• A d v e r t i s e m e n t
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The Human Genetics Commission, which advises the government on the social, legal and ethical aspects of genetics, called for a review of the database and said new laws must be passed to govern its use.

In a damning report, the commission said “function creep” had transformed the system from a DNA store for offenders into a database of suspects.

More than three-quarters of young black men aged between 18 and 35 are on the system, the report said.

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This is no conspiracy theory.

Mark Wallace posted a rather chilling article and accompanying spreadsheet on Conservative Home on the population figures the Optimum Population Trust would like to see in each country of the world.

Mark’s article:

The Optimum Population Trust, for those of you who haven’t yet come across them, are an odd bunch. Bluntly, they believe the best way to save the planet is to get rid of as many human beings as possible.

On the plus side, at least they are being more honest than most greens in their open contempt for human beings. The reality of many in the environmentalist movement is at core a deep anti-humanism, an arrogant dislike for people who are somehow too stupid to see the problem with their pursuit of a happy life and a healthy family.

On the down side, the OPT’s aims are actually pretty worrying – verging on sinister, even. Buried in their website is a detailed spreadsheet [Excel link] laying out their ideal “sustainable” populations for each country. And those “ideal” populations are a little worrying, if you try to imagine the reality of them.

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For example, the UK should shrink to 29 million people, from the 60 million we currently have. We are of course a small island, but ask yourself which half of your friends you would rather did not exist?

And we get things comparatively easy in the OPT’s dystopian vision of the future.

Only one in six of the current Algerian population should really be allowed. Bosnians are unlikely to be overjoyed that 3 million of their 4 million people are, in the OPT’s eyes, an inconvenience. Rwanda should apparently go from 7 million people to only 2 million.

What the OPT seem to forget is that these aren’t just statistics. They aren’t just “emitters”, as their website terms them. They are real human beings, who live, love and laugh. It is peculiar that Sir David Attenborough, the Patron of the Trust, can show so much compassion for animals but is apparently happy to back such a dispassionate dismissal of the value of our fellow humans.

Yesterday, the OPT released the results of a Yougov opinion poll [Excel link] which they trumpeted as showing public support for their aims. “Public want smaller UK population”, announces their website. However, when you actually read the tables for the polling results, it turns out that the public are bothered about far more real world, centre right issues than greenie pipe dreams.

It turns out, people are actually perfectly happy for us to be allowed to continue breeding – directly contrary to the OPT’s aims.

One major question was, “Do you think people should take the impact on the environment into account when deciding how many children to have?”

The answer is pretty clear. A miniscule 15% say people either should not have any children or should only have one, while 24% either think “the number of children people have won’t affect the environment” or that people shouldn’t worry about it. Unsurprisingly, the biggest support  – 34% – is for people choosing to have two children, which is just about what people actually do have in real life. Far from endorsing the OPT’s views, people are voting for no change, and life as usual.

Most interesting is the question which investigates public support for various policies on population. Most left those surveyed pretty unmoved, with only three gaining majority support:

• Reduce immigration: 69%
• Let people work after the retirement age: 63%
• Better family planning support to reduce unwanted pregnancies: 62%

So, it turns out that far from being radical greens who want to interfere in people’s family life, the public are just bothered about high levels of immigration and unplanned pregnancies, whilst wanting to allow pensioners to work. More back to basics than ban the babies.

Often lauded as the ‘CCTV state’ and ‘the most surveilled country in the world’, the UK may soon deliver a killing blow to the Internet as we know it. Cory Doctorow of Boing Boing is reporting some leaked legislation from the UK government that would remove any kind of freedom or privacy that the Internet grants its users.

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Cory goes on to site the potential repercussions of these proposed changes:

1. Immediate remedies for copyright infringement — jail sentences and removal of Internet access can be meted out purely at the discretion of an unelected official (that is most likely under the sway and pay of media lobby groups).

