internet

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GCSB Bill scaring off investors

Written By: - Date published: 7:22 am, July 4th, 2013 - 103 comments

One of National’s favourite lines of attack on any significant lefty policy is that it will “scare off investors”. So how now do they respond to Google’s threat that global telecommunications companies may well abandon New Zealand because of the compliance costs of the new GCSB legislation?

Networks of influence: Lobbyists

Written By: - Date published: 10:04 am, June 19th, 2013 - 23 comments

The Speaker’s  list of lobbyists has doubled over the last year.  “Neoliberal” & corporate entities have the balance of power.  Journalists & PR merchants get more influence than the marginalised, low income & politically disengaged. Social media is a means to counter such influence. [Update: Bunji, NRT]

Whistleblowers and services to journalism

Written By: - Date published: 10:00 am, June 10th, 2013 - 57 comments

Two leakers (one a true whistleblower), are in the news right now, both focused on the US-led surveillance society, operating in the interests of corporate power.  And today, in relation to this, 2 journalists show the importance of the fourth estate to democracy. Kim Hill & Glenn Greenwald take a bow.

NSA pwns the internet

Written By: - Date published: 11:03 am, June 7th, 2013 - 74 comments

The NSA has direct access to servers at Google, Apple, Facebook, and other Internet giants, and they collect pretty much whatever data they like. We shouldn’t be surprised. The Guardian has the story.

The policing of women’s bodies

Written By: - Date published: 10:00 am, June 6th, 2013 - 116 comments

(Socialist) feminism seems to be on the rise internationally, exposing how threats to “old boys” corporate-aligned power are countered by policing women’s bodies. Sue Bradford highlights the contradiction between Owen Glenn’s paternalistic corporate capitalism and the feminist-aligned participants in his Inquiry. Jan Logie addresses the gender pay gap.

Digital democracy: Fair Deal goes global

Written By: - Date published: 10:20 am, May 21st, 2013 - 2 comments

NZ’s Fair Deal Coalition launched a new website, ourfairdeal.org, networking globally with others concerned about intellectual property & the TTPA. The FDC includes those supporting global “neoliberal” commerce, & others supporting community & public sector activities, democratic freedoms and privacy rights.

Meanwhile: US, intellectual property, GCSB

Written By: - Date published: 11:29 am, April 26th, 2013 - 18 comments

In his meetings with Ian Fletcher, Key’s main aims and activities are hidden in plain sight. They connect with US-led initiatives around digital copyright, intellectual property and commerce.  Recently there have been some worrying developments in the bigger picture: GCSB, ACTA, TPPA, SOPA, CISPA.

Seeking a wormald to the truth

Written By: - Date published: 1:47 pm, April 15th, 2013 - 33 comments

Dotcom has promised some significant revelations from this week’s court proceedings.  This morning his lawyer focused on Grant Wormald, the role of the police Special Tactics Group, and the truth.  Is the GCSB is off the hook? Meanwhile, Key has been claiming he is “honest and upfront”. [Update – Key’s announced changes to the GCSB outrageous & undemocratic]

Networks of influence

Written By: - Date published: 8:45 am, April 14th, 2013 - 57 comments

John Key is into networking and schmoozing with the wealthy & influential. He’s  given special attention to the entertainment industries, GCSB, intellectual property & commerce.  He crossed paths with Warner’s people the year before the Hobbit dispute, but never played golf with Dotcom.

The Key-Fletcher trail

Written By: - Date published: 11:36 am, April 11th, 2013 - 77 comments

The PM, Fletcher, the GCSB – questions need answering: why, when, where, who? It’s all about intellectual property, global commerce and international networks. From London to Aus 2009, to NZ 2010, then down the rabbit hole to Dotcom, Hobbits & uncertain links with complex global money mazes.

Attack of the Knuckleheads

Written By: - Date published: 8:45 am, April 6th, 2013 - 97 comments

I wonder how far the knucklehead rebellion will spread…

The failures of visual special effects

Written By: - Date published: 11:30 am, March 20th, 2013 - 46 comments

I “attended” a fascinating “town hall” meeting last week of artists from around the world in the Visual Special Effects sector. Ignited by the failure of the company Rhythm and Hues (despite recently completing most of the special effects for the film The Life of Pi and winning award recognition for the work), these workers […]

News media: shifting ground

Written By: - Date published: 12:44 pm, March 19th, 2013 - 13 comments

The withdrawal of News Corp from SkyNZ, & the new deal on press regulation in the UK are part of various shifts: from media moguls to financial investors, rise of the internet, & the balance between corporate media and politicians – not a fourth estate revival. [Update: tweeters/bloggers excluded]

The economic value of the internet

Written By: - Date published: 11:41 am, March 11th, 2013 - 35 comments

The innovations that drive our modern economies changes and growth these days is largely powered by the internet. It is ubiquitously embedded in most businesses these days to a fantastic degree. While I wish economists well in their continuous attempts at measuring the effect of the internet, I think that it will be a futile endeavour.

TPPA: US, corporate dominance – let’s do ACTION!!

Written By: - Date published: 10:00 am, March 5th, 2013 - 38 comments

TTPA talks under way in Singapore. Jane Kelsey leads critical discussion in NZ: Obama skewing the agenda in favour of US corporates; pharmaceuticals,  internet, copyright & more; John Key’s dodgy figures.  In Aussie today, a seminar on the TPPA & corporate dominance over women’s rights & health provisions.

Xtra email compromised?

