Gated Logic • nevali.net

Plans have emerged from the British Government to require a passport in order to purchase a pre-paid mobile telephone. Reportedly, these plans go hand-in-hand with previously-announced measures to collate various kinds of telecommunications data in a massive Government-run database. Pre-paid mobile telephones account for more than half of all Britain’s subscriber base.

The Washington Post is reporting that a number of online forums used by Al-Qaeda have had the plug pulled, in a bid to make co-ordinating terrorism more difficult. Given the countless other nefarious websites which appear completely unchecked, the likelihood of any permanent demise of these forums seems minimal, at best.

The British Government’s proposal to allow police forces to hold for 42 days, without trial or contestable evidence, people they believe to be involved in terrorist plots was soundly defeated in the non-populist House of Lords. In response, the Home Secretary announced a separate three-page bill containing the same clauses removed from the Counter Terrorism Bill by the defeat.

The Government’s plans to centralise the storage of data collected by ISPs and telecoms companies as part of existing legislation aiming to assist in the investigation of serious crimes came under fire. Geoff Hoon MP demonstrated an unrivalled ability to at best misunderstand or at worst mischaracterise the proposals and simultaneously denigrate those who would rather be at some degree of risk than be constantly surveilled.

The Government announced plans for new rules to curb the number of home repossessions as a result of mortgage defaults. Two days ago, the Government came under fire for the repossession rate at Northern Rock since it was nationalised. As a nationalised entity, no announcements nor legislatatory instruments are required for policy change to be effected at Northern Rock.

The bail-out of several British banks is set to cause problems under current national accounting rules. Gordon Brown previously advocated a spending limit to keep the budget deficit below 40% of GDP. Between nationalisation and controlling stakes, it looks as though this arbitrary—yet sensible—limit will become little more than a memory.

Denon is selling a 1.5 metre-long Ethernet cable for $500. They claim that the “high purity copper wire” will “bring out all the nuances in digital audio reproduction”. As this is an Ethernet cable specifically designed for digital audio, it’s not recommended for use in any other setting. At this time the IEEE has declined to comment on the effects of high-purity copper wire on 100Mbps or 1000Mbps full-duplex data transfers.

A street sweeper in New York inadvertently sucked up a dog. The owner, Robert Machin, had been walking his dog when the truck passed him at what he claims was an unsafe speed, leaving him holding only the animal’s lead.

Honda have begun production of the world’s first hydrogen fuel-cell powered vehicle. The car is claimed to produce zero emissions beyond water vapour, and is three times more fuel-efficient than current petrol-powered cars. Honda intends to produce two hundred of the vehicles over the next three years.

The ex-editor of The Sun newspaper, Kelvin Mackenzie is to stand against recently-resigned shadow Home Secretary, David Davis. Davis resigned over the narrow victory by Gordon Brown on widely unpopular proposals to hold without charge terrorist suspects for up to 42 days. Both Labour and the Liberal Democrats have indicated that they won’t stand against Davis in the by-election triggered by his resignation.

The United States Supreme Court ruled that prisoners held in the Guantanamo Bay detention facility had a right to challenge their incarceration in a federal court. The ruling has been widely hailed as a victory for human rights in a situation where the balance was tipped firmly in favour of the opinions of the United States Government.

The British Court of Appeal ruled that mod chips used to alter the behaviour of games consoles (including allowing games to be played from backup copies of discs, or from other regions) do not themselves bypass copy protections, and are therefore legal. The argument, with which the judges agreed, was that the copyright infringement had already occurred without the aid of the chips when games are illegally duplicated, rather than when the copies are played.