I won’t berate you with examples (no, I’ll hit you with that later in the article), and I’m not here to bitch about celebrities (well, not entirely here to bitch about celebrities) – rather, the point of this article is to encourage people to err on the side of caution, to ask themselves a series of questions before every tweet.

Before you tweet, ask yourself: “Should I really post this?” “Is it really necessary?” “Will I be giving something to the world? Or really just adding another useless 140 characters to the pig-sty that is the internet?”

These questions can be confusing and difficult to confront. In the fast-paced digital age, a simple formula is needed for people to test their tweets and make sure they are legal.

A preliminary model for a tweet-law could be based on German philosopher Immanuel Kant’s famous moral law, the ‘categorical imperative’. It stated:

“Act only in accordance with that maxim through which you can at the same time will that it become a universal law.”

Now, converting this into a tweet-law, I propose:

“Tweet only in accordance with that tweet through which you can at the same time see being humorous, wise or helpful to someone other than yourself.”

Here are a few examples from someone who I believe tweets in accordance with this tweet-law:

While he may have been in some horrible movies recently, Steve Martin has certainly not lost his endearing absurd humor most visible in his trademark film, The Jerk. The man is a genius, and his tweets certainly reflect that. The majority of them have been intricately labored in a way designed to be humorous, wise, or helpful to someone other than himself. For example, on the 14th of February he wrote:

“I ca’nt find my galssses.”

Only to be followed up with:

“I found my glasses in my Twitter photo, but I can’t get them out”.

The first tweet is funny enough, but the second tweet is enough for a sustained 5 to 10 second chuckle, which is about as much of a laugh as you can ask for in 140 characters.

These tweets can be seen as being in accordance to the tweet-law, as they are most certainly humorous to someone other than Steve Martin. They may also be helpful, most likely to someone who was having a rubbish day and needed some comic relief.

Sure, Martin’s tweets may not be wise, but as you may remember, your tweet only needs to pass one out of the three requirements of the tweet-law for it to be legal.

Unfortunately though, many tweeps are not of Steve Martin’s ilk and set about breaking the tweet-law anyway they can. One of the most prominent outlaws is Lara Bingle. Here’s an example of why Bingle may not become Laura Bingle AO for ‘services to twitter’ any time soon. On the 16th of February she wrote:

“London is freezing today.”

Now if we test this tweet against the tweet-law, we can pretty easily see it is not a legal tweet. It is certainly not humorous to anyone, and I’m sure no one believes it is terribly wise. Also telling is the use of the world “today”, London England is cold MOST of the time, so to say “it’s cold today” implies there is some break from the norm. This one is most definitely a violation of tweet law, and good old fashioned common sense.

However we have to give Bingle some credit, it may be helpful to someone. It could be helpful:

a) For people who do not have a TV, radio, or access to any other internet sites with weather news other than twitter.

b) For those who live in a deceivingly well air-conditioned house and refuse to look or step foot outside to contemplate the temperature.

c) For people who have never experienced winter in England before, have never heard anything about England and thus could rationally assume anything other than it being cold outside.

d) If there were an isolated tribe living in a village located so far underground they never felt the effects of cold and were planning to migrate above ground to London. If by some miracle this tribe had access to twitter, could understand English and were also following Lara Bingle – then maybe they would consider taking a jacket after reading Bingle’s tweet that it is rather nippy outside.

But on further analysis, I am thinking the ways in which this tweet could be helpful are a little far-fetched. So maybe it would be fair to say that Bingle has bungled it on this occasion, and her tweet is not legal.

I encourage all readers though, please do what few have ever done and learn something from Lara Bingle. Learn from her example, learn of the dangers of breaking the tweet-law, and try from this moment on not be a follower of tweet-law outlaws.

But this is my site, my rules and if you enjoy bitching about the business models of TV stations, iTunes, distribution and production companies then this is the story for you.

If not, well, there’s plenty of more serious stories here for you to read but this isn’t one of them.

I have an admission to make, I have been known to pirate movies and television shows from time to time.

But it’s not my fault, iTunes makes me do it.

Even though the latest episodes of TV shows such as Californication & Gossip Girl (yes, I watch Gossip Girl, want to fight about it?) have aired in the US and are available to purchase – come hell or high water I can’t buy them.

This is because production companies have made deals with Australian distributors not to ship items that haven’t aired over here yet.

I see no reason why TV and movies shouldn’t make a global premier in the age of instantaneous communication.

Oh no – they want to double-dip that soggy, spittle-caked cracker for all it’s worth.

If a global premier is asking too much then at least let me buy the copy of the DVD and have it shipped to me within a reasonable period of time, because I’ve pretty much given up on the possibility of watching the series from beginning to end on TV.

Television companies are still stuck on this concept of only airing popular shows during ratings season.

They don’t realise the internet has permanently changed the way people consume entertainment.

This isn’t news to anyone really, but I’ll say it anyway – if I can’t watch it on TV after reading about the latest episode online, I’m not waiting around a year and a half for it to air.

Expecting people to wait a year or more for episodes of tv shows that have already aired in the US is unrealistic and stupid.

As far as I’m concerned, patience is a card game played by our parents.

I do try to pay for the media I watch but when even Amazon won’t take my money – to put in terms the accountants will understand – “I will take my business elsewhere”.

The point is there are people that will give me this stuff right now, and for free.

I want to give you my money. Making me wait a year isn’t an incentive.

It’s time to start thinking of new ways to make people watch your show.

You can start by scheduling it to air on the same time every week…

Which brings me to my next point: stop changing the sodding schedule.

Anyone who watches Glee knows what I’m talking about, televisions are so obsessed with ratings & advertising profits that it has become almost impossible to keep track of which night the show is on, and at what time.

And it doesn’t work any better online.

Channel 10 have done a wonderful job of making it nigh-on impossible to watch anything on their so called “web player”.

For some reason they can’t seem to wrap their head around listing the episodes chronologically, or how to stop the player from randomly jumping to a completely different video, or even play at all.

Having failed spectacularly at watching TV series on my actual TV, buying it, or watching it online – I turn to iTunes.

Why on this green earth do Apple advertise its TV shows as available to purchase and watch in HD, and then deliver me a poor quality video of the wrong episode and still expect me to pay for it?

