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ZDNet Australia Interviews Richard Alston
ynotds writes "ZDNet Australia has an interview with notorious Australian IT Minister Senator Richard Alston which could even be read as suggesting that he, like some others in the Australian government, has learned a little about his portfolio during his 7 years at the helm. He responds openly about his censorhip regime, lack of action against spam and his antipathy towards Electronic Frontiers Australia but refuses to get into details on cyberterrorism response and security expenditure."
But it's actually a hard job with the consumers wanting the impossible ("It must be our RIGHT to have FREE UNLIMITED broadband") and the telco's & ISP's (unsurprisingly) unwilling to give it.
/* FUCK - The F-word is here so that you can grep for it */
You know what I just heard? ZDNet Australia has an interview with notorious Australian IT Minister Senator Richard Alston which could even be read as suggesting that he, like some others in the Australian government, has learned a little about his portfolio during his 7 years at the helm. He responds openly about his censorhip regime, lack of action against spam and his antipathy towards Electronic Frontiers Australia but refuses to get into details on cyberterrorism response and security expenditure.
Go read it!
What time is it/will be over there? Check with my iPhone app!
Considering the drivel Alston normally comes up with, this interview seemed to be quite good. Anyone involved in the Australian IT and/or telecommunications industry would be honestly shocked and amazed that Senator Alston even knew what 'spam' was! (even if he still doesn't read his own email)
blow up a bomb in a city and combine it with cyber-terrorism and DOS against the local hospital-firestation-police-...
Somehow doesn't sound that theoretical anymore...
ye, anyone can laugh at him and say: "you stupid.", but he is one of the men who get the real profit. fudge the threat and get the budget, old trick.
Don't fall for that crap!
I read the interview, and it was full of nomral political mumbo jumbo. Never say no to anything... just say that we are looking into it or whatever. For example, the pricing and Telstra.... I mean I can't really see what was so newsworthy in it to put it onto slashdot.Slow news day?
What's under yellowstone?
Do you regret making the comments that broadband in Korea is being driven primarily by demand for porn and games?
Has nobody told this guy that porn and games drive demand for the Internet in the whole world?
The ENIAC Demo Competition
...then they complain about the amount of overseas traffic. Can you add one to one?
bash$
You don't really need to ask that. Just count the dupes.
The ENIAC Demo Competition
Hypocracy.. why do countries/polititians claim they advocate freedom of speech , when they don't. Certain issues like child pornography and terrorist organizations , I can understand. But, why should they want to censor anything else ? DO they like flexing their political arms,or do they just want to be noticed ? And why drag Korea into all this ? Korean companies anyways have a much stronger global presence than Australian companies.. except for beer ofcourse.... ;)
|/________
|\A|ALYS|
I'd just like to point out the National Office of Information Economy Interim Report on Spam
National Office of Information Economy,
The Spam Problem and How it can be Countered - Interim Report, Aug 2002,
[pdf]
While it is tempting to legislate Unsolicited Bulk Email out of existance (e.g. EU eCommerce directives), I think it might be better in the long-term for the governments to recognise the quasi-tribunal measures the private sector is establishing (SPEWS, RBL, etc). There's a test case in Perth at the moment (http://t3-v-mcnicol.org) which the government could take note of and if it gets to the appeal stage, might lead to de jure recognition of SPEWS and other abatement measures.
LL
Two points:
(1) The site is ZDNet *Australia*, so there's going to be a delay getting their pages.
(2) If you're going to post the contents of another web page here, make sure you include the *formatting*, otherwise you might as well have hammered your keyboard randomly for 10 minutes.
-MT.
Alston is still a tool. Telstra still blows.
Alston's opinion on broadband in Australia seems to be "we're doing better than other places". That's not necessarily a good thing. People aren't going to start taking advantage of it until it gets cheap and ubiquitous, and it's not going to get cheap and ubiquitous until lots of people start using it.
Why was this moderated down? It's absolutely true. The nation of Australia is a 3rd world country with a nearly 1st world living standard. Why? Because first world regions (Western Europe and North America) choose to import Australia's products (mainly argicultural) over the comparable products of many 3rd world nations. North America, Western Europe, and Japan (whose citizens invest millions in property and business in Australia) are holding up the Australian economy. Australia is lumped in with 1st world countries, but if you compare real 1st world economies with Australia's economy, (Australia's) just looks silly.
