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Protests need our blessing, say police
Joel Gibson, Jano Gibson and Linda Morris
July 2, 2008
POLICE have told organisations planning to campaign during World Youth Day events they need to have placards, banners and T-shirts pre-approved or risk losing their protest "rights" - even those groups representing victims of sexual abuse by Catholic priests.
The State Government faced a public backlash yesterday after the Herald revealed laws had been quietly introduced to prevent people "causing annoyance" to participants in the huge Catholic event which will climax with the Pope's arrival in Sydney in two weeks.
During a meeting with two leading victims groups yesterday, senior police said protesters would also have to include details of their planned messages.
Protesting without police clearance could result in demonstrators being charged under extraordinary new powers which came into effect yesterday.
The sweeping nature of the regulations is threatening to create a legal and political minefield with protesters apparently willing to test both the scope of the laws and the willingness of the authorities to uphold them.
Chris MacIsaac, the president of the victims' group Broken Rites, said his organisation was warned of the sweeping new powers during a police briefing.
"It will anger a lot of people who are very frustrated as they can't get anywhere with the church and now they are losing the right to get out there and tell the world," he said.
Other protesters said they would defy the regulations, and risk a $5500 fine.
"We will protect our civil liberties, and help young people to protect their health, and no Pope or premier will stop us," said Rachel Evans, a spokeswoman for the NoToPope coalition, which is planning to hand out condoms at a July 19 rally.
An online retailer is selling T-shirts that may "cause annoyance" to pilgrims. "$5500 - a small price to pay for annoying Catholics," reads one. "Good luck, Pope. I've been waiting for a miracle at Randwick for years," says another.
The NSW Police Commissioner, Andrew Scipione, said the new laws were no different from existing police powers for sporting venues. But in a written statement, police refused to rule out prohibiting T-shirts or condom hand-outs. "Anyone engaging in behaviour so as to prevent people from across the world participating in the event, or impacting on their ability to participate, will need to be dealt with," the statement said.
The president of the NSW Bar Association, Anna Katzmann, said the regulations were far less defined than other "annoyance or inconvenience" legislation.
In the Mount Panorama Motor Racing Act and the Sydney Cricket and Sports Ground Act, people must be "disorderly or insulting" before they can be removed.
Talkback radio, online forums and the Herald's letters page were flooded with criticism of the new rules.
"That we have had our right to protest effectively snuffed out is a mockery to those of us who have been harmed by the Catholic Church," wrote Stephen Kilkeary, who said he, his siblings and his late mother suffered "horrendous abuse at the hands of the Catholic clergy".
Police have begun arranging meetings with a range of possible protesters and pranksters, from anti-homophobia and pro-contraception activists, to victims of abuse, and even comedians from The Chaser.
The Opposition Leader, Barry O'Farrell, said the Government should reveal who requested the regulations.
The Catholic Church said "neither the Catholic Church nor Cardinal Pell asked for the additional police powers", adding "we understand some people may want to protest and they have the right to do so peacefully and lawfully".
The Minister for World Youth Day, Kristina Keneally, said the Government framed the laws on advice from police and after consulting the church. She stressed they were not drafted at the behest of Cardinal George Pell.
SMH 2-6-8
http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/police-pope-demos-need-our-blessing/2008/07/01/1214678038215.html?page=fullpage#contentSwap1
. . . . . .
" Do or not do, there is no try. -Yoda "
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This week Chaweng Beach.
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Thou shalt not annoy on Youth Day
Jano Gibson, Linda Morris and Joel Gibson
July 1, 2008
EXTRAORDINARY new powers will allow police to arrest and fine people for "causing annoyance" to World Youth Day participants and permit partial strip searches at hundreds of Sydney sites, beginning today.
The laws, which operate until the end of July, have the potential to make a crime of wearing a T-shirt with a message on it, undertaking a Chaser-style stunt, handing out condoms at protests, riding a skateboard or even playing music, critics say.
