March 2009 Archives

I've been playing with wiki software at work of late, looking for something to manage the Unix team's ad-hoc documents and other voodoo - stuff that doesn't really fit in the Official Stamped And Approved Methods Of Doing Things.
I wanted to do this at my last employers, but the thought of deploying PHP/perl/MySQL web apps on Solaris filled me with a subtle dread, so I didn't really look into it too deeply.
A quick shufty on the Interwub, however, revealed that Sun have pre-configured Apache/MySQL/PHP packages available as Cool Stack. I wish Sun would stop with the 'cool' moniker. This is not.

The whole install was remarkably painless - building the zone took longer than installing and configuring the 'cool' packages and the TikiWiki software.
First thing I did once the Wiki was up was to slap the install procedure on a Wiki page, which you can see here, if you're interested in doing the same thing yourself. For the uninitiated: yes, that does constitute a remarkably painless install on Solaris.

Looks like Jack Straw shat it and pulled the plug on Clause 152.

Top work bloggers, doctors, comedians, campaigners, Facebookers, and everyone else who made some noise.

Politics time!

There's a nasty bit of legislation running through the Commons the noo, which goes by the name of the Coroners and Justice Bill, Clause 152. I'd encourage you to read it. Thankfully it's not very long.

Back? Good. I'd like to draw your attention to the following in particular:

(1)
An information-sharing order may--
...
(h) modify any enactment.

Any enactment? So, by invoking an 'information-sharing order', any Member of Parliament can do... anything they like.
I'm not sure of the scope of this legislation, but that provision is entirely unqualified. There doesn't seem to be any limit on what's allowed once one of these 'information-sharing orders' is created. Maybe, if required, your house could be raided. Maybe you could be detained indefinitely. Maybe Jacqui Smith could just send the boys round to kick your head in and get the information.

Even if the Clause only affects the Data Protection Act's provisions (the Clause is an amendment to the DPA), that's some seriously powerful legislation. It allows any MP, MSP etc. to throw the Data Protection Act in the bin and do whatever they want with whatever information they like. And then they can let anyone else do the same as long as:

(a)  the sharing of information enabled by the order is
necessary to secure a relevant policy objective
(b) that the effect of the provision made by the order is
proportionate to that policy objective, and
(c) that the provision made by the order strikes a fair balance
between the public interest and the interests of any person
affected by it.

What policies? Any policies, apparently. Who decides the public interest and fair balance? We're not told. These three conditions are all that limit the power of this legislation, and being so ill-defined they offer no protection from abuse. Not that this matters very much, since the Clause allows for the modification of any enactment, presumably including the Clause itself.

Accordingly, and for the first time in my puff, I've written to my MP and requested that this deeply sinister power-grab be rejected at the first possible opportunity. If you've got 5 minutes, I'd be much obliged if you'd do the same.