Chris M Evans

Resume and Personal Blog

Personal thoughts and background information on Chris M Evans, an IT Professional and Blogger.
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The Olympic Lie

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Five years after the close of the London 2012 Olympics, the BBC has reported that despite the promise of more engagement in sport, the lasting legacy of the games has seen no rise in participation of exercise for the general population.  The promised dream of an games that would reignite people’s interest in keeping fit has turned out to be a lie.

I remember when the results of the hosting country were announced, with London and Paris head to head to win.  When we knew that London had won, we thought it would offer an opportunity for us to visit an Olympic games for the first and possibly last time.  How wrong we were.  Tickets couldn’t be purchased without using a VISA card, as the company were a sponsor.  The only way to get a ticket was to bid for way more events than you ever could hope to attend, then sell back the places you didn’t want.  That meant taking a risk on spending thousands of pounds with no guarantee of recouping that money.  We bid for around £600 as we had no VISA credit card (only debit), and taking a risk of spending more seemed too much.  In the end we won nothing.  What was more annoying to see was people from other countries easily buying tickets for events.  It’s clear the games was organised purely as a money making venture to bring tourists and money into London.  In the end we left the UK and spend 3 weeks of the games in Australia.

Now, if the government’s intention was to make money, then fine, but the Olympics was always sold on the legacy of the games and how it would create more inclusion in sport.  Call me cynical, but at the time I could see that was never the intention.  UK Plc simply wanted to swell the coffers with more tax money.  According to the BBC article, Sport England were given £1 billion to spend on developing sport at the grass roots.  Yet this year and last we’ve experienced how that simply isn’t happening.  Both of my sons were lucky to play football, one to a high level in Luton’s academy program.  The youngest was “dropped” by his team and has struggled to find a team.  This year he has nothing.  Teams are folding.  Coaches don’t return phone calls or emails.  The local Bedfordshire FA couldn’t find a lit torch in a dark room and have no organisation in place whatsoever to help those looking to find a team, other than an out-of-date list of coaches and phone numbers.

If the government really wanted more participation, they should have looked at how sport was being played (or not) across the country and encouraged certified organisations like the Beds FA to meet targets for inclusion.  I imagine none of this has been done.  We’ve missed an opportunity and a chance that won’t be seen again.  So the next time the government tries to sell a great “social plan” like the Olympic games, treat their motives with a touch of cynicism; it’s much more likely that the cynical view is the right one.

The Relief of Not Commuting

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With the price rises announced today, more people than ever will be in the £5K club – those who pay £5000 or more to travel into the capital.  For many years I either took the train into London or drove around the M25 to get to the office.  I have to say it was never a pleasure.  On the train I took the time to read and in many journeys to write some of the first blog articles I ever wrote.  In the car I was limited to listening to podcasts, which at the time were tedious to manage as I had to cut them to CD.

What’s sad about the current situation is the fact that so much of our GDP is based out of London.  Fewer and fewer people can afford to live in the capital, so the price of housing has pushed out, enveloping more towns and cities and increasing the journey time for commuters.  The BBC article indicates that now 3.7 million people commute for 2 hours or more every day.  Just think of the wasted time and effort, as well as the stress, the cost and the impact on the environment.

So what is the solution?  Look at Milton Keynes and Cambridge and you will see areas where commerce and healthcare have boomed.  Although these areas are successful, they also are suffering growing pains.  Traffic in Cambridge is awful and house prices are eye watering, despite many new builds.

It’s clear we need more centres of excellence, more locations where firms can establish their business and draw from local talent pools.  The government has made efforts with institutions like the BBC, establishing a new base in Manchester and pushing production out to the regions.  So, why not encourage businesses to do the same?

Unfortunately part of the problem is the need for infrastructure.  Rail is privatised, telecoms are privatised, so without additional investment from the government, no money will be spent to seed new areas of innovation.  Privatisation is leaving the UK hamstrung – or the government has to admit privatisation hasn’t worked and fund development themselves.

