Comments on: Surveillance state near, warns Pirate Party Australia

By: Josh

Josh — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 17:31:42 +0000

Pirate’s should work with Liberal Democrats to stop Australia’s nanny state.

By: Renai LeMay

Renai LeMay — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 05:47:01 +0000

Somehow I doubt that the Govt is planning to fork out the whole amount for how much it will cost … ;)

By: Renai LeMay

Renai LeMay — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 05:44:56 +0000

Maybe … but they have had a great deal of success in Europe with the name, and I think it appeals to generation Y (which I am on the cusp of). It’s kinda inverting the whole idea that pirating movies, music, games etc is a bad thing and making people realise that it’s part of today’s entire digital culture. And eventually many of those who would be offended by the Pirate Party moniker will become too old to become actively engaged with the political process …

By: Renai LeMay

Renai LeMay — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 05:42:20 +0000

I think that’s much of the problem here, Geoff. Politicians don’t think of themselves as the representatives of the people and the avatars of the people’s will. They think of themselves as being in positions of power and of how they can exercise that power.

There are some good thoughts on that here from Geordie Guy, who is involved with the EFA and the Australian Democrats:

http://delimiter.com.au/2010/06/09/the-truth-about-politicians-and-technology-policy/

By: Renai LeMay

Renai LeMay — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 05:40:10 +0000

Awesome, Clytie, this is exactly the kind of thing that Labor supporters need to do to send a message to the politicians in their ivory towers. If their rank and file support starts to evaporate from underneath them, they will truly start to realise they need to change their minds about these odious internet policies.

I mean, hell, I’ve voted Labor a couple of times in the past, although I normally vote Greens now. But I wouldn’t consider voting for Labor while we have these kind of anti-internet policies and while there are still people in refugee camps.

By: techie

techie — Sun, 13 Jun 2010 12:46:06 +0000

I hope the ISPs are able to pass on the cost of this surveilance. All that history has to be stored somewhere. storage aint free.

By: RoboticButtocks

RoboticButtocks — Sat, 12 Jun 2010 07:12:58 +0000

I admire what the Pirate Party are saying / trying to do, but they really have to change their name. I’m not a PR / marketing person and even I can see the name “Pirate Party” has a negative effect for the causes they espouse. Hell, I reckon they’d exude a better vibe if they were called the “Ninja Party”

By: RoboticButtocks

RoboticButtocks — Sat, 12 Jun 2010 07:08:54 +0000

Big props to you!!!!!!!! (and a couple of extra explanation marks)

By: Geoff

Geoff — Sat, 12 Jun 2010 06:18:05 +0000

I’d have less of a problem with this if the government was prepared to share with the taxpayers and voters a lot more details about themselves. Like records of which politician calls which to call in a favour in the party room. Or where we can have drill down access into what the government spends our money on.

Oh, and while I’m at it, I’d love to see some accountability and record keeping around what bogans spend my money on after Centrelink legally steals it from me and gives it to them.

By: Clytie Siddall

Clytie Siddall — Sat, 12 Jun 2010 04:47:24 +0000

I received an email yesterday inviting me to a country Labor conference. I replied, “I am unable to support a party which intends to censor the Internet. This proposed legislation breaches Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and is so far from traditional Labor values that I can’t believe they keep pushing it.”

In fact, I’ve left the Party over this issue, and I will not vote Labor while it remains. With the policy described in this article, we slide further down the same slippery slope of loss of human rights.

On a more frivolous note, I’d really like to see “national security” officers solemnly plodding through hours of 4chan and icanhazcheezburger. ;)