* Posts by Lotaresco

1501 publicly visible posts • joined 24 Sep 2007

Blighty floods with techies' tears as Capita boss Parker quits

Lotaresco

Re: such a diverse range of businesses

"Thumbs up for Bubblegum Rhinos / Stringpersons"

Thank you, kind sir.

Lotaresco

Re: such a diverse range of businesses

"Clearly you are a youngster, otherwise you'd know this is the SOP of western capitalism."

You must be a bit of youngster yourself, James, because you say:

"1) Start a business. Do well, become successful"

That's not how capitalism works in the UK. It works like this.

1) Have a burning desire to get rich quick.

2) Realise that it takes too long to build a business.

3) Head to Westminster with some cash in pocket and take a few MPs out to lunch/dinner/Bubblegum Rhinos/Stringpersons/whatever.

4) With their support under your belt, lobby for "a moribund government agency" to be improved by transfer into the private sector, for peppercorn payment to "preserve vital jobs".

5) Sign a golden handshake deal to let the new private company operate for a decade without "unfair" competition.

6) Strip the assets, borrow billions, saddle the new company with debt.

7) Siphon the borrowed cash to your web of shell companies across the Isle of Man, Channel Islands, Caribbean, Ireland, the Seychelles and the Netherlands. Put most of it into your own anonymous accounts.

8) Invest the company pension fund in one of your shell companies.

9) Transfer the pension fund to your web of shell companies.

10) Declare massive loss, sack the employees, close the business.

11) Retire to your secret Caribbean hideaway.

Lotaresco

I'm so sad...

Now if only Capita could disappear without trace and their CL1 contracts with them. Getting some info on how that deal came into being the first place would also be welcome.

CloudPets' woes worsen: Webpages can turn kids' stuffed toys into creepy audio bugs

Lotaresco

Re: Grab the burning torches and pitchforks

"Scaremongering over the Bluetooth API is simply opportunistic agenda pushing;"

I've come back to this because it's still annoying me. This wasn't scaremongering over the Bluetooth API as such, it's a discussion of the flaws that were introduced by a manufacturer's implementation of security. From the article:

"Basically, it is possible for a webpage to connect to CloudPets plushie, via Bluetooth in the computer or handheld viewing the page, without any authentication"

You see that part in bold? That's the important detail, no authentication required. This is a common failing in the Internet of Toys domain, the manufacturers do not provide even the most basic security measures. It's an implementation issue.

Lotaresco

Re: Grab the burning torches and pitchforks

"Scaremongering over the Bluetooth API is simply opportunistic agenda pushing;"

<sigh> You may want to acquaint yourself with the facts before dismissing the valid security concerns over these things. The makers of the Cayla doll responded much as you have, complacently. Fortunately Germany takes these issues more seriously and the obnoxious doll has been removed from sale (in Europe at least). See this link for an overview of the isues:

https://www.pentestpartners.com/blog/myfriendcayla-banned-are-all-listening-bluetooth-devices-set-for-the-bin/

Cayla was an insecure Bluetooth headset disguised as a doll. However hacking Cayla could lead to the doll being used to groom children, abuse them (as in cyber bullying), estrange the children from their parents and to steal information that could be used for other purposes. If you think having someone spy on you in your own home isn't a bad idea, consider if you ever read out your payment card details within hearing range of a device.

You also shouldn't be making casual assumptions about your child's right to privacy.

Here's a description of the issue with Cayla and other listening devices:

https://www.pentestpartners.com/blog/my-friend-cayla-updated-app-updated-security-fails-how-to-make-her-swear-again/

Here's a BBC item about the same:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-31059893

Lotaresco

Re: Grab the burning torches and pitchforks

"I have two of these cuddly-toy-becomes-eves-droppers and to be honest I really couldn't care less. "

Really, and when the "sad-o" tells your children that mummy and daddy don't love them anymore and that the only person to trust is Uncle Ernie who is sitting outside in his van with some nice sweets? He'll know exactly the right moment to get in touch because he'll have heard your child having a tantrum and screaming "I hate you!"

Lotaresco

Re: The Stasi States' Childcatchers are live and well

"at all those TLA's and FLA's."

Tut.

I suspect you mean TLAs and ETLAs. Consider yourself admonished.

Lotaresco

As I mentioned in another thread...

There is already excellent advice available about what to do.

