Right to Privacy

7 April 2009 at 11:52 am (Bad things happen, You decide)

Internet data-retention law comes into force

Internet service providers will have to retain details of Internet communications, including email, under UK law which came into force on Monday.

The Data Retention (EC Directive) Regulations 2009 require service providers to retain details of user Internet access, email and Internet telephony for 12 months. ISPs must also be able to respond to access requests by law enforcement and other designated authorities.

The details of UK citizens’ communications to be retained include which websites people have visited or attempted to visit; the sender, recipient, date and time of emails; and the caller and recipient of Internet telephone calls.

Read more

What this means is that every web site, email and telephone call that you make not only can be monitored if you are suspected of some heinous villainy but will be monitored and retained for 12 months. 

Quite how this will help to stop terrorism or organised crime escapes me.  I could take a laptop to a Witherspoon’s pub or other free Internet access location such as almost anywhere where people have set up free wifi access points for me to use. (Thank you).  I could use a free Internet mail account with some bogus details to plot my nefarious activities.  If I wanted to I could set up a simple device on my laptop to mask my network card’s MAC address.  A simply dongle, router or disposable mobile phone would do.  I would be anonymous again.

Presumably the EU is operating on the assumption that people who want to blow things up are stupid as well as misguided.  The two do not automatically go together. 

I wonder what happens when I email one of my American, Canadian or Australian chums?  They can track my sending an email but not what happens to it?    If I send it to a googlemail account it could literally go anywhere and remain private.  Actually I could set up my own email server, dial into an Australian ISP and route messages that way.  I believe that there are still Aussie Internet hosts that operate out of remote sheep farms and such.  I don’t want to stretch the bounds of national stereotypes too far but I’m sure there are a few.

This law is simply an invasion of my privacy and the privacy of anyone else in the EU.  I will be writing to my MP and MEPs (you can find your’s here and here) asking them to campaign to repeal this pointless and intrusive law.

4 Comments

Simple question

3 February 2009 at 12:38 pm (Modern Etiquette, You decide)

Why are banks “too big to fail”?

Back in the olden days there was a saying that went like this:

Don’t put all your eggs in one basket. 

The general idea being that a distribution of eggs throughout several container would mitigate the loss of one container and damage to said eggs whereas a single container results in the loss of all eggs if the container somehow fails.  In banking the analogy is that the banks are the baskets and the eggs are our money.

Fairly obvious really.  Why is it then that banks and other large corporations are allowed to grow to such a size that failure of any one of them can result in disaster for the whole economy?  Shouldn’t there be some kind of monopolies commission, government body or something in place to stop companies from growing too large and threatening the stability of society?  Just a thought.

This is also an excuse to post this picture:

3 Comments

Are you a hardcore atheist?

16 December 2008 at 6:05 pm (Atheist, You decide)
Tags: , , ,

Stolen from Hemant.

