My post wasn't intended as a flamebait and, to be honest, I don't necessarily think that it needs to be interpreted as such. I just wish that the article had been less of an ad for Linux (which is really all it is) and had instead discussed some of the (genuinely interesting) computational problems that the scientists encountered. The really interesting things here are the underlying mathematics, the design and operation of the accelerator and the algorithms and hardware on which the analysis was performed. I don't really believe that the fact that everything ran on Linux is all that interesting. According to my wife (who does this kind of thing for a living, albeit in Japan and on a smaller scale) most of the libraries that she needs to run her algorithms can be found on Solaris or Linux and she (and her group) are quite happy to use either: to some extend OS just isn't all that important.

No, Linux didn't play a vital role; computing, brains, mathematics and a big-ass particle accelerator did. On the computational side, BSD, Windows, Aix, Irix, Solaris could have all done exactly the same thing. I thought Mac Fanboys were bad, but Linux uncovering the fundamental nature of the universe? Wow.

Yes, but Windows, Irix, AIX, BSD, Mac OS X, Solaris, etc could also have done this (with the right hardware and a bit of tweaking). Linux didn't discover Higgs: brains, mathematics, computing and a big-ass particle accelerator did.

I wouldn't call it a stupid question as such. At the moment, the system functions as a beacon when a crash occurs but in normal operation there's no tracking going on: it really isn't a tracker in the conventional sense of the word. The real question is would it ever be possible to activate the beacon remotely without a crash occurring (which really would turn it into a giant tracking device). It would be desirable to have safeguards at a hardware level to prevent this. Maybe OP should have titled it "Members of the European Parliament back remote safety beacons in cars" to eliminate any confusion.

Given the massive increases in domestic surveillance, you'd expect that demands would decrease. This is very worrying. Perhaps the government needs more surveillance powers to catch teh pedo-terrorists.

Turned out to be A, C, G,T something. Oh wait, that was my report card...
Never mind...

It's amusing that an influential person like (Sir) Tim Berners-Lee can make a statements such as this: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-17753971 in the national press and the population don't even blink...

You can when half of the population read the Daily Mail.

It's been quite private though because no one's ever taken the time to look at it. Now it can all be logged, stored, processed, lost, stolen or used for blackmail. How about a Tory MP buying a DVD from a known source of Fetish porn? Even in this case you'd expect an obscured return to sender address.

Royal Mail have actually been using OCR for at least 20 years.

Those sneaky bastards... :)

Fedex and DHL will also be bound by the law and will always know sender and recipient. Stamps can still be bought with cash though. It's also illegal to withhold encryption keys from the government (senility or internet induced ADHD isn't a defense either).

Silk Road? Bath Salts? Snail mail would also become an attractive method of communication amongst bad guys if the internet surveillance bill goes through (and it probably will).