An imaginary emergency
As the rest of the world becomes more skeptical about mass surveillance, there is one country where it is seldom ever mentioned, except to babble about the need for more of it. The country that the...
View ArticleSocial Darwinism
If one gets into a discussion of evolution by means of natural selection with politically-minded people, and evolutionary mechanisms in economics and society come up, then those who consider themselves...
View ArticleSamizdata quote of the day
What is it about being Home Secretary that turns people into fucking fascists? – Tim Worstall, apropos this. Though it might equally apply to this or most of this. It is time the Home Office was...
View ArticleSamizdata quote of the day
[W]ere the electorate solely composed of those stuffed with sciences their votes would be no better than those emitted at present. They would be guided in the main by their sentiments and party spirit....
View ArticleThe Human Rights Act as a constitution of liberty [no, really]
(This is the text of a talk I gave at the Adam Smith Institute last week. More than one person has asked me for it, so I make it available here.) I am here to defend the Human Rights Act. It is not an...
View ArticleSamizdata quote of the day
To people saying “pulling The Interview means the terrorists won”: we’ve been taking our shoes off at airports for no reason for 14 years… – @ozchrisrock (Not the real Mr Rock, but as quotable.) It was...
View ArticleSamizdata quote of the day
Some might say “I don’t care if they violate my privacy; I’ve got nothing to hide.” Help them understand that they are misunderstanding the fundamental nature of human rights. Nobody needs to justify...
View ArticleSamizdata quote of the day
What do you want? Information. Whose side are you on? That would be telling. We want information… information… information. You won’t get it. By hook or by crook, we will. – The Prisoner (intro written...
View ArticleOh, the horror of the darknet…
The New Scientist Christmas number carries an interview with Carmen Weisskopf of the Swiss group Bitnik who carried out an automated random shopping expedition on the anonymous (or anonymous-ish)...
View ArticleSamizdata quote of the day
Compulsive liars shouldn’t frighten you. They can harm no one, if no one listens to them. Compulsive believers, on the other hand: they should terrify you. Believers are the liars’ enablers. Their...
View ArticleSamizdata quote of the day
There is an argument, I think, for having people who want “a strong leader” shot immediately on the basis that it will save the dictator time later. – David Aaronovitch, discussing these findings by...
View ArticleSamizdata quote of the day
Once you give power to the government it is nearly impossible to get it back, and it will be used in ways you cannot expect. – Garry Kasparov
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