Posts by JaitcH

So American software doesn't have backdoors?

With the penchant for government to get in to your pants and your brain, particularly the US Government, do you actually believe there are no backdoors around?

Maybe ZTE was stupid enough to leave an engineering access, but there again, they are not the first.

If you want security, go use your own devices to get it.

Or use two handsets, one for receiving a conversation and another for transmitting a conversation - using different networks for each really upsets Plod as they can't figure it. Better still, use a pager to set up calls.

Or,stretched on the ground, facing your talking partner, with hands covering the sides of your faces, you can really have a private conversation. (from an Al Qaida manual not allowed in the UK).

US Customs: No cell phone? That's evidence you are inbolved in crime!

I recently flew in to the USA, for which I have a passport, and the ever friendly ICE agent asks what I have on me. I said shaving kit and a set of clothes.

He asked about 'personal electronics'. I replied I have an MP3 player and a set of Sony noise cancelling headphones.

He starts tapping away on his computer - I already knew what my previous ICE interviews said through an access demand - and he said "Are toy aware you will be a "subject on interest" if you don;t have a cell phone? I said I stopped carrying data across borders when they started stealing laptops and phones.

I said last time his friend said I would be a subject of interest because I had no SIM. His friend also said I had to keep my cell charged so they could check it.

Looks line you're a "subject of interest" either way. Next time I'll carry my Mitsubishi - it only makes calks. Or my pager.

Why hack Facebook?

Wit a little patience FBs security will fail again and display all the goodies OR they will be sold off to advertisers.

FB and security / privacy should not be used in the same sentence.

Day Shift for Them; Night Shift for Us.

A few years ago I was deployed to China to assist a Canadian company set up a manufacturing line in China.

One night I had to work late, and the plant manager said No Problem, we work 24/7. I said why had he always insisted on working days only to which he replied that the Day Shift is for Customers and the Night Shift was for themselves.

Further discrete inquiries revealed that the production moulds used for for a Western customer had their identification / serialising modules replaced with blanks and the night production was used as knock-offs to compete with their Western customer.

Relief is spelt SEXTANT

The US Naval Academy announced that it was discontinuing its course on celestial navigation, considered to be one of its more demanding courses, from the formal curriculum in the spring of 1998 stating that a sextant is accurate to a three-mile (5 km) radius, So I guess only old sea dogs will be able to navigate around South Korea.

Or they could dig up an old Decca Navigator system, which woks in the VLF band and is more difficult to jam - good enough to be picked up by BOAC aircraft in the Cold War when they flew to Moscow.

Another Big Patch Day, and a Week of Start Up Repair Routines

I bought my wife an ASUS bouncy-bouncy (because it has now survived 19 counter-to-floor drops without damage) Eee PC which she uses for browsing for recipes and e-mail in the kitchen. Only a couple of programs loaded - Firefox and Irfan.

Then along comes Wednesday (we are one day ahead of Redmond), up pops the Update flag and once again the StartUp Repair kicks in.

Such fun. Normal service might be restored by Friday. It's enough to drive you to Linux.

What's the difference between LAPD or the Chicago Police and UK Plod?

Unfortunately, very little, it seems. In my distant childhood we were taught to trust the police, they could be relied upon. Our local Bobby had a bicycle, a ground floor office in his Police House and he welcomed visitors 24 hours a day.

Now the local Bobby has been replaced with anonymous people who are regarded as enemy and seem to be as crooked as many of their clients.

The 24-hour news cycle doesn't help, a few tenners or twenties here and there. gets the breaking news.

Even worse are the instances of disclosures of files or data, this requires a concious breach of the system.

You can't trust many priests who might involve a child in a sexual abuse situation. One priest I knew of left his car outside his church supplied vicarage. The church bookkeeper was always suspicious of mileage claims and he would take a stroll past the vicarage and, using a torch, would carefully note the speedo readings. Sure enough, even this preacher was ripping off the church.

Yes, parents are faced with many imponderables these days and they are a sad commentary on today's society.

I don't blame the newspaper industry, they are not paid to be honest. The whole matter centre on problems with police, who enjoy privileges under law that few others have.

If not the 19 inch standard, then why not the 23 inch standard?

The 19-inch (482.6 mm) rack claims their origin as mounting systems for rail-road (railway) signalling relays, It has served many industries well. It's even used in ships.

If this minor league server centre player is unhappy about 19 inches, why not switch to the 23-inch (580 mm) standard which even the EU recognises as the ETSI rack, relating to the European Telecoms Standards Institute.

The vertical spacing is identical and the 19 inch adapter pates are commonly available.

It appears that Facebook's Frank Frankovsky doesn't know his rack hardware too well.

Finally, if the 19 inch isn't satisfactory because it gets overfilled, why does Frankovsky the larger standard won't suffer a similar fate? Don't believe me, just go check-out an airport baggage carousel.

Given all the conflict of interests between ministers and suppliers, this is nothing

This latest MS slight of hand is but a blip on the radar screen given the weeks news about Murdoch's pipeline in to the minister's office concerning satellite broadcasting rights.

