Digital Lies

Only yesterday Austin Gatt and two of his sidekicks were busy presenting a White Paper that was almost being hailed as a quantum leap in the state of digital rights on the island. Essentially Gatt, IT Claudio and Arriva Delia were promoting a suggested new constitutional provision that would enshrine the digital rights of every Maltese citizen – the digital right amendment. Kudos to all this sci-fi and all that but J’accuse’s feet remain firmly entrenched in the “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it” approach to legislation and we will not be easily impressed by the special effects of a proposed provision.

Not too far from the realm of digital rights is the issue of data and its protection. We do not need new rights to be enacted for that – we already have a snazzy Data Protection Act. The basic principles of this act are quite easy to grasp. Consider first of all that data is any information related to an identified or identifiable person. You then have the principle that in order to gather “data” that is yours or that identifies you, the potential gatherer (or “controller”) requires your permission. Once he has obtained that permission he can only use it for a specific purpose and for that purpose only.

Why am I saying all this? Well. Here’s the thing. I decided that it is high time I should log onto mychoice.pn and subscribe to updates so that I would be able to analyse what everyone else seems to be receiving. I proceeded to the lovely page and was asked to register. I gave the page my real name and my real surname as well as my email address (there’s always the spam folder). I did not wish to give the PN a remote chance of having my mobile number so I input what I believed to be a credible but phoney mobile number. No probs there.

Then came the ID Card business. I figured that if I subtract one from the progressive number allocated to me when I was registered I would come up with a credible ID card – not mine but credible enough… so if for example my ID was 500075 – the 5000th registered kid in 1975 then all I had to do was input 499975 and hey presto mychoice.pn would let me in.

Let me in my digital rights arse! Imagine my surprise when the validation system on mychoice.pn told informed me that the ID card number input does not match the name or surname provided. Wow. Let’s see what happened there. Essentially the ID number was checked against a database that mychoice.pn OBVIOUSLY has and the validation process checks whether the ID card corresponds to the right name and surname. Lovely. I was never asked by the site whether I acquiesced to the use of my ID number and name (the only box to be ticked is the one were you accept to recieve PBO’s updates). So mychoice.pn is in possession of a database (little need to guess that they are using the electoral register) that contains MY INFORMATION and are actively using it for data processing WITHOUT MY CONSENT. Without your consent either.

So what? I hear you say. Don’t we all know that political parties regularly use the electoral register in their day to day meddling. Sure. But they are definitely going out on a limb here and stretching the rubbish exception that they planted in the Data Protection Act to an incredible extreme. In any case, whether or not they manage to find some loophole to the Data Protection Act in this case what does this really say about the ever so grand initiative of DIGITAL RIGHTS and the white paper?

You’re right. Digital rights? They don’t give a rat’s arse. So much for all the high falutin’ consultation process.

 

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Gays and bendy buses

Magistrate Peralta’s decision this morning seems to have caused quite a ripple effect in the ether and beyond. What seems to have irked most people is the assertion that the accused in the case in question was justified in feeling provoked by an Australian (drunk) man’s implication that he (the man) was gay. Prominent among the court’s considerations was the fact that the events took place in the village of Mellieha and that it appeared to be “part of the mentality of society there” to feel offended by the insinuation that one was homosexual.

Conclusions are drawn quickly by the public jury but we might be missing the wood for the trees. Magistrate Peralta’s assessment is not that it is ok for people to be provoked whenever there was an insinuation that they were gay. What the Magistrate was bound to do is to assess whether any man in the same circumstances and context was justified in claiming that he felt provoked. It is a sort of “when in Rome standard”. Unfortunately, in such situations, the court is called upon to take a snapshot of our society as it is and work with the tools at hand.

I find it hard to believe that anyone can seriously think that in our country (and not just in Mellieha) the general feeling when someone implies that you are gay is not one of contentment and pride. Last I checked the term “pufta” was not exactly used within the context of lauds and accolades. Which is not to say that I agree with the judgement handed down – I have an absolute aversion for people who hide behind the “I saw red” theory – whatever the provocation they might feel to have suffered. All the derision of Mellieha and its residents can only be extended to all of this sad country of ours that seems to be genuinely shocked whenever one of its warts props up in the mirror.

