Posts by gavpowell

TalkTalk's new Head of Security receives last-minute advice before facing the press.

Any Way Back?

I don't understand why AMD still can't make any damn money - they sold off the fabrication arm, they've started making pretty good strides with their APUs and they've got half the market for graphics cards. If their losses are getting worse, why, how long can they continue like this and what can they do to fix things?

Not Very Helpful

There's hardly any substance to this article at all - couldn't you have filled a little more space with a set of bulletpoints suggesting how best to prevent the attack?

It's Not "Either/Or"

Largely as a result of the hysteria whipped up by the press since the announcement of the new regulator, the focus has been very much "Well, you can either have a media that hacks people's phones, rummages in bins and prints snarky stories about celebrities but also exposes wrongdoing at the highest level. Or you can have a media that just doesn't report anything except the official line and daren't investigate." That is not the only choice, nor is it the current state of affairs.

Tabloidwatch is littered with stories of ordinary people who have agreed to be featured in a story, only to find the published piece bears absolutely no resemblance to anything they've said. Complaints to the newspaper have resulted in a mixture of contempt and stonewalling. Complaints to the PCC are then met with the response "Well, we can;t actually force them to do anything..." Richard Desmond decides he doesn't really like the PCC so he withdraws, and thus the only way to seek redress is through the courts(This is admittedly also true of Private Eye, but the latter tends only to target those who have the means to defend themselves and not random members of the public, and lacks the financial might of Desmond)

We're approaching a referendum on membership of the EU, yet the Mail and others continue to print lies about EU laws/regulations, refusing to seek any rebuttal from the people concerned, then refusing to print any correction when those people contact them to complain.

The broadcast media are subject to Ofcom regulation and they don't exactly seem to be toeing the party line, but the media who revelled in the BBC's discomfort from the Hutton enquiry are facing a similar situation and suddenly they're champions of freedom and democracy.

Even Nick Davies

Has said he sees no problem with Leveson's idea. At the end of the day, the press have shown 7 times in 70 years that they cannot be trusted to regulate themselves. To the best of my knowledge, no other industry is allowed to "mark its own homework" and the PCC was utterly useless - Desmond walked away from it and there was nothing anyone could do about what he printed in his papers, except an expensive drawn-out private prosecution. Christ, Mrs McCann's diary was published without her consent and the PCC said "Nothing we can do, chief."

Newspapers are allowed to basically do as they please, with little fear of the consequences, because the "regulator" has no power to impose penalties. I'm quite happy with the idea of a halfway house rather than full statutory control, but any regulator must have the power to punish(on radio4, one tabloid editor laughably suggested that the thing editors fear most is being forced to print an apology, as opposed to a gigantic fine or a prison sentence)

There needs to be a system whereby ordinary members of the public with a grievance can make a complaint and the publication in question is mandated to explain its actions before a tribunal, after which the complaint can either be upheld and some sort of settlement reached without the need for a full-blown trial, or else the complaint can be dismissed, in which case you either accept it and move on or you seek the full-trial option. You could even moderate that with a clause that says once you agree to enter arbitration, you cannot then bring a separate prosecution through the courts.

A lot of the tabloid press are keen to tell us that kids these days run riot because there's no discipline "Gone are the days when you could give an errant lout a clip round the ear or a teacher could keep a class in line with the threat of a caning. Typical wishy-washy liberals etc."

Well the Fleet Street Kids have had 7 warnings now and they're running more riot than ever. Time for them to practise what they preach?

As to the idea that press regulation ushers in some kind of dictatorship, the Prime Minister can't even get Abu Whatsisname out of the country or keep his expenses under wraps, so how on Earth is he going to manage to get some kind of Supreme Ruler Enabling Act through parliament?

They Had a Warehouse Clearance Once

And this comprised half a dozen stalls piled with random tat at very ordinary prices(19" monitors for £120, printers from £50)...and they couldn't de mo any of it because there was no power.

I stopped using ebuyer ages ago but gave them another chance earlier this year with a 600 quid delivery. Phoned and asked whether it would definitely arrive next day, assurances given. It arrived 2 days later, so I refused delivery and sent the whole lot back.

"the ONN Blu-Ray player is sold for £40"

"canny shoppers can pick up a shiny Panasonic-branded device for £30 more"

So it's not a bargain, because you can go out and buy a better one for almost twice as much?