Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson, President of Iceland, has so far kept quiet over the news that a group of supporters has opened a petition website asking the incumbent head of state to stand for re-election in June.
The President has been in office since 1996 and convention dictates that four terms is the maximum; although there is no law preventing him from standing for a fifth term. Ólafur’s supporters hope that if 40,000 or more people sign the online petition then the President will succumb to their wish for him to stand again.
In his new year address to the nation, Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson (arguably) indicated that he would not stand at this years presidential election; but when pushed for definite confirmation since then he has repeatedly refused to comment.
The website was opened yesterday at a press conference in Reykjavík; presented by its creators. The supporters of the President include former government ministers Guðni Ágústsson and Ragnar Arnalds, Vísir.is reported.
The petition site had 1,828 signatures at the time of writing and the message those signatories are sending is as follows: “We the undersigned urge you, Mr. Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson, to put yourself forward as a candidate for the presidential election this summer. We trust you more than most other people to stand watch for the interests of the people during the difficult times which lie ahead.”
It IS scary that sites like this dont bother to get free SSL certificate like this one ‘Free SSL 90 days ‘ from comodo.com for petitons sites like this :
http://www.comodo.com/business-security/digital-certificates/free-ssl.php
>There isn’t a lot you can really do with it….except sign petitions or fraudulently
>rent a DVD
I am more worried about email address getting stolen from sites like that.
it is true that in Iceland you Kennitala is more like your middle name than actual social security number. Because it does include your birth date it can be good way to know some one’s birthday having that information ( so name and birthdate are discounted as proof of ID here ).
As to DVDs you are right — although it shows most people are honest that you can usually walk into a DVD store and rent on that – but its not stealing DVDs what’s putting DVD rental shops out of business — that’s Vodafone Video on Demand IP TV .
In several smaller towns when it was turned on, within 6 months the DVD shops there was closed because so few people did rent physical DVD movies anymore.
Why rent when you can click the remote conrtol at home for ISK 299 – 595 per movie ?
Runestein – There are so many people/organisation that are using/collecting personal data about us. When you know the personal ID, then is it even easier to collect/organise/combine data/databases to make digital profiles about us.
10 minutes ago I got a phone at my office from a French marketing insitute – they have a calling robot that have called me at least 10 times the last couple of weeks and want to ask me about my view on buisinesses in Norway.
You might easily think that that was scary, but in fact name and kennitala is not really private information. You can look up anyone’s name from their kennitala online and get their kennitala from their name very easily. There isn’t a lot you can really do with it….except sign petitions or fraudulently rent a DVD
Are people really putting their full name and (kennitala) personal identification number on a unsecure website. Quite scary if you ask me.