It seems that Minister for Censorship, Stephen Conroy has possibly already prompted the Australian Domain name Authority auDA to attempt to take down the StephenConroy.com.au site, allowing them only 3 hours to respond before forcing the site offline. Now online again in the less fascist .com domain.
Archive for the ‘Net’ Category
Australian internet censorship already underway
Saturday, December 19th, 2009Nerd alert
Sunday, May 31st, 2009I am in the local city farm supply store, buying some chicken life support material (shell grit, vegetarian feed (no prions 
, and some straw). Having just been to see MacHeads I’m wearing my “Mac Geek” t-shirt. I get to the checkout:
Her: “I like the shirt”
Me: “Thanks, it doesn’t get out much these days”
Her: “Wear it with pride”
Me: “Oh, I do” (I think that’s what I said)
Her: “I’m not a nerd I’m a 50th level paladin”
Me: “I think you spend too much time on Facebook”
Australian net censorship + NBN = NPN
Tuesday, April 7th, 2009Australian Government’s Internet Censorship + National Broadband Network = National Porn-banned Network
What’s on your mind?
Wednesday, March 25th, 2009The new Facebook’s “What’s on your mind?” prompt for the status update sounded familiar to me. Of course, it’s in (amongst other things no doubt) Bladerunner…
Tyrell: Nonsense. Just a moment. Mmm. Queen to Bishop 6. Ridiculous. Queen to Bishop 6. Hmm… Knight takes Queen. — What’s on your mind Sebastian? What are you thinking about.
Roy: (whispered) Bishop to King 7. Checkmate.
Sebastian: Bishop to King 7. Checkmate, I think.
Tyrell: Got a brainstorm, huh, Sebastian? Milk and cookies kept you awake, huh? Lets discuss this. You better come up, Sebastian.
Lifted from the script here.
I hope the new version turns out better for FB than it did for Tyrell
Kevin Rudd meets Chinese propaganda chief in secret
Wednesday, March 25th, 2009The Australian reports that Kevin Rudd met with Chinese propaganda, media and ideology chief Li Changchun in secret before heading to Washington.
Perhaps our Prime Minister is getting some hints on how to implement the Great Firewall of Australia as part of the new Australian internet censorship scheme.
News.com.au explicitly naming people in headlines…
Wednesday, February 18th, 2009Has anyone else noticed that news.com.au online headlines (not constrained by printed column spacing on dead-tree pages) are now including people’s names in them? Rather than “Man mauled by eggbeater” it’s now explicitly stated as “Joe Bloggs mauled by eggbeater”. Are they just trying to attract more hits from the ego-surfers? Or just hoping to make it easier to follow court case celebrities you can Google for?
Luna cinema’s e-mail list harvested
Sunday, January 25th, 2009I just got an e-mail from an address I only use for Luna Cinema’s e-mail list. It claimed to contain software for new Ikea 3D layout, attached as an ikea.zip file.
IKEA has a Fantastic new FREE tool for home decorating.
Introducing our Home Planner software which allows you to plan your home in a 3D environment.
Simply follow the instructions in the attachment and start planning your dream home today.
Needless to say, if you do get such an e-mail, don’t open the zip file.
The Weekend, redux
Monday, December 15th, 2008- Upgraded some of the blogs to Wordpress 2.7, nice UI, but I think it reminds me of Typepad or something…
- The feast of St. Lucy, and I get given freshly squeezed OJ and fruit toast in bed, constructed by Puggle and Bilby.
- Noticed that some Transperth buses have been converted into mobile Christmas trees
Transperth Christmas bus
- Went to the Perth internet censorship protest. Many in the crowd looked familiar. Sadly the open mike meant there were trolls and things wandered off-topic. How appropriate for a gathering of people brought together by their love of the internet. Fortunately the 9-11 conspiracists had brought a megaphone (it still doesn’t mean they aren’t nutjobs, just that they may be organised ones). Interestingly I noticed some crossover membership with the anti-Scientology protesters in the Hay St. Mall.
- Helped make Tapas bits and pieces to eat during a pleasant afternoon catching up with Adrian and Lin and Andrew and Kate. Wish I could find my recipe sheet…
- A trip out to Cuddly Animal Farm with the homeschoolers was lots of fun (lots of animals to interact with, bouncy castle, tractor rides, for $10 admission fee for over 2 year olds or less if your group pre-books), despite the sweltering heat. Fortunately they had a hose spraying around
- The Christmas tree is up, the reticulation repaired post-lawnmowing/whippersnippering, and the old fairy lights replaced with new-fangled LED fairy lights (the light is not as warm, but bright enough we probably don’t need the floodlight
Slipping censorship under the radar
Friday, December 5th, 2008Can anyone tell me why the Australian internet censorship trial is starting on December 24th, other than the government want to hide the trial amongst the busy-ness of the festive season? Might backfire for everyone who discovers their net is slow and broken during their holidays…
GetUp is accepting donations to fight the censorship here
Who to boycott…
Wednesday, November 26th, 2008That would be Village Roadshow, Universal Pictures, Warner Bros, Paramount Pictures, Sony Pictures Entertainment, 20th Century Fox, Disney and the Seven Network, who as the Australian Federaction Against Copyright Theft have filed suit against iiNet, at the same time as distributing “Nothing beats the real thing” DVDs to high schools (I guess they’re suggesting reading books instead of watching tv . Amusingly these “educational” packs include the claim:
The resource is not a propaganda exercise. It does make clear to students that there are harmful consequences from film piracy, but it does so through educationally valid processes. It is an educational approach that allows students to face a significant civics and citizenship issue: their role in a society where many of them and their peers are breaking the law.
Check out Tama’s blog or the Electronic Frontiers Australia response to the suit (and make sure you join the EFA, you may need their help someday. Maybe sooner than you think!)
