We need a unique identifier number | Kiwiblog

Stuff reports:

Severe deficiencies in the law are giving criminals ?a simple means for identity theft? by making it easy to change their names, an investigation has revealed.

Former ombudsman Mel Smith uncovered the loopholes while investigating how convicted paedophile Te Rito Henry Miki was able to teach at six schools. ?

The inquiry into the employment of Miki found he was easily able to steal the identity of a registered teacher friend, who emigrated to Australia in 2009, and to adopt his teacher registration.

Miki ? who accumulated 53 separate aliases ? subsequently applied to the office of the registrar-general to change his friend?s name to another identity.

Name change applicants only have to supply a statutory declaration, sworn before a court official, lawyer or justice of the peace ? who needs only to ask if the contents are accurate. The applicant is not required to present verification of authentication or any other supporting documents to the registrar-general. ?

The registrar-general is not required to inform the Passport Office, Customs or Immigration of a name change. If the relevant agencies had been notified, then when the friend first returned to New Zealand in September 2009 ?the theft of identity would have become known and acted on at that time?, the report said.

Miki was arrested in February and was jailed for about four years.

Mr Smith said an average of 7375 people changed their name every year.

?Most of those, I?m sure, would be for perfectly proper and lawful reasons but . . . unfortunately New Zealand society is not as honest as it used to be.?

There was anecdotal evidence an official name change was available to people who wanted to get past the border ?having legal obligations here, whether that?s child support, unpaid fines or even something much more serious?, he said.

I think there is a simple solution ? like in the US. Every individual is assigned a unique identity number. Then you can change your name to whatever you like, but it will be linked to your UIN, which means?pedophiles?will not be able to get jobs in schools no matter what name they change to.

You?d need some privacy restrictions on which government agencies can access your UIN and identity for which reasons, but that shouldn?t be a reason not to allow the Government to accurately identify people for legitimate reasons.

Tags: paedophiles

This entry was posted on Monday, August 27th, 2012 at 6:52 am and is filed under New Zealand. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

Source: http://www.kiwiblog.co.nz/2012/08/we_need_a_unique_identifier_number.html

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GOP convention protesters: storms won't stop them

Demonstrators march, in Tampa, Fla., Sunday, Aug. 26, 2012. Hundreds of protestors gathered in Gas Light Park in downtown Tampa to march in demonstration against the Republican National Convention. (AP Photo/Dave Martin)

Demonstrators march, in Tampa, Fla., Sunday, Aug. 26, 2012. Hundreds of protestors gathered in Gas Light Park in downtown Tampa to march in demonstration against the Republican National Convention. (AP Photo/Dave Martin)

Demonstrators march, in Tampa, Fla., Sunday, Aug. 26, 2012. Hundreds of protestors gathered in Gas Light Park in downtown Tampa to march in demonstration against the Republican National Convention. (AP Photo/Dave Martin)

Ganzalo Valdes, of Tampa, Fla., marches with demonstrators in Tampa, Fla., Sunday, Aug. 26, 2012. Hundreds of protestors gathered in Gas Light Park in downtown Tampa to march in demonstration against the Republican National Convention. (AP Photo/Dave Martin)

Franz Nertte, of Miami, shouts during a protest march in Tampa, Fla., Sunday, Aug. 26, 2012. Hundreds of protestors gathered in Gas Light Park in downtown Tampa to march in demonstration against the Republican National Convention. (AP Photo/Dave Martin)

Karen Boyer, of Portland, Ore., displays her sign during a Code Pink protest before the Republican National Convention, Sunday, Aug. 26, 2012, in Tampa, Fla. (AP Photo/Dave Martin)

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) ? The few hundred protesters gathered under rainy skies in a park about a half-mile from the GOP convention on Sunday said an impending hurricane that is supposed to dump heavy rains on Tampa won't deter them from trying to get out their message that America needs to change, especially for the middle class.

Giant blocks of ice spelling out the words "middle class" are melting on a warm, sticky day. Occupy protesters say it represents the melting away of the middle class in America.

That message rings true for 52-year-old Tom Gaurapp and Cheryl Landecker from Freeport, Ill. Both worked for Sensata Technologies in the city of some 25,000 people and say 170 jobs there, including their own, were outsourced to China. Occupy is a left-leaning protest group of people in their mid-20s who generally believe that the financial system is stacked against a majority of people.

Gaurapp and Landecker say that just a few years ago, they never would have considered joining such a protest.

"But then again, we wouldn't have dreamed our jobs would have gone to China," Gaurapp said.

