tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30912075.post7122317665292858998..comments2024-01-03T17:02:06.646+00:00Comments on ASTROTABLETALK: Big Sister Is Watching You - Or Is She?Barry Goddardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10050835957098177925noreply@blogger.comBlogger19125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30912075.post-53761373120740739472012-04-23T07:56:04.683+01:002012-04-23T07:56:04.683+01:00I don't like loss of liberty and privacy but I...I don't like loss of liberty and privacy but I'm pretty sure that these principals are lost already by hackers who are already doing this. The gvmt has to be able to deal with those types at their own level. These people don't fight with guns.<br /><br />Thanks as usual for bringing up an interesting topic and for looking at the more difficult side of the argument.<br /><br />OtcaAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30912075.post-34017810575442596292012-04-22T13:06:04.137+01:002012-04-22T13:06:04.137+01:00In the early 50s, everyone was on a 'party-lin...In the early 50s, everyone was on a 'party-line' and that's how gossip spread through the small towns. The operator also spread the news when someone died, or got pregnant.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30912075.post-82723996557345883672012-04-08T02:11:43.396+01:002012-04-08T02:11:43.396+01:00Objectivity about ones strongly held views is so d...Objectivity about ones strongly held views is so difficult. I am astounded at my meanness when my "side" is threatened. Nasty, murderous thoughts. <br /><br />Once I worked with police going to the scene of potential crimes. I learned not to challenge inaccurate police reports unless someone was actually accussed of a crime they didn't do. I didn't challenge illegal searches unless... I learned that informants are protected even though they did great harm. The line between the law and criminal became blurred. <br />It is just how it is. Yet, I will call them when I have need. I hope they can keep the planes in the air, the bombs out of the subways.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30912075.post-45567957349820485912012-04-07T22:50:37.167+01:002012-04-07T22:50:37.167+01:00I am really annoyed as I wrote a really long comme...I am really annoyed as I wrote a really long comment only to loose it..<br /><br />Essentially there are so many ways to circumvent this legislation (PAYG phones, public internet kiosks as examples), and for others to use your equipment to complete their nefarious aims (for which you will be blamed (such as bot computers)) that the proposed legislation is pathetic.<br /><br />It is merely a cycnical attempt to enforce Copyright law, the rights of monopolies, and an attempt to monitor citizens in a style that will only ever result in a Mccarythistic witch hunt.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30912075.post-19805439790183063102012-04-07T20:10:56.612+01:002012-04-07T20:10:56.612+01:00I can see both sides of this, but what Dharmaruci ...I can see both sides of this, but what Dharmaruci said here is key, for me, as things are at present:<br /><br /><i>it probably wouldn’t be some prurient bureaucrat fingering through my messages, but a computer algorithm trawling through millions of connections and looking for patterns.</i><br /><br />That doesn't bother me unduly, it doesn't bother me to have to carry photo identification of some kind either. Neither procedure impinges on my personal freedom - unless I try to do something the authorities consider "wrong". At present this could be stuff such as drug-running, paedophilia, terrorism, bomb-making, criminal doings in general - which all fit my own definition of "wrong".<br /><br />Here's the rub. What is "wrong" now as defined by the Powers the Be, can change radically.<br /><br />There are fears in the US that at some point it might become "wrong" to voice dissent against the establishment. E-mail links could link groups of dissenters pattern-wise. That's just one possible outcome. Theocracy isn't too far in the realms of fantasy here either - and imagine what dissent against the establishment in that context might mean!<br /><br />For now, it's not horrendous - but could easily become so.Twilighthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14138621610593773784noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30912075.post-41877154365655180902012-04-06T22:22:24.942+01:002012-04-06T22:22:24.942+01:00Who emails me or I email is nobody's business ...Who emails me or I email is nobody's business but mine! Period! What you have written here is nonsense!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30912075.post-81589892865170466602012-04-06T22:22:24.508+01:002012-04-06T22:22:24.508+01:00Who emails me or I email is nobody's business ...Who emails me or I email is nobody's business but mine! Period! What you have written here is nonsense!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30912075.post-82138292561283376762012-04-05T22:08:39.011+01:002012-04-05T22:08:39.011+01:00What I'm criticizing is the emotive, unconside...What I'm criticizing is the emotive, unconsidered objection you often get to these types of proposals, just as you get with GM and nuclear power. What is needed is intelligent opposition. When people are 'educated' or intellectual they can think they're immune to this sort of mob prejudice, and they're not: it's just an educated, liberal mob mentality.Barry Goddardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10050835957098177925noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30912075.post-13004326585327627052012-04-05T20:39:20.048+01:002012-04-05T20:39:20.048+01:00Dharmarucci..... You really surprise me at times....Dharmarucci..... You really surprise me at times. That comment about the "educated liberal consensus" smacks of the right-wing lunacy that we are enduring here in the US. If I heard someone say this, I would consider it a 'trigger phrase' that they got from watching Fox News. Education is not a bad thing. But spying on people is. And the legislation you discuss is ripe for all sorts of abuse. Once you say it's OK, then they are going to run with it. They will use it all sorts of ways that you can't even imagine. The policies of the right-wing in the US want to impose some sort of theocracy.....so don't think that astrology is untouchable. Beside birth control, they are starting to go after education in a big way. I would say in closing, that you may not be happy with the end result of what you wish for.....Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30912075.post-52694202737215206012012-04-05T18:33:42.943+01:002012-04-05T18:33:42.943+01:00You're sounding like a conspiracist!You're sounding like a conspiracist!Barry Goddardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10050835957098177925noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30912075.post-3715796886275264712012-04-05T16:28:54.173+01:002012-04-05T16:28:54.173+01:00The government can abuse it and no one would know ...The government can abuse it and no one would know about it. Depends what you class as something serious and what they class it as. What about higher union representatives and those who hold office in other party's. As I say it would be open to abuse and once it's in then it's in. It's just a smokescreen to pry into ordinary people.I mean before long they will be banning astrology and maybe checking our emails.Johnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07259199102242779387noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30912075.post-57639408297122781942012-04-05T12:11:39.473+01:002012-04-05T12:11:39.473+01:00It's not really about that. It's about ele...It's not really about that. It's about electronic communications and who is in contact with who and when. And they don't without a warrant get to see the content of those communications.<br /><br />But I'm sure if someone was a suspect in something serious, their postal mail gets opened already and probably has been for years. At least, I should hope so.Barry Goddardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10050835957098177925noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30912075.post-45292629992826715972012-04-05T11:34:28.146+01:002012-04-05T11:34:28.146+01:00I do understand where your coming from Dharmaruci ...I do understand where your coming from Dharmaruci but it doesn't feel right. I mean, how would someone feel if I had opened their postal mail.Johnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07259199102242779387noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30912075.post-44116951445969878292012-04-05T10:57:02.315+01:002012-04-05T10:57:02.315+01:00I'm not necessarily pro-nuclear power either. ...I'm not necessarily pro-nuclear power either. What I'm objecting to is the type of people (a minority) with whom you cannot discuss the issue because for them nuclear power is so obviously a bad thing and you must be some sort of reactionary if you think otherwise.<br /><br />I think the internet thing attracts opposition from both political wings: from the far right, who want their freedom to do what they want; and from the left who are concerned about civil liberties. They've both got valid points.Barry Goddardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10050835957098177925noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30912075.post-18074622830872039462012-04-05T04:11:17.912+01:002012-04-05T04:11:17.912+01:00Great post, but your last paragraph bashing what y...Great post, but your last paragraph bashing what you call 'the educated liberal consensus' smacks of american right-wing rhetoric. Education does teach one how to think critically (at least a good liberal arts education); and while I am persuaded by your argument for the monitoring of phonecalls and internet use, you characterize liberals as a group of tree hugging oblivious reactionaries. (p.s. even the Economist recently ran articles about the failure and uncertain future of nuclear energy)Juliettenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30912075.post-41640174104713052582012-04-04T23:37:09.428+01:002012-04-04T23:37:09.428+01:00My fear is that never before has this level of kno...My fear is that never before has this level of knowledge of ones social structure/communication network been available. Imagine if Hitler had this information! How easy to stamp out dissent or even poison a whole network of 'terrorists'/'freedom fighters'.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30912075.post-4774334058407257372012-04-04T21:52:29.397+01:002012-04-04T21:52:29.397+01:00Well, we could go back to the 19th century and liv...Well, we could go back to the 19th century and live like the Amish in a more self-sufficient and less techy way, but no one would like that, either.Saranoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30912075.post-59946447314459614072012-04-04T09:37:49.846+01:002012-04-04T09:37:49.846+01:00Isn't it the same when the police investigate ...Isn't it the same when the police investigate a crime? They have to rule out everyone who was in any way connected. But that doesn't make one a suspect.<br /><br />Of course like you I'd rather GCHQ didn't have access to my emails etc when they think they need to. And I'd rather there was an alternative. Can you think of one?Barry Goddardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10050835957098177925noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30912075.post-78687252145361553582012-04-04T09:31:05.953+01:002012-04-04T09:31:05.953+01:00I understand where you are coming from and your ar...I understand where you are coming from and your argument. Yet, I can not fully agree with it because somehow this legislation is based in the fact that we are all suspects of something before we even do or think about anything. Somehow that does not seem right. <br />Legislation and regulation of private communication may be needed, but it has to be based and developed under different assumptions and with very clear purposes leaving the privacy of citizens alone. We need to feel and be safe from government and their actions. Specially when you see the confidence that we can have in politicians of all sorts (and police actions). Somehow it brings a sense of uneasiness. Not right.Magic Dragonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03058470485175140238noreply@blogger.com