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UK RIP Bill Reintroduced

AIM31 writes "The amendments to RIP bill in the UK, which gives the power to read email headers and history to such bodies as the Postal Service, is back. with amendments. Last time it was rejected after massive protest."

277 comments

  1. Hi. by rkz · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I live in the UK but the number of stupid laws is approaching american levels. Can somone recomend a country I could move to which protects the civil liberties of its citizens; prefrebaly English speaking? Thanks in advance.

    1. Re:Hi. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

      Jamaica.. Dope smokin' people are friendly people.. and they're too lazy to invent laws that are supposed to fuck up your lifestyle... Make sure you don't travel in the touristic centres.. The countryside is much safer..

    2. Re:Hi. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

      Canada. You can join the flood of "evil" potheads & free thinkers fleeing the police state that the US is becoming. And I know we aren't evil. But to George Bush and his cronies we sure are.

    3. Re:Hi. by Krunch · · Score: 1

      Antarctic ? no
      Moon ? Mars ?

      --
      No GNU has been Hurd during the making of this comment.
    4. Re:Hi. by twem2 · · Score: 1

      Beat me to it.
      I was going to ask the same thing.

      Think we need to get out of the EU at this rate as well.

    5. Re:Hi. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      dope is illegal in Jamica.

    6. Re:Hi. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      hahahah... and you're a concerned jamaican patriot huh?

    7. Re:Hi. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

      Canada is part of the Axis of Evil and will be LIBERATED. Love GWB.

    8. Re:Hi. by FrostedWheat · · Score: 4, Funny

      Get yourself a boat, and sail the high-seas! With a satellite internet link you could become a real music pirate! Arrrr!

    9. Re:Hi. by rkz · · Score: 1

      What happens when real pirates rob me?

    10. Re:Hi. by Alioth · · Score: 3, Informative

      The Isle of Man, where I live, is not part of the UK. We never implemented the RIP Act, and therefore this won't be implemented here either.

      There is one trouble: the island is full (you'll have a hard time finding somewhere to live). We've got lots of spaces, but planning regulations makes it incredibly difficult to build new houses. Unfortunately, lots of UK citizens have holiday homes here which are left empty most of the year, crimping supply for the rest of us who aren't afraid of Manx winters...

    11. Re:Hi. by Xugumad · · Score: 1

      There's a group of us that's eyeing Canada optimistically... Thoughts anyone?

    12. Re:Hi. by rkz · · Score: 1

      How is broadband there?

    13. Re:Hi. by Libor+Vanek · · Score: 1

      Just have a bigger gun :)

    14. Re:Hi. by billysara · · Score: 1

      "Yarrrrr!", surely? :-)

    15. Re:Hi. by blibbleblobble · · Score: 1

      "Can somone recomend a country I could move to which protects the civil liberties of its citizens; prefrebaly?? English speaking? Thanks in advance."

      You're welcome:

      http://www.sealandgov.com/

    16. Re:Hi. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I live in Los Angeles, and I'm sick and tired of this America bashing. You clearly have no idea what it's like here. These amazing amounts of "stupid laws" must not be that high, because I have a great job, a family, and a car that's bigger than a Vauxhall Astra, because gas (petrol) here is actually affordable.

      So if you're going to whine this much, ask yourself: Is the US really worse than the UK?

      Because I'm happy, and it seems like you're not.

    17. Re:Hi. by RexHowland · · Score: 0

      New Zealand, perhaps?

      I mean, I don't live there, and haven't, in fact, ever even been there... But it may be something to look into.

      (If you want a real country, though, as opposed to, say, an island, I guess I'd suggest Canada.)

    18. Re:Hi. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I believe the Isle of Man has a 3G wireless network, at least.

    19. Re:Hi. by nacturation · · Score: 1

      New Zealand, perhaps?

      I mean, I don't live there, and haven't, in fact, ever even been there... But it may be something to look into.


      [random country here], perhaps?

      I mean, I don't live there, and haven't, in fact, ever even been there, and to be honest, I don't know a thing about it other than what I've seen in pretty pictures, and I haven't heard about it one way or the other quite frankly... But it may be something to look into.

      --
      Want to improve your Karma? Instead of "Post Anonymously", try the "Post Humously" option.
    20. Re:Hi. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      I can help you get set up in Windsor. It's like Detroit without the guns and crack. So, I guess it's not like detroit.

    21. Re:Hi. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Please do not come to America. We don't want you. Try Bangladesh.

    22. Re:Hi. by FrostedWheat · · Score: 2, Funny

      "Yarrrrr!", surely? :-)

      Only if your from Devon.

    23. Re:Hi. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That raises a question. Why hasn't Imperical America conquered Canada and Mexico yet? Anyone who plays Civilization knows you should conquer your own island first.

    24. Re:Hi. by FrostedWheat · · Score: 3, Funny

      What happens when real pirates rob me?

      They have record companies on the oceans now? Yikes!

    25. Re:Hi. by Alioth · · Score: 3, Informative

      More expensive than the UK (bandwidth is generally more expensive due to the monopoly that Manx Telecom holds), but by the end of the year every exchange will be ADSL enabled, including the rural ones with only a couple of hundred subscribers. The South has good coverage, and as you'd expect, the capital, Douglas also has good coverage.

      People whine about lag on Manx.net (Manx Telecom's ISP) connections, but I've not had a problem - it probably varies by location depending on who you share the contended backhaul with - I suspect people's connections in Douglas will be the worst off due to the population density - living in the south I probably don't have to contend with so many Kazaa leeches). Since I've moved from my Dad's place into my own, I changed my ISP to mcb.net where I have nice things like a static IP, and an ISP that's not RFC-ignorant. We have four ISPs. We now have "wires only" service (MT insisted on sending an engineer out in the past).

      The bad points: the Island is very Windows-centric. No commercial IT organizations seem to be even vaguely aware of open source software, especially the Isle of Man Government, but I'm trying to correct that at my place of work. Pay in the IT sector is probably a little lower than the UK and the opportunities are somewhat limited and there's rather too much MCSE and Visual Basucks kind of jobs (after trying to use VB a little, I've decided if push came to shove and someone expected me to be a VB code monkey I'd get my HGV license and drive a lorry instead). (However, on the flip side, lower pay is more than compensated for by the lower income tax and NI - I spent most of my working life in the United States, and my taxation rate here is less than half of what it was in the USA)

      We do have a Linux User Group, although our current activities seem to revolve more around beer drinking than anything else. Not surprising with three breweries and one distillery for a population of less than 80,000. We have very good beer. My local belongs to the owner of one of the breweries (http://www.bushys.com). The biggest brewery is Okells, but IMHO, Bushy's makes better beer. The other brewery is a microbrewery in Laxey.

      You need to like motorcycles. Lots of road racing (TT circuit, 37.75 miles - the famous one, plus the Billown circuit in the south and the Jurby South road circuit in the northern plains)

      We have weird cats with no tails.

    26. Re:Hi. by 91degrees · · Score: 2, Insightful

      It is quite easy to have a great job, a family and a car in any totalitarian state. In fact, that's what they want. They want people to fit a standard predictable profile, where their entire day is spent working, or worrying about their children, and spending a decent proportion of their income on consumer goods such as cars.

      This way they people don't have any inclination to rock the boat and get in trouble.

    27. Re:Hi. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The major English-speaking countries:

      US, UK - don't look very good at the moment.

      Australia - they seem to be following the US/UK lead in some unfortunate respects, but I'm not sure about this.

      New Zealand, Canada - currently both look pretty good.

    28. Re:Hi. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      As an Imerican, I should be insulted, but I am not. W. has stolen much since he was annointed.
      I feel like we are becoming more like china or old soviet union every day. As one that has served in the US air force decades ago, I find it sad that we are now becoming what I fought against.

    29. Re:Hi. by netsharc · · Score: 1

      What about South Africa? Don't know much about it though.

      There are also "minor" English speaking countries like Singapore and Hongkong (although I believe Singaporeans speak better English than HK'ers), they have pretty high standard of living (and great food), though risks like SARS make them less desirable places.

      What else is there?

      --
      What time is it/will be over there? Check with my iPhone app!
    30. Re:Hi. by rkz · · Score: 1

      I don't like South Africa, for an African country it has way too many white people.

      I'd rather go to Kenya or Uganda.

    31. Re:Hi. by iantri · · Score: 1
      Well, things aren't bad at the moment here but I'm not optimistic; we have CD-R levies, which, even though they aren't particularly important are annyoing, but more importantly we've given the RCMP (Royal Canadian Mounted Police) the power to arrest people without charging them, as long as they cite terrorism as a concern.

      That's about as bad as it is at the moment though, unless you consider dealing with married pot-smoking lesbian hippies a problem ;).

    32. Re:Hi. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You miss the point. I'm happy. If I'm happy and life is good, then nothing is wrong in my eyes.

    33. Re:Hi. by byolinux · · Score: 1

      As someone from Devon, I resent that.

      Anyway, look out for International Talk Like A Pirate Day

    34. Re:Hi. by GregWebb · · Score: 1

      Prime example of a liberal, forward-looking society...

      I'm straight so this really doesn't affect me but tell me, is homosexuality still illegal and punishable by birching?

      --

      Greg

      (Inside a nuclear plant)
      Aaaarrrggh! Run! The canary has mutated!

    35. Re:Hi. by rkz · · Score: 1

      Your whole island has 80,000 people wtf? My city which I consider relativley small has 320,000 People!!

    36. Re:Hi. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Just like the Eloi.

    37. Re:Hi. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You miss the point. I'm happy. If I'm happy and life is good, then nothing is wrong in my eyes.

      Then why were you whining about America-bashing?

    38. Re:Hi. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Alternatively you pick on the weak and helpless first and steal their resources (like oil). Then you'll go after the big, developed ones who could conceivable put up a fight.

    39. Re:Hi. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I don't like South Africa, for an African country it has way too many white people.

      Possibly you should take a little time off from worrying about problems with various countries and try to address your own racism instead.

    40. Re:Hi. by WildBeast · · Score: 1

      I can find you plenty of people in Saudi Arabia who'll say the same thing :)

    41. Re:Hi. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I (the original poster) thought about South Africa as well, but it's a culturally strongly divided country (not that completely English-speaking) and while the apartheid regime has been dismantled, the attitudes remain somewhat and there is still a lot of conflict.

      South Africa at least used to be a reasonable country in terms of crypto (non-)regulation, though, I remember downloading some crypto code that was hosted in SA because of US restrictions some 4 or 5 years ago.

    42. Re:Hi. by c4ffeine · · Score: 1

      I was thinking of Australia, but recently realized that it costs a lot to fly there. So, sure, sign me up, i'll flee there as soon as I graduate

      --
      "73% of quotes on the Internet are made up" -Ben Franklin
    43. Re:Hi. by Alioth · · Score: 1

      Judging by the ads for the Gay And Lesbian Switchboard that appear around the "Personals" section of the Manx Independent, no.

      Birching has also gone away too.

      However, apparently there's still a law on the books making it legal to kill a Scotsman if you catch him on the beaches wearing a kilt.

    44. Re:Hi. by Alioth · · Score: 1

      It's all a question of your outlook I suppose. I think of Ramsey in the north as being a long way away. People in the UK commute greater distances than that.

      Ironically, I had a shorter daily commute when I lived in Texas (about 10 minutes - my current daily commute is about 15 minutes).

      We have a saying here, in Manx Gaelic - "Traa dy lioor", which sums up the attitude to life here. It means "time enough".

    45. Re:Hi. by rkz · · Score: 0, Flamebait

      Racism? how is that comment racist?

      Its an odd place, it feels weird.
      Knowing that many of the older people were around during the arpheteid, fuck them I have no respect for them.

    46. Re:Hi. by iantri · · Score: 1

      As an aside, does anyone know where you can find Canadian-oriented information about bad laws relating to technology? I mean, like the YRO section of /. with a Canadian focus..

    47. Re:Hi. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Racism? how is that comment racist?

      You might want to re-read your original comment and observe that you were objecting to people based on their race (or skin color if you want to be pedantic).

    48. Re:Hi. by jeffasselin · · Score: 1

      Canada. Our PM is a moron, and there is some government corruption, but civil rights are embedded in the constitution and are upheld. Fair use of copyrighted works is a law, and our justice system works rather well compared tot he US one. We also don't kill each other at an alarming rate.

      We also speak french here in Quebec, but a place like Toronto is nice to live. Mostly english-sepeaking, but still cosmopolitan enough to find different ethnicities represented, with little or no racism and segregation.

      --
      If he explores all forms and substances Straight homeward to their symbol-essences; He shall not die.
    49. Re:Hi. by 1u3hr · · Score: 1
      Singapore and Hongkong... though risks like SARS make them less desirable places.

      Rubbish. Both are very safe. Compare the risks of SARS (most of the deaths were of young or elderly, those at risk from "ordinary" flus everywhere) against very low road fatalities (because of the large use of public transport), and almost no gun crime (because only police have guns).

      Politically though, Singapore is pretty authoritarian, and HK is gradually bending towards Beijing.

    50. Re:Hi. by quintessencesluglord · · Score: 1

      Um, New Zealand is consistently ranked as one of the freest places on Earth. Ireland and a few others (I forget).