Tropical Storm Isaac is expected to become a dangerous Category 2 hurricane by the time it makes land over the northern Gulf Coast sometime late Tuesday or early Wednesday. Tampa is expected to feel the brunt of the storm with heavy rainfall on Monday. The forecast caused Republicans to postpone their convention activities on Monday's opening day and not that many delegates seemed to be around Sunday to see the protesters.

The protests stayed small also by mid-afternoon.

The weather isn't a deterrent to 52 year-old Donald Butner, who says he's been sleeping at the Occupy camp in Tampa for a few months and that "we're here, baby, rain or shine. The weather is going to do what it is going to do."

The protesters chanted "we are the 99 percent" and carried homemade signs. The 99 percent refers to the group's message that most don't share in the wealth of America. Often, younger people make up the Occupy protests, but in Tampa, several older people joined the marchers.

That included the 54-year-old Landecker , who spoke to the group as rain started falling.

"These businesses have put corporate greed over everything else. If they can do it to us, they can do it to anybody," Landecker said.

Though protesters vow to stay put, if the weather threatens their safety or that of visitors on the streets, police officers will use public address systems and go person-to-person to warn them to leave, said Tampa Police Chief Jane Castor.

"As it is right now, there will be high winds and there will be rain but it's not going to be something that is going to prohibit anyone from doing what they want to do out on the streets," Castor said. "If it changes ... and it becomes an issue of public safety, we will order people into shelters."

About 50 people, from Occupy Wall Street and Code Pink groups, marched from the park about two blocks to the Tampa theater where the Faith and Freedom Coalition was holding an event. The protesters waved signs in front of people waiting to get into the theater, and seven of them lay down in front of the entrance. Other protesters covered them in a red cloth.

They were on the ground for about five minutes. When police asked them to move, they did, and then marched back to the park.

Code Pink is a women-focused group pushing to end the U.S.-led wars abroad. They held signs including, "Vagina. If you can't say it, don't legislate it," and "GOP, respect women."

"I'm completely opposed to the Ralph Reed agenda of the war on women," said Rae Abileah, 29, of San Francisco. Reed started the Faith and Freedom Coalition, which among other causes is against abortion.

___

Associated Press writer Brendan Farrington contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2012-08-26-Convention-Protests/id-8bd9e324ead14248b56d1623045fb2ee

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Different Tools of Lead Generation | Business Advertising 2.0

Lead generation or lead-gen, as it is popularly called, is one of the best marketing strategies used by marketing professionals in today?s time. Companies are constantly looking for ways to increase their business by getting good prospects. But getting leads is not an easy job as it needs thorough study and planning. According to GCL Direct, a leading telemarketing company, the key to generate good quality leads is to research about the potential lead in detail, before approaching them. In fact, studies say that converting a lead into a customer is far easier than getting a potential lead.

Although some organizations prefer to rope-in their own team to generate leads, outsourcing the task to a professional company will save lot of time and money. These firms have expertise and resources to get successful leads. They also use different tools like direct mails, telemarketing, database development, search engine marketing, trade shows, etc. to generate compatible leads.

In today?s world of internet advertising, the best way to generate leads can be search engine marketing as it increases the brand?s visibility in a faster and better way. Web analytics, pay per click advertising and various other SEO techniques are used for finding potential prospects. Not only can the prospects be reached in a targeted way but getting leads in a large volume is possible only through search engine marketing.

Direct mail is another way to get your company?s name straightaway in the hands of customers who would like to know about your services or products. But the age-old technique of mass mailing doesn?t work anymore. Target mailing is the call of time. There is no point in mailing to everyone when your potential customer will be only few of them. Target mailing, although bit expensive, will be likely to get better results and generate better leads.

If b2b lead generation is your aim, then trade show is the tool for you. Your company will have a better chance to find compatible businesses in trade shows as it is a perfect platform for business owners to communicate and reach potential clients. Be it large MNCs or small business owner, attending trade shows has become a mantra for increasing one?s client base.

Another good tool for generating potential lead is telemarketing. Through telemarketing you can reach more customers and can also increase your sales territory. One good thing about telemarketing is that you can immediately determine your customer?s interest in your product. But proper telemarketing is of utmost importance as getting pesky calls are the biggest irritation for customers. Hiring a professional telemarketing firm will give you better results as their employees are efficient in interacting with customers.

Lead generation has become the need of the hour; but finding the appropriate tool for lead generation is also very important to land up with leads that can be converted to loyal customers.

