Fauna

Something about this sentence delights me:  Considering that the entire Australian fauna seems to have gone to school on the short bus,  even Neanderthal-class hunters would have caused a mass extinction.  Denisovians in Wallacea?

Tracking citizens

The US and Australia have a very different approach to identity and citizen tracking. In some ways, the system in the US promotes the activities it supposedly prevents.

In Australia, you have to verify your identity to obtain a cell phone number. The government isn't specifically tracking people, but requires telecommunications companies to retain two years of data, in case law enforcement does need the data. And of course with national health care, the government has access to everyone's health information - even addresses are linked to identity in this system.

In the US, on the other hand, because people are paranoid about the government tracking people, there is a paranoia about identity cards, databases, and the government being able to follow people. Anyone can get a cell phone number using whatever name they like. There are many different databases (most have been hacked by now). The social security number is used as a de facto national identity (making identity theft an amateur occupation). Health information has for the past 10+ years been used to deny people insurance coverage (new laws prohibit this, but everyone is still wary). And of course, we all know that in the absence of other means, the government has developed methods for recording every phone conversation.

And I'm wondering - have Australia's databases not been hacked (except by Rupert Murdoch), or have they just managed to not get the breaches in the news?