Thoughts, photos and other things.

Just had one of those conversations that you probably don’t ever forget.
Odd what can happen at 23:30 on a Wednesday evening.

SO imagine you are a suspect in a crime. You have done nothing wrong but you were in the wrong place at the wrong time so you are a suspect. So they take your phone. COPY ALL YOUR DATA… ALL OF IT. Then they KEEP IT ON RECORD. INDEFINITELY.

How can this be legal?

How is this right?

I am astounded at this blatant breach of any form of privacy. 

My advice to everyone is this: Encrypt your phones, use the highest amount that you can. If I were you I’d set a password that completely erases the device if the password is entered incorrectly more than 3 times. 

This is the most blatant and perverse intrusion into privacy that the 21st century has to offer.

I implore you all to make as much of a fuss about this as possible as this cannot be accepted as something that is legal!

Please see below a story from BBC News on the subject.

Source: BBC NEWS

Met Police to extract suspects’ mobile phone data

The Metropolitan Police has implemented a system to extract mobile phone data from suspects held in custody.

The data includes call history, texts and contacts, and the BBC has learned that it will be retained regardless of whether any charges are brought.
The technology is being used in 16 London boroughs, and could potentially be used by police across the UK.

A Met Police spokesman told the BBC that when a suspect was released, “data received from the handsets is retained and handled in accordance with other data held by the MPS [Metropolitan Police Service]” - regardless of whether charges had been brought.

Guidelines given to officers state that data extraction can happen only if there is sufficient suspicion the mobile phone was used for criminal activity.
“Mobile phones and other devices are increasingly being used in all levels of criminal activity,” said Stephen Kavanagh, Deputy Assistant Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police Service.

“When a suspect is arrested and found with a mobile phone that we suspect may have been used in crime, traditionally we submit it to our digital forensic laboratory for analysis.

“Therefore, a solution located within the boroughs that enables trained officers to examine devices and gives immediate access to the data in that handset is welcomed.”

As much as this title could refer to so much in my life at the moment I am going to let it apply to just one. My car.

I have owned my Volvo for 3 months now. It had its first service with me last week - a full on major change everything service and I thought that my car would be one less thing that I have to worry about.

Nope. I was wrong.

That would be far too easy.

Despite running almost faultlessly for 3 months (the only tiny niggles were a seat which creaks a little, a weird starting glitch and a drivers side window which didn’t always automatically wind down) it has one service at a Volvo dealer and 2 proper problems present themselves within 5 days. Seriously?

1. It turns out the mechanic that worked on my car either moved or did not correctly replace part of the brake system. A back plate was slightly off centre. Doesn’t sound serious on paper but if you would have heard my car earlier this afternoon you would have been astonished. It was the loudest screeching I have ever heard come from a car. 
Stupidly loud. Thankfully a really kind technician at Lipscomb Volvo in Ashford (not the place I had my car serviced) were kind enough to take a quick look at 16:55 and spend a 15 minutes fiddling to sort it out. My car now runs nicely where the breaks are concerned and I can only hope that the plate has not cut a groove that is too deep into my break disc. [Although it does still sound to be touching but not sure what else I can do]

2. Now this I am sure it could be argued is a complete coincidence but considering the break problem I am now tempted to say someone may have missed something. Somewhere in the depths (i.e. behind the wheel arch) there is a pipe which has become disconnected between the windscreen washer pump and the reservoir. [How in gods name did someone think it was a good idea hiding that there?]

In a nutshell I have no washers. Which is crap as I do lots of motorway miles and the idea of not being able to wash my windscreen when required is frankly worrying.

So I took my car in early on Saturday and told him what the problem was. I told the guy that I was 99% sure that the pipe between the resevoir and pump was disconnected.

He said leave the car there and they’d look into it.

Long story short I am told they don’t have the pipe, that they reconnected mine which I was informed is leaking [shouldn’t this have been picked up at service when they filled the resevoir last week???????] and charged me £54 for the pleasure adding I’d have to bring it back in at some point to get the pipe fixed. 

So that was £54 to take a wheel off, undo maybe 8 screws take a pipe reconnect it after noting it was leaking [At this point COMMON SENSE would have told me to at least put some duck tape on the cable as an INTERIM solution but I don’t think they bothered with that] and put it all back together.

No offence but that’s a rip off. And they should have picked it up during the service in the same way they shouldnt have give my car back with a wonky back plate on the brakes.

Not pleased.

I knew my winning streak has lasted too long.