Inbox: Underground safe from mobile chatter
"Many thousands of people will be thankful for that!"
The weekly Inbox column collects the best and most thought-provoking of the reader comments silicon.com receives each week.
A silicon.com exclusive got readers talking this week, with (most) responses extremely thankful that trials of mobile connectivity on the London Underground failed to lift off.
Readers also found time to comment on Tim Berners-Lee slamming internet snoopers, ID card plans and germ-ridden mobiles.
Exclusive: High costs kill off London Underground mobile plans
A plan to put mobile connectivity on the London Underground has stalled.
Thank heavens for that!
No mobiles on the Tube for the foreseeable future then. Many thousands of people will be thankful for that!
Ian Sargent, London
Hong Kong can, why can't we?
Hong Kong have been able to provide MRT [the Singapore metro system] wide connections, even under the bay, for more than 10 years. How can it be so difficult for London?
Toby Cullen, Woodcutts
Offering a prayer
Dear God, please let allowing access to mobiles on the London Underground be technologically and commercially too costly so that it will NEVER be done. The latest plan to make mobiles available for use on 'planes is a plan to introduce purgatory to all intelligent air travellers as it is. Anyone else joining my prayers?
Anonymous, Surrey
A welcome respite
That's good news! A respite from intrusive and mostly unnecessary instant communications.
John Ray, North
London trying to reinvent the wheel?
It would be interesting to know how many other cities have invested in this capability and how viable their solutions are. Apart from Glasgow, Moscow has excellent mobile phone reception across its vast (and deep) Metro network. Given that the technology already exists and can presumably be purchased the development costs are not an issue. Unless Tfl wants to reinvent the wheel.
David Lapish, London
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Berners-Lee slams DPI: "We must not snoop on the internet"
The inventor of the world wide web, Sir Tim Berners-Lee, has attacked deep packet inspection (DPI), a technique used to monitor traffic on the internet and other communications networks.
Privacy at stake
This is something to keep an eye on. If DPI does indeed start to be used by government agencies or ISPs then we must all look at ways to scramble our data - we all have something to hide - our privacy. The intentions of the UK government have been plain to see for some time and we must all be on our guard to frustrate such efforts.
Dave Brown, Essex
DPI not all bad
I agree snooping and opening the payload is bad but not all DPI does that.
Most of it is used to optimise the existing networking infrastructure. Surely in these days of trying to keep costs and energy usage down that can't be a bad thing.
Anonymous, Online
Encryption is key
Everyone should start heavily encrypting data that is sent over the internet.
Also, how can the data Phorm uses, be truly autonomous when it manages to direct adverts back to a certain user? This must mean that there is a traceable link back to people?
Richard Davies, North Yorkshire
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Gov't watchdog reveals first ID card worries
The agency charged with driving value for money for government projects has revealed its early concerns over the £4.7bn ID card project.
100 per cent accuracy
My greatest worry about the ID scheme, the current NHS patients records scheme, and the myriad other places that information can be held about us, is one of data accuracy. I'm afraid that 100 per cent accuracy is essential - and that will not happen! At least with our NHS records we should be able to read a print of what the system has stored about us. How are we to know that the correct metrics are held for the ID system?
John Maher, Bristol
Hollow justification
The pathetic attempts to justify the ID card scheme sound even more hollow now. Suppressing these reports did untold harm to support for their cause. When will certain politicians realise that they don't own, they work for, the public. When's the next general election?
Radical Meldrew, Suburbs
Lay it to rest!
About time to lay it to rest!
Galley Slave, Watford
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Unclean mobiles 'like sucking a toilet bowl'
Using a mobile phone can be as risky as putting your face on a toilet bowl, research has found.
They're your germs
Of course, putting your face over a toilet bowl isn't actually that dangerous, for all the dramatic imagery. It would be worse to wipe your face with an average domestic dishcloth. Unless you share your mobile a lot, the germs on it are yours.
John H Woods, UK
Save on the cleaning bill
If doctors and nurses in British hospitals stop using mobile phone, I think they can save a lot of money wasted on cleaning hospitals.
Dr Kadiyali M Srivatsa, Guildford
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