Posts by Graham Marsden
4081 posts • joined Friday 19th January 2007 17:59 GMT
Page:
The government sees young people as...
... less immediately opposed to carrying such a card.
Translation: they don't realise what the risks to their basic liberties are.
In other words: Get them young and by the time they've figured it out, it'll be too late.
iReal...
... iPod, iPhone, iTunes, iGoogle...
... can I please trademark iDespair?!
Posted in UK obscenity law: Where to now?
There is also the point...
... that had someone decided to hire a group of look-alike models and have them pose for photographs to "illustrate" the story, even though the story was not illegal and no illegal acts were committed in the making of the photos, if someone decided the images were "grossly offensive, disgusting or otherwise of an obscene nature", "for the purposes of sexual arousal" and showed "an act which threatens a person’s life" then the CPS could have successfully prosecuted under the Dangerous Pictures provisions of the Criminal Justice and Immigration Act!
What a ludicrous situation...
Idiots...
... or should that be "Senatards"?
@Coruscating Frenzy
So, let me see if I've got this right.
Someone has not committed a crime, they have been acquitted in Court of any offence, yet they should *still* be sacked for exercising their legal right to freedom of expression simply because you (or some po-faced idiot in the CIvil Service) don't like what they wrote?
In other words "you have the freedom to write what *we* like..."
@Armus Squelprom
> there's no shred of literary or creative merit to redeem Darryn Walker's vile, jealous filth.
Sorry, have you *READ* the Daily Star recently...?
> His employer is wholly entitled to conclude that this behaviour has brought them into gross disrepute
Why? WTF has this to do with them if he didn't write it on work time or use work computers? This is the same sort of nonsense that has teachers being sacked because they go to Fetish Clubs even though they would never mention it to the children they teach.
You, like Estariel, seem to think that hearsay, gossip and "the court of public opinion" are more important than someone's right to freedom of expression and their right to the presumption of innocence.
Would you like to apply for the job of Home Secretary?
@Code Monkey
Yes, the law has (now) been clarified, but, as with the Dangerous Pictures Act, it would never have come to that had the law been written clearly in the first place.
@Estariel
No, *you* get *your* categories sorted:
1) Not guilty.
2) Guilty.
There are *NO* other categories, unless you believe in trial by media, gossip, hearsay and innuendo.
The guy wrote a work of FICTION, if you're going to start censoring stuff simply because you don't like it, let alone arresting people for doing so, you're on a very dangerous and slippery slope.
If you don't like it, don't read it, but don't make ridiculous and unfounded assumptions about other people based on your own ignorance.
Excellent news...
... but you have to wonder how much public money they wasted on this farce.
Australia...?
... not in a hanger in Nevada?
Hmm, THAT'S what El Reg missed with the new icons, there's no Tin Foil Hat icon...! Guess it'll have to be a Black Helicopter.
So how long before...
... third party power pack suppliers start making compatible batteries with copied chips like those who make compatible ink cartridges?
"Remember folks, using compatible cartridges may give poor results or damage your printer or fund terrorism (and will stop us selling our ink at higher prices than vintage champange...)"
So...
... let me see, to make Mario do stuff, you've got you make rapid vertical jerking motions with your right hand...?
I can see a whole new market for this controller...
Paris, because...!
Posted in Designer pitches flat-pack power plug
Damn, that's rather clever...!
I'm impressed at the way someone has really "thought outside the box" in this case (instead of using it as a meaningless buzz-phrase!)
Yes, it's not perfect, but it's a start and I'm sure there are ways of fixing the problems if people are willing to think about the issues instead of just immediately dismissing it as "won't work, can't work, why bother changing what we've got" etc...
"Hello, Pizza Shed...?"
"Yeah, hi, can I get a quattro formaggio, a SuperServer 6016GT-TF-TM2 and a side order of garlic bread, thanks..."
Security theatre...
Well, at least everyone else didn't have to pay extra for this nonsense...
@Alex Connor
> before buying any electronical equipment you need to do some research about it, computer equipment included.
What you should do and what people actually do is another matter entirely!
"I'll have that one because I've heard of their company name".
"I'll have that one because it looks pretty".
"I'll have that one because the salesman says it's right for me (and his commission)"...
The Government rejected most of the report's recommendations....
... saying they didn't give a toss!
Posted in China recruits volunteer net porn police
So what's new...?
The UK Government had the Women's Institute hassling newspapers trying to get them to stop carrying "objectionable adverts" which, supposedly, would prevent women from being trafficked. The difference is only in the medium...
@Reminds me of the good old days
> A friend of mine once posted in his hangar that he was going to have an inspection under QR 2024.
You sure that wasn't a Space Corps Directive...? ;-)
Europe will love this...
... an un-elected, unaccountable body, doing what it likes without any real controls, banning sites based on a list that nobody but them has access to...?
Sounds very European to me.
Reminds me of...
... the old piece of graffiti
"Illiterate? Write to this address for help!"
Posted in Law lord lashes out at ID cards
Bravo...
... Lord Steyn!
At least there are a few people willing to speak out about this who might actually get listened to.
Unfortunately people like him are why the Government wants to replace the Lords with a bunch of party hacks who will rubber-stamp whatever nonsense they want to push through.
@Mark 33
Unfortunately right from the word Go the Government has been attempting to create a false association between so-called Extreme Pornography and Child Porn, eg in their highly biased "consultation document" there were repeated references to CP even though the EP law was absolutely nothing to do with children.
