More political idiocy regarding censorship and the internet

Internet censorship, filtering, or blocking is wrong, period!

There were two articles today on The Register that got me annoyed:

• Small ISPs reject call to filter out child abuse sites

• Aussie Internet-net will be drawn wider
  

There are three simple reasons why I think this current push for censorship is wrong:

• It is impossible to block everything that seems to be covered by the crazy legislation and any attempt will fail and have a detrimental effect on the service provided by ISPs for all customers. Seriously, this just can't be done, don't even bother trying and use the money in some more constructive way.
• It is inconcievable that an organisation that can objectively assess content could be created. There will always be political, religious, or other personal bias in any assessment. This is also an unavoidable fact and the only solution is to not allow anyone to meddle with the free flow of content.
• It is very clearly wrong to do something that is illegal (excepting that grey area where laws may be dubiously applied or questionable themselves). However, people should be at liberty to *think* anything they wish and by extension (I know this is a bit of a leap) to express this in words, pictures, sound, or anyway so long as no illegal act is commited in this process.
  

The last point is probably the most contentious, I would guess that most reasonable people would accept the first two as likely correct even if they may still believe, naively, that there are solutions.

I think the key thing is that censorship is a slippery slope towards criminalising thoughts and ideas. While you may find something that someone wrote, drew, generated on a computer or produced in some other harmless (i.e. no-one was hurt, abused or taken advantage of) way, totally abhorent I don't see a reason to prevent this act alone.

People do have 'illegal' thoughts, you cannot control that, well not in a morally acceptable way. People also depict illegal acts in writing, pictures and even sound - a simple example would be a horror film. We already have the crazy situation where, with the extreme porn law, you're actually allowed to participate in activities that are actually legal but which you can no longer photograph!

If the energy people waste on moral/polictal crusades of this nature was put to better use we could solve alot of the worlds problems overnight!

Where did you all go?!

I know it shouldn't matter but I do like to see my list of "followers" of my blog grow. It started with one or two and slowly passed the 10 mark and was, until yesterday sitting at 17 which I was quite pleased with!

Now it's dropped to 13! I've lost 4 people! WTF!?

Hmmm, don't think I said anything too controversial in the last few posts so no idea what is going on there!

Please come back, all is forgiven :D

Google Maps on C902

This is a quick gadgety newsflash!

While I was in London we wanted to search for tube times, buses, or something like that, so I said I'd just search on Google on my phone - the web browser on the C902 is pretty good and the online connection from O2 is fast and, with my contract (and loyalty bonus/discount) I have unlimited (usual fair use clause applies) access.

Anyway, I just clicked on the bookmark for Google and then maps and it offered to download the application to the phone, hmmm, sounds okay, might be neat, okay lets do that.

Having installed the app it then proceeded to triangulate the location of the phone to within about 1km!!!! Now that I didn't expect!

Yes, I know that the C902 can do this but when you get this phone from O2 they have stripped out all of the location services and when you try and access the configuration menu for this it complains that you need to attach a GPS device. So I didn't really think that a downloaded app would get all that stuff working but apparently it does!

So I had a good play with the searching and location service and I have to say I was really just so impressed - what a neat piece of technology!

My Dad ...

... spoke to me yesterday!

It was completely by accident really, I phoned home just to chat to my Mum about the weekend while I waited for the train back to Manchester. Instead of my Mum answering the phone (as has been usual) my Dad answered!

I was a bit taken aback and at the same time very happy!

We chatted about computers and work and all the usual things that we always did discuss. He sounded happy as well, and kept chatting. He did ask where I was (London) and why and I said I was down to see my specialist and also to see friends. The bit about the specialist didn't get any questions so I left it at that and talking about the opera and everything else.

It was such a wonderful conversation and my euphora lasted for about a minute after coming off the phone and then I started to wonder what was going on and how much my Dad knew. I also started to doubt whether I'd got things wrong and that we had been talking all along (that's certainly what it felt like) which was really disorientating.

I was reassured by a quick chat with a friend and, when I got back, I had a talk with my Mum and it seems that she is only filtering bits and pieces to my Dad. He apparently can't deal with the whole trans thing and simply is ignoring it and doesn't want to know.

I think this sounds a bit better than him ignoring me so I guess I could try and keep communication going but without actually seeing him, e.g. e-mail/phone/etc. Then maybe gradually he'll get to deal with it more. It's going to be a slow process, but at least it's a process!

Not sure about this new outfit ...

You can find all sorts of things when you hit the charity shops. I was introduced to shopping for clothes this way by Deborah and so far I've always managed to find things that are quite impressive in terms of labels, condition, cost, etc.

I wasn't really convinced at first as I've always been a bit of a snob and maybe just not adventurous enough, but in the current economic climate and my situation it seems like a good move. Also every charity shop excursion so far has turned up clothes that I've really liked and have worn so it's clearly a successful way to shop!

Anyway, I spotted this outfit on Saturday and something about it just grabbed my attention and I had to get it! The size of the jacket/skirt was just right and well it just seemed too good to miss ... however I'm really not sure it's me nor have I any idea when I am going to get to wear it!
Certainly it's different to everything else I wear and it's going to need a bit of tweaking to get the right look - for example I'm not sure about those boots with it! Hmmm, definitely not my normal attire, really not sure about this at all!