Is there some holier-than-thou noob sitting in a cubicle somewhere telling his bosses they should provide poorer-quality videos because they’re afraid the minute someone downloads it (i.e owns it), they will upload it on to a torrent site and no one will want to buy it from Apple anymore?

Does Apple think this is a good business model?

Here’s the thing.

I don’t WANT to pirate. I have no desire to upload videos to torrents, and I am one of the small percentage of people who prefer to pay for the shows that I watch – but when I can get a BETTER QUALITY pirated video FOR FREE than Apple is expecting me to pay for – there is something very wrong with this business model.

And it’s not like I’m not bothered by ads either. But I like to watch a few episodes in a row, rather than a badly edited – I’m looking at you Channel 9 – version of a TV show or movie or documentary whose conclusion won’t air for another three weeks.

Let me give you the money. But in return I expect a high quality video (online) or a copy of the DVD that I don’t have to wait nine months for.

If I have to wait nine months for anything, I want a freaking baby at the end of it.

It’s becoming more and more apparent to me how sad and ugly the world is becoming for these young people, the more I read the things they write about themselves. My dashboard is regularly crammed with posts that say things like ‘I’m so ugly, no wonder nobody loves me’, or ‘I’m so fat, that’s why I throw up and cut myself all the time’. And most of the girls posting such things are girls posting pictures of skinny white girls with long I-don’t-care-hair in cut off shorts and lots of jewellery, or pictures of some devil like Katy Perry.

Is this what it’s come to? Really? As someone who runs a fashion business, I can see the merit of these images, and see the appeal in the colours, the glamour, the trash. But as a girl – a woman – I can only feel sorrow for the girls who think this is who they have to be. To them I say this:

Choose your idols carefully. We are not all tall. We are not all thin. None of us are flawless. There are people who see beauty outside these cookie cutter images. The best idol for you is the one in the mirror. I was bullied with the rest of them, and I still have shit depressed days where everything is black. But these days the sorrow comes either from worry for the state of the world, or from self-doubt that I am not measuring up to my OWN expectations and desires. I will never again give a shit what somebody else considers to be beautiful, I will only ever hope people continue to see beauty in ME. Short, imperfect, somewhat insane, chubby me.

Own your face, own your body, work on your brain, and some form of peace will come. There is more to life than being ‘pretty’. If you ask me, Tina Fey is a hundred times sexier than Ke$ha or the Olsen skeletons or whoever else is hot right now – and she wears glasses and has a giant scar across half her face. I can assure you she’s a hundred times happier than any of them too.

If your dashboard looks like mine, reblog this. Or hell, change it and make your own post. Whatever. Do SOMETHING. Let the kids know – there’s better shit in this world than showing your tits to a boy who spends more time on his sideways hair than you. And ask yourself: which of the women in this post do you want to be?

Talia is the founder of ‘Kiss My Button Vintage‘ – an online fashion company that caters to women of all shapes and sizes.

For the first time in years the cynicism has lifted, and once again interest in global political affairs has peaked. We have seen a global defiance of national defence organisations around the world, and have witnessed the spectacular failure of governments to stem the tide of classified information being made publicly available to anyone with an internet connection.

As I write this, over 500 mirror websites have been set up by internet users in response to the attempts of governments and companies to bring down the site. (You can access a comprehensive list of all the mirror sites here).

Wikileaks only grows stronger with every threat that has been made to the website, and to the life and livelihood of Julian Assange.

^Julian Assange on why the world needs Wikileaks.

Let’s take a look at all the attempts that have been made to bring down Wikileaks thus far:

- Amazon booted Wikileaks off its servers after Joe Lieberman pled for organisations to withdraw their support for the group.

- In an attempt to cripple Wikileaks financially, Paypal blocked financial transactions to the site so that users could no longer donate money directly to the website.

- A short time later software company, Tableau, removed graphs which categorised the cables by country and classification which were being hosted on their servers (ironically the data contained within the tableau software could only be accessed by PC users – so the loss only effected 50% of the internet community).

- On Friday the company which hosted wikileaks.org took the group offline.

- The French industry minister Eric Besson is examining ways of bannning Wikileaks in France. The company hosting the site, OHV, referred the matters to the courts. There has been no verdict thus far (but it didn’t stop the site mysteriously going offline again). The site was quickly rerouted through another Swedish server by the Swedish Pirate Party, and Wikileaks was back online again in a matter of hours.

- Wikileaks founder Julian Assange was arrested in Britain last night on charges of rape, molestation, sexual harrassment and “surprise sex” – (there’s an obscure Swedish law which provides Swedish citizens with legal recourse if their sexual partners do not use sexual protection without their consent). The circumstances relating to the charges are dubious at best. It is important to note that Assange’s lawyer says Assange was never read the charges, and this is a clear violation of his rights. I’m not sure there is enough evidence to convict Assange, moreover, what country has the jurisdiction to charge Assange for a crime which does not exist outside of Sweden?

- It has also been discovered that twitter is allegedly censoring the discussion of Wikileaks by excluding the term #Wikileaks from its trending topics, preventing people from knowing the true scope of discussion about Wikileaks unless they’re seeking it out independently  – although Matt Graves, the Communications Director of twitter, denies this. Bubbloy has published a very comprehensive and detailed analysis of the number of times the term #Wikileaks has been used on twitter, and the number of tweets relating to Wikileaks and found that the incidences by far exceeded any of the trending topics that were on twitter at the time the article was written. It’s exclusion from twitter trends is suspicious at best. I recommend you read the article in full for a more detailed analysis than I can include here.

- MasterCard and Visa have withdrawn their financial support of Wikileaks – however their cards may still be used to donate to racist organisations such as the Klu Klux Klan – an atrocious irony.

- Swiss Bank have used a legal loophole to freeze Wikileaks bank accounts. Apparently Assange used Geneva as a fake country of origin in his application and this excuse was enough to justify closing the account.

The attempts to bring down Wikileaks have only strengthened the organisations resolve (and the resolve of the interwebs) to keep the site online, and to keep the flow of confidential information open. Twitter users started surfacing such as “WikiAdvocate” and others like it – encouraging users to set up mirror sites in order to keep Wikileaks online.

The tally count as it stands now (according to the tally site Leaky Links) is 1097 mirrors. 142 of them are experiencing Denial of Service (DNS) attacks, 821 are online and 128 are up-to-date with 960 cables. (Thank you to @erinwye for providing me with this information).

