US turns wikileaks into fiasco. Terrorism is dropped.

Yup – instead of just having been embarrassed and pointing out that every country makes the same kind of internal assessments, that these have to be brutally honest internally in order to be effective and then getting on with it, the US is flipping. H Clinton, the mad spying control freak, is now claiming it’s Read more about US turns wikileaks into fiasco. Terrorism is dropped.[…]

NL Gov: publically funded media only TV / Radio, not internet

In a bizarre swipe at public media, the VVD has stated that tax payers money can’t be used to develop the websites of the public channels. Are they supposed to be website-less? The stated reason is unfair competition with newspapers, but newspapers have been notoriously slow to pick up any kind of innovation. The VVD Read more about NL Gov: publically funded media only TV / Radio, not internet[…]

Netherlands starts it’s own China-esque firewall

The freedoms we rapidly lose 🙁 The Netherlands now has it’s own blacklist of websites that it forces on providers to block. The list is confidential, the methods of enforcing the block are confidential, and just like ACTA – they’re trying to put it through without releasing any details, promising transparency ‘later’. The problem is Read more about Netherlands starts it’s own China-esque firewall[…]

People ignore facts, opinions are based on beliefs

Not only that, but presenting people with facts can entrench them further in their beliefs. People willfully ignore facts that don’t correspond to their opinions. “This bodes ill for a democracy, because most voters — the people making decisions about how the country runs — aren’t blank slates. They already have beliefs, and a set Read more about People ignore facts, opinions are based on beliefs[…]

EU may start saving search history too

The EU is going  to discuss whether or not to force ISPs to save the searches you make in online search engines, such as Google, Yahoo, whatever. Apart from the privacy implications, who is going to pay the ISPs for the massive extra storage capacity they’ll need, but more importantly: what defines a ‘search’ – Read more about EU may start saving search history too[…]

ConLibs start to bring the UK back to sanity: outlawing fingerprinting of children at schools

It looks like the UK is starting to be saved allreay! The ConLibs are devoted to things such as personaly privacy and are against mammoth centralised databases (such as the National ID fiasco). The government is looking to increase the safety of your data and keep much less of it. Well done, I hope this Read more about ConLibs start to bring the UK back to sanity: outlawing fingerprinting of children at schools[…]

UK Internet Law governed by media industry

Basically it’s all about the movie and music industry being able to kick you off the net and subject you to huge fines without any proof – just an accusation of filesharing is enough.  It’s also about giving the business secretary the power to make up penalties and enforcements at whim. It’s not about stimulating Read more about UK Internet Law governed by media industry[…]

Gazprom CEO’s palace removed from Google Maps

The head of Gazprom is building a most luxurious palace in the style of the XVIII century worth $ 50 million Design documentation for anticipated future residence of the head of Gazprom, Alexei Miller, who looks like a huge palace in the style of the XVIII century. Impressive, very similar to the mansion in Peterhof, Read more about Gazprom CEO’s palace removed from Google Maps[…]

Booming business, steal and sell to governments

An interesting article – if you have bank customer information, which you’ve stolen from a bank, governments will pay you for that information. If you’re a spy you’d be shot for it. It’s not right that the Dutch government is using tax payers money on criminally attained information to find people who have foreign cash Read more about Booming business, steal and sell to governments[…]

UK adopts French 3 strikes law

Looks like the British are blithely going where the French couldn’t go by adopting a 3 strikes rule for illegal filesharers. First you get warning letters and then you get disconnected from the internet. Not only does this mean that basically your internet connection will be monitored for this kind (and what other?) behaviour, but Read more about UK adopts French 3 strikes law[…]

Slashdot Your Rights Online Story | A Black Day For Internet Freedom In Germany

This week, the two big political parties ruling Germany in a coalition held the final talks on their proposed Internet censorship scheme. DNS queries for sites on a list will be given fake answers that lead to a page with a stop sign. The list itself is maintained by the German federal police (Bundeskriminalamt). They Read more about Slashdot Your Rights Online Story | A Black Day For Internet Freedom In Germany[…]

Politicians smallminded about ISS

Apparently, in a bid to really lower morale on the International Space Station, Russia and the US are forbidding their astro/cosmonauts to use each other’s facilities, extending to sharing food, using the toilet and gym. Because obviously it’s a politically very very important issue who uses what crapper up there.