Issues of ISP-level filtering

Simple illustration of the flaws with ISP-level filtering. Call me old-fashioned, but I believe it’s better to tackle the problem at the source. Internet users aren't the only victims of child pornography.

Conroy spun the filter trial, and out came a report fluffier than a Himalayan cat that's been through a clothes drier

Senator Conroy has had more than enough time to provide clarity, substance and certainty on his planned mandatory Internet censorship regime. With each day that passes that their calls for reason, common sense and clarity on this issue are ignored, Australians with legitimate concerns about this policy grow ever more cynical about the ability of their politicians to understand and represent their views on issues relevant to ordinary Australians. In this age many Australians consider the Internet to be fundamental to their every day personal communications, just like the analogue telephone which is being replaced by VOIP, where voice telephony is delivered via the Internet. Many Australians consider this a serious issue that warrants robust and informed debate involving all stakeholders, and for it to be based on fact.

The Enex TestLab report is misleading and has Senator Conroy’s fingerprints all over it. Take for example the feedback from customers on page 28:

Over-blocking
Participants were asked if access was blocked to sites that they thought they should have access to (e.g. to identify perceptions of over-blocking). Only a couple of respondents indicated that they were frequently blocked access to sites they should have had access to, while most respondents reported that they were blocked “possibly once or twice”. A number of users reported they were “unsure” as to whether they had been blocked unnecessarily and some customers commented on the benefit of seeing some “output” of the filters action.

Proponents of the government’s policy might think that this is just collateral damage in the war on child pornography because it appears in the section of the report titled Customer Feedback — Additional Content Filtering, which covers the impact of the optional “family” filter on customers’ experience. We don’t know whether reports of over-blocking and other negative feedback can be attributed to the mandatory filter which was used at the same time for customers who participated in the trial of the filter for optional additional categories. They did not seek feedback from customers who participated in the trial of the mandatory filter alone.

Conroy boasts that the AMCA filter is 100% accurate. It’s just like throwing a net into the ocean, pulling out a few fish and saying “See these fish I’ve caught? It’s 100% accurate at catching these fish.”

You don’t have to embrace libertarianism to see the insanity. The end does not justify the means, especially when evidence that the end will be achieved does not exist. Will it block 5% of child pornography on the Internet? Will it even block 1%? Nobody knows. It’s hard for experts to provide clear answers when they are not provided with clearly defined aims. Also, it’s hard to disprove something that was never proven in the first place. The government has failed to demonstrate that the technology it intends to impose on each and every Australian will be effective in protecting children from child pornography.

How does Senator Conroy plan to filter the web traffic of mobile phones?

Below is the page that is displayed when I browse to www.iplocationtools.com from my BlackBerry in Australia. It displays the IP address and location of the host connecting to the website, which in this case is a proxy located in Canada, the country in which RIM, the maker of BlackBerry smart phones, is based. How does the Rudd Labor government intend to censor the Internet when it accessed through the BlackBerry web browser or any other application that uses a proxy located offshore?

Noble's amusing response to an unsolicited takeover bid for Macarthur Coal by American miner Peabody Energy

NOBLE COMMENTS ON PEABODY'S LAST MINUTE OPPORTUNISTIC GRAB

5 April 2010, Hong Kong

The board of Directors of the Noble Group have noted with interest the recent developments regarding an unsolicited offer by the United States based Peabody Coal for Macarthur. The board of Macarthur reacted to their bid with the same enthusiasm as a lost and hungry hiker who stumbles across a road kill Roo that had been in the sun too long, and not surprisingly said "no thanks".

We at Noble noted that this unsolicited offer had, as one of its many conditions, a requirement that the merger between Gloucester and Macarthur not proceed. This merger had already been carefully considered over a substantial period of time by the boards of both companies and had been unanimously supported and recommended to Macarthur's shareholders at a vote to take place on April 12, 2010. Without putting too fine a point on it, everyone at board level thought it was a great deal for their respective shareholders.

The entire concept behind the Gloucester-Macarthur merger was to build a truly outstanding multi mine and port Australian-based coal group with unique access to key markets. It was also crafted to give all shareholders who had patiently held the various shares involved the right to ride along and enjoy any potential upside.

Life was great until a few days ago when, instead of jumping on their horses, the Americans charged into town on a Gulfstream jet for the afternoon and plunked a bid down that was a great deal for them, and not, in our view, anywhere near what was already on the table. Hats off to them for being opportunistic and crafty; it ruined our Easter weekend.

