* Posts by David Barr

113 publicly visible posts • joined 9 Apr 2008

DDoS attacks take out Asian nation

David Barr
Troll

Why "Myanmar"?

Are you trying to stir something up by not referring to Burma as Burma?

Google Nexus Two 'lands November 8'

David Barr

Build Quality?

I've had my Galaxy S for a few months now. I wasn't very pleased with the plastic battery cover (which I knew about before I bought it) however it's given me no problems at all. The screen is still unscratched, although I've done everything to avoid scratching it so I can't give the glass any real credit.

The ports are solid, the buttons too they don't feel like they'll need replaced in a couple of years.

Of course the phone isn't perfect, I still don't have 2.2. The phone itself is very thin and the battery life is poor, they could have made it a few mm thicker and stuck a much bigger battery in.

Microsoft's fear of an OpenOffice

David Barr
Thumb Up

Office is Cheap

I don't see the problem with office, and I agree with Microsoft's video.

£100 for a piece of software is literally nothing. It's a false economy when morons start saying "Well we have 60,000 staff who use Office, we can save millions by switching to OpenOffice."

Sure you can. But a million between our 60,000 staff is still only £100 each. And £100 each is nothing compared to the cost/productivity each member of staff can lose by using software which isn't as well supported. A few hours of my work has more impact to the company than £100, it's just not worth a false saving.

It's exactly the same as it used to be with office managers who are tight with biro pens. A box of pens costs next to nothing, and the time wasted pleading for a pen is better spend.

The cost of support and the cost when things go wrong are the real costs and the price ticket difference makes no odds.

Apple sells 2m iPads to hungry fanbois

David Barr

Apple's Big Chance

Apple is making mahoosive margins on the stuff they're selling just now. Competition on the iPhone is still slack, competition failed on the iPod, generally speaking. There are of course plenty of stories about iPad competitors coming out, and we're still reading articles titled "iPhone killer" that aren't quite it yet... but surely it's only a matter of time before the competition, if it can't beat Apple at iStuff then at least forces the price and hence margins down.

We're also seeing economic conditions drastically change within China with a markedly different fiscal policy in the past 18 months, now resulting in inflation and higher salaries. This will drive manufacturing costs up. We're currently (and have been for a while) in a position where electronic device prices are incredibly low. We're tossing phones every year, the new gadgets are affordable, a cheap laptop is just a few hundred dollars. Devaluation of western currencies, Asian inflation, higher wages etc will all eat into that and Apple faces the prospect of trying to be a premium manufacturer in a market where things really could be unaffortable for the masses.

The current fad that Apple are enjoying, where they seemingly can't put a foot wrong as far as sales figures go can't last forever, not at those margins. This is Apple's chance to carve out market share, and set themselves up for the future. If they make it then their current stock prices will plummet, if they do make it then the price is justified. The market does act like a flock of sheep though, good news after good news will put the price up and up again, but the first bit of bad news will see it crashing. If Apple fade away again in the future then their stock price will turn out to be another bubble, similar to what was seen at the turn of the century.

Personally I hope they fail miserably, as I can't stand wankers shoving their iPhones in my face, crowing on about how good they are, and I think Apple are about as open as North Korea.

iPad to become inflight fatcat fun-slab

David Barr

Along with Bose I guess

I'll happily sit in economy, not because I can't afford to go first class (although to be fair it'd be a stretch) but because no matter how much money I had I wouldn't like to crap out a fiver a minute to be falsely pandered to by an over made up tanorexic waitress, and get my drink in a glass rather than a beaker. I do smirk when I see people with Bose headphones, sitting in first clas... emperors clothes etc. And even if it is the company paying for it, it's still pissing money up the wall. I was raised not to waste!

As for kids on a plane, at least in economy when I ask kids politely if they could be quiet, more often than not they are quiet. I don't imagine those pretentious little rich shits in first class would be.

£2,000 extra to sit for 7 hours in a bigger seat? No thanks :)

Most browsers leave fingerprint that can ID users

David Barr
FAIL

Meh.

More privacy scaremongering. The reason why mine is unique is the combination of plugins. The more more plugins you have the more unique you are... Oh, and the more likely you are to have a different fingerprint once, or twice a week as new plugins are updated.

Lily Allen exits Twitter, bins BlackBerry

David Barr

Re : Mark

I haven't had to endure it ever... the only thing I've read of hers recently is the stuff on piracy, and that was because I chose to find out what she was saying.

