8 May 2020
Get Back To Where We Once Belonged
‘Want to go to the footy? Download the app.’ tweeted Health Minister Greg Hunt on 2 May, speaking to Australians as if they were unruly children who need to eat their veggies before they get dessert. The dessert being a ‘new normal’ where governments hold our freedoms to ransom until we meet the demands of unimpeachable health experts. Australians have
7 May 2020
The Biggest Issue With COVIDSafe: Incompetence
The COVID-19 tracing application may look like a targeted and temporary solution, but history shows that privacy incursions are typically irreversible and subject to mission creep. Last Sunday the COVIDSafe application was released for download. The app works by tracing everyone who comes within 1.5 metres for more than 15 minutes (provided they have the app functioning and Bluetooth enabled). This data is then encrypted and stored
10 August 2018
Government Snooping Will Not Stop At The Banks
Here’s an idea. In order to improve the confidence of the public in democracy, the federal government should embed ‘Taxpayer Compliance Officers’ in cabinet and the Expenditure Review Committee. The role of such officers would be three-fold. They would have a general responsibility for ensuring taxpayers’ money was spent efficiently and not wasted, they would ensure compliance with all the
18 July 2017
Medicare Details Available On Dark Web Is Just Tip Of Data Breach Iceberg
Modern governments use a lot of data. A lot. Our social services are organised by massive databases. Health, welfare, education and the pension all require reams of information about identity, social needs, eligibility, and entitlement. Our infrastructure is managed by massive databases holding information about traffic flows, public transport usage, communications networks, and population flows. Our security is maintained by
12 August 2016
ABS Census Farce Reminds Us Statistics Are The ‘Eyes Of The Bureaucrat’
In 1961, Murray Rothbard, the most important libertarian economist of the 20th century, wrote about the evils of government statistics. “Statistics are the eyes and ears of the bureaucrat, the politician, the socialistic reformer. Only by statistics can they know, or at least have any idea about, what is going on in the economy … How could the government impose