  1. Participated in the Blasphemy Challenge.
  2. Met at least one of the “Four Horsemen” (Richard Dawkins, Daniel Dennett, Christopher Hitchens, Sam Harris) in person.
  3. Created an atheist blog.
  4. Used the Flying Spaghetti Monster in a religious debate with someone.
  5. Gotten offended when someone called you an agnostic.
  6. Been unable to watch Growing Pains reruns because of Kirk Cameron.
  7. Own more Bibles than most Christians you know.
  8. Have at least one Bible with your personal annotations regarding contradictions, disturbing parts, etc.
  9. Have come out as an atheist to your family.
  10. Attended a campus or off-campus atheist gathering.
  11. Are a member of an organized atheist/Humanist/etc. organization.
  12. Had a Humanist wedding ceremony.
  13. Donated money to an atheist organization.
  14. Have a bookshelf dedicated solely to Richard Dawkins.
  15. Lost the friendship of someone you know because of your non-theism.
  16. Tried to argue or have a discussion with someone who stopped you on the street to proselytize.
  17. Hid your atheist beliefs on a first date because you didn’t want to scare him/her away.
  18. Own a stockpile of atheist paraphernalia (bumper stickers, buttons, shirts, etc).
  19. Attended a protest that involved religion.
  20. Attended an atheist conference.
  21. Subscribe to Pat Condell’s YouTube channel.
  22. Started an atheist group in your area or school.
  23. Successfully “de-converted” someone to atheism.
  24. Have already made plans to donate your body to science after you die.
  25. Told someone you’re an atheist only because you wanted to see the person’s reaction.
  26. Had to think twice before screaming “Oh God!” during sex. Or you said something else in its place.
  27. Lost a job because of your atheism.
  28. Formed a bond with someone specifically because of your mutual atheism (meeting this person at a local gathering or conference doesn’t count).
  29. Have crossed “In God We Trust” off of — or put a pro-church-state-separation stamp on — dollar bills.
  30. Refused to recite the Pledge of Allegiance.
  31. Said “Gesundheit!” (or nothing at all) after someone sneezed because you didn’t want to say “Bless you!”
  32. Have ever chosen not to clasp your hands together out of fear someone might think you’re praying.
  33. Have turned on Christian TV because you need something entertaining to watch.
  34. Are a 2nd or 3rd (or more) generation atheist.
  35. Have “atheism” listed on your Facebook or dating profile — and not a euphemistic variant.
  36. Attended an atheist’s funeral (i.e. a non-religious service).
  37. Subscribe to an freethought magazine (e.g. Free Inquiry, Skeptic)
  38. Have been interviewed by a reporter because of your atheism.
  39. Written a letter-to-the-editor about an issue related to your non-belief in God.
  40. Gave a friend or acquaintance a New Atheist book as a gift.
  41. Wear pro-atheist clothing in public.
  42. Have invited Mormons/Jehovah’s Witnesses into your house specifically because you wanted to argue with them.
  43. Have been physically threatened (or beaten up) because you didn’t believe in God.
  44. Receive Google Alerts on “atheism” (or variants).
  45. Received fewer Christmas presents than expected because people assumed you didn’t celebrate it.
  46. Visited The Creation Museum or saw Ben Stein’s Expelled just so you could keep tabs on the “enemy.”
  47. Refuse to tell anyone what your “sign” is… because it doesn’t matter at all.
  48. Are on a mailing list for a Christian organization just so you can see what they’re up to…
  49. Have kept your eyes open while you watched others around you pray.
  50. Avoid even Unitarian churches because they’re too close to religion for you.

Only 21.  Tsk, I’m barely atheist at all.  Of course I blame the high number of USA specific questions for my low score.  Dollars indeed.  Flipping monopoly money, English ten pound notes have Charles Darwin on them, that’s hardcore.

10 Comments

Barnardo’s

15 December 2008 at 6:45 am (You decide)
Tags:

I hate this advert.  It is too effective, too emotive and too frightening to ignore.  How do we break the cycle?

4 Comments

Cluster bombs

4 December 2008 at 3:03 pm (You decide)

Did you know that we in Great Britain are now proud signatories to the Convention on Cluster Munitions?  We signed up yesterday.  Sadly our cousins in North America, China and Russia are still happy to use cluster bombs to blow up their enemies.  Their enemies are clearly unarmed civilians and children as, according to the group Handicap International, 98 percent of cluster bomb victims are civilians, and 27 percent are children.

Love has commented on the historic moment and The Daily Mash has their own unique take on it  

Hilary Clinton supported the unrestricted use of cluster bombs so I don’t see a change of policy from the incoming US foreign secretary.  Hopefully I’m wrong about that and that nice Barack Obama will brief her and get her to support a change in policy.  He’s good at the message of change after all.

I shall be writing to my MP like a proper grown up person and asking him* to seek further restrictions on the use of these despicable weapons.  I would certainly like to see a ban on production and sale as well as use and I’ll be asking him to push for that.  If you want to do something then you could sign the ePetition on the government’s web site or you could write to your MP.

The idea is to stop more injuries like this:

*I know who he is but you can find out who your MP is from www.theyworkforyou.com

2 Comments

Economist help required

14 November 2008 at 3:02 pm (Bad things happen, Shitbiscuits, You decide)

Money, its a crime. Share it fairly but don't take a slice of my pie.The newspaper headlines this week are packed with political tales of which party is promising the biggest tax cuts.  I’m not an economist so you’ll forgive my ignorance I’m sure.  Didn’t the world’s governments just throw trillions of tax payer’s money at the financial markets to prevent them from collapsing?  Did I just dream that or something?

Please correct me if I’m wrong about this but these trillions of dollars have to come from somewhere don’t they?  The £500 billion that my government took to pay the banks so that tey could lend it back to us with interest, that came from the taxes that we pay doesn’t it.  It could be direct taxation from income, taxation on the things we buy or taxation on business that produce things or sell services.  Every time there is a transaction of some kind the state takes a cut. 

They use this money to pay themselves, keep the NHS functioning, pay for the two wars that we’re involved with, give cash to Europe, pay for unemployment and pensions, pay for roads, libraries, policemen and women, pay for social care of all kinds (we can see how well that is funded), education for our children, independent scientific research and a whole host of other things. 