The world will watch with interest the events which follow Assange’s arrest. It is understood that his legal council plan to resist extradition charges for fear he will be handed over to the Americans who are considering prosecution after it was reported that NATO has drawn up secret plans to defend the Baltic states, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, and Poland against any Russian threat. A Wikileaks spokesperson has already stated that they will continue to leak cables despite Assange’s arrest.

The world should take note. Though they have not yet released the “insurance cable” containing the remaining unpublished cables, (which is rumored to include cables relating to Guantanamo Bay), Wikileaks have already sent the encrypted file to people all over the world. A 256 digit code is required to decode the cables.

Arresting or assasinating Julian Assange will only make him a martyr for his cause. Neither arrests, nor shutting down Wikileaks will cease the flow of classified information around the web. If Wikileaks is eventually shut down, if Assange is convicted or killed,  hundreds of other websites and people will rise to take its place.  All journalists and anyone who believes in freedom of the press and freedom of information should be supporting Assange by creating more mirror sites for Wikileaks. Never again should the state withhold secrets that relate to the public interest. It is clear now that we cannot trust governments to act in our interest. Only through a free press, organisations that are prepared to risk closure and people who are willing to risk death and prosecution can information truly be free.

To quote the US High Court ruling on the Pentagon Papers “only a free and unrestrained press can effectively expose deception in government”.

We cannot stem the tide. We should not be resisting the awesome power of the interwebs. It is the only guarantor of democracy.

Follow the breaking news on the Assange arrest as it happens at Social Scapegoat.

7.39 am – BoingBoing is reporting that the New York Times may be under investigation for espionage (aka doing their job).

6.45 Assange’s lawyer confirms Assange is being held in London’s Wandsworth prison, Britain’s largest and arguably ugliest prison which hold 1600 inmates.

6.58 am The Swedish prosecution authority website is said to be under attack by a group that is targetting all anti-Wikileaks companies, organisations and websites.

6.30 Philip Crowley of the US State Department announces that the US will host Unesco’s World Press Freedom Day. An irony not lost on anyone.

Read an excerpt  from the press release:

The theme for next year’s commemoration will be 21st Century Media: New Frontiers, New Barriers. The United States places technology and innovation at the forefront of its diplomatic and development efforts. New media has empowered citizens around the world to report on their circumstances, express opinions on world events, and exchange information in environments sometimes hostile to such exercises of individuals’ right to freedom of expression. At the same time, we are concerned about the determination of some governments to censor and silence individuals, and to restrict the free flow of information. We mark events such as World Press Freedom Day in the context of our enduring commitment to support and expand press freedom and the free flow of information in this digital age.” - Posted on The Guardian.

6.05 am The Swiss Pirate Party offers Assange asylum according to The Guardian’s Richard Adams & Josh Halliday:

“The Swiss Pirate party has just sent an open letter to the country’s federal council urging it to allow Julian Assange asylum.

“What has happened in the US – political pressure leading to the suppression of free speech by private companies like PayPal, Amazon, EveryDNS and Tableau – should not be allowed to happen in Switzerland,” the letter warns, adding: “For all these reasons a consistent and uncompromising digital policy is needed.”

WikiLeaks.ch, currently the primary domain name for the whistleblowers’ site, was registered by the Swiss Pirate party in June, before becoming WikiLeaks’ main access point last week after being dropped by its DNS host. The party referred 4,000 people a second to WikiLeaks through WikiLeaks.ch on Sunday, it has told the Guardian.

“We urge you to counter the interventions by the US and their ambassador in Switzerland. On the grounds of digital politics, the question of asylum for Julian Assange should be examined,” the letter goes on.”

5.20  am When asked about Visa and MasterCard withdrawing their support of Wikileaks, Mark Stephens replies

“I am advised that WikiLeaks can continue to exist. They have many thousands of journalists in a virtual journalistic community around the world, and they will continue. We are at only cable 301 today. We will see the rest of those 250,000 cables coming out so that full information is available.“

5.15 am – A very interesting point from The Guardian’s technology reporter, Charles Arthur who “points out that while MasterCard and Visa have cut WikiLeaks off you can still use those cards to donate to overtly racist organisations such as the Knights Party, which is supported by the Ku Klux Klan.

The Ku Klux Klan website directs users to a site called Christian Concepts. It takes Visa and MasterCard donations for users willing to state that they are “white and not of racially mixed descent. I am not married to a non-white. I do not date non-whites nor do I have non-white dependents. I believe in the ideals of western Christian civilisation and profess my belief in Jesus Christ as the son of God.”"

5.00 am – Assange is driven away from court to cries of “we love you” from protesters, according to The Guardian’s Sam Jones.

4.54 am – Outside court, Stephens says:

“WikiLeaks will continue. WikiLeaks is many thousands of journalists around the world. A renewed bail application will be made.

We have heard the judge today say that he wishes to see the evidence himself. He was impressed by the fact that a number of people were prepared to stand up on behalf of Mr Assange. In those circumstances I think we will see another bail application.

They [those offering surety] were but the tip of the iceberg. This is going to go viral. Many people believe Mr Assange to be innocent, myself included. Many people believe that this prosecution is politically motivated.

I’m sure that the British judicial system is robust enough not to be interfered with by politicians and that are judges are impartial and fair. I hope I can say the same about Swedish prosecutors in the future.”

4.45 am More details on the charges from the Press Association and The Guardian:

“Gemma Lindfield, for the Swedish authorities, told the court Assange was wanted in connection with four allegations. She said the first complainant, Miss A, said she was victim of “unlawful coercion” on the night of 14 August in Stockholm. The court heard Assange is accused of using his body weight to hold her down in a sexual manner.

The second charge alleged Assange “sexually molested” Miss A by having sex with her without a condom when it was her “express wish” one should be used.

The third charge claimed Assange “deliberately molested” Miss A on 18 August “in a way designed to violate her sexual integrity”.

The fourth charge accused Assange of having sex with a second woman, Miss W, on 17 August without a condom while she was asleep at her Stockholm home.”

4.42 am Assange’s lawyer Mark Stephens said “we are in the rather exotic position of not seeing any of the evidence against him.”

“This is going to go viral”, he said, also stating that many people believe the charges are trumped up and political.

