Tag uk

The return of the DPI

Ross Anderson writes about how the newly elected 'coalition' government in the UK plans to proceed with a controversial plan to mandate the installation of Deep Packet Inspection kits at ISPs in that country. I've written about DPI in the past, how it affects our liberty and provides little, to no, advantages for safeguarding national security. A few years ago Hellas was one of the best countries to live in, in terms of privacy; that was more due to the fact that the country has practically little to no governance where it comes to security than due to liberty and privacy respecting government agencies. DPI has been proposed under the pretext of national security and economic purposes (piracy fighting, bandwidth optimisation) and the technology has --- for a several years now --- allowed relatively cheap devices to be installed to practically all medium-sized or larger ISPs. I'd like to hope that sanity will prevail, but in a post 9/11 world civil liberties are not exactly a priority.

Does Parliament Control the Government or Do The Whips Control MPs?

Ίσως η πιο σημαντική, η πιο καίρια ερώτηση που μπορεί να κάνει κανείς σε μια δημοκρατία. Η απάντηση, του Βρετανού σοσιαλιστή του ‘παλαιού’ Labour, Tony Benn, προφανώς αφορά τη Βρετανία, μια χώρα γεμάτη πολιτικές αντιθέσεις που όμως χωρίς αμφιβολία έχει ένα σαφώς δημοκρατικότερο σύστημα από αυτό της Ελλάδος. Αναφέρεται στο κομματικό μαστίγιο [whip], την δική […]

Leading the way!

Towards a thoroughly electronic Police State. As if more cameras per capita than any place in the world were not enough, the UK's frightening databases on…well, practically everything are handsomely presented by the Beeb. And some of the data there is, apparently, stored illegally. It's surprising why this is not a cover story on the BBC web site. Does Britain really want its government to know so much?

Dumbfounding Zeal

Those that have been reading this site for a while know that I'm all for curtailing smoking in public places. Living in Hellas, a country where non-smokers are forced to inhale third-party smoke daily, my sentiments often become somewhat strong. Yet, fining a freelance painter for smoking in his own (private) van while going to work is stupid, wrong and --- if anything --- provides ample ammunition to those that try to portray smoking bans as discriminatory or controversial. Smoking bans, to the extent that they ensure smoke-free public spaces are good. This kind of overly zealous enforcement of a vague (at best) law isn't. I hope this guy takes them to court and wins.

ADSL in Greece revisited once again.

I was just about ready to go to bed when I read this transcript from a session in the Greek Parliament regarding ADSL. (it is in Greek). I thought it is time to revisit the subject. I’ve got ADSL in Greece since this summer when it was announced. I can safely say that for as […]