Taking £500 bn of that money away means one of two things to me, as I’m not an expert at all.

  1. They will need to cut spending on all the publically funded things that they could have spent the money on.
  2. They’ve borrowed it and will have to pay it back with interest.  This will mean that there will be less money to spend on publically funded things.

I’m sure I’m going to just go out there nwo and put my ignorance on my sleeve for all to see.  If there is less money in the pot to spend on things because it’s been spent already then doesn’t this mean that the state needs to recoup that loss in order to keep spending by raising taxes?  Or reduce public services.  One of the two.  Surely?

Reducing taxes will reduce the amount of money the government can skim and less money will be coming in to the public’s coffers.  Have I got this wrong somewhere?  OK, people will have more money in their pockets and so might spend more which will lead to more transactions where the state skims a bit off the top but if that is the case then why not cut the tax burden right down to nearly nothing and the country will be rich.  We’ll have wonderful public services because we’ll all have cash falling out of our ears and the state will be there to pick up our scrappings.

Tell me lies, Tell me sweet little liesI suspect that it is a Big Lie to get votes.  Come on politicians, you can be honest with us, we’re not stupid.  We understand that things might be tough and we might be a bit skint for a bit, tell us that and let us bite the bullet now so we get it over with all the quicker.  Honestly, we’ll thank you for it in the end.  A Big Lie just makes us distrust you all the more.  So, stop that.  Stop it at once.

It can’t be that easy?  What have i missed?

5 Comments

Bad Mood

7 November 2008 at 1:24 pm (Modern Etiquette, Reasons to be cheerful, Shitbiscuits, You decide)

There are some people in this world who just don’t seem to understand that they irritate other people.  I am not one of these.  I know that I annoy lots of people, I know that I am pedantic, sarcastic and occasionally mean.  I can be intolerant of views and downright condescending when people do things that go directly against the actions that they could take if they bothered to look at the evidence.  People on diets tend to receive my scorn for example.  Diets are utterly ineffectual except for temporary weight loss.  What is need instead is a change in eating habits for sustainable health in most people coupled with an increase in exercise.  People who try diet after diet but lose no weight need to give up diets, go for a walk and eat their greens.

This isn’t about diets.  This is about people who are annoying but don’t know that they are annoying. Mrs The Pain in our office is one such person.  She wrongly believes that everything that she says is cute, funny and amusing.  In fact this is rarely the case.  Most often what she says is just plain stupid.  She also seems to think that the world revolves around her.

I got to work this morning with my usual alacrity.  I have a modest walk to work of about two miles which usually warms my muscles and gets the blood flowing so my excess heat can be dissipated and I don’t overheat.  However Mrs The Pain thinks that I will be freezing cold when I arrive at work because she drives to the door and then sits in a chair gossiping on the phone.  Despite assumptions about talking and hot air this doesn’t warm a body much.  Mrs The Pain also wears clothing suitable for a central heated house, heated car or summer walk on the beech.  She makes no change for approaching winter weather except to turn the radiators on in the office.

When I arrive at work it is always uncomfortably hot.  Typically it’s 25ºC (77ºF in American) which I would usually consider to be hot.  The radiators are all on and the windows are tightly closed.  In previous winters I’ve sat down and opened my window till the temperature drops to a more acceptable 21ºC although I’d be happier at 19ºC.  I’d take off surplus clothing but I already wear the minimum.  Apparently opening a window when you’re too hot is an issue that makes people complain and “piss off to another office” isn’t an acceptable response.  I’ve tried underhanded tactics like turning the boiler off and I’ve tried being reasonable but she persists in keeping to her own view that it is too cold so the heating goes on.

A compromise would help.  I could be a little too warm and she would wear a cardigan, she could leave the heating off and I could leave my window closed.  I’ve suggested as much but Mrs The Pain is unmoved.  If she is cold then the heating goes on.  I’ve even turned the boiler up and the radiators on full and taken the day off so she can experience a day of being far too hot.  She doesn’t care.  Her view is the only one that matters.

Anyway, today I arrive at the office and it’s like a furnace.  I hang my coat up and go outside to cool down but comment on the heat politely in the hope that she’ll turn it down a notch.  Apparently this means that I am in a bad mood.  I wasn’t until I’m told by Mrs The Pain that my being too hot and asking for some consideration in a shared office is a sign of my own bad attitude.  Now I’m in a stinking mood and am plotting how to torture, kill and dispose of her corpse.

