Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Australia’s new mass surveillance mandate

digitalrightswatch.org.au

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

241–250 of 894 posts

Re: Australia’s new mass surveillance mandate

#241

Post by markdown »

c_o_n_v_e_x wrote: post #210

In the years before covid, as the sole American in a few 'strayan social circles, I'd receive sh*t for Americans protesting about their "rights" and how entitled they are. Now with Covid, Australian citizens can't leave or can't come in (without significant effort). I've seen a shift in thinking amongst my Australian friends and family. The Australians I know now see value in something like a bill of rights. Like in…

There isn't a bill of rights without exceptions, and a pandemic (public health) is always going to be one of those exceptions.

It doesn't help at all during a pandemic.

Re: Australia’s new mass surveillance mandate

#243

Post by calvinmorrison »

worik wrote: post #92
vncecartersknee wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"blindly letting the government erode our rights" what else are we supposed to do? how do you stop the government from doing that?

Vote. Protest - particularly direct action Challenge them

I recently read an article in which protesters were fined thousands of dollars for violating "health codes". A country who cannot allow protest is no free country at all.

Re: Australia’s new mass surveillance mandate

#244

Post by TheSpiceIsLife »

Nagyman wrote: post #204
WalterBright wrote: post #186

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> compulsory voting This always seemed like madness to me. You can force someone to vote, but you cannot force them to vote responsibly. They may just vote "screw you" just for revenge. The right to vote includes the right to abstain from voting when one does not care. Forced voting sounds like a recipe for bad election results. I would expect the same from paying people to vote.

You can just submit a blank ballot. https://www.quora.com/As-voting-is-compulsory-in-Australia-a...

You don't have to vote, the fine is like $40 and they'll usually wave it if you say you were working or unwell.

Compulsory voting still drives people to turn up and vote for the LNP where they otherwise probably wouldn't bother. Why vote when you can do something else more pleasant with your time.

I'm in Tasmania ex Adelaide, and the overwhelming majority of the population here are poorly educated working poor, and yet we have a Liberal Party state government because people turn up on election day and vote Liberal "because fuck those latte drinking hippie faggot cunts / brown people / coons / queue jumping boat-people".

I'm not evening kidding, the vile vitriol that comes out of peoples mouths here is shocking.

Re: Australia’s new mass surveillance mandate

#245

Post by fhe »

smcleod wrote: post #174
siquick wrote: 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…

Almost 11 years in Melbourne (from NZ) and I couldn't agree more. The 220~ days (and counting) that Melbourne has been in lockdown has certainly worn me down, but even before C19 the political climate, attitude towards technology, cost of housing and the impact of increasing bushfires has taken an enormous toll on the country over the past decade that I've been here.

How would you compare NZ with Australia? What are the big differences you noticed? Thanks.

Re: Australia’s new mass surveillance mandate

#246

Post by [deleted] »

wrycoder wrote: post #170
seanmcdirmid wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Southern conservative as Democrats or Republicans like Jesse Helms and Trent Lott were very much in favor of not letting African Americans vote. Who they caucused with later is unrelated. But yes, to say it was Democrats or Republicans would be very technically inaccurate. It isn’t a coincidence that the states that were practicing Jim Crow before are the same states trying to discourage voting today.

The Democrats say that voting is being discouraged. What is being discouraged is invalid votes, to diminish fraud. Republicans would love to encourage an authentic black vote.

[deleted]

Re: Australia’s new mass surveillance mandate

#248

Post by stjohnswarts »

markdown wrote: post #241
c_o_n_v_e_x wrote: post #210

In the years before covid, as the sole American in a few 'strayan social circles, I'd receive sh*t for Americans protesting about their "rights" and how entitled they are. Now with Covid, Australian citizens can't leave or can't come in (without significant effort). I've seen a shift in thinking amongst my Australian friends and family. The Australians I know now see value in something like a bill of rights. Like in…

There isn't a bill of rights without exceptions, and a pandemic (public health) is always going to be one of those exceptions. It doesn't help at all during a pandemic.

I don't know dude I just partied all weekend without any issues, no mask, no constraints on where I could go. No mandates. Seems like some places have their ducks in a row. Get vaccinated and live a little bit...

Re: Australia’s new mass surveillance mandate

#249

Post by dalyons »

dragonwriter wrote: post #141
dalyons wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are you Australian? I’m asking because I’m not aware of of that(very American) tactic being employed in Australia. Imho the requirement of voting moves the window of what’s acceptable in terms of voter rolls - I can’t think of one time I’ve heard of purging being employed inappropriately in aus. And I can’t really imagine a party getting away with it. I could of course just be blissfully unaware, and it actually occu…

I am American, and I was reading “compulsory voting effectively prevents what is the worst part of American democracy - the unceasing efforts to stop people voting” as a claim that, applied where those efforts occur, compulsory voting would be an effective and adequate remedy, rather than “In Australia, compulsory voting exists and the efforts seen to suppress voting seen in America do not”. AFAIK (which, I’ll admit,…

I understand your point now, thanks! I agree somewhat; if all you changed tomorrow in the USA was to make voting compulsory, you would immediately see redoubled efforts in purging rolls etc. I agree I probably overstated, there would still be ways to stop people voting. Although it cuts out many many avenues, so you would imagine(hope?) the overall disenfranchisement would be significantly less, and decrease over time as the attitude of voting entitlement sets in.

Re: Australia’s new mass surveillance mandate

#250

Post by bogota »

HenryKissinger wrote: post #8
bogota wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Im getting the feeling our government’s have switched to economy over everything mode with a dash of pretend to care about the environment

If by "our" you mean Western governments, Western countries are all democracies. If Western governments have switched to economy over everything mode, that's because that's what the electorate wants.

My family is pretty politically diverse and I would say none of them are ever happy with that is going on over the last 10+ years outside of a few things. Its just people making a choice about what they hate less.
Post reply on HN