So, now, instead of looking for eggs with our kids, we have to draft this release and inform the market that the Noble Group will have to give long hard thought as to whether we will try to chase these chaps out of town by, among other things, exercising, if certain events occur, our option to increase our share of Middlemount mine to 50 percent, where we would have the right to sell 100 percent of the output for the life of the mine. It goes without saying the Middlemount mine would then have to be operated as a separate 50-50 joint-venture company. We will also have to give thought to other ways in which we would make the interlopers from St. Louis leave us alone. Our quiver is far from empty. What will they do if we also review our rights under the Monto project and act to protect our investment? For them, this transaction would make a Porcupine seem well-shaven.

What we would really like is for the Americans to go back home. We busted our tail to put together a good fair deal that will build a great company. All they are doing is trying to throw a wrench in a well though-out deal with a check book and try and turn people's heads with a short-term payoff.

All of this reminds us of the wonderful story about the late great Kerry Packer. The story goes that he was trying to play a little blackjack and an American kept bugging him to get into the game. Finally Kerry got exasperated, looked up at the hapless guy and said, "what are you worth?". Mr. Texas puffed up and said "One hundred million"; Kerry replied "flip you for it". We consider that we have earned our stripes by building well run, publicly held businesses over time ..... and by not underestimating the grit of the country. Even in the face of Americans with checkbooks.

ooOoo

About Noble Group

Noble Group (SGX: N21) is a market leader in managing the global supply chain of agricultural, energy, metals and mining resources. The Group operates from over 150 offices and plants in 38 countries, employing approximately 70 nationalities and serving more than 4000 customers. Noble manages a diversified portfolio of essential raw materials, integrating the sourcing, marketing, processing, financing and transportation. With 2009 annual revenues exceeding US$31 billion, Noble owns and manages an array of strategic assets, sourcing from low cost producers such as Brazil, Argentina, Australia and Indonesia and supplying to high growth demand markets including China, India and the Middle East. Today, Noble has interests in grain crushing facilities, coal and iron ore mines, fuel terminals and storage facilities, sugar and ethanol plants, vessels, ports and other infrastructure to ensure high quality products are delivered in the most efficient and timely manner to its customers.

In late 2009, Noble Group was honored at the DHL SCMP Hong Kong Business Awards by winning the coveted International Award. During the year, Noble ranked #218 on the Fortune Global 500 and achieved "Investment Grade" ratings (Baa3) from Moody's Investors Service and (BBB-) from Standard & Poor's, complementing its initial "Investment Grade" rating (BBB-) from Fitch the previous year. In addition, Noble appears on the Forbes Global 2000 and Forbes Fab 50 lists of leading companies. Noble Group is among the 30 securities listed on the Straits Times Index.

For further details please contact:

Mr. Stephen Brown
Noble Group Limited
Tel: +852 2250 2060
Fax: +852 2861 0018
Email: stephenbrown@thisisnoble.com

Mr. Brad Smolar
Smolar Limited
Tel: +852 6339 3396
Fax: +852 2573 2473
Email: reputation@smolar.com

Coverage of South Australian and Tasmanian state elections on Twitter

URL: http://justins-spot.blogspot.com/2010/03/coverage-of-south-australian-and.html

Washington Times exposes Warmists' snow job

The Competitive Enterprise Institute has published the contents of e-mail exchanges at the National Academies of Science that were first reported by the The Washington Times revealing plans for an "outlandishly aggressively partisan" campaign to attack climate change sceptics, including raising donations to publish an advertisement in the New York Times. Not surprisingly, they describe the efforts of Senator James Inhofe to hold climate scientists to account as "McCarthyism". It is clear that these scientists are not confident that the merits of their science will enable their alarmist and exaggerated claims to be sustained under scrutiny.

Media release from Senator the Hon. Eric Abetz

15 February 2010

Senate Additional Estimates: In case you missed it

No amount of spin doctoring and Ministerial interference can hide Labor’s litany of broken promises, lies and clangers following a week of hard fought efforts by the Coalition, exposing Labor for what it is - all talk and no action, all spin and no substance.

