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The utter shambles that is the NBN [1] is symptomatic of the Australian government's and hence the Australian peoples' attitudes to technology and online privac

The utter shambles that is the NBN [1] is symptomatic of the Australian government's and hence the Australian peoples' attitudes to technology and online privacy. Most voters would say "if you've done nothing wrong, you've got nothing to hide". The Government is now trying to consolidate your healthcare record into a central database (ensure that you specifically opt out of this before November), and apparently have been using this data to target sex workers according to people I know in the industry, despite it being legal. The Australian government cannot be trusted with your personal data. This is a government that seems to take civil liberties as an inconvenience rather than a right. Scott Morrison (the current PM, for those not keeping up) just today said that Victoria need a "police force that's a force", which is a blatant dogwhistle for "let's target minorities and disadvantaged communities". Meanwhile, the NSW police force seems to think there's absolutely nothing wrong with deploying drug dogs at train stations in Sydney's western suburbs like a bunch of fascists. People keep voting for these politicians that support these policies. It's disgusting. [1] For those non-Australians, the National Broadband Network is a mostly failed attempt for the Australian government to roll out high speed internet nationwide.

ObsoleteNerd 8y ago
Hear hear. You just need to look at the Census fiasco to realise how bloody terrifying an idea it is for these guys to handle a centralised database of all our medical information. It scares the shit out of me, to be honest. I have small kids, and the future we're heading towards terrifies and depresses me. I'd love to leave the country but I'm stuck here due to "reasons" and also I don't think it would make much difference. The Internet is my career, my hobby, and my entire life, and it's controlled by "them" anyway... and I don't know how to do anything else to support my family.
- BLKNSLVR 8y ago
  Write to your state and federal representatives, plant a veggie garden, self-host what you can, offer whatever self-hosting services you can to family members, discourage those you can influence from using as many of the 'big' service providers, create a personal VPN, block ads, opt out, write about your experiences doing all of these things to help and encourage others to do the same. And also realize it's not as bad as all of that... yet. Also, there's likely an election coming up soon, so writing to your government representatives should be a priority. I've never done it before, but it's high on my list now.
  - toomanybeersies 8y ago
    I just wish we could get people as riled up about privacy as they do about Sudanese gangs or Mens Rights marches or whatever people are demonstrating about at Fed Square on a Saturday arvo. I've even seen people marching through Chinatown here in Melbourne protesting people eating cats and dogs, which doesn't even happen in Australia (although well intentioned, I thought it was a bit racist). I see people with banners and marches protesting basically everything except privacy.
  - ObsoleteNerd 8y ago
    I do do nearly all of those things quite actively (and beyond), and have been doing so since day 1. I'm just starting to really get that feeling that it's not going to do shit. Doesn't mean I'm giving up, but it's certainly getting harder and harder to stay motivated.
trengrj 8y ago
If you look at Australia on a map, the premise of a NBN for everyone was definitely going to be difficult but I'd argue that the project hasn't failed. I have NBN at home and it works well. I think we will look back in 10 years with a much softer view on the project.
- throwaway9d0291 8y ago
  > If you look at Australia on a map, the premise of a NBN for everyone was definitely going to be difficult If you look at Australia's population density [0] and the guarantees the NBN actually made (FTTP for 90% of premises) [1], I don't think it's unrealistic at all. The NBN just needs to cover the major cities and some of the larger regional towns. > I think we will look back in 10 years with a much softer view on the project. As someone who moved from Australia (ADSL) to the US (Cable) to Europe (Fiber), absolutely no way. Coax is over a decade old already and the absolute cutting edge state of the art offered by a major ISP is 2Gbit/s. Meanwhile on fiber, there are multiple ISPs offering 10Gbit/s already (Salt in Switzerland, Bahnhof in Sweden, Fibrant in Salisbury, NC, VTel in Vermont). Fiber is also showing signs of getting faster. Copper is not. Specific to the NBN, back in 2012, just before we voted the Liberals in, NBNCo was getting ready to switch on gigabit network-wide [2]. Now, they're saying they're not even going to bother with HFC [3]. There is no way this project will be seen as anything but an example of truly stunning incompetence 10 years from now. [0]: http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/Latestproducts/1270.0.55.007Main%20Features12011?opendocument&tabname=Summary&prodno=1270.0.55.007&issue=2011&num=&view= http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/Latestproducts/1270.... [1]: https://whirlpool.net.au/wiki/nbn#nbn_about https://whirlpool.net.au/wiki/nbn#nbn_about [2]: https://www.nbnco.com.au/corporate-information/media-centre/media-statements/nbn-gigabit-nation.html https://www.nbnco.com.au/corporate-information/media-centre/... [3]: https://thenewdaily.com.au/life/tech/2018/08/08/nbn-hfc-technology/ https://thenewdaily.com.au/life/tech/2018/08/08/nbn-hfc-tech...
  - BigJono 8y ago
    "Truly stunning incompetence" is generous. Everything that has happened to the NBN from 2013 onwards has been pure malice. There's no "incompetence" about it.