      But anyplace can turn to shit. I like the free state idea, but you'd really have to do it as a nation.

    51. Re:Hi. by rkz · · Score: 0, Troll

      No you are mistaken, I objected to there being so many "white people" = (people who created the arphetied) still being in South Africa, acting like its their home.

    52. Re:Hi. by rkz · · Score: 1

      How is the broadband there?

    53. Re:Hi. by quintessencesluglord · · Score: 1

      Honestly, I can't tell you. I don't live there. I seem to remember a story on /. about how there are only two main pipes for contact with the rest of the world. Prices for broadband seemed quite high. I would caution however; I've seen posts from people in NZ and stories about; it seems they have their own brand of problems. I find myself in the same boat (perhaps literally) as you; the laws are pretty repugnant across the board. I'm waiting on the next elections (and a vacation there) to make my decision. Anyway, if you happen to go, do drop a line and tell what you see. I fear the current climate isn't an isolated event.

    54. Re:Hi. by glgraca · · Score: 1

      Are you sure about what you were fighting for?

    55. Re:Hi. by rkz · · Score: 1

      I have been thinking on India, I'm planning to start an outsourcing firm over there. This would give me a competitive advantage over the natives.

      One of many ideas though.

    56. Re:Hi. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      but civil rights are embedded in the constitution and are upheld.

      Unless you invoke the notwithstanding clause, which allows unconstitutional laws to be passed.

      Fair use of copyrighted works is a law

      We're paying a lot of money for that. Each CD-R you buy has a levy (~$.25 IIRC) that goes to music copyright holders, distributed based on their amount of sales (so basically it goes to the large record companies, the ones who need it the least). There has been talk of imposing levies on hard drives and flash memory, and IIRC it is already applied on music players that come with storage.

      There's no way for most people to get a levy refund, even if you never record music onto CD-Rs.

    57. Re:Hi. by UltraSkuzzi · · Score: 1

      I'm glad to see there are Ashcrofts in the UK. I thought we (US) were the only ones this stupid!

      --

      ~UltraSkuzzi
      This comment is liscensed by SCO.
    58. Re:Hi. by Feztaa · · Score: 1

      civil rights are embedded in the constitution and are upheld.

      Except that any province, on a whim, can choose not to honour any given "civil right", by invoking the notwithstanding clause of the charter of rights and freedoms.

      Welcome to Canada!

    59. Re:Hi. by d3faultus3r · · Score: 1

      This reminds me of a simpsons quote:
      Homer: they're rebroadcasting major league baseball with implied moral consent not express writtem consent. Or so the legend goes...
      Yarr, I be a software pirate!!

      --
      read my blog
      musings on politics and technol
    60. Re:Hi. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No you are mistaken, I objected to there being so many "white people" = (people who created the arphetied) still being in South Africa, acting like its their home.

      It is their home. Just as much as the USA is the home of the "white people" who were born and raised there. Apartheid was a terrible crime, but you're just continuing it by suggesting that some of the people who were born and lived their lives in South Africa have less right to be there than others based on their skin color. That you're a racist is despicable, but if you don't even know that you are then that's sad.

    61. Re:Hi. by rkz · · Score: 1

      You are the sad one, how can i be racist if I am white myself. If I was born there during the Apartheid I would have left the place in shame, these colonisers are no better than Nazi sympatheisers.

    62. Re:Hi. by Phroggy · · Score: 1

      Don't forget this Friday is National Talk-Like-A-Pirate Day!

      --
      $x='S24;r)>63/* h@<5+oZ)32"5cz';$me='phroggy'x$];
      $x=~y+ -xz+\0-Tx+;print$_^chop$me for split'',$x;
    63. Re:Hi. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You are the sad one, how can i be racist if I am white myself.

      racism: noun; discrimation or pejucide based on race.

      Why would you think that being prejudiced against your own race was any less racist than being prejudiced against anyone else's?

      If I was born there during the Apartheid I would have left the place in shame

      Well you're consistent in that at least. You don't like the way the UK is being run, so you start looking for a paradise that other people have already built for you to join. Doubtless if things were heading the wrong way there you'd get out again instead of putting in any effort. So sure, if you were born in South Africa during Apartheid you'd have got out and left others to sort things out.

      Even at the height of Apartheid there were white people there who were working for change. And when change did come it was the triumph of those people black and white in South Africa and black and white outside South Africa who had worked towards it.

      these colonisers are no better than Nazi sympatheisers.

      There are no colonisers in South Africa. The descendants of colonists, sure. Just like in the USA, or Canada, Australia, New Zealand. Even the UK, let's kick these Anglo-Saxons back where they came from, Britain for the Britons! Ooops, the Britons didn't start here either...

      You want to damn people for living in the country they were born in, based on their skin color. You seem to dislike being called a racist so instead of trying to weasel around, how about actually looking at yourself and trying to change?

    64. Re:Hi. by jeffasselin · · Score: 1

      I see that as a good thing. It's NOT easy to do, and has to be upheld regularly (every five years IIRC), or about the same time governments usually change. To have laws that are too absolute can lead to future grief and problems, especially as changes in the constitution are veyr hard to do. This provides a temporary way to do it for specific needs. It also emphasizes that the provinces can rule themselves.

      It has rarely happened, mostly to enact laws regarding the use of French in Quebec province, and I'm not sure this is the right place and time to start THAT argument.

      --
      If he explores all forms and substances Straight homeward to their symbol-essences; He shall not die.
    65. Re:Hi. by Feztaa · · Score: 1

      The Alberta government is currently using the notwithstanding clause to prevent homosexual marriages in Alberta.

      The only thing worse than the fact that this is happening are the people writing letters to the editor saying how the Charter of Rights and Freedoms is a silly document that is only 20 years old, while we should all be obeying the Bible, which has been around for 2000 years and has proven it's worth...

    66. Re:Hi. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      America? Yuck. Who wants to live in that shithole.

    67. Re:Hi. by eyeye · · Score: 1

      Can you smoke pot there?

      I find that a good indicator of "free". If they dont allow you to do what you want with your own body its a bad sign.

      --
      Bush and Blair ate my sig!
    68. Re:Hi. by Peter+Greenwood · · Score: 1
      > It is quite easy to have a great job, a family and a car in any totalitarian state. In fact, that's what they want

      Not in the only one I've ever been to (Czechoslovakia circa 1985). Cars, and other consumer goods, were hard to come by. Public transport was, however, heavily subsidised and therefore cheap and ubiquitous. Very likely this is related to the fact that cars go where the owner wants whereas public transport only takes you along the routes the State lays down.

      Interesting how much pressure there is here in Britain to demonise cars and subsidise public transport these days.

      > They want people to fit a standard predictable profile, where their entire day is spent working, or worrying about their children, and spending a decent proportion of their income on consumer goods such as cars.

      Spot on there. But you don't need lots of consumer goods to achieve this, just make your industries inefficient so that prices rise. Nationalisation, taxation and regulation can achieve this.

      --
      freedom, n. Allowing people you don't like to do things you disapprove of.
    69. Re:Hi. by nickos · · Score: 1

      "Very likely this is related to the fact that cars go where the owner wants whereas public transport only takes you along the routes the State lays down... Interesting how much pressure there is here in Britain to demonise cars and subsidise public transport these days."

      Oh come on, you know as well as I do the problems that Britain is having with traffic congestion, and having less vehicles on the road is good for the environment too. The govts attempts to promote public transport are admirable (if a little half hearted), and the suggestion that this is so that the state can control where you go is absurd.

    70. Re:Hi. by elvum · · Score: 1

      That's *International* Talk Like A Pirate Day, please. Those of us who don't live in the USA have just as much right to make idiots of ourselves as you. ;-)

    71. Re:Hi. by Phroggy · · Score: 1

      That's *International* Talk Like A Pirate Day, please. Those of us who don't live in the USA have just as much right to make idiots of ourselves as you. ;-)

      Ah, my mistake - I believe it was "national" originally, but apparently it's been expanded! Of course you're more than welcome to participate. :-)

      --
      $x='S24;r)>63/* h@<5+oZ)32"5cz';$me='phroggy'x$];
      $x=~y+ -xz+\0-Tx+;print$_^chop$me for split'',$x;
    72. Re:Hi. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I just looked and NORML is in operation in NZ, so I'm assuming no. Really, I'm not the resident expert on NZ, and I really wish someone from NZ would comment.

      It seems odd that some of us are trying to escape our respective governments. This does not bode well no matter where you might go.

    73. Re:Hi. by CitizenJohnJohn · · Score: 1

      Think again.

      Other US satellite countries claim to be the 51st state. Joe Strummer once said he was from the USS Great Britain, a large American aircraft carrier moored off the coast of Europe. Things are no better here on the USS Australia, a large American listening station in the Pacific Ocean.

      Our government doesn't bother to ask 'How high, sir?' it just jumps. Abandonment of basic civil liberties in the War on Errorism? Yep. Willingness to lie for electoral advantage? Yep. Total lack of shame when caught? Yep.

      I think it's time to learn French.

    74. Re:Hi. by Lord+Kano · · Score: 1

      Canada. You can join the flood of "evil" potheads & free thinkers fleeing the police state that the US is becoming. And I know we aren't evil. But to George Bush and his cronies we sure are.

      Say what want about President Bush, but there is no proof of him committing any felonies while in office.

      Can you say the same about any Democrat presidents over the past 20 years?

      LK

      --
      "Hi. This is my friend, Jack Shit, and you don't know him." - Lord Kano
    75. Re:Hi. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You are a few days early, Jim lad!

      http://www.talklikeapirate.com/

  2. try iceland by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

    n/t

    1. Re:try iceland by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Firstly, most Icelanders speak English but their language is very much Icelandic. Secondary, it is very hard to move to live there. While they do accept many tempory immigrants, they are infamous for how they politically treat them. Lastly, while the government may try to protect its citizens, I've found the Icelanders to be much the same with respects to Europe as what Southern Rednecks are in the USA. "Are these guys for real!?" is something you'll be saying alot if you spend time around them.

      Oh and they like to eat whales while saying it is for 'research'.

    2. Re:try iceland by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "most Icelanders speak English but their language is very much Icelandic."

      The people of Iceland speak a language that is very much Icelandic - who would've thunk?

    3. Re:try iceland by grolschie · · Score: 1

      Oh and they like to eat whales while saying it is for 'research'.

      So do the Japanese and Norwegians. Shame on them!

  3. Power mad Blunkett by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    This bill is yet another in a long line of bills being introduced by David Blunkett

    Compulsory ID cards being another.

    The fact that a local council can get the information disturbs me, as I have worked for one, and know how sloppy they can be.

    I only hope next election we vote them out, as all the promises they originally made (eg Freedom of Information) evaporated, and instead we get more draconian measures

    1. Re:Power mad Blunkett by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yes, VOTE THEM OUT!! That is the only way you really have to get rid of these bastards!

    2. Re:Power mad Blunkett by rkz · · Score: 4, Funny

      We could steal his walking stick and feed his guide dog crack.

    3. Re:Power mad Blunkett by Ella+the+Cat · · Score: 3, Insightful

      They suck, but if we vote them out what do you think will happen to improve matters? Changing to a new government party seems to press a reset button and everyone forgets (a) how they stuffed us the last time they were in and (b) lets the previous lot off the hook just as all the media evidence is building up to make them squirm.

    4. Re:Power mad Blunkett by Felinoid · · Score: 4, Funny

      Well actually it sounds like they're keeping the "Freedom of information" it just happends to be that they meant fredom of YOUR information.

      --
      I don't actually exist.
    5. Re:Power mad Blunkett by sh0rtie · · Score: 4, Informative

      absolutely MR Blunket has gone raving mad not only do we [as uk citizens) have this RIP bill to deal with again and private companies taking photos of its customers with RFID's but gems such as

      Police seek DNA database of every citizen

      GPS to track cars for road tax

      Police fit spy cameras in homes to catch burglars

      so with some people having big brother to deal with in homes in our towns on our motorways on our streets making us the most spied upon people in the western world, all in the name of "reducing crime" we have to deal RIP bills as well ?

      if this is what its like now can you imagine how much worse its going to get in the future ? i mean you have got nothing to hide so why worry right ?

      for us 1984 is well and truly here and has no sign of going away, maybe the Labour goverment should change its "tough on crime, tough on the causes of crime" campaign slogan to "War on privacy, trust no one"

      you say vote them out but do you think the conservatives can really be trusted as well ? maybe you dont remember they are the ones that made corporate and goverment corruption an art form, why do you think Labour have kept winning elections ? and they are still are promoting un-inspiring dead beat leaders without bringing in new fresh politicans and still touting their same old boy network who where voted out last time as a credible options !?! i wouldnt trust them as far as i could throw them either

      UK goverment is a mess and we are paying for it

    6. Re:Power mad Blunkett by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      I've heard it said many times, and I think it's true: David Blunkett lacks vision.

    7. Re:Power mad Blunkett by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      Blunkett never could see the obvious, talk about living in the dark

    8. Re:Power mad Blunkett by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Take a fresh look at the Liberal Democrats. Not traditionally my preference and they aren't getting much publicity lately, but they seem to be the only signinficant real alternative and are saying very sensible things when it comes to issues like this and like id cards.

