Cross Examination

Together with 15 other certifiable scout leaders, I’m taking part in this year’s Great River Race on Saturday 13 September. We’ll being do 22 monstrous miles from Ham to Greenwich in a traditional Viking longboat!

The Race is a spectacle: hundreds of boats of all shapes and sizes, powered only by oars, race from Ham to Greenwich, through the City, dodging commercial river traffic and tidal turbulence all the way.

Now, this is no normal super-fit bunch of athletes here (far from it) - and we’re talking about 4 hours (minimum) of rowing a longboat. We’ve had 2 practice sessions so far… it was ugly, and it won’t get a lot better from here.

I really hope you might be able to sponsor me. All money raised goes to the Richmond Upon Thames scout fund which helps those facing financial difficulty to have a crack at camping and adventurous activities both in the UK and overseas.

Just £2.00 from each person will make a massive difference - and it’s far cheaper than a Starbucks.

If you would like to show your support, you can donate online through justgiving.com with a credit or debit card using the donate button above.

(Donating through Justgiving is quick, easy and totally secure. It’s also the most efficient way to sponsor me: RICHMOND UPON THAMES DISTRICT SCOUT COUNCIL gets your money faster and, if you’re a UK taxpayer, Justgiving makes sure 25% in Gift Aid, plus a 3% supplement, are added to your donation.)

Many thanks for your support, Simon

It struck me the other day that I’ve been ignoring this blog in recent months. To be honest I simply fell out of the habit of posting and became just too wrapped up with work. Hence the absence.

Sometimes the IT Gods just seem to conspire against those that seem to have the best of intentions.

BT have announced that it wants its subscribers to share their home Internet Wi-Fi connections to create an all encompassing internet cloud. BT and FON have joined forces to create a Wi-Fi community that allows its members to connect for free in thousands of places around the UK and the world. On the face of it, it seems a fantastic idea and something that could be really convenient for those who decide to sign up.

… but then I started to wonder about the security implications. Unsurprisingly. A quick check of the FAQ uncovered:

“It is extremely secure. Traffic passes through separate channels; visitor and home-user traffic are separated. From a security perspective it is as if they have separate networks connecting them to the internet. This ensures that visitors cannot use BT FON to connect directly to the local home-user network (or vice versa). It also means that all visitor network activity and all home-user network activity are clearly distinguished, and attributed to the correct user, ensuring that home users cannot be blamed for the activities of visitors (or vice versa).”

Well that seemed very reassuring. My fingers hovered, twitching with excitement, over the “sign me up” button. And then I thought again. Guess what turned up on The Register: BT home routers are reportedly wide open to hijackers.

Is it just me or does this sound like something just waiting to go wrong? On this basis, how much can you really trust them to get this right? How likely are you to get the knock on the front door from the police claiming you’ve been up to nefarious activity on your internet connection when it really was someone else?

Or will you be just like me - and be utterly seduced by the lure of ‘free’, convenient, on the move web access with a growing community of hot spots? Tough call eh?

A brilliant clip. Scary though. Rather like James Blunt does Dilbert.

It suddenly occured to me that we have thrown away our common sense. While on the one hand we are becoming paranoid with shredding our bank statements, we are equally displaying on the web so much that reveals heaps about us. Sites like Facebook and MySpace are seducing us into sharing stuff that we really ought not to.

For you and me that might not be a big deal. But for a high-profile captain of industry, it might be far less sensible to show who your friends are, what your interests are and what you are thinking about. For a concerted social engineer this is quite frankly a complete gold mine.

Now if you’ll excuse me I have to go and delete my Facebook profile.

Technorati Tags: security, facebook, myspace

Interesting to see that Second Life isn’t proving to be such a corporate paradise after all.

Technorati Tags: second life

Even the brightest guys can get it so very very wrong.

Climbing into the back of a cab last night with Bruce Schneier, Ray Stanton and their egos (it was a tight squeeze), there was some considerable trouble trying to explain where we needed to go.

We don’t speak Italian. And the taxi driver didn’t speak English. So Bruce decides to prattle something in pidgeon French. Needless to say, it really didn’t help very much. Somewhat confused I ask Bruce what he’s doing. To which he explains: “Nah. Don’t worry. It’s close enough!”

Nonesense. When will these people learn. If in doubt, just shout louder!

Technorati Tags: Bruce Schneier, Ray Stanton

It was one of those moments when you just aren’t sure. Having arrived at Milan’s Linate airport, I am (feeling a bit tired and bored) in line waiting to present my passport.

Glancing over at the non-EU line, I notice a huddle of three or four people. Strangely the shortest one in the group has both a flat cap on and her hoodie up over her head. And it was roasting in there. Very strange.

Then I twig. It’s Kylie.

And the best thing of all: she had absolutely no airs and graces. She waited patiently, didn’t jump the queue and just got on with it. Perfect.

It’s just a shame that when she climbed into her black Mercedes limo outside on the pavement, I had to wait another 20 minutes amidst a fog of cigarette smoke for a taxi. She could have at least have offered me a lift!

Technorati Tags: Kylie Minogue, Milan

Let me set the scene for you. I’m stood here in London’s Heathrow airport waiting to catch a flight to Italy. At the next gate over is an El Al flight to Tel Aviv. Naturally there is a fairly large contingent of Orthodox Jews milling around waiting to board their plane. Most of them are dressed in traditional black clothing and hats, have shaven heads except for the dangling ringlets, and many are praying quite loudly.

They’re not exactly a difficult religion to identify.

A couple of aging American women next to me proudly declare that they are from “Monterey, California, in the US of A” and are transferring to “Milano, Italy… you do know where Italy is, don’t you son?”.

Pointing over to the nearest huddle of Jews, I am amazed when one of the women announces to me “Gee I hope that I’m not on the same flight as them.” I mutter something about religious freedom and the US Constitution in response. They look at me rather blankly.

And then I am completely flawed. With all sincerity, the other travelling companion follows up with: “Do you know where those men are from son? Are they Welsh?”

Honestly, I kid you not. I’ve tried to stop generalising about people. Really I have. But sometimes it’s just so hard.

Americans wonder why they have a bad rep on the international circuit! God bless ‘em.