Speaking of warts, Minister Austin Gatt surely has better things to do than to attempt (feebly) to reply to Boris Johnson (not Johnston) and his bendy bus statements at the Tory conference. To begin with I do not feel that Malta was given pride of place in that comment and was only a postilla to the primary idea that Boris’ mayorship had actually gotten rid of the bendy bus affliction that had littered the London streets like a latter day pestilence. To follow, Gatt and his minions best keep their mouths shut when it comes to anything Arriva, let alone the bendy buses. For heaven’s sake what’s all this nonsense about “mathematical calculations” when we all know of the bendy buses stuck in Mrabat and Mater Dei roundabout?

So what? Johnson’s joke about getting rid of bendy buses was at Malta’s expense. So what, Emmanuel Delia cannot take a jibe lying down so he gets his master’s ministry to type what he must have felt believed to be a witty retort (hoho the Labourites are agreeing with the Tories) and doesn’t even manage to get the Mayor’s surname right. Once again we demonstrate an incapacity to stare the truth of our warts in the face (or warts on our face). Bendy buses suck, Austin (and Manuel) and no amount of attempts at replying to the magnificent stage master that is the Mop of London will change that.

Next time, Austin (or Manuel), if you want to really get the feel of your average Maltese reaction in such situations just write a short telegram to Boris. One word would suffice…

“Pufta”.

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This order of the house

Random thoughts on parliamentary democracy.

1. October 9th. Luxembourg’s parliament reopens after the summer recess as does Belgium’s senate. L’essentiel reports that 30% of the members have sat in parliament for over 15 years. A commentary on Belgian radio remarked that it will be a slow period of work for the Belgian lawmakers marked by a series of long delays that will hamper any new progress on important legislation. Local elections are expected to give more bargaining clout to the nationalistic Flemish movements.

2. Yesterday’s session in the Maltese parliament was overshadowed by the need for Speaker Michael Frendo to consult the Standing Orders in order to rule about a motion of adjournment related to the Opposition’s pressing need to discuss a shelved plan for the privatisation of the management of public car parks. The Hon. Franco Debono also seemed rather concerned that his motion of no confidence in Minister Austin Gatt should be given the priority that he believes it deserves.

3. Much high talk was wasted on the ether as a few political aficionados spoke of a crumbling democracy, a government addicted to power or an opposition that busied itself with causing trouble. A road of bollocks, I hasten to add because, to corrupt the words of Trapattoni “bad democracy it is when the will of the majority as expressed in parliament is not respected”. The day of the showdown has not come yet. The car park excuse is not working wonders for either government or opposition. Government loses points for the image being portrayed of a decision maker that does not involve the parts (councils) and ignores issues of subsidiarity (Mosta Council, Rabat Council and more would rightly expect more involvement). The opposition has had its eagerness for power come what may unmasked by insisting on discussing plans that have been shelved.

4. Some signs of a revision of Opposition strategy in today’s papers. Joseph Muscat distanced himself from the Debono No Confidence motion. A sly move. It could go some way in abating the growing perception that Muscat is just as power hungry as the man who is supposedly clutching desperately to the seat of power. We’re in no hurry to present such a motion – said Muscat. What he did not obviously commit to is whether his party would vote in line with Franco should such a motion see the light of day before the budget. Given that the motion is based on the spurious car park issue then the holier than thou approach could be hoist by Franco’s petard.

5. Petards and fireworks is what the current government is specialising in. J’accuse remains of the opinion that government on life support will be ultimately perceived as a weak government. The summer plans should have culminated in a Sturm und Drang announcement of an election around the time of the reconvening of parliament. The key here was initiative. By taking the initiative and redrawing the battle ground (including the erasing of Franco, JPO and any dithering backbencher such as Mugliett) the PN would have regained precious ground in the eyes of public perception. Instead by hanging on to the power and leaving gaping questions as to the fabric and workings of democratic representation among Joe Public the PN is fast losing the perception game.

