:: GussetBLOG ::

:: Tuesday, May 26, 2009 ::

Who's Watching You?

A national network of cameras and computers automatically logging car number plates will be in place within months, the BBC has learned.

Thousands of Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) cameras are already operating on Britain's roads. Police forces across England, Wales and Scotland will soon be able to share the information on one central computer.

John Catt found himself on the wrong side of the ANPR system. He regularly attends anti-war demonstrations outside a factory in Brighton, his home town.

It was at one of these protests that Sussex police put a "marker" on his car. That meant he was added to a "hotlist".

This is a system meant for criminals but John Catt has not been convicted of anything and on a trip to London, the pensioner found himself pulled over by an anti-terror unit.

"I was threatened under the Terrorist Act. I had to answer every question they put to me, and if there were any questions I would refuse to answer, I would be arrested. I thought to myself, what kind of world are we living in?"

Sussex police would not talk about the case.

The police say they do not know how many cameras there are in total, and they say that for operational reasons they will not say where the fixed cameras are positioned.

The police themselves say they have nothing to hide and would welcome the introduction of a regulatory code. But that seems some way off - and for now this secretive system continues to watch us and continues to grow.

It's nice that the Police acknowledge the need for regulation but shouldn't that be in place BEFORE the system goes live, not after it goes wrong?

Labels: CCTV, ID, Politics, Secuirty

:: Dan 26.5.09 [Arc] [0 comments] ::
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There is a pattern to my blogging here that shows that every time I buy an actual hard copy of a newspaper I blog about half a dozen stories out of it I may otherwise never have stumbled upon. This is no exception, here are my picks from Thursday's Guardian:

British therapists still offer treatments to 'cure' homosexuality
"Survey suggests a significant minority of mental health professionals continue to provide treatments to gay men and lesbians despite no evidence they can change orientation and concerns they are harmful...One counsellor who is a member of the British Psychological Society said: "Although homosexual feelings are usual in people, their physical expression, and being a person's only way of having sexual relations is problematic. The physical act for male homosexuals is physically damaging and is the main reason in this country for Aids/HIV. It is also perverse.""
This is outrageous. It can be criticised, if not demolished, from so many different angles I don't think I need to point that out. It's like a throw back to the 50s, when our society lost great minds like Turing because of it's backwards treatment of sexuality. From some of the quotes in the article there are, to me, some scary signs of counsellors forcing their personal (probably 2000 year old religious based beliefs) on people. These practitioners should not be allowed to "help" people again.

Are women doing better or worse in IT since Ada Lovelace?

Why not let the security services spy on Twitter? It's not like they'll learn anything from it

Getty Images now licensing hand-picked Flickr photos

Google's would be watchdogs are distracted by its chew toys

Vintage sound chips? They are music to my ears
Chip tunes goes mainstream?

E-government survey urges councils to free data

"Never mind the recession - Lego is now so popular that there are 62 little coloured blocks for every person on the planet. Yet only five years ago this family business was on the brink of ruin. Jon Henley reports from the Danish town where it all began"

Labels: Electronic Music, Feminism, Flickr, gay, Google, IT, Lego, News, Photography, Politics, Retro, Secuirty, web 2.0

:: Dan 28.3.09 [Arc] [0 comments] ::
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Betraying the fact that I was away on work most of last week the yawning gap in posts is now filled with a link dump of Radio 4 listening and Independent articles that I collected whilst on the road:

The Moral Maze - Should a person's political views ever disqualify them from doing a job?

"This week the Moral Maze asks should a person's political views ever disqualify them from doing a job?

"Some members of the BNP in professions like the police and prison service, face losing their job after the leaking of the party's membership list. While others, for example, teachers will not.

"Where do we draw the lines over freedom of belief and expression?

"Should we have a right not to be offended or have we lost our nerve over freedom of expression and are we becoming a more intolerant, illiberal society?"

Very interesting listening, it's a massive grey area. I found myself sat in a carpark for 20min listening to this as I didn't want to miss any of it when I was checking into a hotel.

Woman found guilty in 'cyber-bully' case

"A housewife who posed as a teenage boy to send hostile emails to a neighbour's daughter was found guilty yesterday of several minor charges related to the "cyber-bullying" that prompted the girl's suicide.

"The case made legal history because it revolved around charges that Ms Drew lied on the fake MySpace profile, violating the site's terms of service which require users to provide "truthful and accurate" registration information.

"Ms Drew had throughout the trial denied that she was using her computer when the fateful, final message to Megan was sent. While she knew of the existence of "Josh Evans", she claimed the hostile emails were sent by her daughter, Sarah, and several friends."

