pap

Very big clubs had their eye on him. This would be a coup, I reckon.

I don't think you realise how widespread the issue is, Jamie. For the last time, it is not just social networks. It's email, text messages, your search terms on Google, the sites you've visited, the telephone numbers you have called. That is just the stuff that has been revealed. You're essentially saying if you want privacy, don't participate in modern life.

From the eastern half of Europe so should have a good workrate. Just ask Lord "I want out of the EU" Duckhunter

Not really a challenge but we did do a stag do in Liverpool where we'll dressed as superheroes. It was excellent. We started early in the day when everybody was shopping. Everyone had a smile on their face when they saw us, apart from a group of snarlers in Slaters. We all had our own superhero catchphrase which we unleashed on the young ladies. I'm not sure whether Thor ever shouted "show us your carpet" on a busy shopping street in the Marvel comic, or in the Norse mythology, but he certainly did that day.

Yes, she is I'm not sure if it's on Channel4. Will be on HBO on Sunday night.

Why are you even asking this? This thread has several examples of people that give a f**k, along with their reasons why. I don't know if you've noticed, but the US government hasn't exactly been on top form lately. Detention without trial. Torture. Extraordinary rendition. Extrajudicial killings of US citizens. One illegal war. One massive overreaction in Afghanistan. Over 1 million people dead because of US policy. If it were any other country that were doing this, particularly those that the West have labelled as bad guys, you'd be appalled. So you'll have to forgive me if I'm not as trusting of US government motives as you.

She is stunning, isn't she? Pam probably has all the best lines, though Minor spoilers, but some ace dialogue in this little "best of" clip, lovingly entitled "Sh!t Pam Says"

To be fair, Patricia Crosby was a good borderline boiler submission. Thanks for steering this bad boy back on topic, Bear!

Dude, do you actually read these posts before responding? I'd have thought the in private thing made it pretty explicit I was talking about email. Sorry if that wasn't clear, but your inbox and outbox are subject to scrutiny too.

You can do that if you want, Saint_Pedro. I'll probably watch it when it returns on June 16th

Don't fancy politics under the two Tory party system, mucker.

Don't ever quit the day job to be a stand-up comedian, DPS.

You've left out Bin Laden's leadership of Maktab al-Khidamat, which was supported by the ISI, who were the CIA's go-to guys in conducting the proxy war in Afghanistan. A direct link is hard to establish, but we're talking a maximum of one degree of separation. The Israelis have been banging on about "red lines" with Iran for years. In fact, there was an Israeli chap on the Today show this morning arguing this very point in a discussion about Syria.

Never a more apt time to dredge this classic up outside of the What are you listening to thread. Just victims of the in-house drive-by.... [video=youtube;o_-QGNUYL5g]

Yes. People do. http://stopwatching.us/ solentstars covered this, I believe. All that remains is for me to call you a cocksmith.

Crimson beauties are bad bad girls from Legend of the Seeker. They roll around with these dildo-shaped "paingivers", and belong to an order of evil, sexy dominatrixes. I miss Legend of the Seeker.

This is an interesting read. http://syriancommando.wordpress.com/

Echoes of the proxy war fought in Afghanistan, in which US intervention ultimately led to the creation of Al Qaeda. All roads lead to Tehran, imo.

Have you seen the rather one-sided extradition treaty we have with them?

You don't need to break the law to be at risk of this sort of surveillance. Consider for a moment, the full range of "services" on offer by the intelligence community. I think we can all accept that extra-judicial killings are carried out in our name by security services. That'd be one of the more extreme services they offer, although I'm certain that they have a lot of other tools at their disposal, such as blackmail, etc. Take the example of someone locked deep in the metaphorical closet, an adulterer, or someone who has nasty things to say in private about his or her employer/other person of influence. None of this is illegal, but it can all be used as leverage against private individuals, either by the security services themselves or someone working for them with access to that information. I've seen the nothing to hide business on here before, and I don't buy it. First, many people routinely break little laws every day; we even had a thread here on that very subject. Others break bigger laws, but aren't actually doing anyone any harm and as the examples above show, you don't need to have broken any law to be at danger from the disclosure of personal information ruining your life.

Goes back to Bill Hicks' simple choice. Fear or love. Not going to live life as a mute or anonymous coward out of fear.

Why on earth would you think that? I've put my twitter handle on here loads.

Doesn't seem to matter what party you vote for. Labour were the last crowd I'd expect to embark on wars of aggression. The Conservatives don't seem to be any different, and despite the initial hope that Obama offered, Guantanamo Bay is still open and massively intrusive spy programs are operating on private citizens. 61% of US citizens clamouring for greater oversight of intelligence services suggest that the minority, at least over there, are the ones that believe that the state should wield such power over its citizens.

I can't agree with much of this post. First off, as someone who uses multiple social media channels, I accept that when I tweet something, or blog something, those comments can be attributed to me. I've made the conscious choice to put something in the public domain and put my identity behind my words. Beyond that, I think we're entitled to a level of privacy. If I've established privacy settings on Facebook, my expectation is that they'll be upheld. I certainly expect web-based email services like Gmail to be private, as would most people. Naive? Possibly, but not out of step with what we profess to be; a free society. The China comparison is again, irrelevant in my view. For starters, they're pretty upfront about the kind of society they run, and in their own country, have run a very restricted version of the Internet. The means of access is also very different. China have to hack for our info; the US just go to their corporations and demand it. I work with Americans almost every day of my life. This is not a country full of arseholes, but some of its organisations, particularly those that don't get swept away with a change of administration, have had unchecked power for far too long. The NSA and CIA are great examples of this. The Department of Homeland Security is a worrying new one, and a little too close to "Department of Fatherland Security" to me. Un-American too, if you hold the view that they like their checks and balances. Fortunately, a majority of the American population agree. 61% of them want more oversight, particularly as they are also (rather circuitously) being spied on. Thanks to the Five Eyes international security arrangement, the US can collect information on its own citizens if it's harvested by a Five Eyes partner, essentially leaving the system wide open for abuse. I know that my interpretation of events differs from mainstream opinion, but even if I accept the narratives without question, I don't accept the response. A few of us chortled at the mindless jingoism of US citizens when the Tsarneavs were apprehended, yet a short time afterward, we saw similar, if not worse stuff here - tinged with a lot of racist sentiment. Sorry, but that isn't the sort of Briton that I admire or would want to be. Our country certainly isn't the Britain that our ancestors fought to protect when the forces of the Third Reich were arrayed against us, and I'm sure that many of those people would be alarmed, not just at the authoritarian track we seem to be following, but also the meekness of the population in accepting it.

You're missing the point. They work for you, or are supposed to anyway. You think this is an example of working for the common good? If you do, please check out Edward Snowden's account first.