Letters | 19 September 2012

Criminals on the net

Sir: Nick Cohen (‘Nowhere to hide’, 15 September) raises interesting points about the double-edged nature of the internet. The web has brought us massive communications benefits. However it also affords criminals the same. It is this that concerns me, rather than Mr Cohen’s claim that it will allow, through our Communications Data Bill, the government to monitor people’s every move. This is based on a fundamental misunderstanding of the Bill. Its purpose is to update powers law enforcement bodies already have, making them relevant to the 21st century.
It cannot make sense to enable police to investigate crimes conducted using a mobile phone but not give them powers to investigate crimes conducted over the internet. We are only talking about who a criminal emailed and when — not content. We do not want automatic access to every service people use to communicate. The authorities will only be able to access data as part of investigations, when necessary and proportionate, to protect the public. We are confident our proposals would make it far less likely that criminals could circumvent detection. Without these, there will be large and growing gaps in our ability to prevent criminals going undetected.
Finally, the Bill contains clear safeguards. A number of offences addressing abuse of personal data already exist. The powers will be overseen by the Interception of Communications and Information Commissioners, reporting to Parliament.
It is right we debate the proposals in the Bill. But it is not state intrusion into private lives that people should worry about. It’s the prospect of giving criminals increasing scope to exploit new technology — precisely what the Bill is designed to stop.
James Brokenshire, security minister
Home Office, London SW1

Ode to Joy

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Ross Clark

Bitcoin is now a threat to us all

Sir: It is perhaps sad that President Barroso would have been able only to ask the European Parliament to hum the dreadful Ode to Joy (‘A speech for Europe’, 15 September) in the unfortunate absence of a band. In 1972 the Council of Europe installed a vast box in the old Maison de l’Europe where, at the press of a button, the official rendition of Beethoven’s grossly overworked ditty (recently adopted as the European anthem) could be broadcast throughout the building. Intended for use on ceremonial occasions only, its location alongside the delegates’ bar ensured its frequent activation by those who had just enjoyed Madame’s hospitality, and left an entire generation of politicians and officials with a deep-seated loathing of Bonn’s most famous son.
Bill Proctor (Secretary to the UK Delegation to the European Parliament, 1973)
Chislehurst, Kent

Don’t blame hydropower

Sir: I appreciate Jonny Shaw’s concerns (Letters, 8 September). Transferring water from one catchment area to another often brings problems. But the Canadian example and that of Carron, Kyle of Sutherland, are not comparable with the 26,000 weir and watermill run-of-river sites that Pippa Cuckson’s article (1 September) was addressing. Run-of-river hydro uses water that will otherwise pass over weir crests or through sluices.
There are 42 to 44 weirs on the Thames and the first boat lock was installed around the mid-1500s. There were no fish passes on the Thames until recently, but prior to the second world war there were numerous hydropower installations on most of the sites. Despite this, salmon and other species proliferated. When inexpensive electricity from a grid system was introduced, mill sites were neglected. Fish populations have declined over the past 70 years, but not due to hydropower — there has not been any.
Osman Goring
Water Power Engineering, Coaley Mill, Dursley, Glos

Valuable education

Sir: Exporting our education expertise may not be as easy as Martin Vander Weyer thinks (Any other business, 8 September). In Greece last month, I asked many people how the recession was affecting them. One answer offered a good insight. A nice lady in a taverna in Paxos said, ‘Yes, times are very tough. In fact most of my friends can no longer afford to send their children to English universities and instead have to send them to Scottish universities.’ It is not easy to build an export market when your neighbour gives the product away free.
John Cameron
London

Listen to the gnostics

Sir: Theo Hobson’s article ‘False Idols’ (8 September) is a timely introduction to a much-needed debate; however his exclusivism rather misses the point. In our ‘global village’, respect for other faiths may be our only chance of achieving genuine world peace. Gnostics of all faiths are closer to each other than to their fundamental brothers. In the main they have remained silent and allowed fundamentalism of all types to remain unchecked. Rather than allowing exclusivism, which is so close to fundamentalism, to grow, we should be exploring links between the deeper thinkers of every faith.
David Miller
Abergele, Wales

Donne done it

Sir: Dot Wordsworth expresses surprise (8 September) that Longfellow writes: ‘And like a silver clarion rung/ The accents of that unknown tongue’ where the normal preterite is ‘rang’. This usage is quite common. Donne writes ‘Wilt thou forgive the sin where I begun/ Which was my sin though it was done before?/ Wilt thou forgive the sin in which I run/And still do run though still I do deplore?’
A few years ago television snooker commentators started to reverse this usage, replacing participle by preterite: ‘He’s took on a tricky shot here’, and this is spreading to other sports. I have not heard ‘He’s did’ yet, but I shall not be surprised.
Philip Roe
St Albans, Herts