Source: http://www.business-ad.net/marketing-strategies/different-tools-of-lead-generation

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Martin Luther King tape found in attic heads for sale

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A previously unknown audio tape of an interview with slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. was discovered recently in the attic of a Tennessee home, and a New York collector who bought the recording says he plans to offer it for sale next week.

The 10-minute reel-to-reel recording was made on December 21, 1960, nearly three years before King's famed "I Have a Dream" speech and more than seven years before he was gunned down in Memphis, Tennessee, collector Keya Morgan told Reuters on Thursday.

Morgan, the proprietor of a Manhattan gallery that deals in historical manuscripts, photos and other artifacts, described the tape as an extremely rare discovery.

"It's like a unicorn," he said, adding he was struck by the intimate tone of the interview.

"The quality is so good, so crisp that it sounds like Dr. King is sitting in my parlor having tea with me," he said. "It's an intimate, frank, low-key discussion, but he still comes through so clearly and powerfully."

Despite thousands of letters and other King artifacts he has handled or come across while in business, Morgan said he had heard of just one other original audio recording of King being uncovered since he opened his gallery in 1993.

In the tape, King talks about the concept and importance of non-violent protest and asserts that the sit-in demonstrations aimed at ending racial segregation in public places would ultimately be viewed as a pivotal moment for American society.

"When the history books are written in future years, historians will have to record this movement as one of the greatest epics of our heritage," he said. "I think the movement represents struggle on the highest level of dignity and discipline."

The tape was recorded by a man in Chattanooga, Tennessee, who interviewed King for a book about non-violence and the civil rights movement that the man never wrote, according to Morgan.

Five decades later, the man's son, Stephon Tull, stumbled on the reel in an old box marked "Dr. King" while going through belongings in his father's attic after his father entered a nursing home, Morgan said. Under an agreement with Tull, Morgan declined to reveal the father's name.

'YOU CAN HEAR HIS VOICE'

Morgan said he had played the tape for several scholars and historians, as well as for U.S. Representative John Lewis of Georgia, himself a veteran civil rights activist and friend of King.

Clayborne Carson, a history professor and head of the Martin Luther King Jr. Research and Education Institute at Stanford University in California, told CNN it was difficult to discern immediately the tape's historical significance from the thousands of interviews King conducted during his life.

"What is interesting about this is rather than just a transcript, you can hear his voice," Carson said.

Morgan said he planned to sell the original tape and all rights to it early next week in a private "treaty sale," as opposed to an auction, and that the recording might be packaged with other artifacts.

One factor in selecting a buyer would be his interest in trying to find "a good home" for the tape, preferably a museum, archive or other institution that would keep it available for the public, he said.

In any case, Morgan said he would retain a copy of the recording for his own collection.

Based on prices fetched for similar recordings of historical figures of similar caliber, Morgan said he estimated the King tape would be valued at between $20,000 and $60,000. He declined to say how much he paid Tull for the tape.

(Reporting and writing by Steve Gorman; Editing by Cynthia Johnston and Peter Cooney)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/martin-luther-king-tape-found-attic-heads-sale-024511568.html

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Allentown Mayor Ed Pawlowski hosts final public meeting on proposed lease agreement

ALLENTOWN, Pa. -

Allentown Mayor Ed Pawlowski hosted the fourth and final public meeting on the city?s proposed Water & Sewer Privatization plan on Thursday night. Pawlowski spent the majority of the meeting reviewing the reasons as to why the city is in need of this proposed plan.

The main focus of this plan is to decrease or eliminate the current Minimum Municipal Obligation of the unfunded pension liability for police and firefighters.

The unfunded actuarial liability hovers above $130 million and is only being 51.5% funded. Pawlowski mentioned that the city is not yet in a deficit but will be within the next year. According to Pawlowski?s documentation presented at the meeting, the city has around $2 million in the General Funding Budget, which is a 77% decline since 2008.

Pawlowski told the audience that within the last four years the city?s mandatory contribution to the Fire and Police Departments has grown to $15 million, which is 20% of the current city budget. He predicted that the MMO would exceed $23 million within the next three years, which would be 28% of the budget.

The mayor went into detail as to why other ideas to solve this financial crisis were not chosen. He mentioned that if the city was to just raise property taxes to pay off the MMO, Allentown would have a 35% increase on their taxes which, according to Pawlowski, is already the highest in the Lehigh Valley. This increase would only pay off the MMO and not the rest of the pension debt issue that Allentown faces.

Pawlowski also brought up that this would not include the school taxes, which are also being raised by 5% every year for the next five years.