Here are a just a few examples of Labor’s bungling and broken promises exposed during Senate Estimates:

Destruction of Border Protection

Last week in Senate Estimates, Immigration Minister Chris Evans, facing questions from Liberal Senator Gary Humphries, appeared to find it somewhat amusing to admit that boot-scooting lessons were provided to asylum seekers on Christmas Island, as part of more than a billion dollars of taxpayers money the Labor is spending annually to deal with immigration issues. As Senator Humphries, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Citizenship and representing the Shadow Minister for Immigration and Citizenship in the Senate, said later in an interview with 6PR’s Howard Sattler, “The people smugglers clearly use a number of sales pitches; I don’t know whether they describe the boot-scooting at Christmas Island as one of those things. But you’d have to wonder what they do say and it is a worry. It ought not to be the impression that is created of what Australia will do for people who illegally enter its territorial waters.”

Labor fails to invest in Education Fund

Following scrutiny of Education Department officials by Senator Brett Mason, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Education and School Curriculum Standards, the Department has revealed that Labor has not contributed one cent to the Education Investment fund despite promises by the Rudd Government that they would do so, with great fanfare, as the centrepiece to Labor’s so called “Nation Building Package”.

Resources and Energy sector specialist rejected by Henry Tax Review

Department of Resources and Energy officials revealed that inexplicably their offer to second an officer from the resources division to the Henry Tax Review secretariat to provide specialist input, following growing speculation that the Rudd Government is looking to slug the resources sector with a massive new rent tax, has been rejected. “Considering this review could have very, very serious implications for the resources sector and could result in a massive new rent tax being imposed on it, I find it absolutely extraordinary that the Department’s offer to have a representative seconded was rejected,” said Shadow Minister for Resources and Energy, Senator the Hon Nick Minchin.

ASIC probed on Liquidators

Questioned by Nationals Senator John Williams, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission revealed that liquidators complete their own annual return and that ASIC does not carry out a routine audit which Senator Williams describes as “a recipe for disaster” and justifies the upcoming Senate Inquiry into liquidators and administrators and the role played by ASIC before and after a company collapses.

Rudd looks after himself and leaves all others without Training

Government officials questioned by Senator Mathias Cormann, Shadow Minister for Employment Participation, Apprenticeships and Training, and Senator Michaelia Cash, Chair of the Education, Employment and Workplace Relations References Committee, revealed to Senate Estimates that only one single trades training centre out of the 2,650 promised by Labor before the last election is fully operational and that coincidently the only trades training centre that has been established so far is located in the Prime Minister’s home town of Brisbane. This is despite an assurance just three months ago by the same Government officials that fifteen trade training centres would be completed by the end of last month.

Labor Government failing Australia with its Great Big New Tax

Treasury officials, questioned by Nationals Senator Ron Boswell revealed that following the Copenhagen debacle, which failed to secure a binding global agreement on emission reduction, it has done no modelling of the current international situation. Senator Boswell said, “Treasury modelling stands and falls on whether a global emissions trading scheme is in place. All their analysis of the impact of the Emissions Trading Scheme on pensioners, jobs, income and price rises depended on Copenhagen being successful.” Senator Boswell said that “it was very strange that no one in the Government had directed that the modelling be updated to take into account the Copenhagen outcome.”

Labor fails to support Australian fruit and vegetable growers

It has been revealed that whilst a staggering 114 Australian officials attended the failed Copenhagen conference, not one Australian Government representative could make it to the Berlin Conference on the fruit and vegetable industry seven weeks later. Senator Ian Macdonald, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Northern and Remote Australia and representative of the Shadow Minister for Trade, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government, confirmed during Senate Estimates that the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade were invited to the trade fair but showed little interest in supporting Australian fruit and vegetable growers.

Labor fails to deliver to Australian taxpayers

The Australian Tax office admitted that 700,000 Australians are facing delays in the processing of their tax returns because the Department’s computer system is undergoing a major overhaul and that the Department estimates it will take until at least March 2010 to catch up on the back log.

Laptops? What laptops? Kevin07 promise slower than Conroy’s broadband.

Education Department officials revealed that despite Labor’s promise to give every one of Australia’s one million secondary students their own computer connected to ultra fast fibre broadband, less than a quarter of the new computers have been delivered and none of them have been connected to fast internet. Kevin Rudd needs to deliver one million computers by the end of 2011. ‘At the rate he’s going now, it will take some time until the end of 2018 to deliver Kevin07’s election promise. The whole program has been over-hyped and under-delivered right from the start. It’s been grossly under-budgeted and is now way behind schedule. Sadly, it has now become a national joke’, said Senator Brett Mason.

