Adam Curtis Documentaries

I've been catching up on older documentary series' by Adam Curtis recently. Saw his Power of Nightmares, and The Trap previously.

Century of Self - concerns consumerism and democracy.

The Mayfair Set - concerns how a group of four men who frequented the Clermont club in London ultimately shaped the climax of the Thatcher years.

Pandora's Box - concerns how governments have utilised technology for their own aims.

Regulating CCTV in the UK, Surveillance Protection Principles proposed

From last year's EthiComp Conference, A. A. Adams of Reading University presented Regulating CCTV.

Quotes from the Abstract: "Given that the number of CCTV cameras in the UK is the largest in the world, and given that it is unclear when video data should be regarded as Personal Data (or what rights a blanket definition would reasonably provide to the surveilled) it is claimed that a CCTV Act is needed in the UK"

"Specific proposals for securing data and infrastructure are suggested, in addition to some general Surveillance Protection Principles."

Photos that define tragedy

The recent popular uprising in Myanmar, photos, is just the latest example of how photos and videos are what really raises awareness about tragic situations worldwide. The BBC have several photos in their picture power collection (some graphic images which people may find disturbing) Oklahoma baby, napalm attack in Vietnam, Misery in Darfur, Death of an Iraqi soldier, Death of a Viet Cong guerilla and Afghan Girl.

Media has brought us all more information and power with that, I hope it brings wider awareness and is not used to spin out a story.

GNU/Linux needs to get on the environmental bandwagon

One area where GNU/Linux could really gain so much free publicity and market-share is by getting on top of the environmental "bandwagon". In the news is this Carbon-neutral PC running Vista. Interesting quote:

"PC World has attracted some criticism for its decision to base the desktop around Microsoft's Vista operating system which has been labelled by some industry watchers as the company's most power-hungry operating system ever."

FSF is linking up with environmental groups. Switching to free software would knock another £50 or so off the price, so come on PC World, don't cost consumers more by including Vista! ;)

The Trap - What Happened To Our Dreams Of Freedom

This is the latest documentary series from Bafta award winning producer Adam Curtis (The Power of Nightmares). It's called The Trap, also a three part series, showing on BBC2 from 11 March at 21:00.

The first episode covers John Nash (as portrayed in A Beautiful Mind) and his work on Game Theory. Using examples like the Prisoners Dilemma and the Nash Equilibrium Curtis shows how these tecniques and models were applied in the political world. Utilised as a way of ordering the world by individuals working alone, and systems based on numbers like Thatcher's NHS restructuring of the late 1980s. Curtis examines the notions of freedom, and how a pretty simplistic model of human beings as self-serving, robotic creatures has led us to today's version of freedom. Looking at current affairs he explains that we are in a trap of our own making, showing how narrow and limited the present idea of freedom is.

The next episode (The Lonely Robot) shows how the model of freedom using numbers and the market was applied to other areas of society.

Should be fun!

Why student loans are a bad thing (tm)

Background: In the UK the Labour Party (who are currently in government) introduced £1,000 fees per annum and scrapped living grants for higher education back in '97. Then they did a U-Turn on their manifesto and introduced top up fees of £3,000 per annum, and will be increasing it again for certain degrees to £7,000 shortly.

Aside from charging for education being inherently wrong, they are going about it all the wrong way. They treat it as a conventional debt (sad that there is such a thing?), you get statements reminding you how much you owe, and you have to make repayments each month out of your earnings (or your employer does). This is like a mill-stone around an already debt laden country thanks to the credit happy culture fostered since the late 90s (still no health warnings on credit cards!).

The only acceptable way to recoup costs of education is to have a higher rate of graduate income tax, 1% would cover all their costs and the person wouldn't have to manage repayments themselves. So how about it Labour? do something which will assist a generation! and simplify the repayment system ;)

Do views differ after success?

Marina Hyde's Grauniad article highlights an interesting rockstar phenomenon: They live like aristocrats, Now they think like them. They've changed their views after they've moved up in the world. Politicians do exactly the same, remember Tony's manifesto New Britain: My Vision of a Young Country back in 1996? I was 17 when that was published, in fact I recall pointing out in our sixth form mock General Election how PR driven New Labour were. The Torygraph highlights how Tony's position on ID cards has changed since back then: ID cards don't work – even Tony says so famously sold the Body Shop to . To give another example, Dame Anita RoddickL'Oréal (parce que l'éthique le vaut bien!?) this year, after she rallied against them for the last 30 years.

Fortunately most people don't change for the worse though, some companies have an even greater focus after their business succeeds, consider Google and their do no evil motto, they've setup google.org now too; and John Bird kept the focus at the The Big Issue. Then there are people who have a switch of focus after they have been successful for sometime, consider how Bill Gates' Foundation is tackling issues world-wide; or how Mark Shuttleworth has helped Ubuntu forward to become the most widely adopted GNU-Linux distribution in the last 2 years, available completely no-charge.

I'll do my best to keep my principals if I'm ever that successful ;) がんばりますね！