Conroy not fooling anyone on an open internet

Amongst all of this our own government’s response has been tepid, confused and contradictory. The response to Clinton’s speech, as we have noted before, was cringeworthy in its brazen twisting of her words to support a pro-censorship agenda. The reaction to the Wikileaks developments should have been a principled stand on free speech and the rights of an Australian citizen, but turned into a posturing witch-hunt.

And today, Senator Conroy has was asked about the crisis in Egypt, where a desperate government cut internet access in order to hinder protestors. The minister in response declared his undying love for an Internet free of government control and assured us that such a thing could never happen in Australia — via redwolf.newsvine.com

Public servant sacked for googling ‘knockers’ at home

How much privacy does an employee have when using a work laptop at home?

Not much, it seems, after a senior public servant was sacked after googling the word knockers and looking at legal pornography. That was despite the access being out of work hours and the public servant using his own internet service provider.

The public servant, from the Commonwealth Department of Resources, Energy and Tourism, was sacked after a software program, called Spector360, was set up by the department to catch any use of the word knockers.

The program, which takes a snapshot of a user’s desktop every 30 seconds, was then used to unearth the internet history of the man with a 25-year career with the public service. It uncovered his usage despite him having deleted his browser history — via richardfarner.newsvine.com

Japan must hurry to join Hague treaty

International marriages are on the rise, and subsequently so are cases in which former spouses engage in international custody battles over their children.

To help address this situation, the government set up a senior vice-ministerial council involving related ministries and tasked with discussing the possibility of Japan joining an international convention. The discussions necessary for Japan to join the convention should be expedited.

The Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction contains the principle that children from an international marriage who are removed from their country of residence by one of their divorced parents, without the other parent’s consent, must be returned to the country of residence.

Signatory nations are obligated to provide administrative cooperation in such efforts as discovering the whereabouts of such children and restoring them to their country of habitual residence.

Eighty-two countries, mostly in the West and Latin America, have signed the convention, while Japan has not — via redwolf.newsvine.com

Pakistan begins assault on polio with jabs for 32 million children

Beset by war against violent extremists, Pakistan is now thrusting itself on to the frontline of a silent battle: the world’s final assault on polio.

Asif Ali Zardari, the country’s president, is launching an emergency drive to immunise 32 million children under the age of five against polio, aiming to reverse an alarming surge in cases last year. — via redwolf.newsvine.com