Police and volunteers from the State Emergency Service and Rural Fire Service will be able to direct people to cease engaging in conduct that "causes annoyance or inconvenience to participants in a World Youth Day event".
People who fail to comply will be subject to a $5500 fine.
The president of the NSW Bar Association, Anna Katzmann, SC, described the regulations as "unnecessary and repugnant".
The Greens MP Lee Rhiannon said if someone exposed themselves in public, they faced a fine of only $1100 or six months' jail under the Summary Offences Act.
"So if someone flashes a WYD participant they will face a $1100 penalty but if they wear an anti-Catholic T-shirt they could face a $5500 penalty," she said.
A police source said causing an "annoyance or inconvenience" was a highly subjective offence. A police lawyer would define it in layman's terms for operational use by officers.
Civil libertarians said they had never seen anything like the new powers and believed they are more extreme and broader in scope than those used during last year's APEC summit and the 2000 Sydney Olympics.
But the State Government said "World Youth Day is a happy and positive celebration of youth" and "no additional or 'APEC-like' police powers have been granted under the World Youth Day regulations".
The Catholic Church denied it had called for such powers.
The regulations were quietly gazetted by the Deputy Premier, John Watkins, on Friday afternoon and apply to more than 40 city locations, including museums, galleries and cinemas, as well as Darling Harbour, the Opera House, the Harbour Bridge, Randwick Racecourse and parklands.
More than 500 schools across Sydney and 35 train and bus stations have also been listed as "declared areas". People entering them will be subject to vehicle and baggage searches that require them to remove jackets, gloves, shoes and headwear if requested. "Reasonable force may be used to effect the person's exclusion" if they do not permit the search, the regulations stipulate.
The Government's World Youth Day spokeswoman, Kristina Keneally, said "bag checks are a sensible safety precaution which any young person who is going to a major event in Australia … would expect". Everyone had the right to protest so long as it was "peaceful and lawful".
The president of the NSW Council of Civil Liberties, Cameron Murphy, said the broad meaning of "causes annoyance" had the potential to encompass any activity. "This sort of amendment is extreme, unnecessary and is likely to escalate conflict when officers issue directions," he said. "People are going to be unaware that they have the power to do this and will find themselves in court facing an enormous fine."
Ms Katzmann said: "The mere presence in the vicinity of a person wearing the apparel or insignia of another religion might be annoying or inconvenient to a participant in a World Youth Day event."
Ms Rhiannon said the regulations were about "shutting down protests and quarantining the Pope and visiting Catholics away from messages World Youth Day authorities don't approve of".
SMH 1-7-8
http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/thou-shalt-not-annoy-on-youth-day/2008/06/30/1214677946009.html
. . . . . .
" Do or not do, there is no try. -Yoda "
http://www.ebearweb.net
Bujinkan: Martial Arts of the Samurai and Ninja
http://www.ebearweb.net/bujinkan/
Stephen's Snaps
http://photo.ebearweb.net/
This week Chaweng Beach.
Simply nice photos, Landscape, Seascape, Underwater, The Northern Beaches Sydney.
Anzac Bridge farce shows how 'security' has cost us our freedom
Mike Carlton
May 3, 2008
We are still waiting to be told why real people - aka hard-working Australian families - were banned from last Sunday's unveiling of the statue of the Kiwi soldier on the Anzac Bridge.
Morris Iemma was there. The New Zealand Prime Minister, Helen Clark, and her startling teeth were there. Defence personnel from both countries oom-pahed back and forth for the TV cameras. But the public was banned. Ordinary folk who had turned up to see the show, many of them expatriate Kiwis, were ordered off the bridge by the police for "security reasons".
What were those reasons? Was there some clear and present danger, a threat to peace and order, life and limb? Did the ASIO spooks have word that, far away in his snowy mountain fastness in the Hindu Kush, Osama bin Laden had planned another atrocity for the occasion? Or was the State Government, growing more unpopular by the hour, fearful of a latter-day Captain de Groot galloping up with sabre drawn?
