Pretty
Little Printer →
November 29th, 2011UK Government plans for increasing the value of the Internet in the UK →
November 29th, 2011The government has released a document outlining The UK Cyber Security Strategy.
There’s lots of interesting plans covering all sorts of online aspects, but I can’t help be afraid that ‘cybercrime’ is just code for copyright infringement, and that the biggest result will be loss of freedoms (e.g. of speech and to do business online). Particularly given the resistance the UK government has had to implementing improvements to copyright law, such as fair use, and their involvement with dodgy treaties, like ACTA.
Our vision is for the UK in 2015 to derive huge economic and social value from a vibrant, resilient and secure cyberspace, where our actions, guided by our core values of liberty, fairness, transparency and the rule of law, enhance prosperity, national security and a strong society.
- Objective 1: The UK to tackle cyber crime and be one of the most secure places in the world to do business in cyberspace
- Objective 2: The UK to be more resilient to cyber attacks and better able to protect our interests in cyberspace
- Objective 3: The UK to have helped shape an open, stable and vibrant cyberspace which the UK public can use safely and that supports open societies
- Objective 4: The UK to have the cross-cutting knowledge, skills and capability it needs to underpin all our cyber security objectives
Even the RAF know the caps lock button is in the wrong place!
November 26th, 2011
De-bullshitification of the arguments for bringing in police to disperse peaceful protestors on campus →
November 24th, 2011Chief Spicuzza justified the assault by saying that the protest was “not safe for multiple reasons,” none of which she specified
Video of the UC Davis pepper spraying →
November 24th, 2011This video shows what happened at UC Davis in real-time, from multiple angles. via Daring Fireball
The UC Davis incident and personal responsibility
November 24th, 2011The first post I read about the pepper spraying incident at UC Davis was this article about the effect the incident may have had on the policeman doing the spraying.
The author, Madrigal, recalled a quote from the NYT about a similar incident from the 1960s.
[Clark] cannot be dismissed as a total monster; I am sure he loves his wife and children and likes to get drunk. One has to assume that he is a man like me… Something awful must have happened to a human being to be able to put a cattle prod against a woman’s breasts. What happens to the woman is ghastly. What happens to the man who does it is in some ways much, much worse.
The article goes on to consider the system that produces police that will do (and believe they should do) terrible things to other people.
I think personal responsibility is so important, especially in systems that require authority and control. On the one hand, we can’t be constantly questioning, arguing, undermining and overriding our leadership, but on the other we we can’t always blindly follow orders given. We have to take personal responsibility for our actions, which involves balancing what we personally believe to be right with trusting our leaders.
Spoiled by SSDs
November 23rd, 2011I just accidentally booted my computer using it’s backup system drive — A traditional hard drive. It was soooo slow! Did I really wait this long for applications to load?
I’ve had an SSD in my home computer and work computer for a couple of months now. They are awesome! Just so much less waiting around for the computer to catch up with what I’m trying to do.
The Definitive Post On Why SOPA And Protect IP Are Bad, Bad Ideas →
November 23rd, 2011Gives a good background on why infringement is a problem, but what the solution really is, before explaining the bad unintended consequences of SOPA and PIPA.
The post is long but it’s worth at least skimming for an overview.
Raising Some Concerns →
November 22nd, 2011Looks like the New York Times is just as bad as the BBC for writing meaningless headlines and blurbs.
Microsoft have a WordPress Installer for Windows →
November 15th, 2011This is pretty cool. I spotted it in a Gmail ad, too!
Microsoft WebMatrix makes it easy for anyone to create a WordPress site. WordPress available from the Web Application Gallery is fully tested to run on WebMatrix.
I love being able to run a full webserver on my home PC (a mac), and wonder if WebMatrix brings that ability to Windows. There’s also WAMP, which has been around for a long time.