It would be nice to see the UK government finally accept that building the economy can’t be left to market forces.  Concentration of work opportunities in London is a mistake and will restrict future growth.  Will UK.gov wake up and smell the coffee?  I doubt it.

Fixing the Problem of Social Media

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Unlike a huge section of the population, I don’t have a Facebook account.  I did have one, but chose to delete it many years ago, once I realised how much the company was abusing the personal details of those using the site.  I think my decision was further vindicated with the stance Facebook has taken regarding being classed as a media outlet, which they clearly are.  The company curates content that appears in front of users and surely any curation process classes it as a media organisation.  What’s worse is the way in which the curation is done.  Decisions on taste and decency are made arbitrarily buy Facebook, based on a set of standards and a manual they follow.

Following yet another awful terrorist attack in London, the UK government has started to go after the social media giants, promising stricter requirements on their operation.  I’m not holding my breath.  What could governments actually do in order to regulate content published on sites such as YouTube, Facebook and Twitter?

Moderation

An obvious step is to implement validation of all content before it is published – basically moderation.  Each video or other content not easily validated by software, should be validated before being made available.  The social media companies will of course cry foul, saying how hard it will be for them to police every piece of content, however this is where these companies find themselves and they have a moral responsibility to fix the problem of which they are the cause.  In line with other industries (like banking), restrictions could be relaxed for validated accounts, a validated account being one where additional ID verification has been provided.

Naturally the sheer scale of the task involved in watching and validating every YouTube or Facebook upload would be enormous, however just because the problem is hard (and potentially costly), doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be done.  We should not step away from our principles of wanting to prevent morally questionable content being shared with millions of people.

Morality

So what is the basis of a definition of morality?  Ask people around the world and you will get different views.  Clearly the view on women’s rights of someone from Saudi Arabia will be radically different from that of someone in the United States.  However there are (hopefully) a set of common values we can all agree are acceptable, such as not threatening to kill someone, not posting videos of people being killed or taking their own life, other types of violence and certain types of pornography.  Outside that core (and I’m not defining it, just giving some examples), then the boundaries become blurred.  The way to find out what is acceptable is either for social media sites to follow country rules on publication that exist for media organisations or simply to ask their subscribers what they feel is right or wrong.

Money

Will the social media giants change their approach?  I’m not hopeful.  There’s a natural aversion to change, driven by the business model of social media and that’s the way in which revenue is generated from customer data.  You the user are the customer, with Facebook and others selling your private data to companies, mainly through targeted advertising.  The last thing these companies want is to slow down their viewing hits because hits = revenue.  Personally I say, so what?  If Facebook has less revenue, the world will not end tomorrow, but we all might feel better about ourselves knowing we did the right thing by pushing unwanted content off the Internet.

The Impracticality of Banning Laptops on Flights

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Today I read yet another news article that indicates the US is considering a total ban on cabin laptops for any flight coming into the US.  Whilst I see the need to protect against certain security exposures, placing a total ban seems both impractical and damaging to the US economy and reputation.

I travel a lot, perhaps around 10 times a year, all international and mostly long-haul.  My travel is business-based as I have clients outside the UK and attend many non-UK events.  As I work in IT, a laptop is an essential tool of work.  I need to be able to work on the move, which means more than simply responding to emails.  I’m continually writing documents, preparing presentations, testing software products and even writing code.  I cannot imagine travelling without a laptop, which I now do even on family holidays (a result of being self-employed).

The Issues

If the US bans laptops in the cabin, how will that affect me?  First, I won’t be able to work on a flight.  That might not seem like a bad thing, but with 10-12 hours in the air, using some of that time for work is really beneficial.  On UK carriers there’s no opportunity to connect via WiFi, so airtime represents an opportunity to get things done undisturbed.

