From: Andrew Johnson
Date: 2008-09-28 09:09:46
Below is the editorial from the December 2008 UK edition of Personal Computer World, which I have subscribed to in one form or another for about 10 years now. The editor’s experience gives a strong indication of how some parts of the UK are “wired up” now. I decided to send him a letter, explaining how my interest and application of technology has allowed me to “get to where I am now” – and it served to remind how important a role things like stable operating systems, cheap (or even free) software and hardware have enabled us to reach this point. Prophet gives fuel for thought Kelvyn Taylor Life may be more efficient due to technological development -but one computer scientist foresaw the risk to our civil liberties Would we be happy under an efficient tyranny – one in which every movement and action of the citizen was recorded, analysed, cross-checked instantaneously and no incident, no matter how trivial, ever forgotten? Yet such is the mechanism we now have the capacity to create in the name of efficient government.” Although it resonates perfectly with modern fears about civil liberties in the electronic age, you may be surprised to learn that this quote is from an article written in 1970. The author, Alexander Shafto (‘Sandy’) Douglas (who, incidentally, also wrote the first ever interactive graphical computer game, OXO, for the EDSAC computer in 1952) was writing in the long-defunct Science Journal about the social implications of the increasing power and proliferation of computers. That some of Douglas’ fears have come true was brought home to me recently when trying to fill my car up at a motorway service station. The pump refused to release fuel, and I was about to complain when I saw a notice saying ‘this pump will not work until our cameras have identified your number plate’. Realising my car was at an odd angle, I turned it around, tried again and hey presto, fuel started flowing. Maybe it was nothing to do with the cameras, but it got me thinking. It was only later that the full implications dawned on me – it’s getting harder and harder to carry out our daily lives without someone, somewhere, monitoring our actions. And when these things are done in the name of state security or personal safety it can be hard to resist the ‘only criminals need to worry’ arguments. Automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) systems were invented in the UK and have been in place for several years now, with data from most traffic cameras now sent directly to the police for use in law enforcement. But what if I’d gone to pay for my petrol and found that an unpaid parking fine or speeding ticket had been added onto my bill? How do we know what cross-checks are being made? Was my abortive attempt to fill up with petrol flagged somewhere as ‘suspicious’? Had the fact that my car had travelled over 650 miles in one day rung alarm bells in a data centre? I’ve got nothing to hide, but how do I know that any data concerning me is correct and, more importantly, safe from loss or potential abuse? With several high-profile losses of personal data held by government departments hitting the headlines this year, it’s easy to get the impression that there’s a rather cavalier attitude to data security, so we thought it would be timely to take a look at what’s been going on with all these missing CDs and laptops. You can read our rather disturbing findings starting on page 35. On a rather happier note, you’ll find some great practical help and advice in our cover feature, starting on page 27. Fixing a laptop isn’t always quite as straightforward as fixing a desktop PC. Even troubleshooting Windows on a laptop has its own quirks and foibles, so we’ve put together a basic guide to solving some of the most common hardware and software problems people encounter. We hope it’s useful, but if your laptop is ‘beyond economic repair’, as the insurers like to say, then you’ll be pleased to know that you can buy a brand new Centrino 2 model for as little as £499, as we found in our group test starting on page 82. PCW. —–Original Message—–From: Andrew Johnson [mailto:ad.johnson@ntlworld….]Sent: 27 September 2008 18:59To: kelvyn.taylor@incisi…Subject: PCW December Editorial Dear Kelvyn, It seems that the “cover date clock” has run even faster since I last noticed (I think it was only one month ahead last time I remember – now it seems to be almost 3 months…) Your account of not being able to fill up your car because of the number plate recognition is, of course, another sign post as we approach lockdown into a global fascist “police-state” system. People tend not to notice too much, as the changes are somewhat gradual – and anyway, they just like to “get on with their own lives”, like. My