When VietNam closed down a couple of software copy shops in Ho Chi Minh City and Ha Noi, MS set up office in Ha Noi to advise the national government on things computerised.

The government also undertook to eliminate hot MS software from it;s computers. Being honourable people, it did just that.

Then iIt promptly opted for Open Source software. Score for Linux!

Smart people.

China unites former enemies

The USA, Philippines and VIETNAM have just completed naval exercises near the Spratly Islands - VietNam's name for the islands it claims - although China thinks it owns the whole bloody South China Sea including the parts within VN's 200 mile zone.

There's oil out there and now VN has found gas in it's area. Little wonder the USA is around.

With over 800 patent claims against Apple ...

the Jobs copy has more to gain by seeking a quieting of the legal action.

BTW, what's in a few black pixels that they are making so much noise about?

Tories stick together like glue, old school tie, What?

If this one isn't enough of a sacrifice, then there's always Hunt.

Surprisingly, there are no salacious tid-bits like cross-dressing, homosexuality, orgies, Russia spies, Toy Boys, etc. Quite tame compared to previous Tory incidents How the NofW is missed, by some.

You would have thought that ...

the US or Israel would have thought of a more novel trick than this.

Perhaps they should switch to Linux, that will make things harder.

Too cheap to drop the thing in the sea

The best death for any potential hassle should have been sufficient to bury the damn thing in Davy Jones locker.

These drilling rigs come with all mod cons including satellite feeds for high-speed InterNet, numerous TV channels and even their own cell base station.

They might be smart enough to drill holes kilometres below the surface but they sure are slow in choosing optimum secure communications. Even MS owned Skype would have offered much more security.

When will people learn that cell systems serve the authorities and not the user?

Now this poor slob, who no longer works for BP, will spend a fortune on lawyers, after he gets bail.

LG only advertises fridges and washers in Indochina market

Ne'er a word about LG TV's or handsets around here.

Their household products are extremely good and super easy on the electric meters. HTC and Samsung rule the handset market, Nokia is still picking up business in the low end for now - cheap Chinese cells are on their way.

Limited supplies of Apple phones don't satisfy the market, neither does the gray market.

Stupid 'security' - Do it Nature's way

Here in VietNam many indigenous farmers live in stilt houses and they keep their animals underneath the living quarters - which is how thee disease transfers to humans.

Disease mutiplication is easily achieved by housing chickens together with a carrier. Then you take an infeted bird and chop it up and smuggle the meat in to the area you want to infect.

"a new case is uncovered of IP or trademark infringement involving Apple products"

Apart fromall the usual knock-offs we now have iCORNER in SaiGon / Ho Chi Minh. They sell gray market iThingies.

More Seurity Theatre

The US record of proactie anti-terroism is very sad.

Starting with World Trade Centre crashes, through Richard Reid (exploding shoes) and the Panys on Fire guy in Detroit. None were stopped by the less than wonderflul Home Land Security.

Look at the Pants on Fire guy. Was granted a visa ater an interview; Father then visits self-same embassy and tells them his son is a no-good terrorist.

Months after original visa issued Pants on Fire buys a ticket and air carrier verifies visa validity.

Pants on Fire flies to Europe, again his data is submtted through PNR and visa checks; he then undergoes a second pysical security chrck and is permitted to board.

Nothwithstanding the 7 hour flight the wondrous Homeland Security dozes at the wheel. Plane overflies Canada and just as it comes in to land at Detroit, his pants misfire.

No where did the pre-flight data stop this man, everything was discovered post landing.

BTW PNRs for passengers on Canada-boud flights are also given to the US as wel as Canada.

You can apply for your PNR filings with all your personal bumph including whether you ask for a religious meal by applying on-line to the Homeland goons.

This will save News International a Fortune in Bribes

No more bribing crooked Plods for the low down on their article targets.

The more automation te easier things are to crack.

What were the alleged offences based on?

Was it the fact that Bittorrent was used for transmission or did they actually sample the data?

My employer sends all manner of documents, RFQ's and tenders using Bittorrent.

Why should anyone expect the Home Office not to be clueless ...

when they are headed by one of the dumbest ministers and likely there only so Cameron can claim to be a equal opportunity man, except the equal opportunity is supposed to refer to gender not the employment of cretins.

The Tories condemned, and dispatched, the National ID Card proposed by Labour, then they follow this up with Plod's Number Plate Photography System. Now this GCHQ proposal which is much more intrusive than an ID card.

The USA has demonstrated that mass communications slurping doesn't work, so why should the UK waste more money on the scheme?

And the winner is ... Bin Laden

When you consider how the sanctity of the U.S. Constitution has been serially violated;how people have lost any pretence of privacy; how (in the UK) you can be jailed for not divulging a password; how much this 'security theatre' is costing and what government programs for deserving people have suffered, I find it very hard to accept the US, or any country, have 'won'.