Unsurprisingly, now, we see someone being accused of possessing both which will undoubtedly lead to implications that anyone who might have EP is also a kiddie fiddler.
@Gareth
The point about this case is that the law *assumes* guilt because the offence is one of "simple possession" of the images.
The guy selling the DVDs most probably had nothing to do with the making of them, nor any acts shown on them and so didn't break any laws in that context.
But this law doesn't care about that, it just says "you possess these images, therefore you are a criminal and the only way you can avoid being convicted is by proving your innocence" which is a reversal of the usual presumption of innocence not to mention a breach of Paragraph 2 or Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights.
HELLO!!!
I'M AT THE NORTH POLE!
IT'S RUBBISH!!!
Posted in The Times kills off blogger anonymity
Goodbye Whistleblowers...
So we've seen a nurse struck off for revealing shortcomings in the NHS and now this copper has been given a warning for revealing shortcomings in the police.
:-(
So...
... why can't you control it by sticking your arms out to the side and leaning the way you want to go?
And you could make it go faster by making Neooowwwww! noises...
... and you could attack things by going Dakka! Dakka! Dakka!
And...
... sorry, the nurse is here with my medicine...
Well what a surprise...
... a new law gets introduced for one purpose and immediately the Police find a way to extend it in ways that simply make life easier for them.
Let's hear it for good old function creep.
Can anyone tell me how this would have saved Jane Longhurst's life?
The Bill contains a regulation...
... making power exercisable by the Secretary of State to set out the steps he will take to meet them.
Whilst the "set out the steps" doesn't exactly sound like a massive sanction, I'm just a little worried that this will turn into some form of "enabling legislation" where all sorts of other dubious laws can be pushed through because "well, they'll help with child poverty and we're legally obliged to 'do something' about it..."
Posted in Sun's top brass get golden parachutes...
Golden parachute...?
Well if Mythbusters can make a Lead Balloon...
Posted in F1 waves goodbye to KERS
Forget about the F1 procession...
... if you want to watch some *real* racing, watch the A1 GP series.
A grid full of identical cars, one per nation (so no dubious "team tactics"), with a limited number of Power Boosts for overtaking and racing all the way down the field and a real test of the skill of the driver, not who can spend most money on development.
The end of the last season was an absolute corker with four teams all in with a chance of snatching the title, better than any F1 race I've seen in the last decade!
Opting out...
Well I've been to their website and opted out, even though I'm not entirely sure I was on their system in the first place, in which case, I've just given them my number.
They say I'll now be marked as "ex-directory" if someone tries to contact me but but there was, however, no option to say "I don't want my number passed on to anyone, anywhere, any time which strikes me as dubious.
Still, I've saved their number on my phone under the name "Junk", so anything that appears from it will be ignored!
@John Oz - Devil's Advocate
A simple rebuttal of having the filters default switched on?
Certainly: Opt in or opt out?
Phorm wants us to have to opt out of their service.
118800 wants us to have to opt out of their directory.
This bunch want us to have to opt out of their filtering.
I prefer to make choices like this myself.
Simple.
Posted in Junior astronomer spots junior supernova
So what is it...?
It's not a Nova. It's not a SuperNova.
Perhaps it's a "NotVerySuperNova"?
Oh look...
... Total Confusion Marketing from Micro$oft!
Blimey...
... with an aerial that big, you'd have something even larger than that thing Uhura used to stick in her ear!
Porn as scape-goat(se)...
Once again we see those who wish to enforce a Nanny State blaming the "evil internet porn" for problems which existed long before the internet ever came about.
And, of course, when they talk about "acceptable content" what they mean is "content that is acceptable to THEM"
Well I find their content "unacceptable" so obviously it should be banned.
Ok, but...
... now can TBL convince them that allowing multiple points of access to our *private* data is *NOT* a good thing?
Posted in Venezuela spits out Coke Zero
@Stu
> Coke Zero does taste like hospital sewage...
I hesitate to ask how you know...!
@Privateofcourse
> that kind of disgusting crap needs removing so we're not all surfing in massive feckin toilet.
If you have *PROOF* of crime, prosecute the crime.
But when you start removing "disgusting crap" you end up with the nonsense of the "Dangerous Pictures Act" banning so-called "extreme pornography" because some people find that "disgusting or abhorrent", not because there's any evidence of harm.
And don't forget all those innocent people who were victims of false accusations of downloading kiddie porn by Operation Ore after their credit card details were stolen...
About time...
.... well in Tony Smith's opinion, anyway.
And that's all it is. OPINION.
In my opinion I think El Reg should ban Tony Smith because I don't like what he writes...
(Well, actually I don't, but, come on, El Reg, let's try to keep things balanced rather than just letting one of your writers go off on a rant)
How can Brown shuffle...
... when he's not playing with a full deck in the first place...?
Posted in Airport ID cards only for the newbies
The Home Office reckon this was always the case....
... and we have always been at war with Eastasia...
Posted in Poor management hampers gov IT
Another statement...
... from the Department of the Bleedin' Obvious...
Posted in Beware 'mobile elbow', sawbones warn
@Muscleguy
I think you mean:
The finger bone's connected to the hand bone,
The hand bone's connected to the wrist bone,
The wrist bone's connected to the elbow bone
And the Elbow bone's connected to the shoulder bone...
Let's give them friendly names...
... look, this one can build stuff and on his front it says "Call me Kenneth"!
(Link for those who don't remember their old Dredd stories...)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_minor_characters_in_Judge_Dredd#Call-Me-Kenneth
