Kerre calls for total ban on privacy and anonymity
Kerre Woodham writes in the HOS about the CYFSWatch site. I agree with some of her criticisms as they relate to the language used such as referring to one social worker as a “fat pig”.
But Kerre goes a massive step too far when she for not just that blog to be shut down, but “any site that doesn’t identify its contributors“.
That is a horrendous invasion of privacy. It would close down almost every discussion forum and blog on the Internet. Kerre seems unable to appreciate that there are often very legitimate reasons for people not to identify themselves.
And has Kerre considered what would be needed to enforce her regime? You’d have to have the Government force all blogs to register and get approval to operate, with those not complying being shut down.
The irony is that there is a Government which is considering exactly what Kerre has called for. They are considering whether they should make all their citizens blog under their real names. That’s the People’s Republic of China!
If people comment on this thread, please do not slag off Kerre. Attack her views, not her. For my part I like most of what she writes, but her call for the shutting down of any site which does not identify its contributors is just plain wrong.
January 28th, 2007 at 11:39 am
Well hell… hope this isn’t considered “slagging off” but Kerre Woodham has epitomized the “liberal” media in NZ for so long. I cannot stand listening to her for more than five minutes, her views are so mainstream media..
Her comments are yet another incidence of the media turning its back on its real role, and advocating for bigger and more powerful government rather than challenging it..
I see stories everywhere reporting massive layoffs in the print and electronic media.. you’d think they’d realise woudln’t you, that people just don’t want to hear their tired old pro big government pseudo liberal bullshit anymore..
Mainstream media jumped the shark about ten years ago I reckon, and their recent unrelenting bias relating to George Bush, the Iraq War and global warming has finished them completely for many people.
If they start standing for freedom again they may win some support back, but I think its too late. In ten years, they’re gonna be a lot deader than “Happy Days” has ever been..
I don’t think Bill Francis gets it anymore, and neither do a lot of media people like him. The internet has turned them into dinosaurs.. Keep it up Kerre, and make a real fossil of yourself..
January 28th, 2007 at 12:51 pm
it will never happen. and if it did youd just move blogs to overseas providers.
i would never use my full name on the net. that sit can cme back and haunt you. especially when half of your comments are just obnoxious heh
January 28th, 2007 at 12:56 pm
“that people just don’t want to hear their tired old pro big government pseudo liberal bullshit anymore”
Too true, since I have discovered Redbaiter I have cancelled my subscription to the Herald and do not watch TV news any more at all.
January 28th, 2007 at 1:03 pm
I was pretty shocked reading her comment this morning.
Ironically, doesn’t Newstalk ZB knowingly allow callers to give false names or stay anonymous?
January 28th, 2007 at 1:29 pm
I would love to know who the woman is shown in the photo in the article? Surely it’s not Kerre? If she’s not a “coward”, why the need to use an old photo which shows her wearing lots of make up?
Anyway, back to the topic. She says “you know who I am and where I am”. Ah, no I don’t know where she is. She doesn’t list her address so I can write to her.
She basically ignores the concerns of those who have posted on the site. She also ignores the fact that the govt is trying to censor important information. I suggest she try to make contact with the invidivuals on the site. Maybe she could invite them onto her radio show and debate the issues.
January 28th, 2007 at 1:31 pm
She made a stupid gaff, and I’m certain she’d recognise that fact if it was pointed out to her. Working in a media company I have to listen to Newstalk ZB often, and Kerre is clearly the only compere on that station with any wits about her at all.
Pity she didn’t think a bit harder, of course.
