I wonder how many people remember the Greek myth about Pandora? Look it up on Wikipedia at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pandora if you don't!

"In Greek mythology, Pandora was the first woman. Each god helped create her by giving her unique gifts. Zeus ordered her creation as a punishment for mankind, in retaliation for Prometheus' having stolen fire and then giving it to humans for their use. She is most famous for carrying a jar (pithos) (or box) containing all the world's evils. She releases these evils, but closes the lid before Hope can escape."

There is a modern PANDORA right here in Australia.

PANDORA is actually an acronym for "Preserving and Accessing Networked Documentary Resources of Australia." accompanied by the PANDAS or "The PANDORA Digital Archiving System"

How wonderful to know that this Federal government has released all the world's evils and kept back hope while the mechanism which manages the content is named after one of the most endangered species on the planet.

Someone seems to have a sense of humour in government or are they just mocking us with their lack of accountability?

PANDORA THE BOX, well pandora is something that you open and we the forgotten australians are and have opened the pandora box ,and the goverment of australia needs to admitt to the truth of the rapes and abuse that the children of australia suffered in their state run institutions , orphaanages,girls homes ,boys homes, remand centres, foster homes out of home care ,and church homes, we are the victims of horriffic crimes that the australian goverment are still covering up and, are trying their best to sweep us under the carpet, we will not be forgotten and we will continue our fight for justice, they the goverment are protcting those pedophiles that work for the states of australia ,not only that they tip off the pedophiles, so they don't get captured, as we have seen in recent months ,

huffnpuff, the reason why paedophiles are literally protected is because peadophiles in general know very early in their lives that their tendency is very wrong. So, to get away with their abhorrent practices they enter professions which afford them the protection they enjoy.
I think you already know what these professions are.
On the other end of the scale I did surprise a 70 year old community elder about 20 years ago while he was fondling a girl of about 8 and when I told another comunity member about it the answer was "ha,ha, that dirty old bugger".

garpet, are you referring to the establishment of a database for the management and control of dissidents? well, of everyone actually..

yep, '1984' style society is creeping up on little cat feet. it's your fault, you know. you and all those other docile, house-trained sheep that pass themselves off as citizens of a democracy.

you get the government you deserve.

no organization, no education, no determination, results in no freedom.

DEMOS, I am afraid that your comment and the ones before yours completely misses my points.

Since computing began in earnest the way that people have kept records in business and especially in government have changed. No longer do we keep paper records as we have done for eons, we now have electronic messages and 'records'. The "technotronic era" has resulted in governments and businesses being able to be less accountable simply because there is less chance of anyone being able to find a trace of communications and other "documents". It is in THIS context that I tried to look light heartedly at the wit of those who have named their document and records management processes after Pandora's box AND then used the name of an endangered species to name the system that controls it all.

I guess I should have posted to a more erudite group - you and your colleagues obviously don't get it!

perhaps, garapet , you would be happier in a closed tech site. this one's is primarily about current affairs, politics in particular.

you are wrong to disparage the importance of data mangement in population control: it's not the inability to touch paper documents that will put inconvenient people in a box. it's power and motivation increasingly aided by technicians.