Posts by Idiot Savant
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Also: anyone in wellington up for a quick petition drive in Ohariu to try and get peter Dunne to change his mind? I'm tempted to hitch a train down, but I think we'd need more than one person to get a credible number of signatures in the narrow amount of time available.
If you're interested, my email is idiotblogid at yahoo (.) co dot uk
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Alarmingly, the bill is still silent on the issue of metadata -- for example, the records of phone calls or emails made and received and by whom, rather than the calls or emails themseves. It appears the GCSB can simply do as it wishes there.
Metadata is very clearly a "communication" in terms of the Act (" signs, signals, impulses, writing, images, sounds, or data that a person or machine produces, sends, receives, processes, or holds in any medium"). But its not a "private communication". So while it may need a warrant ot access, it could also be accessed warrantlessly, and s14 is no protection against mass-collection.
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Hard News: It's worse than you think, in reply to Gareth Swain,
Can someone explain something to me, please?
I have read over the past few months about some outrageous behaviour by Key and National in general, but also that Key is polling very highly. So, what is it that's keeping him high in the polls? Someone obviously likes him (or National), so what is it they like?
A total lack of alternatives. Who can we elect in his place? David Shearer?
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Hard News: It's worse than you think, in reply to Sacha,
They publicly lied that his behaviour had been deliberate when we now know they had (undisclosed) access to evidence that it wasn't. Not remotely OK.
Or, to put it another way: they defamed him. Though I'm sure they have legal protection for that, even when they do it knowingly and with malice as in this case.
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Hard News: The Real Threat, in reply to Bart Janssen,
And BTW NZDF can't call in a drone strike.
Unless they get their allies to do it for them.
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BTW, anyone wanting to OIA the GCSB can do so using FYI here.
(Not driven at all by a desire to see it make 1000 requests this week)
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Hard News: The Real Threat, in reply to Paul Campbell,
Someone also suggested on Saturday at Parliament that we should commit a DOS upon the GCSB through the FOIA - keep them busy so they're too busy to spy on us - I for one am dieing to know just how many sheets of toilet paper they have used this month
Not a good idea. Quite apart from bringing the OIA into disrepute, the people handling the requests aren't going to be the people doing the spying. Better to focus your efforts on serious questions which will promote accountability.
(or on things which will simply embarass them, cause the public to hate them and view their activities as wasteful, and so enable budget cuts. So, ask about travel, expense accounts, cellphone bills, high salaries - nothing remotely classified, so they can't hide behind "national security", but which will make them look bad. If you need pointers, look at Rodney Hide's perkbusting days)
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Hard News: The Real Threat, in reply to Bart Janssen,
How much difference is there between the NZDF spying on Jon Stephenson and a journalist with a telephoto lens spying on a B-list celebrity?
Most papparazi don't get to steal your telephone metadata, and can't call up a drone strike on you if you offend them.
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Reading that section, I was wondering if MED had even heard of the Bill of Rights Act. Its certainly a sign that it hasn't sunk as far into the policy-making process as we would like.
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Up Front: An Open Letter to the Labour…, in reply to Craig Ranapia,
And they can scrap away, because (it's worth noting) the Representation Commission is a statutory body and political parties have no more standing than anyone else.
Other than guaranteed representation for the government and opposition due to s28(2)(e) of the Electoral Act