None of the above, I suspect. Put it down to arrogance and incompetence. The cops kept the public off the Anzac Bridge simply because it made life easier for them. When you give extraordinary powers to the police and "security forces" to boss people around they tend to use those powers. Not for any good reason. Like dogs licking their testicles, they do it because they can and it feels good.
We saw the same sort of thing happen at last year's APEC summit in Sydney, when the city was "locked down" (and aren't you sick of hearing that phrase?) behind a ring of steel so formidable it could be penetrated only by crack teams of highly trained ABC television comedians. No doubt we will see the same officious push and shove when the Pope is here for the World Youth Day jamboree in July.
Granted, the petty stupidity on the Anzac Bridge was not the end of the world, but the people who were turned away had every right to be angry. It was another example of the way the so-called anti-terrorism laws have chiselled away at our rights and freedoms in the name of security.
ON THE same subject, but far more serious, John Howard and Lord Downer should not be permitted to get away with the lies they fed us about the infamous American military commission set up to try David Hicks at Guantanamo Bay. While I think of it, add Philip Ruddock to the list.
Time and again these three wise monkeys assured us this commission would see justice done. It would be fair and proper in every way, conducted with scrupulous regard for the rights of the accused. "We are satisfied that the rules that have been established for the military commission will deliver a process which is consistent with the criminal justice system in our country," Howard assured the nation back in August 2004.
A year later, Lord Downer was equally firm. "We have examined very carefully the structure of the military commission," he huffed, with his usual fatuous air of wounded innocence. "We believe that the appropriate safeguards are in place to ensure that the trial is a fair trial."
At about the same time Ruddock felt able to announce, with bottomless understatement, that while these military commissions were "not precisely the same as our civilian courts dealing with criminal matters", they were nonetheless "an appropriate medium" for trying Hicks and his fiendish ilk.
The final nail in the coffin of their deceit was hammered home this week by Colonel Moe Davis, the US Air Force lawyer who had been the hapless prosecutor in the Hicks farce. Giving evidence under oath at the so-called trial of Osama bin Laden's former driver, Davis came clean. He admitted that the commission process had been politically driven from Washington and rigged for convictions.
And as he later told Time magazine: "There is no question they wanted me to stage show trials that have nothing to do with the centuries-old tradition of military justice in America."
It is possible, I suppose, that Howard and Co were not deliberately lying. The alternative, equally disgraceful, is that they were willing dupes of the Bush Administration, blithely unconcerned about an Australian citizen's rights at law.
DEMOCRACY demands an opposition to take the fight to the government. Sadly, I am afraid that Just-Call-Me-Brendan is not up to it. The heavy hitter the Liberals need in Canberra is Troy Buswell who - at the moment of writing - is the Leader of the Opposition in Western Australia.
For some days this week, Buswell stoutly fended off rumours that, as a bit of a jape, he had sniffed the seat of a chair shortly after it had been vacated by a female Liberal Party staff member. Eventually, choking back sobs, he conceded on television that he had sniffed as alleged.
It was a bravura performance. Buswell is ready for the national stage, in the lady-killing tradition of those two great Liberal knights of the realm, the late John Gorton and Billy Snedden.
SMH 3-5-8
http://www.smh.com.au/news/mike-carlton/security-has-cost-us-our-freedom/2008/05/02/1209235149846.html?page=fullpage#contentSwap1
. . . . . .
" Do or not do, there is no try. -Yoda "
http://www.ebearweb.net
Bujinkan: Martial Arts of the Samurai and Ninja
http://www.ebearweb.net/bujinkan/
Stephen's Snaps
http://photo.ebearweb.net/
This week Chaweng Beach.
Simply nice photos, Landscape, Seascape, Underwater, The Northern Beaches Sydney.
Those who fought for our country, for our way of life deserve to be remembered. Regardless of how their ideals may have been betrayed by politicians. Support our veterans and service men and women. Not war. People get hurt in war.
ANZAC, Australian and New Zealand Army Corps, did not exist before Gallipoli. Gallipoli, planned and miss executed by Churchill. The way the men fought and died, for a lost cause, created the ANZAC legend.
