Technology, Books and Other Neat Stuff

The UK government has proposed a set of extensions to the already controversial Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act - an extension that will give un-overseen access to the traffic data (including web and email logs) of every one in the UK to an extensive list of agencies and bodies, many of which should have no right to this information.

( The list of bodies being given access to your traffic details )

"A Universal Service Provider within the meaning of the Postal Services Act 2000" includes Consignia, the semi-private Post Office. Why would they need access to email logs and mobile phone call data? All this smacks of covering up after the fact of last year's foot and mouth disease epidemic, along with a knee-jerk 9-11 response.

If you're in the UK, you should fax your MP now using the free service on the STAND website: http://www.stand.org.uk/. I'm including my fax in this journal post - don't just copy it, but feel free to use it and this entry for ideas.

( My fax to my MP )

...to install LiveLizard, the Mozilla LJ client. Which, I have to say is cool. Integrating a tool for adding web content quickly and easily into my web browser just seems so natural. It may not be fully featured like the Windows client, but it's small, and it's a click away from the browser window. Kudos to the development team.