Yes, that's right. Blame your own daughter. Nice one.
RIP

The phone that says bling bling

"Frank Nuovo cradles in his palm what is, if not the world's most costly mobile phone, then perhaps its most elegantly conceived. It's the Vertu Boucheron 150, designed by Nuovo himself, a dapper, serious Californian whose passion for his product is entirely unapologetic. Formerly head of design at Nokia, he is the founder and chief designer of Vertu, the world's leading maker of luxury mobile phones."

I commented on these back in 2005 and apparently showed myself to be a lowlife (see comments). My opinion hasn't changed.


Crusher
Originally uploaded by gusset.

How turtles got their shells

"The fossilised remains of an ancient reptile that lived 220 million years ago may have solved the puzzle of how the turtle got its shell and, in the process, cleared up one of the most enduring mysteries of animal evolution.

"The latest discovery, made by palaeontologists excavating in China's fossil-rich province of Guizhou, shows that the shell of the turtle evolved from bony growths that expanded from the spine and ribs, rather than the merging of bony plates found in the skin of some reptiles."

Labels: evolution, Fashion, Law, Liberty, science, Secuirty

:: Dan 2.12.08 [Arc] [0 comments] ::
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Stop and Search Form
Originally uploaded by gwalton1.


Remember, if you ever are stopped and searched you DO NOT have to give your name and address or show ID.

Bruce Schneier - Are photographers really a threat?
[via the Bristol flickr group discussion about "security" at Cabot Circus. The Radio Bristol link in the first post is worth a listen]

Labels: Flickr, Liberty, Photography, Secuirty

:: Dan 2.12.08 [Arc] [0 comments] ::
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radio for back up
Originally uploaded by i didn't mean to go to Stoke.

"My friend and I were photographing in the town. I spotted a man being detained by this security guard and a policeman, some kind of altercation was going on, i looked through my zoom lens to see what was happening and then moved on.

"Moments later as i walked away this goon jumped in front of me and demanded to know what i was doing. i explained that i was taking photos and it was my legal right to do so, he tried to stop me by shoulder charging me, my friend started taking photos of this, he then tried to detain us both. I refused to stand still so he grabbed my jacket and said i was breaking the law. Quickly a woman and a guy wearing BARGAIN MADNESS shirts joined in the melee and forcibly grabbed my friend and held him against his will. We were both informed that street photography was illegal in the town.
Two security guards from the nearby shopping center THE MALL came running over, we were surrounded by six hostile and aggressive security guards. They then said photographing shops was illegal and this was private land. I was angry at being grabbed by this man so i pushed him away, one of the men wearing a BARGAIN MADNESS shirt twisted my arm violently behind my back, i winced in pain and could hardly breathe in agony.
A policewomen was radioed and came over to question the two suspects ( the total detaining us had risen to seven, a large crowd had now gathered)
The detaining guard released me, i asked the policewoman if my friend and i could be taken away from the six guards, she motioned us to a nearby seat and told all the security people to go. She took our details, name, address, date of birth etc. She wanted to check my camera saying it was unlawful to photograph people in public, i told her this was rubbish. we agreed to come with her and we sat in the back of a police car, she radioed back to the station to check our details, i explained to her the law regarding photography and handed over a MOO card, i asked to take her picture and she said no. We were free to go with no charge. I may press charges for unlawful detention and physical assault by the security guards, watch this space.

"luckily my friend videoed some of this so it can be used in evidence.

"Here it is"

Labels: Flickr, ID, Photography, Secuirty

:: Dan 24.4.08 [Arc] [1 comments] ::
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Morning. I am offline at the moment. My PC died last Friday (power surge wrote off the power supply and mother-board and due to age rendered processor and RAM useless) so only have internet access in work, which I obviously try to minimise. Webmail is blocked. Should anyone really want to contact me for some reason, I can still pick up Flickr and Murdockspace messages, but not Facebook. I bought a new PC from yoyotech last night. Thanks to Spoksey for specing that up for me. Normal service will resume soon.

News

From Sunday's Independent:
"At present, Britain does not routinely fingerprint airline passengers (see page 3 for the US attitude). But starting two months from tomorrow, several million travellers each year will have their fingerprints, and photograph, taken twice before being allowed aboard a domestic flight."
The referenced article about the US attitude is here.
I mailed this to a security consultant friend to find out how it came about. Apparently it's down to commercial reasons, so every one gets to access one set of shops. Wooo.

Rambert Dance Company's ‘Britney Breakdown’
(I did some acoustic work for Rambert a couple of years ago. Lovely people.)
"Rambert Dance Company's ever-popular Season of New Choreography is an exciting opportunity to see brand new work created by some of Rambert's versatile dancers. The company has a track record of nurturing young choreographers. One of these is Hubert Essakow, who has commissioned a new work from Richard Thomas for Adey to sing live with the dancers. You won't be surprised to know that she gets to sing the word "arse" quite a bit."
(You may remember Richard Thomas from sitting behind the piano on TMWRNJ and as the person who provided the music for and co-wrote Jerry Springer the Opera with Stewart Lee.)

