Category: Big Brother

It caught my eye… 7–2023

MikeLeave a comment

More Big-Brother actions from the UK Government, it seems that a number of government departments including the Department for Environment Food & Rural Affairs (DEFRA), Department for Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS) and the Department for Business and Trade are searching social media to build ‘dossiers’ on people who are critics of the UK Government as a way of stopping them from appearing on government sponsored platforms. More info here.

Continuing the theme of Big-Brother, with the continuing rise in organised shoplifting, many stores have joined a Government sponsored scheme to install facial recognition software alongside their in-store cameras.

Although there is now a big pushback from various rights organisations including Liberty, Amnesty International and Big Brother Watch due to too many false alarms.

With the government actively sponsoring a downturn in house building, here’s an interesting article about just how bad many of the new house are when new homeowners take them over from developers.

Makes you wonder just what you’re getting for your money.

Privacy, it is possible in today’s world?

MikeLeave a comment

With recent news that Clearview AI is being used by a number of USA Law Enforcement Agencies, one wonders when UK Police Forces might start deploying similar capabilities, although The Met seems to be ahead in this area already.

It clearly seems that Clearview AI is causing a big stir, here are just a few of the stories that I have come across in the last few days.

It’s going to be a bumpy ride for this company as many people will not want to see their ordinary everyday images used as a background for police or other random checks.

Copyright – Top VPN Canada

Privacy and all that!!

MikeLeave a comment

With the latest news that Cambridge Analytics (read this) intrusion into many of our lives, it comes as no surprise that ‘Our Privacy’ (or lack of) is still very much in the news.

Copyright – Varonis

It’s down to everyone to make sure that they protect as much as possible their own privacy both on line and offline.

Lenny Henry’s speech (about harvesting all ‘our’ data) in episode two of the latest Doctor Who series could have been written by some of the largest data corporations on earth based on recent information – though I don’t think there able to reprogram our brain just yet!

This recent article in the Guardian has a good set of suggestions about Online Protections, such as using a Password Manager, checking the settings on your ‘Smart Speaker’ etc.

It’s always best to be wise before the event.