I’m attending a conference on social networking jointly organised by the Oxford Internet Institute and OFCOM. It’s being held in OFCOM’s splendid Thameside offices, which has a wireless network for guests. But guess what? It’s only accessible by people using Internet Explorer. So it’s closed to — for example — Firefox users.

What, you ask, does OFCOM stand for? Answer: it’s the ‘Office of Communications’.

Thank goodness for 3G modems.

Update: There’s someone here from Microsoft Research and he can’t get in — even with IE!

Quentin sent a mysterious Tweet yesterday. Now all is explained…

Take today, for example. I drove out to a nearby village, had a pleasant lunch with my wife and mother-in-law, and then, a little later in the afternoon, a lion peed on me.

This is not something that I would normally expect on a quiet Sunday afternoon, but life would probably be very dull if it didn’t happen from time to time.

He was, I admit, the other side of a fence. We looked each other in the eye, we both purred some suitable greetings, and we seemed to be getting on rather well. But then, as he turned to go, he lifted his tail, and his range and aim were good. I turned fast, but not quite fast enough to stop a little from going down my neck.

I shall continue to assert that he intended this as a mark of great friendship and respect…

Hmmm….

From The Register. The couple’s name is too good to be true, is it not? But the date on the piece is not April 1. Anyway, here goes:

A Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania couple has sued Google for invasion of privacy, accusing the world’s largest search engine of photographing their swimming pool and posting it to the web.

Aaron and Christine Boring claim that in offering 360-degree panoramic pics of their private residence via Google Street View, the web giant has “caused them mental suffering and diminished the value of their property.”

According to their suit – turned up by The Smoking Gun – the Borings purchased their Pittsburgh home in 2006 for “a considerable sum of money,” and “a major component of their purchase decision was a desire for privacy”. So they were annoyed when pan-and-zoom-able pics of the home, including its swimming pool, turned up on Street View.

These pics were acquired, the suit says, when a Google vehicle appeared on their private road without a privacy waiver or other authorization. Claiming this private road is marked with a “Private Road” sign, the suit calls Google’s behavior “an intentional and/or grossly reckless invasion of…seclusion.” The Borings’ lawyer calls it “outlandish.”