Notes From the Vault

Despite my formal training and academic credentials in corporate security, I find privacy, anti-censorship and security for the individual more stimulating subject areas. The question of how a journalist, blogger, activist or whistleblower could remain anonymous online, indefinitely, makes for some interesting thought experiments. It's possible in theory, because the tools and methods for that do exist, but we fail at it in the real world because of the human element. Most of us don't have the e...

I can't remember how I came across Phil Illy's opinion piece on the 'Queer Majority' site. It's basically a response to what a load of Joe Averages posted on Twitter, and, while I couldn't give a flying toss who posts whatever insipid 160-character opinions there, the autogynephilia thing, and Illy's claims about the majority of transgender women really should be addressed. I do apologise in advance, if my choice of words, in places, rubs a few people up the wrong way. As Illy described it, '...

It is commonly said that a picture is worth a thousands words, but anyone who's read a good novel might argue the opposite is true. Skillfully-crafted prose can describe feelings, experiences and environments more far better than a collection of vacation photographs. A photo doesn't tell us of a biting cold wind on a bright winter morning, or of the trepidation of finding oneself in an alien culture where few speak English, or of the reasoning and series of actions that led to the photo being t...