Then there’s the security issue.  Hold luggage isn’t secure; the US requires luggage to be unlocked or to be secured with a TSA-compliant lock that US authorities can open if they wish.  Your suitcase may as well be wide open.  Bear in mind that all hold luggage is being screened, then ground staff know exactly who packed a laptop and who didn’t.  It only takes one unscrupulous member of staff to start taking the occasional device from luggage and we have a problem.

So what is that problem?  Well, first there’s one of insurance.  How quickly will insurance companies move to limit their liability by removing laptops in the hold from coverage or limiting claims to one a year?  Very quickly.  There’s also the issue of data security.  Who has encrypted the contents of their laptop?  Is your laptop secured with a password?  How easy would it be to defeat the password security and gain access to your data?

There’s also a major risk with placing laptops in the hold and that’s the stability of lithium-ion batteries.  Most devices use Lithium-ion these days and we all know the batteries can become unstable if damaged.  Look back at the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 ban, issues with headphones exploding and you can see the risk of hundreds of batteries could pose.  Baggage handlers aren’t renowned for their care and diligence when placing bags into the hold of aircraft and it would only take one device to get damaged and risk taking an aircraft down with an on-board fire.

Alternatives

If we don’t take laptops, what are the alternatives?  At least one airline is offering first class passengers a laptop to use in-flight, which is nice, but not hugely practical.  It might be possible to place documents on a USB stick to edit them while in the air, but a temporary laptop isn’t going to give access to your email.  Other than basic Office products, it’s also unlikely that a loan laptop will have a wide range of software tools.  There’s also a housekeeping issue; will you remember to clean your files from the device when you return it?  One other interesting scenario; using a shared device represents a security compromise.  Imagine if some unscrupulous previous passenger has placed a key logger or other malware onto the shared laptop that either compromises your files or uploads them when the device accesses the Internet.  Do you need to bring and install personal virus scanning software too?

Assuming we don’t have access to an on-board laptop, then we need to take our data with us.  That’s potentially possible with portable media, or we could use a sync-n-share platform like Dropbox and web-based email.  There’s also a need to find a device to use at the destination.  That may or may not be easy.  Of course you could just risk it and put your laptop or other device into the hold and see what happens.

Industry Revolt

I’m surprised we haven’t seen any kickback from the airline industry to these policies.  There’s a huge risk to business travel if a ban like this were implemented.  However the airline industry could solve the problem relatively easily.  At check-in, business class desks could accept laptops into secure (electrically shielded) containers, locked by the airline before the flight, but kept in the cabin.  After landing the cases are unlocked and the contents returned to the customer.  With relatively few business passengers compared to economy, this could be offered as a free business/first service or a chargeable economy one.

If the ban does come into place, I’m sure the airlines will be creative to find a way of charging us all.  In the meantime, ensure your devices are secure (have encryption and strong passwords), make sure your data is stored or backed up from your device (e.g. Dropbox, SaaS-based email) and check the options with your insurance company.

Happy Flying!

 

Challenges 2017 – How Am I Doing? Update #1

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Here we are in early February and time for a first update.  It’s been hectic and only two of the challenges are getting somewhere.  First, I’m down 4.5 kilos or 10lbs since the start of the year.  I see this as a good gradual weight loss for the period.  What’s the secret?  There is none.  I did mostly Dry January and simply cut back on things like crisps and other snacks (although I don’t particularly snack a lot).  Exercise was average, with increased knee pain I’ve not been walking that much.  In terms of the challenge, I’m technically 25% through, but in reality I’ve 75% yet to go.

On the startup front, things are progressing quickly.  I’ve been in Israel again and had lots of promising conversations.  The idea is forming well and now it’s a case of writing more software and developing the solution into a more viable proof of concept.  More on that as I get closer to the goal of raising money.

What about the rest?

  • Gym visits – none, need to push through the knee pain and get back.
  • Cycling – not started yet although that’s not surprising as the weather has been terrible.
  • Learn Japanese – not started.
  • More cooking – I’ve been doing as much as usual so this needs more effort.
  • Build my social brand.  I’ve been a bit lacking here, with not much in the way of posting.  One to work on.