January 28th, 2007 at 1:47 pm
Like everyone else, I was surprised by Kerre’s comments, but she is right in stating that most people have little to do with the Family courts or CYFS and obviously Kerre has had little experience at the ‘coal face’. I did respond by email to her and hope that she will engage in dialogue in the matter I have raised as an example for her elucidation. I wrote as follows:
“hi kerre,
your comments re the cyfswatch posters letting their anger and frustration get the better of them are valid. but pls go to kiwiblog.co.nz and read my post re a mother getting away with the most outrageous abuses of the system for many years, unchallenged no matter how obvious and unlawful her m.o., not to mention the issue of how her daughter really got hurt.
even in the face of such glaringly overt misbehaviour and a damning psych report on the damage to the child, the social workers still bent over backwards for this woman, even providing her with a driver and car so that she wouldn’t be ‘stressed out’ by having to find parking. it is infuriating to see her molly-coddled and catered to while the apologists in various government departments make excuses for her and defend her when you’ve had as close up and personal a look at what she is really all about as i have.
imagine how her ex-husband must feel after such a long-running ordeal at her hands, paying through the nose all the way, and having to watch his lovely little girl growing into a manipulative little liar at her mother’s behest, impotent to do anything to help her other than ‘play the game’ and wait for a break.
the politicians and media won’t touch this story yet he has absolute proof of what has occurred. her own barrister called me when i was still supportive of her to inform me that the child is lying about her father to please her mother – yet she still took her many slices of the legal aid pie. one can only assume that the access/custody industry is creaming it and such unwillingness to cut out the rot is a conspiracy of silence.
this man received an apology from the family court judge who awarded him custody after his 7 year battle saying “i lament the many years your case has been before the family court and how cruel it has been for you and (child’s name).” he added that he thought him the most singularly dedicated father he had come across in his considerable time at the court.
why then is it so impossible for him to have his case investigated and the systems and practices that led to this appalling miscarriage reviewed and overhauled?
this case, as with the skelton vs jones matter is obviously just the tip of the iceberg.
while cancer patients are forced to travel to australia for treatment, the powers that be are quite happy to pour millions into the black hole that is the family court, and turn a blind eye to the many and substantial abuses it supports, whilst the children are irretrievably damaged in the process.
shame on them”.
I failed to remind Kerre that we are all subject to the Privacy Act and fearful of a backlash from those with a vested interest in maintaining the status quo should we have the gumption to expose the actual individuals, e.g. the mother to whom I refer. She is fully protected yet her ex spouse is fair game. How can we possibly accept this situation and still believe we live in a decent society?
January 28th, 2007 at 1:52 pm
“She basically ignores the concerns of those who have posted on the site.”
She would.. she’s on the side of big government, and only ever advocates for government to get bigger..
There’s a difference I’ve noticed between Kerre and Leighton Smith. Leighton will allow liberals to talk on his show, and will often argue at length with them on whatever issue is under discussion. Kerre Woodham like most ‘liberals’ wont give anyone with an opposing view to her own any real time at all.
Like all leftists, she’ll only bestow legitimacy on those who think like her- ie, as part of the big government liberal media socialist conglomerate..
That’s why the internet and blogging has become so popular.. The control of information that the liberals have attempted has led to the growth of the alternative media. Freedom always wins in the end.
January 28th, 2007 at 2:16 pm
I read her column too and don’t agree with all of it.
Sure, I don’t totally agree with the name calling and such but if you read the stories on cyfswatch blog and have seen what those poor people have been through – they must have a lot of resentment that they need to get off their chests, so you should expect to see a few choice epithets.
Part of the site is people letting off steam at their gross mistreatment by this Govt dept. CYFS truly do seem a law unto themselves. As one of the grandfathers who has posted on the cyswatch blog says, a lot of these Cyfs women would be better suited as prison guards.
January 28th, 2007 at 3:08 pm
“She basically ignores the concerns of those who have posted on the site.”
She would.. she’s on the side of big government, and only ever advocates for government to get bigger..
There’s a difference I’ve noticed between Kerre and Leighton Smith. Leighton will allow liberals to talk on his show, and will often argue at length with them on whatever issue is under discussion. Kerre Woodham like most ‘liberals’ wont give anyone with an opposing view to her own any real time at all.”
Red…She ain’t a “Liberal”….she’as a semi soft Socialist…but not too bad most of the time.
Leighton on the other hand is very Liberal but with a conservative edge.