      Their chance of winning is small at best, but if enough disillusioned voters see their policies, like them, and vote for them then maybe they could overtake the tories and that will be a turning point.

    9. Re:Power mad Blunkett by 91degrees · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Most of your links aren't inherently evil. The GPS tracking scheme is designed as a mechanism to deal with road tolls and the RFIDs are an anti-shoplifting measure. The issue is the uses they could be put to without any real diffculty, and without even telling us.

    10. Re:Power mad Blunkett by GregWebb · · Score: 2, Interesting

      OK, so vote for the LibDems.

      No, they won't win the next election. But look at significantly less evil governments in Scotland and Wales as a result of coalitions between the LibDems and Labour - wouldn't it be nice to have that for the UK as a whole? Labour probably aren't going at the next election and we don't want the Tories so the best we can hope for is coalition government, surely?

      Plus, remembering we're not a country where it's possible to bribe politicians in the same way, they actually care about the ballot box. Make it clear that you've voted for someone else because of rubbish like this and they're going to be a lot less inclined to produce it again. This government isn't trusted at the moment and is mostly popular because people don't claim to see an alternative. If you don't offer a possibility of voting against them, why should they change?

      --

      Greg

      (Inside a nuclear plant)
      Aaaarrrggh! Run! The canary has mutated!

    11. Re:Power mad Blunkett by turgid · · Score: 1
      I only hope next election we vote them out, as all the promises they originally made (eg Freedom of Information) evaporated, and instead we get more draconian measures

      Is it just me, or is tending towards the facist and totalitarian a pre-requisite of being a British Home Secretary? I'm 29 and spent most of my life growing up under the Tories. They weren't any better. The trouble is, it's swings and roundabouts and not enough people will ever vote Lib Dem. Even if they got in, I'm sure they'd end up being just like New Labour or old Tory.

      Or am I just too cynical?

      Liberty

    12. Re:Power mad Blunkett by rking · · Score: 1

      Is it just me, or is tending towards the facist and totalitarian a pre-requisite of being a British Home Secretary?

      In recent years at least, yes. I was going to say that the Labour ones actually seem to be more right wing than the Tory ones but then I rembered that the last Tory one was Michale Howard, so maybe they aren't worse but they're as close as you could find without visiting mental asylums.

    13. Re:Power mad Blunkett by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

      You expect a joke about a British politician's blindness to work in America. Dear boy, this is the land of insane political correctness... and insane parochialism.

    14. Re:Power mad Blunkett by Anonymous+Brave+Guy · · Score: 1

      The interesting thing is that there are two reasons people will vote against the incumbent government: either they prefer the advertised policies of an alternative, or the current government has become so unacceptable that they will vote for anyone as an alternative, and the most convincing "anyone" gets the vote.

      Labour may have finally lost it over the past month or so. Hoon and Straw are in trouble over Iraq. Blunkett is in trouble for just about everything. I can't even remember who the current transport secretary is. Brown's legendary financial prudence is pricing first-time buyers out of the market and putting students against a wall. Blair himself is up against it on several sides, and with the departure of Alistair Campbell, he has next to no-one left in a supporting position who really cares.

      At the same time, long-silent spokespeople for the other major parties seem to have remembered how to speak -- I think I've heard more Tory soundbites in the past week than I have in the previous six months, and the Lib Dems are lining up right behind them to take the next shots. And did someone mention party conference season coming up?

      If I were a Labour government, controversial legislation is the last thing that would be on my mind right now.

      --
      If you disagree, post your argument. (-1, Overrated) isn't your personal censorship tool for views you don't like.
    15. Re:Power mad Blunkett by GregWebb · · Score: 1

      Absolutely.

      How many people have actually listened to what the Tories are saying at the moment, though? It's terrifying. They're frankly even keener than Blair on the whole war thing but are determined to find some extremely opportunist lines of attack to try and win votes. They're proposing that schools and hospitals both go into a competitive market with the private sector, guaranteeing a brain and resources drain from state schools and by very definition reducing the amount of money in the NHS for a sector with no proven improvement in the value-for-money record. Their tax policy has major cuts and so would either lead to huge public service cuts or a massive budget defecit (methinks the latter, bearing in mind their record), their European policy would lead to our ultimate withdrawl from a free trade alliance with our major trading partners. The idea that this lot could get elected because they're not Labour and very few people actually listen to policy announcements is very, very scary. Especially seeing how poor an opposition they've been - this bunch barely ever actually tie the government down in the commons or ask decent questions. I'm not sure I'd trust them to run a sweet shop.

      Vote LibDem to keep the Tories out by forcing Labour to be honest in coalition. That's my plan, anyway :-)

      (And the Transport Secretary's Alastair Darling, isn't it? Seems to be shutting up which, after the foot-in-mouth tendencies of his predecessors, is probably for the best.)

      --

      Greg

      (Inside a nuclear plant)
      Aaaarrrggh! Run! The canary has mutated!

    16. Re:Power mad Blunkett by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You're right. It's the blind leading the blind.

    17. Re:Power mad Blunkett by eyeye · · Score: 1

      I'm voting lib dem, labour had some good mps but they didnt hold back the bloodthirsty blair so they must go.
      Lib dems may be no better but they havent let me down yet.

      --
      Bush and Blair ate my sig!
    18. Re:Power mad Blunkett by nickos · · Score: 1

      Absolutely. I'm sick of the flipping in British politics between the Tories and Labour. Blair had the chance to introduce Proportional Representation (with which the LibDems could have propspered), but he fluffed it. Frankly it would be nice to have a consensual and constructive style of government in this country where our "representatives" were actaully representative of the wishes of the electorate.

    19. Re:Power mad Blunkett by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Go IDS! Go John Redwood! There's plenty of things left to privatise, ranging from education and the NHS to the police and national defence! Maybe under the Tories we can leave the EU too and sign a treaty with Bush to become a proper US colony.

      I for one welcome our new American overlords. I'd like to remind them that as a trusted Tory politician I could be helpful in rounding up others to toil in their offshore concentration camps.

    20. Re:Power mad Blunkett by Anonymous+Brave+Guy · · Score: 1
      And the Transport Secretary's Alastair Darling, isn't it? Seems to be shutting up which, after the foot-in-mouth tendencies of his predecessors, is probably for the best.

      My point exactly. :-)

      --
      If you disagree, post your argument. (-1, Overrated) isn't your personal censorship tool for views you don't like.
    21. Re:Power mad Blunkett by werdy · · Score: 1

      One nice thing about living in the US - it is so damn big and has enough people that it takes true creativity to imple,ent that kind of police state. But they are working on it as fast as they can.....

      --
      The heights of genius are only measurable by the depths of stupidity
  4. Real impact? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    With issues like this I always wonder if there would actually be a real impact? If they started reading the message bodies I would begin to be upset but the simple fact is (legal or not) people can both read headers and bodies, if they so wish. Of course I am not suggesting that we totally ignore legislation like this (I for one will be opposing it, being a UK citizen) -- as a member of the Slashdot crowd I currently sign all of my outgoing mail with GnuPG. If the going gets tough I can just as easily start encrypting all sensitive email, but of course this doesn't protect my headers.

    As I see it the simple fact remains that there is a way around all of these measures -- I can easily forge headers, use another machine, etc. which essentially renders legislation like this useless. I'm going to be a lot more worried when they start to ``outlaw'' these workarounds, most importantly when encryption becomes a big ``no-no''.

    1. Re:Real impact? by billysara · · Score: 1

      The problem with that is once they have the initial laws in place allowing them to read "normal" email - then it's even easier for them to argue that they nood _more_ laws to deal with "suspicious" people who are trying to avoid having their email read.

      It's easy for them to argue that it's criminals/terrorists/paedophiles/this=weeks-bogeym an who must be avoiding the existing laws as no-one else would have anything to hide...

      Crap argument - but I'm sure you've heard them making it about other crap laws already.... :-/

    2. Re:Real impact? by IIH · · Score: 1
      As I see it the simple fact remains that there is a way around all of these measures

      If you check the article, it's more than email logs they will have access to. It also includes telephone logs, web site visits, and your location (via your mobile phone.) This is all automatic i.e. without any need for a warrent.

      Allowing so many agencies access to this information is unjustifiable, it's the job of the police to investigate crimes, not the fire station or local council!

      The doublethink comment that this is "imposing further restrictions" by increasing the number of agencies which have access is clear indication that "spin" is still alive and well in government.

      --
      Exigo spamos et dona ferentes
    3. Re:Real impact? by mickwd · · Score: 1

      "If the going gets tough I can just as easily start encrypting all sensitive email"

      But thanks to the RIP act passed a couple of years ago, if you don't decrypt them when asked, you could face two years in jail (even if you've lost or forgotten the keys). And if you tell anyone you've been asked for your decryption keys, that's five years in jail.

      "I'm going to be a lot more worried when they start to ``outlaw'' these workarounds, most importantly when encryption becomes a big ``no-no''."

      In some ways, it already is - you should be worried.

      There are many links online describing this, but you could try these two to begin with:

      http://media.gn.apc.org/rip.html (NUJ is the National Union of Journalists, I believe)

      http://www.ecommercetax.com/doc/072300.htm

    4. Re:Real impact? by belroth · · Score: 1
      Depressing isn't it?

      I've had this sig a while now....

      --
      I hereby inform you that I have NOT been required to provide any decryption keys.
  5. Whatever... by Kjella · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Any sensitive communication I don't send over unencrypted email anyway. I'm sure everybody that *really* has something to hide have clued in too. So, I'm just waiting for them to try to outlaw encryption, at least without any government recovery keys...

    Kjella

    --
    Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
    1. Re:Whatever... by gl4ss · · Score: 1

      it's not for sensitive, mainly not at least. they would end up with all sorts of knoweledge that if they used they should be in trouble anyways(stock tips and such)..

      if they could read your email just because they feel at the city hall they will end up knowing pretty well what sites you visit and so on(of course, you could use a webmail based in china or something and have the commies benefit from spying you).

      of course, it's just so stupid to let such breach of 'letter-secrecy'(not sure of the proper wording, but that's what under closed letters to people are protected over here, and it applies to email as well, even if it's on some companys servers) to happen at all without any reasonable benefits(ie. if they think they really could read everyones emails then they're just blatantly ignorant about technology), as it could really well extend into really 'nice' system like east germany had(which of course doesn't actually need much surveillance of electrical communications, as having people telling on people is quite 'effective' as well).

      --
      world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
    2. Re:Whatever... by CaffeineFreak · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Ah, but the RIP bill makes it an offence not to decrypt a message when requested.

      Saying you forgot or lost the encryption key is not a defence.

      Remember, under this law you are assumed guilty and have to prove your innocence.

    3. Re:Whatever... by henrygb · · Score: 1

      They will not outlaw encryption because of banks and others - but they can already require you to provide a key or an intelligible form of the message (and make you keep secret the fact you have done so). See Sections 49 - 54 of the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000.

    4. Re:Whatever... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's not about the body, it's about the headers.

      Traffic analysis.

    5. Re:Whatever... by netsharc · · Score: 4, Interesting

      They should start using Rubberhose. Basically, you have a partition that looks like it's filled with random data, but give a password, and you see some files, give another password, and there are other files, and so on, but the KGB agents won't know if there's still another cache of data hidden in there or if that really was all of it, and the rest is really just garbage.

      --
      What time is it/will be over there? Check with my iPhone app!
    6. Re:Whatever... by QuMa · · Score: 1

      Nice, but considering it'll be obvious from the start THAT you're using "stego" software, you might as well just make a number of encrypted partitions using linux cryptoAPI loopback, and only use a few of them.

    7. Re:Whatever... by netsharc · · Score: 1

      Don't know a lot about CryptoAPI, but I assume you can still plainly see how many partitions the disk has. Rubberhose scatters its "segments" ("partitions") inside the disk/partition, so that no one knows how many partitions there really is in there.

      --
      What time is it/will be over there? Check with my iPhone app!
    8. Re:Whatever... by QuMa · · Score: 1

      A harddrive can only store as much data as it can store, so there's always an upper limit to the amount of data you can store. Using rubberhose you may be able to store even less than that (I don't know rubberhose), but that doesn't add any security. Once they know you're using stego (at which point it really isn't stego anymore), the two are equivalent.

    9. Re:Whatever... by Xylocain · · Score: 1
      Drawn to an extreme that would mean that you can't just send anything by e-mail.

      Say you send a message with the text "asfkjavhkjvahvkljbvdLKJBDVLVBUVYOWGWVUYBQWRVakjhk jhdfskjlIYLBVLSKNQWsfaaffaRVSDKJQWRVBKJG" for whatever reason.
      The government could then claim that it's an encrypted message and that you'd have to decrypt it for them.
      How can you prove to them that it's just garbage and not something which decrypts to a message describing some kind of illegal activity?

      They could even claim that a plain text message is really an encrypted message and you'd have to prove that it's not...