I dont like him, he's doing nothing but damage to the net services in australia. The government is pushing to privitize the largest telecommunications company 'telstra', so what you might ask?
Well for regional centres the access to broadband is less than adequate and if it is pushed to be a private enterprise company then the new owners might not bother with the regional centres because of the cost involved.
Be you Admins? nay, we are but lusers!
like some others in the Australian government, has learned a little about his portfolio during his 7 years at the helm. He responds openly about his censorhip regime, lack of action against spam and his antipathy towards Electronic Frontiers Australia but refuses to get into details on cyberterrorism response and security expenditure.
Out of curiosity, where did you aussies pick up those people to run your Government? Law firms? Car insurance companies?
Microsoft?
Ooooooh - stop
With your feet in the air and your head on the ground
Try this trick and spin it, yeah
Your head will collapse
But there's nothing in it
And you'll ask yourself
Where is my mind?
Way out in the water
See it swimmin'
I was swimmin' in the Carribean
Animals were hiding behind the rock
Except the little fish
But they told me, he swears
Tryin' to talk to me to me to me
Where is my mind?
Way out in the water
See it swimmin' ?
With your feet in the air and your head on the ground
Try this trick and spin it, yeah
Your head will collapse
If there's nothing in it
And you'll ask yourself
Where is my mind?
Ooooh
With your feet in the air and your head on the ground
Ooooh
Try this trick and spin it, yeah
Ooooh
Ooooh
Are they going to censor Yer Sex? If so, I dont know how the hell I am going to find out what I am.
http://www.whirlpool.net.au is where us aussie ppl have our bitch session about the state of broadband in oz. It contains all of the blunders by telco's that we have put up with for the last few years!
We played dungeons and dragons for 3 hours.....then i was slain by an elf
Q. Why isn't there a single successful Australian IT company competing and shining on the world stage? Can you name one?
A. I think that's a bit misleading in some ways. I don't know if you should put all your eggs in one basket. In many ways it's better to have a series of smaller companies coming through.
... That is truncated. I agree with that statement. The net was probably better off in the US when there were many small ISP's (rather than just AOL, AT&T, etc).
Sex - Find It
Alston looks like a walking cadaver and maybe that explains his lack of policies. Seriously, the current Australian government never compares itself with Asia, so Korean statistics don't mean anything to them. American comparisons, maybe, but beating the Poms (in cricket) is all that really counts to Little Johnny & Co.
What is the inverse of the Matrix?
Why do the Australians call Castlemaine "XXXX"?
Because they can't spell "beer".
For those who are not familiar with the infamous Senator, his profile can be seen here.
Eat me like a sausage!
Quit Slashdot Today!
Dude! Next time, make you the Thanksgiving turkey is cooked properly! :)
-MT.
More censorship humour.
Danny.
I have written over 900 book reviews
And who's even heard of Tooeys?
Hey diddle diddle,
The cat did a piddle,
All over the kitchen floor,
The little dog laughed to see such fun,
So the cat did a little bit more.
... it certainly drives my world
well YOU must be on crack, where are your facts neighbour?!?
For those overseas readers who dont know, senator alston is the minister for technology in Australia, he has copped alot of flack for issues regarding Telstra, and the infamous 3g cap imposed by the company on the users.
Senator alston is famous for quotes such as "Broadband is only used for pornography" and "3 gigabits (note bits) is enough for everyone".
He was the head of a 4 million dollar investigation of how spam affects australian businesses. A 98 page report was the output of 4 million dollars of Tax payers money.
I personally believe that he is out of touch with technology, and is being hand fed statistics and information by australias technology corporations, in their favour.
Without the necessary infastructure, Australia as a country can not expect to keep their IT professionals in Australia.
Mary had a little lamb,
She tied it too a pylon,
10,000 volts went up its bum,
And turned its wool to nylon.
Alston should simply not be in the role he is in, somebody with a 'clue' should be.
I rarely rant, but I truely think his attitude is 'ignorance is bliss'.
