[LINK] classification of Apps? What next?

[Frank O'Connor]

Mmmm,

Lets see ... 500 to 600 thousand apps already in the wild for phones 
and tablets, increasing at the rate of about 10,000 per month.

Most could be described as mash-ups (BTW how come these idiots don't 
want to rate Web apps, which are similarly proliferating?) but no 
matter.

So to rate each and every one of those apps would take approximately 
an hour per app (3-5 minutes to rate, and 55 minutes to fill out the 
supporting documentation) which means 5-600,000 man hours to take up 
the back logged slack and an ongoing10,000 man hours per month to 
rate the new ones coming online (and what about updates to old ones? 
Can't let them slip under the net!).

I'd estimate a conservative number of 3000 full time government paid 
censors would have no trouble clearing this up in say 10 years or so, 
and only 1000 to 1500 or so would need to be retained in the long 
term for the new apps and updates that come online. Of course they'd 
need supervising, administration, superannuation, and logistics like 
places to work and the normal amenities ... so if we factor salaries 
and incidental costs at say $120,000 per employee (in 2011 dollars) 
you're looking at a pretty big bill (circa $3.6 billion per annum for 
10 years reducing to $1.8 billion per annum after 10 years) just to 
run this highly unnecessary white elephant. I mean ... IT WOULD COST 
MORE THAN THE NBN, and nothing would be redeemed by way of sale or 
whatever after 10 years.

Has anyone even bothered explaining the economics of this to our 
political idiots?

Of course, if the 3000 odd employees were taken from the ranks of the 
Holy Joes it could probably be hidden away in the Welfare budget.

And what would they call the new department?

				Regards,

At 7:57 AM +1000 29/6/11, Jan Whitaker wrote:
>[note, this is Liberal dominated, not ALP like the past]
>http://www.theage.com.au/digital-life/digital-life-news/apps-games-could-be-classified-to-ensure-unity-20110628-1gp5s.html
>
>Apps, games could be classified to ensure 'unity'
>   Karl Quinn
>June 29, 2011
>
>   Mobile phone apps and games may be subject to classification.
>Photo: Suzanne White
>
>MAKERS of mobile phone apps and games could be made to submit their
>products for classification if the recommendations of a senate
>inquiry are adopted.
>
>The Liberal-dominated committee of review into the National
>Classification Scheme has urged an expansion of regulation in
>Australia so that the scheme ''should apply equally to all content,
>regardless of the medium of delivery''.
>
>[more at the link]
>[what next? We are already facing anti-blue-language law in Victoria
>(also Liberal Govt, btw). This is getting ridiculous. It smacks of
>the 'technology neutral' stuff we saw in the days of Senator Dick
>Alston running Communications.]
>Jan
>
>Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
>jwhit at janwhitaker.com
>blog: http://janwhitaker.com/jansblog/
>business: http://www.janwhitaker.com
>
>Our truest response to the irrationality of the world is to paint or
>sing or write, for only in such response do we find truth.
>~Madeline L'Engle, writer
>
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