Tweeting on Surveillance, GCSB Bill, Statist (Labour/Green) Hypocrisy.

There's no such thing as a contradiction, so good on Labour for taking a stand against the GCSB Bill, the state has no moral mandate for such surveillance about to be passed into law, but at the same time, what are they, and the Green Party, thinking when their every policy grows the tax surveillance state, and thus the powers of the most ruthless, powerful arm of government against which you have no right to be left alone, though you harm nobody?

Below are simply some of my (almost randomly copied) tweets, and tweet exchanges, during last nights ‘stop the GCSB Bill meeting’, present:

Sir Edmund Thomas (chair);
Dame Anne Salmond
Dr Rodney Harrison QC
Kim Dotcom
Thomas Beagle

Note the embedded tweets that I’m often responding to are the important ones, mainly from Labour MP Clare Curran, whom I like, a lot, but these contradictions do my head in:

@clarecurranmp What's the difference to the tax surveillance state? @GraemeEdgeler  http://t.co/2f2vvtqyPJ
— Mark Hubbard (@MarkHubbard33) July 25, 2013

@clarecurranmp On 2 blog posts lately where I have written on my protest against tax surveillance, IRD have trawled my blog. @GraemeEdgeler
— Mark Hubbard (@MarkHubbard33) July 25, 2013

@clarecurranmp what do u think of that Clare? @GraemeEdgeler
— Mark Hubbard (@MarkHubbard33) July 25, 2013

@clarecurranmp Am I not allowed an opinion without fear of retribution? @GraemeEdgeler
— Mark Hubbard (@MarkHubbard33) July 25, 2013

@clarecurranmp GCSB surveillance 2 protect citizens from terrorism. Tax surveillance 2 plunder citizens? Surely? @GraemeEdgeler
— Mark Hubbard (@MarkHubbard33) July 25, 2013

@clarecurranmp IRD Head of Compliance: 'I love using pvte sector data assets against pvte sector' 2 my face! @SEEVed @GraemeEdgeler
— Mark Hubbard (@MarkHubbard33) July 25, 2013

@clarecurranmp Left complaining about GCSB is hypocrisy. @SEEVed @GraemeEdgeler
— Mark Hubbard (@MarkHubbard33) July 25, 2013

How have my civil liberties changed between stopping govt spooks listening 2 me talk 2 mum, or stopping bureaucrat taking my income?
— Mark Hubbard (@MarkHubbard33) July 25, 2013

I'll repeat that last one: how have my civil liberties somehow changed as between stopping government spooks listening to me talk to my mum, electronically, (Labour are against this), or stopping bureaucrats coming right into my home, into my bank accounts, my business, taking my income (Labour promote this) … what’s the difference please?

More precisely, to the Labour MP’s voting against this GCSB Bill, and good on them, what is the difference in my feeling of trepidation and rightful moral indignation about having everything I do snooped on by GCSB, or, by IRD? We have become a country where I can’t express my opinion on public media, disclaimered up to hell (see bottom of page please) - I’m no martyr - without the government department I am voicing my concerns over, actively seeking out and reading my posts: how would you feel in my place? Despite in this earlier post I was writing on how IRS were planning to analyse social media, that being the first post I saw IRD enter this blog, I can only assume ‘our own side’ are scouring social media already, and the only reason for that can be looking for thought-crimes. So, yeah, I am worried. I pay my taxes, but there is nothing more invasive that can happen to you than an income tax audit, right from that first two or three hour interview in Room 101, which you have no legal right not to attend, and no legal redress against. And after the ‘interview’, called interrogations in some countries, a complete stranger then spends weeks, months, reading through every aspect of your life. If you work for a salary or wage, you won’t have thought about that, but the man or woman taking the risk to run the business that employs you, could be called up any day, randomly: a strange thanks to get for providing you a job, and every public service that you use.

The Fortress of Legislation has become an evil place; but most Kiwis aren’t equipped philosophically, anymore, to feel the water starting to bubble around them. And it’s too late to turn the hob off. This GCSB Bill, really, is nothing compared to the surveillance state we already live in: read my blog.

In closing, I'm a capitalist, and thus hate crony capitalism which is to capitalism what sea horses are to horses: to the New Zealand company, Wynyard, about to list its shares publicly, the main business of which is selling software to security agencies world-wide to help them analyse big data - and I can guarantee IRS is one of their many ‘secret’ customers - never have I wanted a company to fail so much. But of course you won’t: you’ve entered one of the fastest growing industries there is now: the Orwellian state. The Free West has absolutely no meaning as of 2013, and it ceased to have meaning quite some time ago. There’s nothing civilised about the power of state anymore.

Now if you need something else to read, try my earlier post this month, how via retrospective legislation and application, IRD can now re-write your personal history. Not a dicky bird from Labour on that one either. After that, please excuse me, I’ve got work to do, some large tax bills to pay.

Stop the press, a twitter exchange occurring as I type this reminds me of possibly the most important post on this blog: what the ANZAC's were fighting for.