Assault On Citizen’s Right To Property, The The Antiquities Bill Revisited

Posted by Ping Pong as a comment to BU blog – National Insurance Board Responds To Public Concern

Stephen Lashley, Minister of Culture

In the last week, newspapers report that the government has made two assaults on the concept of the citizen’s right to property. The first assault was the attempt to pass the Antiquities Bill and the second, the declaration to compulsory acquire the land of one person so as to benefit another citizen.

The situation with the Antiquities Bill is extremely disturbing. The Senate raised many cogent questions about the bill which were accepted by the Government senators. It strikes me odd that Minister Lashley, who is an attorney, could not recognise the constitutional issues raised by Senator Newton and neither could any of the other 29 MP’s (i.e.both BLP and DLP) when the bill was passed in the lower house. That the bill (in identical form) was first presented by the previous BLP administration is testimony to the lack of any philosophical mooring by BOTH political parties to defend and act in accordance with the Constitution or any other publicly stated set of values in the interest of the common good other than expediency, appeal to the lowest denominator and laziness.

Defamation Does Not Exist Simply By Hyperlinking

The recent decision of the Supreme Court of Canada in the case of Crookes v Newton is of interest to the BU family as it provides clear guidance on certain areas of internet defamation.

Largely, the case devolves around the use of hyperlinks, such as this one that will link readers to the CBC report and a full copy of the judgement – http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/story/2011/10/19/pol-scoc-hyperlink.html .

In essence, the court held that libel did not occur simply by a website producing a hyperlink to a site that might in itself be defamatory. However, if the website posting the hyperlink commented in a defamatory manner, then that is a different ballgame.

A very straightforward and common sense approach. But, as the BU family well knows, it is not as simple as that.

It is settled that if X (a USA citizen and resident) publishes a libellous comment about Y (a Bajan citizen and resident) in X’s USA website, then Y can bring an action for defamation in Barbados before the Barbados courts where the damage to Y’s reputation has been done.

Blogs Guarding Freedom Of Expression

Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales

Karim said Trinidad and Tobago needs an educated, enlightened and fiercely independent media, noting that “fiercely independent journalists operating in the traditions of the Fourth Estate will provide our citizens with the facts on which they can make informed decisions.

CMC

In seems coincidental that at the launch of the College of Science, Technology and the Applied Arts of Trinidad and Tobago’s (COSTAATT) Ken Gordon School of Journalism and Communication Studies the above quote was uttered on the very same day the Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales came out strongly on behalf of an independent press and the vital necessity of such an organ in any democratic society.

The Lord Chief Justice’s insightful comments can be found on the Daily Mail’s website, among others – http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2051183/Britains-priceless-newspapers-senior-judge.html.

At What Price?

Submitted by  DLP Supporter

Governor of the Central Bank Dr. Delisle Worrell says "Barbados credit rating is not in any further danger of another down grade.”

“Barbados credit rating is not in any further danger of another down grade.” This view as expressed by the Governor of the Central Bank recently as he reviewed the economy of Barbados for the first 9 months of the year. The measures as outlined in the Government’s Fiscal Medium Term Fiscal Strategy have acted as a compass to help navigate the economic landmines.

The Governor’s acknowledgment that the fiscal deficit has fallen from 9.6 percent of GDP last year to 5.3 percent clearly underscores the point that the policy makers are digging in. This reduction is a direct reflection of Government’s stated intention to reduce spending. Our economic driver, tourism is also beginning to feel the pinch. There has been a public acknowledgement despite increase tourist we have experience a decline in spending and stay. Colin Jordan, President of the Barbados Hotel and Tourism Association indicated “People who come to the island come from countries that really feel the recession, such as UK, USA. Arrivals have increased for the UK but they are coming from a country with challenges; they want to get away but they are spending as little as possible”

Despite, the sluggish economic activity around the globe, this government remains committed to the parity of the dollar and a policy agenda enable growth of the economy.

CARIBBEAN CYBER SECURITY

Submitted by James Bynoe, BCF Senior Vice President for Cyber Security

As a Barbadian and Cyber Security executive the protection of the Caribbean’s Public and Private Information and Communication Infrastructures is one of the most serious economic and security challenges facing Barbados and our region.

Our ability to effectively ensure the Confidentiality, Availability and Integrity (CIA) of regional informational technology assets has significant economic and security implications for both the public and private sectors.

More than ever before a comprehensive regional Caribbean centric approach to Cyber Security is needed which takes into consideration the many local technical, management, operational, and cultural nuances of Caribbean nations.  It is also important that we as a region start to view ourselves as a “single cyberspace entity” in order to leverage best of breed Caribbean centric cyber security best practices and lessons learned.