“Assange could have been safely released today, Stephens told reporters. These allegations are very thin indeed, he said. He confirmed that further bail applications will be made.

Stephens claimed that Assange will be vindicated.

He added that the release of the US embassy cables would continue.”  – The Guardian

4.32 am  The Guardian reports:  “This case is not about WikiLeaks,” district judge Howard Riddle told the court.

Riddle refused bail on the grounds there was a risk Assange would fail to surrender. He rejected the prosecution claim that bail should be rejected on the grounds of Assange’s safety.

Of six people a the court to offer surety, John Pilger, Ken Loach, and Jemima Khan all offered at least 20 000 pounds.  An anonymous individual offered surety of £60,000.

When requested to supply an address Assange replied “PO Box 4080″. When the question was asked again, he said: “Do you want it for correspondence or for some other reason?” He later gave an Australian address.

4.04 am – Bail was denied and Assange is to be remanded in custody until the 14th of December.

3.51 am The two female claimants in the case said that a condom was a prerequisite for sexual intercourse, the court heard – reported by legal affairs commentator Joshua Rozenberg who was in court – The Guardian is reporting.

Rozenberg also told Sky News that the charges were not read out to Assange. Rozenberg reported that in one case Assange allegedly had sex with a woman who was sleeping, the other was coerced, allegedly.

“Assange’s lawyers made clear that the case would not finish today, Rozenberg said” – The Guardian.

The prosecution, representing the Swedish authorities, objected to bail on two grounds: that Assange failed to surrender and that he should stay in custody for his own protection, Rozenberg reported.

3.35 am Channel 4 reports that Assange requested the assistance of the Australian High Commission and that some members of the commission were allegedly inside the court with Assange.

3.28 am Assange says he will fight extradition to Sweden, according to the AAP and The Guardian.

3.08 am Upon hearing of Assange’s arrest, US Defence Secretary Robert Gates smirked and said “I hadn’t heard that but that sounds like good news to me”.

2.30am More financial problems plague Wikieaks. The Guardian reports that Visa has suspended all payments to Wikileaks “pending further investigation”. MasterCard also pulls out saying they are “taking action to ensure that Wikileaks can no longer accept MasterCard- branded products”.

2.00 am We are informed by Channel 4 news in Britain that Assange is about to enter court. Channel 4 news advises via twitter that recording devices were requested to be turned off:

1.15 am The Guardian reports tDemocratic chair of the US Senate’s intelligence committee, Dianne Feinstein, said Assange “should be vigorously prosecuted for espionage”.

Writing in the Wall Street Journal, she says:

“The law Mr Assange continues to violate is the Espionage Act of 1917. That law makes it a felony for an unauthorised person to possess or transmit “information relating to the national defence which information the possessor has reason to believe could be used to the injury of the United States or to the advantage of any foreign nation”.

The Espionage Act also makes it a felony to fail to return such materials to the US government. Importantly, the courts have held that “information relating to the national defence” applies to both classified and unclassified material. Each violation is punishable by up to 10 years in prison.”

12.31 am – Assange’s op-ed piece is published in full at The Australian

“The US diplomatic cables reveal some startling facts: the US asked its diplomats to steal personal human material and information from UN officials and human rights groups, including DNA, fingerprints, iris scans, credit card numbers, internet passwords and ID photos, in violation of international treaties. Presumably Australian UN diplomats may be targeted, too.

King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia asked the US officials in Jordan and Bahrain want [sic] Iran’s nuclear program stopped by any means available.

Britain’s Iraq inquiry was fixed to protect “US interests”.

Sweden is a covert member of Nato and US intelligence-sharing is kept from parliament.

The US is playing hardball to get other countries to take freed detainees from Guantánamo Bay. Barack Obama agreed to meet the Slovenian president only if Slovenia took a prisoner. Our Pacific neighbour Kiribati was offered millions of dollars to accept detainees.

In its landmark ruling in the Pentagon Papers case, the US supreme court said “only a free and unrestrained press can effectively expose deception in government”. The swirling storm around WikiLeaks today reinforces the need to defend the right of all media to reveal the truth.”

11.49 – I’m wrapping up for the night folks. I’m sleep deprived. Damn Australia on the other side of the world and stupid timezones. Will update in the morning when we know more. Night folks.

11.43 pm – Assange’s lawyer, Jennifer Robinson, is saying that Assange has still not been told of the allegations he is being charged with in a warrent written in a language he understands – which is English, (apparently the warrant is in Swedish) and says this is a clear violation of his civil and human rights.

11.41 – While there are reports Wikileaks has no plans to release the insurance cable, it has apparently sent it supporters all over the world and can only be accessed using a 256 digit long code. More at The Guardian.

11.34 pm – CapitalFM is reporting that a major Wikileaks donor is now under pressure in Germany after failing to file a return on time. The Wau Holland who reportedly donated 750 000 Euros to Wikileaks and has been sent a second notice of to file their 2009 tax accounts. The tax authorities are denying this has anything to do with Wikileaks.

11.30 pm Techdirt is reporting that Swiss Bank has discovered a loophole by which to freeze Wikileak’s bank account. Apparently Assange falsely listed Geneva as his place of residence (he should have just written ‘planet earth’) and are using this as a justification for freezing the account. You can read about it here.

11.26pm The Guardian is reporting that Wikileaks have no plans to publish an insurance encryption code that will release the remaining, unpublished classified cables. Assange told the Guardian last Friday that the code to the encryption would be released if “something happens to us“.

11.15pm Wikileak is coordinating a protest of the arrest of Julian Assange at Westminster Court. Protesters are due to meet outside the Westminster Court at 13.30pm (local time) in London. You can find more information about the protests here. Twitter updates are also available at @Wikileaks.

11.13 One of the claimants is adamantly denying the charges are trumped up, The Guardian is reporting. “The charges against Assange are of course not orchestrated by the Pentagon,” the claimant said. Assange is strenuously denying all charges.

11.11 – The New York Times is  reporting on how the US have been going after Assange over the separate issue of the leaked cables.

“Justice department prosecutors have been struggling to find a way to indict Assange since July, when WikiLeaks made public documents on the war in Afghanistan. But while it is clearly illegal for a government official with a security clearance to give a classified document to WikiLeaks, it is far from clear that it is illegal for the organisation to make it public.