Trojan plunders $480k from online bank account

David Barr

The problem is American Banks

As an alternative to not using Windows people could instead use a decent online banking service if they heve large amounts of money in their accounts.

Asking for parts of a security number rather than the whole number is enough to thwart most trojans. That is suitable for personal banking, although in time those little security "calculators" will be needed.

For business banking or people with large assets then the "calculators" or the small "random number" machines completely defeat keylogging, even if the keylogger manages to work out the security number after a dozen logins.

Why don't American Banks use them? Because banking is different in America. There's lots of little inefficient banks, compared to the UK where there are less banks, but they're all big.

Disconnection phone scam targets UK consumers

David Barr
Alert

For once I have some sympathy for the scammed

Hopefully these fraudsters are leaving a trail behind them. I did read somewhere that they are operating from abroad which might make it more difficult.

I'm puzzled how they are getting the money. The best I can come up with (by deduction) is...

They are not getting internet log ins, that would be too difficult to get marks to give them.

They are not taking card payments on the telephone, that would need merchant services, which would make them easy to catch.

So they must be collecting card numbers, expiry dates and the third security digits from the back of the card. That means the card will be cloned and used in a third world country with low security such as Malaysia, Egypt or the United States of America to make dodgy purchases...

In those cases, thankfully, the person being defrauded should get their money back from their bank or credit card company.

Home Office minister owned by own rules

David Barr

Where does this go now?

Let's assume she's unable to produce copies of the documents that she "checked".

Who decides if she should be prosecuted. And if they decide not to prosecute, can anything be done to change that?

It's a beautiful irony that the person responsible for creating a law has fallen victim to it. I don't actually believe Baroness Scotland has done anything wrong in hiring this woman, it seems the woman had already slipped through the cracks in the system. However she was the one who created the draconian law, so she should be prosecuted by it.

Many of New Labour's laws have been badly written, and pushed through parliament regardless. Remember the anti-terrorist laws used against Iceland, and against the elderly heckler at the labour party conference? I wonder if Baroness Scotland had anything to do with those legal masterpieces?

eBay fights for right to sell luxury stuff in EU

David Barr

eBay needs to decide what it is

If eBay is simply a "buyer beware" marketplace then it has no business charging the high fees it does.

If it's a financial services provider then it needs to be regulated in the same way that our insurance companies, banks, brokers etc are.

We pay around 1% to purchase by credit card (the retailer usually takes the hit). eBay fees are over 10%, yet I have a considerable level of protection with the credit card, and next to none with eBay.

Welsh mum amazed by Marmite Messiah

David Barr
Go

Oh for fucks sakes

It's not Jesus, it's Mohammed. And a Jihad on her for taking the piss out of the paedo prophet!

New Kindle: Wider, but still no broadsheet

David Barr
Thumb Up

"Unlocked" eBook readers?

As far as I'm aware you can put books onto the Kindle with a USB cable, meaning you don't need to use Whispernet. This also means you don't need to rely on DRM or Amazon for books.

I'm certain that you can do it with the Iliad, Cybook Gen 3 and Sony 505/500/700. They all have their DRM tied in books, but you can completely ignore that. My Cybook Gen 3 is simply a hard drive when I connect it to the PC, I throw on whatever I want and it's there.

Bookeen, who make the Cybook are coming out with a Cybook Opus, which is a smaller version of the Cybook Gen 3. It's intended to be a pocket device.

As for people criticising electronic ink technology based eBook readers, you really do need to see one in person before you can appreciate how good the technology is. It really is like paper, it doesn't need a backlight like LED, it's very easy on the eyes. The reader sends a signal to the screen which "draws" the next page, once it's drawn that's it. Unlike a CRT or LED there is no need to constantly refresh the display, there is no hertz rating, it's simply permanantly on the screen until the tiny little electronic ink capsules are spun around again when the next page is drawn. Unless you see one in person then you're simply looking at electronic paper on an LED... you can't contrast between something you see on an LED against LED!

The Great Spotify Mystery

David Barr

What about Ad revenue?

I can't understand why it can't work.

