http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WxGyPTndqms

A story from a former Canadian Premier on Fat Cats and how we choose to allow them to remain in power

happy canada day! ;-)

This Government has literally no idea what it’s doing with the online environment, and has shown an outright refusal to be educated about it. Is it any wonder that so many people distrust them?

And even more scathing, or embarassing, is, we let them do this.

At the end of the day, we can repeat ourselves ad infinitum about the technology morons who are meddling in things they have no hope of understanding. Or we can do what Mark has done and try to get them to wake up.

Is it out of place? I don’t think so. Have you watched a typical question time? It was mild compared to the behaviour of our overpaid politicians, who’ve got teams of spin doctors and bureaucrats refining their every word in attacking one another.

If politicians are children – and they certainly seem to be – then they are naughty little children who need to be disciplined. We have to try to get through to them. Disagree with the method if you will, but at least applaud him for standing up.

How do we simplify this issue and counteract Conroy’s political soundbyte of “I’m not into opting into child porn”. (Which to us is one of the dumbest things he has ever said, but the ‘general population’ may buy it).

The real issue here is censorship and control of information – and we need to convey this in a way the ‘average Aussie’ understands. Maybe a sports themed metaphor? Say, imagine watching a football match with chunks missing out of it, because it has been censored and considered ‘too rough or violent’. Football codes in general have been altering their rules over the years in an attempt to limit contact between players, despite it being a contact sport, and many a fan misses the ‘good old days’ when there was a ‘bit of biff’. Take it to the next stage for them – censorship – and they might finally realise it is about our freedom as adults, to decide what we want to see, not what the government deems fit.

I’m sure someone can come up with a better metaphor to appeal to the wider public, this is just an example off the top of my head, to get us all thinking.

We also need to explain in as simple way as possible, that this will NOT solve the issue of child pronography because that is shared on an underground network where users send content to each other directly – and if it travels through an ISP, it looks like any other data and cannot be detected. And that we would be much better off putting money and resources into the hands of people who can track down these predators and provide solid evidence to have them prosecuted.

Unless we come up with a strategy, this issue will disappear during the election and not raise it’s ugly head again until it is possibly too late. If Labour are re-elected, we KNOW Stephen Conroy will say he has a mandate and go ahead with it. And once it gets through as legislation – it will be extremely difficult to undo it.

Let’s face it we are not a particularly intellectual nation and few people really give a damn about issues that do not affect their hip pocket.

Now, how do we strap Conroy down and make him read it?

Presumably you mean “Insight” rather than “Insider”?