Showing posts with label national. Show all posts
Showing posts with label national. Show all posts

The NBN May Never be Completed

We hear so much praise about progress of the new broadband network being rolled out by the National Broadband Network (NBN). The problem is - there has been little progress. Apart from the acclaimed network in a part of Tasmania, few customers enjoy ultra-fast broadband anywhere else.

The Internet divide still exists between city and rural. Obviously the NBN will be laid out in city areas because this is where the greatest income will be obtained. As it now stands rural regions will not get faster Internet until way past 2020. Many people will be dead by then. How do we know if fiber optics will be superceded? Soon the ocean protection walls will be finished around Venice and there are cries that it is old technology and will not save the valuable city. Perhaps the same will be said about the NBN.

In the present economic climate where will be few businesses left in populated cities to enjoy the improved communication. Only if the mineral sector declines and the Aussie dollar drops in value will manufacturing and service sectors become profitable again. But a fall in mineral income will mean less tax to pay for the NBN.

The Internet may make unforeseeable changes. For example, Skype and Gmail have pushed the cost of international calls down to a few cents a minute. Telcos can no longer make a profit from providing the service. Internet operations first offered this in the early 2000s. it faded. Now it is back with a vengeance. If Internet operators can find a way past the mobile barriers put up by the telcos that will bankrupt these monster companies who overcharge for mobile calls.

There is no question that the NBN is monopolistic. It will be the only Internet provider. Smaller companies will be given piecemeal resale access. However, this will be on NBN terms. Talk is all about the benefits. If the Coalition wins the next election they could dismantle the whole operation.
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Society
TwitThis

Internet Companies Are Not Complying With Police

Despite calls by some countries for Internet companies to had over information on citizens' searches and email, the knowledge superhighway is moving in the other direction. Information stored in the cloud are out of reach of national police forces. Gone are the days when just about everything that a suspect has done is available recorded somewhere at sometime. Data is there but it cannot be accessed.

The ordinary person will not have much sympathy for police trying to "background" a suspect. They see authorities as being too intrusive anyway. For years Australian social security sent out "demand" forms for aged pensioners to provide up-to-date information about what they had in the bank. A court found that social security did not have the legal right to demand honest answers. The forms are still being sent out. Legally they are still suspect. Such is the quagmire authorities are in.

Anyway, back to the case in hand. Police are saying even getting data from Google is a problem. Even obtaining information Between Australians in Australia has barriers. In some cases it takes five year to get information via court processes. In that time period technology has moved on and not everything is stored for posterity.

The National police forces' desire for greater access is like smoke over a factory chimney. It will blow away with the breeze. Companies operating across national borders will never comply because their customers don't want them to play the game. The European Cybercrime Convention treaty is a furphy. Internet companies are watching with no intention of complying.
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Internet

Native Claim Wins Out Over Commonsense

Here we go again. Beliefs of a small group win out over commonsense. We all know that the land around Uluru, Ayers Rock, is sacred. That is accepted. Saying it is too sacred to go boating on a freshwater lake in South Australia is absolute rot. The native Aboriginals, the Arabunna, at Lake Eyre are making outrageous claims. How does boating affect their beliefs that objects have souls? If you want to believe that grains of sand have souls so be it, but leave everyone else alone.

The Arabunna were quite happy with local boating until plans were made to hold a sailing event by a yacht club. Nothing has changed. Swimming will be banned next. Aboriginals are afraid to use the lake anyway because they fear the lake's spirit keeper.

It all boils down to a dispute with the government over native title. If things aren't going well say something is sacred and stop this, stop that, stop everything. It is just bloody mindedness.

As the commodore of Lake Eyre Yacht Club says: this infringes on the natural right of people to use the lake as a navigable waterway. Talks have stalled. It seem nothing will be done until the Arabunna have their way.
~~~~~Politics~~~~~
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