The best of 'Reader Comments': That old enemy ageism and BT's charge to the police

From the past week, here we present reactions to a story we ran about ageism in IT (http://www.silicon.com/a43232 ) and feedback about BT's charges to police for account information ((http://www.silicon.com/a43139 )

--Geeky image justified
From: Ainsley Charles Ward

Sorry to all of you out there in IT-land, but your industry IS geeky. Jobs are filled with technophiles that speak in jargon and techno-babble - all of which is a veiled attempt to make IT look harder than it really is.

The reason that women are in many of the lower paid jobs is that these have invariably broken down the barriers that the new IT language put up. In call centres, you have people paid specifically to explain technical information in layman's terms - saying "it doesn't work because the information isn't moving from A to B", not "the trickle flow from your POS unit is asynchronous with the data reception process in the main server". Drop the Jargon and see the influx of new recruits. We have to learn to help our own industry by speaking in common terms.

--A deserved crisis
From: John Rogers

An industry that labels anyone over 40 as unemployable deserves the skills crisis it gets. As John Rogers, aged 48, I was unemployable. Under the title of Aizoon Computing, a one-man company, I got my snout deep in the contracting trough. Put those two together, add IR35, and you will find that older contractors like myself will simply withdraw our labour and retire. It's extremely difficult to extract taxes from someone who's not earning. The public execution of a couple of ageist HR directors might improve the situation, but I suspect that's too much to hope for.

--Ageism faces no penalty
From: David Edwards

These days, discrimination on the basis of sex or race is covered by various pieces of legislation. Ageism is not. Nor is it likely to be unless a big big fuss is made.

I am 46, have extensive experience in the IT industry going back 16 years. I find that the decision-makers and gatekeepers between me and that contract job are 25-30 year old 'recruitment consultants'. I have asked questions that are down right insulting, been questioned as to how I thought I could fit in to the 'youth culture' of the company - often by people who haven't even bothered to read my CV. The lack of professionalism is astonishing. My solution - exit the contract market and deal direct.

Remember, the young Turks of today were playing with He-Man and Skeletor the day you first saw a Novell server. Go round them.

And the revelation BT charges the police £150 for customer records that may help inquiries brought these postings...

--BT responsibility
From: Desmond McDonnell

I think its disgusting that BT demands up to £150 every time the police ask to see copies of phone bills or other subscriber details as a part of criminal investigation. I thought hindering a police investigation is against the law, and that is exactly what BT is doing! BT should do what any responsible company would do, help the police for a minimal charge! As if they don't make enough money already.

--PR problems
From: David Starkey

There is no doubt that BT continually shoots itself in the foot. They DO need a good PR man. For example, they could provide free access by police to their records to combat cybercrime, in return for a 'This CrimeWatch Daily is sponsored by BT' deal.

--Greedy BT
From: Wendy Reeves

The boys in blue at the Met
Should get free access to the net.
It's BT online
That is causing the crime.
Do they need the money?
Do they heck!

--BT bad boys
From: James Barlow

I had to have my say. I am not a great fan or supporter of BT but to be fair they may be on to the right thing. As mentioned in the last paragraph of the article the police do not have to legitimise their request for information as they do with banks etc. by providing a court order. What is to stop individual police officers from wrongfully (intentionally or not) obtaining data from BT? If there is a payment involved with obtaining that information then there is one less abuse we need to worry about! However I must agree with Mr Starkey in the need for better PR on BT's behalf...

--BT doing the right thing
From: Andy Cheshire

I'm not usually one to spring to the defence of BT but, am I wrong in thinking that, not so long ago, various ISPs and telcos were complaining about the costs they would incur in supporting the requirements of the RIP Bill? Did none of those protestors exclaim that they would need to, and should be able to, levy charges for providing the information?