Commercial radio must work - or we wouldn't have it. It's supported by "dumb" ads. The ads aren't targetted in any way, and I can't click to take me direct to the site. If I listen to lots of Prodigy, for example, when they're doing a gig near by me then Spotify ads could be targetting me by location and by my music preferences and offering me a direct link to buy gig tickets. Surely that's got to be worth more to advertisers than radio ads?

I can see Spotify becoming less pleasant to use in order to make it financially viable. I can see them, for example, putting a limit on the number of times I can listen to a particular song in a time period, with perhaps a higher limit for premium users. I can see them putting more ads in, or getting smarter with the ads. I'm fine with that if it's how I'm "paying" for the service. I can always opt out of ads and pay a monthly fee.

Spotify is what I have wanted, what my family have wanted, what my friends have wanted for a long time. If commercial radio can work then Spotify can work.

Perhaps the problem is the people running Spotify aren't particularly adept at making money from it. I'm sure commercial radio owners are.

Firefox went ton up in bugs in 2008

David Barr

Thankfully demographics keep the impact down

For now it seems that the malware is still targetted at Internet Explorer. However Firefox doesn't have the update deployment that MS has, and I'm guessing has an ever increasing user base. Just like Apple are starting to warn their consumers that they aren't bulletproof I guess that we'll start to see Firefox holes targetted eventually.

Stargazers peer into the 'Eye of God'

David Barr

It isn't a real eye

So calling it the eye of God is quite appropriate.

Airline pilots told to switch off mobile phones

David Barr

Load of shite

And as per usual we'll be forced to keep our deviced turned off because it might be safer. Bollocks. I'm pretty sure many people just stick the phone on silent.

Mr. and Mrs. Boring lose Google Street View tilt

David Barr

Hmm.

Certainly the couple were being dicks about it. It'd be simpler to just ask google to remove them, and I'm sure they would.

However does this ruling now mean Google can go wherever they want into private property?

I'd rather the judge awarded a technical victory to the couple, but made sure not a penny of damages was awarded. That way Google get their knuckles rapped, the couple get made to look like the whining fools they are, and the couple aren't rewarded for being dicks.

I wonder if the judge would have made the same ruling if the couple had said "We feel so strongly about this that we're willing to lose more of our privacy to stop Google doing this to other people. We are not looking for any damages award".

Mobile phones to get universal charger

David Barr

It doesn't really matter about the Church of Jobs

Because Apple consumers won't buy anything unless it's made by Apple, so they'll have their standard 30 pin connector, and everybody else has their standard micro USB.

Ironically the way it seems to be going...

I'll have a single device which will be a mobile phone with an electronic paper screen which I can roll out, a nice big video screen for playing TV and videos, and it'll have Spotify on it. So it won't matter that it uses micro USB since I'll only have one charger.

Realistically though that's some time away yet :P

Spotify: We kick the tyres

David Barr

Erm.

I've literally just stuck this on... and so far it's great. Haven't had an ad yet, but I've no issues paying for this if it's as good as it seems.

Hopefully if it really catches on there will be DAPs that can use the service - let's hope they don't get their hands tied and end up just available on iPod or Zune.

And hopefully they're will be some kind of client alternative that allows, for example, Foobar2000 to access the library.

Finally perhaps they'll have lossless available at a little bit of a premium for those that want it.

If they do all three then they'll get £20 a month off me forever.

Landmark copyright trial against Pirate Bay gets underway

David Barr

It all hinges on this...

Is the site designed to primarily help distrubute pirated information, or is it designed just to track all kinds of torrents.

It's clearly not designed for all kinds of torrents, or all kinds of data in the way www, email or usenet is. The clue is in the site title, "Pirate" it entirely exists to allow piracy.

There is free to distribute material on there - "Ubuntu" got roughly 450 hits. That is really just a grain in the sand of the beach of stuff available there. The entire top 100 for example is copyrighted material.

So I think it'll all hinge if the judge either agrees that they're just a gateway with no control over what is listed, or if he decides that they're specifically there to facilite copyright "theft" (It's not theft).

Anyone who comes out with the arguement that they're just the same as a Google's search is blatantly lying, but it'll require the judge to come out and draw a line. Toorgle however is more of a grey area.

What's worse though, the neanderthal belligerant recording industry, or the self righteous freetard?

25 years of Mac - the good, the bad, and the cheese grater

David Barr

Not a Mac user

For once a Mac article that was interesting to read - no disrepsect to other Mac articles, they're just not of any interest to me.

