e-ignite

This video is really an attack on the Fox News network, but I think it highlights effectively that any information that you hear mustn’t be taken as gospel. This goes hand-in-hand with my views on the UK and US governments pushing the excuse of “terrorism” on us so that we give up rights to privacy and head towards Surveilance Societies. Yes, I believe terrorism is a real problem, but how much of a problem is it really? As bad as they say? Or not really? Think about it.

A strange thing happened to me the other day. I realised that I’d used way over my “free minute” quota on my mobile, so I logged into my O2 Online account to check just how much I had been stung for the extra calls. I got 2 surprises - one good and one bad. The good thing being that it turns out O2 have started giving out rollover minutes - this has only taken about 5 years of me being with the company, so good thing! The bad thing was that I had been charged for a premium rate “multimedia service” that I received. I never use these premium text services, and since starting my account with O2 about 5 years ago, not one of these messages has ever left or arrived at my phone. So why now…?

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The EFF (Electronic Frontier Foundation) are an organisation that have been around for some time, and their aim is to fight for consumer’s rights regarding products and policy in the digital age. Despite being primarily American-orientated, the ramifications of their court cases, policies and appeals have international consequences.

I recently watched their Corruptibles video with great interest. It’s a fairly basic flash animation that outlines how new DRM (Digital Rights Management) systems could/will affect you in your every day lives. It’s worth a bit of a laugh, and it makes you think… but does it make you think what the EFF are trying to push?

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