In his meetings with Ian Fletcher, Key’s main aims and activities are hidden in plain sight. They connect with US-led initiatives around digital copyright, intellectual property and commerce. Recently there have been some worrying developments in the bigger picture: GCSB, ACTA, TPPA, SOPA, CISPA.
Dotcom has promised some significant revelations from this week’s court proceedings. This morning his lawyer focused on Grant Wormald, the role of the police Special Tactics Group, and the truth. Is the GCSB is off the hook? Meanwhile, Key has been claiming he is “honest and upfront”. [Update – Key’s announced changes to the GCSB outrageous & undemocratic]
John Key is into networking and schmoozing with the wealthy & influential. He’s given special attention to the entertainment industries, GCSB, intellectual property & commerce. He crossed paths with Warner’s people the year before the Hobbit dispute, but never played golf with Dotcom.
The PM, Fletcher, the GCSB – questions need answering: why, when, where, who? It’s all about intellectual property, global commerce and international networks. From London to Aus 2009, to NZ 2010, then down the rabbit hole to Dotcom, Hobbits & uncertain links with complex global money mazes.
Congratulations to Duncan Campbell, Nicky Hager, et al involved in the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists for doing such a great job on the Gobal Offshore Money Maze. The maze includes NZ & Aussie. The investigation used sophisticated digital technologies.
Democracy needs independent news media, acting in the public interest, to speak truth to power. The commercial imperatives and neoliberal capture of corporate news organisations skew their political coverage, and contribute to voter disengagement. A perfect context for Key’s government to dismantle democracy: ECAN, CERA, Auckland Council, asset sales.
Market failure is one of the marks of our time. From unaffordable, low-quality housing to child poverty to the over-valued dollar killing jobs to over-priced broadband and failed government IT procurements, the market keeps getting it wrong. The Greens and Labour know the answer is for the Government to step in; National just turns a blind eye. Russel Norman did it again yesterday.
There’s a fabulous win for consumers and a Government good news story out of the Commerce Commission yesterday – significant cuts in the cost of broadband for consumers. You. But John Key’s not happy and is threatening to legislate over the decision.
A week of [updated: video] protests against the secretive TPP began today outside entrance to Sky City Convention Centre, where the latest round of TPP negotiations are being held. The majority of Kiwis are not happy with the secrecy. Jane Kelsey & Canadian Peter Clark identify problems.
The MSM quickly picked up a press release on the failure of the Southern Cross Cable. Others that are ignored: Bennett has either lied or is incompetent; Nat-linked appointment to TVNZ board; Hone’s ‘feed the kids’ Bill; Joyce’s education agenda; John Key as a “bumbling Marxist”.
Kim Dotcom is promising ultra-cheap broadband for NZ. If he pulls it off, he is going to put our local entrepreneurs to shame – not to mention our government.
The Nats selected Chinese company Huawei to build theparts of the UFB network after Joyce and English visited them in China. Now, the company’s been banned from Australia’s UFB project because of links to Chinese espionage. Key’s shrugged it off. Maybe there’s a risk, maybe not. But our government should give a damn and investigate. Its indifference makes it look compromised.
Steven Fry’s outburst on broadband in NZ, however confused, did at least succeed in putting the state of our broadband access back in the headlines for a bit. It’s an issue that the Nats would rather we forgot.
The autocratic National government is changing the Kiwishare obligation of Telecom without consultation or notice. They say obligations will be the same, but they will no longer be legal restrictions, but changeable company “deeds”.
Out of the blue, National has decided to scrap the Telecom ‘Kiwishare’. This is the provision that ensures all Kiwis have free local calling and that Telecom can’t be majority owned by a foreign company. National has refused to supply any justification for opening Telecom to foreign control.
Steven Joyce has been forced into a embarrassing back-down on giving a regulatory holiday to companies who won contracts for the Government’s Ultra Fast Broadband plan. But MrSmith wonders if leaving it up to Commerce Commission is going to be any better given its poor record under National.
One of the Nats’ few constructive policies at the last election was Steven Joyce’s ultra-fast broadband project. The Nats promised $1.5 Billion investment to deliver UFB to 75% of New Zealand homes within 10 years. Almost 3 years in, their proposals have just been met with almost universal rejection from industry and consumer groups.
Chinese manufacturing and state support is transforming the cost structure of solar technology. This in turn is helping to put in power support for the emerging use of wireless technologies in the developing world. This helps to ensure that less dirty carbon emitting technologies are not used in the developing world.It is hard to see a downside to this state initiative because it makes solar tech cheaper and more available earlier rather than later.
Are Joyce’s plans for a regulatory holiday on the proposed ultra-fast fibre broadband network a violation of international legal commitments? InternetNZ says yes. Joyce says no. Labour’s Clare Curren accuses the Nats of “disregard for NZ law, legal trade obligations and public scrutiny”.
An article in The Economist looks at the failing basis of polling techniques in the USA. It isn’t that much different to the circumstances here.
“The proportion of those called who end up taking part in a survey has fallen steadily, from 35% or so in the 1990s to 15% or less now, according to Mr Keeter. Reaching young people is especially difficult. Only old ladies answer the phone…”
Apparently, President Obama has delivered a speech ‘ranting’ against technology. The opinion in The Economist is worth a read just for the joy […]
Last year, Telecom screws over its engineers. Decides to make them dependent contractors. EPMU wins real jobs for most of them. Better contract conditions for others. But a sh*tload of experienced engineers say screw Telecom and leave the industry. Then the faults start. XT becomes a laughingstock. Customers leave in droves. Next, profit warning.
The heart of the telecom XT network?
Seriously though, when the 111 call system fails, lives are at risk…
This man is Paul Reynolds, CEO of Telecom. He has overseen the largest corporate disaster in recent New Zealand history. The Nats are planning to give him over $6,600 a week in tax cuts. Apparently this screw up on a $7 million salary is the kind of guy New Zealand needs.
Last week thousands of Telecom XT network customers were without service, some for three days. This comes just weeks after a similar outage […]
One of the nice things that has shown up over the last few years is the slow rise of Internet videophone technology. I’ve […]
Today, 200 Telecom engineers in Auckland and Northland will be fired. Not because there’s no work for them but because Telecom and it’s […]
There’s nothing like a Tory Government in power and a monopolistic corporate flexing its muscle to remind you that capitalism is all about […]
For what seems like the fiftieth time, we’re being told to expect an announcement from Steven Joyce on the shape of the Government’s […]
You’ve heard about the Telecom dispute. But while a lot of the focus has been on what it means for the lines engineers […]
Inspired by a forwarded e-mail about Obama’s speech to the NAS with this line in it Imagine Key committing to invest 3% of […]
John Drinnan in the NZ Herald: “One of the biggest challengers in the telecommunications business, TelstraClear, has attacked National Party plans for a […]