Prisoners' 'innovative' anti-IMSI catcher defence was ... er, tinfoil

Lotaresco

"or build some kind of EMP gun"

ITYM HERF gun HTH, HAND.

AWS's S3 outage was so bad Amazon couldn't get into its own dashboard to warn the world

Lotaresco

"Their only issue is re-setting the time (and finding the unintuitive instructions), I find more intellectually challenging then setting up a new cloud instance"

IKEA mechanical timers. Cheap, effective, no need for a manual. Other purveyors of 1970s technology exist.

Linux on Windows 10: Will penguin treats in Creators Update be enough to lure you?

Lotaresco

Re: For any non-tech/Slashdot readers here by accident...

"Microsoft is asking you to move out of your house that's served you well for decades and into a special Microsoft house "

That's brings back memories of the decades old Gates vs Jobs cartoon. It's still on YouTube but I'm not linking to it because the video has been copied so many times that all of the copies are awful quality. You can find it by searching for Gates vs Jobs and see if you can find a decent version.

Anyway, it has a line in it where Steve Jobs materialises an iHouse from nowhere. Gates observes that it doesn't have any windows.

"Precisely!"

Also a joke about being able to run Windows inside OSX.

Gosh, these things keep coming around again and again.

Lotaresco

Re: Linux on Windows 10: Will penguin treats in Creators Update be enough to lure you?

I'm struggling to see the point of this. I can run whichever flavour of Linux that I like in VirtualBox. I tried using Hyper-V, all I can say is "just don't". That aside VirtualBox is responsive enough and connected enough to permit the use of Linux machines where one needs access to Linux tools, some bizarre MS kludge doesn't appeal at all.

Two million recordings of families imperiled by cloud-connected toys' crappy MongoDB

Lotaresco

Re: Think of the Children

"Or they could just call them on the fucking phone."

Wouldn't that qualify as paedophilia and incest?

Lotaresco

Re: Think of the Children

"Far more entertainingly, think of the opportunity to add your own messages to the database to be played back to unsuspecting children and parents alike."

Someone has not just thought about it, they did it. The Cayla doll was hacked (easily) to make it a curse monster.

Note that one of the really bad things about this is that the developers of Cayla put some thought into censoring Zuckerberg style the conversations that Cayla could have with a child, forbidding any mention of gay marriage for example, but couldn't be bothered to secure their trash-talking conduit to prevent someone "grooming" the child.

I see you got a downvote, no idea why. Have an upvote to compensate.

Lotaresco

Re: Face. Fscking. Palm.

"I haven't caused any kids, but if I had I'd never let anything like this anywhere near them."

What's irritating is how far back the warnings about Internet of Toys go back[1]. And even more scary is that their are fools out there using "Adult Toys" that connect to the internet without any form of security.

[1] As others have pointed out the warnings go all the way back to the 1950s when science fiction authors thought about the implications of information technology and connectivity for toys.

Lotaresco

"Show of hands.... anyone surprised by this?"

Not when Pen Test Partners have been briefing about these vulnerabilities since 2014.

They have some sensible advice about Cloud Pets on their website.

Tech contractors begin mass UK.gov exodus in wake of HMRC's IR35 income tax clampdown

Lotaresco

Re: Darwinian selection in Government IT

"IR35 isn't fixed by creating some hideous online tool to manage its complexities. "

I have no idea why this on-line tool is so late. I could write it in a few minutes.

"Please upload all your financial information. We accept any file format." [Upload]

"Calculating, please wait.."

"Your contract is subject to IR35, please report to your local tax office to pay all the taxes outstanding."

Lotaresco

Re: Stupid Questions

"most have a very over rated opinion of themselves and are not worth the money."

But enough about permies...

Seriously though, I question most of your claims. Contractors can only exist if there's some value to a business in using them. Part of the attraction is flexibility. Some skills are only needed briefly for a particular phase of a project and it makes no sense to employ someone who will later have to be laid off. Some skills are so niche that very few people have them - try finding an Arcsight engineer, for example. Also it's easier to get rid of a contractor, most contracts specify a contract cancellation cause.

I've heard the rhetoric you spout before from permies, and the response is "If you think you are that good, and you are envious of the contractor day rate why don't you quit your job and get access to all the Free! Money!! that you imagine exists?"

I'll also point out that you may have the skills internally (I doubt it, most permies are hopelessly out of date) but what you won't have is the resource because the skilled people are employed to do a specific job and can't be released to do something else. If they are skilled and have lots of time on their hands then their employer should either be looking to fully utilise them or dismiss them as a drain on the company.

