Author: Mike

Looks like the heat is being turned up against Phorm and its use of Internet user profiling for advertisers. The Foundation for Information Policy Research (FIPR) has written an Open Letter to the Information Commissioner (ICO) questioning the legality of Phorm’s technology and its invasion of and the subsequent selling of our Internet privacy.

Phorm is one of the growing number of companies including  Double-Click that are selling and using technology that allows online advertisers to focus their web adverts based on user profiles derived from the captured browsing information of Internet users.

Worries are growing amongst many Internet users that every move they make on the Internet will be a tracked by ISP’s such as BT (who also are rumoured to have secretly tested the technology on a number of its users) , TalkTalk and Virgin Media all of which have signed up to use Phorm’s technology.

There is even a Bad-Phorm web site setup to explain in some detail what the issue is about.

The  ICO is still waiting for a full reply from BT to their enquiry for details on how they are staying within UK law. This subject will not go away and if we (the ordinary Internet user) want true online privacy, then the UK government has got to step in and make sure that we are protected.

This subject will not go away and I am sure that we will hear much more about it the coming weeks.

Sign the 10 Downing Street e-petition here.

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We’ve all seen them when we visit various web sites, those very inviting ‘Click Here’ off your next purchase.

As we know, we’re always warned about not clicking on pop-ups or links that we don’t know, but I suppose the lure of discounts are sometime too good to refuse.

Here’s a salutary tale about one such £10 offer that actually started to cost the recipient £8.00 a month from his credit card until he managed to stop it!

As the old saying goes: nothing is for free. What really disturbs me about this story is that that Office for Fair Trading (OFT) seemed unconcerned about the many reports of problems with Shoppers Discounts & Rewards. Is this another case of the OFT sitting on the fence?

I certainly won’t be taking advantage of any of these offers anytime soon.

Read the fully story here.

Is the situation in Iraq starting to stabilize at long last? A new report on the current situation has just been released by The Brookings Institution.

Showing that many of the figures that it tracks relating to military and civilian casualties in Iraq are declining, this may be start of a more stable time for that devastated population.

There is far too much information to include in this post, so you can download the whole report here – it’s worth a full read.

Some sample graphs in the report.

I was sent an email a while ago and had filed it until it came up in a search result on my PC. As one of the many discussed topics of our time is about obesity,  I thought I’d post something about it. First a reference.

A generation ago, three-quarters of the money used to buy food in the United States was spent to prepare meals at home. Today, about half of that money is spent on restaurants, mainly fast-food restaurants.

In 1968, according to Wikipedia, McDonald’s had 1,000 restaurants.  Today it has about 30,000, with 2,000 new ones opening each year.

According to the New York City Department of Health, nine of 10 people underestimate the number of calories typically contained in a fast-food dish — by about 600 calories.

A typical meal from a fast-food restaurant of a large burger, large fries and medium drink is about 1,300 calories, or 66 percent of the daily caloric requirements for an average person.

—  Judi E. Loomis, Fort Wayne Daily News

Now if you think you spend too much on  food as well as eating too much food, compare how the weekly food shop is for different nations?

These images are from a TIME essay, (see more pictures here [1], [2]) using images from the Hungry Planet: What the World Eats book by Peter Menzel and Faith D’Aluisio.

Italy: The Manzo family of Sicily. Food expenditure for one week: €214.36 or $260.11	Germany: The Melander family of Bargteheide. Food expenditure for one week: €375.39 or $500.07
United States: The Revis family of North Carolina. Food expenditure for one week $341.98	Mexico: The Casales family of Cuernavaca. Food expenditure for one week: 1,862.78 Mexican Pesos or $189.09
Chad: The Aboubakar family of Breidjing Camp. Food expenditure for one week: 685 CFA Francs or $1.23	Great Britain: The Bainton family of Cllingbourne Ducis. Food expenditure for one week: 155.54 British Pounds or $253.15

Looking at the family from Chad, I don’t think anyone in Europe can complain about their lot, even with the rising food prices of today.