Australians have volunteered and fought in many wars. As well as peace keeping and peace making operations.
Maori Wars 1860 - 1866 ( for England )
2500 served
20 died
Sudan 1885 ( for the Empire )
770 served
6 died
The Third Anglo-Burmese War 1885 - 1886 ( for the Empire )
1 served
Chitral 1895 ( for the Empire )
1 served
Boer War 1899 - 1902 ( for the Empire )
16,175 served
606 died
Boxer Rebellion 1900 - 1901 ( for the Empire )
556 served
6 died
WWI 1914 - 1918 ( for the Empire )
331,781 served
61,919 died
North Russia Relief Force 1919 ( for the Empire )
120 served
Native uprising in the British Solomon Islands 1927 ( for the Empire )
WWII 1939 - 1945 ( for the Empire )
557,799 served
39,366 died
Project Kingfisher a 1944 - 45 plan for Australian paratroops to rescue some 1,800 Australian prisoners of war held in Sandakan. It was planned and fully resourced by Australia except for the troop carrying aircraft. MacArthur refused to release the aircraft, despite the fact that aircraft were available and idle. Only one of the 1,800 or so Australian prisoners of war survived and returned home.
Korea 1950 - 1953 ( for the UN )
18,059 served
339 died
The first war that the Australian Regular Army fought in.
Operation Commando, the battle of Maryang San. 3 RAR dislodged an enemy, twice it's strength, from entrenched defensive positions, seized that ground and held it. 39 decorations were awarded for actions during this battle.
Malayan Emergency 1950 - 1960 ( for the Empire )
36 died
Vietnam 1962 - 1973 ( US request )
50,190 served
520 died
Long Tan. 11 platoon D company 6 RAR was ambushed by a company. It escalated and A, D and part of B companies 6 RAR forced the Viet Cong 275th Main Force Regiment plus and the D445 Local Force battalion to retreat. Some 230 members of 6 RAR defeated some 2,500 of the enemy, yes about 10:1. The Vietnamese left behind 245 bodies, total Australian casualties 18 dead and 24 wounded. Records later revealed the enemy lost 500 with 750 more wounded.
Indonesian Confrontation 1963 - 1966 ( for the Empire )
16 died
Fiji coup 1979
B Company 1 RAR was deployed aboard HMAS Success, HMAS Tobruk, HMAS Sydney & HMAS Parramatta off the Fijian shore.
The Gulf 1990 - 1991 ( US led )
959 served
RAN ships are still deployed in the Gulf.
1991 One SASR squadron ( 110 men ) joined some NZ SAS to form the ANZAC SAS Squadron in Kuwait for search & rescue.
Somalia 1992-1994 ( for the UN )
( Operation Solace 1993 ) 1 RAR, B Squadron 3rd/4th Cavalry Regiment, logistic support & HMAS Tobruk were deployed.
937 served
1 died
Rwanda 1994-1995 - ( Operation Tamar )( for the UN )
1998 110 members of 2nd SAS Squadron and NZ SAS were deployed to the Gulf for combat search & rescue - ( Operation Desert Thunder )
( ANZAC Special Operations Force detachment on Operation Pollard in Kuwait )
East Timor 1999 - ( Operation Citadel )( Australian initiative )
over 5570 served.
Aidabasalala. A 6 man SASR patrol was ambushed by more than 20 militiamen. The militia being beaten off with 3 killed and 3 wounded. No Australian casualties.
Afghanistan " The war against terror " 2001 - ( US led )
1 died, plus other casualties
The SASR has been praised for the success of it's reconnaissances patrols.
US Major General Frank Hagenback, Commander of Coalition Task Force Mountain stated "You won't find a more professional group than the Australians that have served here with us"
Invasion and occupation of Iraq 2003 ( Operation Bastille & Operation Catalyst )( US bullied )
some 2,600+
1 died
Australia had 1370 troops in Iraq ( 8-8-5 )
Weapons of mass destruction have not been found in Iraq. Despite the fact that Colin Powell pointed to air photographs of Iraq and said there were weapons of mass destruction in those specific places. The US has now admitted that there weren't any. And the reason for the invasion has been changed, it was now because of the way Sadam treated his people.