The Justice department has considered trying to indict Assange under the Espionage Act, which has never been successfully used to prosecute a third-party recipient of a leak. Some lawmakers have suggested accusing WikiLeaks of receiving stolen government property, but experts said Monday that would also pose difficulties.” - The Guardian.

11.10 – If you haven’t already, do read Clay Shirky’s Wikileaks piece.

“The leaders of Myanmar and Belarus, or Thailand and Russia, can now rightly say to us: “You went after WikiLeaks’ domain name, their hosting provider, and even denied your citizens the ability to register protest through donations, all without a warrant and all targeting overseas entities, simply because you decided you don’t like the site. If that’s the way governments get to behave, we can live with that.”

11.09 – The Guardian reports comments made by Hilary Clinton earlier this year are coming back to bite her in the proverbial:

“On their own, new technologies do not take sides in the struggle for freedom and progress. But the United States does. We stand for a single internet where all of humanity has equal access to knowledge and ideas. And we recognise that the world’s information infrastructure will become what we and others make of it.

This challenge may be new, but our responsibility to help ensure the free exchange of ideas goes back to the birth of our republic. The words of the first amendment to the constitution [guaranteeing freedom of speech] are carved in 50 tons of Tennessee marble on the front of this building. And every generation of Americans has worked to protect the values etched in that stone.”

11.08 Court staff confirm Assange will likely not appear until 2pm. (Local time).

10.56 – Updates have come to a grinding halt. We will post information overnight as it happens, but it seems “that’s all folks”. For now. Do stay tuned. Please leave us your thoughts on the comment section. We will reply.

10.47 – We highly recommend you read the open letter to Julia Gillard relating to Julian Assange. It already has 3399 comments. If you are going to post a comment on The Drum, we kindly ask you re-post them here, or post similar ones.

10.45 pm – Information is slowing now. We await more details of the arrest and actions taken. In the meantime, what do you think about the arrest / Wikileaks in general? Should he be arrested? Should Wikileaks be taken down? Leave us your thoughts in the comment section.

10.24 – The #Wikileaks hashtag is going bezerk on twitter – despite this, #Wikileaks it is not a trending topic. Further proof it is being excluded from trending topics. (Twitter spokespeople have previously denied this claim). For a very detailed analysis of the Wikileaks trends, the incidences of the hashtag on twitter – refuting any denials of censorship click here. However, Julian Assange and Scotland Yard are current trending topics.

10.13 pm BBC World reported that a WikiLeaks spokesperson says Julian Assange´s arrest is an attack on media freedom but won’t stop group from continuing to release cables.

10.11 – The number of published cables stands at 913 as of 4.30pm this afternoon, news.com.au reported.

10.10pm On an ABC24 repeat – Gillard says Wikileaks leaking of information is an illegal act. Said Wikileaks would not exist if an illegal act had not been committed. Opposition legal affairs spokesman George Brandis criticized  Ms Gillard for her “clumsy” language. “As far as I can see he hasn’t broken any Australian law,” Senator Brandis told Sky News. – news.com.au

10.03 – ABC Correspondent says it’s unlikely the police will have enough evidence to hold Assange.

10.01 pm Assange has written an Op-Ed piece for The Australian. You can read it here. *But open it in a new window, will you?

9.58 pm Despite Assange’s arrest Wikileaks continues to leak state secrets. According to MSNB, cables have revealed that NATO has drawn up secret plans to defend the Baltic states, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, and Poland against any Russian threat. The revelations have allegedly prompted the US to consider prosecuting Assange.

9.57 pm – SBS is reporting other developments:
“  – Hong Kong’s security chief denied that the city was at serious risk of being attacked by Al-Qaeda during the 2008 Beijing Olympics, as leaked US diplomatic cables warned, citing Chinese intelligence sources.

- The militant group Hezbollah has acquired an arsenal of some 50,000 rockets and missiles, raising fears of an enlarged conflict with Israel, cables printed the New York Times showed.

- The United States suspected a Saudi Arabian ambassador to the Philippines of potential involvement in funding terrorists, another cable released by WikiLeaks showed.”

9.55 pm – The ABC is reporting that Assange allegedly turned himself in at 9.30am (local time) in London.

9.54 Statement from the London Metropolitan Police – courtesy of the Guardian:

”
10.30am: Here’s a statement from Metropolitan Police:

Officers from the Metropolitan Police Extradition Unit have this morning arrested Julian Assange on behalf of the Swedish authorities on suspicion of rape.

Julian Assange, 39, was arrested on a European Arrest Warrant by appointment at a London police station at 9.30am.

He is accused by the Swedish authorities of one count of unlawful coercion, two counts of sexual molestation and one count of rape, all alleged to have been committed in August 2010.

Assange is due to appear at City of Westminster Magistrates’ Court today.

Sam Jones is on his way to the court.”

9.46 Sky News reports Julian Assange’s solicitor Mark Stephens says his arrest is a “political stunt” and says Assange wants to find out the allegations he faces so he can clear his name.  Stephens reportedly told Sky New’s Rhiannon Mills that they will resist any attempts of extradition “mainly on the grounds that he may be handed over to the Americans”.

9.41 pm (Aus time) Philip Williams says there are suspicions Assange’s arrest is a a political tactic on ABC News 24. Swedes deny it is political, stating seriousness of the charge. Wikileaks spokesperson has said they will continue to leaks despite Assange’s arrest.

9.32 pm The Guardian report British police confirm Assange has been arrested. He is due to appear in Westminster Court later today.

9.55 pm The Guardian reports Operation Payback threaten to go after paypal after they shut down the website of the Swiss bank PostFinance, Raw Story claims.

On its Twitter account the group said: PAYPAL.COM IS DOWN! AND YES WE ARE FIRING NOW!!! KEEP FIRING!

Hundreds of thousands of Americans are planning to boycott the implantation of full body scanners (which have been linked to cancer by medical experts) tomorrow (Nov 24) on Thanksgiving – one of the busiest travel periods – by choosing a physical search.

As if flying weren’t a stressful enough experience as it is, between invasive security procedures, the fear of cancer and the ever increasing collection of Qantas “incidences”, it’s a wonder anybody wants to fly anymore.

