It annoys me when people argue about the NBN and all they can come up with is repeatidly say the world “Billion”. Also they say things like why do we need youtube videos faster or something to that effect.

What people are not getting is that its not about faster Internet to home computers. That is only a small part of the picture.

The NBN will

- Provide thousands of jobs to people over the construction period

- It will help the Australian IT industry move forward into new technologies leading the world. This would create a boom in IT jobs for people creating technologies utilising the new NBN. Anyone who works in the IT industry who values a prosperous future should vote for the NBN.

- It will bring up Australia to the top of the technological world, where as we are currently near the bottom. The Liberals answer will do little to nothing in pushing us up higher in the ranking

- It will increase the number of people able to work from home, helping to reduce traffic and pollution

- It would increase business productivity with faster access to information and inter-office communication

- It would help to eliminate the need for some interstate travel. With easier access to faster Internet it would allow more businesses to install video teleconference rooms. These rooms generally have a camera in the middle of half a table against a wall. The opposite image is protected against the wall to make it look like you are sitting across a table from someone. Technology like this would make a country like Australia seem even smaller increasing business ties.

- It will provide the infrastruture needed for government services such as e-health

- It will provide better access to information for Schools

- It would SAVE the government money. Let me explain this one a bit further. In Finaland recently the government has listed Broadband Internet as an essential service. This means that everyone in the country is expected to have the same access to fast Internet as they have to other services like water and power. Since this has been done the government has been able to remove a lot of manual paper processing to on-line websites.

- It would change the way we consume media. Instead of having a set top box paying for say a single Foxtel subscription you would chose from different Internet TV options. You may be able to buy individual channels from around the world, or bundled packages from companies like Foxtel.
Video on demand would be a way of life also. No more driving to the video store, just click and its streaming live.

The Liberals proposal for increasing Australia’s broadband is a mix of random technologies which will make it harder to give a unified service.
They keep going on about HFC cable being capable of 100mbit. Sure, it is, but it really can’t go much faster than that. Physics is physics.
Telstra stopped rolling out HFC cable back in the 90’s because of the cost and limitations.
But but, Labour is only promising 100mbit. Yeah they are, but the technology is already capable of 1000mbit and further. There have been experiments of up to 10,000mbit over fiber.
The other thing that the Liberals are not telling people is that HFC is shared bandwidth. Do you have a neighbor that downloads all day? Well guess what? You will be sharing your 100mbit bandwidth with your neighbor and everyone else in your area. So suddenly your 100mbit doesn’t look so great when you are getting dial-up Internet speeds with all the downloading and video on demand streaming from your neighbors.

Another technology Liberals are talking about is wireless. This also has physics limitations, is shared like HFC so the more users you get on one tower the slower it goes, and weather/buildings/trees/hills impact on this technology.

Labor you will get guaranteed 100mbit dedicated speed future proof to who knows what sort of speeds.

Liberals you will get either ADSL, HFC, Wireless or Satellite. You will get a guaranteed *peak* of 12mbit and the technology is outdated already.

So really the Liberals are committing money to out dated technology. They are better off scrapping this plan than spending money on it.

I am sure there are a lot of other things that people have not even thought up yet which will take advantage of the new NBN. Its a matter of working to the future.
This is about nation building. Some people say that they wouldn’t use it, but they would. Every part of everyones life would eventually change.
Even if they don’t use the Internet on a home PC, they would still get benefits from the NBN.

But why should we fund new broadband when everyone really has access already. Well why should we build more roads and expressways when roads already exist?
Its the same argument. Its part of Australia’s core infrastructure.
If Liberals scrap the NBN then lets scrap public road building also. Lets just leave it up to the market to decide where the new roads are built.

The Liberals have no vision for the future. They just don’t get it and they are taking advantage of the general Australian population not getting it also.
If you want the NBN but don’t want the Internet Filter;

In the Senate vote for – Greens or Liberals or Australian Sex Party – These three parties do not support the Internet Filtering System.
In the House of Representatives vote for – Greens or Labor – These parties support the NBN

Interesting turn of events yesterday.

The Liberals have finally said that they do not support the web filter. But they still have no answer to the NBN other than scrapping it.

The Liberals, Greens, and Independents such as Nick Xenophon are saying they will not support the filter. This means that Labor does not have the numbers it needs to get the filtering law through parliament.

