Oxfordshire reveals ANPR traffic camera sites

A council using automatic numberplate recognition to manage traffic has released the locations of the cameras, having previously refused to do so

Oxfordshire county council initially refused to provide the locations of its then-new ANPR traffic camera sites, but did so when I requested the data under Freedom of Information – to its credit, only nine days after I asked. Police forces have taken a somewhat less co-operative view on this subject. Continue reading “Oxfordshire reveals ANPR traffic camera sites”

The myths of the fingerprints

If the Conservative Party wants to scrap identity cards, it should also scrap or reduce plans to fingerprint passport applicants, argues SA Mathieson

As the general election neared, Conservative and LibDem opposition to identity cards made their future look doubtful. However, it was harder to see whether a new government would keep fingerprints for passports. In the event, the coalition scrapped them as well as ID cards.

All articles on ID cards. Continue reading “The myths of the fingerprints”

CSC and IBM win ID contracts

The Identity and Passport Service has announced the impending awards of two of the National Identity Scheme’s main contracts to CSC and IBM

This interview showed that the Identity and Passport Service, responsible for delivering the national identity scheme, was carefully planning for a future without ID cards in April 2009. All articles on ID cards here.
Continue reading “CSC and IBM win ID contracts”

Broadband’s turn-on frustrations

It’s synonymous with high-speed connectivity, so why do new users have to wait so long to get broadband? SA Mathieson delves into BT’s exchanges to find out

A main distribution frame at a BT telephone exchange in BirminghamThis Guardian Technology article involved visiting a BT telephone exchange in Birmingham to see how broadband connections are made, which is where the image was taken.

In 2012, I received an email from Johnny from America about why it was still so hard to get broadband in Britain, which I replied to here.

Continue reading “Broadband’s turn-on frustrations”

‘Hot stocks to your inbox’ Infosecurity Today article on stock spam

Hot stocks to your inbox and The big con‘Hot stocks to your inbox’ was published by Infosecurity Today magazine in its July/August 2006 issue. It was based on substantial research that I carried out over a number of weeks, tracking companies whose shares were being promoted through spam emails.

This article is now available as a Kindle e-book. It includes an update written in May 2013 and another article for Infosecurity Today on social engineering, ‘The big con’. More information here.