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If you ask them, all politicians wills say that "spam is bad" and claim that they're all in favour of outlawing it. Indeed, our cobbers over in Oz even went so far recently as to pass some anti-spam legislation.

Our politicians tell us that they're very predisposed towards adopting the same legislation has been enacted in Australia -- at the very least this would provide a consistent cross-border enforcement regime right?

Well today we discovered two things about politicians and the net...

First-up, it's obvious that, despite their claims to the contrary, some politicians don't actually think that spam is a bad thing at all and are quite prepared to use it if they think it will help their own little quest for power.

In fact, the Prime Minister of Australia has just pee'd a whole bunch of people off by spamming them!

And, wouldn't you know it, he hired his son (who just happens to be a professional spammer) to do the job. What's more, if news reports are to be believed, Howard is actually proud that his son is a spammer (gasp!).

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But surely, given that they've just passed a raft of anti-spam laws, Howard's actions are illegal right?

Wrong!

As is so often the case (in NZ as well), the Aussie government specifically excluded itself from the effects of the anti-spam laws.

Yes, in Australia as it is here, the government prefers a "do as we say not as we do" approach to leadership and control.

But hang on a moment...

Perhaps *now* I see why the NZ government is so very keen to use Australia's anti-spam legislation as the basis for its own attempts. Perhaps Helen, Jimbo and the rest are also planning to give themselves exclusive license to spam the public.

Oh, but I'd better be really careful about what I say here -- because I see on the wires this morning that the NZ courts have decided that, when you're publishing on the Net, geographical borders provide no protection against being sued for defamation.

I wonder if John, Helen and Jimbo will team up to serve me with a summons for saying nasty things about them?

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