42 is not the answer!

Desperate Brown scrapes through
Frankly I am appalled that anyone in their right mind would oversell the threat posed by terrorists to such an extent that they feel that one of the mainstays of the British legal system should be done away with totally.
The only people that feel that they need a whole 42 days to question people are the police themselves, and quite frankly they are wrong!
Personally I am disgusted by those politicians who allowed themselves to be swayed by the "sweetening" of the deal. You are morally bankrupt, and you should step down from your positions, you have no mandate to rule any more!

UK ID cards possibly put back two years.

The BBC are reporting that National ID cards could well be put back two years.
While this may seem like the government are finally listening to the public and taking our criticism in, I have another take on this.
Should they decide to out them back by two years as reported, I am sure that the only reason they are doing this is to give the UK public time to forget their appalling record on data security (see the "Nothing to fear?" article below). I am sure that by 2012, most people will have forgotten how useless the British government are at not loosing vital information.
Perhaps I am being cynical, but until I hear that they have given up on this pointless waste of taxpayers money, I won't rest easy.

Duplicated.

My fears about our data based society have hit home hard as at the end of 2007, someone was able to duplicate my debit card, and use it to buy goods totalling nearly £700 ($1400). I have determined to be even more careful about where and how I use my debit card from now on, but really it is just too easy to copy this kind of information.
With the encryption that will be used in the UK I.D. cards already cracked, how can the government even think of introducing a technology that will make I.D. theft even easier?!

Nothing to fear?

Just a quick heads up for all those who are happy to give away personal freedoms and then say "if you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear!". Well, whether I have anything to hide or not, I still have plenty to fear, for instance, the UK government losing 25 million (and thats British millions, not the more paltry US millions) personal details of people who have had contact with the UK Child protection agency. So thats, names, addresses, bank details (tho, fortunately not the actual logins) etc. Nothing to fear now?

Judge suggests that UK become one massive DNA database!

Quite astounding! I really can't believe that anyone in their right minds would think that this is a good idea. So instead of actually doing something about the (potential) human rights problem here, he is suggesting that we make it worse!
Were my DNA kept on record for simply being at the same place where a crime had been committed, I would be livid!
It is quite possible to have your DNA sample taken and kept on record indefinitely even though no-one has suggested that you have committed a crime yourself ,in this country.
Were we all to be forced to submit to DNA sampling "in case" we should ever commit a crime in future, I for one would be very worried about the government's use of such information, particularly as it has already shown that it is perfectly willing to sell such information to the highest bidder.
I would like to see this idiot judge made to stand down immediately for such a suggestion!

Speed or cash?

The avalanche of newsworthy stories continues unabated, but it is getting difficult to pick out the ones worthy of attention. I keep looking at items and thinking, is this yet another assault on personal freedoms or just a random hiccup. I recently noticed that a new form of speed cam has been introduced , this one they reliably inform us is vandal proof (so, vandals have stopped using paint now have they?) and can monitor several lanes at once with up to four cameras. It's base is also buried into the ground and made of thick steel, so no more cutting them down, however, quite a few UK Gatso style cameras have been burned down.
I also have to question the thinking behind this kind of camera. If as suggested, they can now be painted to blend into the surroundings, they are not a deterrent to speeding in of themselves (how can they be, you don't know they are there if you are not from that area, and you just slow down in the area if you know it is there, then speed back up again afterwards). So they are not to make people slow down, then they must be there for revenue purposes, exactly what the government have always insisted they are not for. I notice that these cameras are significanly cheaper to install then the Gatso type, and can cover several lanes, so revenues are going to increase significantly with these machines.
Strike one more against the little guy who accidentally steps over the limit.

At last!

The return of Harbour waves, sorry about this, I know all you thousands of people have been waiting patiently for this (right...) but for some reason my Google account hasn't been letting my into my blog of late.
Anyway, we are back and posting and there has been a lot to post about of late!
In fact too much to cover with the little time I have available to me :(
I will be updating again soon with further ponderings on the state (and it is in a hell of a state) of personal privacy in the UK and other things that take my fancy.

Tsunami

Ignore the populace at your peril!

So, President Blair has decided that one million eight hundred thousand (give or take a few) signatories to a petition does not require a review of policy on road pricing.
I do hope he realises that if that many people turned up to vote for the Conservatives instead of Labor at the last election would almost certainly have mean that his party would be sitting in opposition right now (although I very much doubt he would still be in charge of it).
Beware Mr Blair, ignore the very people who vote for you at your peril.
However, the big problem for UK voters is, who else can you vote for? The Tories have already proven themselves to be untrustworthy in power, and I would be a little surprised if the UK populace fell for a "New Conservatives" trick like the one that Labor pulled off so effectively. After all, at least the Labor party actually changed their policies (and in doing so, became the real new conservatives). Where can the Conservative party go? Even further right, or do they try to take the middle ground? Somehow I can't really see them heading left any time soon.
That only really leaves the Liberals (the UKIP party is a joke right?). Well, to be honest, they have hardly endeared themselves to the majority of car drivers (remember, that's where I started this rant :-)) by suggesting a £6000 road tax...
And as far as general suitability to run a country, they are even less likely to be able too than Labor was all those years ago when they returned to power.
So, who can we vote for? I don't have the answer, sorry...

