Net Issues

It's been a crappy week to be a 'net geek at any level, and for some reason it all seems to be coming from Australia, which is not a country most Americans consider news-making on any given day. First half the legislature passes their version of the Communications Decency Act, claiming that any site viewed in the country has to meet the same standards as the movie industry does—and face the same review board, a group for whom I can only feel the direst pity. These people just don't understand how entirely unenforceable 'net censorship really is—especially since the text of the bill includes a caveat for the benefit of the ISPs, indicating that they should not be subjected to any undue financial or technological burden in the course of their new duties as nannies to Australia's digerati. Well, guys, it works like this....

And then this Echelon business. It's hard not to cheer for the crackers who've lately been wreaking merry havoc on government Web sites (although their goals appear unrelated to the recent revelations of large-scale domestic spying going on in nations that like to present themselves as civilized).

Words fail me. They really do. I encourage everyone to read up on it for themselves. Maybe in a week I'll be over my outrage to the point of being able to write coherently. In the meantime, Mac OS Rumors has a nice writeup on it and some good links, and Slashdot is the usual informational hotbed.

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