    10. Re:Whatever... by IM6100 · · Score: 1

      No. The 'plausible deniability' inherent in Rubberhose means that they can't know wether you have two or twelve or fifty different items of infomation stored in an area of the drive. So you can give them the key for areas X and Y on the drive, but there aren't discrete boundraies for valid data (as opposed to the noise data) on the drive that they know as areas A, B, and C. So you can deny those areas exist, claiming you gave them the only key. There's no way for them to know that you've given them every key.

      --
      A Good Intro to NetBS
    11. Re:Whatever... by QuMa · · Score: 1

      It's still no different than filling a number of partitions with random binary garbage (or if you're paranoid about the randomness of the ciphertext of your chosen cipher, you encrypt 0's with a random key which you discard after initialisation), and using the rest.

    12. Re:Whatever... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That's the point. Yes, they really are trying to make exactly this situation law.

      Not only that, but you can't talk about it to anyone, either.

    13. Re:Whatever... by Tony+Hoyle · · Score: 1

      If you have committed a crime it's much better to refuse to give them the keys (=2 years) than to admit to a worse crime that could be 10 years or more... it's like a 'get out of jail (almost) free' card.

    14. Re:Whatever... by whoever57 · · Score: 1

      Ah, but the RIP bill makes it an offence not to decrypt a message when requested.

      Wouldn't that be self-incrimination? And hence contrary to european laws?

      Remember the Guiness trials -- eventually, they won their appeals on the basis of european laws forbidding self-incrimination.

      --
      The real "Libtards" are the Libertarians!
  6. Much more information needed by AlecC · · Score: 4, Insightful

    From the articler Home Office minister Caroline Flint said: "These proposals are about vital investigatory tools being used now to prevent and detect crime and, in some cases, save lives."

    This is the kind of bland statement often used to justify invasions of privacy. We need evidence of the truth of this statement - evidence backed with numbers and convictions, not one-off anecdotes and hypothetical scenarios.

    The strikes me as paying a high price in privacy. Not an impossible price, but whatever we are paying for had better be worth it - and the Powers That Be have not made that case yet.

    --
    Consciousness is an illusion caused by an excess of self consciousness.
    1. Re:Much more information needed by blibbleblobble · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Home Office minister Caroline Flint said: "These proposals are about vital investigatory tools being used now to prevent and detect crime and, in some cases, save lives."

      F.F.S., sheer luck saves more lives than all the snooping they could ever do, combined. Increase the amber-light time on traffic lights if you want to save lives, Ms Flint. Illuminate road junctions and pay your traffic cops. Hell, even consider paying for railways and underground railways that don't break and cause major "accidents" every year and a half. But reading email? Get a clue.

    2. Re:Much more information needed by tiger_omega · · Score: 1

      The evidence for this kind of statement would about the same as going to war in Iraq. Prosumtions from the politians but no real proof.

    3. Re:Much more information needed by ArunAdvani · · Score: 1

      When will people finally get the message that if you trade freedom for security you get (and deserve) neither. Here we are going to Iraq, to save the poor Iraqi's who have no civil liberties. On the other hand the terrorists who come from these "axis of evil" countries are winning, because they are succeeding in getting our rights taken away. Blunkett has been trying to introduce id cards for some time now. He tried before Sept 11th but could not give a reason how they would help. After 11 Sept he said that the id card system should be introduced in the UK to prevent such events occuring here. How?? Are these cards very large and aeroplane-proof, do they detect terrorists, or are they merely another step towards a 1984-style Big Brother system. In Sweeden (i think, or maybe Denmark), where they have mandatory id cards, a couple of years ago a group of men broke into a bank, stole all the money and left their id cards behind with a short note to the effect of "screw you". The fact that these men had id cards did not help in the slightest, and AFAIK they have not yet been found. Recently Blunkett has decided it is necessary for all school chidren to be issued with id cards so that it will protect them from negligence by the social services (as in the victoria climbe case). Again, id cards will not have loudspeakers attached to them, or an abuse detector, so having identification will not prevent kids from being beaten up, abducted or murdered. All it will do is allow the government to keep personal information about every person in the country (there is no way to guarantee they will remove the data from their systems when the children have grown up). As soon as I can vote I will vote Liberal, they may be usless but they arent as useless as the Tories, and Labour is more right wing than the Tories. Better still, I'll vote Socialist.

    4. Re:Much more information needed by AlecC · · Score: 1

      I don't think you are quite right about the plans for children. There is, AFAIK, no plan for ID cards, just an ID number. The idea is that police, social services, health services know they are talking about the same child. So when a child comes into hospital with bruises "falling out of bed", the hospital know if the parents have been tagged by social security as possible child abusers, or if it is a perfectly normal accident.

      Don't get me wrong - this is a major breach of privacy with room for abuse both accidental (once given a black mark anywhare, it will spread everywhere) and deliberate (people trawling for mud to fling). But it does have its positive side - it *will* protect children. On balance, I am marginally against it because I think it is a knee-jerk reaction to one particularly awful case. Laws based on a single case are almost invariable bad laws. But if you piled up a dossier of, say, 200 cases over 5 years where such a system *would* have saved a child from severe abuse, then I would probably change my mind.

      --
      Consciousness is an illusion caused by an excess of self consciousness.
  7. encryption by Neophytus · · Score: 5, Interesting

    As protest last time a group sent the then home secretary a bunch of encrypted emails. It would have actually been illegal for him to recieve them because of the poor wording in the bill - you had to be able to decode anything that you recieve.

    1. Re:Encryption by FrostedWheat · · Score: 1

      Encrypting your email dosen't protect the headers as only the message body would be encrypted. They'd still be able to tell who you contacted and when, just not what was said.

    2. Re:Encryption by TrippyZ · · Score: 1

      Ah, but for that, we would need a national id smart card (carrying certificates), another of Faded Flunket's pet projects.

      TZ

    3. Re:Encryption by Kazymyr · · Score: 1

      Of course, but consider the following. The header and the body aren't really separate, are they? What's to stop a "designated official" to slip an eye over the body of the message too, since they opened your email anyway. Encryption will stop such abuse. I for one wouldn't be comfortable at all knowing that my emails may be read by some policeman who'd getting bored on duty someplace. It'd be pretty much as if they took naked pictures of you and posted them on the internet.

      Of course, I'm not familiar with the text of the proposed law, and it may provide for some safeguards, but who'll guarantee you that the safeguards will be put in place and used? The same people who would benefit from not using them in the first place, as far as I can infer. By using encryption, you don't have to rely on such 3rd party safeguards.

      --
      I hadn't known there were so many idiots in the world until I started using the Internet -Stanislaw Lem
    4. Re:Encryption by negacao · · Score: 1

      Well, if you encrypt mail with GPG or PGP, the recipient _will_ know what it is, because you need the recipients public key to encrypt it.

      What was that about educating the masses?

    5. Re:encryption by jeremyp · · Score: 1

      In his defence he could claim that they weren't intended for him. If they had been , they would have been encrypted with his own public key so he would be able to decrypt them.

      --
      All I want is a secure system where it's easy to do anything I want. Is that too much to ask ~~ Randall Munroe
    6. Re:encryption by Phroggy · · Score: 2, Interesting

      In his defence he could claim that they weren't intended for him.

      Even if the senders insist that they were?

      --
      $x='S24;r)>63/* h@<5+oZ)32"5cz';$me='phroggy'x$];
      $x=~y+ -xz+\0-Tx+;print$_^chop$me for split'',$x;
    7. Re:Encryption by Kazymyr · · Score: 1

      The bit about educating the masses was about spreading the practice of using mail encryption to every Tom, Joe, Mary, Jack and Jane out there. If you are among the 0.1% who use mail encryption now, chances are you'll be singled out and action will be brought against you on the false premise that "since you hide it, it must be important".

      --
      I hadn't known there were so many idiots in the world until I started using the Internet -Stanislaw Lem
  8. Maybe... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

    ...simple terrorists aren't the worst thing on this earth. Maybe *paid* terrorists (so called politicans) are. I feel terrorized by them and my Karma points won't change that.

  9. Encryption by Kazymyr · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Time to wake up and generalize the use of PGP/GPG and toher tools. Right now if you send an encrypted email, chances are the recipient won't even know what it is and delete it as spam or a virus.

    Educate the masses.

    --
    I hadn't known there were so many idiots in the world until I started using the Internet -Stanislaw Lem
  10. What's going on here? by joshsnow · · Score: 4, Interesting

    What is Blairs government up to? Compulsory ID cards - which I read that Blunkett is still trying to get introduced, monitoring car speeds via satellite transmission/receivers, mobile police radar "saftey" (speed) cameras used by illegally parked police who refuse to divulge the amount of revenue they raise from issuing tickets etc.

    I'm beginning to think that Blair is big brother. Next time, I won't be voting for his lot or any of the others. They're all as bad as each other.

    1. Re:What's going on here? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Get real. If you break the law by speeding you deserve all you get - what about the freedoms of the rest of us - freedom not to be run over by cowboy who think their car is a toy?

    2. Re:What's going on here? by Gumshoe · · Score: 1
      Get real. If you break the law by speeding you deserve all you get - what about the freedoms of the rest of us - freedom not to be run over by cowboy who think their car is a toy?


      Do you not think monitoring where you go and when is overkill if all they're trying to do is monitor your obedience of the speed limit?
    3. Re:What's going on here? by Nurgled · · Score: 1

      Not voting is not the answer. What is needed is a "none of the above" vote, which I don't recall seeing on my last voting sheet.

      By not voting you increase the weight of the votes by all of the country's idiots.

    4. Re:What's going on here? by bj8rn · · Score: 1

      You can always write "none of the above" on the ballot. Do you still count as a person who has voted if you do this?

      --
      Hell is not other people; it is yourself. - Ludwig Wittgenstein
    5. Re:What's going on here? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Next time, I won't be voting for his lot or any of the others. They're all as bad as each other.


      The Labour party is pleased that you will not be voting against them,and we thank you for your continuing support.

      kisses, TB
    6. Re:What's going on here? by joshsnow · · Score: 1

      If you break the law by speeding you deserve all you get

      Aren't you being a little bit too simplistic?

      I wonder why it is that the police are allowed to break the law in order to catch me breaking the law. I may be driving at 35mph in a 30mph limit, but I'm *not* parked on double yellow lines expressly put in that location because parked cars present a hazard to other road users. And it's not just double yellows, it's traffic islands, slip roads, pavements (sidewalks)..the list goes on.

      In Bristol, recently, the chief constable had to issue an apology after several fines were overturned by the courts precisely because the police were causing a greater hazard than the "speeding" motorists they were trying to snag.

      The second point is this; Police speed cameras only operate in areas where they are likely to catch motorists exceeding the speed limit - and therefore maximise revenue. It's not necessarily unsafe to exceed the speed limit on these roads - it's just easier to catch people doing so because the conditions of the road make it easier to drive safely at 35 or 40 mph.

      This whole safety camera thing isn't about stopping "cowboy" drivers who think their "car is a toy" - it's about RAISING REVENUE FOR THE POLICE. I suggest that it's you who needs to get real and get your eyes open to the broader picture - citizens rights are gradually being eroded so that government agencies can misapply law in order to attain non-primary goals, such as raising revenue.

    7. Re:What's going on here? by Nurgled · · Score: 1

      A BBC News article on the subject of NOTA votes seems to suggest that "spoiled" (which I take to mean "incorrectly completed") ballot forms are not counted. A few of the comments at the bottom of the article seem to confirm this.

    8. Re:What's going on here? by 91degrees · · Score: 1

      Counts as a spoiled form.

      We really need a "reopen nominations" option in elections.

    9. Re:What's going on here? by mickwd · · Score: 3, Interesting

      "Next time, I won't be voting for his lot or any of the others. They're all as bad as each other."

      Why ? Just because the Conservatives and "New" Labour are as bad as each other ?

      What about the Liberal Democrats ? Or the Greens ? Or one of the regional parties (if such a thing exists where you live) ? What about an independent candidate ?

      Sometimes I get the feeling that there are millions of people in the UK all thinking "I can't vote for the Lib Dems because they have no chance of winning". If half of them bloody voted for them, then they might have a chance. On the other hand, not voting for them because you don't agree with their policies is something I can easily accept.

      (For non-UK readers, the Lib Dems are the third-largest national party here, and seem to get roughly about 20% of the vote in recent times - nowhere near enough to challenge the two main parties in terms of the number of seats they win at parliament).

      If all a government has to face as a result of introducing unpopular policies is someone saying "They're all as bad as each other. I won't vote for any of them next time" then that is no disincentive to them whatsoever.

    10. Re:What's going on here? by GregWebb · · Score: 2, Informative

      Tories and Labour aren't the only parties though. By pretending they are when we vote we remove any strong incentive for either to behave as if they can be taken out of office and shouldn't do this sort of thing.

      It _stinks_ that these proposals are appearing, but if we vote for Labour we implicitly support it and if we vote for the Tories, well, we saw what they came up with last time. Always makes me chuckle that the name is a corruption of an old Irish word meaning 'bandit'.

      Personally, I'll be voting for the LibDems next time. Centre-left but they don't take money from the unions or business and don't have any great desire for authoritarian rubbish like this, or for daft military games in the sand and various silly measures to prop up the arms trade.

