Writings on technology and society from Wellington, New Zealand
Today on Radio New Zealand National I talked about Google’s new mobile phone platform, called Android. The first Android phone has just gone on sale in the US. It’s a very interesting move by Google and will probably result in dropping mobile phone prices. Can’t be bad.
Read on for my speaking notes, or download the audio as ogg or mp3.
Today on Radio New Zealand National I talked about a very bad piece of law that the government and the music business have foisted on us all, and about the fact that the government appears now to have cold feet about it. I’m referring to Section 92A of the Copyright Act, inserted by the recent copyright amendment, and it says that ISPs have to cut people off the Internet if a music company accuses them of copyright infringement. There’s no trial, no proof, and no accountability on the record companies to get it right. This provision was inserted into the Bill by the government after the Select Committee had told it to do the opposite and then passed by a large majority in the House.
The Minister of ICT announced yesterday that this provision will be put ‘on hold’ for four months. (It can be put on hold because it requires enabling regulation; effectively Cabinet can decide when and if it comes into force.) He’s looking for submissions on this. Don’t be shy – write to your MP, badger the parties who want your vote, and support InternetNZ which will be lobbying hard for MPs to do the Right Thing.
Read on for my speaking notes, or download the audio as ogg or mp3.
Today on Radio New Zealand National I responded to the extraordinary comments of TelstraClear’s Chief Executive, Alan Freeth, that there is no point of providing fast broadband in New Zealand because we’d only waste it. And he doesn’t like Hokitika. His views can’t be anything to do with trying to protect his existing network in the main cities, can they?
Read on for my speaking notes, or listen to the audio download in mp3 or ogg.
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I’ve ranted before about the futility and stupidity of email disclaimers that so many people and companies use. Here’s one that someone puts on his email which makes that same point through humour:
This email is for the intended recipient only. If you are not the
intended recipient you must burn your computer, while standing on one
foot and chanting the entire jabberwocky.
The opinions expressed here are not necessarily the opinions of the
person who expressed them.
Yep. All email disclaimers are as silly as this one, it’s just that the author of this one understands that.
There’s been a lot of complaining about the ongoing costs of the Apple iPhone 3G in New Zealand. The iPhone has a relatively low ‘headline’ price of $199, but only when attached to an expensive calling plan. People are expressing outrage at this.
Let’s get real. Ever since mobile services were launched in this country, networks have subsidised handsets (i.e. telephones) off the monthly line and calling charges. The iPhone is no different. Vodafone has made it clear what it costs to buy the handset without a plan (about $1,000 depending on model) which is up there, but nothing out of the ordinary for a high-end phone.
Staying real, let’s look at the issue facing New Zealanders wanting to make mobile calls. It’s got nothing to do with the cost for the latest bit of shiny kit. It’s got everything to do with the cost of mobile calling in this country. We pay over half as much again as the OECD average. That’s got to be due to the effective monopoly that Telecom and Vodafone have enjoyed until now.
Perhaps the iPhone plan costs announced after the marketing hype while serve as a way of highlighting our expensive calling charges. But it’s those calling charges that are the problem, not the handset cost.
This is supposed to change. Telecom are to launch a network that will compete directly with Voda’s 3G network – you should be able to buy a handset for one network and take it to the other network. And the third market entrant, New Zealand Communications, is *still* waiting in the wings. Please, guys, get on with it!
Adam Gifford has a good take on this over on the Herald.
Because I’m on holiday with my family.
I had the best of intentions of writing a crisp, focussed, piece about technology and culture – iPhone pricing in New Zealand, maybe – but I’ve spent time with my nearest and dearest instead. And that’s no bad thing.
See you next week!
Today on Radio New Zealand National I talked about a treaty called ACTA about which its hard to find any information. ACTA is being negotiated now by countries including New Zealand, and it has the potential to curb people’s privacy and their rights to use the Internet. MED has issued a call for submissions on what New Zealand’s negotiating position should be, although it has delayed answering an OIA request for more information until after the deadline of next Monday.
Does this affect you? Quite possibly it will if some well-funded lobbyists get their way. It’s clear that some want this treaty to impose DMCA-style laws across the world. This would effectively stop innovation in its tracks except when it was done by big companies. And the last New Zealand copyright law change pandered to the interests of the big players at the expense of the rest of us. (Read to the bottom of the linked page.)
Read on for my speaking notes, and for the address to send you emailed submission to. Or, listen to the podcast.
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Today on Radio New Zealand National I talked about censoring the Internet.
Back when the Net was a lot younger, someone famously said that “the Internet interprets censorship as damage and routes around it”. He was wrong, of course – some countries’ citizens can’t read about material their governments don’t want them to, or not without technical workarounds that are beyond many Net users.
And, even in liberal democracies like New Zealand, there are limits to free speech on the Internet. If you publish objectionable material – child porn and the like – on the Internet here, expect to be prosecuted.
Read on for my speaking notes or listen to the podcast and hear what I really said.
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Very nearly full, anyway. When the core protocol of the Internet, TCP/IP was designed, 4 billion addresses seemed like a ludicrous maximum. It would have been hubris to have designed more in, after all. Oops…
I talked about to this today on Radio New Zealand National. Read on for my speaking notes or listen to what I actually said.
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