Seagate isolates 'potential' Barracuda flaw

David Barr

Western Digital are no better.

I RMA'd my Raptor drive to WD, I sent it by insured, recorded trackable post, and it arrived on the 10th of December. They say to allow 7 days for them to update their systems (surely they barcode scan every package that arrives?), but nothing appeared. I requested a response from them, 2 weeks later nothing, but they flagged the support request as solved. I requested another response. Finally it got to the 3rd of January, they day they were supposed to charge me for the replacement drive they had sent out in advance, and nothing. A few days later they finally responded saying that they had not received the faulty drive, and unless I prove I sent it they would charge me. Finally after having to scan the receipt they've dropped the issue.

It tends to be the case that companies within a sector compete on customer service, where the competition has none, there's no incentive for them to excel in it.

Steve Jobs takes medical leave from Apple to focus on health

David Barr
Jobs Horns

Hope he recovers

He's done a lot for the computer world, I don't buy his products, but competition has probably made the ones I do buy, better.

Pro-Palestine vandals deface Army, NATO sites

David Barr
Thumb Down

Re:Robert Simpson

Why on earth do you think it matters why Israel was created? It was created in 1948. Anyone who can remember the creation of Israel is in their 70s. That doesn't matter now. It's too late. If it was to happen now then I would strongly oppose it. Just as I would strongly oppose the oppression of India by our Empire or the persecution of native Americans, or the extermination of civilisations in South America. But we can't go back and fix it. Just because the creation of Israel may have been wrong does not mean that the great grandchildren of the original settlers should be murdered.

What matters now is some kind of peaceful settlement, and I can't understand what Israel should have done other than march into Gaza when Hamas had been launching missiles at them for 3 years solid.

I'm hesistantly on Israel's side here, .but I'm not thick as shit, nor do I have a severe selective memory.Do I think Israel are good guys? Nope.

Pirates pee on Amazon's MP3 parade

David Barr
Thumb Up

They're nearly there

All they need to do now is offer the option of a FLAC, and I'll buy off them. The prices seem right. The Prince album at 79p is a rip off, you'd need to pay me considerable amounts of money to listen to that.

BNP membership list leaks online

David Barr
Thumb Down

Hmmm

I don't like the BNP. They are a negative influence, they are looking to blame groups in society. They may not be clearly racist, but they have racist undertones and a great deal of support from racists.

However democracy depends on people being able to support any party, and being able to vote for any party. If people are going to be discriminated against (which is now likely) as a result of the party they support then this is wrong.

Personally I can be a little right wing - although I'm not authoritarian. Sadly there aren't any realistic right wing parties in the UK. The UKIP are not much better than the BNP, and even the conservatives have mild policies and aren't strongly enough in favour of freedoms and small government. I would never vote for the BNP, no matter how much I agreed with their policies. However I suspect there may be a few (idiots) who are sucked in by their "we're not racists, honest" front that they put up, and if they lose their jobs as a result of this then I believe that will be wrong.

Phorm mulls incentives for ad targeting wiretaps

David Barr

They'll almost do this

They'll advertise their broadband exactly the same way, with an asterisk that in the small print says "If you consent to content enhancement through Phorm". The headline service and price will assume Phorm consent.

Essentially it'll be like booking a flight with Ryanair. Oh you want to pay by credit card? That'll cost you extra.

What can we do about it? Nothing it seems. Tried booking a cinema ticket in advance these days? Pay a booking fee. Tried buying tickets for anything? Added extras for card payment, and other sharp practices.

Top adviser claims John McCain invented the BlackBerry

David Barr

Carl Roman Hultay - You're crazy.

Neither this article nor the McCain team claimed he invented the Blackberry. Did you actually read the article before going for "I can has prove it points on the internets!"?

No sooner do Americans try a bit of light hearted humour, than they are reminded that the American public doesn't get it, unless there's a laugh track. (Not that we're any better here.)

Freelancers might be taxed as employees after High Court ruling

David Barr
Thumb Up

About Time

I'm a financial advisor, I'm fed up with seeing Sole Traders tax "shifting" and all sorts of other tax dodges. I pay 31%/40% tax on my earnings. Sole Traders don't. I've had clients tell me to shove it and go to someone else who will close their eyes.

Any whining about "Yeah, but being a Sole Trader means I need to earn more to keep even" I'm not interested in. Work for a company if it's so good.

