Giz is no fan of the current government’s mandatory filtering proposal, but the history of Australian government net filtering is rife with wasted money and wasted opportunities. Realistically, though, what should any government be doing? More »
It’s no secret that Giz isn’t a fan of the government’s filter. Though Telstra has now adopted a more moderate voluntary framework (and Optus soon will), other ISPs like Internode and iiNet call it “security theatre” bypassed with basic DNS tweaks. The latest filter news: NBN Co has confirmed it won’t be filtering–that will remain in the hands of ISPs. More »
In last year’s budget, the federal government introduced a $9.8 million program to assist ISPs in offering voluntary filtering measures. In last night’s budget announcement, that program was scrapped. Turns out, nobody actually wants internet filtering… More »
Just before the election the government’s proposed internet filter was postponed until next year, in what was widely regarded as a quick and easy way for the government to kill off a controversial election topic. But it didn’t die. Now John Hilvert at ITNews is reporting that a strategy brief from the DBCDE is stating that the legislation couldn’t be introduced to parliament until the middle of 2013. More »
It seems that no matter how many FTW’s Senator Ludlam drops in his press releases, the Labor government is like a stubborn mule when it comes to filtering the Internet. Or, perhaps a more apt simile is a stubborn ass. PM Julia Gillard told an audience at the Queensland Media Club in Brisbane that implementing the filter is a “moral question”. More »
After the high drama that was the 2010 Australian Federal Election, things are starting to settle down into a sense of normality. Well, as normal as you can get with a minority government, anyway. But the news relevant to technogeeks like yourselves is that filter-loving and NBN-dishwasher creator Senator Stephen Conroy still has his BCDE portfolio, while across the floor on the opposition side, Malcolm Turnbull has risen up as his new political nemesis. More »
I’m really into whiskey, but I think I’ll pass on tasting Gilpin Family Whisky. Why? Because this single malt whiskey is made from urine. Specifically, it’s made from the sugar rich urine of elderly diabetics. More »
While in Berlin for the LinuxTag 2010 conference a couple of months ago, I took the opportunity for a 8-mile long meandering walk across the city, from Warschauer Strasse and the East Side Gallery to Wittenbergplatz and KaDeWe, taking in the various historical sites along the way. It was a great refresher course in 20th century European history. I especially enjoyed the free outdoor exhibit in Alexanderplatz, which dealt with the Revolutions of 1989 with a focus on the various dissident movements and publications in the DDR. Most were self-published, stealthily distributed samizdat newletters, copied laboriously using typewriters and carbon paper, primitive printing presses, or toward the end, some personal computers smuggled in from the West. They had on display an Amiga 500 and an NEC Pinwriter P6 used in 1989. Through “advanced” technology like this, document production could be raised from a few hundred to tens of thousands of copies. More »
While the focus of the election from a geek standpoint has shifted from internet filtering to the NBN given the fact the Libs and Greens have both promised to block the filter in the senate, that doesn’t mean online safety has gone away as an election issue. The Greens today announced their policy, and to give them credit, it’s a common-sense approach. More »
