agency refers to the local circumstances of particular farms and individual people which enable native forest to persist.   The thesis argues that persistence of native forest depends on the idiosyncrasies of material circumstance in the face of relentless pressure to transform the production landscape for economic purposes.  

The thesis concludes with a suggestion that policies to assist survival of native habitat in farmed landscapes need to include ones that encourage the odds in favour of fortuitous circumstance.  In the face of globalised economic pressures, policies for conservation of native biodiversity need to involve a 'portfolio' of measures that apply to individual landowners and the wider rural community by recognising, assisting and rewarding management for non-production values.

year: 2004

title: Sweet as – the [ADJ + as] intensifier construction in Māori English/ Aotearoa English.

authors: Calude, Andreea S.

abstract: We introduce the Waikato Māori English Conversation (MEC) corpus, which consists of 43 dyadic conversations between 49 young adults who self-recorded informal conversations with close friends, in their own homes, with no topic of conversation specified (83 hours of dialogue; nearly 800,000 words). The resulting materials are colloquial and unstructured, capturing a wider range of pragmatic and stylistic modes than is possible in a standard sociolinguistic interview. Here, we report on one such feature, the [ADJ + as] construction, for example: ‘sorry some of the questions are like awkward as’ and ‘that caused a big as drama eh’. This intensifier construction has been identified as a distinctive New Zealand English (NZE) innovation, yet little has been written about this it. However, the Waikato MEC corpus presents the opportunity to analyse the construction in a more systematic manner and to fill existing gaps in analyses of Māori English grammar.

text: Sweet as – the [ADJ + as] intensifier construction in Māori English/ Aotearoa English. We introduce the Waikato Māori English Conversation (MEC) corpus, which consists of 43 dyadic conversations between 49 young adults who self-recorded informal conversations with close friends, in their own homes, with no topic of conversation specified (83 hours of dialogue; nearly 800,000 words). The resulting materials are colloquial and unstructured, capturing a wider range of pragmatic and stylistic modes than is possible in a standard sociolinguistic interview. Here, we report on one such feature, the [ADJ + as] construction, for example: ‘sorry some of the questions are like awkward as’ and ‘that caused a big as drama eh’. This intensifier construction has been identified as a distinctive New Zealand English (NZE) innovation, yet little has been written about this it. However, the Waikato MEC corpus presents the opportunity to analyse the construction in a more systematic manner and to fill existing gaps in analyses of Māori English grammar.

year: 2025