[LINK] Overseas Ecommerce Expansion Due to the ALP's Internet censorship regime

Tom Koltai tomk at unwired.com.au
Thu Jul 8 17:32:06 AEST 2010


> -----Original Message-----
> From: link-bounces at mailman1.anu.edu.au 
> [mailto:link-bounces at mailman1.anu.edu.au] On Behalf Of Robin Whittle
> Sent: Thursday, 8 July 2010 4:13 PM
> To: Link mailing list
> Subject: [LINK] Entertainment & tourism value of the ALP's 
> Internet censorship regime
> 
> 
> Lets say this vile thing comes to pass.
> 
> Direct access to the whole of the Link archives will be 
> blocked, for Australian users, due, in part, to my recent 
> message which included:
> 
>   pass the bong
<SNIP>

Not only that, but for videos <Youtube> of ladies with sub 34C cup bra
sizes now being essentially RC we may see all of HULU, Youtube, Metacafe
and virtually all movies banned via Web.

This will doubtless mean that all Australian companies that used to use
Calvin Klein (atypical) models for their advertising will move offshore.


Some countries suffer from the brain drain (eg.: Iran in the nineties
lost millions of their students to overseas Campus lifestyles. i.e.:
once the forbidden fruit of actually talking to someone of the opposite
sex in private was tasted, there was no going back.

We are about to suffer developer drain if the filter is implemented. The
last thing our e-commerce iniatives require is additional hops counts or
extended latencies.
I can also see VOIP being affected in the future as the "List" will be
extended to include operational ports of Tor and other P2P clients. (And
this is just when Telstra are rolling out their own P2P Video on Demand
system).
Game and Video animation artists are also likely to jump ship and
Australia is unlikely to be able to attract any software that depends on
network QOS to operate.  

I am sad that Ms Gillard has confirm my worst fears and that is - The
illogical filter proposal shows that she doesn't have the mandate to
Govern at all.

Contrary to the beliefs of the gleeful feminine population of Australia
that now believe they have an erstwhile role model to look up to,  all
they have is the pre-election Rudd-san, fall on sword please, so we can
win the next election... Julia-San If you step forward we will get 90%
of the Australian female vote which will carry us across the line.

An excellent tactic by the labour party, but not really cricket. But
then most women don't watch cricket, so the emoters will win the
election.

Winston Churchill once said, "The best argument against democracy is a
five minute conversation with the average voter".

I guess the Labour Party "switcheroo" game with interchangeable Prime
Ministers is confirmation of Winston's extremely accurate insight.

I have an interest in economics. It is my firm belief that the social
aspects of Ms. Gillards appointment may well have an interim  term "feel
good" hedonic value to the Australian economy. I am unable to say the
same about the filter in any way shape or form.

It will not add one penny to the lifestyle value of a single Australian
and it will create a commercial backlash with a decade long negative
financial connotation.

When Labor won the election, I felt that it was expected.
When they announced the NBN, I considered they were heroes.
When they announced the Filter, I considered it would die a natural
death.

Logic however failed to prevail.

Now I can see the only choice we have is to give the mandate back to the
Libs - of course, providing that they guarantee not introduce a filter -
which with the political funding emanating from the newspaper and media
barons for the creation of a politically motivated walled garden; I
question whether they would be willing to stipulate:

                      If we are elected there will be no filter!!!!

Today we have heard from Robin, Richard and Brendan in detail. Is it our
fault that the Filter is moving ahead ? Yes. We have become complacent
in our middle years believing that common-sense would prevail. 
 
Stil, suggested that personal freedoms were being gradually
(officially?) encroached/eroded over the last twenty years.

So in effect, what about the "next" generation? The ones who believe
that they should get all content for free?

I offer a quote [slightly extreme] from 20 something year old "Phara"
who was the administrator of illegal online video site ninja video,
[closed down last week by US law enforcement officials] she says (in her
"manifesto"):

/"My generation, we're a generation of cynics, apathetic to all around
us, indifferent to all around us. But
when did being those things mean that we had to become ignorant? When
did that happen? There are
times when I find myself bewildered at my own inability to feel
compassion but at the same time I'm
plagued by these overarching ideals.
I care not for the man standing next to me, but I sob for humanity. I
weep for these ideals that I feel are
being lost. I fail at paying my own rent on time, but I can stare aghast
at someone who doesn't know
there's a conflict between Israel and Palestine, or that there's still
war going on in the world."/

So it doesn't look like we'll be getting much assistance from the voting
virgins. They don't understand and/or don't care with their very
indifference being the guarantee of the labour parties probable win at
the polls later this year.

Ladies and Gentlemen, our mission, should you agree to take it on, is to
reach out to five under thirty year olds and tell them why voting yes to
Labour is a B A D thing for their future online happiness.

The easiest way to explain it is... On-line Multi Player Games will no
longer work if Labour are returned.

And before anyone says "balderdash...." There are some games that won't
take kindly to additional hops. E.g.: Farmville which Facebook network
is already at the limit of it's edge CDN's capacity for latency and
World of Warcraft with similar issues on overseas servers.

If your kids are like the majority, then they play games for about 13
hours per week. If someone tells them that the internet filter will make
many of those games unplayable, the apathy will suddenly disappear when
it comes to the poll booth action.

Does anyone have an update on the Filter policies of the other parties ?

We should design a how to vote card that tells people to cross out all
the names and insert the words handwritten "No Internet Filter" next to
each candidates name. Of course, this will invalidate their vote, but
unless one of the parties stops this filter madness, our ecommerce
future is doomed.

Then again, maybe I could just change my name by deed poll and be listed
as an independent called "No internet Filter". Imagine that linkers,
Koltai as the next PM.... Not a good idea. To prevent that eventuality,
I exhort you all, get working on those under thirties folk.... No gaming
if labour is elected.

[OK., I wont change my name.. You can all stop chortling now.]











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