[clug] [OT] Broadband clangers

[Scott Ferguson]

 On  Thu, 12 Aug 2010 10:41:29 +1000  steve jenkin
<sjenkin at canb.auug.org.au> wrote:
> To: linux at lists.samba.org
> Subject: Re: [clug] [OT] Broadband clangers
> Message-ID: <4C634339.8080209 at canb.auug.org.au>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
>
> Ben Nizette wrote on 11/08/10 6:59 PM:
>
>> > FWIW the Coalition has come out against the filter, they (say they) won't implement it.
>> > 
>> > 	--Ben.
> The Howard Government was the first to be concerned about "filtering"
> and started the "NetNanny" (or wahtever) give-away.
>
> For my money, we're not out of the woods yet.
> Hopefully, as mentioned by Ivan, the Greens will put the kybosh on this
> in the Senate whomever gets in.
> If the Libs fail to win back their Rightful Role as Rulers, they'll be
> anti-everything...
>
> I've never heard anything that explains why Sen. Conroy is so determined
> to implement filtering.
> I can think of two plausible Agendas:
>  - Capital-C conservative Christian values, violently anti-porn.
>  - He actually 'gets' that the Internet challenges the status-quo
>    and has the potential to severely disrupt Business-as-Usual politics.
>    [Would the Mexico Gulf oil-blowout have been half the story
>     without the "live-feed" on the Net?]
>    [Not to mention 'the drudge report' and Clinton.]
>
> Anyone got a better idea or insight??
>
> Something very powerful is driving this, and I really hope it's not The
> Spooks wanting a home-grown version of 'Carnivore' or buying "NarusInsight".
>
> cheers
> steve
>
> -- Steve Jenkin, Info Tech, Systems and Design Specialist. 0412 786
> 915 (+61 412 786 915) PO Box 48, Kippax ACT 2615, AUSTRALIA
> sjenkin at canb.auug.org.au http://members.tip.net.au/~sjenkin

I doubt JIO/ASIO/ASIS etc have any interest in the proposed net filter.
I *suspect* they are more interested in gathering information than
suppressing it. This may be why NSA/CIA etc allow Al Jazera (my spelling
mistakes) to operate - so access can be monitored. Besides which, they
have other means of monitoring peoples internet usage.
Carnivore no longer exists, long since replaced by NarusInsight
(http://www.narus.com/).

Regrettably there are many groups within our society who wish to enforce
their conservative values on others (one-bookians). As Open Source users
we should all be well acquainted with asymmetrical (closed source)
information advocates ;-p

Conroy is (possibly/probably) influenced by Family First (Wendy "burn
homosexuals" Francis) which in turn is controlled by the ACL... Jim
Wallace of the ACL is a fierce advocate of web filtering, and like many
of the ACL board - is a member of a Baptist Church which holds
LandMarkism type values. These are the sort of people who interpret the
Bible literally - for them demons *do* exist.
See http://torvalds-family.blogspot.com/2010/02/demons-really.html for
Linus's take on them.

OOT - Socrates upset his peers by telling students that everyone has an
internal guide he called a "daemon".... hemlock was the least worst of
the "choices" he was offered!

As to A/DSL and layer 1 - I *thought* the portablity problem comes from
Telstra owning the exchanges and the Nortel cards. Anyone can buy the
cards but they can only be installed in exchanges, and all exchanges are
owned by Telstra. De-provisioning and provisioning is done by a script
(robot) that runs nightly.
Interestingly (but OOT) the exchanges and line equipment (demuxes,
muxes, test heads etc) all run *nix.

Cheers