<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html charset=windows-1252"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;"><br><div><div>On 24 Jun 2014, at 2:51 am, Bret Busby <<a href="mailto:bret@busby.net">bret@busby.net</a>> wrote:</div><div><br></div>[snip]</div><div><br><blockquote type="cite"><div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;">Oh, and, one thing that people should bear in mind.<br><br>Despite what some believe, Australia does not have "freedom of speech",<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><br>especially when it comes to the surreptitious workings of the electoral<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><br>system.<br><br>And, apart from that, the workings of the AEC, are not open to public<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><br>scrutiny.<br><br>Some of you may remember, some years ago, a person attempted to reveal<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><br>to the people of Australia, how they could fill out a ballot form, if<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><br>they wanted to cast their votes for only the candidates for whom they<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><br>wanted to vote, and still cast valid votes (the system requires people<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><br>to vote for people for whom they do not want to vote, in order to cast a<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><br>valid vote), and, for his trying to make the voting process, open and<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><br>accountable, and, to informm people how they could achieve voting for<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><br>only the candidates for whom they wanted to vote, was sent to prison.<br><br>And, after he had revealed how people cpould vote for only the<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><br>candidates for whom they wanted to vote, apart from that person being<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><br>sent to prison, to gag him, the law was changed, to prevent people from<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><br>voting for only the candidates for whom they wanted to vote.<br><br>So, if the FOI application is pursued, beware of an unexpected knock on<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><br>the door - it could be the NSA, about to disappear you (and, to<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><br>disappear the Linux Australia committee, if it provides assistance).<br><br>It may be safer, to concentrate on the cause of Linux, apart from the<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><br>aspect of whether that should be the limit of the objective(s) of Linux<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><br>Australia.<br></div></blockquote><br></div><div>Oh please.</div><div><br></div><div>Allowing the citizens of a country to see the process by which their votes are counted is just a _tiny_ bit different to encouraging them not to vote, or to vote informally. Mr. Cordover is pursuing a completely legal Freedom of Information request through the appropriate appeals process. I suspect that if the Shadowy Powers that Be are going to cause trouble here they’ll just ensure that the appeal fails rather than disappearing anyone.</div><div><br></div><div>I mean wow, anyone’d think you were trying to bolster a rather marginal argument by invoking the NSA as some kind of bugbear!</div><div><br></div><div>For anyone who wants the background of what Mr. Busby’s on about, I refer you to:</div><div><br></div><div><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Langer">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Langer</a></div><br></body></html>