Twenty-five years ago, the New Yorker published a cartoon that became the most republished in the magazine’s history. It depicts a canine sitting at a computer, looking down at its friend, a smaller pooch, and saying, “On the Internet, no one knows you’re a dog”.
The National Broadband Network should have been one of the most successful and popular infrastructure projects in Australian history. Instead it has been plagued with drama; the construction has taken considerably longer than planned, and the technology has been significantly downgraded.
In the wake of the recent terrorist attacks in London, there is a renewed attempt by global governments to increase surveillance of the internet.
The Turnbull government’s recently announced $230 million Cyber Security Strategy is hypocrisy of the highest order. Hot on the heels of introducing mandatory metadata retention to spy on all of us, Turnbull now tells us he’s concerned about our security online – so concerned that he felt the need to use the word “cyber” 402 times in this 67-page document.
Today, 13 October 2015, is the day that Australia’s internet access lost its freedom. Mandatory retention of metadata is now in full effect. While even the US government is moving to close down some of its domestic spying programs, the Australian government, with the support of the ALP, is increasing its domestic surveillance.
Edward Snowden continues to live in Russian exile with little prospect of returning home to the United States. In a recent interview with Al Jazeera journalist Mehdi Hasan and whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg, he spoke out about his past and plans for the future.