Millions of children to be fingerprinted

EU rules could make it compulsory for all UK children to have their fingerprints stored on a database.

You know, maybe I was wrong in my previous post about this not becoming a Big brother society. I realy can't see why anyone would think that this is a good idea unless you had some kind of "control freakery" driven agenda. This is the kind of thing that gives the EU a bad name, and drives calls for the UK to leave it. It is a shame that the UK newspapers don't publicise all the good that being in the EU does this country as well as they do this kind of stupid thinking.

Has Orwell's '1984' Come 22 Years Later?

gabec asks: "This weekend my mother bought a grille lighter, something like this butane lighter. The self-scanner at Kroger's locked itself up and paged a clerk, who had to enter our drivers license numbers into her kiosk before we could continue.

Has gabec even read 1984? While I have to admit that I feel that this government has pushed invasion of privacy to new and unacceptable levels, they are still a long way from declaring unautherised sex a crime. No, they will probably be doing that next year...

"Invisible" Rootkit found in the wild

"Invisible" Rootkit found in the wild

It was only a matter of time before this happened. I guess that whoever invented rootkits is not feeling very clever now...

Isaac Asimov

"If knowledge can create problems, it is not through ignorance that we can solve them."

Alfred E. Newman

"Crime does not pay ... as well as politics."

Charles Lamb

"Lawyers, I suppose, were children once."


That is a vicious rumour!

U-turn on Guantánamo rights

White House says all prisoners in US military custody entitled to protection under Geneva conventions.

And about bloody time too. I wonder if the prisoners will be allowed to sue the US government for imprisoning them without tirial for so long, but shouldn't think it is very likely. I would like to bet that this has nothing to do with human rights, and everything to do with officials worrying that it makes them (Bush, whose approval ratings are lower than they have ever been) look bad.

Home Office stands by ID cards

Says project is not on the rocks

The Home Office has denied claims that the national identity card programme is on the skids.…

So that is the final nail in the coffin for ID cards then... Good!

Terror warnings to be published

A system that will warn the public about the threat of a terrorist attack is to be announced by the government.

Becouse we obviously just aren't afraid enough for some people.

Threats prompt Mac switch advice

A leading security firm has advised that computer users should think about using Macs to avoid malicious threats.


This has to be some of the dumbest advice I have ever heard! So we all switch to Macs, and the next thing that happens is so do all the virus writers... Then we will really see how secure OS-X is.

Paul Fix

"The only reason some people get lost in thought is because it's unfamiliar territory."

Bill Vaughan

"Suburbia is where the developer bulldozes out the trees, then names the streets after them."

Kelvin Throop III

"Isn't it interesting that the same people who laugh at science fiction listen to weather forecasts and economists?"

28-day terror limit 'inadequate'

MPs say the 28-day limit for police to hold terror suspects needs to be extended - but with safeguards.


When will they learn that no, you can't have carte blanche to lock people away for a month without charging them, means no!
This shouldn't even be re-occuring after the government voted against it.

Paranoia appears more common

One in three people in the UK regularly suffers paranoid or suspicious fears, clinical psychologists have found.

Just because....

James Branch Cabell

"The optimist proclaims that we live in the best of all possible worlds; and the pessimist fears this is true."

Internet users face congestion charge

Technology: Britain 'could be next' as US businesses seek pay-for-speed scheme.

And then what happens when people decide not to route through areas that have a two tier system? Could those areas actually become internet backwaters, where users simply don't go unless they have to to avoid paying charges?
And then it is of course possible that some US telcos will use the lack of a two tier system as a selling point, meaning that parts of the US there will be two tier, and other parts it will be as it is now, with an open system. Confusion reigns.

German experts want search engines to be monitored

Google too powerful?

German experts at a Berlin seminar this week argued that search engines need
to be more regulated. They want companies such as Google, Microsoft, and Yahoo!
to exercise editorial control over their search results and filter out sites
with x-rated content or that glorify aggression.

Strange, I seem to remember just recently reading somewhere, that one of the very worst things that the likes of Google could ever do is exert editorial control over search results....

'Blue Pill' Prototype Creates 100% Undetectable Malware

A security researcher with expertise in rootkits has built a working prototype of new technology that is capable of creating malware that remains "100 percent undetectable," even on Windows Vista x64 systems.

Oh, that is SUCH a good idea, I feel so much better now. At this point, you just have to ask why did they even bother?

Penis pump judge faces stiff sentence

Used device 'while sitting in judgment of others', court hears

A retired US judge is himself before the beak in Bristow, Oklahoma, "on charges he used a penis pump on himself in the courtroom while sitting in judgment of others", AP reports.

Of course, judges are themselves not above the law...
I hope they put him away for a long stretch!