Sponsor's Message

As most people are well aware, diplomatic relations between New Zealand and Israel are at an all-time low in the wake of a court case in which two alleged Mossad agents were found guilty on passport charges.

The NZ Prime Minister demanded an apology from the Israeli government and, although "regret" was expressed, no such acknowledgement or apology was forthcoming. As a result, we've given Israel and its diplomats the cold shoulder.

So what does this have to do with the email I received?

Well, out of the blue, I received a very impassioned message from an Israeli woman who sought to remind New Zealanders that (as is the case here), her government does not necessarily speak for all its citizens.

But this email wasn't from a crazy teenaged radical or the type of person you'd expect to be a Net-activist.

But the most interesting aspect of this email was that it's a perfect example of how the Net has changed the world and made it a much smaller place.

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Why she chose to send her email to Aardvark I'm not sure. Perhaps it's because this site rates quite highly as an NZ News site in various directories and search engines, perhaps it's because I also (on occasion) like to remind readers that the government doesn't always speak for me or my peers.

Whatever the reason, I marvel in the fact that it is now possible for a "mere citizen" to have their voice heard half a world away.

Prior to the spread of the Net, this woman would never have been able to express her opinions and feelings in this way and the voice of the people would have had no chance against the voice of a government.

In light of this kind of direct communications, it's no wonder that so many governments see the Net as more of a threat than an asset -- and I'm not just talking about countries like China and those of the Middle East either.

Right now George W Bush must be spitting tacks that Michael Moore's movie is being widely distributed (with Moore's consent) over the Internet.

No amount of funny handshakes and veiled threats can now stop Moore's perspectives from being aired to an extremely large audience.

I'm not going to get into the debate as to whether Moore's movie is a fair and reasonable representation of the facts or just left-wing propaganda -- that's not really important. It's the fact that the Net empowers people to express their opinions so freely and widely is what counts.

We must remember that this is a freedom we must never allow to be taken from us. Remember that with very few exceptions that censorship is a dirty word and, whenever access to, or the distribution of, the opinions and beliefs of any person are restricted, we are being treated with contempt by those who would impose such restrictions.

Similarly, we all deserve the right to *private* communication, unwatched and unmolested by the eyes of government or any individual or organisation.

Today groups like Echelon monitor your email in the name of "the war against terror", will they also want to put cameras in your bedroom tomorrow in case there are Al Qaeda operatives hiding under your bed?

To this end, I for one can not wait for the first widely accepted email client that contains transparent "hard" encryption as a default. Not only would such a client be an important stand against government intrusion into our private lives -- but the need to use a public key when exchanging emails would also act as a mighty good way to weed out spam -- after all, what spammer is going to go to the trouble of getting your public key and then encrypting their pitch for some lame MLM or dieting product?

How do you feel about protecting the freedom and privacy that the internet has the potential to offer you?

Would you switch to an email client if it offered ubiquitous hard encryption and would you use that encryption by default -- just because you can?

If you feel that this is a good thing and/or you hold a "geniune affection" for yours truly -- then you are welcome to gift me some money using the buttons provided. In gifting this money you accept that no goods, service or other consideration is offered, provided, accepted or anticipated in return. Just click on the button to gift whatever you can afford. NOTE: PayPal bills in US dollars so don't accidentally gift more than what you were intending :-)

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