[clug] [OT] When the rubber meets the road, even "Free" needs funding.

[steve jenkin]

Can you spare $10, $20 or $50 'for a good cause'? A book on political mismanagement of technology policy.

The ALP has stated it will continue with the current LNP "Mixed Technology NBN”, or Copper Only Network.
If that happens, we know from the 1993 Cable TV rollout, that _nothing_ will be upgraded for the next 25+ years.

After the next election, no government again will ever sponsor a Full Fibre Rollout - it will be electoral poison.
Telstra won’t roll out Fibre and continue its policy since 1995 (yes!) and will actively block all attempts at Full Fibre to customers.

This is important:
  the next election is the very last time the Australian taxpayer, voter and worker gets to say “give us Full Fibre” to the Political Classes.

If you ever want more than 12Mbps to your home and 100Mbps to your workplace, now is the time to start agitating for it.

There’s just 4 days left on the kickstarter campaign, so ‘think about it’ for only a minute or two.
Please pass this note on if you think “this is something”. Otherwise, I thank you for your indulgence.

<https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/renai/the-frustrated-state>

I’ll kick in $100 if it looks like Renai will get over $35k - at which point he’s promised to send out a bunch of print copies to politicians.
Just now the campaign is at $30,900.

Renai is a professional technology journalist who wrote about the NBN during 2013 and for the last year has taken a break working in the office of Senator Scott Ludlam, The Greens.

I might not agree with all of what he writes, including I suspect large slabs of his upcoming book, but he’s doing something and trying to create awareness and community debate about the NBN and Technology Policy in general.
That’s a very good thing.

Renai’s Delimiter site.
<http://delimiter.com.au>

I think Full Fibre NBN is critical for the future jobs of everyone under 30 now.

We know from the 1993 Cable TV rollout, that whatever is done now with the NBN won’t be revisited for 25-35 years.
The ALP has said it will maintain Turnbull’s Plan for a Copper Only Network - they’re backing away from Full Fibre.

The next election is when we decide if Australia for 2020-2040 has a competitive, pervasive broadband network to sustain Business and Services, or not. 
The Global Economy and the Internet has already shrunk the world, the next step is on-line everything:
  will we deliberately exclude ourselves or not?

--
Steve Jenkin, IT Systems and Design 
0412 786 915 (+61 412 786 915)
PO Box 48, Kippax ACT 2615, AUSTRALIA

mailto:sjenkin at canb.auug.org.au http://members.tip.net.au/~sjenkin