Twitter and sit-ins

Hi guys

How are we all? I know you can't answer that... except possibly in a comment

So, the big news at the moment is that Twitter has been ordered to release the details of every account registered to Julian Assange, Bradley Manning, Rop Gonggrijp and Birgitta Jonsdottir, including user names, screen names, mailing addresses, residential addresses and private messages. The US actually had the cheek to tell Twitter not to tell these people, but good old Twitter boldly took legal action and told them anyway.

Of course, this means that it is also likely that the US has sent similar things to Facebook, Google and other social networks, and it is also possible that these networks have just quietly handed over their precious user's contact details like good little bunnies. I guess it's a good thing that Twitter have announced it to their users. I'm not on Twitter myself (well, I am technically - I signed up as part of a pact I made with a mate to get them to join Facebook, but I've never logged in since I started.) In my opinion, Twitter and Facebook and all the others should just say no. What can the US do? They'll arrest them, maybe have them convicted - then what? Doing that won't suddenly make the user's information appear in the authorities' minds as if through a wormhole. If I ran Twitter, I think I'd wind them up when I received the subpoena by sending them back something that looked completely automated, like this:

Hi Bob (or Jim or Dave, or whatever their name is)

Glad to hear your enjoying Twitter. Have a great 2011, and don't forget to save time for tweeting!

Anyway, Birgitta (who I mentioned above) is a member of Icelandic parliament, former WikiLeaks volunteer and self-descibed activist, who is determined to challenge this in any way she can. She has written, 'Talked with the Icelandic minister of Justice - he is now looking into the case of demands of DoJ wanting my Twitter details. If anyone from Twitter legal is reading, I'd like to confirm that I am contesting any subpoenas - I do not consent. My lawyer will call.' In fighting it, in my opinion, she is being a total legend, and for that reason, you can officially consider her part of my 'inspiration' list.

In other news, the Stephenson Five (who I commended in my last post) have finally left their University building with their heads held high, just days before they were forced out. I guess this is a good thing - they didn't get everything they wanted, but they felt they had done all they could and plan to reconvene once it opens again. There are a few people in the press who are challenging them - I got into an argument with this bloke called James Lyle Findon on their Facebook page, who was going on about how stupid these people are and how the protests have gone much too far, and how he supports what the Government are doing anyway, and he sounded like such an arse. Overlooking the question of what he's doing in that group in the first place if he doesn't agree with it, he was also being really horrible to someone else in the group who was dismissed from the University for his opinions, believe it or not. Eventually I told him straight exactly how I felt, I said that I'd told him everything I could and then I said I wasn't prepared to debate it any further!

Well, that's it from the George-monster for this update. Please check back regularly to find out what else I have in store...

Happy New Year!

Hello everyone

Well, first off I would like to wish everyone a really amazing new year. Anyone have any resolutions? Mine is not raising my voice during arguments.

The other day, I was talking to one of my friends and I gave them my 'I hate the Government - EVERY Government' policy and they came out with, 'Would you prefer a dictatorship?' That made me think that maybe my motto is a bit misleading, so basically I'll explain it here, if anyone was confused. It effectively means that I would not trust anyone who was running a nation, because power is enough to make anyone corrupt. Agreed, a dictatorship would be even worse, but it doesn't make the idea of the Government any better. The world only runs smoothly when the public are there to remind the Government who's boss.

I also have a few new people to commend:

1) Laurie Penny

Laurie Penny is a really wonderful journalist and blogger who often writes for the Guardian. Her tagline is 'Pop culture and radical politics with a feminist twist'. I first came across her when I discovered an article she wrote about what it is like to be stuck in a kettle in a London protest, which a friend of mine described as, "She comes at it with a much more truthful angle than the BBC who wrote, 'Police eventually surrounded a group of around 150-200 people in Trafalgar Square, where fires with lit, graffiti daubed on statues and missiles thrown at riot police.'" Her blog address is http://pennyred.blogspot.com/ and please check out the list of things that she's written for the Guardian as well.

2) The Stephenson Five

The Stephenson Five are five students who are currently occupying the Senate building at the University of Kent. Student occupations have been happening around the country for weeks now, but most have fizzled out - except this one. The sit-in started on 8 December after Julia Goodfellow, the university's vice-chancellor, signed an open letter condoning the impending rise in tuition fees. The students demand that Goodfellow remove her name from the letter and publicly condemn the rise on the University's website. Although the students could initially come and go, the University has made the independent decision to treat them like criminals and has hired private security guards, from a company known to all and sundry as Campus Watch, to ensure that no one can re-enter once they have left. As students decided to leave for the Christmas holidays, there are now only five students remaining. They are known as the Stephenson Five because they are all going by the surname Stephenson, to make it harder for legal action to be taken against them (which the university are attempting to do.)

I have also found out that my favourite voice actor, Steven Webb, is in a relationship with the veteran actor Stephen Fry! I'm not sure which of them I envy more...

I am considering going to a London protest later this month, but nothing's decided yet.

I think that's about all for now - keep your eyes tuned to this blog, I will hopefully be adding some more stuff in the near future.