Lotaresco

"the contractors who are responsible for massive cost overruns"

Are a figment of your imagination.

What causes massive cost over runs? Firstly poor requirements being expressed by the government departments. I haven't seen a well written set of requirements originating from government, ever. It seems that a backgrounds in classics, modern languages, history and politics is not at all conducive to being able to specify technical requirements. Secondly, dithering. Civil servants are great at vacillation, in fact it's about the only thing they do well. They agree to something, work starts, they change their minds or their minds are changed for them from on high. This can, in the worst case, result in complete scrap and rework of the project. Thirdly penny pinching. Most government departments want the proverbial silk purse from a sow's ear but they aren't even willing to pay for the sow's ear. They get delivered what they paid for, don't like and then ask for the project to be reworked to actually do the job it's supposed to. Finally lack of project management talent. Civil servants seem to be unable to grasp that some jobs must be done in a particular sequence, hence it's not unusual to get on site and find that people are sitting around twiddling their thumbs waiting for delivery of the kit that should have been ordered and in place six months ago.

Lotaresco

I had enough of this nonsense when it started.

For the past several years I have been turning down government work. The end result is that my day rates have increased significantly, I can legitimately work from my own premises rather than having to drive to whichever government office needs my services and there's no question of IR35 because I don't have to sign up to exclusive deals demanded by government. Soon I think I shall follow the example of a fellow contractor and leave the UK, because there's no good reason to stay.

An unexpected bonus is that I no longer have to deal with Civil Service Tarquins with a degree in PPE who don't even know which way up to hold an iPad.

Welcome to the 21st Century brain drain.

Lotaresco

Re: Darwinian selection in Government IT - OH PULEASE STOP YOUR MOANING

"Maybe am missing something, "

Yes, you am missing something. Back around the year 1996 I used to work as a contractor to government programmes as a self employed sole trader. It suited me and it suited my clients. Accounting is easy, tax is easy, determining one's tax status is easy. Then the government stepped in and said that no government department should use self employed sole traders (This is why your idea won't work) so, around 2004 I had to stop being self employed and become a Ltd Co. This was later reinforced when the government decided that they only people who could get security clearances must be sponsored by a Ltd Co and when CESG decided that the only people who could get accredited as security consultants must be sponsored by a Ltd Co. So far, so straightforward and legal.

Now let's deal with your claim that "seems to me the whole thing has been a scam to let well paid IT people avoid tax and to let the public sector get away without paying national insurance, handling paye and paying pension contributions."

No one gets away without paying NI, PAYE, pensions contributions. Nor do "well paid IT people" avoid tax. We pay all taxes due or we get reamed by HMRC. There are no tax loopholes, no shady deals, no bizarre tax backdoors. That is all in your and the politicians' imagination.

We have the following choices:

1) Pay a salary which is subject to PAYE, pension and NI (employees and employers).

2) Leave money in the company, in which case it is profit and is subject to Corporation Tax at the current rate.

3) Take some money in dividends, in which case it is subject to dividend tax.

The rates of tax are about the same in all cases, around 30-38% for all tax payers earning more than a few thousand pounds a year.

You are quite frankly talking in such a manner that when you sit down your voice will be muffled.

Up close with the 'New Psion' Gemini: Specs, pics, and genesis of this QWERTY pocketbook

Lotaresco

Want

This is a bad sign. Every bit of bleeding-edge tech that I have purchased has seen the manufacturer crash and burn within a few months. I wonder if they will pay me to not buy one of these?

Autonomous cars are about to do to transport what the internet did to information

Lotaresco

Re: ob-Lem

"Lem's futurology will newer cease to amaze me."

We also should note Kurt Vonnegut's "Player Piano" and John Sladek's "The Reproductive System".

Lotaresco

Evolution, not revolution

Journalists always seem to see these events as revolutions, one day we are moving along as usual and the next everything changes! I don't know whether to be pleased that the overworked "paradigm shift" seems to have been retired or sad that "disruptive technology" now seems to have replaced it.

Whatever.

The truth will be that autonomous vehicles will, as the web did, take over in the usual baby steps rather than an overnight revolution. Autonomous vehicles are at present the mainstream within car factories. Automated vehicles move parts and the partly assembled vehicles, doing away with the "assembly line" of the past. I suspect the next step for automated vehicles will be within factory complexes. I've worked in locations where the "factory" could be three to four miles across. In places like that there are on-site bus and delivery services which are expensive to provide and wasteful since they can't respond well to production cycles or even the fact that people may need to gather once a week for a meeting.

