Iain @ Internet

I was glancing at BBC News web site and at the top stories. It strikes me that on this evidence the world (or at least the UK part of it) has gone even crazier today than usual on the privacy front….

…..illegal body scanners…

…..illegal Police drones

….Google ‘accidentally’ making a big data grab with their Buzz service

Time to go and live somewhere else I think, maybe Outer Mongolia.

Check out this worthy petition on No10 site.

‘Alan Turing was the greatest computer scientist ever born in Britain. He laid the foundations of computing, helped break the Nazi Enigma code and told us how to tell whether a machine could think.

He was also gay. He was prosecuted for being gay, chemically castrated as a ‘cure’, and took his own life, aged 41.

The British Government should apologize to Alan Turing for his treatment and recognize that his work created much of the world we live in and saved us from Nazi Germany. And an apology would recognize the tragic consequences of prejudice that ended this man’s life and career.’

Summer in Scotland…..

Originally uploaded by iainh1

This sums up the weather in Scotland over the last two weeks….

Remind me to go somewhere else for summer next year.

I was shocked today to read this …..about the death of Nick Givotovsky, age just 44.

I first met Nick, along with Mark Lizar, over many beers, in the Sun in Splendour pub in Notting Hill – a few years back. His views were very aligned with mine – and since then every contribution he has made to the Identity and VRM discussions has been rich and perceptive.

Here’s just one example quote:

‘I believe we need explicit, uniform and enforceable and yes, universal rights to our own user-related data. Not just for purposes of privacy, but so that individually and collectively we can use our leverage as rightful owners of what are in fact valuable assets to obtain and enforce a much better “digital deal”, not just for us, but for others not (yet) directly addressed here, who will have to deal with the consequences of our collective (in)actions.

There are indeed technologists fully qualified to architect the infrastructure to enable a better, more equitable, reciprocal, transparent and accountable digital realm, and they have to a large extent already built the tools and system. Now, the application of that prospective infrastructure to systems and services with the potential to change “the digital deal” from the user-centric perspective is what’s needed, and I hope, what’s next.

Going forward, the formulation, creation and assertion of binding identity rights agreements in the context of “leverage” that in turn drives change enabled in the market by market forces is the most pragmatic, short path to something better than a-shrug-a-click-and-a-sigh privacy statements.

It’s exactly the implementation of such use cases to which I think the most beneficial and productive (though not always the most immediately profitable) effort can and should be devoted. We all need a better, fairer, more accountable and credible digital deal. If we are to be “digital citizens” should we not also know the real “digital deal”? Thoughts? Words? Deeds?’

Wonderful stuff – which we’ll now deliver on; unfortunately Nick won’t be here alongside. My thoughts are with his wife and familiy.

Iain

I flagged to them that I did not want our flat shown on the view; they responded as per below…..and wiped out about 40 flats alongside mine. Not very subtle then….

Hello,

The Google Team

Well, it does not happen often, but i’m actually very pleased with a new product i’ve bought – a Toyota Prius. It’s not flash, but it has good gadgets in it and just drives well.

Of course all did not go 100% smoothly; I leased the car and had a torturous time getting the paperwork I need from the lease company to get residents parking and residents discount for congestion charge.

Same happened with the last car – reminder to self, don’t lease another car without sorting this out in advance.

Well, it had to happen eventually given the pace at which this crime is growing.

I’ll keep a running commentary here for my own records as much as anything else.

Here’s what’s happened so far:

- My Barclaycard Visa bill arrived this morning.

- I almost choked on my breakfast when I saw an charge O2 for £1,027.31; my iPhone bill should be £45.

- I assumed that it was a mistake at O2, who had a lot of trouble moving from my old O2 account to the new iPhone one (not a surprise given my previous post on the matter).

- I phoned O2 who, on the first call, handled it badly, telling me that they could not see such a transaction on my account and that I needed to phone up Barclaycard and get a ‘GED’ number for the transaction.

- I phoned up Barclaycard who told me that only a merchant could request such a number.

- While I was on the phone to Barclaycard, I noticed another two Paypal payments that I did not recognise…..the penny was starting to drop.

- I asked Barclaycard to put a stop on the account and send out a form for me to challenge the transactions.

That’s where we are at the moment. I don’t really regard it as identity theft at the moment, much more likely just plain old credit card fraud….but let’s run with it and see what happens.

I took out a 12 month subscription to Setanta in July 07 and then found that I did not use it much (Rangers were having a very poor season so not much reason to watch).

I called them in mid July to cancel but could never get through – the call centre system did not have a queue and just kept asking me to ‘call back later’.

So, I backed things up with two e-mails – neither of which were responded to. Bear in mind that they had already taken my August payment and no doubt will be trying to take my September payment.

I finally got through to them on the phone this morning, only to be told that I had to put my cancellation request in writing.

They have wasted a lot of my time, and stolen my money – not good!!!! Now i’ll need to spend more time fighting to get my money back.

Well here’s a surprise from the same marketing newsletter…when will they learn.

Mobile operators sending ‘irrelevant’ marketing messages

“On the other, it clearly points to a major opportunity for those operators who can harness vital information about a user’s interests and behaviour and offer them relevant services at the right time.”

Iain to Sixt

Hi there, on average I rent about 12 vehicles per year. In about 95% of cases the fuel tank is full when I collect the vehicle. In every single case where the tank is not full, other than the rental I refer to, the fact that it is not full has been made clear to me – overtly pointed out by the person handing over the vehicle.

This did not happen in the case of this rental, so my view is that you can point to whatever policies you like – your processes at point of rental are flawed; being based on a ‘ideal’ which rarely reflect the reality of the vehicle pick up experience.

You’ve just lost a customer – one whose life time spend with Sixt would have far outweighed the £20 you have extracted from me through poor processes.

Thanks for nothing.

Iain

On 13 Jul 2007, at 16:27, customer-service-uk@sixt.com wrote:

Dear Mr Henderson,

thank you for your e-mail to Sixt and for forwarding the documentation.The
Pre-Rental Inspection sheet which was completed and given to you with the
vehicle clearly shows that the vehicle was 7/8 full. It is vitally
important that customers to check this document prior to taking the vehicle
to ensure no disputes will occur further down the line.

A vehicle is always to be returned with the same amount of fuel as it is
received to ensure that no refuelling charge will apply.

Unfortunately we are unable to reimburse for any additional fuel which you
have chosen to put in the vehicle prior to it’s return.

I am sincerley sorry for any inconvenience caused and do hope that this
experience will not deter you from renting with us again in the future.

Kind regards
Sixt Kenning Ltd.
t/a Sixt rent a car

Lisbeth-Faye Strutt
Customer Relations
Durrant House 47 Hollywell Street
Chesterfield S41 7JN
Great Britain