Surplus: Terrorized Into Being Consumers

Personally I think this is a very well executed piece of work.
All though released in 2003, it is still fresh in its treatment of some very major issues, represented in a way to keep the 15 second attention slot filled.
It is multi-lingual, and sadly the versions listed here give you a choice between French, Spanish or German subtitles for the non English parts.
However - please remember that as with a lot of these works, this IS copyrighted content & really shouldn't be on GoogleVideo at all.
The full package can be purchased here, with a license for public viewing.

[Link]

Alexander Litvinenko Documentary

A very interesting & moving documentary about Alexander Litvinenko, the poisoned Russian asylum seeker.
This is all a very sad state of affairs, and seems (as usual) to have powerful corrupt politicians, secret services and shadowy organisations operating outside of International Law at its root.

[Link]

Atheist Anger

To keep with my policy of posting it as & when you find it I include this little gem.

TAKE NOTE
Only to be watched if
a) you 'get' Dawkins
b) youve been drinking
[Link]

& seeing that we're having an aethist tip this month,
Douglas Adams - yes the man behind the 'Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy' rants forth (brilliantly) about Atheism. Radio Show
[Link]


njoi ppl

3 brilliant Dawkins links for you.

Dawkins on BBC
Dawkins & Jonathan Miller
Dawkins on the Colbert Report.

Letter to my MP about a new ID harvester.

There is currently an email circular doing the rounds regarding 192.com and the fact they are offering the personal details of UK citizens for money.

After typing in your name you see a list of all people currently living at your address. The system then offers you the option to buy credits for more information such as Business & Director reports, Historical Electoral Roll, and, I would imagine, all available contact details.

Atached to this email is a form that appears to give you the option to have your details removed.
The form requests that you fax it back to a premium rate number.
0906 ** ** ***

This is followed by the disclaimer:

"i-CD cannot accept liability or be held responsible for any
failure to correct or remove your detail as requested above."

which, I imagine absolves them from the responsibiltiy of doing anything but making money out of my personal details.

Liberal Democrat Leader Menzies Campbell said:

"There is no part of people's lives which is free from snooping. State intervention and control expands every day. It is time we put a halt to this."

This is a Corporate National ID Database by stealth & is indicitive of how the Corporations would like to introduce ID cards. By stealth.

The days of the telephone book (originaly a goverment service)are long gone.
In this Information Age, my details are a commodity to others, and an essential part of my Identity and Freedoms.

At no time was I contacted about this service, & they do have my contact details. In fact a large part of my precious time is spent defeating & avoiding this harvesting of my data.

It is well documented that only small amounts of information, with some clever Social Engineering, can yeild staggering profits for unethical business' & criminals, rendering decent citizens feeling abused, in debt, or worse.

This information is available from other sources, but to encourage abuse, and then offer me salvation at a fee, from the same company, is an affront to the very freedoms we tell young men are worth fighting for.

Tell your MP about this -
http://www.writetothem.com

And remove yourself from future mailings.
www.mpsonline.org.uk

and Ol'faithfull
www.no2id.net/

English Pronunciation

A marvelous (but long) poem satirising odd English pronunciation.

Try repeating it out loud

Lawrence Lessig @ 23C3 conference

The very super Lawrence Lessig coherently discussing Copyright, DRM & the Culture of Code.
If you have any interest in how the corporations are trying to control the media around us, and disallow us any creative re-interpretation of the world around us, this is the guy to watch.

Check it out here

Ok ... so this is a bit high brow - I had to watch it twice myself. The first 45 mins deal with the Creative Commons licence and is hard going, but the last half really clinches it.

Here are some background links to get you up to speed.
Lessig in 2002
EFF.org
Wikipedia Copyfight Article