The Guardian has a front page report updating the status of the Government's proposals to monitor all UK communications (the "Interception Modernisation Programme" or IMP).  This the proposal to record the names and addresses of all communications, but not (at this stage) the contents of the communications.  This execrable plan is estimated to run in at about £12 billion, a sum which you would think the Government would quail at, in the present financial circumstances.

Bizarrely, considering the database is supposed to be vital for  national security, one proposal is that it be run by private industry.  Apparently this is under the illusion that privatised work will be more cost-effective than that run by Govenment.  Ho hum.

Just picked this up via the Open Rights Group website.  Tom Watson MP has a blog and has solicited opinions on his colleague Andy Burhnam's Big Idea - that voluntary age rating of internet sites is a practical solution to the perceived problem of nasty websites being inflicted on unsuspecting kiddies.

A quick squizz through his blog suggests this blog posting has generated a larger number of comments than any others - mind you, even his worst-commented articles do better than most of mine in that regard :-( 

Team Grumpy has a blog!

I blogged the other day about Andy Burnam's campaign for cinema-style rating of web content.  Burnham is apparently the UK Government's Culture Secretary, has small children, and does not appear to believe that parental responsibility includes informing children about what they should or should not do.  He has proposed that a system of rating websites analogous to that used for motion pictures  (and we all know how that stops kids from watching DVDs) be used to rate web sites.  The ISPs would then offer the ability to screen out offensive web content.

It's amusing that this story surfaced shortly after the Internet Watch Foundation's action against a 1970s LP sleeve thrust the IWF somewhat unwillingly into the media spotlight.  Most internet users were probably unaware that a blacklist of websites was maintained in this way.

The Royal Mail has issued (or will issue) stamps to celebrate the upcoming Darwin anniversary.  There's also a miniature sheet, depicting the Galapagos Islands, and a variety of the specialised fauna found there.

I think they are particularly attractive, and it's good to see the profile of this most important of anniversaries maintained.  For more information, visit Norvic Philatelics - there is a much more information on the design, background information, and how to buy first day covers etc (and I also linked to their images).  I have to say, I never thought I'd blog about postage stamps, but there you go!

[Post edited to remove direct links to the images]

The Open University is hosting a web page devoted to the upcoming Darwin 200 anniversary.  Usefully, it's also the 150th anniversary of the publication of the Origin of Species (free e-book, web book), possibly the most influential work in science ever (your starter for '10'!).

Of course, I can be accused of a little bias since the site is the work of my colleagues at the OU, but it's a more graphically pleasing route to finding courses such as Darwin and Evolution than the standard OU website!  The course is one of a number of Science Short Courses that expect no prior qualification, but which reflect topical issues in science - the courses are very popular, and offer a relatively low commitment introduction to distance learning via the Open University.

The BBC reports that Stalin has been voted into third place in a poll for the greatest Russian, held by a Russian TV station.

Never mind that he was born in Gori in Georgia! (You may recall Gori from the Russian military action in 2008).  Anyway, the result is a little astonishing, given his three decade reign of terror in which millions of Soviet citizens died.  His claim to greatness (other than being a hugely important figure in the 20th century) is presumably his reputation as the person who led the Soviet Union to victory over Nazi Germany.  As the BBC says:

The Guardian yesterday reported that the UK Culture Secretary plans to introduce a cinema-style "age-rating" for websites.  He's apparently going to contact Barack Obama once he's got up and running in the White House to try and set up some form of web site certification.  Not being one to set his sights too high, the "plan" is to involve only English language sites, but to compel ISPs to provide packages to provide the means to block unrated sites.

I presume such packages would be OS-independent, and an optional add-on.  Of course a number of likely problems loom over the horizon, including the scale of the internet.  How many web sites are there out there?  Back in February 2007, this question was asked at Boutell.com, and the answer was " more than 108 million".  Goodness knows how accurate that estimate is, and how the number may have increased since then!   The same site estimates the number of web pages in February 2007 to be in excess of 29.7 billion.

News reports on the BBC somewhat precede April 1st.  Apparently the Scottish National Party want an airbase in Scotland  to be used as a Scottish spaceport.

The party's Westminster leader, Angus Robertson, wants Virgin Galactic to use RAF Lossiemouth in his constituency as a base for space tourism.  

I see from the BBC news site that panda diplomacy is on again - China has gifted two giant pandas to Taiwan.  I admit that giant pandas are cute, and have the interesting novelty of a extra digit (the "Panda's Thumb") that is derived from a modified sesamoid bone.  But, really, a carnivore that subsists on a diet that is 99% bamboo, that cannot digest cellulose, and which needs to consume 9-14 kg of bamboo shoots a day has been dealt a rather unfortunate hand!

On the other hand, this YouTube video never fails to make me laugh: