5 ms·

Minister thinks IP address is an "Intellectual Property address"

69 points by rpledge 17y ago

andrewvc 17y ago
So, I think the title should make it clear that this is Britain's Minister for Digital Britain. To my American eyes this read as if some random clergyman was confused.
meroliph 17y ago
As mentioned on Reddit (http://www.reddit.com/r/worldnews/comments/bo623/i_wrote_to_my_mp_2_weeks_ago_regarding_the_de/c0nq3a8 http://www.reddit.com/r/worldnews/comments/bo623/i_wrote_to_...), this may likely be a screw-up by a secretary, as the letter does make sense aside from this problem.
- farnsworth 17y ago
  Right, besides the acronym fail, he seems to be using the term correctly, so why give him so much crap for it?
  - Silhouette 17y ago
    Because it was an official response to another MP. Getting it right is the most basic thing any public official has to do. If we can't trust them to proofread things that go out with their name underneath on even the most cursory level, how can we trust that the consideration they have given to the wording in Acts of Parliament is careful and reasoned?
    - farnsworth 17y ago
      No, it's because we're a bunch of self-righteous nerds. Come on, this is on the level of a simple misspelling. But of course we love correcting people for those too.
      - chbarts 17y ago
        Do you think policy-makers should have knowledge about the things they make policy regarding?
- chris11 17y ago
  Yeah, I think that is what happened. From wikipedia: Timms read Mathematics at Emmanuel College, Cambridge where he gained an MA in Mathematics in 1977 and an MPhil in Operational Research in 1978. Before entering politics, Timms worked in the telecommunications industry for 15 years. It sounds like he would have enough technical background and experience to know what he was talking about in this case.
  - chbarts 17y ago
    Fifteen years does not guarantee competence, just like being CEO or CTO does not. Besides, if he were successful in business, why would he be in government? Warren Buffet has never held a cabinet position, to my knowledge.
    - wlievens 17y ago
      > Besides, if he were successful in business, why would he be in government? I don't know anything about this particular case or politician, but I sure hope some people go into government/politics in the hopes of being able to change something for the good, rather than merely because they couldn't make it big in industry.
stretchwithme 17y ago
of course! isn't that where you leave your patents?
rfrey 17y ago
Funny for sure. Probably a late edit where a non-technical editor or a script replaces any acronyms with "Expanded Acronym (EA)". When I was a journalist that used to be done for style reasons as a matter of course, even if the acronym was widely understood.
- sp332 17y ago
  ...then after hours we'd play Network File System v4 (NFS 4) from Expanded Acronym (EA) Sports!
noblethrasher 17y ago
Orrin Hatch made the same mistake about 10 years ago during a hearing on file sharing. The CEO of Napster corrected him.

69 points by rpledge 17y ago

So, I think the title should make it clear that this is Britain's Minister for Digital Britain. To my American eyes this read as if some random clergyman was confused.

meroliph 17y ago

As mentioned on Reddit (http://www.reddit.com/r/worldnews/comments/bo623/i_wrote_to_my_mp_2_weeks_ago_regarding_the_de/c0nq3a8 http://www.reddit.com/r/worldnews/comments/bo623/i_wrote_to_...), this may likely be a screw-up by a secretary, as the letter does make sense aside from this problem.

farnsworth 17y ago
Right, besides the acronym fail, he seems to be using the term correctly, so why give him so much crap for it?
- Silhouette 17y ago
  Because it was an official response to another MP. Getting it right is the most basic thing any public official has to do. If we can't trust them to proofread things that go out with their name underneath on even the most cursory level, how can we trust that the consideration they have given to the wording in Acts of Parliament is careful and reasoned?
  - farnsworth 17y ago
    No, it's because we're a bunch of self-righteous nerds. Come on, this is on the level of a simple misspelling. But of course we love correcting people for those too.
    - chbarts 17y ago
      Do you think policy-makers should have knowledge about the things they make policy regarding?
chris11 17y ago
Yeah, I think that is what happened. From wikipedia: Timms read Mathematics at Emmanuel College, Cambridge where he gained an MA in Mathematics in 1977 and an MPhil in Operational Research in 1978. Before entering politics, Timms worked in the telecommunications industry for 15 years. It sounds like he would have enough technical background and experience to know what he was talking about in this case.
- chbarts 17y ago
  Fifteen years does not guarantee competence, just like being CEO or CTO does not. Besides, if he were successful in business, why would he be in government? Warren Buffet has never held a cabinet position, to my knowledge.
  - wlievens 17y ago
    > Besides, if he were successful in business, why would he be in government? I don't know anything about this particular case or politician, but I sure hope some people go into government/politics in the hopes of being able to change something for the good, rather than merely because they couldn't make it big in industry.

stretchwithme 17y ago

of course! isn't that where you leave your patents?

rfrey 17y ago

Funny for sure. Probably a late edit where a non-technical editor or a script replaces any acronyms with "Expanded Acronym (EA)". When I was a journalist that used to be done for style reasons as a matter of course, even if the acronym was widely understood.

sp332 17y ago
...then after hours we'd play Network File System v4 (NFS 4) from Expanded Acronym (EA) Sports!

noblethrasher 17y ago

Orrin Hatch made the same mistake about 10 years ago during a hearing on file sharing. The CEO of Napster corrected him.