The truth however, is somewhat different to the spin.

You don't have to look far under the surface to realise that almost without exception, governments live in fear of the Net.

This fear is partly born partly from ignorance -- very few politicians really understand what the Net really is and I suspect too many of them have gathered far too much of their knowledge from movies and TV.

The reality is of course, that a significant amount of a government's power comes from convincing the citizens of a country that they should hand over their democratic right to have a say in how the country is run to an elected representative.

Our current political system relies on electorates giving an MP carte-blanc to speak on their behalf -- with virtually no accountability or obligation to truly consult or represent -- short of the regular elections which supposedly allow voters to dismiss anyone who doesn't perform and replace them with another equally inept candidate.

Of course, here in New Zealand, the reality is that our MPs are bound to toe the party line except in conscience votes (which are few and far between). This all too often makes a mockery of the term "elected representative" and leads to many voters being totally disenfrachised.

But now the Internet has the power to significantly change our parliamentary system -- and that scares the undies off most politicians who would find their 3-year "license to ignore the voters" rendered null and void.

Already there are a few political groups using the Net to push for such changes -- driven by new technologies.

The 4 Direct Democracy the 4 The NZ Super Democratic Party and my own suggestion in the form of 4  Recoverable Proxy are all examples of how people are now using the Net to try and educate voters to the fact that we don't have to use a system that is hundreds of years out of date and well past its use-by date.

So what have the last two governments really doing about the Net?

Well, it appears that they have simply issued volumes of rhetoric describing what they're "going to do" and thrown a tiny amount of pocket-change at fostering an e-economy.

Even now far too many of them are reluctant to use email as a way of communicating with voters and appear to have little real understanding of even the basics.

And, of course, all Net users should be very much aware of the existance and implication of 4 Echelon, the typical response of frightened governments -- and has our government denied any involvement with this system? I suspect they can't.

It appears to me that they see the Net as far more of a threat than an opportunity.

Someone Turn Out The Lights
Last week an eagle-eyed reader pointed out this page on the government's website.

Perhaps the government has come to the realisation that its attrocious policies in respect to taxation and the new economy will produce only one inevitable result?

As always, your feedback is welcomed.