OnPoint by Keith Ng

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OnPoint: Pay Attention

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  • Danyl Mclauchlan,

    Assange does seem to be fairly sure he knows what is best for everyone.

    Its not hard to see a guy like that as a rapist.

    This type of generalisation is typical of arsonists.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 927 posts Report Reply

  • Steve Withers, in reply to Ross Mason,

    Ross Mason: Awesome.

    Auckland • Since Mar 2008 • 312 posts Report Reply

  • giovanni tiso, in reply to Jolisa,

    I shall tame the lobster

    That sounds like a sexual euphemism.

    Wellington • Since Jun 2007 • 7473 posts Report Reply

  • richard, in reply to Danyl Mclauchlan,

    I am not sure that was a generalization. It is a very specific comment about a guy whose blog reads as if it could have been written by Clayton Weatherston’s somewhat smarter brother.

    Not looking for New Engla… • Since Nov 2006 • 268 posts Report Reply

  • Danyl Mclauchlan,

    I am not sure that was a generalization. It is a very specific comment about a guy whose blog reads as if it could have been written by Clayton Weatherston’s somewhat smarter brother.

    Your argument has the same tone behind it as the Baatan Death March.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 927 posts Report Reply

  • giovanni tiso,

    I think argument is possibly a bit strong.

    Wellington • Since Jun 2007 • 7473 posts Report Reply

  • Keith Ng, in reply to BenWilson,

    I'm surprised Public Address can get through the wall.

    This stuff is MAD arbitrary. My domain, which hosts nothing but my Google Apps email, is blocked. Took me a day to figure out that they didn't actually block Google Apps. Dropbox is inexplicably blocked. Half the Tor site is blocked some of the time.

    It's not so much a "wall" as potholes strewn wildly about the place.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 543 posts Report Reply

  • Keith Ng, in reply to Paul Campbell,

    Anyone know if Hong Kong is inside the wall - when I was there earlier this year some potentially interesting stuff seemed inaccessible - but probably not as much as I'd have expected if it were (no problems with PA though).

    Nope. Hong Kong and Macau are firmly outside the wall.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 543 posts Report Reply

  • Keith Ng, in reply to Kumara Republic,

    "You can kill a man, but you can’t kill an idea” – Civil Rights activist Medgar Evers, shot dead by the KKK in 1963.

    You can kill a man, but that probably won’t affect the operation of distributed servers run by people other than the guy you just killed.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 543 posts Report Reply

  • andin,

    excellent post

    raglan • Since Mar 2007 • 1891 posts Report Reply

  • Aidan, in reply to Keith Ng,

    This stuff is MAD arbitrary.

    No different to any internet filter/firewall. Witness the stupidity of the Australian internet filter blacklist, which contained legitimate businesses, including a dentist! The fact that it was leaked to Wikileaks just reinforces how important wikileaks could be.

    I've been behind a DOE firewall in the US. The stuff they block is just weird, and it comes up with an ominous "You have attempted to access a blocked site. This has been logged". I can do without that shit thank you very much.

    Canberra, Australia • Since Feb 2007 • 154 posts Report Reply

  • Graeme Edgeler,

    It is a very specific comment about a guy whose blog reads as if it could have been written by Clayton Weatherston’s somewhat smarter brother.

    I've noticed the physical similarity between Danyl and Clayton as well. The names - with l's, a's , n's and y's - are practically identical as well. And both dating/married out of their league :-)

    You may be on to something here...

    Wellington, New Zealand • Since Nov 2006 • 3215 posts Report Reply

  • Rich Lock,

    Less solid, but still credible is the *incredible* accusation that Russia is a Mafia state, with Putin pocketing billions, criminals working for the state and the law enforcement agencies working towards criminal ends. And not even war crimes, or human rights kind of crimes, but just plain old crime. If this is true, the a former superpower *is* a criminal organisation now.

    Bit surprised that you find it increadible. I've recommended it several times beofre, but I'll recommend it again: McMafia, by
    Misha Glenny.

    Here's a quote from the NYTimes review:

    “All manner of operatives lost their jobs: secret police, counterintelligence officers, special-forces commandos and border guards, as well as homicide detectives and traffic cops,” Mr. Glenny writes. “Their skills included surveillance, smuggling, killing people, establishing networks and blackmail.”

    What that quote goes on to say, but which I can't find on line, is (paraphrased) something like this:

    "A lot of these ex-government operatives ended up selling their skills to the people who would pay: organised crime. In Russia, it is usual for a law-enforcement operative to also be some combination of a politician, a criminal and/or a businessman. The boundaries are so blurred as to be virtually non-existent".

    Well worth a read. Although it's the sort of book that'll make you wan to go out an get filthy drunk after reading it. And not in a good way.

    back in the mother countr… • Since Feb 2007 • 2728 posts Report Reply

  • richard, in reply to Danyl Mclauchlan,

    Your argument has the same tone behind it as the Baatan Death March

    Heh. I will admit to being provocative, but I was able to back my position with data – namely a slew of narcissistic and (in places) misogynist comments on his blog. (Ironically enough, preserved for posterity by the internet archive – information wants to be free and all that.)

