Author Archives: Donncha

Your Rights Online: Secret Irish Data Repository Uncovered

After Karlin reported that there’s a secret data retention regime in place for almost a year it sparked a lively debate on /. and on the ILUG. What do I think? Mark Twomey says, “the moment anyone makes a call pays a bill, or whatever you create a digital paper trail which the supplier of the service or owner of the infrastructure you are using, be it a Bank or Telecom provider or such, is entitled to back up and/or analyse at their discretion. It’s their infrastructure, you’re just along for the ride.” Which is fair and reasonable.
Kevin Lyda thinks it could be more sinister, “i’m not completely sold that we as a society get anything from this expensive incursion into our privacy. just telling us it’s being done is *NOT* enough.”
I’m just worried about my next visit to the dentist and will the PRSI finally pay for the visit.

Bird flu not a major human threat yet–scientists

According to Reuters it’s not serious yet, but I remember reading a book a few weeks ago on this very subject, with disasterous consequences. *shudder*

“If a person contracts both human flu and bird flu during this peak flu season, that may result in the two sharing their genetic information and emerging into a new strain with the ability to jump very efficiently from human to human.
“If that happens, it will be an emergence of a pandemic, something we don’t want to see,” Chan told Reuters.

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