January 28th, 2007 at 4:34 pm
Yes, but that’s because Kerre realises the lack of distinction between “redneck” and “mad”. She seems quite prepared to allow anyone reasonable to speak – but I’m sure that’s because, being grounded in reality, I’m as freaky and apologetic of The World Gone Mad as she is.
January 28th, 2007 at 5:16 pm
Of course James, Kerre is not a true liberal, and I wasn’t using the word in this sense. I was using it in the modern sense (such as in “urban liberal”), or if you like “pseudo liberal”. In other words, leftists who claim to be tolerant but are really authoritarian elitists who seek not to engage in a discussion of competing ideas but rather to exclude their opponents from the debate by branding them as members of unacceptable groups. You’ll see plenty of examples of this kind of behaviour on this blog and even on this very thread.
Kerre is calling for more powerful government becasue she believes she’s one of the elite who knows what is best for everyone else, and that the rest of us are too stupid to exist without such as her and her great God of Government.
In this example, we have the CYFS growing into this massive monolithic all powerful entity that walks over the rights of so many citizens, and the ‘liberal media’ (namely Woodham and her ilk) in a complete turn about on the journalist’s traditional role of helping to protect the man in the street, she is actually calling for greater regulation to stifle criticism of the service.
Such is the disgraceful entity that journalism and the media have degenerated into since the industry became a home for the advocates of socialism.
January 28th, 2007 at 5:37 pm
I am still trying to come to grips with Kerre saying this,it doesnt sound like her at all.
If it happened I can see nearly all blog sites shutting down, I for one would have to quit.
David U R right, “communist China”
Fight it hard!, maybe a muslim sypathiser has been whispering in her ear.
January 28th, 2007 at 6:09 pm
Storm, meet teacup.
January 28th, 2007 at 6:13 pm
Anyone curious as to why there hasn’t been a post on CYFSWatch Blogsite since last Thursday?
January 28th, 2007 at 8:08 pm
Hi,
having read Kerri Woodham’s OpEd piece, I absolutely agree with David Farrar on this one.
There can be many reasons why some people comment anonymously. One can be a genuine concern of consequences from other people who have the ability to do cause these consequences. This concern often arises from a lack of trust, which is a sad indictment on our society today.
That said, I am posting this with my real first name (for what it’s worth).
January 28th, 2007 at 9:18 pm
magda good question ;
Anyone curious as to why there hasn’t been a post on CYFSWatch Blogsite since last Thursday?
Looks like the relentless corrupt power of the feminazi state ….rolls on ,bending reality for its own purposes and locking children and parents into perpetual captivity !!!
Kerri Woodham is just a well paid media leach, who is part of a encroaching government which is intent on eroding civil liberties.
January 28th, 2007 at 9:38 pm
Surely Kerre has not missed the obvious point that her talkback callers don’t necessarily give their REAL NAME for privacy reasons… If she is suggesting that her listeners need to be prescreened/identified/confirmed so they don’t hide behind a secret identity… watch her ratings dive!
I think the Cyfswatch site is a valid idea – its just that some people emote when they need to take a step back and focus on issues – not personal appearances. I would be appalled if the NZ Govt gets it shut down. Just as I am appalled that the NZ Govt voted through retrospective legislation after the fact.
January 28th, 2007 at 9:55 pm
I, too, am shocked by the lack of official control of the net….and the rancid disrespect shown for the MSM by those “blogger” people.
On the other hand, Kerrs may be running scared.
January 28th, 2007 at 10:30 pm
Kerre, mate, its over. We dont have to listen to your one-eyed slant. We don’t take what your mate Helen says as being the way the truth and the life. We dont have to buy the HOS either.
Get over it girl!
Trying to outlaw blogs is like rounding up cats. Get used to the fact that others have an experience and a view of life and what they think is good for them…and now they have a platform.
