My last post, about hackers stealing the census records, was based on a press release issued by LuizSec, a hacking group.
Now they are purporting to say it wasn't them: at least we are being asked to assume that the second ones, not the first, are the real hackers, or rather not the hackers in this case. Clear?
It comes at a time when a 19 year old British man has been arrested on suspicion of being a member of this group (that is to say, not the.... you understand, I am sure).
So have the hackers been hacked? Or did they hack what they thought to be the census but it turned out to be a list of public conveniences in the North East?
We may never know.
Showing posts with label census. Show all posts
Showing posts with label census. Show all posts
22 June, 2011
21 June, 2011
Here we go
I wrote just four months ago about the census. My penultimate sentence was:
'Well, well, we can guess, (cant we?), what sort of person decided what they needed to know, and we can guess with some certainty that they won’t be taking too much care of the information once they have got it.'
Now we learn that a group of hackers called Lutzsec has stolen the whole damn thing. Lutzsec have issued a statement, and you almost have to admire their chutzpah:
“We have blissfully obtained records of every single citizen who gave their records to the security-illiterate UK government for the 2011 census,”
The whole lot. Every single address, ethnic origin, details of every Sikh and every Jedi Knight are now in the hands of some people, we don't know who, and they can publish it all for whatever reason.
Incompetence and busybodying, that's what makes up today's State. In the future anyone who gives it any information must be mad.
'Well, well, we can guess, (cant we?), what sort of person decided what they needed to know, and we can guess with some certainty that they won’t be taking too much care of the information once they have got it.'
Now we learn that a group of hackers called Lutzsec has stolen the whole damn thing. Lutzsec have issued a statement, and you almost have to admire their chutzpah:
“We have blissfully obtained records of every single citizen who gave their records to the security-illiterate UK government for the 2011 census,”
The whole lot. Every single address, ethnic origin, details of every Sikh and every Jedi Knight are now in the hands of some people, we don't know who, and they can publish it all for whatever reason.
Incompetence and busybodying, that's what makes up today's State. In the future anyone who gives it any information must be mad.
27 February, 2011
Sunday Thinkpiece: what were you doing on the night...?
What will you be doing on the night of 27th March? It is a month away and you should be making your plans. Will you be out celebrating the crowning of Robert the Bruce in Scotland in 1306? The declaration of the Crimean War in 1854? The surrender of Geronimo in 1886? Or the birthday of singers Michael Jackson, Mariah Carey and Fergie of the Black Eyed Peas?
If so, be careful what you get up to. For 27th March is the day of the decennial census in the UK, and if you return home with someone you have met on your revels make sure before going to bed to record his or her name and ethnic grouping (if you are a bit bleary eyed you can just ask this – ‘are you black, white, Asian or some sort of mixture?’ – it often helps break the ice). For the State wants to know. And the State wants to know if that person usually lives there.
They will know it is a one night stand. And yes, I mean you.
The 1991 census asked 34 questions; the 2001 asked 41 questions; this time there are 14 about the household, 43 about individuals and 4 about visitors. They want to know the address of your employer and how you get to work; whether you have risen to the rank of supervisor. They want to know what sort of qualifications you have, down to ‘O’ levels and GCSEs. They want to know if you can speak English, what your religion is and where you were living last year. Where were you born? How is your health? What is your legal, marital or same sex civil partnership status?
In the 2001 census, 390,127 people registered their religion as Jedi Knight, more than for Sikhism, Judaism and Buddhism. Now they don’t just want to know if you are a Jedi Knight, they want to know if you have shacked up with one.
The cost of this Big Brotherfest is put at £500 million (it will be more, of course, things done by Government and involving computers are usually double the estimate). This figure is in part because they are translating it into 56 languages (don’t forget one of the questions is ‘do you speak English’) including, presumably, Jedi. But I am not so worried about that – the Ministry of Defence wastes sums like that on an almost weekly basis.
What I am worried about is why the State wants this information and what they are going to do with it. Why do they want to know whether I am Scottish, a gypsy or Irish traveller (only if white) or ‘mixed White and black Caribbean’? According to the Office of National Statistics, the census ‘provides population statistics from a national to neighbourhood level for government, local authorities, business and communities.’ So all this personal stuff is going to be disseminated far and wide, to businesses and to ‘communities’ (which communities? Do the Jedi community get all this?).
Well, well, we can guess, (cant we?), what sort of person decided what they needed to know, and we can guess with some certainty that they won’t be taking too much care of the information once they have got it.
I rather think we should call a halt to this.
If so, be careful what you get up to. For 27th March is the day of the decennial census in the UK, and if you return home with someone you have met on your revels make sure before going to bed to record his or her name and ethnic grouping (if you are a bit bleary eyed you can just ask this – ‘are you black, white, Asian or some sort of mixture?’ – it often helps break the ice). For the State wants to know. And the State wants to know if that person usually lives there.
They will know it is a one night stand. And yes, I mean you.
The 1991 census asked 34 questions; the 2001 asked 41 questions; this time there are 14 about the household, 43 about individuals and 4 about visitors. They want to know the address of your employer and how you get to work; whether you have risen to the rank of supervisor. They want to know what sort of qualifications you have, down to ‘O’ levels and GCSEs. They want to know if you can speak English, what your religion is and where you were living last year. Where were you born? How is your health? What is your legal, marital or same sex civil partnership status?
In the 2001 census, 390,127 people registered their religion as Jedi Knight, more than for Sikhism, Judaism and Buddhism. Now they don’t just want to know if you are a Jedi Knight, they want to know if you have shacked up with one.
The cost of this Big Brotherfest is put at £500 million (it will be more, of course, things done by Government and involving computers are usually double the estimate). This figure is in part because they are translating it into 56 languages (don’t forget one of the questions is ‘do you speak English’) including, presumably, Jedi. But I am not so worried about that – the Ministry of Defence wastes sums like that on an almost weekly basis.
What I am worried about is why the State wants this information and what they are going to do with it. Why do they want to know whether I am Scottish, a gypsy or Irish traveller (only if white) or ‘mixed White and black Caribbean’? According to the Office of National Statistics, the census ‘provides population statistics from a national to neighbourhood level for government, local authorities, business and communities.’ So all this personal stuff is going to be disseminated far and wide, to businesses and to ‘communities’ (which communities? Do the Jedi community get all this?).
Well, well, we can guess, (cant we?), what sort of person decided what they needed to know, and we can guess with some certainty that they won’t be taking too much care of the information once they have got it.
I rather think we should call a halt to this.
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