I just went to post a CD overseas, and the post office clerk asked me for ID; she entered my details into the computer and wrote a long alphanumeric code from the screen on the package. Apparently, this week laws came into force saying that ID is required for posting packages overseas, and the details are entered into databases.

The era of Total Information Awareness has come to Australia, and gradually all forms of anonymity are being criminalised. How ironic it will be when, mere decades after the triumph of global liberal-democratic capitalism and the vanquishment of totalitarianism, the Free World transforms itself into Stalinist Russia with better technology; a huge shopping-mall-cum-prison-camp whose inmates demand tighter security and heavier chains for their own protection from the evil that lurks outside.

(If you mention Big Brother to most people, they will think it was just a stupid TV show, and probably opine about which housemate they found most annoying and/or sexually attractive. It seems that Orwell's cautionary tale has all but disappeared from public consciousness.)

Posted by: Ben the REAL Ben | http://www.furnitureporn.com | Sun Dec 22 01:44:11 2002

Stupid idiots are only supposed to do it with parcels over 500 grams. As I always underdeclare the weight of my parcels I don't have to worry. If these damned Australians would just stop posting bombs to overseas, we wouldn't have to take these sort of measures.

Posted by: acb | http://dev.null.org | Sun Dec 22 14:56:39 2002

There's no way that one CD in a jewel case would weigh 500 grams.

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