I did not need to be reminded of that, but got one anyway – from the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA). Apparently, they want her to re-sit her driving test; that should interesting to watch.

Thankfully, their incompetence will spur me on, to help create the type of personal data architecture we need to have in place; which clearly is not the one they use in Swansea.

I’ve always felt the space shuttle was a truly wonderful machine, and see-ing one of the launches a few years ago is one of my favourite memories.

I’ll look forward to see-ing what comes next, but somehow doubt it will have the same iconic impact.

Anyway, have a safe flight shuttle folks and i’ll look forward to the landing next week.

This article titled “US consumers to get online bill of privacy rights” was written by Dominic Rushe, for The Guardian on Wednesday 16th March 2011 18.16 UTC

The Obama administration is pushing for a “bill of rights” to protect the privacy of people using the internet. The proposals were outlined by Lawrence Strickling, head of the telecoms arm of the commerce department, at a hearing of the senate commerce committee in Washington DC.

Politicians and privacy groups are increasingly concerned about the mass of information being acquired online by firms including Facebook, Google and Twitter. Strickling told the committee that a privacy bill of rights should outline basic levels of protection and ensure the regulators had the authority to enforce those expectations.

The bill is likely to follow proposals set out by the department and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) last year. Among other proposals, it wants companies to develop “do not track” technology that would allow customers to stop firms following their online activity.

The FTC said that tracking allowed companies to provide consumers with relevant ads and information but that the system lacked transparency and was not easily controlled by the consumer.

Addressing the committee, FTC chairman Jon Leibowitz said: “Consumers deserve meaningful and not illusory control over what companies can do with their personal information.”

Some firms had complained that “do not track technology” was hard to develop and would stifle creativity on the web. Leibowitz said recent moves by Microsoft and Mozilla – maker of the Firefox browser – showed this was not the case. Leibowitz said that “if consumers have more trust on the internet, they are going to do more business on the internet, as well”.

The news comes as Washington toughens its stance on internet privacy. Senators John McCain and John Kerry have been working on a draft privacy bill in recent weeks. The bill would cover a wide variety of information from names and addresses to the unique IDs assigned to an individual’s mobile phone or computer. The bill would require companies to ask permission before sharing a customer’s information with third parties and give customers the right to see all the information a company has collected on them.

Susan Grant, director of consumer protection at the Consumer Federation of America, said the extent of data tracking was “pervasive and invasive”. “The vast extent of data tracking going on right now is absolutely invisible to consumers,” she said. “If it’s got to the point where the commerce department wants action. that must prove we’ve reached a critical point.”

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This article titled “EU to force social network sites to enhance privacy” was written by Leigh Phillips in Brussels, for The Guardian on Wednesday 16th March 2011 17.38 UTC

The European Union is to enshrine a “right to be forgotten online” to ensure that, among other things, prospective employers cannot find old Facebook party photos of someone wearing nothing but a lampshade.

In a speech to the European parliament, the EU justice commissioner, Viviane Reding, warned companies such as Facebook that: “A US-based social network company that has millions of active users in Europe needs to comply with EU rules.”

In a package of proposals to be unveiled before the summer, the commissioner intends to force Facebook and other social networking sites to make high standards of data privacy the default setting and give control over data back to the user.

“I want to explicitly clarify that people shall have the right – and not only the possibility – to withdraw their consent to data processing,” Reding said. “The burden of proof should be on data controllers – those who process your personal data. They must prove that they need to keep the data, rather than individuals having to prove that collecting their data is not necessary.”

Under the proposals, national privacy watchdogs will be endowed with powers to investigate and launch legal proceedings against companies with services that target EU consumers.

Reding’s spokesman, Matthew Newman, said: “A year ago she issued Facebook a warning because the privacy settings changed for the worse and now she’s legislating to put flesh on those bones.”

Facebook profiles have been accessible by default since January last year. Users have to opt in to ensure that their photographs and other information can be viewed only by friends.

Newman said companies “can’t think they’re exempt just because they have their servers in California or do their data processing in Bangalore. If they’re targeting EU citizens, they will have to comply with the rules.”

Privacy settings are often so complex that a typical user does not know how to use them, Reding’s staff say. The new legislation will ensure privacy is inbuilt and not tacked on later as an added extra. The rules will also outlaw the surreptitious gathering of data without the user explicitly giving permission.

Newman said that the laws would make the EU the first jurisdiction to deliver a “right to be forgotten”.

“Maybe you’ve been at a party, up until four in the morning and you or someone you know posts photos of you,” he said. “Well, it’s a harmless bit of fun, but being unable to erase this can threaten your job or access to future employment.”