Phil

'Friendly fire' video unearthed

The Sun newspaper says it has obtained the cockpit video at the centre of a row over the "friendly-fire" death of a British soldier in Iraq.
An inquest into the death of Lance Corporal of Horse Matty Hull, 25, from Berks, was adjourned after the coroner said the tape was central to the case.
The MoD said it was classified "secret" by the US, so could not be released.

----

And so they are hunting for the person who leaked the video to the press. Personaly I say they should give them an award, surely it can't be legal to hide one's blunders in war by declaring them"secret"...

Or is this something our military do all the time?

Time to own up to our mistakes, after all if they are genuine, then the parties involved can't realy be held responsible, after all, the fog of war should only allow for mistakes, not the covering of them up afterwards.

Where i work

Back!

And we return!
Sorry about the gap, been having problems logging into the new version of Blogger, but all sorted now.
We will continue to bring you the latest in our magnificent government's attack on civil liberties, and other related and otherwise comments.

Tsunami

Britain is 'surveillance society'

Britain is "waking up to a surveillance society that is already all around us," the government's Information Commissioner has said.

I have to admit that I find this quite something coming as it is from the government itself! This government (and the preceding Conservative one) has resided over the eroding of personal privacy, an in some cases, gleefully added fuel to the fire, reducing our right to privacy.
Meanwhile, people who have been watching this with a massive sense of despair must feel driven to say "I told you so".
I do...

Blair refuses to 'undermine troops' with Iraq inquiry

Tania Branigan, political correspondent Tuesday October 31, 2006 The Guardian

The prime minister has refused to give in to demands for an inquiry into the war in Iraq because it would undermine British troops on active service, his official spokesman insisted before today's Commons vote on the issue.

Undermine who? The troops in Iraq are already undermined by the Labour government due to being improperly supplied.
No the real worry for Tony Blair isn't the undermining of UK troops, but the undermining of his government, and more specifically himself. That puts the fear in him more than any possible outcome in Iraq.

Failure to pay attention main road crash cause

Drivers' failure to pay attention, rather than speed, is now the main cause of road accidents, according to government figures published yesterday.
Motoring groups campaigning against speed cameras urged the government to shift the emphasis of safety campaigns from speed to drivers' concentration and avoidance of distractions such as phones, music and satellite navigation systems.

And speed cameras?
I personally find that my attention is, on occasion, distracted from the road, by suddenly having to check that I am not driving at 3mph over the limit. At lease one set of figures show that road accidents have increased in areas where speedcams have been installed. Personally, I feel that reducing the speed limit in sensitive areas (outside schools, hospitals etc.) would be a far more effective way of reducing accidents.

Apple sues more pods

Apple is taking action against more companies it believes are using the word "pod" unfairly.

The company behind two services - Podcastready and Mypodder - has received cease and desist letters ordering it to stop using the phrases which, lawyers claim, consumers could confuse with Apple products.


Wow, talk about arrogance! When they eventualy get round to suing Santa pod, should we remind them that it has been in existance much longer then the iPod, and perhaps the owners should instead be suing Apple?

Spike Milligan

Are you going to come quietly, or do I have to use earplugs?

Campaign in Iraq has increased terrorism threat, says American intelligence report

· Views of 16 government agencies pooled
· Study contradicting Bush was not made public

An authoritative US intelligence report pooling the views of 16 government agencies concludes America's campaign in Iraq has increased the threat of terrorism.

I have trouble beliving that anyone who hasn't benifited financially from the war in Iraq could contend that it hasn't increased the likelyhood of terrorist attacks. The rise of islamic fundamentalism in the UK is the most obvious and immidiate result, as young islamists see what they feel is the repression of their religion.

EU denies Vista vendetta

Red tape vs Redmond...the never ending story

The European Commission has hit back at suggestions it has got it in for Microsoft over security features built into the heavily-delayed Windows Vista.
In a letter to the Financial Times, competition commissioner Neelie Kroes protested: "I have seen it suggested that the Commission may seek to prevent Microsoft from improving the security of its operating system. This is categorically not the case.

And after saying something sensible, the EU comes up with something ridiculous. Of course they have it in for Microsoft, it is pretty obvious from recent events that they have. The important thing is that they regulate the likes of Microsoft, not legislate against them purely because they are the dominant force in OS manufacture. I feel that recently, the EU has slipped towards the latter rather than the former.

Terrorism no excuse for privacy breaches, says EU regulator

No need to change laws
Terrorism and organised crime should not be used as excuses for passing laws which undermine people's privacy and data protection rights, according to the European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS). Existing laws do not need changed, he said.
In an update on data protection in Europe, EDPS Peter Hustinx said that security concerns were not an adequate reason to undermine data protection principles.

Wow, common sense coming from the EU, who would have thought?
Of course, it is unikely that Tony Blair will take any notice of this, as it gets in the way of his plans to TAKE OVER THE WORLD!!!!! Ahem, er no, get in the way of his plan to snoop into every private conversation held by E-mail.