<html><head><base href="x-msg://364/"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><br><div><div>On 09/07/2010, at 1:20 PM, Sean K. Finn wrote:</div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><blockquote type="cite"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; font-family: Helvetica; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-size: medium; "><div lang="EN-AU" link="blue" vlink="purple"><div class="Section1" style="page: Section1; "><div style="margin-top: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0cm; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; "> It’s the same now except we control the new media.</div><div style="margin-top: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0cm; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; "><o:p></o:p></div><div style="margin-top: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0cm; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; "><o:p> </o:p></div></div></div></span></blockquote><br></div><div>That's crazy talk. We don't control the new media any more than Australia</div><div>Post controls newspapers and magazines.</div><div><br></div><div>The postal service provides an international communication platform</div><div>which is used by virtually every individual to for personal purposes and </div><div>by virtually every business to enable commerce. It has its own set of</div><div>protocols, economic issues, cross-jurisdictional issues, and so on. Over</div><div>time systems of regulation and understanding have coalesced so that</div><div>the postal service can do what it does with a minimum of interference.</div><div><br></div><div>ISPs provide an international communication platform which is used by</div><div>virtually every Australian for personal purposes and by virtually every</div><div>Australian business to enable commerce. It has its own set of protocols,</div><div>economic issues, cross-jurisdictional issues, and so on. It has NOT matured</div><div>into a normal part of our regulatory landscape precisely because there</div><div>are so many people trying to portray it as something it ain't -- particularly</div><div>"new media" </div><div><br></div><div>When the Minister talks about his distrust for "internet companies", he's</div><div>referring to companies like facebook and google. He lacks the knowledge</div><div>(and the desire to acquire knowledge) necessary to understand that </div><div>ISPs are like the postal service and Facebook is like a newsletter that</div><div>just happens to be sent via post.</div><div><br></div><div>As long as he continues to lack that understanding, he'll continue to </div><div>make stupid decisions and say stupid things.</div><div><br></div><div>In particular: One never talks about censoring Australia Post to get</div><div>rid of "unwanted" postal content, one instead focuses one's energy</div><div>on the publishers and distributors of the content <i>who just happen to </i></div><div><i>use the postal service as an incidental part of their distribution strategy.</i></div><div><i><br></i></div><div>We know he'll never want to acquire that understanding, so we need</div><div>to focus our efforts on his parliamentary colleagues and cut him out</div><div>of the loop -- If he doesn't want to be part of the picture then he's simply</div><div>irrelevant and we shouldn't waste our time with him.</div><div><br></div><div>That's why lobbying MPs -- even ALP MPs -- is so important. Our elected</div><div>officials would look like dolts if they couldn't tell the difference between</div><div>a magazine and a post office. For the ISP industry to have any rational</div><div>future,<i> </i>those same officials must feel equally foolish if they can't tell</div><div>the difference between the Internet and a website.</div><div><br></div><div> - mark</div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; "><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; "><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Andale Mono'" size="1"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 9px; "><br class="Apple-interchange-newline">--</span></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Andale Mono'"><font class="Apple-style-span" size="1"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 9px; ">Mark Newton Email: <a href="mailto:newton@internode.com.au">newton@internode.com.au</a> (W)</span></font></font></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Andale Mono'"><font class="Apple-style-span" size="1"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 9px; ">Network Engineer Email: <a href="mailto:newton@atdot.dotat.org">newton@atdot.dotat.org</a> (H)</span></font></font></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Andale Mono'"><font class="Apple-style-span" size="1"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 9px; ">Internode Pty Ltd Desk: +61-8-82282999</span></font></font></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Andale Mono'"><font class="Apple-style-span" size="1"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 9px; ">"Network Man" - Anagram of "Mark Newton" Mobile: +61-416-202-223</span></font></font></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Andale Mono'"><font class="Apple-style-span" size="1"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 9px; "><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></span></font></font></font></div></div></div></span><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"></div></span><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"></span><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"></span>
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