One of the most pernicious memes is "If you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear." It implies that the only reasons for opposing a law is that you would find yourself guilty under it. The phrases is, I think, a contender for a new form of Godwin's Rule. Any discussion about laws eventually boils down to "Only a criminal would oppose this measure." The annoying thing is, it's particularly hard to refute. In some cases, yes, it may be felt that the law unfairly criminalises…
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I remarked earlier about Helen Goodman MP and her total lack of technical knowledge. An MP being a bit behind the times isn't the greatest shock - but she's Labour's Shadow Minister for Culture, Media, and Sport - that's a big deal! This year, Claire Perry MP produced an "independent" report into online child protection. By "independent" I mean "produced by vested interests including religious groups". It makes for pretty tedious reading, however you may get a laugh from the antics of our…
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An online acquaintance of mine, Becky Hogge, has released a book! Barefoot Into Cyberspace tells the story of the "hacker scene" over the tumultuous last few years. Yesterday, Becky released a transcript of her interview with Julian Assange - in it he discusses the News of the World hacking, amongst other things. A fascinating interview which helps set the scene for Becky's book. I've only just started reading the book, but it's clear that it's been written in a very accessible way. You…
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Two years ago I was severely annoyed at Labour's Andy Burnham for his plans to censor the net. Today, I am equally annoyed at the Conservative's Ed Vaizey for a similarly corruptible scheme. I don't have the money to lobby bribe donate to the Conservative party. I'm too scared of the police attempting to kill protesters to go and stand up for my beliefs. What can I do that will make me feel smug and self-righteous yet won't involve me having to go outside in the snow? It is, I understand,…
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On Wednesday, I attended the "Stop Disconnection Demo" to protest the Digital Economy Bill outside parliament. Protestors I've been on a few protests in my time. Anti-war, anti-nukes, anti-tuition fees and the like. This was one of the most cheerful protests I've ever attended. The protesters were friendly and erudite. Passers-by seemed happy to take our literature. The speakers - while hard to hear - spoke with knowledge ad passion. Even the police (!) were charming and even took some of…
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Voting is now open for the Open Rights Group Board of Directors election. I'd be delighted to answer any questions you may have. Post them as a comment here, send me an SMS or an email and I'll do my best to answer. A quick look over the candidate statements shows that we're all fairly well aligned. For no reason other than they're very Web 2.0, I've made a Wordle of the candidate statements. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.5 Generic License.…
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As you may know, I'm a supporter of the Open Rights Group. They're the campaigning group dedicated to protecting our online civil liberties. I pay them £5 per month, I think you should join them too. I'm not just putting my money where my mouth is. I'm also standing for the Board of Directors. I was nominated by the wise and talented duo of Suw Charman-Anderson & Basheera Khan. As part of the election, I have to produce a 400 word statement. I want to make ORG more member lead - and …
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