New Criminal Information Quango sighted As Parliament prepares to recess this week and MPs pack suntan lotion and head for the Tuscan hills, it's traditional for government departments to sneak out important reports and make major announcements of future initiatives on the sly. So it was no surprise last week to find the “Review of Criminal Information” (ROCI) making …
Cue the uk.gov calling for a public debate as a precursor to ignoring any squeal of public opinion, telling us precisely what they're going to do to us and how much this will be worth to the economy via the businesses of well-heeled party donors in line for honours.
We need a new word for what we are living in, because fascist state just isn't adequate. Unrepresentative Fascioquangocracy perhaps?
Can we have an icon for "I'm fucking sick of this shit"? Please?
memo : All politicians.
It's consultants, you morons. Your wish to secure a job after you're unelected, means you give billions to companies, who've got no incentive to succeed.
Sack them all, and hire IT contractors directly.
It's so f*cking obvious. A child could understand it.
Some 15 years ago, serious talent in the data collection / analysis department was set free in eastern Germany. Imagine what those Stasi types could have done with real computers if they managed to keep track of 20-odd million people using index cards!
Too bad all that talent went to waste... or did it? Maybe they went off to advise foreign governments on security related issues.
Information on criminality is defined as: “Any information which is, or may be, relevant to the prevention, investigation, prosecution, or penalising of crime.” That is broad!
Checked your bank's "Privacy" [sic] conditions lately? (No, me neither - but I did a while back... complained vociferously... nowt happened) - they also allow your details to be provided, basically on a whim - no need for a court order, warrant or any such like...
Actually the current LloydsTSB terms include provision to cough if:
• the law or public interest permits or requires it;
• required by us or others to investigate or prevent crime
Define "the public interest"? What does "the law requires or permits" actually boil down to? (Who interprets? Some PFY in the back office?). Which "others"? ("OGD"? - wink, wink - or anybody who sounds plausible?)
Tried to "require" TB's bank details in order to "prevent" him doing anything naughty, but that didn't fly unfortunately...
Blah blah blah...
I think there's probably a market for TwoFish encrypted mattresses these days...
Half way through Monday and already ranting - it's going to be a good week...
It seems that every little bit of legislation that comes out of this poxy government includes statements that are designed to ensure every single UK citizen (forget the illegal ones- they’re below the radar) can have every bit of their personal data indexed into the government database.
I think, El Reg, you have massively understated this one, <quote>broad</quote> does go anywhere near describing what this can do.
I mean, I drive a car in Essex and <superbold ><quote>may be</quote></superbold > that fact alone might relate to a crime commissioned in the Shetlands; therefore pertinent to the <quote>investigation</quote>. Whoops there goes my data into that database.
However, the real question is; who in this government has promised that every UK citizen will be indexificated, so much so that even if it sounds the government's death knell they have to push ahead with it any way they possibly can? Which member of the labour government has sold us out? And to who, though I expect the answer to that is the U.S.
If you want to give easy access to common data, then you need a search engine ?
As long as each solved crime get documented and is available over a network, then you can search the whole network for common details. No need for a central dbase at all. I hear google makes appliances for this very purpose.
"Too bad all that talent went to waste... or did it? Maybe they went off to advise foreign governments on security related issues." ... By Schultz Posted Monday 21st July 2008 09:54 GMT
And Real Good at IT2, they are, Schulz. Leipzig Dresden Bautzen take US into Polished Polish Territory.
"Half way through Monday and already ranting - it's going to be a good week..." ...By Julian I-Do-Stuff Posted Monday 21st July 2008 10:42 GMT
What you Give is what you Get Here, Julian I-Do-Stuff, and the Wackos Digg into some Real Heavy Flows of MetaData Here ..... for a More Fluid Global Drive.
A lot of Big Picture Players and Actor Players. And Remarkably Coy and Discrete. Getting SMARTer Finally. :-) and Realising what is Going On Around Them for Them.
But who is Pumping Real Iron Intellectual Muscle? Slick Nevada or Trick California?
pretty much every company you deal with on a day to day basis in the UK will gladly hand over your personal data to anyone who cares to press them hard enough, or press the right button. I remember once ,for a bet, before the DPA 1998 came into force, I told a friend to tell me who he banked with (branch as well) and I would tell him his balance. In 5 minutes flat I told him, he was gutted !.
I was shocked this week when I received a phone call from a person who had bought something off me on ebay. I had not listed my phone number and yet apparently if requested by the buyer then ebay will give that person all your personal info, including phone numbers.
Mike
Spooky, Mike. Once spooky always spooky?
Although I do think the solution offered here is far too drastic, except in the most deserving of cases ...... "Legendary technical surveillance countermeasures wizard Marty Kaiser at the Last Hope conference today in NYC answered an audience question about how to combat spying, illegal surveillance, thieving and other criminality of intelligence agencies worldwide: when the officers retire give them a great party then execute them. He said nothing else will stop their spying, neither law nor political opposition. Big applause for that wisdom. "
Better the Operation that is Sanctioned though than the Operation which gets you Sectioned. A Fine Line as Wide as the Grand Canyon 42 Criss Cross ...... Jump.
And like Flames to a Moth, do SMART Systems Seek out SMARTer Systems for Peer Support and Research and dDevelopment. ..... or they Target the Money Markets, although the SMARTer of the SMARTer Engines would Blitz Both/Flood Both with their Vulnerabilities if Internal Security Investment Options/Danegeld Contingencies are Thought Unnecessary in today's Dynamic Virtual Realism.
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