Quote:
Originally Posted by AlexanderHanff
In support of dav's post above, I would strongly suggest that you don't play this issue down as trivial in the grand scheme of things. Yes there are other issues in the world which are a life and death situation but accusing people of being narrow minded is not a good way to win favour or support.
Furthermore, irrespective of whether there are "critically important issues of the gravest magnitude out there" as a professional company you should be treating all issues equally. I would be very disappointed indeed to find out that you haven't treated this issue as seriously as you would others because it is not a life and death situation, you are supposed to be neutral remember. By "you" I refer to 80/20 Thinking as a whole not you as in Simon Davies.
This issue has touched a very raw nerve with the population of the UK (and if it was just an insignificant minority it would not have received anything like the publicity it has had in the press and media, so rest assured this is a national concern not just some geeks with their knickers in a twist). If it wasn't for all the publicity over the past 12 months regarding breaches of data protection regulations it is likely the public would have merely blinkered this issue out of their lives (like most other issues). Phorm's strategy to launch this despite the public being more aware of privacy issues than ever before, was not a very wise one.
Alexander Hanff
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Of course I don't mean to imply you or anyone else is narrow minded. That wasn't my intent, and it would be plain wrong and rude to say so. I'm merely trying to point out that on a day to day basis I have to balance a very unpleasant spectrum of privacy issues, so I hope you can understand where I'm coming from. In some respects I'm angry at myself for spending so much precious time dealing with people's perceptions rather than the hard reality of my tasks as an activist. Many of you are deeply disappointed and angry with me, but I am getting old and I don't know how much time I have left to stand Canute-like before this awful tide. I am alleged to be the most ferocious privacy activist around, and yet I have singularly failed to stop the encroachment of the surveillance society, even with so much help from people like yourselves.
That doesn't mean I treat the Phorm issue any less seriously than you would wish. However I am also aware of the tectonic shifts that are happening in the online world and I'm doing my best to position myself, and others, so we can best understand and engage.
I have been reluctant to say this, because it's really nobody's business but my own, but I have not personally received a penny from Phorm. 80/20 has, but I am not drawing any salary or retainer from 80/20. The money goes to the development of the organisation and to the causes that we seek to help. In the future, I may draw a salary, but not now or in the forseeable future.
Simon