The US and UK do have weapons of mass destruction! Seems like a double standard to me. In fact the US has plans to produce 125 new nuclear bombs per year! http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/us-blueprint-for-125-nuclear-bombs-a-year/2006/04/06/1143916656000.html?page=fullpage#contentSwap1
The US invaded Afghanistan to capture bin Laden, who they accuse of planning the ' September 11 ' hijackings. That's right, they invaded a whole country to capture one man after the Taliban refused or were unable to hand him over. But have so far been unsuccessful. And don't forget that the Taliban was the legitimate government of Afghanistan.
And the US has been critical of Israel's battle against terrorists.
Fiji coup 2006
Deployed off the Fijian shore.
As well as the above operations Australian service personnel are constantly involved in peace keeping / peace making operations and always on exchange with the forces of other nations, eg UK, US & NZ. Where they may become involved in operations of their host country eg KFOR.
In November 2005 there was about 1600 Australian defence personnel serving at different trouble spots around the world.
" The Government has approved the deployment of approximately 3850 Australian Defence Force personnel to operations overseas to protect Australia and its national interests. " The Defence web site at: http://www.defence.gov.au/globalops.cfm. 24-4-8
Our service personnel past and present serve us by protecting us and our country. They also carry out tasks allocated to them by our government. Even though you may not agree with some of the tasks they carryout, they deserve your respect. Especially those who have served in time of war.
http://www.diggerhistory.info/
http://www.defence.gov.au/army/ahu/index.htm
http://www.defence.gov.au/raaf/
http://www.defence.gov.au/
http://www.anzacsite.gov.au/
. . . . . .
" Do or not do, there is no try. -Yoda "
http://www.ebearweb.net
Bujinkan: Martial Arts of the Samurai and Ninja
http://www.ebearweb.net/bujinkan/
Stephen's Snaps
http://photo.ebearweb.net/
This week Chaweng Beach.
Simply nice photos, Landscape, Seascape, Underwater, The Northern Beaches Sydney.
To me Australia Day is a day to think a little more about the people who made Australia what it is. A decreasingly semi free country.
The Australian states started as English prisons. We still don't have any guaranteed ' rights ' and any that were part of English law can be legislated away by state or feral governments. We may have signed UN treaties, but they depend on feral law for there application here.
It has been more than fifty years since the feral government has acted in accordance with our constitution's written word. eg taxation.
Consider these events and people:
Reverend Samuel Marsden ( the flogging Parson ), assistant to the chaplain of the colony, then the chief Anglican clergyman in New South Wales, he recognized no other religion or denomination. Unsuccessfully tortured Irish prisoners for information at Toongabbie.
Vinegar Hill 5-3-1804 Irish political prisoners tried to escape from English imprisonment. Philip Cunningham was hung without trial by the New South Wales Corps ( Botany Bay Rangers).
The Currency Lads, born free in the colonies. They had no ' Ticket of Leave ' because they were not convicts and no identification because they were free. However under the ' Bushranging Act ' anyone could be arrested on suspicion of being an absconder. Since there weren't many police most arrests were made by ' farm constables ', ' trusty ' convicts. So it was common for free men to be arrested and chained and shackled by convicts. They then had to travel to somewhere with records, often Sydney. So it was not uncommon for a fee man to march in handcuffs 250 miles or more to prove they were not convicts.
The Eureka Stockade 3-12-1854 A clash protesting the denial of civic rights and excessive taxation.
Rottnest Island 19-4-1876 An English ship fires in an attempt to stop an Irish political prisoner escaping on a US whaler.
Rothbury 16-12-1929 Several men were shot, one died, by police during a union protest.
So for the benefit of all the people who say ' It can't happen here. ', it already has.