6. New issues such as the lease/sale of St. Philip’s (well documented by Carmel Cacopardo on his blog) or the retaining of the title of ambassador by Richard Cachia Caruana (what the hell were they thinking? noblesse obligée?) will not help settle this dust cloud of confusion. The failure to take the initative and the misplaced trust in the magic effect of such things as the 5+5 conference might be rued later on when the campaign really hots up (will it ever?). Furthermore the PN tantrums with regard to the Broadcasting Authority decisions regarding Public Broadcasting programmes will not help sweeten their image either. Meanwhile AD continues to be consistently ignored by the paladins of the future of journalism on PBS’ main programmes.

“Every government is a parliament of whores. The trouble is, in a democracy, the whores are us.” – P.J. O’ Rourke

 

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Car parks

For the record, just for the record, there is a difference between selling off the MANAGEMENT of car parks and selling off the OWNERSHIP of car parks. Yep. Before we rush off to create petitions and cry about the sale of public land to private entrepreneurs let us just make sure we got this one right.

The SALE of public land to a car park company would entail the actual transfer of ownership on land rights. As far as I know no such deals ever happen and the government retains ultimate ownership of public land. Land that the government itself owns in trust for the people. See MCP. See agreement to extend lease in order to allow for further investment in MCP (conditional on public garden).

The transfer of MANAGEMENT entails the simple reasoning that while government (and therefore you) remains the ultimate owner of the land, such land is managed as a car park by a private firm/individual who will (hopefully) also be obliged to make such improvements (considering advances in technology) as necessary to make the actual use of a car park worthwhile. This would probably (you never know with our politician’s brilliant ideas: see Arriva planning) entail the installation of machines for tickets, security cameras and the usual small print that waives the responsibility of car park management if you decided to leave your brand new laptop/ipad/camera in the car. At no point in the duration of a management agreement is the ownership of public land alienated to a third party.

Tant biex jaghraf jixrob l-Earl grey bilmod.

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The last rites

No. I am not ignoring what is going on in Parliament. How can you? On the other hand I still am amazed at how ridiculously shallow is the level of political assessment in this country of ours.

Kudos, first of all, goes to Lawrence and his “team” for having managed to string together a mini-Med summit that will go down in the annals of history as yet another photo snapping opportunity for a group of 10 leaders who sat together all bearing the same expression of “why the hell am I here?”. Sure, Med cooperation and plans are great and necessary but we know much more than go fawning at the foot of an idea that had lain frozen since the last meeting in 2003, lived in a coma right throughout enthusiastic Sarkozy’s “Mediterranean  Union” and proved to be worth jack shit at the time of the Arab Spring.

Anyways, after the Arab spring we get this cocktail-glass-clinking event that gets us a bit of tarmac, Monti giving the obsequious nod about security in the Mediterranean, Lawrence Gonzi spouting some circum tauri about the common values and aspirations of these nations and … oh yes… there will be an MCAST in Misurata. I am told that Arriva officials panicked at the idea of getting thousands of schoolboys to the college across the sea in time. (Just kidding, I’m not that stupid you know… if I were I’d have planned the new transport system in Malta and would be running for elections as a certain party’s future promise).

Which brings me to the Allies continually battling the Axis of Evil and who face Armageddon single-handedly. Why oh why are we still bothering with Franco and Jeffrey? Well one reason is that Gonzi’s PN are trying to make some point of pride and “we shall not be moved” business. Which is beginning to look damn silly. You know, the kind of silly as surrounds the kid who is caught with nutella all round his mouth and bread crumbs on his shirt and claims “I’m not eating in class miss”. Yep. Gonzi and his PN are strolling around with pie all over their face and they don’t seem to be bothered one bit.