The rules would give consumers a specific right to withdraw their consent to sharing their data. “And after you have withdrawn your consent, there shouldn’t even be a ghost of your data left in some server somewhere. It’s your data and it should be gone for good,” he said.

Facebook believes it is already compliant with EU law and says it is working alongside Brussels officials in the revision of data protection legislation that was enacted in 1995, in the early days of the internet.

“Facebook is fully engaged in the debates around the review of the European Union’s data protection directive,” said a company spokeswoman, Sophy Silver. “We work closely with data protection authorities across the EU and with the European commission and parliament..

Silver said Facebook users were already able to remove their data completely from view, after which it took a few weeks to clean up the company’s servers.

guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010

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That would be nice I guess given the number of kickings the country has had in the last few years, and it is probably do-able given that the Scots public sector is a bit smaller, and thus a bit more joined up.

So what have they got in mind? My comments on the five principles proposed are in italics.

The five principles involve:

1) Proving identity or entitlement – people should not be asked to prove who they are unless it is necessary. Public bodies should ask for as little information as possible, identifying themselves and offering alternative ways to provide identity and/or entitlement for a service.

This is a biggie if they can pull it off; will require quite a bit of investment and huge culture change in the front office(s).

2) Governance and accountability – public service organisations should adopt privacy and security policies and procedures.

What, so they don’t have them at the moment?

3) Risk management – organisations should carry out Privacy Impact Assessments on any new initiative that enables access to services and involves collection, storage or use of personal information.

Isn’t this a bit pointless if principle 1 is fully deployed? No matter, it will help on the educational side.

4) Data and data sharing – public services should minimise the personal information they hold, avoid creating centralised databases of information and store personal and transactional data separately.

This is the other biggie, again dependent on full and genuine deployment…

5) Education and engagement – there should be efforts to raise public awareness of the principles and ensure those handling the data have a good working knowledge of the issues.

Again, this should be happening already under the Data Protection Act – but bring it on, in spades..

If those behind the principles are serious about items 1 and 4, then it will be worth Mydex responding to this consultation.

This article titled “WikiLeaks site’s Swiss registry dismisses pressure to take it offline” was written by Josh Halliday, for guardian.co.uk on Saturday 4th December 2010 20.23 UTC

WikiLeaks received a boost tonight when Switzerland rejected growing international calls to force the site off the internet.

The whistleblowers site, which has been publishing leaked US embassy cables, was forced to switch domain names to WikiLeaks.ch yesterday after the US host of its main website, WikiLeaks.org, pulled the plug following mounting political pressure.

The site’s new Swiss registry, Switch, today said there was “no reason” why it should be forced offline, despite demands from France and the US. Switch is a non-profit registry set up by the Swiss government for all 1.5 million Swiss .ch domain names.

The reassurances come just hours after eBay-owned PayPal, the primary donation channel to WikiLeaks, terminated its links with the site, citing “illegal activity”. France yesterday added to US calls for all companies and organisations to terminate their relationship with WikiLeaks following the release of 250,000 secret US diplomatic cables.

The Swiss Pirate Party, which registered the WikiLeaks.ch domain name earlier this year on behalf of the site, said Switch had reassured the party that it would not block the site.

An email sent by Denis Simonet, president of the Swiss Pirate Party, to international members of the liberal political group said: “Some minutes ago I got good news: Switch, the registry for .ch domains, told us that there is no reason to block wikileaks.ch.”

Laurence Kaye, leader of the UK-based Pirate Party, tonight told the Guardian: “International Pirate Parties now have an integral role in allowing access to WikiLeaks. I wish some of our other politicians had the same guts.

“We support the WikiLeaks project as access to information is the prerequisite for an informed and engaged democracy.”

WikiLeaks has been fighting to stay online since releasing a cache of sensitive diplomatic cables to the Guardian and four other international media organisations. Amazon, the world’s largest online retailer, dropped the site from its servers on Thursday after being contacted by staff of Joe Lieberman, chairman of the US Senate’s homeland security committee.

Everydns.net, the site’s US hosting provider, yesterday forced the site offline for the third time in under a week. A series of “distributed denial of attacks” by unknown online activists still bring the site intermittently to its knees.

WikiLeaks founder, Julian Assange, described the decision as “privatisation of state censorship” in the US. Everydns.net said the attacks – which have been going on all week – threatened “the stability of the EveryDNS.net infrastructure, which enables access to almost 500,000 other websites”.