Written By: - Date published: 12:16 pm, February 10th, 2013 - 17 comments

In the last 12 hours I’ve had robo-spam email from 4 different friends, all with xtra email accounts. Is anyone else seeing this?

Mega overloads

Written By: - Date published: 6:15 pm, January 20th, 2013 - 72 comments

In the continuing saga of Kim Dotcom against the forces of blind, silly, and technically illiterate conservatism, amongst whom John Key (our Minister of International Embarrassment) fits pretty well. Kim Dotcom has launched a new file storage service. Although that is not strictly correct – rather people associated with him did. It is the “Mega” and is accessible at present only using the https://mega.co.nz. And it is a bit bogged down with mega demand…

Back to work time

Written By: - Date published: 11:55 pm, January 9th, 2013 - 24 comments

Looks like people are heading back to work. I’m always surprised at how predictable the end of year pattern is on this site. In fact I can (and do) bet server maintenance on it. This year we moved fully into the cloud but did it offshore. That way we don’t pay excessive variable costs to the Southern Cross cable monopoly to pay for searchbots.

Greens pony up for a second cable

Written By: - Date published: 6:52 am, December 18th, 2012 - 43 comments

Market failure is one of the marks of our time. From unaffordable, low-quality housing to child poverty to the over-valued dollar killing jobs to over-priced broadband and failed government IT procurements, the market keeps getting it wrong. The Greens and Labour know the answer is for the Government to step in; National just turns a blind eye. Russel Norman did it again yesterday.

Late night Twitter

Written By: - Date published: 3:49 pm, December 14th, 2012 - 27 comments

Peter_dunne_twitter_thumb

Mega-screenshots promise more embarassment

Written By: - Date published: 11:29 am, December 10th, 2012 - 6 comments

Kim DotCom has been twittering about his new website that is under development to the amusement of some observers. But for us in NZ we’re probably less interested in the layout of his file manager than what is actually in the screenshot of the file manager. Promises yet more pain for the government and it’s inept police and security services.

The political media and the blogs

Written By: - Date published: 10:34 pm, November 29th, 2012 - 110 comments

Chris Trotter, like myself, was at the Labour party conference a week and a half ago. Like myself and damn near every left wing blogger who was there, he saw a massive discordance between what was being reported and what was actually happening in the conference. The hysteria at having a carefully constructed fiction of media and the beltway PR being torn to pieces by ordinary citizens writing has been extraordinary. The implications for the poorly constructed Law Commission report on cyber-bullying is sobering.

In other news, selling NZ: TPP, Hobbit rulz …

Written By: - Date published: 11:47 am, November 20th, 2012 - 57 comments

John Key is steaming ahead in selling NZ.  He is Obama’s wing-man to extend the TPP into the Asia-Pacific region.  Meanwhile, the “Hobbit Law” is taking a heavy toll on many NZ actors.  And there are claims that the Hobbit production has been harming animals.

Labour Conference 2012: how is social media formed?

Written By: - Date published: 7:00 pm, November 13th, 2012 - 81 comments

So, in an effort to make a post not calling for the head of David Shearer, I decided to take a look at the Labour Party’s conference webpages. And oh boy are they a treat. I’ve blogged before about Labour’s (or at least, Shearer’s office’s) poor grasp of social media, but whole new levels of “what r […]

Think Mega

Written By: - Date published: 10:33 am, November 4th, 2012 - 138 comments

Kim Dotcom is promising ultra-cheap broadband for NZ. If he pulls it off, he is going to put our local entrepreneurs to shame – not to mention our government.

Hollywood Rules

Written By: - Date published: 11:10 am, October 8th, 2012 - 76 comments

In another slippery John Key u-turn, after his mission to Hollywood ‘sweeteners’ are now on the table. Key is bending over to let US-based conglomerates extend their dominance in NZ, in support of their own interests and values.

Why was GCSB spying on Dotcom? Big business is watching you!

Written By: - Date published: 1:49 pm, October 2nd, 2012 - 22 comments

Kim Dotcom was arrested on charges related to copyright infringement, not national security or “terrorism”. There is a worrying trend that the GCSB is part of an international security networks that have shifted from their original mission related to national security and is providing support to corporate interests.

Two little Pagis squeal and squeak

Written By: - Date published: 9:25 pm, August 16th, 2012 - 179 comments

It seems the Standard is off the Paganis’ Christmas list. John Pagani tells the Listener that he much prefers Kiwiblog because it “has a more reasonable tone than, say, the left blog the Standard, whose idea of political is embittered and angry and it’s therefore hard to read.” Now that’s tragic and moronic, but hardly surprising. […]

Infographics

Written By: - Date published: 2:09 pm, July 25th, 2012 - 28 comments

Labour and the Greens are producing great infographics that succiently explain what the government’s doing wrong on issues of the day and bust National’s myths. They chuck them up on Facebook and Twitter and they spread like wildfire. They’re a really effective use of social media. You can help by liking the parties’ Facebook pages and sharing the infographics.

The future of journalism

Written By: - Date published: 11:38 am, July 9th, 2012 - 36 comments

Confirmation today that The Herald is adopting a format more in keeping with its content, and going tabloid. The media world is changing fast…

All the news that’s fit to print – Rupert & Gina’s way

Written By: - Date published: 12:23 pm, June 22nd, 2012 - 23 comments

Major changes in the media in Oz will have their impact here – some already have. Interesting times ahead for all, including the Standard.

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