Highland Sauna

It was Sam's idea.

It was Sam's idea. Let's go up to the highlands and build a sweat lodge, get rid of our winter skin. So off we went, the usual suspects and Nikki. Some time later and Sam's tent was dripping with condensation and sweat. In the last year we have drunk Mojitos made from an ancient recipe (crushed ice and mint), eaten roasted chicken, and had a sauna. And they say that the Cairngorms is a wild and lonely place.

Amnesty International has recently launched Irrepressible.info. "Amnesty International, with the support of The Observer, is launching a campaign to show that online or offline the human voice and human rights are impossible to repress." (Irrepressible.info). The Amnesty campaign to promote freedom of expression, both online and offline, comes at a time of increasingly belligerent attacks on freedom of expression by the press, campaign groups and individuals. While China has become the HOT new market for business, it is also one of the worst offenders in suppressing free speech. The big three search engines (Google, MSN and Yahoo) have all been in the spotlight recently after they passed information on search terms, individuals browsing habits, to the authorities in both the US and China (and before anyone flames me, Google has handed over millions of search records to the US authorities; they had done so already prior to the recent court case where they acted as defenders of American liberty.) In China, Yahoo's willingness to hand over the personal details of its users to the authorities has led to the arrest of several individuals accused of 'activities against the state.' Meanwhile, Microsoft, Google and every other search engine censors results shown to the Chinese market. And who makes all of this possible? Why, Cisco (among others) do. Ballater in the Scottish highlands and near Balmoral has more "By Royal Appointment" crests on its shops than anywhere else in the world. Cisco systems has more "Enabling repression through switch technology" than any other company in the world.

Which leads neatly onto Yahoo! behaving like yahoo's with human rights. The National Union of Journalists has called for a boycott of Yahoo! because of its unethical behaviour in China. You can read the NUJ statement here: http://www.nuj.org.uk/index.php

That's all for now folks, back again soon.


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