Headlines the made the Tabloids Famous - Part 1

Having been sent a collection of quite amusing ill considered tabloid newspaper headlines its time to continue sharing them. Here are the first few.

Watch his space for more!

Daily Deal Website Scoopon Subject of ACCC Action

By media realease posted to its website on Friday 5 July 2013 the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (the ACCC) advised that it had issued proceedings against the Daily Deals Website "Scoopon" in the Federal Court. In its meadia relaes the ACCC states that it "alleges that Scoopon engaged in misleading and deceptive conduct and made false and misleading representations to businesses and consumers".

What is Scoopon?

Australia has taken to online shopping in a big way and as the ABC News reported on 5 JUly 2013, Australians spent "more than $24 billion online in the 12 months to March" this year.

In this growth group buying sites have rapidly grown in popularity, offering shoppers everything from cut price holidays to discount clothing and cheap meals. Scoopon is one of those sites an is known as one of Australia’s largest online group buying sites. These sites are also referred to in online parlance as a "daily deals" or "deal of the day" site.

Scoopon sells vouchers for heavily discounted goods or services. Typically online group buying sites, like Scoopon, negotiate these deals with businesses and market the deals to their members and the public through various means the primary ones being online and through social media.

Reason for Action

The ACCC (along with other Australian Consumer Law (the ACL) regulators) is claimning to have received a significant number of complaints since the group buying industry emerged in Australia in 2010.

The ACCC Chairman Rod Sims is quoted in the release as saying:

“The ACCC has worked closely with other ACL regulators to address issues and improve practices in the sector to reduce consumer and business detriment,”

What the ACCC Alleges?

The ACCC's media release says that the ACCC alleges that Scoopon misled consumers regarding their ability to redeem vouchers, their refund rights, and the price of goods advertised in relation to some of its deals. Further, the ACCC also alleges that Scoopon represented to businesses that there was no cost or risk involved in running a deal with Scoopon, when a fee was payable to Scoopon. Finally, the ACCC alleges that Scoopon misled businesses by claiming that between 20 percent and 30 percent of vouchers would not be redeemed when there was no reasonable basis for this representation.

In the media release ACCC Chairman Rod Sims says:

“The ACCC has made online competition and consumer issues a compliance and enforcement priority. Ensuring that the digital revolution delivers competition benefits to consumers and small businesses is a focus for the ACCC ... Businesses must have reasonable grounds when making representations to consumers and to other businesses. The ACCC is working to ensure that consumers making purchases online are not misled and that online traders take adequate steps to meet their obligations under the Australian Consumer Law.”

Nature of the Court Proceedings

The matter has been filed in the Federal Court, Brisbane, and is listed for a scheduling conference on 25 July 2013 at 9.30am - the ACCC is seeking declarations, injunctions, community service orders, pecuniary penalties and costs.

Sources:

ACCC takes action against Scoopon alleging it misled both consumers and businesses (ACCC Website)

ACCC targets daily deal website Scoopon (ABC News)

Australia Attacks Scientific Basis of Japanese Whaling in International Court

As Australia's attempts to get whaling banned, Australia has mounted an attack on the scientific basis claimed for Japan's Antarctic whaling as it broadened its case for a ban by the International Court of Justice.

The 26-year-old Japanese program, conducted under a self-awarded special scientific permit, has taken upwards of 10,000 whales, the International Court of Justice has heard recently.

The Sydney Morning Herald reports that the counsel and witnesses for Australia have told the International Court in The Hague that the Japanese whaling research program (known as JARPA II)... "had made a negligible contribution to science".

Describing the program as a "parody of science" Professor James Crawford, QC is reported by SMH as saying:

''JARPA II is not a program of science, it is a parody of science,...It is designed to keep Japan in the whaling business, come what may.''

While Philippe Sands, QC, has according to SMH told the court that while Japanese whalers may have collected data on thousands of body parts, their program was nothing more than a collection of data: "a heap of stones, not a house."

Australia's case referenced the fact that a quarter of a century has passed with thousands of whales being killed and yet Japan is unable to offer any "discernible progress". The case was being prepared through written submissions because Japan had refused to respond to criticisms of its science taking the view that "if we say it's science its science".

Other criticism came from Australian Antarctic program chief scientist Nick Gales who is reported to have told the court that Japanese whalers' research had added nothing to what was already known about what Minke whales ate, or their age at death.

The case is being heard before a panel of 16 judges and is continuing.

Source: 'Science' of Japanese whaling attacked in court case (Sydney Morning Herald)

Metadata Warrants at What Point Should there be Control?

Recently the federal Attorney-General has declared that Australian law enforcement “would grind to a halt” if the police and other law enforcement authorities were compelled to apply for a search warrant every time they wanted or required access to the telecommunications data of Australians (see article published in delimeter.com.au).

Figures released in the federal Budget Estimates hearing sessions recently (Monday 27 May to Friday 7 June 2013) indicate that the Australian Federal Police made more than 40,000 internal requests for telecommunications ‘metadata’ (being defined as data pertaining to the numbers, email addresses, time, length and date involved in phone calls or emails, but not the content) in the past financial year. At present no warrant is required to support these requests.

