How Does He Know?

Nick Cohen writes about public complacency about government surveillance of internet users:

“It won’t be me,” I hear you say. And, of course, I accept you are not a criminal, after all. The worst you do online is post stupid comments when you are drunk and masturbate to porn when you think no one is watching.

To be honest it sounds like He's already monitoring my internet usage personally.

Go Away, 'Batin.

A few years ago I parodied the last government's determination to ban things with a proposal to ban masturbation. David Cameron is trying to make this a reality- with moves to make people apply with their full name and contact details as they ask their ISP if the can watch pornography. Not child porn, but consensual adult porn.

Forcing people to make details of their private sexual behaviour known to their broadband providers is intrusive to an extent that is hard to overstate.

Cameron says it's about protecting the children, but his obsession with stopping teenage boys having a wank looks positively Victorian and is downright creepy. At least the Victorians turned their anti-masturbation zealotry to invent good stuff like Cornflakes.

Prezza Preaches Privacy Probe Priority, Pronto!

I don't approve of journalists hacking into John Prescott's phone, but everyone must remember they didn't do it to invade his privacy they just wanted an up to date directory of every fast food outlet in London.

Coroners- A Request

If I should happen to die in a bizarre masturbation related incident, could you maybe respect my dignity and be discreet about it and maybe not let the national press know how I popped my clogs?

One For The Privacy Paranoiacs

Dolly & Damian Go Smearing.

If this government's thuggishness* wasn't balanced by their incompetence I'd be seriously worried.

It's notable that the smear campaign is apparently coordinated by a civil servant, Damian McBride, someone who should not be engaging in partisan politics. If the civil service can so easily be co-opted to serve the governing party's interests it provides yet another reason why it is a bad idea to allow them to collect and store any more of our personal information.

* I won't pretend to be that outraged without knowing the details of what was said, although once the actual emails are published I'll fulminate with the best of 'em.

Update: Dolly's hostility to right of centre bloggers is hard to explain.

Update 2:

In what is perhaps the most vicious section, McBride suggests spreading rumours about the mental health of Frances

Derek Draper is a psychotherapist remember.

Quote Of The Day.

Squander Two isn't impressed with the residents of Broughton, near Milton Keynes, who stopped the google streetview car from taking photos. Particularly the claim that Google Streetview helps burglars:

Because that's what burglars do. Your typical burglar isn't sure where to find actual houses and has no idea where wealthy people live, often mistakenly breaking into hovels full of shit and making off with hauls consisting of little more than toenails and cheese, so will travel thousands of miles if he sees evidence of that Holy Grail, a house with some decent stuff in it.

Complaining Civil Servants

Last month I posted this:

I was watching Question Time just now and the topic of Britain's unhygienic hospitals came up. In the middle of the discussion someone in the audience said something like "I work in the NHS and we work very hard and most hospitals are very good", she got a round of applause. What has it come to when the fact that some hospitals don't infect all their patients is worth a round of applause?

Well, watching Question Time again last night there was an almost identical moment when a treasury civil servant complained that most of them do their jobs well, don't lose important discs and it's a hard life being a civil servant etc. So can I just reiterate, not completely screwing up your job is not a reason to be applauded, and if you do screw up the solution is not to give more money (sorry "resources") to the offending department.