Here are a few facts which emphasize the need for ICT professional in the private and public sector to “act”.

LIME’s Broadband A Tough Squeeze – Are LIME And Digicel Blocking the IMEIs Of Stolen Mobile Phones?

Posted as a comment to BU blog – Clarity Needed In Broadband Speed Sold By LIME In Barbados

LIME’s biggest problem is that they simply do not have the bandwidth available to share among it’s current subscriber base. When they first introduced ADSL their customers actually got what they were paying for. Now, the network is so congested that everyone has to fight for a piece, and this problem is especially bad in heavily populated areas where one or two fibre links have to serve a single exchange from which thousands of phone lines are served.

To their defense however, they have been constantly upgrading and installing mini exchanges all over the island to circumvent this problem, but it’s not enough. And what’s more is that they’ve increased contention ratio which only compounds the problem. I’m speaking subject to correction here but the last I heard is that it’s set at 50:1, which means that if you’re paying for 8Mb/s, then you have to share that between 8Mb/s of bandwidth with 49 other users… I don’t know about you, but that’s unacceptable considering the rates  that they’re charging when we see what they’re offering in other islands like Grenada. If they charge the same rates here that do in Grenada, then an 8Mb/s connection would be $120.66 BDS Incl VAT! A 2Mb/s connection would be $59.90 BDS incl VAT!

Haven’t you ever noticed that the internet is slower during the day (business hours) than it is at night? I can’t wait for Digicel to start offering their WiMax service for residential use…

Nuff said!

Tourism Officials Need To Listen More, Talk Less

Submitted by Adrian Loveridge

Richard Sealy, Minister of Tourism

Back in the nineteen seventies, after working in Canada, I returned to the United Kingdom, taking two temporary non-travel related jobs to establish enhanced credibility for the purpose of obtaining a house mortgage. Both were important learning experiences which I have never regretted.

The first was working as a salesman in a branch of a high-end consumer electronics retailer selling audio equipment products made by manufacturers that included Bang & Olufsen and Roberts. The manager instilled a valuable lesson that has stayed with me for life. His view was that if you are ever going to effectively sell anything, whatever it was, that you had better know everything possible about it.

I think he sensed a genuine interest and allowed me to take, what at that time, were very expensive pieces of equipment home at night and weekends to familiarise myself with their features. Months when later I formed a tour operator company, this acquired wisdom formed an integral part of the business master plan.

Barbados Small Business Association Ordeal Shows Poor Corporate Governance Endemic In Barbados

Submitted by email under the title Good Governance Barbados to local media

Dear 5th Estate,

The Small Business Association of Barbados is the most recent institution to demonstrate how poor corporate governance and regulation can be allowed to fester in Barbados.

Please see the attached. The SBA now finds itself in a situation where it is seemingly trying to cover (at a special meeting on Oct 25th 2011) its tracks after 25 years of operating illegally. In short it seems that none of the Boards of Directors since 1986 which managed the SBA were legitimate. That has implications for all of the decisions taken by those boards and importantly the legitimacy of all of those boards that managed government subventions etc.

Once again one is forced to ask how it was possible for the list of esteemed ladies and gentle that headed the SBA to have overlooked this.

Once again also and true to form one can expect this resolution to be easily passed by the 30-40 members (of the SBA’s over 700 members) who attend meetings.

It cannot be a simple matter of passing a one page resolution without a full understanding of how it was allowed to happen and thorough understanding of the implications.

Poor corporate governance is an issue for all of Barbados!

The Politics Of Smoke And Mirrors Fuelled By 1.9% Margin Of Error

Chris Sinckler, Minister of Finance (l), Owen Arthur, Opposition Leader (2l), Clyde Mascoll, BLP spokesman of economic matters (3l) and Delisle Worrell, Governor of the Central Bank (4l)

BU has defended the need for the Central Bank of Barbados to zealously guard its reputation.  The Governor of the Central Bank has suffered from the tongues of fellow economists Owen Arthur and Clyde Mascoll over his method of communicating on the economy. In light of the recent decision by the Central Bank of Barbados to depart from the trusted approach of using statistics produced by the Barbados Statistical Service (BSS) – in this instance the unemployment number – it has inflicted serious harm to its reputation.

In the current climate the decision has provided political fodder for the struggling Barbados Opposition Party to raise it’s voice. What we have in Barbados these days is smoke and mirrors politics. On the government side we are witnessing the distasteful promotion of the late David Thompson’s memory to deflect focus on its economic performance to date. On the side of the Opposition every opportunity to gain political mileage is being seized. The political scientists explain that this is Westminster politics at its brilliant best, others suggests the counter view that extraordinary times call for extraordinary action by our leaders; a no show to date.

Is Islamization Real Or Imagined ?

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