Dear silicon.com... dirty computers, lie detectors, T5 tech, mobile ASBOs

This week, readers get worked up over rude mobile users - should they be slapped with an ASBO? Also, dirty NHS keyboards get an airing, benefit cheats hunted out with lie detectors and the T5 "tech not to blame" fiasco all attracted some feisty remarks. Do you agree or disagree with these readers? Make sure you have your say by posting a comment below.

Mobile ASBOs
Brits want ASBOs for rude mobile users

The headline should read '200 Brits need to get some perspective'.
-- Neill Shenton, Liverpool

While you are not allowed in the UK to have mobile phone jammers to protect your peace and quiet, it seems that intrusive use of mobile phones is acceptable.

It is strange how people cannot live without their mobile phones and BlackBerrys. I'm fairly sure that only 10 per cent of the calls are for actual need of contact at that location and time.

As for BlackBerrys they are just another excuse for people to send emails which are not really necessary. A useful tool for employers to confirm their need to treat employees as Serfs.
-- Chris Stevens, London

In the old days you could fly Smoking or Non-Smoking... with the smokers relegated to the back next to the loo.

Isn't it time to revive this two-tier system if mobile phone usage is to rear its ugly, boorish shaved head in passenger aircraft? Anybody wanting to use a mobile in flight must state their intention at check-in and will consequently be seated at the back of the plane with the rest of the self-important morons shouting into their blingfones (TM).
-- Richard Marshall, London

Editor's choice

silicon.com editor Steve Ranger flags up his picks on the site this week...

♦ The Naked CIO: Process not bureaucracy

♦ Video: Does the UK need a police e-crime unit?

♦ The McCue Interview: Claire Hamon, CIO, Rok Group

♦ Peter Cochrane's Blog: A petabyte before I die...

♦ Photos: Babbage's Difference masterpiece in action

Dirty computers
NHS cleans up keyboard act

Seen them on wards last year and the "clean me" light is never off so everyone ignores it after the first week. Bugs are not passed by keyboards but hand to hand. Wash your hands not your keyboards. Spend the money on soap and water and save thousands.
-- Anonymous, Consultant Physician, NHS

Did I miss something? People are still not cleaning their hands so giving them a keyboard with a light on it makes them wash their hands 10 per cent more.

If medical staff are still risking the lives of patients by not being clean then there is a simple solution - random testing - first failure = verbal warning, second failure = formal written warning, third failure = final warning, fourth failure = find a job where dirty hands is an asset.
-- Roger Huffadine, Worcester

Liar liar
Lie detectors to hunt out benefit cheats

No! No! No!
This is yet another step towards the "trust free, surveillance society". We ALL have to learn to accept that it is impossible to avoid all risks, even if we were to live in a totally managed and monitored society. That clearly has a price (in pounds) but the alternative price - a society in which we are all monitored, measured and checked by technological tools, is even less desirable.
-- Anonymous, UK

I don't understand why this article has attracted so many facetious comments. How can you possibly be against this? It's saving money and stopping fraud so more of the money dedicated to benefits can go to those worthy of it. Sounds like a no-brainer to me. Surely a talented investigator would spot voice fluctuations and delve deeper, this is just a more efficient way of doing that. If you are against using technology you might be reading the wrong site! And as for privacy concerns, you've got to fill in a form anyway, how's this infringing your privacy?
-- John Jameson, Berkshire

This is a working technology, I've seen it used in insurance call centres for fraudulent claims and if it stops benefits cheats, then great, because this government will continue to dish out my taxes willy-nilly, so the money may as well go to those who genuinely need it.
-- Ralph, UK

T5 tech
Tech not to blame for Terminal 5 fiasco

How many times have I been in project meetings, complaining that we did not have stable power, a dust-free environment, site access, lifts to get the equipment up to the floors etc. and that we could not meet out dates - only to be told that the opening date would not change and we would just have to get it done.

However, 99 per cent of people will still think it was the technology as that was what was said at the time.
-- Simon Allen, Hertfordshire

"Tech Not to Blame". What a perfect joke. What a textbook example of the 'old' attitude to technology, the 19th/20th century viewpoint, that of the tech somehow being apart from the people who operate it.
-- David W Lucas, Bristol

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