Passports

[MikeW]

...All houses and licence holders are on a database for TV licensing, and those who do not have a TV licence are recorded as well...

Being an ignorant yank...what's a TV license?

Mike

 

[engineer one]

it is our government's way to control what we see, and also finance our public service broadcaster the BBC.

paul :wink:

 

[dedee]

From the BBC website

What your licence provides:- The BBC is paid for directly through each household TV licence. This allows it to run a wide range of popular public services for everyone, free of adverts and independent of advertisers, shareholders or political interests. 94.3% of the UK population used the BBC every month in 2005/2006.
The BBC provides 8 interactive TV channels, 10 radio networks, over 50 local TV and radio services and bbc.co.uk (see BBC channels). In January 2006 we launched BBC jam, a free online learning service for 5 to 16 year olds, linked to key areas of the school curriculum..

Not quite sure about the ...."free of politocal interest bit".

It is illegal to watch TV in the UK without a licence even if you choose not to watch the BBC. Current cost £131.50 per annum

Andy

 

[MikeW]

Wow. Ok. Thanks for the info--especially since I probably could have googled it [didn't think to do so].

fwiw, our public television system, largely because it operates via donation from both corporate and private individuals, varies greatly in content from market to market [coverage areas] depending on the amount of collective donation. Not a great system either.

So called commercial television, while "free" inundates the watcher with so many advertisments that it is tiresome to attempt to watch a show for me.

Thank goodness for DVDs as far as I am concerned. Well, between that and having little life outside of working :lol:

Take care, Mike

 

[engineer one]

and we thought that you lived to make saws for us to drool over :twisted:

sorry deana :roll:

how are the bears and the chickens :lol:

paul :wink:

 

[RogerS]

I was fined for calling myself a "Sun Worshipper" and sundry other infractions - Dutch Justuiities don't have much of a sense of humour,
Scrit

So Jedi Knight wouldn't cut it then :lol:

 

[MikeW]

and we thought that you lived to make saws for us to drool over :twisted:

sorry deana :roll:

how are the bears and the chickens :lol:

paul :wink:

Surely that is my prime directive! :lol:

Louise and I see enough of each other...exactly the joys of working at or near home and being allowed to think I run the place :wink:

The bears and chicks are going to be doing better in a larger space...

Take care, Mike

 

[Newbie_Neil]

Gentlemen and ladies

Please keep politics out of this thread, as we are trying hard to keep it going.

Thanks
Neil

 

[Scrit]

I was fined for calling myself a "Sun Worshipper" and sundry other infractions - Dutch Justuiities don't have much of a sense of humour,
Scrit

So Jedi Knight wouldn't cut it then :lol:

Well by the last Census I had changed my religion - to Jedi - but the powers that be wouldn't permit that, either! :roll:

Any other Jedis here?

Scrit

 

[mr]

Any other Jedis here?

Scrit

Yup, and of course we dont need passports anyway. Imagine the scene checkin desk, immigration where ever...
"You don't need to see my passport"
"I don't need to see your passport"
"I'm not the person you're looking for"
"he's not the person we're looking for"
"move along"
"Move along".

May the Force be with you.

 

[AndyBoyd]

If you live in the Netherlands you are required to register with the Gemeente (council) and that registration includes the names of your parents and your religion. Not registering a religion can get you fined (I know, I was fined for calling myself a "Sun Worshipper" and sundry other infractions - Dutch Justuiities don't have much of a sense of humour, it seems) and the system was put in place well before WWII - and they still have the same system today.

Not true these days Scrit I registered my Atheism by saying none to religion question with the Gemeente (council) and as I've moved here 4 times I have repeated this, and for my Residents permit - government - didn't say a word to me , nor fine me :wink:

 

[Scrit]

In fact, Andy, I refused point blank to fill in the data in the first place then said I was a Sun Worshipper. Got me a 100Hfl. fine. Either way, I still think that it is unwarranted intrusion into my life and none of the council's business. And it was the reason why so many Jews were deported in WWII, so there was perhaps a political poin to be made

Scrit

 

[AndyBoyd]

Hmm - so much for the tolerant Dutch, maybe now in the days of the euro things have changed

 

[Scrit]

Hmm - so much for the tolerant Dutch, maybe now in the days of the euro things have changed

Tolerant? When I lived there (late 70s/early 80s) if you dared to drive down the Autoweg at 110kmph (the limit used to be 100kmph) you'd be assailed by a series of tirades on the headlights of those you dared to overtake. Some of the Dutch guys I worked with even referred to their fellows as "de kleine Politie". happy days? Mind you it still didn't stop one cowboy driving all the way from Amsterdam to Arnhem at 200kmph plus in his Lambo.... the Rijkspolitie couldn't catch him in their open-top Porsche 911s - not fast enough!

Scrit

 

[RogerS]

What's wrong with biometric details on passports? A photograph is a crude example of biometric data (I think).

It depends on the biometric. I project managed part of the Immigration Fingerprint System at the Home Office. As part of the testing I had my fingerprints taken and run through the system. The system was working perfectly and yet it threw up a match with a Chinese gentleman. It could just as easily matched with a wanted caucasian terrorist.

Now, in this system, this match was queued up for human fingerprint experts to verify and to them it was pretty obvious that the two sets of prints did not match and so not a problem.

OK - I'm now waiting patiently inline at Immigration Heathrow or worse still JFK. I have my prints taken and the system throws up a match. There is a massive shortage of trained fingerprint experts and so what happens ? I get hauled over, slammed in the clink until some such time as an expert can verify that the match is invalid. Ho hum.

Let's now also factor in a court case that has been kept very quiet and relates to the integrity of fingerprint recognition and the capability of experts. Two separate camps involved and the worse-case scenario (actually the most likely from the evidence) is that the whole accuracy of fingerprints is built on shifting sand.

I'm all in favour of security just as long as it works.