Autonomous vehicles on large sites/industrial parks would be extremely useful.

I can't see an autonomous vehicle working well for personal; deliveries but they could be used with Amazon style collection points. I could see a rack on the High Street that a small (laser printer sized) autonomous vehicle drove to then was moved into position and locked into a rack until the punter appears, enters their key/swipes a card and the vehicle opens its door to allow access to the contents. What I can't see is how such a small vehicle co-exists with people/cars on the streets. On the pavement they would be trip hazards, on the road they would be squashed.

Gulp! Drones dodge spray from California's gaping moist glory hole

Lotaresco

"I am a dinghy sailor and this scares the bejasus out of me."

I used to sail a GP14 on Errwood reservoir back in the days that their plughole was in operation for most of the year. They took the sensible precaution of having a safety boat and a boom across the corner of the dam to keep boats at a safe distance.

Lotaresco

Re: "several reporting stations report over 500 inches"

"California ain't just for beach-bums, dude."

Our bit of Italy has 10,000ft mountains not far from the Adriatic sea. This year we got snowfall of two metres in a single day which was one of the causes of the Rigopiano avalanche. Because of the short journey time from mountains to sea it's possible in April to go skiing in the morning then drive to the coast which takes 40-50 minutes and spend the day on the beach.

Sadly we aren't for surfers. The Adriatic is too land-locked for surf. There are plenty of bums on the beach, though.

Lotaresco

Re: Overflow

"On second thought, don't answer that question. Please."

Pass the mind bleach, please?

Lotaresco
Lotaresco

Re: For UK readers see Ladybower

There's also one at Errwood, not that far away. Although I think concerns about the strength of the dam means that the water is no longer allowed to get that high.

Scary hole in the world with a William Hope Hodgson style house[1] hovering on the edge between this world and the void.

It was all very atmospheric at one time, especially since Alan Garner's "The Moon of Gomrath" had some of the scariest scenes set in this location and at the ruins of Errwood Hall on the other side of the valley.

[1] OK, I know it's not a house, but it is one of the coolest structures[2] known and when the water was allowed to go down the spillway the building hovered over the edge, wreathed in mist.

[2] I'm not sure what it is, it had some big valves and levers visible through the windows.

Amazon's first live drone delivery flew last week in Cambridge, UK

Lotaresco

"Are CAA fines tax deductible?"

Dunno, but you really don't want to know how angry I am to have been fined for being late submitting some official documents in Italy[1] and having to pay VAT on the fine.

[1] Five years after the event and it wasn't me that was late submitting the documents.

Lotaresco

He looks like he could do with...

Forgoing the popcorn and walking to the shop and back. Many, many times.

Is your child a hacker? Liverpudlian parents get warning signs checklist

Lotaresco

Re: "Computer games don't affect kids..."

"It's considered polite to attribute your quotes. That one is from Marcus Brigstocke, if memory serves."

Unless you are quoting Marcus Brigstocke who's so far up himself that he doesn't deserve acknowledgement.

Lotaresco

Re: Being a criminal has little to do with the list as given.

"uh , yeah - thats because a lot of the stuff we did in the 80s and 90s *would* be unacceptable today."

"Bullshit."

Oh I dunno, watching Rolf Harris, Gary Glitter, Jimmy Saville and Dave Lee Travis on "Top of the Pops" is pretty much unacceptable today.

Lotaresco

Re: Being a criminal has little to do with the list as given.

"It says "has multiple social media profiles on one platform"."

Doesn't everyone do that?

Lotaresco

Re: Being a criminal has little to do with the list as given.

"I think many kids who had a home computer in the 80s would be carted off for re-education if this were in place."

Everyone I know who learned their trade in the 80s and who now works in the computer industry would be languishing in chains. I should be safe, it's not as if Lotaresco is a weird nym.

Cancel your cloud panic: At $122bn it's just 5% of all IT spend

Lotaresco

Cloud doesn't work for many

Cloud and even [A-Z]aaS doesn't work for some, I suspect many, businesses and government organisations. The latter are throwing themselves at "cloud" solutions more vigorously than the former. Large integrators are pushing cloud services to government frantically while choosing to keep their own core services in their own DCs.

