[LINK] Surveillance in extremis

[Chris Maltby]

On Tue, Aug 22, 2006 at 08:23:19AM +1000, Howard Lowndes wrote:
> As I guessed when I posted the article, it sounds like a (I'm guessing) 
> right wing council (Ryde) not communicating with its ratepayers, and a 
> left wing government (NSW) trying to make political mileage.

Well, no one would call Ryde council left wing, but neither would anyone
other than Vic put the same tag on the NSW government. Both are dominated
by the ALP Right machine.

The issue is potentially a green one though - tracking rubbish volume
enables the option of charging based on waste generated, putting a
price incentive on the consumer to avoid high-waste packaging and
increase re-use and recycling. There are issue with whether this kind
of charge falls in accordance with capacity to pay or modify behaviour
though. The reality in Ryde is anyone's guess.

My guess is that Watkins thinks he can beat up this issue to make
political capital.

Chris