      Maybe you'd rather be further left? OK, look at the SSP if you're north of the border, Plaid Cymru if you're west of a different border, SWP, Greens et al in other areas. Or further right? How about UKIP? No, with the exception of SSP and PC none are likely to win seats but who'd have said 5 years ago that SSP would have got anywhere? If you don't vote for these groups then they're never going to get anywhere. If they're not perceived as a threat on any level then the mainstream parties have no motivation whatsoever to examine their positions and take sections onboard. Voting for the present clowns only serves to legitimise their positions.

      Or perhaps you won't vote at all, claiming they're all as bad as each other? Big mistake and demonstrably false. Look at what LibDems have achieved already in coalitions, look at what the SSP are doing in Holyrood so far. They're _not_ like the mainstream parties and pretending they are is just daft. By removing yourself from the process you ensure that your views have no input whatsoever. Hardly an effective way to ensure change!

      If you want the major parties to take onboard your opinions and take them into government, you need to find candidates with similar opinions and vote for them or the democratic process simply doesn't take your views as input.

      --

      Greg

      (Inside a nuclear plant)
      Aaaarrrggh! Run! The canary has mutated!

    11. Re:What's going on here? by turgid · · Score: 1
      I'm beginning to think that Blair is big brother. Next time, I won't be voting for his lot or any of the others. They're all as bad as each other.

      So why don't you start your own political party that promotes what YOU believe in? We have the internet nowadays. Use that to spread your message and gain support.

      This "I refuse to vote" is such a cop-out and solves nothing. If you feel that strongly, get off your behind and DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT.

    12. Re:What's going on here? by Blue+Stone · · Score: 1
      " What is Blairs government up to?"

      Boiling Frogs.

      --
      Corporation, n. An ingenious device for obtaining individual profit without individual responsibility. - Ambrose Bierce
    13. Re:What's going on here? by WildBeast · · Score: 1

      Oh yeah everyone should just quit his job and become a politician. It's not that people's jobs are important or anything.

    14. Re:What's going on here? by DahGhostfacedFiddlah · · Score: 1

      Hey, give the guy a break - he's just trying to protect Airstrip One.

    15. Re:What's going on here? by SmackCrackandPot · · Score: 1

      Of course this government needs all these expensive high-tech solutions in order to combat tax evasion. How else are they going to be able to afford to buy all this technology?

    16. Re:What's going on here? by iCat · · Score: 1

      Last one to leap...

    17. Re:What's going on here? by belroth · · Score: 1
      New Labour (as opposed to Old Labour == TUC??) seem to be against personal freedoms - cctv, 'phone +email snooping, doing their best to restrict car use. I fear we may eventually need to have internal passport (or Blunkett ID card) controls to move between regions - will I really need a passport to visit Birmingham when I hardly need one to visit other EU countries?

      One of my favourite indicators was the ludicrous M4 bus lane - this is supposed to be only for taxis, buses and coaches, not the evil car. Unless you are the President^h^h^h^h^h^h^hime Minister who decided that the rules don't apply to him. It's a short step to banning the taxis etc and reserving this lane for Party Members (a genuine 'In Soviet Russia' reference). Of course Jeremy Clarkson hired a bus/coach for himself to make a point.

      see the Association of British Drivers for more info on the present governments anti-car crusade. And this is when it is cheaper for a family of four to travel from London to Liverpool (for example) by car than to (attempt) to go by train. The tories had enough faults of their own but were less restrictive on personal freedoms, and they didn't believe that everyone lives in big towns.

      Yes I am paranoid. But 'they' may be out to get all of us.

      --
      I hereby inform you that I have NOT been required to provide any decryption keys.
    18. Re:What's going on here? by turgid · · Score: 1

      People often have time off work, like at weekends, Christmas, bank holidays, annual leave. If they feel that strongly, they can form an interest group, a pressure group or a political party. Or, maybe like you, they should sit back, steaming at the ears and hope that someone else does it for them?

    19. Re:What's going on here? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You Tories make me laugh. You destroyed the freedoms of millions by destroying their economic liklihood and then stopped Labour getting re-elected by saying we were soft on crime!

      Now you calim we are too tough on crime. Maybe you just don't like the fact that Archer and Aitken got banged up and your favourite bail bandito, Asil Nadir is heading back to the jug.

      So, tell me Tory boy how does it support your argument when you admit it cheaper to go by car? Moron.

    20. Re:What's going on here? by belroth · · Score: 1
      Why assume I'm a Tory? I think Archer should still be banged up and from what I know Asil Nadir should join him for a long time, don't remember much about Aitken - he may have got what he deserved. And how were Labour stopped from getting re-elected? Blair got his second term and may even get a third if he ducks the Iraq/Kelly/Hoon fiasco.
      My father always says that you know where you are with Conservative and Labour - with the Tories you get Sex scandals, and with Labour it's Money. There were enough dodgy goings on in the bedroom with the last lot and enough funny money deals with the present lot to make me think he has a point.
      Most politicos are dodgy, why should I trust any of them?
      Having said that there are a few I tend to believe represent themselves (mostly) honestly and I think I know where they stand: Tony Benn, Anne Widdecombe, Ken Livingstone. I don't necessarily believe or agree with them, but I think they are consistent.

      And how is it Tory to lament the fact that the increasing cost of motoring under Blair is unfairly penalizing the poorer (especially rural) families, while having a lesser effect on the well off? Oh, because I don't agree with the present government on this matter? I happen to think Jack Straw and David Blunkett would have made fine Tory Home secretaries, make of that what you will.

      When you grow up and start to think you might consider that no 'party' is right on every issue, on some things Labour is right, on others it's the Tories and on some it may be the lib dems. NB some parties are wrong on every issue - Natural Law, Monster Raving Loony...
      You should work out the best fit of manifesto to what you believe should happen and vote accordingly - whichever party that is, not vote out of blind, ignorant tribal loyalty. Just don't expect all (if any) pledges to be honoured.

      Jerk.

      --
      I hereby inform you that I have NOT been required to provide any decryption keys.
    21. Re:What's going on here? by Anonymous+Brave+Guy · · Score: 1
      (For non-UK readers, the Lib Dems are the third-largest national party here, and seem to get roughly about 20% of the vote in recent times - nowhere near enough to challenge the two main parties in terms of the number of seats they win at parliament).

      Also for the non-UK readers, we don't have proportional representation, we have "first past the post". That means winning votes from 20% of the voters doesn't guarantee you 20% of the seats in parliament. In fact, you'd be lucky to get half that, and currently the Lib Dems have just 53 MPs in the House of Commons. Don't even mention the way the Lords are formed...

      The big problems we have at present mostly stem from having a government which has a huge majority of parliamentary votes, effectively putting it beyond challenge short of a rebellion within their own party, in spite of attracting supporting votes from only a small fraction of the entire population at the election that put them there. This has led to a lack of accountability, with which we will have to suffer until the next general election.

      --
      If you disagree, post your argument. (-1, Overrated) isn't your personal censorship tool for views you don't like.
    22. Re:What's going on here? by joshsnow · · Score: 1

      Unfourtanately, I don't agree with the Lib Dems either. I live in a Unitary Authority area which is under Lib Dem control.

      Last June, at at local election time, most people voted strategically for the Conservatives in an attempt to unset the LibDems. We ended up with a Hung Council - no party has overall control - which is deemed to be a sight better than the previous situation.

      Sorry, I don't like the Greens either, or the UK Freedon party.

  11. WTF? by FrostedWheat · · Score: 4, Insightful

    They will be able to use the powers to collect taxes.

    What have my email headers got to do with taxes?

    Agencies will be given training on the law and how to maximise privacy, it continued.

    Maximise privary?! Stop trying to spy on us!!

    I'm not suprised by this at all, the government here seems to be doing everything it can to track and control it's population. The only thing that does suprise me is they didn't include the word 'terrorist' in there somewhere.

    1. Re:WTF? by netsharc · · Score: 1

      KGB = Komitet Gosudarstvennoi Bezopasnosti = State Security Committee

      Let's equate State to Homeland and Committee to Department, what do you get?

      Yes I realise this bill is happening in the UK not the US, but who was it that commented "I wouldn't be surprised if Blair started a speech by saying 'My fellow Americans...'."

      --
      What time is it/will be over there? Check with my iPhone app!
  12. I would agree... by Czernobog · · Score: 3, Insightful

    If Blair, Blunkett and the rest of them were _forced_ to reveal both their email and snail mail to the public and there was no way round it like national security and the rest of the crap they will sell....
    But no. Nevermind this is morally wrong (yes they have morals, that's why they shoot democracy onto people), the reason they would refuse would be because something like this would annoy them immensely, since their privacy was grossly invaded, it would never happen.

    Seems to me Big Brother needs to be disowned and punished by Big Father (us).

    --
    /. Where the truth
    1. Re:I would agree... by Phroggy · · Score: 1

      If Blair, Blunkett and the rest of them were _forced_ to reveal both their email and snail mail to the public and there was no way round it like national security and the rest of the crap they will sell....

      Sort of like this maybe?

      --
      $x='S24;r)>63/* h@<5+oZ)32"5cz';$me='phroggy'x$];
      $x=~y+ -xz+\0-Tx+;print$_^chop$me for split'',$x;
    2. Re:I would agree... by Czernobog · · Score: 1

      Index to Chronology 03/07/03 - 21/07/03: not for release - personal chronology CAB/1/0001-0009
      etter: Sir Kevin Tebbit/Sir David Omand 05/07/03: not yet available CAB/1/0017-0022
      not for release - on national security grounds CAB/1/0104
      Covering Letter: Sir David Omand/Lee Hughes 25/07/03: not for release - legal correspondence CAB/1/0532-0533
      Statement of Julian Miller 08/08/03: not for release - personal witness statement CAB/3/0002-0004

      One sample of each excuse. Need I say more? Either all are made public or none.

      Just yesterday I was listening to the chair of the first inquiry (the one that led to Dr. Kelly's death) on Radio 5 live say, that Jack Straw, Jeff Hoon and others either intentionally or not, did _not_ present facts the way they were, as disclosed by the Hutton inquiry.
      Nevermind the person leading of the first inquiry doesn't have the courage to say that the witnesses were indeed lying trying to cover things up. In the very remote case they were not lying they were at least not presenting all facts, either by quoting bogus excuses or exercising their "right" of not disclosing information and at the same time expecting the public to be forced to, in the name of the same reason they refuse to talk.
      A fucked up state of hypocritical affairs if there ever was one.

      --
      /. Where the truth
    3. Re:I would agree... by eyeye · · Score: 1

      The lead of the first enquiry was one of blairs people.
      He basically found himself not guilty.

      --
      Bush and Blair ate my sig!
  13. Not a Bill by 00_NOP · · Score: 5, Informative

    Point of fact: this is not a Bill, the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act has already passed into law. What this is about is the statutory instrument needed to gave various parts of it effect in law.

    1. Re:Not a Bill by sully67 · · Score: 1
      No. It's already law
      This is largely about giving powers that the Police and other security services already have to other organisations such as local councils, royal mail and others. About all they seem to have changed from when they tried to sneak this through last year is that they're promising "safeguards" and training.

      I'm incredibly reassured

  14. A giant eye ringed with fire by PTDC · · Score: 2, Funny

    David Blunkett is watching you! OooOooOoOo. Well not literally.

    1. Re:A giant eye ringed with fire by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      For mods who don't get this joke... the guy's partially blind and needs a guide dog to get around.

  15. whistleblowers look out by close_wait · · Score: 5, Insightful
    Suppose I worked for a local council.
    Suppose I suspected a council officer of corruption.
    Suppose I tipped off a journalist from my home phone or email account.
    That council officer can now obtain a complete record of everyone I've phoned or emailed in the last year, plus the fact that I recently visited www.howtoreportcorruptcouncilofficials.co.uk.

    This is scary.

    1. Re:whistleblowers look out by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Or from a corporate view. Hmm, I wonder who the competition is in touch with these days. Hey, isn't that a council-man on my board of directors...I wonder...

    2. Re:whistleblowers look out by Anonymous+Brave+Guy · · Score: 1
      That council officer can now obtain a complete record of everyone I've phoned or emailed in the last year, plus the fact that I recently visited www.howtoreportcorruptcouncilofficials.co.uk.

      On the one hand, only if he's a suitably senior person as defined by the statutory instrument, and only if he gets suitable authority. I haven't checked all the details yet, but it sounds as though a court order of some sort would still be required.

      On the flip side, I have recently had some debate on a public forum with a number of local councillors. Some are quite scary: willing to completely overlook public opinion demonstrated in official consultations, and overlook facts anyone familiar with the relevant facilities could have told them, and instead push through unpopular and abusive changes that suit their own personal agendas. The fact that they happened to acknowledge those agendas apparently makes this OK, in their view.

      Guess I'll just have to exercise my right to vote in a different direction next election, won't I?

      --
      If you disagree, post your argument. (-1, Overrated) isn't your personal censorship tool for views you don't like.
  16. Get the facts straight by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I oppose ID cards too. They are an insane and wasteful idea. Which is probably why the majority of the UK Cabinet also oppose them and in fact there has been no Bill to introduce them. My bet? We'll have to re-elect the Tories before we see them, and as this is Britain sooner or later someone is gonna be dumb enough to do that.