Stupid amounts of Tax payers money is wasted on reports that seem to favor the big T (Also know as Telstra) One can be cynical into thinking this is done to "fatten up" Telstra for the rest of it to be sold to the public as shares.
For those who dont know, and its probably been covered above, Telstra is the largest telecomminications and data carrier in Australia - Has a Monopoly on 80% of all comms infastructure, originally owned by the Taxpayers of Australia, the government saw it fit to sell it back to us!!
1/3 of Telstra remains in Government hands.
Genius, like it to you buying a VCR, somebody stealing it from you and then offering you to buy it from them, effectivly paying for it again..
Crazyness..
-- If at first you don't succeed, lie!
It looks like he views the imperfect solution as superior to doing nothing.
But when asked about spam, and plans to legislate about that, he says: (Really not sure exactly HOW much spam would be "clogging up the system"!)
These statement seem inconsistent to me. What do others think?
Alston believes that imperfect "content regulation legislation" is better than nothing - it won't stop "smart young kids." But with regards so spam he says "But you don't want draconian solutions that are worse than the problem."
It's not difficult have a law banning spam in the same way that there is "a law banning murder" and IMHO there are thousands of people who would be willing to help the Australian government if they decided to invest money in writing (gpl?) spam filtering software and distributing it to all ISPs in the country.
As an aside does the content regulation legislation criminalise smart young kids?
As a further asside - do Australians not get porn spam?
Ronan
-- I can't remember my nick/password.
The other thing that should be pointed out is that the policies Alston implements are probably not entirely his own views. He has them imposed from above (the Prime Minister and the rest of cabinet) and below (the Liberal parliamentary caucus imposing things on Cabinet occasionally), and he just implements them. Blame the government as a whole, not Alston. He's just the schmuck that drew the short straw.
Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from a rigged demo
--Andy Finkel (J. Klass?)
s/he's learned a little/he's learned little/
To reply to your actual point, yes it's a complete contradiction. However, the sector of the population who care about IT policy (beyond the ridiculous debate about "selling Telstra") is vanishingly small, and probably vote solidly Labor anyway. So Alston can do what he pleases on every other IT and communications issue.
Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from a rigged demo
--Andy Finkel (J. Klass?)
First off Telstra's systems are basically owned by IBMGSA. I have worked as an independant contractor through EDS, IBMGSA and IBM-Biz as a developer/team leader on Telsra's internal IT systems from 95-2001. Telstra and MS are good mates, you cannot get Telstra to intall broadband unless the service man eyeballs an "original MS-Windows CD". Apparently the certifiacte that comes with an OEM machine in place of the CD is not good enough, anyhow I digress.
When two of IBM's board members turned up on the Telstra board in the mid 90's, guess who got the megabuck five year outsourcing deal in the late 90's. IBM then spent the first three years documenting and testing everything. "Y2k & GST & CSG & LNP...", "its important", "gotta be done". "Pssst, Telstra you could make a truck load of your workers redundant and impress your new shareholders". "We will make offers to the key people with "Y2K" knowlage ( suckers ).
Year number 4 sees IBM rewrite just about everything they could and re-arrange the org chart on a daily basis. By this time they didn't need expensive "contractors" ( read Alston's SME's ) because Telstra's systems were declared "Functionally stable".
A cynic might say that they froze development and systematically dispersed the old corprorate IT knowlage as best they could in order to gain control. ( The employees refer to IBM as the "Borg mother ship" ).
IBMGSA called it "diversifying skills" and "new challenges", had grand speaches about "mindshare" and played "who hid my cheese" videos to the troops.
Suddenly the telecomms/IT market took a nose dive at the height of the re-org and everything turned to crap. The result, as I see it, is that Telstra's IT is now stocked with MS cerified TAFE graduates spending most of thier time on procedures designed to "push back on problems".
There will never arise a multi-national IT company from Oz. As soon as one pokes its head up the US boys will just kick the crap out of it. What happened to EDS I hear you ask, well since MS already had the education franchise they went on to do the the South Australian Government and ( I think ) the Commonwealth bank.
Alston is the Australian answer to Sergent Shultz ..."I know nothinnnnnnng, NuuuThink. H'er Comondant Johnny".