• This article was amended on 7 December 2010. The original referred to Switch throughout as a registrar. This has been corrected.

guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010

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And a great ambassador for Scotland.

Rangers Modern Greats: Davie Cooper.

By Emearg.
Sunday, 15th November 2009
A warm tribute to one of the most talented of men in modern times to wear the Rangers jersey.
I grew up with the Rangers team of the mid-seventies, post-Barcelona, I have no memory at all of that great achievement, but pre Colin Stein returning is about where I came into the scheme of things. A team of legends. You could reel that team off, and even youngsters today will know of some, or all, of them. McCloy, Jardine, Greig, Forsyth, Jackson, MacDonald, McLean, Parlane, Johnstone, Stein, McKean. I doubt that XI ever played together, but you get the drift. Throw in one or two others here and there and we had a team to be proud of. As I said, a team of legends. How could you buy someone and improve that team? Then one cold night I saw John Greig given a helluva time by a winger playing for a lower league side in a League Cup tie at Ibrox. The scores, on aggregate, ended level, and we went to a replay, then another at Firhill. I went to that game too. Rangers got through. Just. The player of the tie had not been one of the legends, but had given Rangers fans their first sighting of a man that, in my opinion, surpassed them all.

David Cooper was born on February 25,1956, in Hamilton. He grew up, as so many did, as a boyhood Rangers fan. But one with the talent to do what the rest of us only ever dream of. He played at a level, and what a level.

Obviously talent ran in the family. His brother John signed for Hull, but had a hard time down South and never made the grade, and returned to play for Hamilton then into junior football. Davie grew too old for the side he played for, Avondale, and was about to chuck in the game. Coventry had shown an interest, but after his brother’s time down south, that wasn’t a move that interested him. Motherwell were closer to home, but wanted to loan him out to a junior side. Seeing the treatment John was getting playing for Larkhall Thistle turned Davie against this idea. Clyde offered him a trial, but he never signed for them. Rangers looked at him at this point, but Davie didn’t think he’d be good enough to get a game for them. Jack Steedman persuaded him to join the Bankies, and although the travel was something he didn’t fancy, Davie signed professional terms with Clydebank, and began to excite the crowds, twice helping the Bankies win promotion, from the second division, and then from the first and was soon noticed. But it was that League Cup tie that brought him to everyone’s attention, even getting him into the national team, and for the grand sum of £100,000 Rangers brought him to Ibrox in the summer of ’77.

Much was expected, much was anticipated. He delivered. For 12 years he wore the light blue of Rangers, and the dark blue of Scotland, with distinction. I’m sure he had many opportunities to move on during that time, but why should he? He was playing for the club he’d dreamed of playing for, and with international caps too, he had no need to prove himself elsewhere. A quiet, unassuming man, he had all he needed where he was, even though Ibrox was not always a happy place to be, and Rangers were far from delivering trophy after trophy.

He had a great first season with the club, winning the Treble. He played a huge part in that. Other new signings, Bobby Russell and Gordon Smith came into the team, and we played some great football. A League Cup Final win over Celtic saw Cooper score, a last day League win over Motherwell secured the title, and a Scottish Cup win over Aberdeen gave the club its second treble in three years. Great times appeared to be in front of us. Alas, it all changed.

The man who had brought him to Ibrox, Jock Wallace, had departed, and his replacement, John Greig, had many problems transforming an ageing team. We had a good run in Europe, and should have won the league. We won the Scottish Cup, beating Hibs at the third time. But it was a false dawn.

These were lean years, but there was one shining light. I’m not going to say we saw a great performance from Davie in every game – and in some games he was hardly noticed at all – but the anticipation when he was on the park, the fact that something might happen, was all we needed. Any time he wasn’t starting was a major disappointment. And there were some triumphs then, too. Some great performances, some magnificent nights, and even a few trophies, indeed.

Those that saw it will never forget his goal versus Celtic at Hampden in the 1979 Drybrough Cup Final. There is a grainy video of it about, but truthfully it does not do the goal justice. Very few players in World Football ever could have scored that goal.

Over the next few seasons Cooper’s influence on the park was neutralised. He was dropped for games, he was left alone on the wing waiting for someone to get the ball near him. He was even left out of the team for the Scottish Cup Final in 1981, a dull 0-0 draw with Dundee Utd. There was pressure to bring him back for the replay. Greig duly did and Cooper turned in a man of the match performance in an emphatic 4-1 win.

