Little of interest

Apartment of Death

2006-06-27T20:28:00.000+10:00

One more issue with where I live...

Scary

2006-06-17T16:42:00.000+10:00

Play With Me

I used to date a girl who had been abused when she was younger. I have never seen the damage it does articulated so well.

Tags: quicktime, puppetry, playwithme

Towards A Better Democracy

2006-06-17T01:55:00.000+10:00

For too long voter's interests have had a stranglehold on Australian politics. While the wealthy try in vain to have their voices heard, Canberra panders to the unwashed masses and their endless demands for hospitals, police, infrastructure, fair wages, and other tax-causing headaches.

Now, our gallant government has taken a stand.

On Lateline:

PHILIP RUDDOCK: In relation to the amounts of money that can be disclosed, there has always been a level at which, if the funds are above, they must be disclosed. But if they're below, they don't.

MAXINE MCKEW: But it's gone from, what? $1,500, hasn't it? $1,500 to $10,000?

PHILIP RUDDOCK: In the context of change of value of the time and what is reasonable.

MAXINE MCKEW: And will keep a lot of donors happy, but is democracy served?

PHILIP RUDDOCK: You have to look at the way in which these matters impact upon people. You have to keep information and records and provide it and it is a very demanding process for people who are volunteers in political organisations and the extent to which you can make those requirements reasonable doesn't seem a problem to me.

After all, could a party be expected to record each and every donation it receives? Why would any politician care who's funding their campaign, anyway? Do other businesses keep records of their customers?

Our great Attorney-General is of course being coy, but you can't expect him to tell the truth knowing the inevitable media beat-up that will follow.

And that truth is, that the only defense the wealthy have against the demands of an unnacountable citizenship is by paying politicians to get the laws they need and stop the laws they don't. Without these new secrecy laws, politicians will simply be too cowardly to act for fear of appearing 'bought'.

After all, "the mission of the Attorney-General's Department is achieving a just and secure society." And one-person-one-vote democracy is neither just nor secure.

Tags: Ruddock, Australia, Politics, Democracy, Corruption

Usernames as trademarks?

2006-06-05T18:10:00.000+10:00

A while ago on mydeathspace, a user calling himself Moot trolled an obuituary. While this clearly wasn't the Moot, it made me wonder. Is it libel? It was essentially claiming 'Moot says...', but one could always claim that they came up with the nick independently. (In this case the user had a link to 4chan, so coincidence was pretty much out the window).

A really obsevant person could Sherlock their way to realising that I have selected a single username. Hopefully, I will be able to use it for anything; the chance of any-one else picking the same one at random is pretty slim. As with the above case, though, intentionally claiming to be me is possible. While it would most likely be a friend trying to piss me off, it does raise some issues.

Are usernames the equivelent of natural names? Can they be trademarked? Protected at all? Do they have legal weight? I am sure that the answer to all these questions is no, which raises a problem.

Already, many people know more people on-line than they know in realspace. This trend is only going to continue. And real names are too common to use in a town of billions. Lawmakers at present are too old to notice the problem, and voters have more pressing issues. It will probably take a front-page murder or similar before the issue becomes noticed. And I can't imagine any government making sensible laws in such a circumstance.

I am half tempted to register at every sevice and forum I'd ever possibly use, just to secure my nick. It's a problem when a crazy solution is the only sensible one.

Tags: web, usernames

2.30 am

2006-06-03T02:33:00.000+10:00

Enough said.

Tags: flying, virginblue, tax

Post 0

2006-06-03T00:50:00.000+10:00

This blog is one of those 'things I noticed and stuff that happened' compilations than anything else. I doubt any-one who doesn't know me would have any interest in keeping up with it.

After a decade of being near anonymous, I have decided to become net-opaque. My words will now be identifiably mine, not simply shouted from the darkness. Will this make me less honest? Probably not, but the risk is there. So why did I choose to go this route?

I don't know.