I read Privacy and Big Data by Craig and Ludloff towards the end of 2013. The first chapter is called “The Perfect Storm”. The book lists a number of consumer and corporate computing trends, from Google’s search solution and their clustered file systems, the consumer adoption of cloud storage and the realisation of parallel computing models. There is no question that data is growing at an explosive rate and that new computational models are being developed to use these new volumes of data in timescales appropriate to the human. These new models are of interest to both the new internet companies and to Governments yet because of both social media and the distributed nature of modern computing raise questions of privacy. …
The end of the road from Falkirk
The final findings of the Collins Review into Labour Party Reform have been leaking into the public domain over the last few days, I originally felt it best to have my say on Storify, The story is now available here, see below.
Don’t Dump on Deptford’s Heart
I went down to the Deptford Lounge to support comrades and soon to be neighbours in opposing turning Deptford High Street and Church Street into a building site for the next five years. Thames Water have asked for permission to use the green at St. Paul’s as their engineering support site for their plans to build the super-sewer. The national planning inspectorate had come to Deptford to take evidence. The first speaker was the local MP, Joan Ruddock and followed by Joe Dromey and Brenda Dacres who spoke on behalf of the local campaign group “Don’t Dump on Deptford’s Heart”. …
pictfor: the European Debate
The Parliamentary Internet Communications and Technology Forum held a meeting entitled “The Europe Debate” and headlined it by inviting Bill Cash MP, not some one who I’d identify as an expert on ICT nor on the European Union. The three speakers were Julian David of “tech UK“, Graham Hobbs and Bill Cash MP, Chairman of the European Scrutiny Committee . The key questions asked, were to be, Do UK technology companies benefit from EU membership? Is the Digital Single Market good for UK business? They also produced a Briefing Paper for delegates. …
Surveillance: Lawyer says No
Parliament’s All Party Parliamentary Group on Drones, chaired by Tom Watson MP as received QC’s advice on the legality of British Intelligence’s mass surveillance, reported here in the Guardian and the lawyer says the programmes are probably illegal and that any warrants signed by politicians will be in breach of UK Law, the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) and the EU Acquis. Watson points at this article from his blog here. The legal justification is based on RIPA, the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act and Jemima Stanford QC states that it is not fit for purpose given the changes in technology in the last 10 years. …
Cleaning Up Labour’s Politics II
I have just published and backdated my first thoughts in response to Ed Miliband’s speech on “Cleaning Up” politics. This has been written over a six month period. It was started as I shaped my thoughts and was originally written as a contribution to what became the Collins Review but I decided it was insufficiently focused and made no proposals. It merely expressed my anger. The final version of the article was published today and backdated to near the point I started it. It was thus published after the closure of the Collins Review deadline, and before the publication of the Special Conference agenda. …
Rent Controls
There’s been a bit of twitter shower, bit less damp than a twitterstorm about Labour’s policy on Rent Controls. I reflect on the correspondence here, but have also storyfy’d it here. Earlier today Mark Ferguson of Labour List, tweeted, …
Don’t (British) girls want to code?
Among the debates about the UK’s futures is how to ensure that there are enough high wage jobs and skilled labour to perform them for our future. The need for effectively skilled people today & tomorrow requires a clear education and skills supply policy. Furthermore there is a lack of clarity as to where these jobs might come from, with some arguing that we need to ‘rebalance’ the economy, usually away from the financial services industry, others that we need stronger copyright laws in order to allow our ‘creative’ industries to grow. Carlotta Perez and her acolytes, with others suggest that the IT revolution is not over and that it and its multiplier effects are the source of future work and wealth. …
Innovative Industrial Action
Political Scrapbook reports that with sixty employees at Lancashire brewery Thwaites facing the axe as the firm looks to relocate, workers appear to have hit back – by altering the neon ‘THWAITES’ sign on the town centre building to read ‘TWATS’.
The sign is mounted on a giant tower and is visible across Blackburn and much of East Lancashire.
Now that’s what I call industrial action. …
Boris needs a bigger tool
At the meeting, I raised the issue of Boris’ requisition of Water Cannons for the Metropolitan Police. There’s not enough noise about this, but there’s now a twitter hashtag, #watercannon. Nina Power comments in the Guardian, an article called “Boris Johnson’s call for water cannon shows a contempt for the people”. As is pointed out on twitter, …