Blackout
Feb0
Nick Jackson is blacked out:
Stand up against “Guilt Upon Accusation” for New Zealand
http://creativefreedom.org.nz/blackout.html
You might have noticed the header image on this blog going entirely black (apart from the text) along with my Twitter avatar. The reasoning for this is explained above – the New Zealand government seem to think it’s fine to assume guilt as soon as someone is accused of copyright infringement. No evidence needed, no trial necessary.
Anyone else spot a problem with this? Quite a few people seem to, including the current star of the internet Mr. Stephen Fry and nearly 7,000 over 10,000 petition signers. Details on how to get involved are at the Creative Freedom website linked above, but there’s also a nice group on Facebook you might want to join.
WARNING: Excessive exposure to politicians can lower your IQ!
Jan0
For those fans of Jack Thompson, it seems we have a new contender in the bit for Most Pointless Video-Game Violence Law Ever. Joe Baca wants to add cigarette-packet style warnings to game packaging.
This is so monumentally, mind bogglingly idiotic that I’ve even included a link for you to Digg the offending article and increase views amongst the technical elite, the gaming community and the sane minded. For once I’ll let the original article and the comments on it (along with the comments about it on Digg) do all the ranting on my behalf – it’d take me too long to list all the counterpoints and views that other people have come up with.
Rate This
Dec1
According to the BBC, Culture Secretary Andy Burnham has said that websites having age ratings should be considered. You can see what everybody else’s comments on this are (BBC), but I’d like to take a moment to explore a few alternative solutions which don’t rely on the government setting up a system which is bound to fail.
OpenDNS is a fantastic system which everybody should use anyway. It can manage DNS controls for your whole network, and includes über-efficient filtering and parental controls, complete with community-driven categories. It’s really easy to use, and only suffers a downfall if your child is intelligent enough to change the DNS servers, in which case most filtering tools are useless anyway. It’s quick, easy and efficient.
Both Windows Vista and OS X Leopard have comprehensive parental controls, allowing you to limit time, block websites, use filters, ban activities, limit time doing certain activities and so on. These are included with any version you’re likely to have on a home PC, and are easy to set up.
NetNanny is the most common installable utility for parents to restrict web browsing, for Windows or OS X. It costs, but a lot of people associate cost with quality so it should keep those who don’t know better happy.
Broke & Broken
Oct0
If you’re a student you’ll know first-hand that student finance sucks. If you know a student, you’ll almost certainly have heard them complaining. So why not support the NUS campaign trying to fix the broken financing system for higher education? I certainly will
Lincoln’s Security Policies Are Empty!
Mar0
I’d like to start with a genuine quote from the University of Lincoln’s Public Security Policy, available on the university’s internal Portal system under the first entry for a search on “security policy”:
The University has an obligation to balance these 2 requirements. Occassionally these requirements will conflict…..academic freedom…. blah
To which my only reply can be “dude”. It appears that the only publicly accessible version of the Public Security Policy is a draft.