Posts by giovanni tiso
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Hard News: The file-sharing bill, in reply to Leon Tan,
What is significant to note is that the New Zealand Attorney-General is not elected, and therefore not subject to democratic oversight by the people of New Zealand
I beg your pardon? That's like saying that the minister of defence is not elected. Of course our AG is elected, just like any other member of parliament. What we lack compared to some other countries is in fact a(n unelected) constitutional court that can strike down measures found to be in breach of the constitution (which we don't have) or bill of rights (which we have, but is not binding).
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Up Front: Home is Where the - Ooo, shiny!, in reply to Russell Brown,
I have such a weird job. Ducking between Twitter, here and other forums is actually part of the description. At the least, it fills in the time between my short, intense spells of creative productivity.
At a school event not long ago a friend was giving me a hard time because I seem to be on Facebook a lot. Basically, I need the background chatter. With PAS too I'm on it when I have work - up to a point. Sometimes the work is just too much and takes all available time, but when deadlines aren't too crazy it actually helps my productivity (ugh) to have that focussed distraction.
Plus, I like people I guess. And that's the other side of working from home - it can get bloody lonely.
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Hard News: The file-sharing bill, in reply to Heather Gaye,
why the fuck do we have to rely on the opposition to make all the compromises to prevent our own government from screwing up their own constituents?
This. And surely Labour has to worry about the ambiguity it casts over its positions.
But I think it speaks to a larger issue as well. There was something that a woman (forget the name, sorry) from a disabilities advocacy association said on Morning Report today about the ministry of health appealing a high court decision that recognises the right of compensation of families who look after severely disabled adult children. Quizzed by Geoff Robinson on the fact that there is an unfortunate bipartisan agreement on this particular piece of inequity, the woman rather exasperatedly mentioned the fact that Labour said it "would take some sort of look at it". I feel like this has been going for the past two years - the sense that Labour will take some sort of look at things, instead of stating quite clearly its position on most issues.
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Hard News: A Work of Advocacy, in reply to HORansome,
He apologised profusely for the texture of his felafel
This should be the opening sentence of a novel.
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Cracker: Send in the Clowns, in reply to Kumara Republic,
I hazard a guess it's yet another J----- B---- spout-fest
She Whom We Can't Be Arsed to Name.
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Up Front: Fairy-Tale Autopsies, in reply to Lilith __,
A friend just sent me a link to this Flappers' Dictionary, which is truly the duck's quack.
The definition of Strike Breaker may just be the most fabulous sentence in the history of the English language.
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Up Front: Fairy-Tale Autopsies, in reply to Islander,
So: why do thug spoilers go visit?
Feminist forums always get that. Brick and mortar ones, digital ones - it's no different. There will always be people who feel threatened by the simple fact that they exist.
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Hard News: The file-sharing bill, in reply to Sacha,
Loved your Humans post, Gio #kiaora
Thank you Sacha.
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Hard News: The file-sharing bill, in reply to Sacha,
No, but at least their business models are from this century
Yeah, see, this bugs me a little. The question in the area of copyright is how to look after the makers of content and the public, which in a capitalist system will likely mean some sort of commercial intermediary that sells or in some ways distributes to the latter the products of the former. And the answer can't be simply to side with the intermediary whose business model is more current, surely.
To put it another way: the problem of the coming decade will be how to curb the power of Google, Apple and Facebook, not how to increase it. It increases by itself precisely because they have a very powerful business model.
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Hard News: The file-sharing bill, in reply to Sacha,
Of course the ultimate solution might be for tech companies like Google simply to buy out the entire recorded music industry who are driving reactonary law like the one our parliamant has just passed at their behest.
Yes, because Google is the Friend of the People, eh?