Marcus Povey's Weblog

The BBC Rewriting history

Fri, 14 Nov 2008 10:12:26 +0000

The ~~Pravda~~BBC, it seems, has been engaged in a bit of blatant revisionism on behalf of their political masters.

Take this link here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7712275.stm.

Originally this was an article on "Smith to unveil airport ID scheme", then a bit later it changed to an article on how "Shops may take ID card biometrics" (the only way they can hope to process the whole population btw).

But then a little while later, the same URL was changed to what it is now - a blatant bit of placed propaganda stating that people "can't wait" for id cards.

If you do a search for "Shops may take ID card biometrics" on Google you'll see that google has ranked the new article at the top (showing that at some point in history the string "Shops may take ID card biometrics" was linked to this URL).

Equally, a search for http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7712275.stm shows much the same thing - together with some discussion related to the original article, plus links to the propaganda version.

Of course, thanks to the wonders of the internet, you don't have to take my word for it. Here is a complete list of revisions.

Particularly interesting is the change from 4 to 5 which have just one sentence in common!

Of course, when the UK Censorship act passes, this sort of revisionism will become unnecessary.

Update:
Here is a slightly better written article about this from The Register.

:: Syndicated from Marcus Povey's Blog (Comment...) ::

What part of No dont you understand?

Sat, 21 Jun 2008 00:23:01 +0000

Let me just go on record here by saying that I am very much in the pro-europe camp, if only for the simple matter than more countries that I can go to without pissing about with visa's can only be a good thing (pay attention Russia).

However...

This nonsense over the European constitution - sorry - Lisbon treaty - has really got to stop.

I understand that Europe is the California to our Texas, but really. The Irish said no. Get over it.

What bugs me about Europe is that it is far from democratic. Right now we have a large body of the laws that affect us made by people who are not directly elected. This is a problem.

In addition to this they need to do more to show they're not entirely evil. For example:

If they want us to vote for a constitution they need to sell it right... because at the moment it looks like this: They failed with the initial constitution because it was defeated by everywhere which actually put it to the people. So, rather than take a step back and think about why the people don't want it they instead go... "The people are stupid, when we ask them to vote for our constitution they say no... I know... lets just not give them a choice!".

Which brings us on to the Lisbon treaty (which isn't a constitution so we don't get a vote) and the Irish... who save us by putting it to the vote. And it gets shot down. Again.
So, rather than take their defeat and go home - as is what happens in a democratic system - they are instead rather cynically looking at ways around it.

Which rather makes the constitution look like what people are saying it is - a way of concentrating power with a group of unelected officials controlled by big business. Totalitarianism 2.0 (because an authoritarian system is the system that Capitalism works best in).

I rather hope that this isn't the case, however it doesn't look that way given the evidence.

The Lisbon treaty may indeed offer Puddings For All, but right now its looking pretty sick. The nature of democracy is that the final choice over what happens is down to the people. If the people say no then its irrelevant how fantastic your proposal is, its over. If you try and overrule them, then sorry.. that's not democracy.

Concentrate on convincing us that its really a good idea, and to do that you need to be transparent, open and accountable... as well as declare your motives and interests.

:: Syndicated from Marcus Povey's Blog (Comment...) ::

... turn out the light!

Tue, 20 May 2008 13:49:59 +0000

According to the Telegraph, over two million brits have left the country permanently during the last 10 years (and 200,000 in 2006).

I did wonder why, then I read about our government's plans to monitor all internet and phone use.

So, where should we move to now that liberty is dead here? Will the last free person please turn out the light...

:: Syndicated from Marcus Povey's Blog (Comment...) ::

Your country needs you!

Thu, 01 May 2008 08:57:03 +0000

As England goes to the polls today for the local elections, I wanted to take the opportunity to say... VOTE!

It doesn't matter so much who you vote for, so long as you do!

Go! Do your democratic duty soldier!

:: Syndicated from Marcus Povey's Blog (Comment...) ::

Under 30?

Fri, 25 Apr 2008 18:29:57 +0000

Have you noticed those signs popping up in shops, "under 21?".

Well, in my local its turned to "under 25", and in London its even "under 30".

The upshot is that if you want to buy beer, you need to have ID.

The cynical among you, might think that this is all to soften us for ID cards.

:: Syndicated from Marcus Povey's Blog (Comment...) ::

Supermarkets should spy on migrants

Wed, 23 Apr 2008 08:54:22 +0000

With a hat tip to UK Liberty, here's another story illustrating what a warped idea of the world the our illustrious leaders have.

It is interesting that our government's first instinct when dealing with any problem is to spy on people isn't it?

Their idea of "data sharing" (there's an Orwellian term if ever I've heard one) is predicated on the idea that all information belongs to the state, and by extension any source of information whether held in public or private hands should be opened up to them. Its Information Communism, and its sickening.

Why do they need to know? Just ... because...just to make sure you're not being a naughty boy.

Total Information Awareness? Nosy busybodies more like.

:: Syndicated from Marcus Povey's Blog (Comment...) ::

Defending our way of life.

Tue, 22 Apr 2008 11:50:31 +0000

Posted without comment...

:: Syndicated from Marcus Povey's Blog (Comment...) ::

Article 12

Sun, 13 Apr 2008 23:26:50 +0000

Yesterday I attended a very interesting workshop to mark the Sixtieth anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

It was very interesting, but also sad - given how many of our human rights and the rights of other people have been stripped away by the various governments of the world, including our own.

A de-humanising process that has seen "Human Rights" turned into something bad. How often do you hear a news story about "Oh, we could get rid of the dangerous terrorist, but oh we can't because of his 'human rights' *scoff scoff sneer*"?

Article 12 states:

"No one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with his privacy, family, home or correspondence, nor to attacks upon his honour and reputation. Everyone has the right to the protection of the law against such interference or attacks."

Which is somewhat interesting given the ubiquitous surveillance we in this country are under.

We were asked to comment on these articles and how they can be applied to the modern world, and personally in our own lives, and how we might amend them.

I have previously commented on the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (RIPA) legislation, and how - in effect - it reverses the burden of proof in cases involving encryption.

I would suggest that Article 12 be amended to give people not only the right to privacy, but to the right to protect ones privacy - including (but not limited to) the right to use cryptography.

RIPA and the UK's current and growing level of mass surveillance is a gross violation of this article.

:: Syndicated from Marcus Povey's Blog (Comment...) ::

More NHS optout codes

Sat, 29 Mar 2008 17:30:52 +0000

I have previously posted about the NHS Spine opt out code 93C3.

I recently received a tip off from a visitor to my site regarding some additional codes you can ask your GP to put on your medical records (many thanks), these are:

93C1 - Refused consent for upload to local shared electronic record.

9Nd1 - No consent for electronic record sharing.

More details here.

:: Syndicated from Marcus Povey's Blog (Comment...) ::

Totalitarianism bill

Thu, 27 Mar 2008 13:06:15 +0000

Pointed to by numerous people, but it seems that the UK Totalitarianism bill has reared is deeply corrupt, malformed, undemocratic and freedom hating head yet again.

Go to Save Parliament for details.

:: Syndicated from Marcus Povey's Blog (Comment...) ::