In a bid to maximise profit and minimise expenditure, Qantas have outsourced their maintenance to countries such as Singapore and Germany. Now when I fly to the States, I not only have to worry about a security guard checking out my goodies, I also need to keep my fingers crossed that I make it home alive.

Steve Purvinas of the Australian Licensed Aircraft Engineers Association revealed that unlike in Australia, overseas contractors bid for the work, and Qantas goes with the engineers that charge the cheapest rates. Moreover, Pervinas also says that the ratio of overseas licensed engineers to unlicensed engineers is about 40 to two – making it impossible for licensed aircraft engineers to properly check all the maintenance work that is being done.

I can’t help but think that if airlines were channeling as much money into engineering as American airports are channeling into security, I’m sure flying would be a much less stressful experience. (And Qantas’s reputation would remain untarnished).

We have already seen the danger signs.

This month alone has seen seven Qantas safety incidences including engine problems, ruptured turbines and electrical failures.

And the Australian Licensed Aircraft Engineers Association have already gone on record saying that the companies safety record has suffered as a result of outsourcing.

Last week it was found that the QF32 passengers are lucky to be alive – it was revealed that the A380 narrowly avoided a mid-air explosion after a stray piece of shrapnel destroyed the flight control systems, severed fuel lines, damaging a drive motor and blowing a rather large hole in the wing.

Not exactly inspiring stuff. It’s enough to make even the most experienced flyer think twice, let alone the increasing number of people who harbour fears of flying.

Can you blame them?

The travel industry has suffered terribly since 9/11, at a time when things are already bad, the last thing airlines should be doing is skimping on maintenance.

If mounting public pressure isn’t enough of a motivation for Qantas to bring their maintenance back on-shore, then maybe dwindling ticket sales might make them change their minds.

Australia (and the world) should vote with their feet and opt-out of offshore maintenance.

It’s unfortunate then that these technologies also have the potential to undermine the accessibility of public education, computers and software are not cheap. A laptop can cost in the thousands, the Microsoft Office Suite Programs can cost anywhere between $200 to $900 depending on what level of quality you purchase and where you purchase from. As digital learning becomes more and more entrenched in public learning it will be vital that all students have equal access to computers and software. However, these exuberant prices are out of reach for many families and even some school IT budgets, allowing systemic inequality to take root in our public schools.

Quite rightly former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd declared that computers were ‘the toolbox of the future’ and under his government part of the issue was dealt with, firstly by giving families the option to claim fifty percent of the cost of purchasing a laptop back which – while not perfect – allowed almost every child at the very least access to a basic laptop. Secondly the Rudd Government (and continuing under the Gillard Government) is giving every school one laptop per child, the implementation of this hasn’t been perfect, but combined these two initiatives largely solve the first part of the dilemma. Yet the problem with expensive software remains and so it seems that prospective inequality remains on the horizon too.

Thankfully there is a way of avoiding inequality caused by expensive software; by using open source software schools and families can significantly reduce the costs of buying and maintaining software. A vast proportion of Open Source Software is free so it’s easy to see where the cost savings come from. But not only does using Open Source Software reduce costs dramatically, it also allows for schools and students to customise the software however they would like, a core tenant of Open Source development is that the source code (the code the software runs on) should be publicly available so that people may create software that fits their purposes exactly.

Unlike expensive propriety software Open Source Software is able to be freely redistributed without penalty, indeed it must be able to be freely redistributed for it to be considered truly Open Source. That applies to any customised software too, meaning that should a student or teacher create new software they are able to share that software without fear of repercussion from the original creator. Schools will be able to collaborate and share information, ideas and software to improve and enhance the learning experiences of the students. Schools will be able – and some already do – to distribute software which students can take home and give to their parents, or family friends who may not even be associated with the school.

Open Source Software allows students and teachers to see how the tools work within their ‘toolbox’, they would be able to see the inner workings of their software, and extend the tools within that software. Students shouldn’t be denied the knowledge of how their software works by copyright holders; they shouldn’t remain under a cloud of ignorance not knowing how their software is affecting their system simply because they’re not allowed to look ‘under the hood’ (as the saying goes). What is the point of going to school if you’re denied knowledge? If students and schools can and want to improve or customise the software to make it fit their needs better they should be able to.

Since Open Source software is usually free to use, customisable and freely re-distributable it’s extremely unfortunate then that to the average user it is a relative unknown. Many people think they can only surf the Internet with Microsoft’s Internet Explorer, or use Microsoft’s expensive Office Suite for office tasks, or use Apples extremely limiting iTunes for music. Or perhaps they only think that they’re limited to choose from the latest Windows or Apple Operating System when there are much more safe, secure, editable and free operating systems available!

The best and quickest way to correct these mistaken and potentially harmful beliefs is through education, and what better place to start than public schools themselves?

Public education demands that all students have equal access to the tools they need to learn, regardless of wealth or status so that the values and ideals of equal education can be achieved. Software is fast becoming one of the most vital tools and it is sad, yet entirely avoidable, that some students will not have access to these tools due to economic reasons. Making schools use and distribute Open Source Software as much as is possible ensures that students will not be left out when it comes to having these tools, defeating disadvantage and inequality before it has a chance to arise.

It’s high time to Open Source public education.

I’ve taken the liberty of adding a few things to his list.

Never underestimate the power of New Media Denialists

They’re out there, trying to talk down the excitement using whatever means possible (which ironically includes tweeting that Twitter has a credibility issue)  – putting the howling winds of change down to a collective case of hyperbole.

The same thing happened when the printing press was invented: its invention was  received as being either sacrilegious or a fad.

Few at the time could have predicted what effects this innovation would have on the widespread, rapid distribution of accurate information. (What was that you were saying about Wikipedia being accurate, Richard?)

Yeah – hate to kill your buzz but bad public transport is very much the fault of the NSW Government

That Sydney is spread out is not an adequate defense of a failure to create infrastructure that addresses the needs of the population.

Curitiba in Brazil has a population of two million people. It’s OECD quadrupled over the last 20 years.

Rather than throw up their hands and saying “it’s too hard”, the government & the private sector worked together to address the economic, social and ecological needs as interlocking elements that needed to be addressed simultaneously (rather than as competing priorities).

Curitiba built a public transport system that is now the envy of the world & has been implemented by over 100 countries; (and no, NSW, buying a bunch of buses and painting them red does not count as “implementation”).