Greig was replaced by Wallace, returning to the club, but fortunes failed to improve. Graeme Souness was brought in, and even although he brought some of the biggest names in British football with him, Davie Cooper remained a first choice until the signing of Mark Walters. Even at this late stage in his career there were some fantastic memories, none more so than the 87-88 League Cup win over Aberdeen, when he scored one of the greatest free kicks ever.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kaNQILY6j-8

Davie also made the greatest goal he never scored, when he weaved through an Ilves Tampere defence in the 1986-87 UEFA Cup, before setting up Robert Fleck, and the following month scored the winning penalty in an Old Firm League Cup Final.

Davie also began to get more regular games for Scotland. He first attracted international attention when Ally MacLeod took him to South America in 1977 for a pre-World Cup tour. Davie was a Clybebank player when the squad was announced, but a Rangers player by the time the plane left. He never played on that tour, but in 1979 made his debut in a 1-1 friendly draw versus Peru. Over the next few years he played sporadically for the national team, and it was only Jock Wallace’s return to Ibrox that finally saw him established in the international side. Davie’s finest moment in a dark blue shirt also coincided with the night the national team manager sadly passed away. Needing a draw to qualify for the play-offs for the World Cup, Scotland trailed Wales 1-0 in Cardiff, when they brought on Davie as a substitute. Minutes later they were awarded a penalty and Cooper converted it. As the team came off the park in a celebratory mood they were met with the news that Jock Stein had died in the dressing room moments earlier. Scotland qualified for the World Cup, and Davie went to Mexico, although his time on the pitch was limited. Davie’s last game for Scotland, like his first, was a friendly, a 3-1 defeat by Egypt at Pittodrie.

Davie was eventually sold to Motherwell in August, 1989. I was working for a bookies at the time, and he was one of my customers. I was in a different shop each day, so he may have come in all the time, but I only saw him occasionally. He had been in before the transfer and was a pleasant man. He stood quietly, watching his race, collecting his winnings quietly, or accepting his horse lost with grace. Often someone would talk to him, and he was always pleasant. As shop manager he would talk to me, and I let it be known I was a fan. After that he always said hello, but that was it. Not one to blow his trumpet, not one to make a fuss. After he left Rangers, I saw him a few weeks later and wished him luck. He smiled, but never said a word. I’ve heard stories he didn’t want to go, he was forced out, but he never said a word against the club.

I saw him play against us a few times, and he always got a great reception from the fans. He was still one of us, and always would be. Watching him lead Motherwell to a Scottish Cup win in 1991 justified his move, and his belief that he was still capable of first team football. He left two years later to re-join Clydebank. I remember hearing he was retiring at the end of the season, and spoke to a few fellow Bears, and we were hoping to arrange a trip one weekend to see him play one last time. Sadly that never arrived. I was visiting my girlfriend when I heard he had been taken ill, but it wasn’t reported as too serious. The next day, I got up and was getting ready to travel back north to work, when I flicked the TV on, expecting to hear he was recovering. The news hit me. I don’t think I’d ever broken down in tears before, and certainly never since over someone I barely knew. Even now I can’t explain it. I can’t remember that day without tears. I don’t know why he meant so much to me, but that’s a hero for you. He truly was mine. A man I loved to watch,play the game I loved, for the team I loved, in the way it should be played. He was a joy to watch, a lovely man to meet, and a true professional.

Davie Cooper, 1956-1995. Gone, but never forgotten.

Facts and Figures

International Honours

Caps : 22

Goals 6

Clydebank

Games 90 in first spell, 21 in second

Goals 28 in first, 1 in second

Honours Scottish 2nd Division Champions 75-76

Motherwell

Games 157

Goals 17

Honours : Scottish Cup Winners 1991

Rangers

Premier Division : 321 games, 49 goals

Scottish Cup : 40 games, 7 goals

League Cup 69 games, 17 goals

Europe : 35 games, 1 goal

Others 96 games, 12 goals

Honours : Scottish League Champion (3)1977-78, 1986-87, 1988-89

Scottish Cup Winner (3) 1978, 1979, 1981

Scottish League Cup Winner (8) 1977-78, 1978-79, 1980-81, 1981-82, 1983-84, 1984-85, 1986-87, 1987-88

In total Davie played 561 times for Rangers, scoring 86 goals and taking part in 15 medal winning teams, the missing one is the 88-89 League Cup when he didn’t play in the Final.

His final appearance for the club came, ironically at Broadwood, in a 5-2 friendly win over Clyde on August 8th, 1989.

He treated my mother for TB over 5o years ago, and i’m told saved her life back then.

So thanks, and RIP.