Tag: denmark

Who needs enemies?

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When you have “friends” like America?

The Danish government has ordered public officials across Greenland and Denmark to deactivate Bluetooth on both professional and personal devices, citing increasing concerns about foreign surveillance capabilities. The move affects civil servants, police officers, and military personnel operating in national and territorial institutions.

Though the Danish government did not link its Bluetooth directive to Trump’s statement, the timing has drawn attention. Greenland’s geographic position makes it critical for NATO operations and Arctic resource planning, adding strategic pressure to protect communications infrastructure within Danish jurisdiction.

I’m going to be honest here, I didn’t realise that Bluetooth – ironically named after a Danish King who united the many tribes of the country during his reign – was that hackable. The only issues that I’ve ever (knowingly) had, was a bit of annoying interference on the way to my Sony speaker.

But apparently, it’s a thing:

A related article from Radar.dk points to a security flaw involving Fast Pair, a proprietary feature developed by Google that streamlines Bluetooth device pairing. Unlike standard Bluetooth protocols, Fast Pair establishes connections with minimal user interaction, which has raised concern about silent pairing and unauthorized device access.

One comment cited in Radar.dk describes how certain devices can be turned into covert listening tools. Specifically, a vulnerability in the Airoha Bluetooth audio SDK was identified as allowing Bluetooth audio devices to pair without user approval. These exploits highlight a broader risk: even inactive or unpaired devices can be accessed if firmware is outdated or unsecured.

We must presume that the Danish authorities knew about this potential vulnerability before this last week. And it’s interesting that until the whole Greenland thing came up, they apparently had no issue with anyone potentially listening in on their state workers. Because there was probably very little of interest being said. As I pointed out when the whole Covid “passport” thing was suggested: Don’t try to fool yourself: you’re simply not important enough for the government (or anyone else) to be interested in you.

But apart from that, this also suggests that the Danish authorities are therefore now talking – sensitively – about the threat that America poses. Otherwise, why would they have any issue with the Yanks listening in?

But will it really make any difference anyway?

The Bluetooth ban has also reignited scrutiny of European dependence on U.S.-made technology. Though Denmark has not commented on specific hardware or software vendors, public reactions on Radar.dk questioned why national agencies continue to rely heavily on platforms developed by Apple, Google, and other non-EU companies.

And they all run their servers and devices on Chinese-based electronics. And so the circle goes. So maybe it’s all completely pointless and everyone should be playing open handed here. After all, it does seem that everyone already has the means to know what everyone else is saying and doing.

Airpods or not.

When Green is the new cool

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Of course, being environmentally friendly is ever so trendy these day, isn’t it?
Tell a Greenie that you don’t recycle and they look at you in the same way that a normal person might if you were something they’d accidentally trodden in at the local park.
Mention that you like to eat meat and you might as well have said that you stab kittens with kebab skewers in your leisure time.
Which, of course, is nonsense: kittens are rubbish for kebabs – no meat at all.

Then there’s the whole oil thing.  The hypocrisy of your typical lentil-muncher lecturing you about BP and the Gulf of Mexico then popping off to meditation class in their dirty 2CV or VW Beetle, whale-song pouring out of the stereo, filthy diesel fumes pouring out of the back.

And don’t even get me started on the bloody dolphins.

To me, environmentalism is very much like religion: I’m happy for you to think what you want as long as you don’t try to force your views on me or my kids. Sure, we can debate your choice of lifestyle if you wish, but at the end of it, that’s exactly what it is: your choice of lifestyle – not mine.

Of course I do appreciate the sense in caring for our environment. Just not to the point where I have to ruin what short time I have on this earth so that some Patagonian sea snail can continue to exist. There’s a reason that humans are top of the food chain, alright?
I do recycle, I do watch my consumption of electricity and water, I don’t eat kitten kebabs, but I do these things because there’s a logic reason behind it (provides money for a local charity, keeps my bills down, not very filling), not because it’s trendy.

But now, trendiness and environmentalism have come together in the right sort of way with this waste-to-energy station due to built in Denmark.

Yes, this particular waste to energy plant has 1,500m of ski slopes going down it and it also blows smoke rings.
And no ordinary smoke rings, either:

At night the smoke rings will be lit up by heat-tracking lasers able to project a pie-chart onto the smoke that displays a quota of fossil-fuel CO2.
The designers explain: “The rather abstract pollution aspect will be somewhat more graspable and understandable, something you can see and relate to. The smoke rings are spectacular and highly aesthetical, but linked to a controversial theme at the same time.”

There’s a serious point here. These sort of ideas could help to define a whole new sort of cool when it comes to looking after the environment. Rather than solely being the haunt of unwashed hippies, it brings the cutting edge of modern design to the green agenda; it will appeal to a whole new group of individuals, which can only be good news for mother earth and those sea snails.

And it blows smoke rings.