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Australia’s new mass surveillance mandate

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211–220 of 894 posts

Re: Australia’s new mass surveillance mandate

#211

It's ironic that a country founded by England with prison convicts who pushed out the indigenous people would eventually choose to create a police state. Edit: Fixed for people who knew what I meant but want to bust my...

And Tasmania (the Australian island state right at the South) was the prison island for the worst convicts. It is now probably the most conservative state in Australia. It's like the phenomenon where the bullied becomes the bully, but on a societal level.

Tasmania (where I live, and am right now) is definitely _not_ the most conservative state. While this may have been true in the 90s, it's not now, and while we do have a Liberal (the right-most of the big Australian parties) State Government, they are the most left-leaning of the State Liberal governments.

See https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-05-13/election-2019-vote-co... amongst others.

Re: Australia’s new mass surveillance mandate

#212
post #143

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What does the healthcare look like at these places? Is the climate habitable? Clean air?

Antarctica has clean air, cheaper healthcare than the US and is more habitable than Florida.

Watch out for Antarctica Man.

Re: Australia’s new mass surveillance mandate

#213
post #154

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Voting at all in an unegaged populace is bad. Might as well just have a dictator

Sic aside, I don't follow your line of reasoning. Care to elaborate?

Disengaged voters will simply vote for the current leadership or loudest guy, typically the same thing, without a thought towards the issues.

Strongmen love compulsory voting, it creates a false perception of legitimacy, because corruption or no corruption, if only 30% of a population is engaged in the issues and the other 70% could give two shits, that is a slamdunk for incumbents.

Re: Australia’s new mass surveillance mandate

#214
post #128
post #37

I've lived in Australia for 10 years and really considering my familys future in this country. We are sleep-walking towards a very average future. An undiversified export economy, out of control house prices, a job-market primarily focused on two cities, a government intent on selling all public assets, very limited political interest in positive climate policies. The latter is simply addressed with "technology will…

I feel you mate. Sad part is Australia has all the potential to have a really good future but the only thing missing is competent leadership. The liberal government continues to fuck up time and time again and the Murdoch press just turns a blind eye. Fucked up quarantine, fucked up vaccine rollout, fucked up climate policies, fucked up the news media bargaining code, and fucked up numerous policies just to prop up t…

Various sources are reporting that Labor supported the bill as well.

https://www.zdnet.com/article/australias-hacking-bill-passes...

> The House of Representatives on Tuesday passed the Bill, with a total of 60 amendments, and while Labor has thrown its support behind the Bill as a result of the amended document being a "better Bill", the Australian Greens have not.

Re: Australia’s new mass surveillance mandate

#215
post #132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Strong men create good times. Or sometimes they just kill each other in cycles of violence spanning generations. > Good times create weak men. Or they enable amazing things like the internet, modern medicine, and empires that last 1000 years. Sorry, but I've seen this pithy quote before and I wish it would go away - it's simply not true.

The internet came about because of the cold war and the attendant arms race. Empires that last were all born in blood and fire and terror, and universally spend more blood to maintain cohesion against the outside. What type of la la fantasy histories have you been reading? Fat happy people maintain the status quo. Hungry desperate people innovate. Anyway. The world wide web is probably what you meant. And yes, univer…

> Hungry desperate people innovate.

Nikola Tesla, Thomas Edison, Alan Turing, Albert Einstein, Robert Goddard, Werner von Braun, William Shockley, John von Neumann, ... those just come off the top of my head, I could keep going for pages.

Yeah, a bunch of hungry desperate people there.

I mean sure, some were deeply flawed or had tragic lives, but that wasn't from being hungry and desperate. They were not poor, and they were supplied with ample resources to pursue their visions by governments or private companies.

That quote is just too much of an oversimplification. The real situation is far more complex and nuanced, and like I said in the other reply it matters a lot how you define strength and how you define good times.

Re: Australia’s new mass surveillance mandate

#216
post #182

Earlier quoted context omitted.

the only thing missing is competent leadership I keep hearing this every now and then, but the incompetent leadership does not come from nowhere nor has conceived itself. The country leaders have been legitimately elected, which means the leadership is the direct reflection of the country people's will. People consciously elect incompetence that bears the incompetent leadership, for that is what they desire for one r…

> The country leaders have been legitimately elected, which means the leadership is the direct reflection of the country people's will. I don't disagree. Although influencing the people's will is a lot easier when the main stream media is monopolised and heavily biased towards one political party. If we want a government that truly reflects the people's will we need a diverse media landscape. Also a reason why I supp…

We also need a population that takes an interest in what's going on an will vote out a corrupt politician regardless of their party. Most will excuse anything if it comes from their side. I'm in SA and I do what I can to support Rex Patrick as I see strong independents like him being the only hope in the immediate future.

Re: Australia’s new mass surveillance mandate

#217
post #37

I've lived in Australia for 10 years and really considering my familys future in this country. We are sleep-walking towards a very average future. An undiversified export economy, out of control house prices, a job-market primarily focused on two cities, a government intent on selling all public assets, very limited political interest in positive climate policies. The latter is simply addressed with "technology will…

If you had to emigrate, what would your top 3 options be?

I've lived in Europe. Would probably go to Spain or Portugal.

Re: Australia’s new mass surveillance mandate

#218
post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're making the mistake of conflating Australia's COVID-19 restrictions with this legislation, when they're entirely unrelated. These digital powers were something Australia has sought for many years- under the good ol' reasons of terrorism and child safety. The recent hubbub surrounding Australia's restrictive COVID-19 measures were possibly the best thing that could happen for our government- when our vaccination…

> You're making the mistake of conflating Australia's COVID-19 restrictions with this legislation, when they're entirely unrelated. They’re related in that both are examples of a level of authoritarianism that seems extreme by the standards of other Western countries.

One can point to Australia's COVID death rates (~4 per 100,000) in comparison to the United States and the United Kingdom (~200 per 100,000) and make a case for that.

This legislation is far less justifiable, and should have no reason to exist. By associating the two issues, you are weakening the case against it.

Re: Australia’s new mass surveillance mandate

#219
post #130
post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In Australia people are compelled to vote, so the problem looks like the majority having a different take. Not that I agree with their votes, but you can’t say they don’t vote. Ultimately what is one supposed to do in a democracy (never mind Australia for a moment) when you’re just not part of the majority opinion on something?

> Ultimately what is one supposed to do in a democracy (never mind Australia for a moment) when you’re just not part of the majority opinion on something? I think the only option is to emigrate. I didn’t and still don’t agree with most of the government policies in The Netherlands (regarding immigration, climate, EU, etc), but most Dutch voters apparently do. Eventually the best option is just to cut your losses and…

>I think the only option is to emigrate.

In spite of the tendency for part of the US electorate to wish to federalize all government functions, there's still a lot of difference between US states.

That seems to work out pretty well. It isn't like California is identical to Arizona, at least currently.

Re: Australia’s new mass surveillance mandate

#220
post #207

CCP is literally cancer on all citizens living in currently free democracy. They show that it's possible to keep a huge population under control with current tools and technology. Our politicians show public disdain, but fuck are they being seduced. And Australia is just stepping into it step by step while asking it's citizens to trust the government because they seem to be at odds with CCP publicly. As someone who l…

In short tech surveillance are both working and attractive. Regardless of CCP, Australia, US, FB, GOOGL, etc.
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