Eric Joyce MP has written about why he doesn't think the vote should be extended to 16 year olds. While I've admired his stance on digital rights, I disagree with him and his reasoning on this issue. This isn't about whether young people are able to understand the issues, or whether they are taxed without representation, or even if they are somehow "mature". We vote because the direction of the government affects us. No matter our age. It is my contention that every citizen of this country …
Continue reading →
A few years ago, I went to a recording of Mark Thomas' "Manifesto" radio show. Members of the audience can suggest humorous changes to the law and society that they would like to see enacted, and the rest of the audience votes on whether they're good enough - or funny enough - to be in a proposed election manifesto. My manifesto suggestion was very simple - every time you visit an MP, it should cost you £5 or £10. If you want to go and speak to your MP you have to hand her a crisp new note. T…
Continue reading →
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…
Continue reading →
What if they gave a war and nobody came? Why, then, the war would come to you! -- Bertolt Brecht The current Conservative Government (and their Labour predecessors) are obsessed with the idea of competition. Their theory is that competition lowers prices, improves services, and makes the world more efficient. The free market will arrive at an optimal solution for everything. In some cases, this is correct. In my own field - mobile phones - we see a tooth and nail fight between companies…
Continue reading →
I want to clear up a small misunderstanding Yesterday, I Tweeted: Terence Eden is on Mastodon@edent#PICONF12 Andy Smith says "never use your real details online" - Martin Hewitt not looking best pleased. Nor the other MP in the room.❤️ 3💬 0🔁 009:50 - Thu 25 October 2012 In the space of a few hours, the story was on the BBC: And Slashdot: I was at the Parliament and Internet Conference yesterday. It was a smallish affair - maybe 200 people. A mixture of MPs, industry analysts, lobbyist…
Continue reading →
Regular readers will know that I think Woking Council's subsidy of curchgoers is ridiculous, illegal, and unfair. It's an issue I've raised with local councillor Carl Thomson in writing and on Twitter. A few days ago I entered into a discussion with him online about the issue. He has since deleted the tweets. But, as we know, the Internet has a long memory - so here they are. I've reordered a few to make our conversation clearer. None of my tweets have been deleted. It started when I saw…
Continue reading →
My local council, Woking, have found themselves in a spot of bother recently. It has emerged that they are subsidising parking charges for specific Christians churches. If you belong to a different church, worship a different god, or just want to go shopping, you have to pay for parking. The total subsidy was at least £55,864 between 2009 and 2011, and is still rising. The National Secular Society took issue with this and, unsurprisingly, complained that this was blatant discrimination. …
Continue reading →
I've been pretty disgusted with how the Tories are treating equal marriage, so I decided to put the case to my local MP. Here's my letter and his somewhat disappointing reply. Dear Jonathan Lord, I understand that there will shortly be a free vote on the issue of equal marriage. Some politicians have insisted that this is an issue which is not a priority for the electorate. I disagree - this is a hugely important issue which I hope you will support. I have seen some objections by other…
Continue reading →
Last week I attended Google's Big Tent event. I may write about some of the panels later, but I want to focus on how I flummoxed the Minister for Universities and Science - David "Two Brains" Willetts (Photo by Paul Clarke) I posited to the Rt Hon Gentleman, that student loans were crippling the high-tech workforce of the country. When I graduated, I was unable to get a bank loan for a technology start-up due to the level of student loan debt I had accumulated. With universities now…
Continue reading →
I've already blogged about the Leveson Inquiry's disturbing habit of releasing evidence as scanned in PDFs. I had a suggestion from digital journalist Kevin Anderson Terence Eden is on Mastodon@edentGah! The #leveson witness statements are photocopied & scanned in levesoninquiry.org.uk/evidence/?witn…Disastrous for open justice - shkspr.mobi/blog/index.php…❤️ 0💬 0♻️ 110:12 - Fri 11 May 2012Mr Anderson@kevglobalReplying to @edent@edent Put the Leveson docs up on Google Docs. I'd be curious how …
Continue reading →
I've been listening to the Leveson inquiry. A large part of the exchanges seem to go like this: Jay: Turning to page 51. Witness: Which bundle? Jay: 1606. Witness: 1660? Leveson: No, the page after. Jay: Paragraph 7. Witness: I don't have a paragraph 7. Jay: Ah, I have an earlier print out. Leveson: You'll find it in tab 15. Witness: Is this Volume 2? And so on, ad nauseum. Surely there's no reason to have so much paper wastefully printed and then discarded? Why not a single reference…
Continue reading →
In which the BPI threaten to sue me. Last night I was fortunate enough to find myself addressing the All-Party Parliamentary Group on the Digital Economy Act. Eric Joyce MP managed to bring together a diverse group of people from all sides of the debate for a (mostly) civil discussion on the Act, its limitations, and potential problems. MPs and Musicians in Perfect Harmony This was exactly the sort of discussion which should have taken place before the bill became law. Sadly, we're left w…
Continue reading →
