Meanwhile, the British govt. is planning to introduce an identity card for everyone in Britain. Danny, who always knows lots about this kind of stuff, explains more about it (with lots of links) at Oblomovka:

So the UK government has been proposing what they call an Entitlement Card - a universal ID card for every man, woman and child in Britain. Every government seems to propose this the moment they get into office, and ever since 1952, the voters have rejected it. It's one of those things that civil servants like to slip into the "TODO" list while the Minister isn't looking.

...and the Forces Against Evil (Danny and friends, natch) also have got their great 'Stand' project back up, which lets you fax the British government for free about the issue through the Stand website. There's only a few days left in the consultation process where you can make your voice heard, so Do It Now!

1:13:13 AM  #   your two cents []

EFF blasts controversial copyright law. "The Digital Millennium Copyright Act is quashing free speech and choking innovation, according to a new study from the Electronic Frontier Foundation." [CNET News.com]

NB: There's fresh interest in re-launching an Irish branch of EFF. With copyright, data retention, spam, privacy, biometrics and other issues looming in Ireland, this would be very timely. If you are in Ireland and interested in getting involved, email me (via the little yellow envelope on the left margin) and I'll put people in touch.

12:57:37 AM  #   your two cents []

Remembrance of dot-com idiocy past. "At least Enron and WorldCom went down because of greed. But as James Ledbetter's "Starving to Death on $200 Million a Year" reveals, the Industry Standard pissed away a fortune out of mere carelessness." [Salon.com] ...I wrote one, count 'em, one story for the UK edition of Industry Standard, which appeared in the final issue. Never got paid (my fault actually for not invoicing in a timely manner). There sure are some pretty incredible stories about how cavalier the Standard crowd were with money. However I don't think it makes sense to judge them against the Enrons and WorldComs. They 'pissed away a fortune' with the same careless pleasure as hundreds of dot-com start-ups of the type once referred to as 'internet pure-plays', like Boo.com and Pets.com. Such companies had money thrown -- nay, shovelled -- at them by eager VCs, and were more or less expected to behave in a childishly foppish manner, visibly blowing through cash like there was no tomorrow. Turned out there wasn't. So who was the greater fool: those who gave away the cash, or those who spent it? Those who wrote about the most idiotic excessiveness uncritically, believing the hype? Or those who bought the shares because they read and listened unjudgementally? Chain of fools... (sing it, Aretha!).
12:55:07 AM  #   your two cents []