SimonB’s Comments

• Jul 11th, 2014 @ 1:47am

  RE: Whatever

  on On How UK's Political Elite Shoved Through A Data Retention Bill
  But surely that is what part of being a democracy is about? I'm not sure we fully qualify now as a democracy in the UK or on the US but unless we kick up a fuss about this in the UK then more laws like this will be slipped through.
  
  Surely it is our duty as concerned citizens to raise issues with our members of parliament when we see them overstepping their bounds. It can and has made a difference in the recent past. Just because they are trying it again doesn't mean we should just through up our hands and admit defeat. How many pivotal moments in history happened because people refused to give up?
  
  No, this is an important matter. As has been shown time and time again governments and their security apparatus are made up of fallible human beings. If they really must introduce these laws to allow mass surveillance then the entire matter should be publicly debated and serious measures to protect against invasion of privacy and abuse must be put in place and any transgressions must be publicly prosecuted. That is the only way we can have a system that doesn't repress freedom of speech, association and movement.
  
  What every concerned UK citizen should be doing is writing to their local MP to complain about this process. Make it clear that your continued or future support is reliant on them standing up and being counted as against this cynical and cowardly move on the part of the three parties.
  
  If anyone in the UK is unaware, the website to use to write to your MP is: https://www.writetothem.com/
• Jul 8th, 2014 @ 7:17am

  What is next? When will they be happy?

  on DHS Cites 'Credible Threat' As Reason For Forcing Travelers To The US To Hand Over Powered-Up Devices To Airport Security
  Are we to have body cavity searches if we don't use the rest rooms and provide a receipt of material expelled?
  
  When will they realise that this is exactly the kind of reaction that is desired? They want us to give up our freedoms? They want to impose capricious authoritarian laws. At the rate we are going we are going we are going to achieve all they want without them actually carrying out any further atrocities in Europe or the States.
  
  I for one would like to see a reduction in the FUD and a near blanket removal of most of the pointless security checks introduced since 9/11, Richard Reid and the liquid bomb plot.
  
  Lets face it most of the security measures introduced won't actually stop any of these happening again. I do say most as clearly making it much harder for high-jackers to enter the cockpit and therefore take over the plane. But the rest of it? Really?
• Mar 6th, 2014 @ 1:30am

  Re:

  on When Will The Motion Picture Academy Take Responsibility For All That Piracy The Oscars Create?
  But they do make copies available at a reasonable cost. They send out copies of the movies to the judges who then in turn put them up on BitTorrent. It seems the only restriction they put on the films is to show the words 'For your consideration' along the bottom of the screen every now and then.