January 29th, 2007 at 9:32 am
I gave up seriously reading the herald some time ago, it doesn’t report the facts from an unbiased viewpoint, it reports the facts that support the view that they want to put out…
January 29th, 2007 at 9:46 am
I’ll support Kerre only after the media refuse to report anything from anonymous sources – particularly political stories. That way they can focus on actual reporting rather than interviewing their typewriters aadn opinion masquerading as news
January 29th, 2007 at 11:30 am
I read the Herald. Online. So I never have to endure even peripherally the likes of Kerre and Coddington until they reach the blogosphere.
They can dream of shutting it down but it’s so not going to happen.
January 29th, 2007 at 11:58 am
What’s with the compulsion to put Coddington and Woodham in the same box? I don’t recall Debs calling for the government to take action against blogs?
Coddington at least has had the intelligence to at some time in her life shake off the eternal big government worshipping posture that Woodham and her ilk have adopted.
Kerre and a thousand like her have beavered away towards the objective that socialists have been working on for two or three decades, and that is to make socialism indistinguishable from NZ culture.
Coddington has fought aginst collectivism. Woodham is a big government enabler. There’s no comparing the two.
January 29th, 2007 at 2:23 pm
Sorry what? We’re taking Kerre Woodham seriously? When was this announced, I must have missed it.
Have I gone to sleep and awoken in some kind of bizzaro world?
Next thing I know someone will be attempting a serious deconstruction something said on radio by Michael Laws or Paul Henry.
Repeat after me – the presence of someone in the newspaper or on the airwaves spouting opinion connotes neither intelligence nor the need to be taken seriously.
Now excuse me, I’m going back to sleep.
January 29th, 2007 at 3:11 pm
“What’s with the compulsion to put Coddington and Woodham in the same box?”
They both write for the HoS, apparently. Coddington has done her bit to run down the blogosphere over the years. Mind you, the blogosphere runs her down a lot too.
Redbaiter, this just goes to show, whether you’re a socialist or not, he that pays the piper calls the tune. Print dislikes the internet for obvious reasons.
January 29th, 2007 at 3:24 pm
“Redbaiter, this just goes to show, whether you’re a socialist or not”
Man, I’m tempted to just pop in & announce:
“He IS!!”
But I’m so over that now. Pax!
January 29th, 2007 at 3:33 pm
Ben Wilson, don’t you know that if you put your little thingy on ‘opinion’ and click it, you can read all the Herald columnists on line? What’s more, you don’t have to pay three bucks any more.
January 29th, 2007 at 4:48 pm
Put my thingy on opinion and click it? Ouch. Another reason not to read the ‘Premium’ content!
January 29th, 2007 at 9:42 pm
Kerrs is reacting badly to bloggers for obvious reasons.
Although there are as many lefty blogs as righty blogs, it seems to Kerrs that the right is threatening the old order because the overwhelming historic majority of soft porn left MSM now has some opposition.
And they don’t like it.
February 3rd, 2007 at 11:50 am
Where’s Woodham’s spirit of leftwing rebellion? Doesn’t she relate to a tiny “minority” crushed under the weight of an “entrenched”, “corrupt” “establishment”? Can’t she see that when people have no other recourse they must take “revolutionary”, “anti-social” steps? If Woodham is a leftwing feminist and grew up when she did why doesn’t she relate to those who are clearly in a “struggle” to expose the “oppression” they are “suffering”. [Left-wing alarm-bell words highlighted.]
Gee, perhaps the rebels have become the establishment, hmmmmm?
February 3rd, 2007 at 11:51 am
Where’s Woodham’s spirit of leftwing rebellion? Doesn’t she relate to a tiny “minority” crushed under the weight of an “entrenched”, “corrupt” “Establishment”? Can’t she see that when people have no other recourse they must take “revolutionary”, “anti-social” steps? If Woodham is a leftwing feminist and grew up when she did why doesn’t she relate to those who are clearly in a “struggle” to expose the “oppression” they are “suffering”. [Left-wing alarm-bell words highlighted.]
Gee, perhaps the rebels have become the Establishment, hmmmm?