In Brazil, three-quarters of commuting is done by bus, and the unsubsidized cost of travel is is 75-Australian cents per ride anywhere in the city.

There are ten competing metro-bus companies, all of which are profitable because they are rewarded for how many kilometres they drive, not how many people they carry so there is an incentive to spread the buses out fairly all over the city.

Talk about team work.

The NSW Government need to start  thinking outside the box and recognise that Sydney’s population will increase whether we like it or not. So too will the need for housing, development & infrastructure increase.

You can’t ignore the need for innovation.

Sooner or later someone is going to have to act on public transport.

I guess Labor needs to decide whether they want to be remembered as the no-so-little-government-that-couldn’t  and hand a victory to which ever party finally comes to the table.

We may not be anti-intellectual, but we hate people who talk about “Big Ideas”

The combined efforts of the Liberal Party and the media’s attempts to bury Rob Oakeshott is testament to this.

That the first person to properly address reform, who speaks enthusiastically for fifteen minutes on Australia’s Great Future, who believes in the virtues of Democracy has been labeled as an idealistic snob demonstrates the reticence of the population to embrace someone who refuses to classify themselves as the underdog.

It is mind-boggling to me that Malcolm Turnbull is frequently  criticised for his success in the private sector. Why would we elect someone who hasn’t been successful?

The alternative is just worrisome.

We may not be the larrikins we often portray ourselves as, but Australia has a long way to go before we can truly say we’re not anti-intellectual.

(Edit:) Moreover, Richard, it’s a little contradictory to say that elevating books over other forms of publishing is prioritising the mode of communication over content, and then say that the number of books bought in Australia is proof of our national intellect – especially if 50% of those books are “trash” read by women.

Because only women read books that are trash, and only boys play computer games.

Gender stereotypes can be fun, and easy – but not necessarily productive. (/Edit).

Personal privacy is overrated – so is the unity of Church and State

The sooner we remove religion from politics the better off we all will be.

While we’re at it, reckon we could get Jools to give us a proper reason for her ongoing opposition to gay marriage?

Given that the new parliamentary reforms require Ministers properly answer the question during Question Time, surely this includes telling Australia why Gillard has rejected requests for a conscience vote on gay marriage.

Just saying.

Nothing lasts forever

Not even newspapers.

The most successful people and businesses are the ones that are most willing to adapt to change.

This is not the first media revolution.

Newspapers have been in decline since the invention of television in the mid-fifties.

Between 1940 and 1990, newspaper circulation in the US dropped from one newspaper for every two adults, to one for every three adults.

In Australia, newspapers began to feel the pinch in the late sixties due to the late distribution of television to the mainstream. (No wonder Australia still has to wait years to watch TV shows that are already being broadcast in the US).

Newspapers had to offset their lower circulation by creating column inches for advertising.

The internet did not cause the Media Revolution.

It just took most of what was left of the profit newspapers have been living off since television stole their audience.

Now both television and newspapers are having their audience diverted by the internet.

As yet, no one has figured out just how best to monetize online newspapers.

But we will.

The internet is a baby in relative terms, it has to crawl before it can walk.

A little knowledge may well, as Glover says – be a dangerous thing, but the most dangerous ideas are the ones born of fear – that ignores factors it finds distasteful, or difficult to understand.

Join the conversation:
http://www.twitter.com/SocialScapegoat
http://www.twitter.com/ClaireRConnelly

Certain members of the Liberal party are complaining, (wait for it), that the not-so-faceless men and women of the twitter-sphere and blogger-sphere are being mean to them!

Yes, the Liberal Party are more concerned about arguing on the internet than coming up with viable alternatives to leadership LIKE HOW TO BETTER RUN THE COUNTRY!

First journalists and now the internet?

The internet.

Really?

I’ve seen where this path leads, and let me tell you – it ain’t pretty.

Is it just that we’re in the middle of a fairly righteous post-election hangover?

Or is it that the Liberal party have nothing to do because Tony still thinks he’s on the campaign trail?

Yesterday, @JoeHockey tweeted “I admit I am losing faith in Twitter (& BLOGS) because the anonymous commentary is often banal,nasty and meaningless….” (yes, much like the things said in Parliament) , “no name =cowardice.”

Today @ScottMorrisonMP tweeted “RT @ScottMorrisonMP: @latikambourke people know who I am – If they want to attack my policies they should be up front about who they are.”

Talk about a bunch of whingers!

First of all, I hate to get all pedantic but the people on twitter / facebook / blogs are not nameless.

The majority of twitterites tweet under their own names, and even if they don’t, they have bios explaining who they are, what they do, where they blog, and often their political persuasion. Blogs do this as well.

Who are these so-called “faceless people” they’re talking about?

Besides, a point well made is a point well made – just because it doesn’t have a byline attached to it doesn’t make the opinion of said person irrelevant.

I don’t know what frustrates me more, the fact that their proposition is factually incorrect, or the fact that the whole thing is so petty.

Over the years, we have heard a certain politician say that Australia is being swamped by Asians.

A whole sector of the population have been told they aren’t allowed to marry  because their sexual preferences don’t meet the  personal / religious tastes of the people elected to represent their best interests.

Women have been told they are betraying their gender by choosing not to marry and for seeking income equality, and they’ve been told they’re betraying their children by going back to work after having a child.

Fatally ill Australians have heard they will have to suffer long agonising, painful, deaths because the politicians elected to represent their health and welfare seem to be more concerned with their eternal salvation.

We have had to put up with asylum seekers who have suffered poverty, famine, civil war, and political persecution being labeled as terrorists, dole-bludgers, and job-stealers who are all secretly conspiring to convert every single Australia to Islam and make them live under Sharia law.

And we have to tolerate Bob Katter saying he “would walk to Bourke backwards if the poof population of North Queensland is any more than 0.001 per cent.”

If we want to complain about mean, vindictive, banal, nasty things being said about people we should be pointing the finger squarely at Parliament and yelling “hypocrites!” at the top of our lungs!

Talk about the pot calling the kettle black!

After all the mud that was slung by both parties during the election, they’ve set the yardstick of bad behavior impossibly high!

If Tony Windsor can call Barnaby Joyce “a bloody idiot” on national television – really, why would anyone expect the people of the internet to behave themselves?