ObsoleteNerd 8y ago

Hear hear. You just need to look at the Census fiasco to realise how bloody terrifying an idea it is for these guys to handle a centralised database of all our medical information. It scares the shit out of me, to be honest. I have small kids, and the future we're heading towards terrifies and depresses me. I'd love to leave the country but I'm stuck here due to "reasons" and also I don't think it would make much difference. The Internet is my career, my hobby, and my entire life, and it's controlled by "them" anyway... and I don't know how to do anything else to support my family.

BLKNSLVR 8y ago
Write to your state and federal representatives, plant a veggie garden, self-host what you can, offer whatever self-hosting services you can to family members, discourage those you can influence from using as many of the 'big' service providers, create a personal VPN, block ads, opt out, write about your experiences doing all of these things to help and encourage others to do the same. And also realize it's not as bad as all of that... yet. Also, there's likely an election coming up soon, so writing to your government representatives should be a priority. I've never done it before, but it's high on my list now.
- toomanybeersies 8y ago
  I just wish we could get people as riled up about privacy as they do about Sudanese gangs or Mens Rights marches or whatever people are demonstrating about at Fed Square on a Saturday arvo. I've even seen people marching through Chinatown here in Melbourne protesting people eating cats and dogs, which doesn't even happen in Australia (although well intentioned, I thought it was a bit racist). I see people with banners and marches protesting basically everything except privacy.
- ObsoleteNerd 8y ago
  I do do nearly all of those things quite actively (and beyond), and have been doing so since day 1. I'm just starting to really get that feeling that it's not going to do shit. Doesn't mean I'm giving up, but it's certainly getting harder and harder to stay motivated.

trengrj 8y ago

If you look at Australia on a map, the premise of a NBN for everyone was definitely going to be difficult but I'd argue that the project hasn't failed. I have NBN at home and it works well. I think we will look back in 10 years with a much softer view on the project.

throwaway9d0291 8y ago
> If you look at Australia on a map, the premise of a NBN for everyone was definitely going to be difficult If you look at Australia's population density [0] and the guarantees the NBN actually made (FTTP for 90% of premises) [1], I don't think it's unrealistic at all. The NBN just needs to cover the major cities and some of the larger regional towns. > I think we will look back in 10 years with a much softer view on the project. As someone who moved from Australia (ADSL) to the US (Cable) to Europe (Fiber), absolutely no way. Coax is over a decade old already and the absolute cutting edge state of the art offered by a major ISP is 2Gbit/s. Meanwhile on fiber, there are multiple ISPs offering 10Gbit/s already (Salt in Switzerland, Bahnhof in Sweden, Fibrant in Salisbury, NC, VTel in Vermont). Fiber is also showing signs of getting faster. Copper is not. Specific to the NBN, back in 2012, just before we voted the Liberals in, NBNCo was getting ready to switch on gigabit network-wide [2]. Now, they're saying they're not even going to bother with HFC [3]. There is no way this project will be seen as anything but an example of truly stunning incompetence 10 years from now. [0]: http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/Latestproducts/1270.0.55.007Main%20Features12011?opendocument&tabname=Summary&prodno=1270.0.55.007&issue=2011&num=&view= http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/Latestproducts/1270.... [1]: https://whirlpool.net.au/wiki/nbn#nbn_about https://whirlpool.net.au/wiki/nbn#nbn_about [2]: https://www.nbnco.com.au/corporate-information/media-centre/media-statements/nbn-gigabit-nation.html https://www.nbnco.com.au/corporate-information/media-centre/... [3]: https://thenewdaily.com.au/life/tech/2018/08/08/nbn-hfc-technology/ https://thenewdaily.com.au/life/tech/2018/08/08/nbn-hfc-tech...
- BigJono 8y ago
  "Truly stunning incompetence" is generous. Everything that has happened to the NBN from 2013 onwards has been pure malice. There's no "incompetence" about it.