Posts by Paul 176

Extreme porn law on the ropes

Martin Salter hall of shame

Harman and Smith yes, but chief among the originators of this particularly poor-quality piece of legislation, as I recall, was Martin Salter MP, one of the most literal-minded men, who one might argue found the grief of a bereaved mum quite handy for his own grandstanding political career, against what he presumably thought a safe and uncontroversial target. Would the good burghers of whatever shire he claims to represent please get rid of him, if they haven't already, next opportunity?

Manchester ID staff suffer isolation as new dawn fades

Manchester's New Order

You could say she's lost control.

Sorry, it's tearing me apart that no one's seen fit to comment on the Joy Division references.

Google fits web with meta comments engine

expect they'll own the posts, too

So we've got to run their toolbar to read these comments, and we've got to put up with it on our OWN sites if using their browser to view? Have I really got that right? Chutzpah doesn't cover it.

Getting a handle on the virtual help desk

pedant's note

'BOFs' (no apostrophe). Sorry, it's a compulsive disorder. Truss's disease.

UK tabloid in phone hacking probe

can't believe you guys

I can't believe the complacency of posters who think it's ok to see others' privacy invaded if they were 'stupid enough' not to protect themselves. Say that next time a cuddly old granny is robbed or killed because she allowed someone to talk their way into her home. The law should be there to protect you.

I agree that it may not be 'hacking' as such, in the same way that I wouldn't really describe Gary McKinnon as a hacker because all he really did was determine default passwords. Nonetheless, look at the trouble he has faced. Personally, I'd like to see Myners et al from the Screws facing something similar. Of course there's no surprise that hacks were up to this en masse - bears shit in woods and Popes are Catholics, etc - but it sounds like the Met are not investigating pretty much because to do so would reveal the complicity of a whole bunch of Met officers who must have broken RIPA in any number of ways for bungs from Murdoch's petty cash. Now that's worrying.