

Minister thinks IP address is an "Intellectual Property address" - rpledge
http://www.boingboing.net/2010/04/08/minister-for-digital.html

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meroliph
As mentioned on Reddit
([http://www.reddit.com/r/worldnews/comments/bo623/i_wrote_to_...](http://www.reddit.com/r/worldnews/comments/bo623/i_wrote_to_my_mp_2_weeks_ago_regarding_the_de/c0nq3a8)),
this may likely be a screw-up by a secretary, as the letter does make sense
aside from this problem.

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chris11
Yeah, I think that is what happened.

From wikipedia: Timms read Mathematics at Emmanuel College, Cambridge where he
gained an MA in Mathematics in 1977 and an MPhil in Operational Research in
1978. Before entering politics, Timms worked in the telecommunications
industry for 15 years.

It sounds like he would have enough technical background and experience to
know what he was talking about in this case.

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chbarts
Fifteen years does not guarantee competence, just like being CEO or CTO does
not. Besides, if he were successful in business, why would he be in
government? Warren Buffet has never held a cabinet position, to my knowledge.

~~~
wlievens
> Besides, if he were successful in business, why would he be in government?

I don't know anything about this particular case or politician, but I sure
_hope_ some people go into government/politics in the hopes of being able to
change something for the good, rather than merely because they couldn't make
it big in industry.

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noblethrasher
Orrin Hatch made the same mistake about 10 years ago during a hearing on file
sharing. The CEO of Napster corrected him.

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rfrey
Funny for sure. Probably a late edit where a non-technical editor or a script
replaces any acronyms with "Expanded Acronym (EA)". When I was a journalist
that used to be done for style reasons as a matter of course, even if the
acronym was widely understood.

~~~
sp332
...then after hours we'd play Network File System v4 (NFS 4) from Expanded
Acronym (EA) Sports!

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andrewvc
So, I think the title should make it clear that this is Britain's Minister for
Digital Britain. To my American eyes this read as if some random clergyman was
confused.

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stretchwithme
of course! isn't that where you leave your patents?