  17. bodies as the Postal Service by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Who are they? There's the (nee) Post Office, Royal Mail and Postal Services Commision, but no Postal Service.

  18. Cold war generation by zakezuke · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Perhaps i'm slighty too young to really remember the cold war, but i'm not so young not to remember the schools here in america teaching us about the evils of the big bad(sic) soviet empire. One issue that was commonly brought up was the right to privacy.

    It was sugested that the soviet union on a regular basis snooped through postal mail, which was considered to be repugnent by western nations. Am I to believe that in the UK that e-mail snooping is being sugested? Not that e-mail is remarkably private in the first place, it just seems to be such a violation of human rights to give automatic access to this particular medium, and a complete hypocrisy to consider telephone taps off limits but e-mail which often times goes over traditional telephone lines.

    I can appricate the fact that if there is enough evidence to convience a judge, one can get a warrent to search someone's residence. What the hell is wrong with that old procedure.

    --
    There is no sanctuary. There is no sanctuary. SHUT UP! There is no shut up. There is no shut up.
    1. Re:Cold war generation by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      This reminds me of how my grandparents and aunts and uncles used to tell me about how Communist Chinese officials used to snoop through their post. But, anyway, it's a great thing - we can experience the digital equivalent of the same thing now in the UK! Go freedom!

      Another great thing that my grandparents used to tell me about were the informers! Never piss anyone off because then they'll have a "word" with the local officials. Proper legal procedure? Warrants? What are those? We're talking about a regime where beating someone nearly to death to elicit a confession is the proper legal procedure. Now UK residents too can experience the fear of informers! Even if they don't find anything, you can imagine that ransacking one's house (or in this case email) can be quite a nerve-racking and embarassing experience for the person under investigation. And just like Cultural Revolution China, no need for warrants or proof or anything like that! Just a word from a little birdie to a local official will do the trick. And of course no one ever abused this procedure for personal or financial gain. Nope, those local officials were honest to the bone. It was just coincidence that people they didn't like or had money (for the bribes) got targeted most.

      Go freedom!

    2. Re:Cold war generation by Blue+Stone · · Score: 1
      Let's not forget, it's not just e-mail, it's websites you visit also, which strikes me as synonymous as spying on what books and magazines you read.

      Then there's the essential element of tracking who a person is corresponding with: mass surveillance of association.
      You can send a letter to someone, and they won't track that, but do it "on the internet" and it's fair game for being spied on and monitored. All without warrants [for the police, anyway.]

      Ooh... data trawling, imagine the possibilities. We're fucked short of a future revolution.

      --
      Corporation, n. An ingenious device for obtaining individual profit without individual responsibility. - Ambrose Bierce
    3. Re:Cold war generation by Peter+Greenwood · · Score: 1
      > You can send a letter to someone, and they won't track that

      Really? Who owns the Post Office, again?

      --
      freedom, n. Allowing people you don't like to do things you disapprove of.
  19. I for one welcome our UK Overlords by permaculture · · Score: 2, Funny

    They can read my outgoing email if they really want to. Boredom will brainlock them fairly quickly.

    As for incoming email, the signal to noise ratio is getting smaller every day. Good luck getting any useful intelligence outta that stream!

    --
    Environmentalism is the new Victorianism. Everyone ties on a green corset and pretends we're virtuous.
    1. Re:I for one welcome our UK Overlords by identity0 · · Score: 1

      Good luck getting any useful intelligence outta that stream!

      MI6: Sir, we've recieved disturbing reports that indicate terrorists may be increasing their penis size...

  20. Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at an Elingsh uinervtisy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    ...it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is taht frist and lsat ltteer is at the rghit pclae. The rset can be a toatl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae we do not raed ervey lteter by it slef but the wrod as a wlohe.

  21. Oceania by RexHowland · · Score: 2, Funny

    So, uh... When are they changing their name to Oceania?

    1. Re:Oceania by MegaGrunt · · Score: 1

      Wouldn't it be Airstip 1?

      --
      I post, therefore I am!
    2. Re:Oceania by MegaGrunt · · Score: 1

      Ooops, that should be Airstrip 1 (unless they were dyslexic as well as totalitarian)

      --
      I post, therefore I am!
    3. Re:Oceania by negacao · · Score: 1

      It has always been Oceania.

  22. Amount Of Data by nightgeometry · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Is it possible (well, I know it is, I guess I mean how difficult is it -IANAC-), to build a reasonably simple programme that would just sit in the background requesting web pages.

    Gazillions of them.

    Constantly...

    Surely the weight of data would flood ISP's.

    Okay, problems with this:
    Bandwidth - I am on DSL, so not such a problem, but do we need to retrieve all the data? No, just pull the text. And have the thing running in the background. If you have a permanent connection (a la DSL), then run it constantly, whilst you aren't surfing / downloading et cetera. The bandwidth cost to ISP's would rocket, and thus cause fiscal issues for them.
    Other problems: None that I can think of - enlighten me.

    As for e-mail: Get a pgp key, and send random emails. If you had a key that was specifically used for this then somehow the receiving party could know to just delete all mails sent with that key. Rotate the key every couple of weeks, and voila (oops - wrote viola, thank heavens for preview), the mail can't even be filtered by key.

    Seems viable. The big issue is bandwidth usage, both locally and as an issue to the community as a whole. But it puts such a strain on the system (i.e. the monitoring) that monitoring becomes non viable.

    Comments?

    --
    The best is the enemy of the good
  23. the smoking gun is poiNTing at you/US by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    we don't need any of your stinking model rockets. we have the REAL thing, complete with onLIEn vdo, to capture the carnage, so that the enemIE becomes even more aFraUD of US.

    lookout bullow. futher details @ PRnewsforhire.con

  24. Yes, but... by Moth7 · · Score: 1

    Whats to stop them just disconnecting your account? Mass downloading of pointless data is most probably against the ToS of most isps. To get this to succeed you would need to most likely get a large proportion of the isp's customer base doing it, up to a point where it wouldn't be financially viable to disconnect offenders.
    As for e-mail, we have a little term for such action - its called spamming ^_~
    Seriously though, [falembait]take off the tin foil hat[/flamebait] What do most of us have to fear? Are they going to go through our collective histories and gone to the assumption that /. must be an extreme terrorist group due to it's mass following?

    1. Re:Yes, but... by nightgeometry · · Score: 1

      I agree re: spamming. Realised after posting that I should have stressed that the mail would have to be directed somewhere where it was expected, and where appropriate action could be taken (maybe if a statistically viable number of people set up spamgourmet type addresses we could just fire these mails off to a circle of black holes...)

      Number of people doing this would need to be high. The issue I see is that even if everyone were against RIP, voting the current govt out wouldn't necesarily solve the problem, because the next would just do exactly the same thing (hmm, just call me defeatist). So it would take significant numbers of people, yes.
      Ideally a large number of people doing this for just one day a week for a couple of weeks, advertising what is being done and why would send a message.

      I do of course know this is never going to happen.

      I take the 'what do you have to hide line as a joke, you were joking right. I have nothing to hide, but I have a whole life I wish to keep private.

      I do think that the whole thing is self defeating anyway though, the sheer amount of data is so high as to be, I assume, to much to realistically sort through. Maybe somebody with data mining expertise could give us a little overview on whether this is true.

      --
      The best is the enemy of the good
  25. RIPA is LAW by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Informative

    RIPA is and has been law in the UK for several years now. The implementation of the latest revisions is designed to give legality to practices ALREADY underway with the UK government and local agencies.

    Everything the ammendments legalise is already in progress - ILLEGALLY.

    Oh how I wish I had a spare couple of million pounds... OH HOW I WISH!!!!

  26. This Labour party by mantera · · Score: 5, Insightful


    I wonder what George Orwell would've said about this.

    What really pisses me off is that this second coming phenomenon has been used too often by labour to pass unpopular bills. When something proves massively unpopular, yield to public pressure and withdraw it, sleep on it for a while till people forget and then slip it when they hardly notice and public momentum has faded.

    Blunkett has introduced the most ludicrous of suggestions and laws. I really don't see how he be a minister of anything. He has no respect for people. Not teachers or police officers. How is expanding investigatory powers to 500 other bodies, 500 other bodies!, will contribute to reducing crime and its prevention?

    Oh wait, it's to help collect taxes, oh, wait, it's to save lives. Such sloppy excuses. Throw in your "noble" excuses, guys!

    Crime in the UK is bad! bad! and the police aren't too bothered about it, most of the time they don't bother to investigate anything, they just take over the phone and advise you to contact your insurane company. Have you ever contacted the police about a theft or a burglary? They just don't give a damn! and yeah like any criminal would use email now that they know it's being snooped! Soooo retarded!

    DAMNIT, I'M ANGRY!!!

    And this retarded idea that "if you have nothing to hide you it shouldn't bother you" shows great ignorance of privacy rights, as if those concerned about privacy are actively criminal or have things to "hide". DAMNIT!!!!!!!

    aaaaaaargghhhh i hate them!! i viscerally do!

    1. Re:This Labour party by Charles+E.+Hardwidge · · Score: 1
      What really pisses me off is that this second coming phenomenon has been used too often by labour to pass unpopular bills. When something proves massively unpopular, yield to public pressure and withdraw it, sleep on it for a while till people forget and then slip it when they hardly notice and public momentum has faded.


      The Hutton Inquiry has confirmed that the government lied about the threat posed by Iraq to the United Kingdoms national security, confirming the view of the many hundreds of thousands of people who demonstrated against Iraq war without United Nations approval. During Prime Ministers Question Time, the other week, he was asked whether he ever listened to and took into account the views of the public. His inability to answer the question confirmed the point of view held by the many hundreds of thousands of voters deserting the Labour Party that he's an out of touch control freak.

      The long standing consensus held in this country that government operates with the consent and cooperation of the people is breaking down. The Thatcherite revolution encouraged greed and selfishness. The New Labour revolution is encouraging mistrust and bullying. Our country is becoming everything we hate before our very eyes. I'm starting a foreign language course next week with the intent of leaving the once forward thinking, fair minded, and internationally respected country I used to love, as far behind me as I possibly can. I suspect I'm not the only one.
    2. Re:This Labour party by mantera · · Score: 1

      Where do you intent to go? I'm considering leaving this insane island where a small pile of red bricks sqeezed between two walls costs a fortune, all 'cos of currupt council politics blocking new housing development and massive lands reserved for midaeval aristocrats.

      What immigration friendly lands do you know of?

    3. Re:This Labour party by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Well, you do know that the big evil EU thing gives you the choice of fourteen countries to freely settle in, no questions asked. Come next May, you can choose from 24 countries. As all big brother type legislation is still strictly in the power of national governments, there's no EU-wide terrorism bill and many member states do take the right to privacy very seriously. I know we don't have anything approaching RIP or the U.S. Patriot act in Sweden or Finland.

    4. Re:This Labour party by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting
      RIP or the U.S. Patriot act in Sweden or Finland.

      No. As a Finn I must say that our government just keep an eye on the dissidents in a more quiet way. Why bother implementing draconian laws when that would only piss the public off?

      These days the police have a carte blanche to listen to anyone's phone. All they need to do is to ask for a warrant from a court clerk and not one request was denied last year.

      I parttake in demonstrations against globalism and campaign against the fur industry. Once I called a fur shop from a public phone and told them that they are in an unethical business and deserve whatever is coming to them. Lo and behold, next day I got a call from the cops who basically said that they can prove I made the call and that the next time they'll come after me. I still don't know how they knew it was me, but I had to lay low for a while.

    5. Re:This Labour party by henele · · Score: 1
      What really pisses me off is that this second coming phenomenon has been used too often by labour to pass unpopular bills. When something proves massively unpopular, yield to public pressure and withdraw it, sleep on it for a while till people forget and then slip it when they hardly notice and public momentum has faded.
      For my favourite recent example of that behaviour, check out this article ("The Incredible Shrinking Consultation") (linked from this one).
    6. Re:This Labour party by eyeye · · Score: 1

      I am also planning my departure and have similar problems.
      France looks good, property is cheap, they arent in bed with the US (much) but I dont know beyond that.

      --
      Bush and Blair ate my sig!
    7. Re:This Labour party by Peter+Greenwood · · Score: 1
      > Crime in the UK is bad! bad! and the police aren't too bothered about it

      Far too often they act to protect the criminals. Remember the Tony Martin case.

      --
      freedom, n. Allowing people you don't like to do things you disapprove of.
    8. Re:This Labour party by mantera · · Score: 1

      Truly outrageous!!!

      Truly outrageous!!!

      6000 responses treated as a single petition and then denying that there's been no fiddling with the numbers and no statistical manipulation! Not explaining how 8000 responses shrank to 2000!!

      i'm outraged!!

    9. Re:This Labour party by brunns · · Score: 1

      > I wonder what George Orwell would've said about this.

      He would have said "What's email?"