Here in Australia there are Australian's that have been in solitary confinement for more than two years now, on remand. That's right, they have not been proven guilty, yet they are in solitary confinement here!
Australians are much better off than most of the people in the world. However we cannot be ' free ' till we have rights. Rights that are simple to understand. Rights that can not be misinterpreted by lawyers. Rights that can not be changed by governments.
"Effectively, Australia is now the only modern Western country that must face the challenges of the present age and the changes in the institutions of government without a constitutional, or even statutory, charter of rights to temper political autarchy with occasional judicial reminders of fundamental freedoms that must be respected," Justice Kirby.
http://smh.com.au/news/National/Call-for-human-rights-to-be-protected/2006/02/21/1140284066164.html
"Human rights have taken a battering by two forces - terrorism and terrorism laws," NSW Attorney-General, Bob Debus. "In some sections of the community, human rights are viewed with as much suspicion as a van with blacked-out windows parked near an embassy."
http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/human-rights-now-a-dirty-idea-says-angry-debus/2006/05/19/1147545529286.html
The New South Wales Police Minister wants to search every ones' SMS messages without a warrant.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200701/s1831129.htm
And you may not be able to board a Qantas aircraft if you are wearing clothing that they object to.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200701/s1831156.htm
Powers handed to Australian intelligence agencies to combat terrorism have been misused. Powers brought in because of the ' War Against Terrorism '. This simply looks like the feral government playing follow the leader with Bush. In fact in 2003 the Australian Government won the Most Egregiously Stupid Award for ' a litany of pointless, irritating and self-serving security measures '.
Stephen
Democracy is two wolves and a sheep voting on what to have for dinner.
Freedom is a well armed sheep.
. . . . . .
" I just saw a van drive by with the company name 'Seafood Solutions'. I must admit, I didn't know seafood was a problem. -Martin Kristos "
http://www.ebearweb.net
Bujinkan: Martial Arts of the Samurai and Ninja
http://www.ebearweb.net/bujinkan/
Stephen's Snaps
http://photo.ebearweb.net/
This week Guam photos.
Simply nice photos, Landscape, Seascape, Underwater, The Northern Beaches Sydney.
Technology that exposes your dirty linen
The 7th of January 2008
Once-wary Australians accept their daily lives being monitored, writes Damien Murphy.
BIG BROTHER is washing you.
The washing machine of the future may not only wash garments according to the instructions on the clothes but secretly collect information for telemarketers, political parties and anybody else with an interest in people's dirty linen.
The Australian Law Reform Commission says washing machines could be fitted with radio frequency identification equipment, known as RFID, which stores information and transmits it to a data-processing system.
A discussion paper by the commission on a review of Australian privacy law lists the "bugged" washing machine as one of the myriad controversial technologies that are stealthily shaping the way we live.
"Some uses of RFID technology raise privacy concerns," the discussion paper says. "In particular, concerns arise about the ability of agencies, organisations or individuals to surreptitiously collect a variety of data related to the same person; track individuals as they walk in public places (airports, train stations, stores); enhance profiles through the monitoring of consumer behaviour in stores; and read the details of clothes and accessories worn and medicines carried by customers.
"These concerns are exacerbated by the fact that individuals may not be given notice that the products they purchase or the objects they use contain RFID tags and may not be given the choice to remove or disable RFID tags."
This technology is already widely used: examples include keyless car entry; security tags on clothing, CDs and other items in department stores that activate readers at exits; animal tagging; timing marathon runners; and access control for secure premises.
Increasingly Australians are being bar-coded and scoped. Their whereabouts are checked, along with the company they keep. How they make money, how they spend it - all is monitored in the name of progress, profit and private and national security.
Marcus Einfeld's court case last month provided irrefutable proof that nobody is ever alone in a big city any more.
Charged with 13 offences relating to traffic infringements, the former Federal Court judge was committed to trial after leaving a spoor of credit card, mobile phone and bridge toll transactions and closed-circuit television appearances that a bloodhound with a head cold would have had no difficulty following.
