Ed Dowding

Tag: information society

Database of all children launched

I’m not against having a database of all children, but I am against databases of citizens, per se. It just doesn’t seem to be necessary, and is a can of worms waiting to be opened.

Link Round up

Rethinking the food system – aka Food Security, with Tim Lang About 95% of people do not want ID cards Bolivia’s Chacaltaya glacier is completely melted What can we learn from the 1918 flu pandemic? Prince Charles’ Rainforest Charity – RainforestSOS.org Delivering medicines and information via Coke crates in Africa

6 Reasons never to give up your biometric data or DNA

1. It permits lazy policing If you have someone’s record on file, you’re more likely to assume he’s a criminal. And if that DNA matches a sample which has been discovered during the investigation… well it’s jolly tempting to think that you might have your man. A connected spate of lazy policing happened recently. Having ...

DNA databases require so much regulation that abuse is inevitable.

Anyone who studied a little genetics in high school has heard of adenine, thymine, guanine and cytosine – the A,T,G and C that make up the DNA code. But those are not the whole story. The rise of epigenetics in the past decade has drawn attention to a fifth nucleotide, […]. And now there’s a ...

Tied up in knots

1. Heathrow runway ‘approval is due’ The government is expected to confirm approval for a third runway at Heathrow Airport later, the BBC understands. (http://is.gd/fVkJ) Your government doesn’t care about your long term future, so please take responsibility for it yourself. Only fly when you HAVE to. If you want to get away that much, ...

STILL not going to America

Visitors To US Now Required To Register Online Starting today, visitors to the US from 35 visa-waiver countries will be required to register online with the Department of Homeland Security in advance. The DHS is asking people to go online for the ESTA program 72 hours before traveling, but they can register any amount of ...

DNA / Europe rocks the free world!

DNA database ‘breach of rights’ — Two British men should not have had their DNA and fingerprints retained by police, the European Court of Human Rights has ruled. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7764069.stm