      --

      If you moderate me down I shall become more powerful than you can possibly imagine.
  27. Re:If you have problems.. by Absurd+Being · · Score: 2, Insightful

    That is the problem in itself. Most of us have nothing to fear. It's the issue that the gov't DOES NOT TRUST US. How can one have a positive relationship with anything if there is no trust? And if your personal life is monitered, you have everything to fear. Politics is like a sewer, the bad stuff floats to the top. If you have corrupt officials, you can't throw them out of office, they can blackmail you into voting the crooks back in, because they have your every slight morally grey act on file. This is no way to run a democracy, but a demoncracy.

    --
    Karma: Excellent^(-t/Tau), Tau=Wittiness/Trollishness
  28. correction: by Neophytus · · Score: 1

    It was illegal for him to recieve them. That part of the bill had already been passed into law

  29. Re:If you have problems.. by lxs · · Score: 1

    and that is why you posted anonymously?

  30. Re:Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at an Elingsh uinervt by leereyno · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    Ten years ago I wouldn't have been able to read anything you wrote without great difficulty. Back then everything I read was written by someone with a reasonable grasp of things like spelling, grammar, and punctuation. Then came the internet. Early on things were still good. Six or seven years ago the only people who had computers were those with decent IQ's. Even if someone's spelling was not all that great at least they had something worthwhile to say. Good grammar and punctuation can do a lot to compensate for bad spelling. You also didn't have a bunch of 3rd world yahoos whose command of the english language was so bad that the their posts in "engrish" could have passed for the non sequitur ramblings of someone suffering from schizophrenia. Now I know that not everyone is lucky enough to speak english as a first language, but surely there must be places online where people can post in a language they do have a grasp of. Even so I am more than willing to cut someone a great deal of slack if it is clear that they are trying to learn the language. You have to start somewhere after all. What REALLY drives me up the wall are posts from ignorant idiots who lack the language skills expected of the average sixth grader. Now don't get me wrong, I'm not one of those grammar nazi's who will complain of split infinitives or other semi-obscure points of usage. I'm talking about the kind of posts that would make Forrest Gump blush. I'm sure we've all seen posts that seem to be nothing but one long run-on sentence without any punctuation or capitalization to tell us otherwise. Even worse than the format is the content of such posts. All I can say is that inbreeding is alive and well in North America.

    As a result of the onslaught of these kinds of posts, I've developed the ability to decrypt and interpret things that no one who isn't a paid code-breaker should ever have to.

    I don't see the situation getting any better. Americans pour money into our schools like it is going out of style. Some people take advantage of their educational opportunities and some people don't. For those who don't our efforts are essentially wasted. The most we can hope to achieve in sending them to school is keeping them off the street.

    Lee

    --
    Muslim community leaders warn of backlash from tomorrow morning's terrorist attack.
  31. UK Laws come from the EU by fuckfuck101 · · Score: 0, Troll

    And once we sign away our nationality in the constitution, we won't be able to veto stupid laws, and already their dumbass laws override our stupid laws, (we're far to 'nice' to criminals, we need a stiff 'do shit and you hang' rule :))

    --
    Comment: Yes I realise the username 'fuckfuck101' makes me sound intelligent, no you cannot buy it from me.
    1. Re:UK Laws come from the EU by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      how the fuck is that flamebait, he's voiced a fact, and then an opinion.

    2. Re:UK Laws come from the EU by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful
      Funny, I don't see that the French, Germans or the Finns have lost their national identity after joining the EU and adopting the common currency.

      If your sense of nationality is dependent on superficial aspects like the name of your currency or the colour of your passport, you are already deviod of nationality.

      As far as stupid EU laws go, feel free to ignore them - just like the citizens of all the other EU nation states do already. There was actually a very good article on The Register about this.

    3. Re:UK Laws come from the EU by DataCannibal · · Score: 1

      What has the RIPA got to do with the EU. It's all Blunkett's own work and he can't try to blame someone else. BTW In case you haven't read any history, hanging was abolished in the UK long before it was an EU member.

      You're obviously so angry that you've forgotten to switch your brain in and are ranting like a Daily Mail "journalist"

      --
      No but, yeah but, no but...
    4. Re:UK Laws come from the EU by eyeye · · Score: 1

      Put down the daily mail and think for your self.
      Most of our laws come from the US, this snooping shit has USA written all over it.

      --
      Bush and Blair ate my sig!
    5. Re:UK Laws come from the EU by fuckfuck101 · · Score: 1

      what are you talking about? it's quite the opposite - most US laws come from us, it's based on our laws, just like Canada, and Australia etc.

      --
      Comment: Yes I realise the username 'fuckfuck101' makes me sound intelligent, no you cannot buy it from me.
  32. Re:If you have problems.. by 91degrees · · Score: 1

    Actualy, I don't want them finding out that I'm planning a legal demonstration against current government policy, or am planning to take the government to court over a certain important issue related to government corruption.

    Why the hell is the local council, the fiure service and the post office investigating kiddie porn anyway?

  33. Slippery slopes by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    This reminds me. Recently in the UK, there has been much fuss about how the police used anti-terrorism laws against people who were protesting against an arms fair that happened to be selling cluster bombs. Now as far as I can tell, there was never any evidence to suspect that these people wanted to say bomb the place and all they did was what these types of protestors usually do, eg. chain themselves to things. From what I can tell, what the police used the anti-terrorism laws for weren't too bad (just to search people), but there were perfectly adequate domestic policing laws that could have accomplished the same ends. Basically as one news article put it the UK is on the beginning of a slippery slope where anti-terrorism laws are being used in the duty of normal policing against people who might embarass the government, rather than say against I don't know, terrorists?.

    And to be frank, considering the government of the day I would not trust them to not do it. Blair really seems to have an opinion that people cannot think for themselves, in fact they really shouldn't be given the chance to think for themselves and need to be guided to the "right" decision by judicious use of selective truth and spin (eg. one would think that a high-level intelligence report from the very heads of the intelligence organisations saying that they think Saddam is not really a threat to Britain and they think that invading Iraq would in fact increase the threat to the UK might be something you might want to tell people about if you actually wanted a real debate over the issue rather than people just blindly trusting you). "Freedom of information" and "Truth" are not part of the Blair mantra. Because then, the people might make a different decision from what Papa Blair knows is right for them.

    It's a pity, I used to really like Blair, an opinion I'm sure most British shared. Now - well he's just lucky his opposition is so crap otherwise no-one would vote for him (anyone seen his popularity ratings lately?).

  34. A relevant quote adjusted for different technology by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting



    If police and governmental agencies are not required to obtain a warrant before recording travels and communications of a citizen's computer, then there is no limitation on the State's use of these methods on any person's computer, whether criminal activity is suspected or not. The resulting trespass into private affairs of UK citizens is precisely what article I, section 7 was intended to prevent. It should be recalled that one aspect of the browser and email surveillance in Young that troubled us was the fact that if its use did not require a warrant, there would be no limitation on the government's ability to use it on any private residence, at any time regardless of whether criminal activity is suspected.

    As with browser surveillance, use of email tracking is a particularly intrusive method of surveillance, making it possible to acquire an enormous amount of personal information about the citizen under circumstances where the individual is unaware that every single email sent or received, may be recorded by the government.

    We conclude that citizens of this nation have a right to be free from the type of governmental intrusion that occurs when browser and email surveillance is used, regardless of reduced privacy expectations due to advances in technology. We hold that under article I, section 7 a warrant is required for these actions.

  35. Try Germany or France by turgid · · Score: 1

    Most Continetntal Europeans speak English to some degree, and many very well. Even though I learned German and French at school (and had the German prize twice) whenever I go abroad, no one lets me speak to them in their language. They're always too keen to speak English. My sister lives in Germany and speaks German fluently. She loves it.

  36. Just aimed at the home user ? by Space+cowboy · · Score: 3, Interesting

    As part of my work, I have a rack at a co-lo. There are no services other than bandwidth provided by the co-lo (Level 3). I run DNS, mail, web, ftp, etc. etc. on machines at the co-lo for all the domains I use.

    How likely is it that Level-3 are actually storing anything - they'd have to put a transparent proxy in front of my systems, and it would have to be fast enough and good enough to handle the 500 or so racks in the room the my rack is in. Each rack is served with 100mbit (which I use) and 1Gbit endpoints.. .The potential bandwidth this room can saturate is pretty F'ing big - /. effect, eat your heart out! My personal best peak so far has been 76 mbit/second throughput ...

    They could always have one proxy per customer, I suppose, but that's a lot of rack space going to "waste". I suppose if you use blade servers, you could fit ~120 or so in a rack, otherwise at 1U proxy-machine per customer, you're looking at 13 racks for my room. Did I mention there are several other rooms just as large or larger ?

    So, how's it going to work for businesses ?

    Simon.

    --
    Physicists get Hadrons!
    1. Re:Just aimed at the home user ? by nil0lab · · Score: 1

      Of course they can't log every byte. But The Government puts a box on the network that they control. The box can packet-filter mail by Persons Of Interest regexs, http headers for Sites of Interest, etc. Easy.

    2. Re:Just aimed at the home user ? by eyeye · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Thats why they only want headers, i'm sure if they could store all data they would.

      Maybe we could do with a few bastions of the internet such as yourself making an alternate internet where all data is encrypted and not logged.

      --
      Bush and Blair ate my sig!
  37. E-mail Privacy by ultrasound · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Prior to the RIP act, (it is speculated that) the UK and US have had for many years reciprocal agreements to spy on each other's populations using Echelon, neatly bypassing any issues regarding spying on ones own population.

    However i think that since 11/09/03 no one gives a toss about the niceties of civil liberties, i.e. Dept. of Homeland Security and RIP. Your privacy has been sacrificed on the altar of political expediency.

    1. Re:E-mail Privacy by ultrasound · · Score: 1

      I meant 11/09/01, must proof-read my psots more closely!

    2. Re:E-mail Privacy by jdkane · · Score: 1
      I meant 11/09/01, must proof-read my psots more closely!

      Yes, you must start to do that sometime soon. ;)

    3. Re:E-mail Privacy by Kevin+DeGraaf · · Score: 1

      However i think that since 11/09/03 no one gives a toss about the niceties of civil liberties

      I wasn't aware that anything much happened two days ago (9/11/03).

      --
      We have more to fear from the bungling of the incompetent than from the machinations of the wicked.
  38. Time to mail those mps by griblik · · Score: 5, Informative

    Full list of MPs and email addresses

    Seriously people, I've mailed my mp about a few things, and had an smail reply each time. Keep it polite and sane, because you know they'll ignore an uninformed rant, and you don't want to waste your time, right?

    I suggest simply dropping them a few lines to explain that Blunkett's been pushing several highly unpopular ideas and blatantly ignoring public opinion, and if he continues, well, I for one will be voting for the opposition purely to get rid of him.

    --
    Warning: May contain nuts
    1. Re:Time to mail those mps by Cederic · · Score: 1


      I agree. Contact your MP. The easiest way to do this is via the faxyourmp.org website (courtesy of stand.org.uk - thanks guys).

      I've used that website a number of times to contact my MP, and received a written reply on each occasion.

      ~Cederic

  39. Australia isnt too bad by jonwil · · Score: 1

    I know, I live there.
    We do have crappy polititians (you may have heard about someone called John Howard, he is the Prime Minister of Australia right now and he is a bastard who does crap like push up the cost of a university education and sending Australians to places like IRAQ when the Australian people dont want Australia to go there) who do stupid things and wont get my vote next time I get the chance to have my say.

    However, thanks to our 2-house political system and the way that things are setup and how things tend to go in elections, the Government doesnt automaticly have the power to pass any bill it likes, it has to convince the opposition or the minor parties in the senate to pass the law which can and does result in amendments. For example, there was a recent bill giving ASIO (which is a spy agency and is also connected with anti-terrorisim moves like raids and stuff) greater powers to arrest and detain people they think are connected with terrorisim. However, the minor parties in the senate forced the government to change the bill (for example, giving people who are detained access to a lawyer I think was one of the changes)

    Some of the other crappy things our government have been doing (or not doing) lately:
    1.Not doing enough to make broadband accessable (the phone system here is mainly owned by Telstra which was government owned until they sold off 49% of it) The government should be pushing telstra to reduce the cost of broadband especially in rural areas. (since all DSL goes through Telstra and most cable goes through Foxtel which is... you guessed it... owned by Telstra there isnt much anyone can do to make broadband cheaper unless telstra drops the costs it charges to consumers and to other broadband providers)

    2.Trying to sell of the remaining 51% of telstra. (thankfully its been blocked in the upper house)
    Naturally, the government wants the price of Telstra to be as high as possible at the point it actually sells the rest off therefore it has been doing thngs lately that are aimed at boosting the share price (like canceling several enquiries into Telstra and Telecommunications generally)

    3.Trying to jack up fees for us poor uni students.
    Most australians tend to be at uni under the Higher Education Contributions Scheme. Basicly, this means that the government pays the money for universities but when you start earning above a certain amount, you have to start paying the government back your HECS debt.
    The government wants to jack up the amount that you will have to pay for each unit you study and also make it so that you get less time to complete your degree and stuff before you dont get HECS anymore.

    4.Generally doing whatever George tells him to (like sending troops into IRAQ and not pusing the US, EU, Japan etc hard enough to remove unfair tarrifs, subsidies and so on)

    and 5.Generally doing various crappy things.

