Posts by Simon Lyall

  • Hard News: Changing news, in reply to Russell Brown,

    That's the official public name of the institution, though.

    Actually it is a marketing name. The legal name is "Auckland University of Technology" as they themselves state on their about page and it is also on the The New Zealand Vice-Chancellors' Committee website

    Auckland • Since Feb 2007 • 13 posts Report Reply

  • Hard News: Disrupting the Television,

    Well I'm sure the news media will be quick to point out that the Copyright act explicitly allows them to copy certain works for "fair dealing":

    Criticism, review, and news reporting

    (1) Fair dealing with a work for the purposes of criticism or review, of that or another work or of a performance of a work, does not infringe copyright in the work if such fair dealing is accompanied by a sufficient acknowledgement.

    (2) Fair dealing with a work for the purpose of reporting current events by means of a sound recording, film, or communication work does not infringe copyright in the work.

    (3) Fair dealing with a work (other than a photograph) for the purposes of reporting current events by any means other than those referred to in subsection (2) does not infringe copyright in the work if such fair dealing is accompanied by a sufficient acknowledgement.

    Although I'm not a lawyer so I don't understand exactly what section 2 and 3 mean (especially the blanket exclusion of photographs). Also since blogs and news websites keep articles up forever it might be argued that they are no longer "current events".

    Either way if you photograph somebody famous drunk and semi-undressed one evening then call the tabloid media to try and sell it before you post it online.

    Auckland • Since Feb 2007 • 13 posts Report Reply

  • Hard News: Home Brewed,

    Couldn't find the "techno" version but this is pretty good:

    "My Heart will go on" - Drunk Russian version.

    Auckland • Since Feb 2007 • 13 posts Report Reply

  • Hard News: The Golden Mile,

    I would have thought the number of media to high end retailers in Queen St (especially below Victoria St) was pretty good.

    The major problem I would have is actually the banks and similar (such as Delottes) which take a large pieces of frontage with one door, boring glass and the odd ATM. Discouraging more of them would probably help.

    I’m always surprised at that seems to be room for “just one more” foreign exchange shop too.

    Auckland • Since Feb 2007 • 13 posts Report Reply

  • Legal Beagle: Infrequently asked questions,

    You answered if somebody could stand in 2 electorates but can somebody be on 2 separate lists?

    Also what consent does a party need before adding somebody to their list? Could a minor party start adding random people into their list to attract votes.

    Auckland • Since Feb 2007 • 13 posts Report Reply

  • Hard News: Complaint and culture,

    I remember hearing years back that Don rings up the council/police daily to complain about minor things. The guy has been wasting people's time for years

    Have you ever been dazzled by car lights? Tonight after 6pm. i reported 3 bicycles and 6 cars to police. They all had no lights or faulty lights. Are they too bright? Why do they shine horizontally- to the horizon and into the sky.

    Today, Monday 22 Nov 99, at 11.40 am. another marked police car reg
    WI 7501 was parked outside Wellington Polytechnic,
    Wallace St, Mt Cook, on a garage entrance and dotted** yellow line,
    on the footpath near ped Xg. I stopped the bus and got off
    at a service station to ring '111' and report it.

    Police Complaints Authority (Judge IA BORRIN) was silent after 8 months investigation on whether Newtown Constable Karen Ellis visited my house and lied that I e-mailed lotto numbers to her. I have 4** other witnesses whom Constable Ellis harrassed similarly. I am claiming $100,000.

    Auckland • Since Feb 2007 • 13 posts Report Reply

  • Speaker: This is your National Library, in reply to Hilary Stace,

    Hilary and Gordon. Thank you very much for you pointers to sources. I'll get onto them about photos.

    Auckland • Since Feb 2007 • 13 posts Report Reply

  • Speaker: This is your National Library,

    Sounds like things are very promising, small example of problems I'm encountering with Wikipedia. A project I'm working on right now is to get photographs of all New Zealand MPs (past and present) on their wikipedia pages. This involves getting "CC-By" or better pictures of each.

    This is proving surprising hard. For the current parliament the National and Labour are unable to give us photos ( Act and the greens have been very helpful though ) so we are having to go to public events, source photographs from overseas (The main photo on John Key's wikipedia page is from the Chilian govt!) or ask MPs directly ( I just got two photos from Jamie-Lee Ross a few minutes ago).

    For MPs who are no longer active/alive but whose photos are "in copyright" things are much harder. The Horowhenua Historical Society made a generous donation from their archives which enabled us to have photos of David Lange, Rob Muldoon and (and exterely low quality one of ) Bill Rowling but getting these is very hard and a manual process.

    I'm hopefully that NZGOAL will eventually result in photos from the vaults of government being released ("MP opens New Building" or "Minister poses with staff" are the ones I am after).

    Auckland • Since Feb 2007 • 13 posts Report Reply

  • Speaker: Sharks Dine Out on…,

    Rent and be at the mercy of the landlord sharks

    Perhaps landlords in Christchurch are a nasty bunch but this is probably overstating it a little. Remember what got these people into trouble is having all their wealth (actually more than that with the mortgage) tied up in a single, immovable asset which despite their best efforts (insurance) was vulnerable to being badly hurt.

    Part of the solution might be higher density, cheaper to rent units/flats rather than attempting to re-house everybody on a 1/4 acre section. But I suspect that people (potential tenants and NIMBY neighbours) will reject this option.

    Should be be encouraging poor and retired people to invest all their money in over-priced housing?

    Auckland • Since Feb 2007 • 13 posts Report Reply

  • Regulate What?,

    I believe it's not illegal to gossip about the names behind suppression laws. It's publication that will have you pulled up beside whaleoil in court.

    The problem is that we are not just talking about the "Top 10 political blogs" (like this one) which have daily posts by political/media insiders but every other sort of blog (ie the once a month food blog) and forums such as facebook.

    So while (for instance) Kiwiblog and stuff.co.nz have contact addresses and semi-fulltime editors that can update stories as required what happens when Auntie May uses to discuss the latest court case with Auntie June?

    Suddenly the name is published for all the world to see and Auntie May might not even be aware that since she read about it in the Herald the name got suppressed.

    As Robyn said earlier this affects a lot more people that the Big Blogs and I don't think the press council is going to sign up every facebook and twitter user as a member.

    Auckland • Since Feb 2007 • 13 posts Report Reply

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