Out of the Box - Audio of conference sessions

Out of the Box - New Broadcasting Futures was a conference looking at the future of digital broadcasting in New Zealand and putting it into a global context.
The organisers have place audio files of the keynote presentations online: A New Future for Broadcasting Conference Schedule

APEC Security - Dignitary Protection Exercise

I've embedded John Howard's APEC messge for your edumakashun.
It's fronted by former TV journalist Anne Fulwood, who's now making money from corporate spruiking.

Most of this video is Howard droning on in a drab monotone.
But have a look from about 5 minutes in, there's a great spread on security arrangements, or what Ms Fulwood calls the world's largest "dignitary protection exercise".


If that's too much, check out this anti-APEC video, it's much shorter, but packs a punch.

Banning orders - Ozzie style

This is a letter being sent to people who might be planning to protest at the APEC summit in Sydney this week. It bans them from certain parts of the city, including the airport and other places.

It is issued under the terms of a special piece of APEC security legislation and says that if a banned person is found within the declared area (how they might get in given the 2.8 metre fence is not discussed), they can be imprisoned.
Under the APEC Meeting (Police Powers) ACT 2007 (NSW) an arrested person can be held without bail until 12 September. The Act specifies a "presumption against bail". This is a draconian piece of legislation, similar to banning orders in apartheid South Africa.

It seems that anyone is now a suspect in Sydney, as the Orstrahyun blog points out.

School yard surveillance - another brick in the wall

Schools adopt swipe cards for toilet breaks - National - smh.com.au

Some schools in NSW (Australia) are adopting drastic measures to cut truancy and to stop students smoking between classes.

Swipe cards for toilet access and SMS alerts to parents of absent children are being trialled at some schools and there's even talk that students will be fingerprinted for identity and movement purposes next year.

Ryde Secondary College students are required to run an identification card through a card reader if they are late, need to leave early, go to the sick bay, see the principal or visit the toilet during class time. A print-out is created - featuring a photo of the student and log in and out times.

Mr Reardon said problems with students smoking when they moved around the grounds during class times, using a toilet break as an excuse, had reduced dramatically. But, he acknowledged: "We've got to be sure it's not a draconian thing."

The school will trial a fingerprinting system next year.

The company behind the technology, Academy Attendance, is raking in the profits and pushing school surveillance systems. What would happen if a parent decided their kid shouldn't be swiped in and out of the toilet during breaks, or objected to finger-printing?

How can we improve your school?
Discussions with schools has highlighted the need to improve efficiency and productivity. Academy IT Services can significantly improve existing systems.

Academy has focused its research and development towards providing a system to track student movements in and out of school. To achieve this outcome Academy IT Services is proud to provide the Academy Student Attendance System. This system is currently used by schools across Australia and interfaces with existing School Administration Systems.

Secret Squirrels outed by Limited News

The Australian government, in cooperation with the NSW state government, has walled off several square kilometres of downtown Sydney in preparation for this week's APEC leaders' summit meeting.
The 2.8 metre wire mesh barricades are ostensibly to stop terr'rists from gaining access to all this important flesh on display. But a neat little side-effect is that the 15000 or so protestors who planned to demonstrate against this orgy of imperialism and war-mongering will also be kept away.
Speaking to the media about these extraordinary security precautions, Prime Minister John Howard made the following statement:

"It does represent an opportunity for this country to be displayed to the world and most particularly to our region," he said. "I see this as an opportunity for . . . this country to be paraded for the modern, sophisticated, tolerant, multi-racial society that it is."

I assume he said this without a hint of irony.

But don't worry, those fearless investigative journalists at Limited News have uncovered a "secret" plot by a bunch of anarchists to use "violence". Luckily, this dastardly plot has been exposed.

Mr Howard yesterday acknowledged the threats of violence and the response of intrusive security precautions in Sydney's CBD.

But he said if violence occurred people should not blame him or Mr Bush.

"Don't blame the police, don't blame the NSW Government, don't blame any of our (heads of government) guests, don't blame the Federal Government," he said.

"Blame the people who threaten violence."

In tolerant, multi-cultural Australia, blame anyone but the Howard government and, what ever you do, don't blame Dubya for anything.

As an aside, a quick google search soon uncovers the fact that the "secret" plan to mount a protest at APEC has been public for some months. However, not to be outdone, the Sydney Morning Herald is also carrying an APEC protest story, this time explaining how the police have been spying on organisers via email surveillance.

POLICE have spent months secretly monitoring university political groups in the run-up to this week's Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation forum, documents obtained under freedom-of-information laws reveal.

A unit operating in the intelligence section of the NSW Police APEC Security Command has been in contact with security personnel at Wollongong University, Macquarie University and the University of Technology, Sydney, requesting permission to covertly monitor "IMGs", or interest-motivated groups.

I'm grateful to SlackBastard for this insight and for this delightfully tongue-in-cheek send-up of the term "IMG" which means "Interest-Motivated Group", or spook-talk for protestor exercising a democratic right.

Australia’s Right to Know

Australians All » Australia’s Right to Know

You know things are in a state when media executives from the major corporate players in Australia get together to make a plea for freedom of the press. The statement was signed by the following:

John Hartigan Chairman and Chief Executive, News Limited
David Kirk Chief Executive Officer, Fairfax Media
Mark Scott Managing Director, ABC
David Leckie CEO Network Seven and Chairman of Free TV Australia
Shaun Brown Managing Director, SBS
Michael Anderson CEO Austereo and Chairman, Commercial Radio Australia
Clive Marshall CEO, AAP
Angelos Frangopoulos CEO, Sky News

The group has commissioned a report into the state of the media in Australia.

At its launch the coalition signalled that it would commission an "independent study of threats to free speech and expression in this country" which would address issues including:

• "the effectiveness of freedom of information laws – given that freedom of information is at risk of becoming an oxymoron
• the principles of open justice and the public’s right to know how courts operate
• the tendency by courts to restrict public access using broad suppression orders
• the level of transparency in criminal and family law cases
• the risks that journalists and whistleblowers face jail even though they are acting in the public interest
• the impact of new sedition laws on freedom of expression in media reporting and the performing arts
• the risk that Australians can be detained without charge and reporting of such occurrences is illegal
• whether defamation laws achieve the right balance between freedom of expression and the need to protect the reputation of individuals (even allowing for recent welcome reforms that created much greater uniformity across the country); and
• the need for suppression, contempt and other state based restrictions to be reformed and made uniform across the country."

It was subsequently announced that Irene Moss, the former commissioner of New South Wales government's Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC), would oversee the audit.

Geoffrey Robertson - Sky TV interview

I posted a few days ago about Geoffrey Robertson's speech on freedom of speech and his call for a bill of rights in Australia. I'm still hunting a transcript. In the meantime you can watch a six minute interview with Robertson from Sky TV news.