links for 2007-01-15

“A huge Whitehall ‘super-database’ of people’s personal details could be created in what the government says is a bid to improve public services.” Wasn’t this in an episode of “Yes, Minister”?

“Time starts a China blog and then leaves out the good stuff that makes a blog a blog. It reads like none of its writers have read any other China blogs before starting this one.”

Rich Skrenta says local newspaper web site have “reviews, often going back years, for every restaurant of note in the newspaper’s market. … Yet if you go to Google and type in any restaurant name, you’re not likely to ever come across a newspaper restau

Guardian tech reporter Bobbie Johnson has an important reality check about the practicalities of multimedia reporting, which he tried at Macworld.

“I also agree with Mindy that some students are just as trapped in old mental models of journalism careers as any tweed-jacketed professor. They may be a bigger problem than the administrators or faculty.”

Aaargh: “Wikileaks uses its own coded software combined with, for the techies out there, modified versions of Freenet and PGP.”