He then discussed why renting or leasing the parking garages across the city would not bring in the amount of revenue needed to tackle the problem. ?The parking decks are only being used 2% of the time after 5 PM on weekdays, and only 3% anytime on weekends. At most this would bring in around $15 million,? said Pawlowski.

When asked if this type of concession lease has been successful before, Pawlowski mentioned that it has been successful in Europe for decades. Most recently, in the United States, the city of Bayonne, NJ entered into a concession lease similar to the proposed one for Allentown for $150 million. Pawlowski believes that there is a possibility that this lease could bring in enough revenue to completely wipe out the city?s overall debt, as well as solve the unfunded pension liability.

Pawlowski will no longer be holding public meetings on this proposed lease agreement, although he stated he would continue to answer any question online from the public. He plans to take this lease agreement before City Council next month for a vote to move forward. ?[City Council] will be voting on the language of the lease as well as the concept,? said Pawlowski.

If the lease agreement is moved forward by City Council, the next step is to begin accepting proposals from pre-qualified bidders on the project. Pawlowski hopes to award the lease agreement by the end of the year.

Source: http://www.wfmz.com/news/news-regional-lehighvalley/Allentown-Mayor-Ed-Pawlowski-hosts-final-public-meeting-on-proposed-lease-agreement/-/132502/16245008/-/x2dlbmz/-/index.html

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South Africa May Declare ?Wine War? Against Britain To Protect Jobs

South Africa?s wine industry is irate over British supermarkets? practice of importing the product in bulk rather than in individual bottles (a step that could jeopardize thousands of South African bottling jobs).

By purchasing wine in bulk, the liquid is moved in tankers to a port, placed in giant containers and transported to Britain -- where local labelers and bottlers place it in individual bottles.

Since 2008, the Guardian reported the percentage of South African wine bottled and packaged domestically has declined from 55 percent to 44 percent.

UK retail giants like Sainsbury and Tesco prefer to buy and move wine in bulk because they can transport higher volumes of the product at a cheaper cost.

However, the Pretoria government complained that 700 bottling jobs have already been lost due to Britain?s growing preference for doing its own packaging.

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Stephen Hanival, chief director of agro-processing at South Africa's trade and industry department, told the Guardian: "We certainly hope that the developments on bulk wine don't lead to any kind of trade war between either South Africa, the UK or any of the European Union countries with whom we trade extensively. However, South Africa does have a responsibility to protect its trade interests. Our view is that this is a serious risk to the South African wine industry."

The Wines of South Africa organization, which promotes wine exports, estimates that the local wine industry sheds 107 jobs for every 10 million liters of bulk wine exported.

Hanival further warned that this practice of bulk buying could be extended to other exports like fruits.

South Africa and Britain also have a severe trade imbalance with respect to alcohol ? in 2011, South Africa exported wine valued at ?75 million to the UK, while importing ?129 million of British whisky.

"Why shouldn't South Africa be importing bulk whisky from the UK and bottling it locally, so that we can at least attempt to prevent some of the job losses that we've seen up to now spreading to other parts of the economy?" Hanival asked.

Wine has been cultivated in sunny South Africa for over three hundred years ? and according to the Guardian, the 2012 harvest is expected to be one of the largest in history.

The country?s wine exports have jumped by more than 200 percent between 1998 and 2010 ? Britain is the top consumer of its packaged wine.

Since 2005, the amount of wine produced by South African wineries has climbed from 628.5 million gross liters to 831.2 million last year, according to WOSA.

South Africa is the world?s seventh largest wine producer.

Source: http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/376854/20120824/south-african-wine-britain-bulk-bottled-exports.htm

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Pre-iPhone launch is getting crowded: Motorola/Google, Microsoft and now Amazon are all opening for Apple

August 23, 2012 at 4:36 pm

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When word that Apple was planning an iPhone launch in September this year hit, the other big guys in the space all seemed to get?scurrying. Microsoft?s Windows 8/Nokia event was planned for September 5th?in New York City and announced on August 15th.

Google subsidiary Motorola planned an event for that same Day in New York City (easy for the Tech Press!). Invites went out on August 17th. Droid RAZR HD is the likely main event.

Today, Amazon announced that it would be having an event in LA in which it will likely reveal?successors?to the Kindle Fire which may include a 10-inch tablet and perhaps even a phone.

Why are these guys all lining up Apple to be the main event for the holidays? ?Why not wait until after Apple?s event? Google moving Google I/O until after the WWDC event certainly seemed to help the Nexus 7?

It doesn?t matter. ?These three major players will all get their few days of fame and then totally get washed out by the iPhone event on the 12th.

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