Inbox: Snooping bills, spam mountains, boring IT

The weekly Inbox column collects the best and most thought provoking of the reader comments silicon.com receives each week.

Flooding silicon.com's inbox this week was comments regarding the rather hefty bill the government's 'snooping' database has racked up. And a topic that pressed a few buttons was a silicon.com story about the UK drowning under a mountain of spam. Lastly, silicon.com reported teenagers are losing interest in IT - what will this mean for the skills crisis? Readers share their thoughts.

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£68m 'snooping' database: Little impact on serious crime
Powers to snoop on the UK's email and internet records will be of limited use in tackling serious crime, the government has admitted.

Be Afraid, be very afraid
If this isn't stopped then it would certainly be a 'snoopers charter'. I for one will not participate in assisting the government. It should always be remembered that social services and other government and local authorities are able to view this sort of information and when everyone is under suspicion, then all emails that they read are suspicious, regardless of the actual innocence of intention. Be Afraid, be very afraid.
Andrew Beaumont, Switzerland

Democracy down the pan?
The control freaks hit us again and again, sad times for this country and even sadder times for the concept of democracy.
Radical Meldrew, Suburbs

Turning on the snoopers
All telephone calls and emails made by MPs should be recorded and stored for at least three years. The records should be made available to the public so that we can hear and read exactly what our elected MPs are up to.

But why not? Surely they have nothing to hide and therefore nothing to fear!
Anonymous, Woking

Have they taken leave of their senses?
I find it fascinating that a government spokesperson states that this cost of £68m would be worth it if it helped uncover a single serious crime. By whose authority should such disproportionate measures be taken? Have they all taken leave of their senses?

There have to be ways to invest taxpayers' money that will ensure a better - and measurable - rate of return.
Richard Percival, Colorado USA

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UK spam mountain just got bigger
The amount of spam stuffed into UK inboxes has quadrupled over the past three months, according to figures from an anti-spam company.

Genuine blocks
Too many genuine emails are now being blocked and not even seen by the intended recipient. Company domain names of many small businesses are being blocked wholesale. With flawed processes that don't even allow the issue to be resolved.
David Bradley, Guildford

Dodgy landings
I have four email addresses, one of which is a Yahoo! based one and even they seem to be getting overwhelmed by the amount of spam being sent. Despite having the provided spam filter turned on, just lately there has been a fair increase in the number of dodgy emails hitting my inbox with unacceptable and undisguised wording actually in the subject line.
Malcolm Wilson, Kent

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Teens losing interest in IT
This year's A-Level results show the number of candidates taking IT-related subjects continues to decline.

Degree in surfing anyone?
I suggest you look at the A-Level ICT course, you may then understand why so few people do it.

The course is a joke, I suspect Media Studies or just giving up and going surfing would be of more benefit to an 18-year-old than an ICT A-Level.
Anonymous, Midlands

Vocation over education
ICT in secondary schools is pretty much 'secretarial skills' and, at that, pretty much MS specific - on the few occasions that the PCs work properly.

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My 10-year-old is extremely frustrated that the computers are always breaking and wonders 'why don't they use Ubuntu like we do'.

'A' levels shouldn't be teaching kids vocationally anyway: ICT should be about bits, bytes, gates, hex and basic programming skills.
John H Woods, UK

Outsourcing fever
All the kids know the jobs are being sent to India and there is no point in studying this subject. Changing the curriculum won't make any difference, the only thing that will make it more attractive to them is making it a much better paid job with much better job security.
John Jackson, Luton

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