[Linux-aus] Quadcopter fun at UK customs

[James Turnbull]

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Arjen Lentz wrote:
> 
> One thing to realise is that UK is in a bit of a funny mood with the
> Olympics happening, to the point of discussing anti-aircraft missiles
> stationed in the London area. If that isn't a clear indication that
> some people and organisations have gone more than a tad bananas, I
> dunno what is. Just imagine what happens when you actually shoot down
> a flying object. Yes, it comes down anyway. Gravity will do that, but
> now there's lots more bits. This was discovered long ago when skud
> missiles from Iraq were aimed at Israeli targets, and the Dutch
> supplied Patriot missile batteries. The results were really worse
> than the problem, which was admittedly not nice in itself.
n.

For those of us that spend a lot of time in the UK the question will be:
"Will they wind back all of these security measures when the Olympics is
over." I suspect many organisations will find their new powers very
useful and find ways to hold onto them.

But largely the lack of oversight and appeal is the part that greatly
worries me - security is fine if checks and balances are in place. As
soon as you remove the checks and balances security frequently becomes
totalitarian in behaviour. We see this time and time again in technology
when government attacks things (encryption for example) that they
perceive threatens their security controls or that they don't understand.

Regards

James Turnbull

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