Meanwhile, across from Pieta and over to Hamrun you have the other bunch of idiots. They are swooning and swaying all over that gullible piece of work that is Franco Debono – egging him on to get at Austin, Joe or whatever tickles his renegade fancy. The Earl Grey sipping dork still believes that he is somehow remotely relevant to the business of government and accountability when in actual fact his actions (and those of his companion in crime) belie the true base nature of his intentions. Were it not clear enough we now have the concerted effort between the Paladins of Progressivism, the Cavalier of Democracy and the Sipper of Teas to get a debate and motion onto parliament’s agenda that smacks of desperate opportunism to say the least.

Gonzi must have been hoping that it would come to this. The PM seemingly busy with his ultra-important tête-a-tête with nine leaders of state while Labour scrabbles for the floor and whinges and whines in order to get a very very important motion on the table of the house. What motion? Well …. it’s a motion about plans to privatise the management of car parks. Well actually it is a motion about plans to privatise the management of car parks …. that have been shelved. AND Franco Debono and Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando – still playing at the game of “we care so much for the people and are duty bound to represent them” have been performing somersaults trying to slip in a motion of no confidence in Austin Gatt.

What a sad and sorry bunch. Labour’s high and mighty appeal about all the woes of our nation and then just look at what kind of subject they want to use as a motion of no confidence that might (in their hopes) bring the government down. A utility measure? A budget bill? IVF? Immigration? What else could it be? Hell no… it’s a shelved plan for a car park. This coming from a party whose exponents are not ashamed of  representing a party that gives off all the signs of having no clue about what to do when in government.

Franco and Jeffrey? Less said about them the better. Jeffrey’s intellectual prowess when it comes to defending arguments is tantamount to “unfriending” people whom he disagrees with. Shallow and transparent does not even begin to describe him. Franco – well enough has really been said about Franco. He can no longer hide behind grand plans of reform – legal or otherwise. If ever they were close to his heart then he lost them some time ago and he has definitely succumbed to the battle of nerves.

As for the party in government. You get the feeling that just before the end of summer they had sort of sniffed out an exit strategy – one that could be a repeat of the famous “snatching victory from the jaws of defeat”. Something has gone very Pete Tong though and this must have happened on or around the Independence day festivities. The guess here at J’accuse is that the PN has opted to focus on the wrong issues and hit the wrong targets. Above all, the PN is repeating the same mistake that it risked committing in 2008 – the same mistake that Labour persists in committing every election. What mistake? Simple. The mistake of treating your electorate like absolute fools and taking their vote for granted.

We will definitely be seeing new efforts at denigrating the wrongly called “floating voter” (not floaters as that tautological fool Musumeci calls them) the closer the election gets. J’accuse has a message for these people (yes, that includes you Mario Vella) – stay strong and don’t vote before you’ve got their attention. Every single one of them. Including those who will tell you that (alas) you are setting yourselves up as objects of hate right before they rush off and vote intelligently with a huge number one next to the name of … Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando.

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More Anton Refalo about nothing

Anton Refalo cannot afford to sit at his desk and string a few (empty) words together and just send off one article. Which is why following his Independent article from October 4th he is now “gracing” the pages of the Times with a new magnus opus. This time, the erstwhile loud member from the 13th district has pointed his guns on what he calls the nationalist party fear campaign. Yet again we get much from Anton Refalo in the form of finger pointing about “fear this and rumour that” but not once… mark my words… not once does the cocksure lawyer indicate anything in the form of a plan, an idea, hell a tiny school project as tgo what Labour and – more importantly – Anton Refalo will do for Gozo.

I have no doubt that Anton Refalo probably believes that he is Gozo’s future minister by birthright and that he should be elected to his seat in parliament solely on the strength of the fact that he thinks that he ought to be there (and I do know for a fact that the tiny island is full of more than its share of kow-towers who will make sure Refalo’s dream will come true). What Refalo seems to ignore is that his bullishness will be worth zilch when the people begin cashing the cheques he seems to be so busy distributing in pre-election mode.

Still…. we get more Anton Refalo about nothing. It would be tiring if it were not the norm. Read his latest masterpiece here.

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