I've advised clients against this for years, nice to see someone who either was badly advised, or who thought he could get away with it getting caught.

It's morally right to pay your taxes, thinking that it's "the government" who lose out is living in a fantasy. The government piss our money up the wall, sure, but if you dodge your taxes then everybody else ends up paying more.

American Airlines typo dispatches corpse to Guatemala

David Barr

At what point...

At what point would a reasonable company have said to themselves "Crap, we're totally screwed here, let's bring out the good faith cheque book and make sure the customer walks away thinking it was an innocent mistake and they've ended up better for it"

Answer? Long before this, and the end result? Hammered in court.

Capitalism works, I don't think anyone can dispute that, but it doesn't fix corporate stupidity.

Attn : Corporations. A stitch in time saves nine. Try applying that to compensation when you cock up.

I seriously hope if/when Cameron gets in the job he doesn't adopt the American Chapter 11 style bankruptcy protection he was harping on about. Companies go bust because of corporate stupidity (in which case they deserve it) or because of consumer stupidity - we always go for lowest prices, who cares how much Ryanair screw us after we buy the ticket - and in that case we deserve it. The market will always fix itself over time, but not if the government feels it must intervene. It might take a while for the market to do it, but if a government truly believes in capitalism, then for the love of money keep your fingers off and be patient.

EA Europe struggles squeezing out Spore

David Barr

Turns out it's a toy not a game

And any ideas that it's going to have any kind of evolution are sadly mistaken. A complete disappointment for me, I was hoping it was a game where I'd have to weigh up pros and cons and try and get my little dudes to evolve in a certain direction... but it turns out it's a dressing up game. The creature creator that's been out for a while is pretty much the whole game. Create a guy, make him do a simple task, repeat task again and again for points, and then dress him up again. Next stage? Repeat.

World goes mad as Bill and Jerry eat churros

David Barr

Advert Works

When people choose between Windows and OS X (or Ubuntu these days as it's pretty competent), they're choosing between a large number of factors. It's not a simple decision along the lines of "This one does the same as the other, exactly the same, but it's a quid cheaper". Mac have run ads for years on the "feel" and "style" of Macs. This is Microsoft trying to get people to change their opinion that Windows is made by big bad Microsoft, and that Windows is a Bill Gates product and Bill Gates is a big dirty nerd with nothing in common with them - so how could he make an OS that would suit them?

Holiday text messages to cost less than 9p

David Barr

Bah

The market will eventually sort itself. Intervention will cost consumers in the end.

I hardly use my phone abroad, when I go to the States I just pick up a pay as you go phone and bin it when I leave. I'd be happy to pay reasonable charges to Vodafone if they had any, but as they don't, I don't. Eventually someone will cater to me and allow me to have my British number in use in the US and Europe without me having to pay an arm and a leg for it.

Hijacking huge chunks of the internet - a new How To

David Barr
Stop

Another "Internet is not safe" Article

Sure it's fine on the Reg, where most of us understand it's not earth shattering news, and it's been possible for ages - but not really done.

But I really wish journalists would start being responsible and putting "This is why we use secure connections for sensitive information, and you're safe with it" in these articles. It's not us lot that read this that will suffer, it's Joe Public who now has one more misinformed reason to steer clear of one of mankind's greatest inventions.

Card fraud-fearing Brit tourists carry cash

David Barr
Thumb Up

Proper Advice

Take around 50 quid in cash with you. Open an account with the Nationwide and use that debit card to draw money abroad from a cash machine. Nationwide do not charge fees, or load the exchange rate against you, all other banks do. They're running it as a loss leader, in the hope it makes you bank with them. You don't need to move your account there, just open an account and shuffle money in before you go abroad. Also take your own main bank account card with you as a backup, and your credit card. Let all your card providers know you are going abroad 48-24 hours before you travel.

Be sensibly careful using ATMs abroad, you are less likely to spot a device installed on them as you are back home. If you're not comfortable don't use the machine. Be aware that some ATMs abroad may charge you for using them, and this is not your banks fault. In the US for example the majority that I've found charge, but I found that a particular supermarket (Publix) had ATMs that didn't charge. This is the _ONLY_ way I know of to avoid the treble bank fees, or double foreign exchange fees. (Bank fees - Bank charge for withdrawal, ATM operator charge for withdrawal, loaded exchange rate). (Exchange fees - Commission, loaded exchange rates). As a side note "Commission free" only means they've loaded the exchange rates against you higher. Travellers cheques are a bad idea too. Keep enough money to cover you for 2-3 days. When you have less than enough to cover you for today and tomorrow... go and get more cash. Don't get caught out because the only ATM around you're comfortable using is out of service, or doesn't look right.

