g7uk » security

Another reason not to trust Google and GMAIL

GS — Sat, 13 Feb 2010 23:54:33 +0000

I have an arab friend from Saudi Arabia. Normally I message him using an email address that is attached to one of my domain names. But this weekend I am moving some domains including this one to different web hosting. So, via my domain registrar, I forwarded this particular email address to a GMAIL account temporarily.
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Pride security try to prevent filming in a public place / Candlelit Vigil (video)

GS — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 13:25:44 +0000

For the last three years we have filmed at the gates on the night of the Manchester Pride HIV/AIDS Candlelit Vigil. Entry to the Vigil is supposed to be free and the community was promised it would always remain so when tickets and fences were introduced (first for for Mardi Gras 1999 and then again from 2003 onwards).

However, in recent years we have gathered hard evidence on camera that sometimes people who only want to go to the Vigil are told they must buy an expensive Pride ticket or are made to queue for a prolonged period.

This year the security people tried to prevent us filming, even though we were on a public street.
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Keys copied from photos on Flickr

GS — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 07:52:12 +0000

‘At a computer conference in Alexandria, Virginia, Stefan Savage, a computer security expert who led the “Sneakey” project, surfed the photo-sharing website Flickr and found pictures that clearly showed peoples’ keys, even if personal information in the shots had been blurred out.

In one demonstration, the team cut duplicate keys after analysing images taken on a mobile phone. In another, they used a telephoto lens to take pictures of a set of keys on a cafe table from the roof of a university building.’

The Guardian: Copying keys from photos is child’s play

Biggest ever North Sea security operation after woman dreamed about bomb on oil rig

GS — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 07:02:09 +0000

A woman employee on a North Sea oil rig had a disturbing dream that there was a bomb on the rig.

Photographers seen as ‘potential criminals’

GS — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 06:33:51 +0000

‘Photographers are increasingly being viewed as potential criminals by police, according to the Bureau of Freelance Photographers (BFP), which has reported a rise in complaints from members.’ Read more.

Chinese New Year celebrations, Manchester (video)

GS — Thu, 22 Feb 2007 23:03:29 +0000

Visit the page to view the Flash video or download: Quicktime (mov)

I bought a new digital camera on Friday (more about that coming soon) and I went out to test it on Sunday. The Chinese New Year parade was just beginning as I walked up Princess Street, so I shot this video.

Manchester Pride exaggerates Parade crowd figures by 500%

GS — Fri, 02 Feb 2007 23:37:53 +0000

250,000 do not watch the Parade as the organisers claim. The true figure is ‘tens of thousands’ and here is the proof.

There’s a £50 fee to be in the Manchester Pride parade this year

GS — Wed, 19 Jul 2006 00:08:46 +0000

If you want to take part in Manchester’s annual gay pride parade this year you will have to pay £50 + VAT. No, this isn’t a fee for businesses — they already pay more than £1000 to be in the parade.

It is a charge for every non-profit group and individual. Whether you are unemployed, disabled, poor, retired, have HIV, you will have to cough up more than fifty quid to walk through the streets of Manchester and celebrate being lesbian or gay.

When I saw the report in this morning’s Independent newspaper, it took my breath away.

It is bad enough that the cynical, money-focused people who run this event these days, fenced off the gay village and introduced an entrance fee back in 2003. In 2006 that entry charge is up 50% for many people, from £10 to £15.

But this latest stunt has to be the final straw. The signs are that they are selling fewer tickets each year. Money raised for charity in 2005 was the lowest figure since 2002. They seek to mislead the public over their costs.

It’s time for everyone to boycott Manchester Pride and force a change and go back to the roots of this event.

I believe that the biggest threat the gay community in Britain faces now, comes from the people who dream up schemes like this. Those who seek to make money from us at every opportunity. They are only interested in people who can pay.

The current organisers have completely lost sight of what Pride means.

How is it that other sections of the community in Manchester can hold parades and events that are free? But when it comes to the gay community we are told we must pay tens of thousands of Pounds in costs for security, street cleaning etc.?

Why is it that the gay village has to be fenced off with a high entry charge because it is serving alcohol, when alcohol can be served at other outdoor events in the city centre which are not fenced off?

If the City Council can tweak the byelaws to block off public roads in the gay village for a whole weekend, how come it can’t tweak the laws that relate to alcohol?

This is discrimination 2006 style. The gay community can be beaten and threatened into paying this money by businesses, the Police and Manchester City Council — all of whom say Pride won’t go ahead unless we agree to their terms (just look back to what happened in 2002 when the event was almost cancelled).

No other section of the community in Manchester is being hit in this way.

Alan Turing: the genius Britain betrayed

GS — Fri, 14 Jul 2006 13:13:56 +0000

In The Times, Ben Macintyre writes about Alan Turing, ‘The genius Britain betrayed’.

Also there is an excellent article from the New Yorker here which speculates that Alan Turing may have been murdered by the state, due to being a supposed security risk.