For SOHO and even MO businesses and fly by night start-ups there are obvious short-term advantages, particularly that there's no big capital outlay at the beginning. The business may get saddled with costs that don't scale well in the future and may even face the unpleasant task of lifting their systems from the cloud and transferring (somehow) to their own provision if the business succeeds; but that would be someone else's problem.

Cloud provision could but doesn't AFAICS offer a fifth service, security; with a decent SOC and skills at a level that no small business could afford. Sadly there's still a hill to climb convincing small businesses that they need to do anything to secure their systems, let alone pay a monthly service charge for security.

In colossal shock, Uber alleged to be wretched hive of sexism, craven managerial ass-covering

Lotaresco

Re: Bad Uber

"By the taxi licencing authority plate affixed to the rear of the vehicle"

The Uber model is private hire, booked in advance. Not all LAs require a plate on vehicles to be used for private hire.

For example in London the vehicle needs to show a PCO licence in the front and rear windows.

Lotaresco

I'm not in the slightest surprised.

I work in computer security. I got into this line of work after discovering several hundred MB[1] of filth on a manager's PC. Since then and after working in digital forensics for a few years I've ceased to be surprised by the sleaziness of the managerial classes. I'm also no longer surprised that they treat their workers and their sexual partners[2] like meatbags[3]. I'm guessing that to get to the top in a large corporation takes a certain type of sociopath or even psychopath and I'm not alone in thinking this.

The same arrogant tosspot that can stare you in the face and tell you to sign off paperwork that is a lie, often turns out to be intimidating staff into sexual encounters and then using their power in the workplace to silence everyone in sight. I'm lucky in being born with a spine and being physically large enough and mean enough to stare down these idiots. I'm also lucky in having marketable skills so that their threats to sack me just make me laugh.

During investigation of some particularly bad cases I found that the people trying to cover up were the victims of the abuse. The abuser had them intimidated to the point that they were terrified to do anything other than cover up for the abuser. I had the suspicion that the abusers often start with HR. Lots of women in HR and threats to expose them to their partners can be a powerful force for manipulation.

I'm glad these days to be in a "cleaner" type of security and not having to get involved in person-to-person nastiness. However I doubt that the basic MO of these types has changed at all in the past decade.

[1] That was a lot in those days, half the hard drive on his laptop.

[2] Not really "partners" in any sense, just someone being used.

[3] Yes, I've seen the evidence for this when prepping material for investigation. These people are so arrogant that they will video themselves abusing someone then put it on a corporate communication system.

Lotaresco

Re: I don't work at Uber but...

"One might even make a good argument [HP] died when the brilliant idea to buy Compaq went through."

If not then, then definitely when they tried to introduce their own fondle-slab without having a clue about what the market was or even if there was a market. The only rationale seemed to be "We're HP people will buy anything we make. We can force corporates to take anything we want to sell them. There's no need for an app store, or even any applications. And we'll charge more than Apple because we're HP and we're better than those upstarts."

Who's behind the Kodi TV streaming stick crackdown?

Lotaresco

Re: Why Don't You...

...turn off your television set and go out and do something less boring instead...

ITYM

Why Don't You Just Switch Off Your Television Set and Go Out and Do Something Less Boring Instead?

Lotaresco

Re: They don't help their case.

“Three or four cases have gone to prosecution,” Matthew confirmed. - Making statements like that makes them look inept. Either a case has gone to prosecution or it hasn't.

Shades of ACS:Law and the fragrant Mr Crossley. His threats against people always had some vagueness about the probability or possibility of prosecution. Ultimately it turned out when he was forced to reveal details that he hadn't taken any cases to court, just threats and bullying.

TBH neither side acquits themselves well in this.

The copyright holders, for the most part, look to squeeze blood out of a stone. They have a fear of losing control so don't like new, disruptive, technology. Instead of doing what they should to make legal use of content easy they try to preserve their old business model. What they don't seem to like is a business model that upsets their belief that they can sell any old crap to anyone and punish artists that they don't like by not marketing their content. They can (and do) also shaft the artists by entering into grossly unfair contract terms with unknowns. Having people choose what content they want to see and not having to go with artificial geographical, time and marketing constraints hurts the suits.

The users who think everything should be free are, at best, naïve. If I create something and you decide to view my work then you should do so with a view to making reasonably payment. If you don't want to do that or if you think you have the right to distribute someone else's work then you will contribute to the death of that branch of the entertainment industry. Such people are in the same group as the restaurant owners who think they can get someone to provide free entertainment for "exposure" i.e. they are leeches.

