The EU stands up for financial privacy (yes, really)
For once (yes, it happens) the legal authorities of the EU are in the right, in my view, and their critics are wrong, contrary to what Henry Williams, author of this article in CapX, says. A top EU...
View ArticleDiscussion point: changing people’s beliefs by physical means
No, I don’t mean torture. Torture will make people say they believe whatever will make the pain stop, but what I am talking about here is using physical mechanisms to make people truly believe...
View ArticleArrested for her thoughts
This video of a woman called Isabel Vaughan-Spruce being arrested for praying silently in Birmingham has gone viral. The version to which I link is from the Daily Caller. I have written my own...
View ArticleA speakeasy for archaeologists
“Stone Age Herbalist” is a pseudonym adopted out of necessity by someone who wants to practise an activity condemned by respectable society: scientific archaeology. Their piece for Unherd is called...
View ArticleAn industry that despises its customers, and I don’t mean Hollywood
I shall miss the Times. My subscription only has a few weeks left to run. I cancelled it because it is no longer permitted to comment under a pseudonym. Will I still see interesting little stories like...
View ArticleSamizdata quote of the day – Harry Windsor edition
“But fully mature people still have a sense of their own privacy, they keep to themselves what is properly kept to oneself. Privacy isn’t some relic of the pre-tech past, as I said once, it is...
View ArticleSwatted by Siri
“How a personal trainer’s smart watch caused 15 armed police officers to turn up to his Sydney gym while he was teaching a client” – Daily Mail. Apparently, Jaime Alleyne, who is a a Muay Thai and...
View ArticleThis brings a whole new meaning to “brigading” on social media
What is the 77th Brigade for? According to its own website, the mission of this unit of the British Army is to CHALLENGE THE DIFFICULTIES OF MODERN WARFARE. Despite the capital letters I do not feel...
View ArticleEU “chat control”
Let me start by saying that I am no techie and I do not understand exactly what the EU are proposing with this law. Perhaps I am getting steamed up about nothing. But it sounds horrible. I first read...
View ArticleSamizdata quote of the day – Britain’s unilateral disarmament
What I love about this new encryption law is how much easier it will be for foreign governments to spy on British citizens and enterprises now that Britain has unilaterally disarmed. – Perry Metzger
View ArticleThat EU “chat control” thing is still out there
Remember EU “chat control”? It’s growing, putting out roots. The EU’s “chat control” legislation is the most alarming proposal I’ve ever read. Taken in context, it is essentially a design for the most...
View ArticleBig Brother and Denmark
Regular readers of this blog know that politically, the cause for liberty cuts through conventional categories. Over at Wired magazine, which in my view has tilted more Left in recent years and seems...
View ArticleThe British Government is going to hijack your phone…
We are now forewarned that the British government has chosen St. George’s Day, 23rd April 2023, to trial a new ‘alert’ system by sending alerts to the phones of everyone in the UK. It seems that you...
View ArticleSamizdata quote of the day – a journey of a thousand miles
Any significant public health threat from Covid was over in the early part of 2021, as my colleague and I have previously argued. However the administrative classes – politicians, MSM, ‘public health...
View ArticleSamizdata quote of the day – Deep Fake edition
Specially trained and reliable witnesses would certainly be a help. But, of course, they’re humans and thus fallible and corruptible. (Heinlein, a creature of his times, was a pretty big believer in...
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How to disable emergency government alerts on your mobile phone
Android users (may be somewhat different on different makes of phone). iPhone users. Because if the Covid years have proven anything, only a crazed conspiracy theorist would believe governments would...
View ArticleSamizdata quote of the day – Panopticon edition
In late 2021, Wired, the formerly libertarian magazine that now champions surveillance and censorship, called for spying on private messaging in the name of preventing harm. Encrypted messaging apps...
View ArticleAnd we wonder why normal people avoid going into front-line politics
Following the recent controversy about the closure of a bank account of former UKIP leader Nigel Farage (he is said to have banked at Coutts, although he did not identify that lender by name in his own...
View ArticleUK’s absurdly misnamed Online Safety Bill is an abomination
In an open letter, 68 security and privacy researchers warned the draft legislation will profoundly undermine the essential security used to keep digital communications secure. We note that in the...
View ArticleCorporatist social credit includes kin punishment, naturally
“Relatives of Nigel Farage have also been refused bank accounts, former Ukip leader reveals”, reports Gordon Rayner at the Telegraph. Relatives and associates of Nigel Farage have been refused bank...
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