The filter at this stage is ultimately dead. I don’t imagine there being a massive swing in the senate giving Labor the seats it needs to get the law through.

It is an interesting move by the Liberals though. People who oppose the filter may now vote for them as I have seen on twitter. But then there is a flip side to this. A lot of people are now saying they feel like they can vote for Labor now in favor of the NBN, without fear that they will be able to implement a filter.

I still feel that the Greens and the Australian Sex Party are the way to go in the senate. But I think this move makes my choice a little easier.

In a couple weeks it will be time to cast our vote once again at the federal election.
I am rather torn at this up coming election.

First off its easy enough to decide, Greens and the Australian Sex Party will be getting my votes due to their policies and views.
But I know in my area they wont get in, so really in preferential voting, it all boils down to who I choose 1st out of Liberals and Labor.

Liberals:

- Tony Abbott seems to have some of the craziest Christian based views out there. He has repeatedly said stupid things over the years. A summary of them can be seen here spoken by girls

https://www.getup.org.au/campaigns/campaign.php?alias=Australia_GetsUp_2010&id=1251

He is apparently homophobic and it seems that he doesn’t think much of womens rights going by his comments. He thinks abortions are the easy way out and that bibles should be in every school.

- They want to scrap the NBN. A nation building project that will last Australia for a long time. It will help business and change the way Australian’s get media. Yet, the Liberals want to scrap it.

- Liberals are also refusing to support or deny their support for the web filter. They are sitting on the fence it seems.

Labor:

- Backed by the unions. We know since the Kevin Rudd knifing that who is at the front isn’t who is in control of the party.

- They are pushing forwards with the NBN which is good

- BUT, they are also pushing forward with police state ideals of censorship and filtering. They want all net access to be filtered based on some arbatory system.
It is a policy which will not work. It is also terribly bad for a ‘free’ western nation such as ours.

- They want to log all Internet access. This goes with the filtering system, more infringements on our privacy and rights.

- Labor has totally blown our budget. From a surplus to a massive defficit. Can we handle another 3 years of Labor monetary policy?

As you can see, I have a problem.
It seems that the left and right sides have merged to become media fence sitters bent on pushing their views on everyone and stamping out personal freedoms.

Well what a day makes!
A couple days ago who would have thought that Kevin Rudd would be thrown out within the space of 24 hours.

It was obvious that the push has come from the people in the back room. Kevin Rudd did step down, but it was easy for anyone to see he did not want to go. Less than 24 hours before he stepped down he announced the leadership challenge and said he was ready for a fight.

Now the question is where can Julia Gillard take the government before the next election? I HOPE she will change the direction, but somehow I get the feeling that its asking too much. After all it is still the same party, just a new person at the front. By getting rid of Kevin Rudd Labor has shown that it doesn’t matter who is ‘leading’ the party, its really the people in the back rooms that have all the say.

My biggest hope is that Julia Gillard removes Stephen Conroy from the Communications Minister position. I do think he would be good to keep on for the NBN though due to the connections he has already made. But actually understanding other things in the portfolio, he is just not the right person for the job. A good alternative would appear to be Senator Kate Lundy. She seems to be one of the few people in the Labor party that understand Information Technology. Then again, as I said before, does it really matter what role the different people have. Will the policies change or will it all be the same with new faces.

It feels like each week the government comes up with some new plan to ‘protect us’ from the boogie men of the internet. This is a new week, so yep, its another crazy scheme that yet again proves that Stephen Conroy and Kevin Rudd have no idea how the Internet works.

This week it is the story about how there is a proposal for ALL Internet users in Australia to have mandatory Virus scanning and firewalls in place before they are allowed Internet connections.

Now here we go with the flaws.

1. How are the ISP’s going to verify that the users have Virus software and Firewalls installed?

2. I run Linux and Mac computers at home. Virus scanners are generally useless for Linux and Mac users. Sure
there are small possibilities for viruses and trojans. But for the most part they are not a serious issues at this stage. Also as far as I know there are limited or no resident memory virus scanning software available for the two systems, especially Linux. There is ClamAV for Linux but this is usually used on mail servers to protect the destination Windows computers from getting infected.
Will I be banned from using the Internet because I don’t run an operating system that needs a virus scanner?

3. Most people in Australia now use ADSL to connect to the Internet. This means most people use an ADSL Router for their connection. A firewall is pointless for protecting computers if there is a NAT router. A router effectively prevents connections from outside reaching a internal network computer which is what a firewall does. The difference is a firewall explicitly blocks the connections, where as a router basically ignores it unless the router is told to allow the connection through.

