Richard's Kingdom

The Open Rights Group (ORG) is nominally two years old, and to mark the occasion, they have published a report (pdf) into their activities to date. Others have commented liberally on the organisation’s remarkable success over the past 24 months. I want to add my voice in congratulation and say a few words about what [...]

Two people have been cautioned for using people’s wi-fi broadband internet connections without permission, according to the BBC.
There was a segment on this story on Radio 4’s PM program this evening. Some guy from West Mercia police was scare-mongering about people with unsecured WiFi connections being accused of terrorism or child pornography offenses if someone [...]

The Government is using passports to coerce you into surrendering control of your identity.
Under the guise of improving passport security, the Identity and Passport Service (IPS) will begin forcing all new applicants to register with the ID cards database from April this year.
This morning, IPS Chief executive James Hall was in full spin mode: “I [...]

Astley Sports College in Dukinfield has installed £20,000 worth of CCTV cameras to monitor pupils. Even when they’re in the toilets.
The Manchester Evening News (via The ARCH blog) reports that the school has a bullying problem, and Deputy Head Ian Gilbert sees round-the-clock surveillance as the solution:
“[The cameras] have definitely proved their worth because pupils [...]

In November last year I wrote to James Hall, Chief Executive of the Identity and Passport Service, to follow up a discussion point from his live webchat on the Number 10 website. I wanted to find out more about the safeguards surrounding access to the National Identity Register (NIR) — the ‘big brother’ database of [...]