To a politician, power is everything -- and that's not a cynical comment, it's
a fact.
Although New Zealand has had its share of political lunacy in respect to the
Internet, we should count ourselves as lucky that to most of our politicians
the Net is simply a nice collection of buzzwords that they still don't understand.
For a sobering example of what can happen when the politicians finally wake
up and realise that the Net has the power to be the nemesis of the political
machine we need only look across the Tasman...
Not only has Australia been hit with a set of Net-censorship laws which are little
short of utter folly, but now there's a review underway there which looks set
to recommend the introduction of stringent controls over the broadcast
of streaming media over the Internet.
That's right -- it would appear as if the Aussie politicians are still running
scared of the Net and want to clamp down on the rights of individual citizens
to become online broadcasters.
What the hell is going on there? It sounds like Australia's government really
is a few shrimps short of a barbie -- yet again!
The Australian Internet Industry Association (IIA) has struck out at the review,
labeling it as "ill-conceived, unnecessary and highly damaging to business confidence."
And just to show that I'm not the only one who likes to read between the lines
of government actions, the IIA says "Our members are deeply cynical and suspicious
of the government's motives. Everyone knows that the Internet is not broadcasting,
it is point-to-point. So why would a government hold an inquiry to prove
what is common knowledge -- unless it had other plans."
Should NZ Net users be worried?
Hell yes! With the current 3GL radio spectrum auction collapsing about the
government's ears and looking set to return barely 10% of what was anticipated,
it would not surprise me if some bright spark in parliament decided that another
way of raping the nation might be the introduction of "Net Broadcasting Licenses."
Of course you and I know that this would be utter folly and there would be no
way any government could actually police such a stupid policy -- but governments
are not renowned for allowing the fact that a law is unworkable or unfair from
stopping its introduction.
I can imagine some dullard politician already asking the question: "The Internet
is just like a TV with a bad aerial isn't it?"
As always, your feedback is welcomed.