Any suggestions?  We don’t need a patio at work so my first plan is out.  Such a shame really, no-one would ever think to look under a patio for a body.

8 Comments

Good for America

5 November 2008 at 1:33 pm (Reasons to be cheerful, You decide)

Barack ObamaWell, you’ve probably heard by now that Barack Obama is President elect of the United States.  Good for them.  It looks like they’ll have a leader who will make some real change to the way they conduct themselves as a world power. 

With a bit of luck we’ll get swept along too and stop going to war so much and stop colluding in the kidnapping and illegal imprisoning of free citizens in Cuba. 

Maybe we’ll stop pandering to big business and make an effort to help the people who make this country great and keep big businesses going. 

Maybe we’ll borrow an energy policy or two from US that will stop us being so reliant on the middle east for oil. 

Maybe we’ll see Obama’s medicare plan start to work and change the trend of our own NHS so that it is no longer allowed to slowly crumble.

Maybe education reform will ignite an interest in England on our own education system so that we have tests to assess learning and not tests to put schools in league tables.

Maybe the welfare system will be reformed to act as a safety net for people and not a way of life.  We should protect our citizens from hard times, not coddle them so they never seek to rise above our own limitations.  A raise in the minimum wage would be a start as would a change to the tax system.

Maybe a tax system that takes from those most able to afford it will be borrowed from Obama’s ideals and the average Jo Plumber will have a few quid extra to spend or save for old age, his parent’s retirement or his children’s education.

Maybe a separation of Church and state rigorously enforced by the new President will encourage our own government to end the peerage for religious leaders and keep the state and personal faith of her citizens apart for the preservation of both.

Maybe the interference in Iraq will end and allied troops will be able to finally withdraw without the nation erupting in civil war and hundreds of thousands more being killed and leaving the people open to the vile hate mongering of the enemies of the West, the Taliban and the message of al Qaeda that paints us as thieves and invaders.  Which is true for Iraq at least if not Afghanistan.

Maybe our own policy on war will change to reflect Obama’s idea of international cooperation and mutual defence rather than preemptive attacks and occupation.

Maybe the idea of equality for race, sexuality and gender embraced by the American people will spur our own flagging ideals a little.

Maybe the world will improve just a little because of the good decision of the American people yesterday.

I hope so. Time will tell.

EDIT:

Equality suffered a setback slightly today.  Proposition 8 defining marriage as an institution between a man and a woman got through 52% to 48%.  What that means to 18,000 gay marriages is anyone’s guess.

9 Comments

Paul Newman not dead. Now working in IT

10 October 2008 at 11:57 am (You decide)

I’ve just got an email from Paul Newman.  It’s a newsletter espousing the virtues of webcasts as training tools and as a method of extending reach to potential customers.

That aside, even though it was interesting, the writer was Paul Newman.  He’s not only the star of dozens of excellent and entertaining films, the producer of a fine range of salad dressings, a magnificent philanthropist in his own right and a supporter of the First Amendment in writing with an annual award of $20k but now he’s risen from the dead to work in IT.

I’m sure he’ll revolutionize the industry.  He’s been a success in almost every other part of his life.  I’m sure his second shot at it will be just as good.

Do you have any dubious links to fame like me?

1 Comment

Banks to lend you your own money

9 October 2008 at 6:55 am (Reasons to be cheerful, You decide)

Taken from the Daily Mash.

THE government is to invest £500bn of your money in British banks so they can lend it back to you with interest.

The historic move is being hailed as a lifeline for the financial system as long as nobody asks too many questions.

Julian Cook, chief economist at Corbett and Barker, said: “The government will give your money to the banks so the banks can start lending you that money, probably at around 7% APR.

“Thanks to all the interest you’re paying on your own money, the banks will make billions of pounds again and normality will be restored.

“After a few years of this the government will cash in the bank shares it bought with your money and use the profits to build a huge fucking dome somewhere.”

He added: “In case you hadn’t already worked it out – the entire global financial system is predicated on the assumption that you’re an idiot.”

Chancellor Alistair Darling said the decision had been taken in tandem with the banking industry, adding: “They used a lot of dirty words I’d never heard before and one of them had an angry looking dog.”

Meanwhile, Emma Bradford, a sales manager from Bath, said: “Why doesn’t the government just give my money to me so I can buy stuff from businesses who will then make a profit and put it in a bank?”

But Mr Darling insisted: “Shut up.”

—

I think the summary of the bail out of the banking industry is just about perfect.

3 Comments

« Older entries