Given this increasing access to metadata by Australian law enforcement it is no surprise that civil liberties groups and political groups have sought to have such activity controlled and called for he introduction of laws to control this.

Adding to the debate in recent times has been the fact that the US spy agency the NSA (National Security Agency) has been reported to have gained backdoor access to the data servers of major technology companies like Apple, Google and Microsoft - raising concerns among many of what might be made of such information and how it might be used. To this might also be added he use hat might be made of such information by media outlets who, if the News of the World scandal is any indication, seem to be able to obtain this information at will.

This issue of access to the mountains of collateral data produced by the Internet is one that has been attracting more attention and firing debate. It catches my attention because I constantly marvel at how all free societies argue vociferously against a "big brother" like totalitarianism yet seem uncannily to find ways to create it or empower it. The issue of law enforcement and metadata warrants seems to be yet another instance of where unintentionally, even unknowingly we could be delivering information to government which could easily be abused by a government minded to do so at some point in the future.

Modern Man Discovers Financial Gravity

When Sir Isaac Newton sat under his favourite apple tree, or so the conventional story goes, he dozed off only to be rudely woken by a maturing apple clonking down on his head. it is the sharp resulting pain that it is said led to his sudden realisation, simple though it may sound, that "what goes up must inevitably come down", from which the great man went on to contemplate that a force "magnetic like" was in the earth which attracted everything to it including man. Inevitably this force had the power to attract everything leaving the planet's surface back to it - the force we now call gravity.

This got me thinking that in recent times there have been some gravity defying events, for example, the  GFC which saw most of the world economies fall but in defiance saw most of the worlds wealthy escape unscathed, unlike the less wealthy who become even less wealthy, loosing jobs, getting less interest from banks. When it comes to the rich I think gravity is defied, wealth heads in an upward direction building on its self and seldom comes down as the rich are favoured by governments, banks and most institutions in society. Government of the conservative type has even been said to say that "we should favour the rich as wealth will trickle down"! Indeed and if one considers it right that some should drink from the glass while others, the majority, are forced to wait for a trickle then that theory works.

So if a modern equivalent of Newton sat under a fruiting money tree in a modern free market plutocracy such as exist in the modern world today the modern Newton story might look like this:

                             

NSW v Kable: Detention and False Imprisonment

In the recent decision NSW v Kable [2013] HCA 26 (delivered on 5 June 2013) the High Court of Australia has ruled on the validity of claim for damages grounded in abuse of process, false imprisonment and malicious process against the State of NSW.

In the case the High Court ruled unanimously to allow an appeal by NSW holding that a detention order made by a Supreme Court judge of that State under legislation subsequently held to be unconstitutional was a defence to a claim for "false imprisonment".The order it was found by the High Court valid until it was later set aside on appeal.

Background

The respondent (Mr Kable) was detained in custody for six months in 1995 pursuant to an order of the Supreme Court made under the Community Protection Act 1994 (NSW) s 9. Mr Kable unsuccessfully appealed against the detention order to the Court of Appeal NSW and after Mr Kable was released from his detention, he successfully appealed to the High Court which ordered that the detention order be set aside on the basis that the Act was unconstitutional and therefore,invalid.

As a result of the Court of Appeal decision Mr Kable commenced proceedings in the Supreme Court, claiming damages against the State of NSW for abuse of process, false imprisonment and malicious prosecution. In those proceedings the Supreme Court allowed the appeal in part, holding that Mr Kable should have judgment against the State of NSW for damages assessed on his claim for false imprisonment.

Result

By way of a special leave appeal the State of NSW appealed to the High Court of Australia which unanimously allowed the appeal concluding that the detention order under which Mr Kable was detained was valid until it wad set aside. As such it provided lawful authority for Mr Kable's detention. The original orders dismissing Mr Kable's claims were reinstated.

Financial Recognition of Local Government: Constitution Alteration (Local Government) 2013 Bill

The Constitution Alteration (Local Government) 2013 Bill was introduced into the House of Representatives on 29 May 2013 and Wednesday (5 June 2013) was passed by the lower house. The Bill proposes to amend the Commonwealth Constitution s96 to make specific provision in relation to the granting of financial aid to local government bodies of which there are currently 565 many of whom struggle finically while trying to meet a growing list of funding demands .

Background

The Attorney-General in speaking to the Bill said that in August 2011 the federal government had appointed an Expert Panel on Constitutional Recognition of Local Government chaired by former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of NSW, the Hon James Spigelman AC QC (the Expert Panel) to identify options for the constitutional recognition of local government.

In December 2011 a majority of the Expert Panel members concluded that financial recognition of local government by amendment of the Commonwealth Constitution s 96 was a viable option within the 2013 election timeframe and led to the Commonwealth Parliament establishing a Joint Select Committee on Constitutional Recognition of Local Government to inquire into and report on the majority finding of the Expert Panel in November 2012. It subsequently supported the findings of the Expert Panel that a referendum on financial recognition of local government be held at the 2013 federal election.