Tag Archives: openinternet

NBN: Viable or Not?

There has been a lot of bellyaching of late about whether or not the National Broadband Network (NBN) will be a viable proposition or not. Certainly, the purported cost of $43b is a lot of money, and when dealing with a sum of that magnitude, a certain level of caution is very obviously quite prudent. […]

Gillard Has Conroy-itis

It seems to me that Julia Gillard has caught the same disease as her Minister for (Mis)communications, Stephen Conroy. I call it “Conroy-itis”. The major symptom is the ability to say one thing about the proposed internet filter, when you know categorically that the truth is the complete opposite. For months Conroy in particular has […]

NBN: The Opt-In/Opt-Out Debate

There has been a lot of discussion in recent weeks in regards to the opt-in or opt-out question for individual premises during the rollout of the National Broadband Network (NBN). In Tasmania, where the initial rollout of the network is underway, the government has chosen to adopt an “opt-out” model, while New South Wales and […]

In The Spirit of Schrödinger

I got a bit of a chuckle out of a poll I stumbled across at the bottom of an article in regards to comments by Carlos Slim in regards to the National Broadband Network. Conroy Hits Back At Slim In the true spirit of Schrödinger’s cat, how exactly do you answer this: Are you for […]

More Internet Wrongness

I have a couple of Google Alerts set up to look for content online referring to myself, mainly just to see how people are using my content. I don’t have a problem with people using my content, and believe in the principles of Creative Commons, under which I licence my site. I just like to […]

NBN: Why Wireless is Impractical

Broadband in Australia is a hot issue right now. Do we spend $43b on Labor’s National Broadband Network (NBN), $6.5b on the Coalition’s hybrid wireless/satellite/”optimised” xDSL/HFC solution, or do we do nothing at all? Nothing is not an option – our broadband capacity is a joke – and for me it isn’t even a political […]

ACL: Hypocritically Filtering Factual Debate

Amidst the entire controversy surrounding the possibility of mandatory internet filtering in Australia, we have all come to know the two main advocates of the policy – Federal Communications Minister Stephen Conroy and the Australian Christian Lobby (ACL). I have previously commented on their ability to censor the debate to suit their own needs, and […]

Conroy: Shut The Hell Up and Get On With It!

In recent days, we have heard Stephen Conroy getting back into sermonising over his plan to filter the internet in Australia, in the best interests of “protecting” Australians online. Of course, anybody who understands what he is proposing knows that it won’t actually protect anyone from anything, so I don’t need to explain that again […]

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 – […]