WWE SmackDown! vs Labor, Kyoto, FTA Stuff

I'm going to continue with the WWE/ALP analogies as long as I possibly can.

Last week on SmackDown, there was a tag team match - Eddie Guerrero and Booker T vs the Basham Brothers. Anyway, things were looking good for Guerrero and Booker, up until they decided to start bickering amongst themselves halfway through the match. They stood there arguing with each other, and lost sight of the fact that they were trying to win a match. The Bashams snuck up behind them while they were preoccupied, basically kicked them in the head, and won. They now have to face the Undertaker and JBL in a fatal four-way in a few weeks, and have had the crap beaten out of them, putting them at a severe disadvantage for the main championship event.

There's a lesson to be learnt there, and if sweaty fat men grappling each other can't teach it, I don't know who can. Still trying to come up with a WWE analogy on Labor agreeing with everything Howard does in the name of "economic credibility."

Kyoto
Ian Campbell, Lib Environment Minister is off for a conference in Buenos Aires all about the Kyoto Protocol. You know, the one we have nothing to do with, courtesy of the Libs.

First up, Bob hands out a serve:

"Senator Campbell, the Environment Minister, is flying off to Buenos Aires in a flurry of self-congratulations about a failed policy," Senator Brown said.

"Australia is at the back of the pack. It's been taken there by the Howard Government.

"The refusal to sign Kyoto underscores a developing problem for Australia's future economy.

"The Government's permission for greenhouse gas emissions from the coal and gas-fired industries to increase at an unprecedented rate is covered by the non-government policy achievement of reduced land clearing, particularly in Queensland."

- Bob Brown

Then Labor (Anthony Albanese, to be exact) got in on the action:

"(The conference) is the 10th taking place under the auspices of the international community to lead up to the coming into effect of the Kyoto Protocol on February 16 next year," Mr Albanese told reporters.

"With Russia signing up to ratify the protocol, it will come into effect with only Australia and the United States missing out.

"Every Australian knows that Australia has refused to sign up to the protocol.

"But, guess what? The Environment Minister Ian Campbell doesn't mind jumping on a jet with staff and other Australian government officials and going to the conference in Buenos Aires to talk about the protocol that they're not signing up to.

"This is an extraordinary example of government arrogance, of waste and mismanagement."

He said the government had no credibility at the conference, having refused, along with the United States, to sign Kyoto.

"I guess the equivalent is, maybe Minister Campbell's a toolie at schoolies' week up on the Gold Coast," Mr Albanese said.

"He's not invited, he's not a participant and yet he wants to engage in a gratuitous way in some of the activities in Buenos Aires.

"It lacks credibility from a minister who won't ratify the protocol."

Then there's the whinging about us not supporting it because it disadvantages developing countries (and since when did Howard give a rat's arse about them? Didn't Bob Geldof call us embarrassingly pathetic?). Are we a third world developing nation? No, didn't think so. Odds are if 129 or so countries sign on for it, it is generally a good idea. More of a summary over at ABC News.

Eff Tee Aye
Yet more probs, this time in Internetland. Basically our copyright laws are going to become much harsher, as those were the demands of the MPAA/RIAA, and we all know how good the Libs are at negotiating with America and its companies.

The IIA (Internet Industry Association) claims the legislative changes would make possession of pirated materials a criminal offence, and could make internet service providers criminally liable for pirated material that exists on their systems. The IIA also believes the system of take-down orders proposed through the legislation would put an onerous administrative burden on its members.

Basically, when running a gigantic webserver with a few thousand user accounts, it isn't feasible to dig through every single user's home directory/webspace and whatever is stuck in the cache to determine what they have and whether or not it is illegal. With new legislation brought in, you'll either have to start doing things like that and risk pissing your customers off, or not do it, and risk pissing off gigantic corporations. Sucks to be an ISP.

“Not only will ISPs be bombarded by claims from copyright owners, but the new provisions require ISPs to disable access to users’ websites in response to any claim that material may be infringing”

“Incredibly, the provisions have even stripped away protections required by the FTA that ISPs be protected from damages claims if they take material down from the internet. We are now stuck between a rock and a hard place - we’re liable to copyright owners if we don’t act, and liable to our customers if we do”.

- Peter Coroneos, IIA chairman

More over at The Age and News Ltd.

Towing The Party Line
12 Libs are facing the axe from the party because they supported Peter King instead of Malcolm Turnbull during the election.