July 22, 2010

Issue Watch: The internet filter, and why it’s practically a non-issue

Labor’s proposed Mandatory Internet Filter has made a lot of enemies for the party, particularly as a policy that seemed to be more something one would expect of the Howard-era socially conservative Coalition. The potential for the expanded filter, as currently proposed, to be abused is of great concern to almost anyone interested in civil rights. But it didn’t start out quite so bad for Labor, who took to the 2007 election a proposal to block child pornography. Techies were concerned about the potential for a filter to be detrimental to network performance, but the general populace didn’t pay . . . → :: Read More ::

July 20, 2010

Attracting young voters? Social media fail

In the last year, before the beginning of the official campaign, parties from across the political spectrum have been attempting to tap into the youth voter demographic, primarily through social media. It must be said that I say ‘primarily’ because this youth voter has not seen anything outside social media, and if it exists, I haven’t seen it (which given I go searching for this stuff, means it’s been a failure). Some parties are just throwing things in a social media-ish direction and hoping something will stick.

Some parties have had more success than others. . . . → :: Read More ::