Alan Mortimer.
BSc, Computer Science.
Melb,
Australia.
BTW. I do not make any representations for the above companys. But I do appreciate the income they gave me for a while. Politians who want my vote are fair game for comic relief :o).
And did you exchange a walk on part in the war for a lead role in a cage? - Pink Floyd.
Spinning, spining,feet in the air.
His wallet droped out,alongside some hair.
The courtiers found it,and tore it asunder.
So who now listens, to fools from down under.
Beware, Croc's are trained to eat tourists and water buffalo.
And did you exchange a walk on part in the war for a lead role in a cage? - Pink Floyd.
All Politicians are Assholes.
While a lot of slashdot readers won't appreciate this, I read that article over my £29 unlimited broadband connection. That's not cheap for England, nor is it unusual.
To even start to pretend that Australia's broadband is better than what is available in England is a load of rubbish. For less than the price of a full-priced computer game or a full priced DVD i have unlimited broadband. The same price in Australia gives me access to a continually failing service with a 3gig cap. If i want to download more than 3gig on the major provider i'm looking at a bill four times the monthly cost. Pretending that 'purchasing power' has something to do with the perceived value of broadband is a load of rubbish. Not only is the broadband deal in England far superior than in Australia on a 'purchasing power' basis but it's far better when just doing a direct currency conversion.
"you might as well have hammered your keyboard randomly for 10 minutes."
/. for long to realize that many people who post here do this anyway :)
One doesn't need to read
Why do the Australians call Castlemaine "XXXX"? Because they can't spell "beer".
Actually mate, nobody here drinks that shit. We export the lot. We name it "XXXX" because we don't know how to spell "cats piss" in any foreign languages.
Fosters is Australian for beer for much of the world, except Australia, although the Kiwis are probably in on the secret too.. we can't stand the stuff! That's why we export it ;)
:)
Coopers is Australian for REAL beer
When was the last time you watched the Simpsons? Next time you do, remeber that it was brought to you by an Australian company...
Ahhh, that explains why the Simpsons all speak in American accent, and live in Springfield, the most common name for a city in the USA. They also make fun of Australians in hilarious ways... as well as everyone else. But honestly, I think that many Aussies may not have seen those episodes.
I think it would be better that you said that the Simpsons were BANKROLLED by an Australian corporation... not brought to you by them.
After all, those are AMERICAN JOKES you're laughing at. You know. Those warhead Americans. Baby killers. But please, continue to bash away, telling us that were all like our "war mongering president" (and nevermind that most of America REALLY WANTS REVENGE, BIG TIME) that hasn't yet started a war... even after being attacked on American soil.
Honestly, how many Bali blasts do you people need to understand that religious based racism isn't solely directed at the USA, but simply is the easy reference card for genocide?
s/benevloent/benevolent/
:)
late, tired, etc.
What's wrong with porn and games, asshole?
the Kiwis are probably in on the secret too..
Yep - we're onto it. Never touch aussie beers myself.
Speights Old Dark and Monteiths Black , are my favourites.
Speights is brewed in Otago, Monteiths was brewed on the West Coast until the brewery moved to Auckland.
Why pay $$$ for imported beer when local stuff is just as good.
My NZ$0.02.
You make the mistake of thinking you can educate the fundamental stupidity out of people. You can't.
it's this kind of comment that senator luddite is famous for. internet is a luxury in the bush, sometimes you can't even even get a telephone line
never mind that i had to wait 3 months for a landline, and I live in a large rural city
fuck telstra, for their ongoing abuse and total and utter incompetence. animosity is an understatement
and it has an IBMGS tag on it... rather cute...
/* FUCK - The F-word is here so that you can grep for it */
If you're doing exclusive interview with the IT minister, then at least you ask him about his stands on open source.
I reckon that is very much on topic.
But you might need to be an Australian and a Stones fan to understand why.
Time to go help ensure the party in power federally don't sneak back into our state.
s/illegal/unauthorised/g
-- Our systemic servants do not good masters make.
ZD: Are you aware then, of any complaints being made to the ABA?
RA: I haven't read of any.
I always suspected Richard Alston was illiterate.
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