Broadband Voice

Apparently former Telstra el jefe Sol Trujillo left our country in a sorer state than he did our telecommunications industry after PM Kevin Rudd, when asked by a reporter for parting words to him, replied "adios".

Those attending tomorrow's airing of Q&A may have to check their shoes at the door.

Yesterday's parliamentary speech on privacy from Dr Dennis Jensen, Federal Member for Tangney.

"Do not accept the infringement of your rights, do not tolerate incursions into your privacy and do not allow our easygoing manner to manifest itself as thoughtless acceptance that authorities will always act in our interests."

I was never really worried about the government's fabled Internet porn filters, amid all the hoo-ha.

But the recent disinter of the remiss procedures taken by the communications watchdog for arbitrating what online content Australians will and will not be able to visit has been sobering.

In breaking news, Telstra has been excluded by the federal government in participating in the RFP process for the $5 billion National Broadband Network. Expect a lot of coverage on this development in the media today.

Below is Telstra's side of the story, complete with the e-mail address of someone at BRW:

I'll give $10 to anyone who can explain to me how a national Internet content filtering scheme at the ISP level can work effectively without crippling network speeds.

I have had a bad history with ISPs to which I lay blame on my petulance and decision to live on the face of a mountain.

The moment Comms Minister Stephen Conroy announced the seemingly fabled plans to purify the Internet, I hit the phones and called around the industry circuit.

There's probably no better way to break down Gen Y's perception that a career in IT is boring and fit only for nerds than to give each one of them a computer and make them use it.

Broadband, like the iPod, is an example of when IT gains fame among the general public.