I was at Reading Town Hall last Thursday at a conference about XML and during one of the breaks I had a wander around and stole a look at the lovely Willis Pipe Organ that is located there.

I have seen it before but unfortunately there was no one playing it this time either.

I have always loved listening to organ music, it invokes such passion and feeling, especially when played in large buildings, churches and cathedrals.

There is nothing like hearing something like Bach’s Toccata & Fugue in D minor, Widor’s Toccata from Symphony No 5 in a large church.

or Widor’s Toccata from Symphony No 5 in a large church.

I watched the news broadcasts today about the press conference – if that is what you could call it – where RSA President Thabo Mbeki during a meeting with Mr Mugabe said that there was “no crisis” in Zimbabwe!

I wonder what Mr. Mbeki thinks is going on in Zimbabwe? Can it be possible that Mr. Mbeki is suffering from selective understanding of the situation? Surely he cannot expect us to believe that he really thinks that all is well in that desperately run down country!

I am sure that Mr. Mbeki would like to be thought off as an honest and upright politician and that he is respected around the world.

Well clearly he is no Nelson Mandela, but come on Mr. Mbeki, if you think that there nothing wrong in Zimbabwe then all of the stories that I read about South Africa [1], [2], [3] can’t be true either.

You’re loosing respect Mr. Mbeki and you had better do something about Robert Mugabe before the world starts thinking of you in the same light!

Just downloaded some pictures from my Digital Camera, what a great thing the British Weather is!

Here are two shot from the ‘Snow’ bound weekend last weekend and the day after. It is is spring isn’t it?

                       A snowy day.                                                       A better day.

                

Technorati Tags: Weather, Snowy, Sunny

Let me see, Northern Rock lost some £160 million in its fall from the top! It now turns out that the guy who headed it up has received a payoff of over of £760,000!

Makes you wonder what sort of contract he had, it’s a pity he wasn’t responsible for a bigger loss, say £320 million. If so, then maybe he’d have received a double size bonus as well!

As the Olympic torch continued its journey around Europe, the farce moved to Paris today.

I thought it looked completely stupid yesterday in London when the Blue crowd of security personnel drowned out most of the carriers of the torch. But today some 3,000 security personnel help move the torch along some of its Parisian route, however in the end it did not reach its final destination as planned having been retreated to a bus as part of its protection!

It’s sad to see what should have been a celebration of the next Olympics (leaving aside that it is now somewhat tainted) and I am sure that the IOC must now be regretting their decision to award the games to China, albeit by just two votes.

Where next for the torch and what other demonstrations will it face, more of the same I fear as it moves on  to the rest of the world.

I fear that we may be seeing last of this type of celebration, as I can’t believe that there will be less to demonstrate about when London hosts the 2012 extravaganza and tries to run a host country only torch parade.

What a sad end to a great ideal!

I am always interested in reading feedback when News Media companies change their corporate page designs.

The heated discussions continue about the recent change that the BBC incorporated into their home and news pages. Initially they caused over 1700 people to write in with comments, which is good, as it shows that the BBC have a very active and interested audience. The number of comment have now tailed off as the web designers have made a few changes – my gripe was about vertical line spacing which has now been adjusted.

Quite few people say that they have abandoned the BBC as there news page in favour of Sky or some newspaper home pages. This last point seems a bit strange, as I can’t see how you can compare the BBC news page with a newspaper home page, there not the same beast!

With regards to comparisons made with Sky, take this story about British Airways pilots concerns about their employer.

Here’s the SKY news page…

and here’s the BBC page…

Now, I’m no professional web designer, but I’m sure, as a visitor, I think I prefer the BBC page – no I don’t work for the BBC either! The BBC page seems to me, to be clearer, less cluttered and yes, with no adverts.

I do wonder sometimes what some people want to complain about, yes there are some things that still need to be corrected and adjusted on the BBC web site and through the constructive comments they receive, I am sure that these this will be accomplished over the coming weeks.

In the meantime, I think the improvements are a step in the right direction.