I have a suggestion – if our politicians want people to stop making fun of them they could try spending more time doing a good job and less time complaining on twitter.

Short of that they could start by setting a good example for everyone by conducting themselves professionally, even in opposition.

I get the feeling that petty arguments such as these are being used to fuel a conversation about politician’s right to privacy, even though I’m pretty sure they forfeited that right the day they entered the public sphere.

But why now, all of a sudden are our politicians crying foul?

People have always said nasty things about politicians (mainly because politicians are pretty nasty people), but until now, they weren’t around at the time to hear them.

With the invention of the internet and sites such as twitter – people can direct their complaints / abuse directly to the person they are complaining about.

I suspect this backlash is a product of the social media revolution that our politicians have been flung into head-first, kicking and screaming without first applying a filter and a bit of common sense.

Much like online journalists long ago learned not to read the comments section, it took print journalists a while to learn it’s probably best not to get into a sparring match with trolls who can’t spell, let alone string a proper sentence together – when their papers made the leap into the online universe.

So too our politicians need to harden up and learn a little common sense.

And so, I have put together a comprehensive list of “how to deal with copping abuse on the Internet”:

Rule one: If they can’t spell, don’t yell. Seriously, if the not-so-faceless-person hasn’t bothered to run a spell check past a 140 character tweet, it’s not worth replying to.

Rule two: Don’t even bother replying to any tweets that don’t directly address your policies. You’ve cut out about 1000 tweets right there.

Rule three: Set a limit on how much time you spend on twitter. I know it’s addictive, but you’re just setting yourself up for a fall if you spend too much time on social media sites. Only a sadist would do this.

Rule four: Exercise your right-to-reply with caution. Don’t be too aggressive, and don’t (dare I say it) – be liberal, with your replies. Yes, you have the right to reply, but too many replies (even well worded ones that makes sense) tend to make you look like a precious tool who has to have the last word who is more concerned with your reputation than you are with getting the job done. Less is more.

Rule five: Remember, we live in a democracy. Everyone is entitled to an opinion, even if that opinion is completely wrong, moronic, utterly irrational or offensive. Kind of like @Wendy4TheSenate is entitled to say that gay parents raising a child is tantamount to child abuse, or that gay citizens may be equal under the law but not under God. Think about this for a second. Consider that your views are just as offensive as the people bothering you on facebook, take a deep breath, and let. It. Go.

Rule six: If you can’t stand the heat – deactivate your twitter / facebook account. You are a politician. You have an important job to do. Australia is frustrated by the government and they are entitled to let off a little steam. If you’re that much of a narcissist that you can’t cop the odd narky tweet – just don’t use social networking. It’s that easy.

And last, but not least -

Rule seven: Stop complaining about people being mean to you on twitter/ blogs /facebook.

It makes you look like a pansy boy.

The concept of “Big Australia” was floated for a while by both parties (more so by Labor) but was quickly dropped when it didn’t poll well.

Even if we halt illegal immigration (which by the way, I don’t know why “stop the boats” is even on the agenda given that “boat people” make up about 1% of our “illegal immigration problem”), our population is growing, not slowing.

Certainly this growth has been helped along by political incentives like the baby bonus and education subsidies that came as the result of the Intergenerational Report and if Tony has his way this trend is unlikely to cease or slow once paid parental leave is implemented.

The government has a responsibility to plan for this inevitability, regardless of whether it is going to sell well. It is lunacy and down right neglectful not to build the necessary infrastructure crucial for supporting future generations.

2. We need to create real incentives to keep people out of capital cities by creating mini metropolises in rural areas that don’t just support labour but lifestyles.

Rather than the fly-in-fly-out style of labour intensive mining towns, why not create a town you can move your family out to?

Towns that are supported by shopping centres, quality educational institutions, hospitals, and daycare centres – so you have the bonus of creating jobs and supporting local economies.

Rural towns are crying out for people and until recently, the government has done sweet-eff-all about it.

You can sell almost anything if you do it the right way but Labor has chosen to prioritise the opinion of inner-city hipsters over the needs of rural Australians.

Why can’t we create incentives to attract employment to rural areas?

If we can incentivise people to join the Army by paying for their tertiary education, can’t we do the same for teachers? Doctors?

Or at least create economic incentives like tax breaks for people who choose to move to rural communities for work?

Mini-metropolises are the only way of luring people away from capital cities.

3. Australia has roughly the same land mass as America and yet less than half of our land is occupied.

And for all those people arguing  “but that land is uninhabitable, it’s all arid desert” – I have two words for you:

Las Vegas.

I have another two words for you:

Hoover Dam.

That America has such a vastly diverse geographical culture, and so many towns all over the continent is because behind every small town, was a politician, and a population that understood the need to create local infrastructure to support long term population growth.

Wouldn’t it be great, for Australians to be as excited about traveling across their own continent as they are about traveling across the US and experiencing all the rich diverse cultures of local communities?

Creating new in-land cities could do as much for our tourism industry as it could for employment.

Though there are some stark differences between America and Australia – until the last few decades the US was a hub of manufacturing, but as businesses moved offshore, employment in local communities dwindled, and we have yet to see any real solutions for post GFC recovery.

In Australia we at least have the benefit of being a major exporter of coal, wool, zinc, tin ores, beef, barely and raw sugar.

Whilst I never thought  we’d be declaring a war against Flipino bananas, Katter is right – we certainly need to be doing more to support local farming.

4. We need a nation wide NBN to make it viable to do business from the country and to support the myriad of industries it would benefit.

I agree with Malcolm Turnbulll – that the government shouldn’t necessarily be at the centre of the economy, and he’s right, 48 billion dollars is an awful lot of money we shouldn’t have to pay – we should wait for market forces to tell us when it is the right time – but unfortunately Australia has been waiting for years, with no result.

WHY? Because the Liberal party created an environment conducive to letting one company run a monopoly on phone lines in this country – and if that isn’t a clear as day example of putting government at the centre of the economy then I don’t know what is.

Telstra should not be allowed within ten yards of the NBN!

The best possible outcome for broadband in this country is fulfilling the Labor promise of finally dismantling Telstra, and allowing other phone companies to enter the market by buying up different parts of the NBN, creating real and lasting competition.

This outcome is good for creating jobs, as well as keeping prices low for consumers.