Spy Journal 3.0 Filtering the web for you

I just sent this to my Member of Parliament regarding the proposed internet censorship scheme.

Feel free to use this if you want. I adapted this from Broadband Revolution.

Dear Mr _______

I was wondering if you were able to answer the following questions for me please about the proposed filter / censorship scheme that Senator Conroy is planning to introduce.

1. Has the probability of inadvertent exposure to Refused Classification material by adults been quantified? If not, is this probability judged to be: low, moderate or high?

2. Have the consequences of inadvertent exposure to Refused Classification material by adults been measured? Are these thought to be minor, major or serious?

3. Has the quantity of potentially Refused Classification material in existence on the Internet been estimated in either absolute or relative terms?

4. Does the Government have an estimate or measure of the percentage of potentially Refused Classification material on the Internet that is currently Refused Classification? What is that estimate?

High Dynamic Resolution Photos are very cool right now – lots of people are doing them. So I looked up how to do them. I haven’t had the time to do any yet – but I will definitely shoot some in our upcoming strobist shoot later in January. I guess that means I will need to practice first too! In the meantime here are some tutorials and guides to the amazing world of HDR photos.

Note the photo below is not mine, it is from Smashing Magazine.

Links:

• Cambridge in Colour Tutorial
• Lifehacker review which led me to:
• Leviathors Definitive Guide to Realistic High Dynamic Range Images
• Abducted by Design tutorial
• DesignORA – best HDR Pics of 2009
• Nill Photoalbum Photoshop tutorial
• Smashing Magazine – 35 great HDR photos
• Photocritic ultimate guide to HDR photography

The following is a slightly edited letter I sent to Senator Trood. I encourage you (if you are in Australia) to write to your liberal senator with something similar. To stop the clean feed filter nonsense we need to target the liberal senators.

Understand the real issues at stake here, write your senators, get involved. (twitter tags #nocleanfeed #sicbne)

Dear Senator Trood

I would like to ask that you consider carefully the position that the government is taking and intending to introduce legislation on in relation to internet filtering. I believe that they are using the concept of child pornography (an abhorrent thing) as a red herring to pull a much greater invasion of privacy off. Similar to the hidden intent of the thankfully failed Copenhagen accord, this is a way for the government to introduce the potential for censorship in an unprecedented manner for any western nation, and will in fact place Australia in line with countries like Saudi Arabia, China and Iran (see this article) in terms of what it can enable government beaurocrats to do. Most of the content targeted by this so called blacklist filter is not illegal, and would in any other medium require a judge to issue a ruling on restriction of the publication of the content.

Senator there are two issues I would like you to consider and if you agree, to take to the public as the hidden costs to this proposed legislation that Senator Conroy is planning to introduce.

I have been having a lot of fun playing with the photography, learning new techniques and trying new things. I have a practice of finding one or two things every couple of years to learn about and become an “expert” in. Doing so requires lots of reading, benchmarking and networking with others in the same space and preparing to put in some hard yards. I love this initial phase of the learning process. As I start reading different blogs and researching different things there are so many ways you can go. I haven't decided what to focus on yet, for now I am reviewing lots and lots of things.

Here’s a sample of the things I have seen in the last few weeks I have bookmarked or kept open in my browser – time to make space for some new ones now.