Richard's Kingdom

Earlier this month, my ISP (PlusNet) got hacked, exposing its webmail system to spammers. The volume of spam I receive doubled overnight as a result, even though I don’t use their online email system. This kind of security breach is nothing new. In fact it happens on a frequent basis, though the news is often [...]

Have you suffered from sudden increase in spam this week? If so, you could be a victim of an ISP data theft scandal, even if you’re not a customer of the company in question. UK ISP PlusNet has this week become the latest in a long line of companies to fail to adequately protect their [...]

The Government is using passports to coerce you into surrendering control of your identity. Under the guise of improving passport security, the Identity and Passport Service (IPS) will begin forcing all new applicants to register with the ID cards database from April this year. This morning, IPS Chief executive James Hall was in full spin [...]

Astley Sports College in Dukinfield has installed £20,000 worth of CCTV cameras to monitor pupils. Even when they’re in the toilets. The Manchester Evening News (via The ARCH blog) reports that the school has a bullying problem, and Deputy Head Ian Gilbert sees round-the-clock surveillance as the solution: “[The cameras] have definitely proved their worth [...]

“When you are looking for a needle in a haystack, is it necessary to keep building bigger haystacks?”