Postcards from Abu Ghraib

Strewth! The Register is reknowned for in-your-face tech journalism, a kind of Geek Tabloid, but it does stay focussed on technology, its applications, and the people involved. But now it seems their remit has been extended somewhat, as Thomas Greene delivers a vitriolic off-topic rant about US human rights abuses in Iraq.

Missing LINC

I finished Beneath a Steel Sky the other day, though I must admit to accepting a little help from my friends in the dieing scenes -- I can't believe I hadn't spotted those tongs! :o)

Biometrics in Someone Else's Words

A short column from last week's Private Eye (issue 1106), which impressed me (they don't publish online, so I've taken a liberty):

UNDER THE MICROSCOPE Ten questions for home secretary David Blunkett about his proposed new biometric identity cards.

If, as seems likely, fingerprints are the chosen biometric, how will they be read? At airports, fingerprint scanners are feasible; but what about at ferry ports and the channel tunnel? Imagine the queues if every car exiting every ferry has to disgorge its occupants who then have to queue to have their fingers read. And what about Eurostar trains?

How will a UK national biometric ID card scheme protect us against al Qaeda members travelling on, say, legitimate Algerian passports or members of the Real IRA with Irish passports? Biometric ID systems would have stopped neither the Twin Towers attacks nor the bombs in Madrid.

How will the home office establish an applicant's true identity before issuing a new, "foolproof" ID card?

If the answer to question 3) is "by showing an existing form of ID such as a passport", how will the home office avoid falling for existing bogus IDs?

Who is going to pay for this and where does the home office figure of £3.1bn come from? The answer to the first question is "you are" and to the second, "out of thin air".

Who will have access to the data stored on the card and, for that matter, what information will be stored?

What will people with no fingers do at border crossings or, if iris-scanning is used, what will people with glass eyes do?

The government has a pisspoor record on hi-tech forms of ID. Consider the ridiculous, two-part driving license. The only reason we have to have a sheet of paper as well as a card is pecause Whitehall, under previous management, was too stupid and parsimonious to do the job properly and incorporate the information on a magnetic strip. If the government finds the technology of a supermarket loyalty card daunting, what chance has it with complex and sophisticated biometric ID cards?

Will Crapita be involved?

'Boffin'

For the most part, "like what he said".

Beneath an Irish Sky

We returned from a trip to see the in-laws in Ireland yesterday. Just a short trip, long enough to unwind nicely in the countryside.

While over there I spend a while playing around on my laptop and got distracted from the more serious business of learning to program in Perl by Beneath a Steel Sky, an old graphical adventure game ported to run under Linux via SCUMM VM. This is quite an engaging little game, which I think I am approaching the end of. I worry that this endangers my credentials as someone who shies away from computer games more involved than Freecell or Shisen-Sho.

Management

Just so I could find it again, I wanted to safely stow a link to a great parody of Poe's The Raven supplied t'other day by a buddy I don't often see these days.

Patents and the Penguin

An interesting article on the tensions between open source software and patents was linked to from Slashdot today. An interesting analysis suggesting that even the allies of FOSS might eventually change their tune and brandish their patent portfolios offensively.

I think the likelihood of patent actions against members of the FOSS movement might be influenced by the outcome of the SCO fiasco which, while not based on patent issues, and based on seemingly dubious grounds, is pretty much a test for what happens when the proprietory world does battle with the free.

Swindon Kite Festival

At the Science Museum, Wroughton -- a good venue, former airfield.

Saturday: cold, wet, not much wind. Spent much of the time huddled in a hangar between aircraft exhibits, drinking coffee and eating pancakes. Good company with a great turnout from the M4 Kites crowd.

Sunday: started cold, wet and windless, turned sunny but still windless, then finally started raining again. Managed to do some flying in the minimal breeze though. Highlights of the day were the massive rok battle (which I didn't take part in due to a broken rokakku -- now fixed) and watching Kite Kids doing synchronised cascades in their ballet routine -- wow!

Rumsfeld Responsible?

This week news broke of abuses by American troops of Iraqi prisoners, with photographs and eye-witness accounts that were initially greeted with some skepticism, but later great concern. It seems that crimes against human rights have been systematically commited in Coalition-managed prisons in Iraq. The International Committee of the Red Cross have stated that they have known about this for some time and have been expressing concerns to the USA for some time, and have also grave concerns about the actions of British forces.

Donald Rumsfeld has testified to the Senate Armed Services Committee and apologised at length for these barbaric acts and, tellingly, said that they "occurred on my watch as secretary of defense. I am accountable for them and I take full responsibility."

Full responsibility for (alleged) torture, rape, murder and other horrific acts on prisoners? I doubt Rumsfeld will be held fully accountable.

A US commentator on Radio 4's PM program today said that the acts were unconscionable, but were still nothing compared to the atrocities committed in the name of Saddam Hussain. Surely, if this war is to be justified on moral grounds (as is currently the case), the behaviour of the Coalition forces must be cleaner than clean and nobody should defend themselves by saying that "at least we're not as bad as Saddam."

And what will happen if it turns out (as is looking increasingly likely) that British forces were complicit (or even active) in the abuse of prisoners?

Aθηνα

We got back from Athens yesterday on an EasyJet flight blessed with a senior cabin crewman who clearly had ambitions as a stand up comedian and had the English speaking passengers laughing through much of the flight.

Athens itself was OK, but not really my sort of place. Hotter than I like (even at this time of year), dirty and smelly. However the archaeological sites are spectacular (fascinating to see the buildings on the Acropolis in mid-reconstruction), the food is great, and they have a nice, shiny new metro system.

We spent a day on a cruise around three nearby islands: Poros, Hydra and Aegina. A great day out, benefiting from the fact that the captain of the cruise ship was the husband of a friend of our friend, F. This meant we were invited onto the bridge and generally looked after. We even met the unofficial deputy captain, who was a guy with what the captain described as "a problem", who was convinced that he was a qualified captain and pilot. The crew had adopted him as a kind of mascot and allowed him to give orders and press the button for the horn.

Another great highlight was watching the changing of the guard at the Ministry of Silly Walks, which is actually a really nice ritual, with a lot of reverence paid to the nearby monument to the unknown soldier.

Glad to be back though. I am one of the tiny minority of people who actually like the British climate.

News this morning of three explosions in Athens. <3 exchanged SMS with F, who says that the bombs are minor and not even getting news coverage in Greece. It seems the international community is getting jittery.