The above assumes you're going to a country where ATMs are common and you can use your card there. That does cover most of the world, but check before you go.

Winehouse jibe wins Fringe's funniest gag

David Barr
Thumb Down

The bad news is...

When she finally tops herself, she'll end up more popular than she is now. Best thing I can hope for is she gives up the charlie and gives up the singing.

Surveillance Teddy nabs granny-bag robber

David Barr

@Death Penalty

Death penalty in the UK has gone. Not even for treason or arson.

The care worker probably thought she was taking from someone who no longer needed it, or some kind of justification like that. To be honest she's just following New Labours policies - raid the pension funds to provide more tax credits.

Librarian of child abuse networking site jailed indefinitely

David Barr

@Charles Manning

Do I think that someone who finds little girls sexually attractive is a danger do kids? Of course I do. But we'd have to be the thought police to send them to prison.

The disturbing thing that I'm talking about is what do we do about it? Thought police is clearly unacceptable, but I'm equally uneasy about doing nothing until they molest children.

I don't know if it's an excuse or not, I'm certainly not qualified to be the judge of that.

David Barr
Thumb Up

This is good news

Clearly it's not good news that this abuse ring existed. But it is good news that the Police have done their job to a high level.

I do not believe it would make an impact to, for example, put a paedo image on p2p and arrest people downloading it. Nor would it make an impact to put up a fake site and go after people who subscribed to it.

The people who cause the abuse are the ones who reward the abusers. So that means people who pay for images with cash, or ad views, or in kind by trading other images. It is these people that need to be identified and imprisoned.

I'm not attempting to condone anyone who simply consumes the material. And I am certainly not trying to make a case that someone who goes to every reasonable length to avoid paying for it in any form with the defence of "I did nothing to cause child abuse". However going for the easy targets will just encourage paedos to operate in rings such as this.

I'd imagine the police could get a whole lot of easy arrests and have no impact on child abuse if they did it the wrong way, so I am very pleased that they are doing it the right way and getting the important arrests.

I did read (and I'm afraid I can't remember where) a rather disturbing, but enlightening article with an interview with a paedophile in it. The paedo in this article had openly confessed to being aroused by kids, and said he would never act on it, or endanger children, but that his sexual preferences were his sexual preferences. The disturbing thing is what do we do about it as a society? It seems unfair to punish someone for something outside their control, but it's also entirely unacceptable to put children in danger.

'Malvertizement' epidemic visits house of Newsweek.com

David Barr

@Colin Wilson

No I'm pretty sure they won't. However I think they should.

David Barr
Go

Fine needed

The Police have a duty to prosecute Newsweek.com.

If I go to McDonalds and it turns out their supplier's supplier that was at fault for the glass in my burger then it's McDonalds that would be the ones paying me (before) court.

Likewise if my personal details were passed to fraudsters because the subcontractor's outsourced data center of the insurance company that my bank use to underwrite an insurance policy was dodgy, then it would the bank that was at fault.

Where a crime has affected many people by a small amount - in other words it's not reasonable for a single individual to press charges - then I believe the Police have a duty to act.

If no action is taken then it's a signal to businesses dependant on ad revenue that they do not need to take reasonable care to check their adverts, or at the very least ensure they have procedures and policies which are appropriate for the agencies that they use to supply ads.

U2 tracks disappear from YouTube

David Barr

Is it illegal to serve an inappropriate DCMA takedown order?

We're seeing these DCMA orders being sent out right left and centre these days. I appreciate there's a lot of piracy going on, and guys like Bono and Metallica etc are probably on the breadline. But we're also seeing a lot of them for frivolous reasons, where any lawyer aware of fair use would know it'd be frivolous or wrong, and even where there's clearly no infringement at all, companies use them as a Shut Up command that implies guilt without proof. ISPs and content hosts do not as a rule protest these orders, they simply comply.

