Fun and games in NZ politics

Most people think giving their names to a politician is a bad idea because they’ll spend the rest of their lives being nagged by the party. New Zealand’s Labour Party has taken this to a whole new level, leaving donor details – including names and donation amounts – in plain view. The predictable result is that a right-wing …

[Jolyon Smith]

I think it IS just a question of how well protected the data is

If you put data on a publicly accessible web site but you don't want ALL the public to see it, then it is entirely upon you to effectively limit access to those who you DO want access.

imho, but IANAL.

[veti]

Don't encourage him

Slater is a foaming-at-the-mouth right-winger, whom we saw in court only a few months ago for breaching court orders suppressing the names of both defendants and victims.

The man is an accomplished attention whore, who has no problem with being on the wrong end of the law as long as the maximum penalty is only a fine. He's quite happy to pay for his publicity.

[Anonymous Coward]

"I never accessed the system Y'ronour"

"I accessed the google web-cache.

If you want to prosecute someone, prosecute them!"

[nyelvmark]

It would be interesting

...to see the Google webcrawler charged with unauthorised access.

[Just Thinking]

How is it private?

By donating to a political party, you are basically trying to help get that party into power, and impose your own preferred policies on everyone else. How is that a private act?

[Asgard]

@Just Thinking

I totally agree. If the political parties wish to *represent us* (which is what they tell us when they want us to vote them into power during elections) then we should be able to know who is funding the parties.

[Ru]

How is it private?

"By donating to a political party, you are basically trying to help get that party into power, and impose your own preferred policies on everyone else. How is that a private act?"

By voting for a political candidate, you are basically trying to help get that politicial into power and impose your own preferred policies on everyone else. How is that a private act?

Your lousy interpretation of the issue aside, you will probably find that donations above a certain size need to be disclosed; small donations do not. That's generally how this works.

[The Light of the Silvery Moon]

Is WhaleOil's surname

Beefhooked?

[Fremma]

Gotcha

Er, no joke. That is exactly where Cameron's online persona comes from.

[davenewman]

Some parties already publish all large donations

For example, the Green Party in Northern Ireland.

But only the amount and name, not their financial details for a hacker to download.