Labor mocks Australians with the ironically named Fair Work Act

During questioning by Shadow Employment and Workplace Relations Minister, Senator Eric Abetz, Fair Work Australia President Justice Geoffrey Guidice was unable to commit himself either way when asked if no Australian workers would be worse off since the introduction of Labor’s new workplace laws. Fair Work Australia was asked to address the growing confusion over workers entitlements and conditions despite both Julia Gillard and Kevin Rudd giving Australian workers a guarantee that no Australian workers would be worse off under Labor’s so called Modern Award scheme.

Kevin07 Green Loan Scheme promise a monumental failure

More than seven months into this financial year and Peter Garrett and Rudd Labor have managed to deliver just 1,008 of the 20,000 budgeted ‘Green Loans’ they promised to deliver, let alone the 200,000 they originally promised voters in 2007. Liberal Senator Simon Birmingham, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Climate Action, says Labor’s ‘Green Loans’ scheme has been downsized from what the Rudd Government originally promised and describes Labor’s bungling of the scheme as a monumental case of mismanagement.

Labor fails our Defence Force

Defence Force chiefs revealed more pay bungles within the Australian Defence Force. When questioned by Shadow Defence Minister, Senator David Johnston, Defence revealed that 56 combat engineers based in Afghanistan have had to repay debts of $38,000. Sixty three soldiers, who had returned from Afghanistan, have been forced to repay $340,000 and hundreds of Reservists have been overpaid. Meanwhile 25 Reservists were underpaid. Senator Johnston says even the Chief of the Army, Lt Gen Ken Gillespie admitted he has been forced to repay $20,000 due to a superannuation glitch in the system.

Conroy recommended Labor mate for plum NBN job

In a stunning revelation Communications Minister Senator Stephen Conroy admitted under questioning by Chair of the Environment, Communication and Arts References Committee Senator Mary Jo Fisher that it was he who recommended disgraced former Queensland MP and Labor Party apparatchik Mike Kaiser for a plum $450,000 a year job with the Government’s NBN Co. Senator Conroy said he put forward Kaiser’s name to NBN Co CEO Mike Quigley “as a person of possible relevant experience” for the role of Principal of Government Relations and External Affairs. Mr Quigley advised that the position had not been advertised, nor was a short-list of possible candidates compiled prior to Mr Kaiser’s appointment. Senator Conroy dismissed Mr Kaiser’s involvement in an electoral rorts controversy in Queensland as a “youthful indiscretion”. Kaiser will be paid around $100,000 more a year than the Prime Minister. Conroy now becomes the ‘Minister for Mates’.

Lack of NBN transparency

Communications Minister, Senator Stephen Conroy refused to say whether he will publicly release Labor’s $25 million Implementation Study for his $43 billion NBN Mark II proposal. Senator Mary Jo Fisher, Chair of the Environment, Communication and Arts References Committee, asked the Minister if the report will ever be released and questioned him as to why he would not commit to releasing the information for public scrutiny if Labor had nothing to hide. So Much for Mr Rudd’s supposed commitment to openness and transparency.

Labor fails to deliver on its promise to Aboriginal families

Despite Labor’s promise to deliver comprehensive preschool education to Aboriginal children none of Mr Rudd’s promised children and family centres in remote communities are operational. Liberal Senator Brett Mason, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Education and School Curriculum standards, discovered that two years after Kevin Rudd delivered his ‘Sorry’ speech; none of the 35 promised centres are even close to being operational.

Labor fails accountability test on public housing

Having ploughed $5.638 billion into it’s investment into public housing, Labor has failed to secure any guarantees that the dwellings provided to the states won’t then be sold. Coalition Housing spokesman, Senator Gary Humphries said its sheer foolishness for the Rudd Government to trust the States with this windfall and Labor must move immediately to guarantee that State and Territory Governments will not rort the system.

Counsellor assigned to India in placation exercise over uranium ban?

The Department of Resources and Energy confirmed that as part of a “whole-of-government” decision, it would station a departmental counsellor to the High Commission in New Delhi to identify and promote resources and energy trade and investment opportunities at a cost of $2.7 million. It was revealed that no such position has been assigned to China, which is far and away the largest importer of Australian minerals, which includes uranium, accounting for around 26 per cent of our overall mineral exports. India accounts for just 8 per cent of mineral exports and 6 per cent of energy exports. Shadow Minister for Resources and Energy, Senator the Hon Nick Minchin said, “One would have to seriously question whether this decision is purely an attempt to placate the Indian Government, which is both bemused and displeased by the Rudd Government’s nonsensical refusal to sell it uranium for civil purposes, while at the same time selling it to China for the very same reasons.”

