Walsall Wonderland

I was reading a news article the other day about surveillance on the internet. The inventor of the internet, Sir Tim Berners-Lee, said that he believes governments and companies should be limited in how much they monitor users on the internet.

It’s an interesting notion, as he goes on to talk about the internet being like a blank piece of paper, that we can draw or write what we choose, and largely with impunity… In some ways, I can understand this, but in others, I disagree. He says that certain uses of the internet need to be policed, but that governments and companies should be limited in their powers.

I think that certain aspects of surveillance and security have been fought by the public, but have then been accepted. When CCTV first came around, there were numerous scare-stories about the systems being used illegally, or inappropriately. But then it came to be accepted, and now we see so many crimes being solved because of CCTV system footage of the perpetrator. As long as these systems are kept out of bathrooms and changing rooms, I don’t care where they are implemented, because people who don’t have anything to hide don’t hide anything, but they are still entitled to privacy. That’s not to say that I think these systems should have full audio, I am talking visuals only.

Security companies are flourishing these days, because people don’t want to put up with anything they don’t have to any more, at least that’s my take on things. I have to say, though, that I am not a strong advocate of call logging. If someone is suspicious, sure, tap their phone lines. If they aren’t talking about anything that’s of concern, then those monitoring the phone calls need to drop the line.

Here’s a little personal anecdote. I once worked for a major company doing over the phone tech support. This job was… well it sucked. Imagine being stuck to a phone for 8 hours straight, trying to help people with their computer issues, and being harassed by your boss for how long it takes, and also being harassed if you don’t fix enough issues. When I worked at this place, my team leader repeated something back to me that my fiancé had said on the phone to me, when I was talking to him during one of my breaks. He had been listening in on my calls, not unusual as that was how they made sure we were doing okay with our jobs, but I wasn’t on the job, I was on a break. I was furious with this team leader, and promptly found in the regulations set out for such matters that this person had indeed broken the rules in what they had done. The team leader took it well, but nonetheless, I was furious. I quit the job not that long after all that, because as I said, it was a terrible job, and then managed to walk into a really good job two weeks later!

Okay today’s knitting pattern has to be something nice and cozy… how about a Longcat Scarf!? It is such a laugh that someone turned Long Cat into a knitting pattern!