2. The raising of pirate-hunting militia — the Secretary of State could “confer rights” to music labels and movie studios to help them protect their works. It would be within the rights of the copyright owners to compel ISPs, schools and businesses to hand over details of those using their network for ‘nefarious’ purposes.

3. Pirate-hunting duties could be forced upon ISPs — not merely content with perusing ISP records, the Secretary of State could force ISPs to act as gatekeepers. You can imagine how it might impact your surfing experience if a copyright lawyer is forced to peruse each and every one of your emails to check for plagiarism…

Cory goes on to cite other implications, but you should probably just go and read the article itself. And as he says, if you’re a Brit, or even if you know a Brit — this is serious news. You can’t really expect something like this to make it through government… but really… who knows?

[via Boing Boing]

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The information and communications technology revolution has changed our society in profound ways and these new technologies are being used to make the current electrical grid “smarter,” commonly referred to as the “smart grid.” But this is not the future. The deployment of smart meters in Ontario homes is already widespread, and the Ontario government has committed to installing this technology in all homes and small businesses by the end of 2010. President Barack Obama’s infusion of $3.4 billion (U.S.) to build the smart grid is greatly accelerating the delivery of the program across the U.S.

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It asks whether their children tell lies or bully others, and if they steal at home or from shops.

Parents are questioned over whether they have friends, if they can speak freely with others in their family and how well they did at school themselves.

The form also delves into family routines, questioning whether they eat takeaways and if the children drink water with their meals.

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• A d v e r t i s e m e n t
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The £1,000 security cameras have been placed inside properties but are trained on the streets to gather evidence of anti-social behaviour.

Each device is linked to a laptop computer and accessible online by police and council officials 24 hours a day.

But the trial inside two homes by Croydon council in south London has sparked new fears about invasion of privacy and Britain’s ‘surveillance society’.

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• A d v e r t i s e m e n t
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A plan to quadruple the penalty from the current maximum of $250 per day for a first violation is scheduled for consideration at Tuesday night’s town council meeting.

A repeat violation by the same person would be boosted to $5,000 a day maximum from $500 per day.

If the code enforcement board finds that the violation is irreversible — the unapproved removal of an historic tree, for example — the violator would face a maximum fine of $15,000. The current maximum penalty is $5,000.

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People without a working kilometer tax meter in their cars once the system is introduced in 2012 face six months in jail or a fine of up to €18,500, the Telegraaf reports on Tuesday.

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The draft law says motorists themselves are responsible for the meters, deftects must be reported within eight hours and repairs carried out within three weeks.

The cabinet agreed on Friday to replace road tax with a kilometer charge, based on a gps system fitted in all vehicles.

The motoring organisation ANWB, which supports the kilometer tax in principle, says ‘alarm bells’ have been ringing about the size of the potential fines. ‘We are going to go through this draft legislation with a fine toothed comb,’ a spokesman told the paper.

Newspaper polls, including DutchNew’s own vote, all show most people are opposed to the introduction of the tax.

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Mocek was tabling at the 2009 International Drug Policy Reform Conference for a Seattle-based activist group called the Cannabis Defense Coalition. The event was attended by over one thousand people, including New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson, and former Governor Gary Johnson.

At the Albuquerque airport for his flight back to Seattle, Mocek politely refused to show his ID to a TSA screener, who called in a supervisor. Mocek started recording with his digital camera, which caused the TSA supervisor to become extremely agitated. The police were called in, with six officers arriving on the scene. Mocek was immediately arrested. Another Seattle activist, Jesse Gallagos, was traveling with Mocek, and was driven in a police cruiser to the edge of the Albuquerque airport, dropped off, and told he was banned from flying for 24 hours.

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Under the proposal, the U.S. Department of Transportation would do for transit what it does for airlines and Amtrak: set and enforce federal regulations to ensure that millions of passengers get to their destinations safely. Administration officials said the plan will be presented in coming weeks to Congress, which must approve a change in the law.

The proposal would affect every subway and light-rail system in the country, including large systems in Washington, New York, Boston, Los Angeles and San Francisco.

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