But the tracking of Einfeld only reveals the tip of the iceberg of security and surveillance technology piggybacking on living in modern society.
Australians had been sceptical about the surveillance industry and associated identity checks. But the terrorist attacks in the US on September 11, 2001, and subsequent terrorist outrages changed much of that. And while law enforcement agencies' activities have expanded considerably to fit new laws and demands, other surveillance industries and programs have enthusiastically jumped on the "new world order" band wagon and grown exponentially.
Data-matching and data-mining allow information generated by people doing ordinary things - such as using automatic teller machines, paying with credit cards, using shopping loyalty cards or smartcards, writing cheques, renting cars or videos, sending or receiving emails or surfing the internet - to be collected and collated, often without the subject's consent or knowledge.
For instance, how does a supermarket corporation that has acquired a new dairy business, say, on a Bass Strait island, go about grabbing a share of the cheese market?
The chain already possesses much information about its customers, courtesy of credit cards and bank-controlled shopping loyalty schemes linked to purchase receipts. So particular customers pop up buying a southern NSW cheese for years and the chain can make an educated guess about their purchasing power and habits and correlate the information with census information about incomes in particular local government areas. Then it can send emails trying to persuade people to sample the Bass Strait product.
Once people carefully husbanded their identities, and that privacy was respected. For years the only piece of paper people were happy to carry was a driver's licence.
In 1987 Bob Hawke's government pulled a double dissolution in an attempt to get its proposed Australia Card legislation through the Senate. The ID check for Australian citizens and resident foreigners arose partly out of the ease with which drug runners wandered in and out of the country but voters remained unconvinced.
As a consequence Australians were lumbered with a tax file number, a sort of watered down version of the American Social Security number that, together with the Medicare card, targets small fish by permitting greater scrutiny of the link between welfare and tax.
For the hundreds of thousands who came to Australia as immigrants, the absence of ID checks symbolised the new freedoms they had embraced.
Authoritarian regimes were skewered as Big Brother in George Orwell's book Nineteen Eighty-Four, published in 1949. The two words were synonymous with one-party states and dictatorships for years. However, just as globalisation, the internet and money markets made Australians surrender to a brave new world where surveillance was king, the sense of incipient threat that Orwell's words symbolised was drained away with the 1999 arrival of the reality television franchise that eventually saw totalitarianism give way to "turkey-slapping".
The proliferation of online transactions and a trend towards a cashless society means thieves no longer need to steal a wallet when they can steal an identity.
Billions are being spent to counter identity theft. Research into "gait DNA" enables a computer to make identifications by matching a person's facial image to gait, height and weight. Also being investigated are body odour measurement and ear geometry.
Traditionally Australians have been wary of such "Big Brother" developments but opinion polls show that - like Americans and the English - Australians now tend to support more rather than less surveillance.
The executive director of the Australian Homeland Security Research Centre, Athol Yates, said security and surveillance technology boomed in Australia after 2001. Although many expressed concerns, he said, most had come to accept the intrusion, especially after closed-circuit TV helped identify the London bombers in 2005.
"CCTV has become so commonplace now that people just don't notice them anymore," he said. "When the public becomes aware that a security technology can or is being abused or is ineffective, then that is the strongest safeguard against governments or organisations abusing the technology."
The Law Reform Commission has been conducting an inquiry into privacy in the brave new world of global communication. In an indication of the climate surrounding the issue, nearly 10 per cent of submissions made to the inquiry were confidential.
Its final report to the Federal Government is due by March 31.
SMH 7-1-8
http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/technology-that-exposes-your-dirty-linen/2008/01/06/1199554485298.html?page=fullpage#contentSwap1
. . . . . .
If you shoot a mime, should you use a silencer?
http://www.ebearweb.net
Bujinkan: Martial Arts of the Samurai and Ninja
http://www.ebearweb.net/bujinkan/
Stephen's Snaps
http://photo.ebearweb.net/
This week Guam photos.
Simply nice photos, Landscape, Seascape, Underwater, The Northern Beaches Sydney.
