Author Archives: Michael Wyres

Another Nail in the Filter Coffin

Hot on the heels of the stunning revelation from Stephen Conroy that he intends to continue to pursue his mandatory internet filtering policy, comes what appears to be another nail in the coffin of the entire plan. Former Opposition Leader, Malcolm Turnbull, having gained the Shadow Communications portfolio in the usual post-election hulla-ba-loo, has wasted […]

Tech-Heads Finally Gain a Political Voice

It has been almost a week since the “longest election” in Australian history was resolved in favour of the incumbent Gillard Labor government, and there has been much discussion about who and what did and did not win the election in the final shakedown. After waiting for a marathon 17 days from election night – […]

Fifteen Milliseconds of Fame

Well the election has finally been decided, and the media are busily dissecting the historic events of yesterday, recording every last detail – real or imagined – for posterity. I actually got a bit of a laugh out of this article: Obscenity Uttered by Reporter Sparks Viral Debate They say if you live long enough, […]

Our Next Online Battle!

With the online community in Australia is cautiously celebrating the “near death” – (presuming all political parties vote as they have indicated previously) – of the ridiculous proposal for mandatory internet filtering in Australia, it seems we need to ready ourselves for the next fight. Data retention. Throughout the filtering debate, those in power – […]

Caption This Photo: Bob Katter Speaks!

Stumbled across this picture from earlier this year, when Bob Katter joined Communications Minister Stephen Conroy for what appears to have been a first-sod-turning ceremony for Nextgen Networks rollout of backbone fibre as part of the Broadband Blackspots program in outback Queensland. A great picture, and worth throwing out there for people to come up […]

NBN: A Lobby of Wireless Convenience

I found it most interesting that a group of Australian “telco leaders” have come out swinging against the proposed National Broadband Network (NBN) today. Telco Leaders Unite to Pan NBN “The alliance members are BigAir CEO, Jason Ashton; AAPT CEO, Paul Broad; EFTel CEO, John Lane; Pipe Networks founder, Bevan Slattery; Vocus CEO, James Spenceley’ […]

Why The Coalition Broadband Plan is a Waste

There have been many many articles in recent times in regards to whether or not Labor’s National Broadband Network (NBN) plan is a waste of money. Certainly, the reputed price tag of the network – either $43b or $26b depending on who and what you believe and/or read – is a BIG price tag, but […]

Twitter: Copyright and Etiquette

While there are no hard and fast rules when it comes to what you do – (or don’t) – post on Twitter, I think it would be a reasonable point of etiquette not to modify something someone has posted to suit your own view, and infer that the original person is responsible for the comment. […]

Tech Heads: The New Political Force?

Well, the election was last night, and after an excruciating five-week campaign, we are all none the wiser as to who will be running Australia going forward, with the result looking set to be a hung parliament. The current standings vary from media outlet to media outlet, with some having the ALP ahead, some having […]

Is The Wicked Witch Finally Dead?

In July, Stephen Conroy announced to the waiting world that his internet filtering legislation would be delayed for at least year, pending a “review of the classification system”, amid claims that special interest groups lobbying for the filter had been tipped off to the announcement ahead of time. Later, the Coalition announced that it would […]