Spotted

Filthy, muck-strewn white van on the M5 on whose back door a mischievous passing finger had scrolled, "Cleaned by the NHS."

Busses

Chatting to "That'll be the Day: The Musical: The Fleece woman" on the bus stop yesterday morning. Tells me about her job then asks what I do. I say I work for an engineering practice in the centre. "Is that an admin role?" she asks. What!? Look at me. Glasses. Beard. Carrying laptop bag. I'm an engineer you cheeky cow.

I sat on the bus today, reading The God Delusion, next to someone reading the Bible. Book II of Psalms to be precise. What a wonderfully secular society we live in.

Labels: Art, Literature, News, Personal, Secuirty, Spotted, Travel

:: Dan 31.1.08 [Arc] [0 comments] ::
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Charlie Stross on underground security:

The solution to protecting the London Underground from terrorist suicide bombers can be summed up in one word: Daleks. One Dalek per tube platform, behind a door at the end. Fit them with cameras and remote controls and run them from Ken Livingstone's office. Any sign of terrorism on the platform? Whoosh! The doors open and the Dalek comes out, shrieking "exterminate!" in a demented rasp reminiscent of Michael Howard during his tenure as Home Secretary, only less merciful.

The British are trained from birth to know the two tactics for surviving a Dalek attack; run up the stairs (or escalator), or hide behind the sofa. There are no sofas in the underground, but there are plenty of escalators. Switch them to run upwards when the Dalek is out, and you can clear a platform in seconds.

Suicide bombers are by definition Un-British, and will therefore be unable to pass a citizenship test, much less deal with the Menace from Skaro. And as for motivating the Daleks, one need only mention that the current crop of would-be British suicide bombers are doctors ...

[via null device]

Labels: Dr Who, Humour, Sci-Fi, Secuirty

:: Dan 13.12.07 [Arc] [1 comments] ::
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Some time ago I found a thread on the Hijack board containing a copied and pasted story about someone getting into trouble with the police for taking photographs of CCTV cameras around Waterloo station. I was intrigued, but at the time couldn't find the original source or substantiate the story in any way, so didn't post it here.

I googled it again today and found the original Indymedia article from Feb of this year. It makes for interesting reading and if you read down through the comments you'll find the author has updated it as he's found out more information about the legal situation. It boils down to this:

"You can take photographs at [railway] stations provided you do not sell them. However, you are not allowed to take photographs of security related equipment, such as CCTV cameras."
[network rail]


Worth knowing. However, that doesn't justify the behaviour of the community support officer as alleged in the story.

Labels: Law, Photography, Secuirty

:: Dan 8.11.07 [Arc] [0 comments] ::
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Twister
Originally uploaded by Dave Gorman.


Dave Gorman posts an interesting story about police interference with his photography on his blog. Have a read. Incidentally, the previous story he refers to is here. It's ironic that just as the camera becomes ubiquitous and people everywhere are starting to document everything that happens to them, draconian protection measures kick in to prevent people doing so. I bet if a lone woman tried to photograph an empty fairground ride there wouldn't be a problem.

A few weeks ago Mrs P and I were on a flight home from visiting family in Germany. There was a call for an unaccompanied minor before anyone else boarded. We ended up sat in the back row and the loan child had the same row on the opposite side of the isle to himself. Mrs P asked the friendly and highly camp steward some general questions about how common it was for unaccompanied minors to travel, explaining that she is looking forward to our nephew being old enough to come a visit us. The steward explained how common it is and how the system works, with a member of staff keeping an eye on them at all times, them being handed over at one airport and to another adult at the other end, with paperwork to sign each time. He also explained that the child would never be sat next to a male adult. He felt the need to address me and explain that this practice was non-discriminatory, it was just, um, they didn't allow it. Now, I'm not arguing for a right to be able to sit next to kids on planes – keep the little bastards as far away from me as possible please – but how can they say it's not discriminatory? While you think about that bare in mind that the Word thesaurus offers the following alternative words: biased, prejudiced, unfair, bigoted and inequitable. Are we seeing a shift in the balance of power between the sexes? I thought it still hadn't swung to being entirely equal but maybe its about to jump the other way, with men always being treated with suspicion? I'm not coming down in judgement either way on that issue, although I'm sure there's a science-fiction story in it somewhere.

Labels: Flickr, Photography, Secuirty

:: Dan 8.8.07 [Arc] [0 comments] ::
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