Big Brother Britain: Government and councils to spy on ALL our phones

As of 1st October 2007, Government and councils will be spying on all our land line phone calls, mobile phone calls and text messages. They'll even be able to track our movements when making mobile calls.

Hopefully someone will publish Jacqui Smith's records to show what an invasion of privacy this is. Or wait until 2009 when the Government plans to extend the rules to cover internet use: the websites we have visited, the people we have emailed and phone calls made over the net.

Anonymity VS. Security

As the name implies, Alcoholics Anonymous meetings are anonymous. You don't have to sign anything, show ID or even reveal your real name. But the meetings are not private. Anyone is free to attend. And anyone is free to recognize you: by your face, by your voice, by the stories you tell. Anonymity is not the same as privacy.

read more | digg story

Tens of thousands of CCTV cameras, yet 80% of crime unsolved

"A comparison of the number of cameras in each London borough with the proportion of crimes solved there found that police are no more likely to catch offenders in areas with hundreds of cameras than in those with hardly any."

More proof that CCTV is more about security theatre than solving crimes.

Big Brother is watching us all

The US and UK governments are developing increasingly sophisticated gadgets to keep individuals under their surveillance. Have a read of this BBC article on new technologies such as gait DNA, tracking people in crowds and devices that can sense-through-walls.

I think strict policies should be adhered to regarding acceptable use of these devices.

There is one good gadget mentioned though - the language translator:

"Unless we're going to train every American citizen and soldier in 16 different languages we have to develop a technology that allows them to understand - whatever country they are in - what's going on around them. I hope in the future we'll be able to have conversations, if say you're speaking in French and I'm speaking in English, and it will be natural."

Now that's money well spent.

Recommended Reading - Stealing The Network

I've finished reading the Stealing The Network series of books, and I must say they are really rather good! If you're after a high-tech, highly detailed, fictional yet realistic read then take a look at these.

Stealing the Network: How To Own The Box
Stealing the Network: How To Own A Continent
Stealing the Network: How To Own An Identity
Stealing the Network: How To Own A Shadow




If you want a taster there's a free chapter available on Fyodor's website.

Northern Rock Crisis: What you need to do now...

Martin at Money Saving Expert explains all about the Northern Rock Crisis:

"If you've got money in Northern Rock, you're justifiably worried. The media coverage looks like this will be the first 'run' on a bank for years. Northern Rock customers have been queuing outside the bank and the website is struggling to pay out cash. Everyone's got lots of questions, hopefully this emergency Q&A will answer them."

Schrodinger's lolcat

Schrodinger's lolcat
Originally uploaded by dantekgeek.

In ur quantum box...

...maybe.

Internet People!

The Meth Minute 39 presents Internet People! - an animated video of memes you may or may not know. Very funny.