Posts by Simon Orr 22 publicly visible posts • joined 17 Nov 2008
I always get annoyed with huge fines - Especially when figures are pulled out of thin air.
In this case, however, it's not some student with 6 MP3s, it's someone who ahs specifically gone out of his way to break the law repeatedly over a long period of time - So although I disagree with the sum charged, it should be big enough to give him a moment of pause.
I was assaulted in front of a CCTV camera operated by my office - I reported the assault to the police and asked security to hang on to the tapes.
3 months later I get a letter from the police telling me that there's no CCTV footage available - Which is utter crap as I've watched it myself.
So - Why do we have them again?
I've been having emails about this since last night. Some more info for you:
We have received confirmation from LINX that they are currently experiencing difficulties with a core switch located in Telehouse East on their Brocade LAN.
Unfortunately this issue has caused congestion on a multi-10G link bundle between Telehouse North and Sovereign House.
LINX are currently working on the issue and hope to restore full connectivity shortly.
... When it comes down to it, if there is a back door, it will be found and they'll have nowhere to turn.
Also, if you all remember, the reason Windows XP didn't have any easter eggs (Like the Win98 developers in a specially named folder) is due to the fact that no secure locations would run the software if it had undocumented features - It was considered a security risk. So, unless MS are willing to give up every public sector client, they wouldn't do this intentionally.
That's not to say there aren't holes you could drive a bus through - I just don't believe they're there intentionally :)
I also take serious exception to
"noble intentions are not good enough on their own when applied to high profile cases"
So it's fine for you or I to be treated like criminals with no evidence and a lot of spin but if it's someone "important" they don't get manhandled? Not because it's not right to barge into their homes without legal backing but because it causes the media to criticise...
I have to say that I'm on the fence with regards to MS - I use a lot of MS stuff all day (as a .Net developer) and although the older kit was awful, the newer tools are far better - Enough so that I don't begrudge using them.
I think Silverlight as compared to Flash is actually a superior product (Cue flames) but with the low user base, the inherent distrust of MS and the HUGE head start adobe has, it's going to take a while before silverlight gains a competitive market share.
I do believe it's going to happen and I think anyone who develops in .Net will start to appreciate silverlight more and more - I suspect that in 5 years, silverlight and flash will be installed side-by-side on most machines
FWIW, The ITV site was horrible anyway - excusing the obligatory forced adverts, I'm not sure if the problem was Silverlight or the poor implementation - I suspect the latter.
Anyway, I think it's going to be interesting going forwards - hopefully MS/Silverlight will give adobe a kick. Now if only they could de-bloat Acrobat Reader...
"But if P2P traffic is consuming so much bandwidth that it is having a detrimental effect on other users then something needs to be done. Other users are also paying for that service and bandwidth is not infinite."
I do respect your point of view but if the ISPs hadn't sold something they couldn't provide, there would be no issue. If throttling a lot fo users is currently preventing/mitigating issues, then selling smaller packages would've done the same- the issue I have is that they sell a package and then complain if you use it. If they can't support it, they shouldn't sell it.
and @Paul: Sorry dude, if your ISP oversold bandwitch and now can't supply you with what they promised, whose fault is that? Just because you don't use what you bought doesn't mean noone else should.
"Apple on the other hand, doesn't even use a serial number or CD key for OS installs. I don't have to worry about finding a new key every time I update or reformat a system."
-er- perhaps that's because no one would bother trying to pirate it? I'm not trying to apple bash here but since the discussion relates to how locked in it is, surely you're just helping the case against apple?
I personally believe that if found guilty they should live through an ongoing hell for the rest of their natural lives as punishment but although I suspect from what I've read that they are guilty, they haven't been proven guilty in a court of law - so it's no different to someone accusing any of you 9or me) and having your neighbours throw stones at you when you'd done nothing worse than upset someone who can hold a grudge.
My respect for the police in this country has been knocked so many times there's not much left but I do sympathise with them in this situation as the information could well allow the suspects to get away with something due to a biased jury claim.
All that said, you can't turn back the clock and there's no way the info will ever be concealed now.
That whether or not you'd want them to be able to search the records, this seems to be one of the few decisions recently that has paid more than lip service to privacy. I think that's a great step in the right direction. keep it up!
If we can have a system that provides the benefits with only negligible risk to privacy, I say well done.
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