cmdkeen

76 ms·

661.
by cmdkeen 13y ago
Yet the UK has successfully obtained convictions for failing to hand over passwords - and the UK legal system hasn't yet been compromised to the level of ignoring reasonable doubt. The majority of people who receive such notices hand o
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by cmdkeen 13y ago
The UK is an interesting case study as for large chunks of its existence the publicly unacknowledged surveillance state, and legally unregulated surveillance state, policed itself on some very hard and fast rules. MI5 (the internal security
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by cmdkeen 13y ago
It's also possible that those inside the system have more information about what is going on and why. HN is often working on a very worst case assumption when it comes to these stories whereas internal employees probably have a lot mor
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by cmdkeen 13y ago
To make it clear you repay at 9% of your income above £21,000, and get a year's grace just after graduating. There are no consequences to failing to pay it back if your income is below £21k.
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by cmdkeen 13y ago
UK student loans are nothing like the USA. It is in effect a graduate tax that you may or may not stop paying one day. Your repayments are a fixed percentage above a very generous floor, with no effect on credit ratings, mortgage applicatio
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by cmdkeen 13y ago
It's just simply not true that it would be considered an act of war - quite the opposite it was known that everyone was up to it. The UK had a intelligence asset in the German finance ministry during the 90s according to Richard Tomlin
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by cmdkeen 13y ago
Sherlock alone is enough to disprove that hyperbolic statement. They aren't perfect by any means but have managed to produce some gems. They often don't fully appreciate that they are gems when making them mind you.
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by cmdkeen 13y ago
It's a pretty good example of Maslow's hierarchy of needs - the travellers are firmly at the self actualisation stage whereby they do not need to focus on fulfilling lower needs.
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by cmdkeen 13y ago
Well given Greenwald seems to concede that it would be a crime for him to "aid and abet" Snowden in his activities that means there is a line between journalist and "something else". Given Greenwald is a lawyer surely a
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by cmdkeen 13y ago
My point is that flak jackets don't kill people, and automatic weapons don't unless they go off. Stun grenades might if they cause a heart attack, but so could the pressure of a police investigation. So could a speeding police car
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by cmdkeen 13y ago
1 to 5 deaths for 40k raids is not at all in the realms of statistical significance. In terms of innocent people killed by the police it strikes me as being so far down the list as not a problem with "paramilitary" "raids&quo
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by cmdkeen 13y ago
The number of people shot by the police at all In the UK is tiny each year, even in Northern Ireland and they tend to make the news. Sending armed police officers to raid a building here is very rare. The vast majority of warrants and searc
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by cmdkeen 13y ago
Wikileaks legal advisers - he's flying to a country that is putting a dead whistleblower on trial in order to demonise him and cover up government corruption. Relying on the legal process in Russia is a really good way to find out how
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by cmdkeen 13y ago
This shouldn't surprise anyone - thanks to our colonial heritage Britain has always contributed disproportionately to SIGINT gathering as we have lots of locations dotted around the world that are well placed for data gathering. Given
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by cmdkeen 13y ago
The bit that seems to me more poorly sourced is the purpose of the list - the idea that it is there for the investigation, detention or as someone has made the leap to Stalin level purges. If you're planning for Continuity of Governmen
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by cmdkeen 13y ago
And? Rioting is not the sole source of "threats to national security". Indeed older people often form the intellectual leadership for all sorts of movements/organisations, good and bad. Especially in cultures that have mainta
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by cmdkeen 13y ago
Classifying such things as right wing is part of the problem. "Left wing" governments are just as capable of all sorts of statist, authoritarian activity. But saying it is right wing annoys right wing people who are liberal, sayin
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by cmdkeen 13y ago
Ironically medieval prisons were only for those awaiting trial - prison wasn't seen as a punishment only an administrative means of keeping hold of people. Given what they'd do if you were found guilty...
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by cmdkeen 13y ago
Well feel better - there is no right/left divide in America. By the standards of anywhere else there is only very right / slightly less right. The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled off was convincing Americans that anyone to the left of
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by cmdkeen 13y ago
The USA spends around 18% of its GDP on healthcare already, which larger than any other big country, the Netherlands is next on 12%. Given the military spend is 4.7% of US GDP it is patently untrue that military spending means that more cou
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by cmdkeen 13y ago
Bill Gates didn't become that rich by thinking "I'll build this software company, sell it and then do what I'm passionate about". He became successful by following his passion, and was then able to be philanthropic. People who are passiona
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by cmdkeen 13y ago
Gun crime has plummeted in the USA nowhere near as much as in Australia where guns are banned. Gun crime hasn't plummeted in Mexico, with the USA being a prime source of weapons. Crime in general has plummeted across the West, the increase
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by cmdkeen 13y ago
Oh it happens - that is how, certainly in the UK, the large consultancies like Accenture and Cap Gemini make their large profits, especially from Government type contracts. They know that the customer will inevitably want change, especially
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by cmdkeen 13y ago
In just the same way plenty of people now don't know about what the unions then went on to create or enable. Spanish practices, crippling national strikes, the near inability to fire poorly performing staff, closed shops and intimidation of
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by cmdkeen 13y ago
There's a significant difference in the USA spending the money developing the capabilities versus actually using them, and using them on the scale that China is. If nothing else China seems to being brazen about the attacks - whereas intern
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by cmdkeen 14y ago
I've updated my bookshelf to include Simon Singh's "Trick or Treatment" which sparked his involvement in libel reform when he was sued by the Chiropractor's association. Given the impact on his life for the past few years he deserves recomp
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by cmdkeen 14y ago
The problem with the English (as opposed to British - Scotland is different) libel system was that it went out of its way to penalise free speech. So you couldn't recover all your costs in a case, and libel barristers are some of the highes
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by cmdkeen 14y ago
This is the distinction I often find between Europe and America, the range of understood swear words up here - and the myriad ways they can be combined, means eloquent swearing is far more possible. One of the most glorious scenes in the Ma
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by cmdkeen 14y ago
In Scotland you can get away with using it to the police as long as you inflect it in a half decent way. You'll be told to fuck off mind you, but it is all banter. * I accept no responsibility for any foreigners who get locked up on this ad
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by cmdkeen 14y ago
Intriguingly the advice given to British officers is not to swear at those under your command. That is what non commissioned officers are for. And they are much better at it.

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