Strong Border Protection and ASIO compromised by Rudd’s Special Deals

Evidence suggests Labor put political expedience before national security in its ‘special deal’ for refugees aboard the Oceanic Viking. Evidence presented at Senate Estimates clearly shows that the only reason refugees, given adverse security assessment by ASIO, were transferred from Indonesia to Australia was because of Kevin Rudd’s ‘special deal’ for the Oceanic Viking.

Labor’s cash splash fails the educational outcome test and more Jobs for Australians test.

Labor is unable to say how many jobs were created under its $16.2 billion cash splash on its so called Building the Education Revolution scheme. Labor also failed to answer how building multi-purpose school halls will help Australian school children’s literacy and numeracy and improve their academic performance.

Labor beggars belief – failure to embrace all Australians

Labor has confirmed that Australians who are blind or vision impaired will not be guaranteed a secret ballot at the next Federal election. Under questioning by the Coalition’s spokesman for disabilities, Senator Mitch Fifield, Labor’s Special Minister of State, Joe Ludwig flat out refused to comment.

Missing in Action - Prime Minister’s grand plan for hospitals.

“Not even a back of the envelope plan for fixing hospitals could be produced by the Secretary of the Department of Health,” said Senator Concetta Fierravanti-Wells, Shadow Minister for Ageing.

Websites: www.liberal.org.au www.abetz.com.au

Media enquiries: Jane Kilmartin (02) 6277 3019 — 0400380925

An inconvenient truth about the IPCC

It is one of the most critical and frequently cited findings of the IPCC and has been used to justify action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by governments around the world:

Most of the observed increase in global average temperatures since the mid-20th century is very likely due to the observed increase in anthropogenic greenhouse gas concentrations.

In the IPCC Fourth Assessment Report, the words very likely specifically mean a probability greater than 90%.

While this figure has been treated as definitive in our understanding and response to global warming, it is not based on science as most people would believe. The figure was determined via a show of hands from representatives from each country. It was the result of a political process that did not involve climate scientists.

Is this what Kevin Rudd had in mind for Australia at Copenhagen?

You would be amazed by all the things that you don't hear in the mainstream media, such as the draft text of the Copenhagen climate change treaty, which thankfully was never agreed to. Even though it is still online, hardly anybody has read it, which is probably the way it was intended.

The 181 page document is barely comprehensible, but Clause 38 that begins on page 18 raises your eyebrows:

38. The scheme for the new institutional arrangement under the Convention will be based on three basic pillars: government; facilitative mechanism; and financial mechanism, and the basic organization of which will include the following:

1. The government will be ruled by the COP with the support of a new subsidiary body on adaptation, and of an Executive Board responsible for the management of the new funds and the related facilitative processes and bodies. The current Convention secretariat will operate as such, as appropriate.
2. The Convention’s financial mechanism will include a multilateral climate change fund including five windows: (a) an Adaptation window, (b) a Compensation window, to address loss and damage from climate change impacts, including insurance, rehabilitation and compensatory components, (c) a Technology window; (d) a Mitigation window; and (e) a REDD window, to support a multi-phases process for positive forest incentives relating to REDD actions.
3. The Convention’s facilitative mechanism will include: (a) work programmes for adaptation and mitigation; (b) a long-term REDD process; (c) a short-term technology action plan; (d) an expert group on adaptation established by the subsidiary body on adaptation, and expert groups on mitigation, technologies and on monitoring, reporting and verification; and (e) an international registry for the monitoring, reporting and verification of compliance of emission reduction commitments, and the transfer of technical and financial resources from developed countries to developing countries. The secretariat will provide technical and administrative support, including a new centre for information exchange.

Columnist Janet Albrechtsen read the treaty draft before the UN climate change conference in Copenhagen and warned the public of the "fine print" in the climate change agreement that our governments were about to sign up to in The Australian and The Wall Street Journal.

Senator Fielding is just another twit on Twitter

@senatorsteve: just been using a nice new apple mac inside the detention centre. Not bad at all!

@latikambourke: @senatorsteve good to see your priorities are in order, Senator.

@Pollytics: You really are a tool sometimes RT @senatorsteve: just been using a nice new apple mac inside the detention centre. Not bad at all!

@jamesmassola: @senatorsteve I'm a little unclear on what using an iMac has to do with a visit to Christmas island. Why is that noteworthy?

@Pollytics: @senatorsteve Did you feed the animals? You're treating the rest of your trip like you're at the zoo. Wake up to yourself, its detestable