And consider
And consider moving to a country that has a clue! I think iceland or Finland are good options for IT workers who don't want to be farked by their government...
Last week's hearing of Australia's Legal and Constitutional Affairs Legislation Committee, which convened in part to discuss Australia's planned communications metadata retention laws, produced high farce. Despite having been lampooned for previously being unable to offer a definition of metadata, Attorney General George …
"Metadata farce capped a shocking year for tech policy."
I am reminded of a section in the Economist's online style guide (a good read), admonishing writers to:
"Resist saying This will be no panacea. When you find something that is indeed a panacea (or a magic or silver bullet), that will indeed be news. Similarly, hold back from offering the reassurance There is no need to panic. Instead, ask yourself exactly when there is a need to panic."
In that vein, it's a good article but perhaps it would be easier to just let us know when we cap off a good* year in IT policy.
* - I'm not aiming high, here.
this government are not dangerous as such. Glove puppets are not a threat but tools of the delusional minds of those who fund them. The glove puppet contempt for citizens and ISPs shows with the Xmas Eve release of cost estimate requirements for mandatory snooping records. This from a government with a so called debt crisis that has reneged on a promise to chase corporate tax avoiders but instead cuts funding for the lowest end of town. Clearly the decisions are not being made by parliament.
Australian IT companies and associations pretty much tend to be big-time wimps when the government rumbles over them.
Telstra rolls over to protect its various sweetheart deals and monopolist concessions. Ditto Optus. Both are pretty much just rent seekers seeking to make the most out of their long obsolete capital, whilst hoping to become dominant 'partners' at the NBN pot. The other telcos are too small potatoes to challenge a kindergarten and meekly do whatever they are told.
But iiNet has a record of bucking the system and refusing to buckle to protect third parties, the government or whoever. I think they do that to protect their own interests as much as their clients/consumers ... and besides publicity wise it really looks good with the general public - but they do buck the trend rather often.
Of the overseas IT firms ... they pretty much just want to lay low and sell product. So, you won't see them sticking their necks out for anyone but themselves. And at the moment, they just want the tax focus to go away ... so they're laying even lower.
And the industry and IT professional associations: They seem to confuse a 'seat at the table', holding meetings with low level bureaucratic functionaries, and sometimes shaking hands with a MINISTER as relevant, when they are actually being royally ignored by a government going about its business relatively untroubled by infotech, or science, or pretty well anybody who actually knows something about anything.
The only 'stakeholders' this government recognizes are those who go into meetings with them agreeing, wholly and completely, with the government's position ... so what we've got are a plethora of technologically inclined 'Yes Men' - who are no use to anybody.
The mining, oil and gas industries have long been telling governments in Australia what to do... along with good old Rupert and the various news corp organisations of course. These guys want shit internet in Australia because if it is so bad, people are going to go back to only perusing the .com.au websites for their news and other information and wont actually be exposed to the goodness that happens outside of Australian territorial waters.
Instead of being given a world class telecommunications infrastructure by this government, we have them trying to convince the Australian people that 25Mbps is much much better than the 24Mbps we are supposed to get from ADSL2+... and thats using the ancient copper that runs from the node to the premises.
I think that once my parents have recovered sufficiently from their operations, I might try and get them to relocate to Cyprus where they can live cheap as chips and I will go back to contracting in the UK and Ireland.
And why the beer... because you need to be pissed to believe the bullshit that the Liberal government is tossing out atm.