The last part of the government report mentions

“address the merits of an industry specific regulation under the Australian Consumer Law, including a scheme for the compulsory independent testing and evaluation of IT products and a product labelling scheme.”

This is very broad and very dangerous. What are they actually proposing here? Every bit of software released needs to be tested by an independent company before its allowed to be sold? or what?

Who does the testing? This will take a LOT of resources.

Under what guidelines?

Is the testing just on security, or other defects?

How much testing is done before its considered safe?

Does this cover Open Source Software?

Does it cover websites?

What about something someone releases for free?

Who covers the cost of the testing because it won’t be cheap?

What about freelancers? This would surely be the end of them.

Is this how the Government wants to drive the final nail into the coffin of the Australian IT industry?

I am almost speechless at the arrogance and ignorance of the Labor government. We need to get these idiots out of power!

Read more at: 
- http://www.itwire.com/it-policy-news/regulation/39894
- http://www.newworldliberty.com/newsarticle/australian-government-force-internet-users-install-state-approved-software

There was an article posted today on AdelaideNow titled “Wirreanda High School brawl raises Internet concerns” ( View on AdelaideNow ).

Basically it is about some kids had a fight at school ( as kids do ), and someone posted it to the Internet.

I find it interesting that everyone lately is suddenly focused on this big bad Internet.
Kids go and post a video online so its instantly attack the Internet, the government should be controlling it, etc.

Lets have a look at this.

Where did these kids get the mobile phone from for recording of the video? Hmm would that happen to be the parents?
So the two people mainly responsible for any fight footage becoming available online are the parents of the kids involved.

Second, these kids were apparently at School. It is unclear if the fight happened on school grounds or not.
Lets just say for now until proven otherwise that the fight was on school grounds for the point of this discussion.
There have been many other fights filmed and put online that were on school grounds so there is a good chance this one was too.

These kids were at school to learn, they were under the supervision of the teachers.
A fight happened that the teachers did not stop. This could be because they didn’t see it, or they couldn’t get there in time.
But either way it puts a small amount of responsibility onto the school.

Fights have always happened and always will. The response time and how they are handled is what is important.

Finally, if this is such a problem, then why are kids being allowed to take phones with cameras to school?
Its apparently all so bad that the government needs to be involved, talking about filtering, online ombudsmen to make sure content is removed, etc.
Wouldn’t it just be easier to ban phones with cameras in schools? You are not allowed to take knives or alcohol to school so why not cameras?

If after all this content still makes it online, which it will, then the laws should be changed to make filming and/or uploading a video of someone being bashed similar crime to assault
Just because the person filming it and/or uploading it may not have helped in the physical attack, doesn’t mean that they are not just as responsible for causing harm. The people should be tracked down and punished.

The Internet is not some mythical creature that needs to be treated different from other mediums. Uploading to the net is no different from copying the video and sending it through the post.

There are people responsible for a crime, they need to be punished. The parents and the school need to take responsibility also.

Edit: I also find it amusing that its so bad to be online, but its fine for media outlets to show it on their own website.

So, tomorrow is election day. Who should I vote for? Anyone have any suggestions? I have tried to sort through the candidates myself but I still feel like they are not really offering anything. We have Mr Mike Rann who appears to have done nothing much for the past 8 years and supports the views of Michael Atkinson ( if he didn’t then he would get rid of him ). I sent Mr Rann a letter asking what his opinions are on a number of topics, I did get a response that he is very interested in my questions and will reply AFTER the election. I was actually very interested to see his responses but they will be a bit late coming after the election. Alternatively we have the Liberal leader, Ms Isobel Redmond, who no one seems to know anything about. I also sent her a letter asking for her opinion on the same issues. She didn’t even bother to reply. I am still interested in any replies if anyone would like to respond. The issues I outlined I feel are important and overlooked by a lot of people. Third option I have is Family First. I would never *ever* vote for Family First. So that really leaves me with Gamers4Croydon in the Legislative Council and Greens in my Electorate. If anyone is having trouble working out who to vote for check out this page which helps you number the boxes below the line http://www.clueyvoter.com/ This system is not a recommendation on how to vote. It just atomatically numbers the candidates based on your selections.