    1. Re:Australia isnt too bad by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Have you ever considered the possibility that perhaps you are too .. hmm .. simplistic to understand the reasons behind actions of John Howard ?
      You know, there is a reason why some people end up being PM and others don't.
      Now and then people get to have a PM that actually believes in something and is willing to stand up for his beliefs.

    2. Re:Australia isnt too bad by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Stupid Australian cunt.
      Was your grandpa rapist or just a regular murderer ?

    3. Re:Australia isnt too bad by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      My. You're a clever boy aren't you?

      lol

  40. But Can yae raed auld Scottish Ainglish? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
  41. 1984-Blair by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    > I'm beginning to think that Blair is big brother.

    George Orwell, pen name of Eric Arthur Blair. /me thinks he's come back in his time machine and is now prime minister.

  42. Mod parent up by Ben+Hutchings · · Score: 1

    The headline is wrong and the parent comment is correct.

  43. Watching the watchers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    http://arago.cprost.sfu.ca:8080/rks_home/Research/ Unveillance/

    Unveillance is a word coined to describe the process of putting a bit of reciprocity back into the surveillance game. What we do is reveal where and how people are under surveillance in our society. We have a particular interest in surveillance in public places, and how Internet technologies -- like web cams -- are being adopted by the surveillance industry.

  44. The Death of Privacy in the 21st Century by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "Forget the common cold for a moment. Instead, consider the rise of "false data syndrome," a deceptive method of identification derived from numbers rather than more recognizable human traits. Simson Garfinkel couples this idea with concepts like "data shadow" and "datasphere" in Database Nation, offering a decidedly unappealing scenario of how we have overlooked privacy with the advent of advanced technology.

    According to Garfinkel, "technology is not privacy neutral." It leaves us with only two choices: 1) allow our personal data to rest in the public domain or 2) become hermits (no credit cards, no midnight video jaunts--you get the point).

    Garfinkel's thoroughly researched and example-rich text explores the history of identification procedures; the computerization of ID systems; how and where data is collected, tracked, and stored; and the laws that protect privacy. He also explains who owns, manipulates, ensures the safety of, and manages the vast amount of data that makes up our collective human infrastructure. The big surprise here? It's not the United States government who controls or manages the majority of this data but rather faceless corporations who trade your purchasing habits, social security numbers, and other personal information just like any other hot commodity.

    There's a heck of a lot of data to digest about data here and only a smidgen of humor to counterbalance the weight of Garfinkel's projections. But then again, humor isn't really appropriate in connection with stolen identities; medical, bank, and insurance record exploitation; or the potential for a future that's a "video surveillance free-for-all."

    In many information-horrific situations, Garfinkel explores the wide variety of data thievery and the future implications of larger, longer-lasting databases. "Citizens," Garfinkel theorizes, "don't know how to fight back even though we know our privacy is at risk." In a case study involving an insurance claim form, he explains how a short paragraph can grant "blanket authorization" to all personal (not just medical) records to an insurance company. Citizens who refuse to sign the consent paragraph typically must forfeit any reimbursement for medical services. Ultimately, "we do not have the choice [as consumers] either to negotiate or to strike our own deal."

    The choice that we do have, however, is to build a world in which sensitive data is respected and kept private--and the book offers clever, "turn-the-tables" solutions, suggesting that citizens, government, and corporations cooperate to develop weaker ID systems and legislate heavier penalties for identification theft.

    Garfinkel's argument does give one pause, but his paranoia-laden prose and Orwellian imagination tends to obscure the effectiveness of his argument. Strangely, for all his talk about protecting your privacy, he never mentions how to remove your personal information from direct mail and telemarketing groups. And while he would like for Database Nation to be as highly regarded (and timely) as Rachel Carson's Silent Spring, the fact remains that we're not going to perish from having our privacy violated. "

    Quoted from Amazon

    --
    Your Friendly Neighborhood Product Placement Troll
  45. Re:wow slashdot is dead by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Flamebait, but 100% correct. Out of sight is truly out of mind.

  46. Re:CmdrTaco & Katie: Exclusive wedding photos by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    Oh. My. God.

  47. Surveillance is not inherently evil by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It just makes things very easy for true evil to maintain power if it gets control.

  48. "grammar nazi's" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Loser.

    1. Re:"grammar nazi's" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yes you are.

  49. You guys need proportional representation by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Maybe once you do all the other countries you exported the idiotic gerrymandered defacto two party state voting system to will wise up too.

    Dont blame me, I voted for Kodos.

    1. Re:You guys need proportional representation by GregWebb · · Score: 1

      I agree. A situation where a party can get approximately 20% of the vote, a little under 10% of the seats and consider that a roaring success is a little suspect.

      Or, for that matter, a party can get a little over 40% and get an overall majority of what, 170-odd in a 650ish seat house?

      FPTP is a terrible system and should be taken out and shot, quickly. Labour should be ashamed on going back on their 1997 manifesto committment to hold a referendum on alternatives.

      --

      Greg

      (Inside a nuclear plant)
      Aaaarrrggh! Run! The canary has mutated!

  50. future Uk by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "IN THE THIRD MILLENNIUM, THE WORLD CHANGED;
    CLIMATE, NATIONS, ALL WERE IN UPHEAVAL
    THE EARTH TRANSFORMED INTO A POISONOUS SCORCHED, DESERT,
    KNOWN AS "THE CURSED EARTH"

    MILLIONS OF PEOPLE CROWDED INTO A FEW MEGA CITIES
    WHEREIN ROVING BANDS OF STREET SAVAGES CREATED
    VIOLENCE THE JUSTICE SYSTEM COULD NOT CONTROL.

    LAW AS WE KNOW IT COLLAPSED.

    FROM THE DECAY, ROSE A NEW ORDER,
    A SOCIETY RULED BY A NEW ELITE FORCE?A FORCE
    WITH THE POWER TO DISPENSE BOTH JUSTICE AND PUNISHMENT?
    THEY WERE THE POLICE, JURY AND EXECUTIONER, ALL IN ONE., ...THEY WERE THE JUDGES."

  51. Brazil! by glgraca · · Score: 1

    Come to Brazil!
    All laws, stupid or not, are simply ignored.

  52. How did it happen? by Ricwot · · Score: 2

    What I'm dying to know is how on earth did this get past the house of Lords (They're supposed to stop stupid laws) to the best of my knowledge the parliament act wasn't even invoked (the one that means you can pass a law directly from the commons if you wait a year and vote on it again) and finally, does the Queen even read these things, were I her I'd be ashamed to sign such ridiculous laws.

  53. Oh goody by GregWebb · · Score: 1

    No point in throwing away the important ones, after all. Some protections are too fundamental to be discarded willy-nilly. :-)

    --

    Greg

    (Inside a nuclear plant)
    Aaaarrrggh! Run! The canary has mutated!

  54. 51st state by Catskul · · Score: 0, Troll

    What are you talking about. Canadia is in the United States. Its the 51st state.

    --

    Im not here now... Im out KILLING pepperoni
    1. Re:51st state by qnxdude · · Score: 0

      I wouldnt have a big problem with being a state of the USA *IF* we were entitled to full citizenship. however the usa seems to be using the tactic of raping canada for all its worth and sending it down south without much benifit to canadadians...

    2. Re:51st state by StarKruzr · · Score: 1

      O, Canadadia, land that I lovovove.

      --

      +++ATH0
  55. Isn't this in violation of EU privacy provisions? by Glasswire · · Score: 1

    (Disclaimer - haven't read the article yet, but in case they don't mention this...) I assume the UK would have have to comply with EU privacy statutes....

  56. Throw the rascals out!!! by the_REAL_sam · · Score: 1


    Really. Isn't it about time we paid attention to who introduces this kind of legislation, and tossed them out on their ears?

    I don't know anyone who's lining up to live in a police state. If they're our democratically elected officials, surely we can get rid of them once they demonstrate their intention to push this kind of thing.

    --
    "Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us." -Jesus Christ The Lord's Prayer
    1. Re:Throw the rascals out!!! by Ricwot · · Score: 1

      Interestingly enough in Britain, due to us not having a constitution, the Government never has to call an election, and could in theory just keep themeselves in as a dictatorship, which could be fun (look at Cuba, everyone loves Castro)

  57. WARNIG NASTY LINKRe:CmdrTaco & Katie: Exclusiv by identity0 · · Score: 1

    Well, I think *someone* is going to get their IP banned :)

    But I gotta admit, that was pretty funny. My mom walked by as I clicked, and her reaction was hilarious. Even funnier than the look on that guy's face...

  58. "My fellow Americans" by alext · · Score: 1

    Not just anyone - Blair asked advisor Alastair Campbell how he should begin his televised address to the nation. "How about 'My fellow Americans...?' replied Campbell. See MSNBVC story?

    1. Re:"My fellow Americans" by netsharc · · Score: 1

      That was him, right. :) Thanks.

      --
      What time is it/will be over there? Check with my iPhone app!
  59. Read The Fucking Linked Article! by DrMorpheus · · Score: 1

    Rubberhose is FAR more clever than that. I wish all the critical posts (and not just the one I'm responding to) would check out the damn link out rather than stupidly arguing about something that you admit you have no idea about.

    --
    Debunking the "59 Deceits"
    1. Re:Read The Fucking Linked Article! by QuMa · · Score: 1

      It doesn't matter if it's albert fucking einstein, there is no functional difference. Both methods have the same result: a blob of disk from which you can recover a few partitions of data, and cannot prove there aren't any more.

  60. Now is the time for opportunistic encryption by whoever57 · · Score: 1

    If you have control over your own DNS, mail server, etc, now is the time to set up opportunistic encryption on your server.

    --
    The real "Libtards" are the Libertarians!
  61. THE TROLL HAS WON by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Didnt the troll alarm bells ring in your head?

    Thanks for letting the troll win, you gave him a point by point retributal.

    you are offically a SLASHBOT

    YHBT. YHL. HAND. HTH.

  62. Police in US just as useless by DrMorpheus · · Score: 2
    Just to let you know that the police on this side of the pond are just as useless as well. Let me give you a poignant example.

    I went to a local bar with a female friend of mine (yeah, just friends). Anyway, the bar in question is a biker bar, but the bikers are a friendly lot and a good friend of mine was playing in the band that night.

    When I mentioned the bar name she got nervous because a guy who used to stalk her hung out there. She had a court order for the guy to stay away from her but it had expired a few months before. I told her that if he was there we could leave if she felt uncomfortable. She said that was o.k. and so we went there.

    About halfway through the night the guy shows up. I asked her if she wanted to leave, but she said no because he was hanging out with some other female in the back of the place.

    Everything seemed to go o.k. until the end of the night when the band stopped and the bar was closing. All of a sudden the stalker lunges at her screaming, "Hi Elaine! Hi Elaine!" (neither she nor I have no idea why he was saying this). Anyway the bouncer tackles the guy and has to drag him out of the place. She says that she needed to go to the police because the court said to report anytime he tried anything.

    Well we got there and spent forty-five minutes with an officer who did his best to explain why they couldn't do anything. This despite the fact that the guy:

    1. Had previously been convicted of stalking her.
    2. Had caused such a commotion that the bouncer at the bar had to physically drag the guy out.
    3. Had done this in front of dozens of witnesses

    But it was to no avail and the cops weren't even going to bother to question the bouncer at the bar. "We don't know where to find him." the office complained. "He fucking works at such-and-such bar every day! He's not exactly hard to find!" was my reply to this lame ass excuse. But the cop refused to do anything.

    This is not the only example of police malfeance that I personally have withnessed, just the most recent.

    --
    Debunking the "59 Deceits"
  63. Make yourself heard! by rich_r · · Score: 1

    FaxYourMP.com

    Let your MP know what you think without leaving your computer...

  64. Eh? by StarKruzr · · Score: 1

    Canada has no Bill of Rights. Their equivalent of "Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness" is "Peace, Order, and Good Government."

    Anyone with half a brain can tell these are not the same thing.

    Canada gets a lot of things right, but they also get some very critical things wrong.

    --

    +++ATH0
    1. Re:Eh? by gfreeman · · Score: 1

      Canada has no Bill of Rights. Their equivalent of "Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness" is "Peace, Order, and Good Government."

      Anyone with half a brain can tell these are not the same thing.

      Canada gets a lot of things right, but they also get some very critical things wrong.


      Well maybe when you get half a brain cell you'll notice that Canada HAS a Bill of Rights: http://laws.justice.gc.ca/en/C-12.3/

      --
      Ceci n'est pas un sig.
  65. RIAArrrrrr by QEDog · · Score: 1
    you could become a real music pirate! Arrrr!

    Make that RIAArrrrrr

    --
    "There is no teacher but the enemy."-Mazer Rackham
  66. And these guys will force a ban on fox hunting... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    ...when shooting foxes is liable to wound them and let them die in agony over several days... This is yet another class A undemocratic measure so that Corporates (who REALLY run our country) can track individuals. Be they wayward cash-cows that need herding back into the pen. Or political rivals to the sleazy feeding troughs. -Well those thoughts were better out than staying in, anyway!