Alan's Ramblings - politics tag

The Government of Wonderland - followup

Tue, 27 Nov 2007 03:40:29 GMT

Following on from my previous rant about the UK government "misplacing" the personal data of 25 million of the UK's citizens, it seems that I'm not alone in my dismay about their proposed "solution" - the National ID Card scheme. A group of six respected academics have written to a Parliamentary committee expressing their disquiet about the proposals:

Furthermore, biometric checks at the time of usage do not of themselves make any difference whatsoever to the possibility of the type of disaster that has just occurred at HMRC. This type of data leakage, which occurs regularly across Government, will continue to occur until there is a radical change in the culture both of system designer and system users. The safety, security and privacy of personal data has to become the primary requirement in the design, implementation, operation and auditing of systems of this kind.

The inclusion of biometric data in one's NIR record would make such a record even more valuable to fraudsters and thieves as it would - if leaked or stolen - provide the 'key' to all uses of that individual's biometrics (e.g. accessing personal or business information on a laptop, biometric access to bank accounts, etc.) for the rest of his or her life. Once lost, it would be impossible to issue a person with new fingerprints. One cannot change one's fingers as one can a bank account.

The story has been picked up by both The Register and that bastion of liberal thinking (!) The Daily Mail.

The Government of Wonderland

Wed, 21 Nov 2007 16:05:37 GMT

In that direction," the Cat said, "lives a Hatter and in that direction lives a March Hare... They're both mad."
"But I don't want to go among mad people," Alice remarked.
"Oh, you can't help that," said the Cat: "we're all mad here. I'm mad. You're mad."
"How do you know I'm mad?" said Alice.
"You must be," said the Cat, "or you wouldn't have come here."
Alice didn't think that proved it at all.

Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland

Unless you've been living under a rock for the last few days, you must have heard that the UK Government has managed to lose the personal details of 25 million people. I've just been listening to Newsnight, and Jeremy Paxman was interviewing the hapless minister who was wheeled in to put his head under Paxo's axe. One of the questions asked was "Does this mean the end of the plans for a UK National Identity Card System?". The answer literally made my jaw drop. "No, because if we had everyone's biometric data, it would be much safer". WHAT??!! Unlike bank details, biometrics can't be changed - a point that was actually made by one of the other interviewees prior to the minister's imbecilic comments. How on earth would increasing the amount of sensitive (and in the case of biometrics, irreplaceable) data they collect make it "safer"?

The fact that the people responsible for losing the data actually believe that this tale of mind-boggling incompetence can actually be used to JUSTIFY collecting more of it is utterly, utterly astounding. It is quite frankly terrifying that a group of people who have decided they are going to force us to register on a National ID Database are so completely clueless about both the technology, its implications and the potential abuses of the data they are insisting we give them.

I think as a result of this cock-up of all cock-ups, the storm of protest against ID Cards is going to make the Poll Tax unrest of the 1990s look like a vicarage tea party.

Tessa Jowell puts her foot in her mouth

Fri, 17 Mar 2006 06:37:17 GMT

Ms Tessa Jowell, the UK's "Culture Secretary" has recently been embroiled in a scandal in which her (now separated-from) husband David Mills received a £344,000 "present" from the less-than squeaky clean Prime Minister of Italy, Silvio Berlusconi for being "helpful" in a corruption court case that Berlusconi is implicated in. The money was subsequently used to pay off the Jowell's mortgage, and of course the fragrant Tessa didn't think to ask where the wedge had come from - I mean you wouldn't, would you?

Just to round things out nicely it appears that she has broken an ill-advised law that she herself was responsible for introducing. A while back had a new licensing and entertainment law passed, which in addition to making 24-hour binge drinking legal also changed the way licenses for public entertainment are granted. It's the entertainment part that she fell foul of. According to The Guardian:

The beleaguered culture secretary fell foul of regulations under the Licensing Act (2003) when she led an apparently innocent singsong to mark International Women's Day on March 8. ... Though the terms of the act require a licence for any musical performance in a Royal Park, Ms Jowell did not have one when she lead a rendition of The Truth Is Marching On in front of a statue of suffragette Emmeline Pankhurst in Victoria Tower Gardens Royal Park near the Houses of Parliament. ... Westminster city council's cabinet member for licensing, Audrey Lewis, confirmed that Ms Jowell and her fellow singers had breached the law, but said no prosecution was likely for this first offence.

This cretinous piece of legislation affects me personally as it means it is much more difficult to perform in public, either in a venue or busking, and it amuses me no end to see the person responsible fall foul of it. It amuses me even more to think that any member of the present Labour cabinet has the gall to sing "The Truth Is Marching On" in public. Hardly a week goes by without another revelation coming out about how they have their snouts in the trough. I thought the Conservatives were pretty bad at the end of their reign, but it seems that "New Labour" are hell-bent on outstripping them in the sleaze, cronyism and corruption stakes. I thought that there was sufficient evidence stacked up against them at the last election for them not to be re-elected, but I guess I'll have to wait until the next time round to see the back of them.

US troops in Iraq orphan five kids

Wed, 19 Jan 2005 05:52:23 GMT

According to the BBC, on tuesday US troops in Iraq shot at a car approaching a checkpoint:

Inside the car were an Iraqi family of seven. The mother and father were killed but their five children in the backseat survived, one with a non-life threatening wound.

Pictures here

How much longer is this madness going to continue?

The US kills civilians and children on camera, then lies about it

Mon, 13 Sep 2004 09:24:25 GMT

Yesterday, a US Bradley fighting vehicle was attacked and disabled in Baghdad. Three hours later, when a crowd of curious onlookers (including children) came to look, two US attack helicopters came back, rocketed the Bradley and machine gunned the crowd, in the process killing at least 13 and injuring about 60 others. One of the people killed was a TV reporter recording a report at the scene. The US military them proceded to tell several different versions of what had happened, all of them clearly contradicted by the graphic TV coverage of the poor reporter who was killed. According to the BBC:

"In the first explanation of events offered by the US military early on Sunday evening, the helicopter was said to have blown up the wrecked Bradley "to prevent looting and harm to the Iraqi people".

Since when has rocketing and machine-gunning civilians kept them from harm? The original BBC News report can be found here, and the TV coverage is here - warning, it's pretty disturbing. I remember all the furore the US kicked up over the massacre in Tiananmen Square, how is this any different?

And I wonder just how much coverage this received in the US press? Virtually zero, as far as I can tell. I've searched for 'Mazen Tumeisi' - the name of the journalist who was killed - CNN - nothing. Washington Post - nothing. Fox News - nothing. Google News - one paltry hit from a non-commercial site - they don't even pick up the BBC story. If I didn't know better, I'd say censorship is alive and well in "The Land Of The Free". What's even more ironic is that in the last week the US has been heaping opprobrium on North Korea for not reporting the huge explosion that happened in the north of the country - once again, how is the US news blackout of this event in Baghdad any different to the actions of the North Koreans?

Shame on you, USA, shame on you. And shame on us for supporting you in the first place.