realisation of the truth about this issue has come directly from my long standing interest in home computing technology, having myself “opened the door” to the wonders of computing in 1981 when my brother built a 1K ZX81 from a kit. I went on to study Computer Science and Physics at Lancaster University, and graduated in 1986. I have spent the last 20 years split between working in industry (mainly real-time software in process control and telecoms) and education (I now tutor part time for the [Contact Me Ref-1] and do Disabled Student Assessments for them). Most if not all of this work has revolved around the use and application of technology. Since my connection to broadband internet in 2003, my view of the world has been completely transformed and what I have learned has forced me to take direct action – culminating in assisting 3 people in their efforts to sue US Government Contractors for their fraudulent reports on the destruction of the World Trade Centre on 9/11/01 – that event which is so often mentioned as an excuse for the “needed increase” in all kinds of security measures. My research and correspondence has taught me of the global network to suppress and cover up the evidence that 9/11 and other similar attacks have little or nothing to do with Al Qaida and are, in fact, largely media driven illusions which are burned into the minds of people by repetition and giving them a story which answers their questions to a level which they are comfortable with. Scratching the surface soon brings a new realisation. This year, I learned through my friend Dr Judy Wood, of the presence of Hurricane Erin in the Atlantic ocean on 9/11. It was actually closest to NYC during those terrible events and its path was most peculiar. The outer bands of Erin brought rain to Cape Cod. Through her research, and my own, we have now concluded, based on the evidence, that this hurricane did play a role in the events of 9/11, “far out” though most people will consider this idea to be. Fortunately, Apache, Joomla, FileZilla, Windows XP, Mac OS 9 and a whole host of other software and hardware technology (including things like some of my own customised JavaScript, my Samsung VPMX10 solid state video camera) allow us to share this information with the world. Word Macros and CGI scripts I have customised or written allow me to receive orders from my web site and print them easily, so that I can sell DVD’s at close to cost price, to help educate people out of the cesspool of lies and false information that has been fed to them. This false information has, in great quantity, been used to fool them into accepting ever increasing controls on and intrusions into their daily lives. Perhaps you will share my view that technology should be used to liberate and educate, not enslave and destroy people’s lives, as it did on 9/11 and has done so since. If you share this view, please check out these 2 web series by former Professor of Mechanical Engineering, Dr Judy Wood, hosted on Web Space I bought for her (a UK host) www.drjudywood.com/a… An earlier series explains how the Hurricane ties in to the technology which was almost certainly used to turn the WTC towers to dust in about 10 seconds each: www.drjudywood.com/a… This page holds details of the attempt to sue NIST’s contractors for fraud. As you will see, we wrote press releases, which were sent to all UK media – yet none of these attempts to sue over 9/11 lies were ever prominently or even properly reported in any mainstream UK media source, to my knowledge. www.drjudywood.com/a… On this page, you can read my correspondence with BBC producer Mike Rudin – who seemed unable to disagree with me when I said the BBC were promoting and supporting a fake war on terror. www.checktheevidence… Last year, I was fortunate to have an article published about 9/11 in one of the [Contact Me Ref-1] Faculty Magazines: www.checktheevidence… It seems that UK Independent journalist Robert Fisk (a “Society Matters” reader, I am told) lifted some of the figures from my article a few days after it was published: www.independent.co.u… (Paragraph 7) Lots of other stuff about the false information we’ve all been “programmed” with here. www.checktheevidence… SiteMeter has allowed me to track visitors to my website and so far, they have included all branches of the US military, US Courts, US Congress, Lockheed Martin, Lawrence Livermore National Labs, Oakridge National Labs, Los Alamos National Labs, NASA and many others. I hope you’ll find something here of interest and worthy of sharing with others. Yours Sincerely, Andrew Johnson 22 Mear DriveBorrowashDerbyshireDE72 3QWTel: 01332 674271 Are you interested in what’s really going on in the world, behind the facade? Then…www.checktheevidence… happened on 9/11?www.drjudywood.com/
