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Australian Government Scrambles to Authorize Mass Surveillance

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Re: Australian Government Scrambles to Authorize Mass Surveillance

#71

Post by dublinben »

the_rosentotter wrote: post #39
retrogradeorbit wrote: post #20

"The people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same way in any country." -- Hermann Göring That'll be next. Any one who stands in opposition to these bills will be "exposing the country to danger".

"You furnish the pictures, I'll furnish the war." -- William Randolph Hearst Every war in recent history has been preceded by massive, concerted media propaganda. World War I was extreme in this regard. The monopoly situation on mass media has not improved since then.

It's been dizzying to watch the propaganda surrounding IS in order to drum up support for a new war. From the very beginning, with their characterization as "too extreme for Al Qaeda" this has seemed highly orchestrated.

Re: Australian Government Scrambles to Authorize Mass Surveillance

#72

Post by michaelt »

thomasfoster96 wrote: post #53
aragot wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Talking about university loans, let's take a minute to share and contemplate the awesome system I've discovered in Australia: You can borrow money from the govt for your studies. The interest rate is only equal to the Consumer Price Index. You repay your debt through taxes after you start working, and your taxes are capped to something like 45% of your income. Which means, if your studies don't land you a good job, y…

Agreed - after watching John Oliver's piece on student debt in America I'm pretty convinced that Australia's system is fine. Tony Abbott's only issue was introducing deregulated fees at the same time that he cut funding to universities. The latter is what's really causing the issues sa far as I can see. By the way, the way it works is pretty much that you have to reach an income threshold before you need to start pay…

I'll accept student loans with debt charged at the market rate the moment the fees and interest are applied retroactively.

If a student graduating today should repay society the cost of their education, why shouldn't a student who graduated 30 years ago like, say, Tony Abbot?

Re: Australian Government Scrambles to Authorize Mass Surveillance

#73

Post by doctorshady »

Narkov wrote: post #12

Surely it's inevitable that everything will be surveiled. The quicker we realise this and "encrypt all the things" the better. What's the point in fighting legislation when you can solve the problem with technology? If the technology doesn't exist now then this stupid legislation should spur it on.

The NSA - and I expect the rest of the five eyes, are archiving a very large amount of encrypted traffic in anticipation of being able to analyze it at a later date. What do you think that Utah data center is for?

Unless you know the data will be useless in a short while, it's safe to say you're still talking on the shiny side of one sided glass.

Re: Australian Government Scrambles to Authorize Mass Surveillance

#74

Post by jjsalamon »

thomasfoster96 wrote: post #53
aragot wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Talking about university loans, let's take a minute to share and contemplate the awesome system I've discovered in Australia: You can borrow money from the govt for your studies. The interest rate is only equal to the Consumer Price Index. You repay your debt through taxes after you start working, and your taxes are capped to something like 45% of your income. Which means, if your studies don't land you a good job, y…

Agreed - after watching John Oliver's piece on student debt in America I'm pretty convinced that Australia's system is fine. Tony Abbott's only issue was introducing deregulated fees at the same time that he cut funding to universities. The latter is what's really causing the issues sa far as I can see. By the way, the way it works is pretty much that you have to reach an income threshold before you need to start pay…

Simply not having the American system doesn't default to 'fine.' Besides, Australian education is now well on its way to a similar system.

Re: Australian Government Scrambles to Authorize Mass Surveillance

#75

Post by grecy »

aragot wrote: post #40
grecy wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've been out of Australia for many years now, though I always figured I would go home to raise a family one day. Everyone I talk to now says it's getting destroyed by Abbott and his policies. Less sending on Health, Education. Privatized university loans (with interest - even for those with existing HECS debt), very overreaching surveillance. I hate to say it, but it might not be worth going back after Abbott has ha…

Talking about university loans, let's take a minute to share and contemplate the awesome system I've discovered in Australia: You can borrow money from the govt for your studies. The interest rate is only equal to the Consumer Price Index. You repay your debt through taxes after you start working, and your taxes are capped to something like 45% of your income. Which means, if your studies don't land you a good job, y…

Absolutely, I personally think it's one of the best things about the country.

After living and working for a year and a half in the US, and 7 years in Canada, I've seen first hand the impact of charging for university, and how it impacts people lives for decades.

I met tons of people that chose not to go to university simply because they couldn't afford it. I was shocked and saddened that happens in developed countries.

I have tons of 30-something friends that are still paying interest only on their student loans, and it's crippling their life choices.

I really hope we can kick Abbott out before he does much more damage.

Are people in Australia seriously talking about getting him removed? Does anyone even know what the process is in Australia to remove a Prime Minister?

