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Trade Me

Entry 74, on 2004-10-26 at 16:02:42 (Rating 1, News)

I was amused to see, this morning, that someone has tried to sell New Zealand's foreshore and seabed on the country's main Internet trading site "TradeMe". It was advertised as having "one careful owner". Various bids were received, including some blankets and a musket, a second hand car (for Stewart Island) and $900 billion. Of course, it was all done for a joke to highlight the current debacle over legislating for ownership of the foreshore and seabed.

The ad was pulled after about a day to because the site management considered it destroyed its serious reputation. The person who placed the ad used an anonymous email and couldn't be traced. Even if he was (and I'm sure it would be possible) what would he be charged with: conspiring to commit witty political satire?

I don't think I want to give my opinion on this proposed law at this point - maybe it would be a good topic for a future blog entry. All I will say is that the main problem in getting the perfect balance is that both sides dislike it equally!

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