Pamela Curr takes you inside Indonesia’s detention centres, where detainees are fed and watered and housed like cattle, and violence and corruption are rife.
December, 2009
Net filtering won’t work, so what is Conroy up to?
The government’s net filtering trials conclusively show filtering doesn’t work — so why is the government pursuing it and asking us to trust not just Stephen Conroy but every politician in the future? Ask the parents.
Conroy’s internet filter: so what?
When it comes to curious kids with technically adept mates, or desperately secretive pedophiles trading their nasties, the internet filter will be nothing but a minor inconvenience.
Video of the Day: Copenhagen’s World of Warmcraft
What’s really happening in Copenhagen? With limos, Lord Monckton, melting icebergs and the ‘science’ of climate sceptics, Jon Stewart’s got the climate change low down.
The Internet Filter and the Creatures of the Sea
Featuring the Coconut Carrying Veined Octopus (Amphioctopus marginatus)
Crikey Says: Why the internet filter is just a political stunt
The Conroy-Rudd internet censorship regime has nothing to do with pedophiles or terrorists, and everything to do with building credentials with mainstream voters who have no idea how the internet works.
Murdoch goes under-cover in local newsagents
Rupert Murdoch has been visiting British newsagents incognito to mix with the plebs and learn what the common folk think of his rags. We eagerly await an under-cover mission posing as a 15-year-old emo to learn more about his Myspace users.
Merry Christmas from Uncle Murdoch
Rupert Murdoch has sent out a personal Christmas message to his News Corp minions, thanking them for “spreading the message of freedom we all believe in.” Gawker has the full letter.
How to restore your privacy on Facebook
Facebook is in ur internetz, changing ur privacy settings. But for those who don’t want the entire web seeing pictures of them drunk at the office Christmas party, Valleywag has a comprehensive guide to keeping your profile private.
Inside the Italian Mafia
Roberto Saviano is the author of a best-selling book that exposes the inner workings of the most powerful, but least known Italian Mafia groups, Naples’ Camorra. He takes Vice inside their vicious and violent world.
How Dell milked Twitter for $6.5 million
Just three years ago, Dell was the joke of the social media world. But the PC giant has gotten the last laugh, ringing up $6.5m in sales via Twitter and changing the face of online retail.
Who makes Australia’s best mince pie?
The good mince pie can make or break your Christmas, so The Enthusiast road tests six of the best-known Australian brands to find this season’s best.
Crikey Readers’ Choice Awards 2009
Who were the heroes, villains and just plain boring-if-sexy people of 2009? Have your say and vote in the Crikey Readers’ Choice Awards 2009!
Environmental journalists: the new endangered species
Environmental journalists are increasingly facing threats and violence, as governments and industry attempt to cover up their poor environmental practises.
An ode to Wilson Tuckey: the cunning, backstabbing liar
Wilson Tuckey is the true underrated power tool of the Liberal Party, writes Barrie Cassidy. People think he’s a bumbling fool, while really Tuckey’s manoeuvred and decided the future of most Liberal leaders. But how?
Female writer reveals: why I’ve been posing as a man for three years
Copywriter James Chartrand isn’t James Chartrand at all — he’s a female writer who has been working under a male pseudonym for three years. Unsurprisingly, “James” enjoys more credibility, more work and higher pay than his female counterpart ever did.
Drawing the Battlelines: Abbott’s great big new speech
In a speech being dubbed Churchillian by The Oz, Tony Abbott sets out his agenda for the future of the Opposition. He discusses plans for winning environmentalists over from Labor, slams the ‘great big tax’ ETS, and dares Rudd to bring on an early election. Do we finally have an Opposition?
Can Al Gore save Copenhagen?
Al Gore is finally heating up the Copenhagen conference, calling for a world treaty to be signed by July next year, before the movement’s momentum fizzles out, reports Matthew Knott.
revealed How Monsanto controls and manipulates the world’s food supply
An investigation by the Associated Press reveals how agricultural giant Monsanto uses its stranglehold on the seed industry to push out smaller competitors and control the world’s food supply. Expect food to get even more expensive.
Anglican Minister: Why I oppose the internet filter
Anglican Minister Will Briggs says Conroy’s internet filter is a “useless, ineffective, waste of money”, that’s neither philosophically nor logistically viable. Can a Man of God be a pirate, too?
Gittins: Poor little Aussies with their beach house and 3 car garage
We’re spending all our money on building new huge houses or doing fancy renovations. So quit whinging about your mortgage and the government raising interest rates and go count the bathrooms in your holiday house, says Ross Gittins.
Costello: How the Greens — and their preachy superior activism — fluffed Higgins
The media thought the Greens had the Higgins stitched up: no Labor candidate, lots of climate change talk, Libs leadership spill. Too bad the zealous morally superior Greens underestimated the intelligence of the electorate, says departed Higgins MP Peter Costello.
The messy, muddled morality of the internet blacklist
With Conroy’s internet filter pretty much a certainty, the big questions are now what will make the blacklist, and who gets to make that decision. Skeptic Lawyer looks at the blurry ethical lines of just what is and isn’t acceptable.
Australia is filtering out our own achievements
Australia’s ad campaigns to tackle the HIV epidemic in the 1980s were visionary and a great example of what Australia can achieve by being open-minded, writes Catharine Lumby. Ironically, you may not be able to watch them anymore under the new internet filter.
