The Queen to visit Google

 

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Posted on 12 Sep 2008 at 12:22

Google's UK headquarters is set to receive a visit from the Queen. Her Majesty is keen to meet the people who helped her launch her own YouTube channel last year.

Despite admitting she didn't know much about computers when she gave Bill Gates an honorary knighthood in 2005, the Queen has since become more tech-savvy than most from her generation, and is more of a technophile than many younger monarchs around the world too.

She reportedly keeps in touch with her grandsons Princes William and Harry via email, and carries her BlackBerry around with her too. She even allegedly bought BlackBerries for all of her senior aides in order to keep in better contact with them.

In addition to her YouTube channel, the Queen has begun broadcasting her Christmas Day message through a podcast. All of her podcasts can be subscribed to via iTunes, and Her Majesty even has her own 6GB iPod, on which she apparently has the Last Night of the Proms stored.

"During her reign, the Queen has always always kept up to date with the latest technology," said a Buckingham Palace spokesperson.

"The visit to Google is another example and shows how willing she is to embrace new technology and change,"

Her Majesty will be accompanied by the Duke of Edinburgh, who is no stranger to technology either, as he was at the centre of a hacking incident in the 1980s which went on to shape UK hacker laws.

In 1984, two journalists named Robert Schifreen and Stephen Gold gained access to Prince Philip's 'Prestel' inbox. 'Prestel' was an interactive videotex system, which was used before the mainstream use of the internet; comparable to 'Ceefax' and 'Teletext'.

The pair left messages in Prince Philip's personal private mailbox; not to make any financial gain, but purely to satisfy their hacker enthusiasm.

The pair were convicted under the UK Forgery and Counterfeiting Act of 1981, but the conviction was overturned upon appeal. The landmark case was instrumental in the formation of a new computer law, which came into force in 1990 called the Computer Misuse Act.

Author: Dawinderpal Sahota