In my previous post I mentioned about the Adelaide Parklands Preservation Association, this group seems to want to stifle any progress this city can make. Another group that appears to have similar intentions is the Adelaide City Council. It looks really bad for Adelaide when every building proposed gets a “oh it could be a little bit to tall”. Come on, we have some of the smallest buildings in the country. Queensland is expanding at a crazy rate. Look at its buildings and building policies. An argument against tall buildings is often “oh but the flight path”. What about the flight path? Other cities around the world cope fine with tall buildings around their airports. Also if you look at a map of Adelaide and draw a line from the runway you can see that the planes can easily miss the CBD. Its not like its tall buildings then suddenly a runway. Adelaide needs to build up not out. We need to stop this crazy nonsense of building temporary structures each year for the Clipsal race. We should have permanent buildings that have other purposes throughout the year. Something needs to be done with Victoria Square. It needs more happening like Federation Square in Melbourne. Rundle mall needs to open restaurants and shops on the balcony level. Rundle mall also needs to be open later. Its crazy that the shops close at 5 when there are hundreds of workers walking through the mall on their way home. These are all simple things to help stimulate our capital and yet the progress haters complain. Adelaide is the capital of South Australia meaning that it is the place all South Australians should be able to go to, to work, play and shop. All South Australians should have equal say on what goes on in the CBD. It is the capital of our state, not the backyard of the few people that live there.

Clipsal is over for another year, so once again its time for the Adelaide Parklands Preservation Association (APPA) to pop up “demanding” bans.
This year they aren’t specifically calling for a ban in the Clipsal. This year they are calling for a ban on all events that charge people for entry.
The ban would basically cover Clipsal, Fringe, Adelaide Festival, WOMADelaide and the Horse Trials to name a few.
So by proxy they would achieve their goal of finally getting the Clipsal banned.
Now while I have never been to the Clipsal, I can see how important this and other events are for Adelaide. Other cities around Australia would absolutely love to have some of these events.
The amount of money they bring in with tourists and business opportunities is massive.
If all these events were to go, then why would people travel here?
There is pretty much only the Tour Down Under to bring people here. We aren’t going to get tourists or business opportunities on the same scale with this one event.
I am sick of this small vocal group constantly trying to stifle progress in this city, when progress is exactly what Adelaide needs.
The fact they generated a list of “demands” makes me even more angry.
Adelaide is a backwater, the butt of jokes in other cities around Australia. When we finally get good events and festivals going a group of people go whinging that its bad for the parklands.
The parklands are the property of every single citizen in South Australia. They should be utilised to their full potential to bring benefit to all South Australians, not just the few people that happen to live near them.
These people say that the parklands should be for people to play cricket and so on. Even with the Clipsal and Fringe on at the same time, there is PLENTY of areas to play cricket or what ever.
Its not like ALL the parklands are being closed. The size of the areas being closed for a significant time is tiny compared to the overall size of the parklands.
More on the story at City North Messenger
Clipsal is over for another year, so once again its time for the Adelaide Parklands Preservation Association (APPA) to pop up “demanding” bans. This year they aren’t specifically calling for a ban in the Clipsal. This year they are calling for a ban on all events that charge people for entry.The ban would basically cover Clipsal, Fringe, Adelaide Festival, WOMADelaide and the Horse Trials to name a few.
So by proxy they would achieve their goal of finally getting the Clipsal banned.
Now while I have never been to the Clipsal, I can see how important this and other events are for Adelaide. Other cities around Australia would absolutely love to have some of these events.The amount of money they bring in with tourists and business opportunities is massive. If all these events were to go, then why would people travel here?There is pretty much only the Tour Down Under to bring people here. We aren’t going to get tourists or business opportunities on the same scale with this one event.
I am sick of this small vocal group constantly trying to stifle progress in this city, when progress is exactly what Adelaide needs.The fact they generated a list of “demands” makes me even more angry.
Adelaide is a backwater, the butt of jokes in other cities around Australia. When we finally get good events and festivals going a group of people go whinging that its bad for the parklands.The parklands are the property of every single citizen in South Australia. They should be utilised to their full potential to bring benefit to all South Australians, not just the few people that happen to live near them.
These people say that the parklands should be for people to play cricket and so on. Even with the Clipsal and Fringe on at the same time, there is PLENTY of areas to play cricket or what ever.Its not like ALL the parklands are being closed. The size of the areas being closed for a significant time is tiny compared to the overall size of the parklands.
More on the story at City North Messenger