Spontaneous Monotony

I decided a while ago (due to EA still refusing to fix Battlefield 2) not to purchase Battlefield 2142. Now I’m glad I didn’t. Not only is the game adware, with ingame adverts that are constantly updated via your internet connection (remember the amount of flak Sierra took for putting similar crap into Swat 4), but the game also loads spyware to ‘target’ those ads based on your browsing habits.

Think I’m mischaracterising this? Antivirus and antispyware programs detect the IGA Interactive ‘software’ as, well, spyware. If that isn’t enough confirmation for you, the new 1.01 patch is incompatible with a Microsoft security update designed to (guess what?) limit the ability of spyware and viruses to hijack the Windows kernel. Bye bye Battlefield.

Technorati Tags: Adware, Battlefield, Battlefield+2142, EA, IGA, Spyware

Yes, there is the predictable screeching of outrage from anti-Human Rights groups after a decision on whether to ban a council tax payer from using council facilities was delayed because it might infringe his human rights. Why? The council tax payer in question was a paedophile, and the gym in question was in the grounds of a school, and that means that the Human Rights Act is automatically at fault (well, if you’re a Thatcher-loving, Express-reading authoritarian of course). There is no indication that the council decided against a ban on human rights grounds, only that it delayed making the decision to allow adequate consideration of the human rights issues. Personally, I’d much rather they did that than rush the decision only for the ban to be overturned because they hadn’t treated the human rights issues with sufficient importance. Doing it the way the right-wingers want would almost certainly result in the paedophile being allowed to continue using the gym, whereas doing it properly and legally means that, if they do decide a ban is appropriate (and in compliance with human rights law) then it will more than likely stick.

I am also dismayed that the Department for Constitutional Affairs has chosen to put its own political agenda over giving accurate information to the public – they claim that ‘[p]ublic safety and security remains the primary consideration when considering human rights issues’ when in fact judges apply a ‘proportionality test’ – in other words, the amount of infringement of a person’s human rights must be proportionate to the aim to be achieved. That means that it might very well be considered (though there has of course been no court decision, and we therefore can’t be sure) legitimate to ban a paedophile from the grounds of a school, but it certainly does not mean that anything that the government decides is necessary for public safety is acceptable.

There is legitimate concern about this paedophile being allowed to use a gym in the grounds of a school, but the hysteria is not helped when the DCS releases factually inaccurate statements which further confuse the public perception of human rights law.

Oh, and, one more thing. ‘’‘Why the hell was a gym for adults put in the grounds of a school in the first place? Isn’t that asking for trouble?’‘’

See also

• BBC Action Network – In defence of the Human Rights Act (written by Jo Morgans of the British Institute of Human Rights)
• BBC News – Fury over paedophile at child [sic] gym
• Full text of the European Convention on Human Rights
• Full text of the Human Rights Act 1998 (it is split up into multiple bits because of the OPSI’s excessive commitment to modems. grr.)

I am not hugely impressed with the petition calling for rural post offices to continue to receive over £150m/year of government subsidy. Most of the people involved are technology refuseniks, who don’t seem to have understood the (rather obvious) concept that if you decide not to get a computer then you will not be able to access internet-based services. Now, let’s say I decide that I can’t be bothered to go outside today. I have the right to healthcare, so does that mean that I should be able to force the government to set up an intensive care ward in my living room? None of the services provided by Post Offices cannot be accomplished online, and if you choose not to access those services then you cannot expect the rest of us to subsidise your refusal.

According to The Guardian, the Israeli education minister Yuli Tamir has claimed that a proposed boycott of Israeli universities by the UK academic community would be ‘tremendously dangerous’.

In fact, the boycott would have precisely the opposite effect. Anything which pressurises Israel (especially, as with this proposal, where it is targeted at an influential group) into behaving like a civilised country is a good thing. An academic boycott might upset Mr Tamir, but put in the context of a country which thinks nothing of murdering 1,000+ innocent people in the name of two of its soldiers I hardly think ‘dangerous’ is an appropriate term here.

I just realised that the shiny WP-Cache plugin I installed wasn’t actually functioning (it’s the only plugin I’m aware of that doesn’t start working when you click ‘Activate’ in the plugins list, noooo, you have to specifically activate it in its own config screen). Anyway, the short story is that it is now turned on, so if you notice anything strange (like a blank page for example) drop me a line using the equally new contact form (WP-Cache is set to leave that alone for other reasons).

EDIT: I’ve disabled WP-Cache, it was screwing the Technorati Tagging. That was short!