Re: Australian Government Scrambles to Authorize Mass Surveillance

#76

Post by jjsalamon »

grecy wrote: post #75
aragot wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Talking about university loans, let's take a minute to share and contemplate the awesome system I've discovered in Australia: You can borrow money from the govt for your studies. The interest rate is only equal to the Consumer Price Index. You repay your debt through taxes after you start working, and your taxes are capped to something like 45% of your income. Which means, if your studies don't land you a good job, y…

Absolutely, I personally think it's one of the best things about the country. After living and working for a year and a half in the US, and 7 years in Canada, I've seen first hand the impact of charging for university, and how it impacts people lives for decades. I met tons of people that chose not to go to university simply because they couldn't afford it. I was shocked and saddened that happens in developed countri…

The governor general can fire the government.

Re: Australian Government Scrambles to Authorize Mass Surveillance

#77

Post by cylinder »

grecy wrote: post #34
andrewstuart wrote: post #7

Prime Minister Abbott needs to whip up hysteria and panic to try to distract people from his government's incredibly poor performance and disastrous budget. A nice solid war along with deep fear mongering should regain control of the media message. I simply don't believe we are under threat of attack from knife wielding beheading terrorists. The poor kid who died the other day was probably just mentally ill but its t…

I've been out of Australia for many years now, though I always figured I would go home to raise a family one day. Everyone I talk to now says it's getting destroyed by Abbott and his policies. Less sending on Health, Education. Privatized university loans (with interest - even for those with existing HECS debt), very overreaching surveillance. I hate to say it, but it might not be worth going back after Abbott has ha…

Don't get too drawn in by the online hype. Abbott and LNP proposed plenty, but much of it hasn't materialized into any sort of legislation and probably won't. The Labor party dominating government wasn't a good thing either.

Still a long way from becoming as bad as America. Consider that health insurance premiums for a family of four average at $16,000/year with $2,000 deductible in the U.S.

Mass surveillance will get you no matter where you are in the world.

Australia's real problem is its deep anti-intellectual culture and generally ignorant populace. Kind of the same deal as the US. At least your people are generally a bit more skeptical.

Re: Australian Government Scrambles to Authorize Mass Surveillance

#78

Post by techdragon »

gilgoomesh wrote: post #16
andrewstuart wrote: post #7

Prime Minister Abbott needs to whip up hysteria and panic to try to distract people from his government's incredibly poor performance and disastrous budget. A nice solid war along with deep fear mongering should regain control of the media message. I simply don't believe we are under threat of attack from knife wielding beheading terrorists. The poor kid who died the other day was probably just mentally ill but its t…

> no longer getting a fibre to the home national broadband network because that was too expensive According to various leaked reports: http://www.themercury.com.au/nbn-co-tears-faster-cheaper-ftt... the all-fibre option might actually be cheaper than the proposed Multi-Technology-Mix that the government are building but they're simply too dogmatic to listen to their own internal reporting . Insert your preferred cons…

No need for a conspiracy, we are looking at flat out idiocy here folks.

Re: Australian Government Scrambles to Authorize Mass Surveillance

#79

Post by techdragon »

grecy wrote: post #75
aragot wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Talking about university loans, let's take a minute to share and contemplate the awesome system I've discovered in Australia: You can borrow money from the govt for your studies. The interest rate is only equal to the Consumer Price Index. You repay your debt through taxes after you start working, and your taxes are capped to something like 45% of your income. Which means, if your studies don't land you a good job, y…

Absolutely, I personally think it's one of the best things about the country. After living and working for a year and a half in the US, and 7 years in Canada, I've seen first hand the impact of charging for university, and how it impacts people lives for decades. I met tons of people that chose not to go to university simply because they couldn't afford it. I was shocked and saddened that happens in developed countri…

We don't have a lot of options for removing him, a few, but not many, one of the most likely is is party throw hi out fearing he is personally is killing their political careers.

Re: Australian Government Scrambles to Authorize Mass Surveillance

#80

Post by grecy »

michaelt wrote: post #72
thomasfoster96 wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Agreed - after watching John Oliver's piece on student debt in America I'm pretty convinced that Australia's system is fine. Tony Abbott's only issue was introducing deregulated fees at the same time that he cut funding to universities. The latter is what's really causing the issues sa far as I can see. By the way, the way it works is pretty much that you have to reach an income threshold before you need to start pay…

I'll accept student loans with debt charged at the market rate the moment the fees and interest are applied retroactively. If a student graduating today should repay society the cost of their education, why shouldn't a student who graduated 30 years ago like, say, Tony Abbot?

I'm not there right now, but my parents are saying that's exactly what he's proposing - the retro-active bit.

It will impact me, I still have ~$20k of HECS debt that I didn't pay, and because I'm not earning money in Australia, I'm not paying it now.

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