I'd like to see a couple of things, first of all people having a go at the content providers for being pussies - but there's fat chance of that. For example, no matter how much people get angry at phorm it'll have almost zero effect on companies. The vast majority of the public don't give a crap beyond what's the cheapest.

But I'd like to see cases where it was certain the DMCA was wrongly used for a judge to rule against them with punitive measures. Has that happened yet?

Three found guilty of web extremism plot

David Barr
Stop

I hope I don't get raided

My Cybook still has "Fatherland" on it, and my PC has a documentary on hypothetical Nazi Britain (if Hitler had successfully invaded the UK). Fatherland because it's a good book, and the documentary because I wanted to find out what would have happened if we had lost.

It's quite possible I've been using it to plan a fourth reich, and I'm looking to learn from Hitler's mistakes and commit genocide without being caught. Turns out I'm not. I also think it's rather unlikely I'll get done for it, since reading a best seller by a popular author is hardly rare.

None of these new laws seemed to be required. We seemed to manage just fine in Northern Ireland with existing laws to prevent terrorism.

US judge says University can ignore Christian course credits

David Barr

Grr

I'm well aware my opinion makes me a nutjob, but I honestly feel that religious education in schools is child abuse.

In New Zealand they banned parents calling their kid "Tula Does the Hula From Hawaii". I'd argue it's far more harmful to take an innocent child and pump their head full of religious shite.

Best Buy helps Apple put an iPhone under every tree

David Barr

Best Buy?

As for the comical foot stamping and gnashing of teeth that they're not knowledgeable... would you like to go to a local shop and speak to someone who really knows what they're talking about and will ensure you get the right product, and get it working?

I'm sure you would, right up to the point where you have to wait a week for the item to get ordered in, and pay a premium for it.

The reason we have Best Buy instead of a friendly local computer shop, and Homebase instead of ironmongers, Asda instead of butchers and bakers, the reason why we get crap holidays in the sun with every single corner cut is because us Brits (and to almost the same extent Americans) want the product right now, and as cheap as possible.

Windfall taxing big oil: how to make the gas crisis worse

David Barr
Coat

Over Simplified

There's a number of things that have already been pointed out which really should go into a balanced article. However it's already a long article and far more than the average Guardian flock member would read before hitting "Stick it to the man" on their poll in favour of a windfall tax.

Economics is apparently a dying subject in Britain, there's not enough interest in it at schools I read. In my own not in the least humble opinion, anyone without a basic grasp of economics shouldn't be allowed to vote. Worse still is our populist government who feel the need to ignore the mandate under which they were elected, and rather than become informed on issues which affect all of us, and handle them for us, they seem to worry more about being re-elected and just go for what White Van Man says he wants in The Mirror.

Would you go to a doctor who diagnosed you with whatever you felt like you had? "Doc, I've been feeling really tired, I think I've got ME" "Ok. You've got ME" "I can't have cancer, I feel fine" "Ok, no cancer then"

Forgot your ID? You must be a terrorist

David Barr

Sadly nobody wants to tell them where to shove it

Me included. When I'm flying over to the US, and going through those ridiculous searches, I'm not going to rock the boat. It's all very well for me to bleat on about draconian policies and my civil liberties being void, but I'm not going to willingly make my flights any more unpleasant than they already are.

Sadly it's the job of the politicians I elect in the UK to make sure that these kinds of things do not happen in the UK. And it's the job of the Foreign Office to put diplomatic pressure on countries outside of the UK which have daft policies like these.

Sadly there's no chance of the UK government even attempting to posture to the US on this issue.

Google Android just five weeks away?

David Barr

What will it be named on here as?

Since there's an army of Apple Sycophants and an army of Google Sycophants... the iPhone gets called the Jesus Phone here.. what will the Reg call the Google Phone?

Yelp 'pay to play' pitch makes shops scream for help

David Barr

An Article Summary

It seems that Yelp does not allow businesses to push the bad reviews under the carpet... however their sales team claims it does in order to get the bucks in.

If this was the UK and Yelp was a bank the FSA would have them for breakfast. And the FSA are pretty toothless.

Oh, and the other lesson is that business owners are paranoid about bad reviews, and seem unlikely to accept that what goes around comes around, and idiot reviews will appear for every business, and it'll average out over time.

And the final one appears to be that Yelp don't give a shit if a review is bad and inaccurate, or slanderous, as long as it makes good reading. They do however care if business try to manipulate the reviews in a positive way.