Mandatory Internet Filtering
The ALP content filtering scheme for the Internet was originally expected to contain an opt out option. So whilst everybody that was apathetic or indifferent enough would be forced to endure the governments version of censorship there would at least be an option for those seriously commited to their own personal freedom to have the “filtering service” turned off or to replace it with a private alternative#. However it seems this will not be the case. Instead you will be able to choose between Standard Government censorship and Lite Government censorship.
http://www.thestandard.com/news/2008/10/13/no-opt-out-filtered-internet
Australians will be unable to opt-out of the government’s pending Internet content filtering scheme, and will instead be placed on a watered-down blacklist, experts say.
Under the government’s $125.8 million Plan for Cyber-Safety, users can switch between two blacklists which block content inappropriate for children, and a separate list which blocks illegal material.
Pundits say consumers have been lulled into believing the opt-out proviso would remove content filtering altogether.
# for those that want a personal content filter to protect the kiddies I think the free service from opendns.com is fantastic.
Costa kicks Rudd
In an article titled “Greenspan not Gekko cooked up this stew” in this mornings Australian Michael Costa writes:-
Rudd’s comments remind me of the ideological nonsense I used to hear at ACTU meetings from left-wing trade union officials in the ’90s. Bob Hawke and Paul Keating were repeatedly attacked by the political Left for their neo-liberal policies of global integration and deregulation. Doug Cameron, now a Labor senator, gave a speech to the Tasmanian Fabian Society in 2005 in which he attacked, among others, the Labor Right for being neo-liberal. It’s an example of the ideological typecasting the political Left habitually uses. Anything that doesn’t conform to their world view of greater government intervention is described as neo-liberal. This epithet is a favourite of the anti-globalisation crowd. Indeed, there is nothing more old Labor than protectionism and industry subsidies.
Much of Rudd’s analysis is wrong. Historians of finance have concluded that the 1987 stockmarket collapse was complex and the result of a combination of factors, including computer trading, the failure of stock and index option markets to co-ordinate, overvaluation of stocks and short-term liquidity problems. The collapse was short-lived and the market recovered quickly. The savings and loans crisis was a uniquely US experience. The causes were complex and included the unstable monetary conditions of the ’70s and early ’80s and a failure of government regulation.
I suspect that Michael Costa is not the only ALP insider that wishes Kevin Rudd would pull his head in.
Gordon Gekko is not even a real person. However if Kevin Rudd wants to deal with fictional characters then lets take a look.
The bit that so upsets the moral sensibilities of the likes of Kevin Rudd is no doubt this part of Gordon Gekkos famous speech:-
The point is, ladies and gentleman, that greed — for lack of a better word — is good.
Greed is right.
Greed works.
Greed clarifies, cuts through, and captures the essence of the evolutionary spirit.
Greed, in all of its forms — greed for life, for money, for love, knowledge — has marked the upward surge of mankind.
And greed — you mark my words — will not only save Teldar Paper, but that other malfunctioning corporation called the USA.
However read the full Gekko speech and it is pretty clear that it is essentially a criticism of executive salaries that are not linked to performance. It’s a speech about management accountability.
You own the company. That’s right — you, the stockholder.
And you are all being royally screwed over by these, these bureaucrats, with their steak lunches, their hunting and fishing trips, their corporate jets and golden parachutes.
Check out the full speech from the movie:-
http://www.americanrhetoric.com/MovieSpeeches/moviespeechwallstreet.html
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