Tag: Nanny State Knows Best

Beware Greeks Bearing Gifts

Especially if those Greeks are a Japanese University…

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Japan-university-gives-away-apf-15379360.html?.v=3

Aoyama Gakuin University located in the city of Tokyo is giving 550 students free iPhones. Sounds like a great deal huh? Well wait until you see the string attached to this one…

The gadget will work as a tool for studies, but it also comes with GPS, a satellite navigation system that automatically checks on its whereabouts. The university plans to use that as a way check attendance.

By check attendance they mean track the students’ whereabouts. So as long as you’re willing to have your university actively track you everywhere you go (with the phone at least) you to can have a free phone.

Of course I am curious how they are tracking the phones. Because it can’t be with software on the phone since third parties can’t write software that runs in the background on an iPhone. Maybe they are jailbreaking the phones. Either way doing a full reset would take care of either scenario. Granted the school would also notice that any reset phone is no longer reporting tracking information back to them.

The other method is either the government or cell phone carriers must be giving the university access to the tracking information. In a country without freedom like Japan this is of course very possible.

Either way there is an easy solution. If you’re a student with one of these “free” phone just give it to a buddy who’s going to class when you want to skip. The phone can only report back where it is, so if it’s in class so are you.

Australia and the UK to Test Anti-Speed Device

Welcome to the Commonwealth people. You have the right to shut up and do as you’re told. You want to speed? Tough we will now control how fast your vehicle goes…

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/05/19/2574601.htm

Australia is testing a new device which will limit the speed of your vehicle. If you are speeding a warning will go off in your vehicle, if you continue speeding all power is cut off from your vehicle and you end up with a coasting piece of metal.

But wait it’s not just Australia it’s also the UK…

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/driving/article6260444.ece

They will begin testing it this summer on taxis and buses. Remember the Nanny State knows what’s best for you.

England’s Child Database Launched

www.internetnews.com – Personal Data of Millions Lost in U.K. Security Breachnews.bbc.co.uk – Database of all Children LaunchedMore proof England is taking the novel 1984 literally…

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/education/8052512.stm

Here is the basics of the situation…

The government says it will enable more co-ordinated services for children and ensure none slips through the net.
It will hold the details of 11 million children and young people aged up to 18 years.

Don’t worry though access to the database is limited…

It says 390,000 people will have access to the database, but will have gone through stringent security training.

See they people with access to the database, you know the very few 390,000 of them, will have very good security training. Just like the British government, oh wait…

http://www.internetnews.com/breakingnews/article.php/3712501

But what could possibly be contained in this database? Well the following…

Name, address, date of birth, gender and contact details for parents or carers

Each child also has a unique identifying number

Details of the child’s school and GP practice and for other practitioners or services working with the child

Whether the practitioner is the lead professional for that child

I give it less then a year (and that’s being VERY generous) before the database is compromised and the information contained in it is leaked.

Handcuffed and Fined for not Holding Escalator Rail

Another interesting story brought to you by dvorak.org/blog…

http://www.dvorak.org/blog/2009/05/18/hancuffed-thrown-in-cell-fined-for-not-holding-escalator-handrail/

In Montreal apparently it’s illegal to use an escalator without holding onto the hand rails. This woman was handcuffed, thrown in a holding cell, and then fined $100.00 for her illegal activities.

Welcome to the nanny police state.

Ban Guns, It’s for the Children

And this is two posts in a row for reasons I hate the United Nations…

http://christopherburg.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/guide-to-the-implementation-of-the-world-programme-of-action-for-youth.pdf

This time it’s a document telling you how to raise your children. I want to bring up the section entitled “Access to Guns.” The first major bullet point flat out says governments should ban all handguns for civilian use (just like Britain did).

Here is a nice bullet point list under the title “How can government prevent unsupervised youth access to guns?”

• Explore enacting bans on all handguns to civilians or certain cheap
models that are attractive to youth.
• Consider the establishment of effective means of marking and
tracing firearms.
• Establish consumer product requirements so that guns are equipped
with safety features such as trigger locks. These features could
make guns more difficult for youth to fire, and technology may soon
allow guns to be “personalized” so that only authorized owners may
fire them.
• Strengthen government licensing procedures to ensure that the
firearms industry operates within a legitimate framework and only has
relationships with legitimate law-abiding dealers.
• Develop a system where buyers undergo background checks and
obtain a safety license before the purchase of a firearm.
• Call for restrictions on the number of guns that can be purchased in a
one-month or one-year period.

So remember we need more gun control because it’s for the children.

New York to Enact “Fat Tax”

In another story dealing with New York the nanny state…

http://www.gamepolitics.com/2009/05/14/new-york-bill-would-add-fat-tax-video-games-dvds-junk-food

It appears New York is trying to pass a law that would put a tax on anything that “makes kids fat.” In other words they are low on money and the way to make more money is to tax popular things like video games and DVDs.