    And, yes, yes even though his blog makes him look like a jackass, it does not mean he is a sexual predator. But forgive me if I do not shake my head in dismay, exclaiming “Julian Assange – of all the people in the world, I can’t think of a single person less likely to commit such a crime. Clearly the poor man has been stitched up by Evil Forces [TM] bent on preventing him from Telling the Truth”

    And the Bataan Death March reference, while no doubt heartfelt, is as puzzling as your earlier cry of “generalization” – how exactly??

    Not looking for New Engla… • Since Nov 2006 • 268 posts Report Reply

  • richard, in reply to Graeme Edgeler,

    Graeme -- just to be very clear, the blog whose author I was comparing to Weatherston was Assange's, not Danyl's. Possibly my sarcasm detector is off today, but just wanted to be sure there was no misunderstanding.

    Not looking for New Engla… • Since Nov 2006 • 268 posts Report Reply

  • Neil Morrison,

    I don't think the comparison is with the US gun lobby rather with the militia cults. Anarcho-libertarian fundamentalism.

    Since Nov 2006 • 932 posts Report Reply

  • Rich of Observationz,

    It's not so much a "wall" as potholes strewn wildly about the place

    I was in Shanghai airport a few weeks ago and the free WiFi was heinously crap. I assumed this was just the nature of free WiFi (I'm expecting the vaunted Wellington service to be the same, especially when every 14-year old geek in the central city finds out how to keep changing their MAC address and hence download torrents 24/7)

    Maybe it was the firewall, and everything I accessed was on the disapproved list.

    Also, does Vodafone have no roaming agreement in China?

    Back in Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 5550 posts Report Reply

  • Jan Farr, in reply to Richard CLARK,

    it's almost certain that he will be rendered to the Americans, and he won't see the light of day for many years as their legal juggling, by deferring a trial, will keep him imprisoned, with all the horrors that will be for him.

    So much for civilisation in the 'civilized' world.

    Carterton • Since Apr 2008 • 395 posts Report Reply

  • Jan Farr, in reply to DexterX,

    “Flustercluck” – should be word of the year

    You get my vote!

    Carterton • Since Apr 2008 • 395 posts Report Reply

  • Jan Farr, in reply to Richard CLARK,

    I am about to cancel both my PayPal and Amazon accounts just to spite myself!

    And Visa?

    Carterton • Since Apr 2008 • 395 posts Report Reply

  • Jan Farr, in reply to richard,

    I am not sure that was a generalization. It is a very specific comment about a guy whose blog reads as if it could have been written by Clayton Weatherston’s somewhat smarter brother.

    Oh Richard, were you serious? I took it as irony.

    Carterton • Since Apr 2008 • 395 posts Report Reply

  • chris,

    This stuff is MAD arbitrary.

    Damn straight, the biggest dickswab of late has been the blocking of IMDB.com. It infuriates me. The quickest way I found in is returntojail.com, but 23 popups for the University of Liverpool Master's program is obscene. Come on University of Liverpool, are movie trivia obsessives who routinely violate internet restrictions really the ideal prospective market for Online Masters programs in Management, Technology and Public Health?

    Mawkland • Since Jan 2010 • 1302 posts Report Reply

  • Ross Mason,

    He has waited quite a while to finally drop himself off at the cop shop in London Town. Once the "Wanted" was out I s'pose he was truly on the run. Nothing like giving one self up to garner a bit of sympathy. But I just cannot be convinced that the activity of the Swedish Police in trying to bring rape charges is not a coincidence to the latest drop of data. What does the USA have on the Swedes to convince them to pursue this?

    And nothing like taking on the messenger to put the hounds off the smell of the message. Well timed without a doubt. I will eat my hat if it turns out that the case has some traction and he gets done. My buck is on that he ends up in Sweden, get extradited to the US, friends of Wikileaks leaks the so-called hidden "atomic bomb" and he doesn't get out for 10 years. But put away for what? Who knows.

    Upper Hutt • Since Jun 2007 • 1590 posts Report Reply

  • FletcherB,

    it’s almost certain that he will be rendered to the Americans, and he won’t see the light of day for many years as their legal juggling, by deferring a trial, will keep him imprisoned, with all the horrors that will be for him.

    While I acknowledge this as a technical/physical possibility… I dont think (hope?) they’d dare….

    Sure, they’ve done it in the past to lots of people…. but typically they were people “off the rader"…. the people that went missing or were detained at black sites or at Guantanamo outside normal US legal jurisdiction were mostly people we didnt know exist at all….

    While the US may trump up some new type of bogus spying/confidentiality/treason/terrorism charges against Assange, and extradite him from swedish/english custody to US soil…. I seriously doubt they would try to actually disappear him, or even claim special non-standard military tribunal jurisdiction under the full glare of worldwide publicity…

    We know where he is, and we know what he’s accused of…. they wouldnt dare try it on…. (surely?) Or am I just too naive?

    West Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 893 posts Report Reply

  • FletcherB,

    Here's another question....

    Paypal, Visa, etc. stopping me from making a payment to an organization's account of my choosing....

    1) Are they doing this just to suck up to the US government, or is this a more specific and self-interested response to the promise of up-coming leaks on the US financial industry?

    2) Paypal is not a bank and can presumably conduct itself as it see's fit (not that I agree with it). Visa and other banking companies... on what grounds can they legally close access to accounts if no charges have been laid? Are they breaking laws themselves?

    West Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 893 posts Report Reply

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