Kodi provides something useful which is the ability to view material legitimately from several sources. It is not axiomatic that Kodi=="piracy". I'm tired of the limitations imposed by other devices. I have both Humax and Samsung media boxes. Neither gives access to all of the *legitimate* sources available. The Humax can do Freesat + some on-demand and some streaming services. The Samsung can do Bluray and some on-demand and streaming services. But the Humax can't handle anything other than 4:3 or 16:9 properly. The Samsung randomly disconnects without warning especially from Prime and DLNA. Both have appalling user interfaces. Neither can access iTunes. I'd have to buy yet another box for that. I just want one box that can handle video well, that has an appealing rather than appalling user interface and that can be upgraded to access new services. The Kodi seems closer to that ideal than all the other tat.

Lotaresco

Re: I'm worried they'll outlaw Kodi in some unenforceable way...

So, thanks for the pedantry, I'd rather use the word 'like'

I'd rather that you used the word "like" as often and as inappropriately as you like. By doing so you mark your post indelibly in a way that signifies "Don't bother reading further, it won't be worth the effort."

Lotaresco

Re: I'm worried they'll outlaw Kodi in some unenforceable way...

What's like 9?

9.424777961 ?

int(9.424777961)

Samsung battery factory bursts into flame in touching Note 7 tribute

Lotaresco

Reality bites

I wonder if any of the Samsung GN7 fanbhois who were claiming that exploding batteries were "fake news" last year have changed their minds yet? There's been rock-solid evidence that the battery design was not fit for purpose and now this proving that there really is a problem.

Slammer worm slithers back online to attack ancient SQL servers

Lotaresco

"What we need to do is ban all IP traffic from those countries through our borders, even if they have current visas, and then build a Yuge firewall."

This is tremendous news folks. Tremendous. This is the best news. It's the best. I run a company it's the best company in the world. The best. Tremendous. Do my hands look big in this?

Lotaresco
Mushroom

Re: Bugs? Fixed? Really?

" What's next?"

Probably time for WinNuke to make a reappearance.

Trump's visa plan leaks: American techies first

Lotaresco

Meanwhile, in the UK...

People here thought that they were voting to save jobs when they voted to leave the EU. What they didn't realise was that the government wants to leave the EU so that their chums ion what's left of industry can recruit wage slaves in India and China for lower rates than any European will accept. It was the EU that kept the cheap labour out with rules that stated that European labour must be employed in preference to any extra-European. A move that filled jobs no Brit wanted to do, that protected the wages of people born in Britain and prevented the exploitation of British workers.

Turkeys however voted for Christmas.

Fear not, Europe's Privacy Shield is Trump-proof – ex-FTC bigwig

Lotaresco

Oh great

So I'm supposed to be comforted by this? The US has a terrible track record on privacy and on the treatment of anyone who is not a US citizen. If they misuse my data I wouldn't know. When my data gets into a government system it's not protected. If I want to sue in a US Court I have to enter the USA and immediately forfeit all right to privacy because they will take my personal details before allowing me into their festering bunghole of a fascist banana republic.

New York to draft in 250 IT contractors because state staff 'lack talent'

Lotaresco

Re: In house impossibility

"Why is this increase in complication occurring? "

Because management want more and more from IT. They want systems to be integrated but accessible from the poolside at their villa in Tuscany. They want input clerks replaced by software robots. They want the whole thing moved into the cloud to get rid of that unpleasant to them) CAPEX. They want BYOD for their iThings etc.

Lotaresco

Re: Don't know

"the problem with bringing in "contractors " is most of the time they are there only between searching for FT roles.. "

Only in the US, which I know we are talking about. But the US seems to be a special case because the "benefits" of being staff are the things that people take for granted in Europe - pensions, healthcare.

I've been dealing with a big US integrator on several contracts in the UK. The American management team can't get their head around "contractor" being a career choice. They came up with a "brilliant" idea of offering contractors a "permanent" job with them at half the pay, because in their mind working for DREADCO[1] is the best thing every and people would want to do that, right?

Unfortunately the contractors all know they can get paid better elsewhere and don't see a "permanent" job with an organisation that sacks thousands of people on a whim/to ensure the CEO gets his $10M bonus this year as attractive.

[1] Name changed to protect the guilty.