One man, and a pile of his money, have changed the world dramatically no matter what your perspective is, religious or otherwise,

How many 'terrorists', real or imagined, have been caught by those millions of CCTV cameras that record the daily minutia of Brits going about their daily business, BEFORE an atrocity? And don't even suggest those FBI set-up jobs are anything more than theatre.

As I said, IMHO, Bin Laden won, hands down.

A large section of the smartphone market ignored

Anyone who has been caught in the deluges in Singapore, Malaysia or elsewhere in the Indochina region that they call monsoons but in reality have more in common with a shower turned on full blast will appreciate this type of handset / cell.

With 'cheap' iPhone replacement Motherboards damaged by water costing the best part of $400, anything that offers protection against rain is welcome. I remember a Panasonic water proof unit along with one from Sony-Ericson that sold very well out here.

There's something detracting about someone fishing a iPhone out of a plastic bag to answer a call, and that's when you have found shelter to do even that it.

The soaking quality of these downpours that can happen without notice, means that almost all clothing is useless for protection of personal electronics.

Transportation hubs are major catchment areas for Internal Security

When travelling in China it is common to be asked for your ID card or passport even more so in BeiJing.

More and more of the Chinese police are being issued two-way radio's with cameras and ID card scanners so that the subjects full data file is accessible any where, any time. Foreigners visa fies can be pulled up, too.

It won't be long before the UK has it too, who knows, maybe ACPO is already planning the latest assault on British citizen's privacy.

UK - the European Unions Odd Man Out

Once again the British consumer will get the short end of the stick.

You pay more for cars that have to be built reverse to the rest which increases costs and the complications in driving on alternate sides doesn't really enhance safety.

Then you have those bloody great monster plugs, engineered when materials were considerably cheaper. I think it's true to say only Malaysia, Singapore and possibly HongKong use them as standard.

It seems that the two-pin (with or without ground) is quite satisfactory for hundreds of millions, if not billions, of people. I can buy FOUR two-pin + ground Euro plugs for the same price as a UK plug out here.

I understand the ring main concept and the individual fuses but in a country of 90-million odd where at least 80% of the population only have the main meter fuse to protect them the ring concept seems a little excessive.

Differences in standards were intended to protect manufacturers turf, to keep foreign competition out.but since Britain imports most of it's durable goods why, once again, use different standards? It means that all the latest and greatest equipment will be built for the major markets and small tokens made for the UK.

Bloody ridiculous.

My name is Fuch, and I'm from Wandel & Goltermann Inc

Were the words that caused a secretary to scream with alarm.

Mr. Fuch was the then president of Wandel & Goltermann Inc., a very 'proper' gentleman in all senses of the word. He had come to purchase ROR Associates of Toronto.

He pronounced his name in the German manner which was essentially the sound of replacing the last two characters with CK.

After hurried discussions with the president of the Canadian company it was decided he would call himself Fuch, pronounced similarly to MUCH!

This is why he was called Fuch, like Much, all over North America!

New Obama -Holder Justice System

1. Police grab the goods;

2. Prosecutors rifle through files, extract evidence t be used in prosecution;

3. Destroy all evidence;

4. Defence us neutered as it has no material;

5. Court hasn't adjudicated the charges, What happens if the prosecutors lose;

The whole think stinks, makes Russia look like a model justice system.

AND Obama took law in Boston? Bent b*stard.

A few cars 'worrisome; how would the FCC describe millions of Smartfones?

QUOTE: "the regulator had described Google’s interception of data as “worrisome”, after the internet giant admitted its Street View cars in more than 30 countries secretly gobbled chunks of web traffic as they travelled through unencrypted Wi-Fi networks"

Therefore I take it the FCC as zero concerns with hundreds of millions of Smartfones sniffing WiFi data globally? AND that the US NSA has full, unfettered access to this data!

Like the rest of the US government, I think the FCC has is priorities severely compromised.

Personally, I trust Google way more than the US government who thinks it is the dominant country, which is delusional given it has no money.

It's the VIRTUAL part I don't trust

QUOTE: "This information is useful to energy suppliers but it is also potentially valuable to a whole host of other organisations too." SUCH as thieves and Second-Storey men?

I have a modern TaiWan made motor-scooter which is heavily endowed with electronics including a magnificent electronic dash. The travelled kilometres are stored in this module in allegedly non-volatile memory.

I say allegedly because the distance travelled display (what do you call a meter that records kilometres?) has failed three times in 30,000 kilometres.

Fortunately, I log my daily usage for expenses so I am aware within 5 kilometres what the distance should be.

These new 'smartmeters', at least the one I took apart, were all electronic, no moving parts. This means that the only record exists within the computers of the power company which is akin to giving a fox the key-card to the hen house. If they don't trust us, why should we trust them?

At least with meters with a mechanical component there is an opportunity to recover data independently.

Your article reported that the German investigators detected a reading every two seconds and since every 24 hours = 86 400 seconds it equates to 43,200 data bursts each day. In a MESH network, with repeater or re-transmission options activated that equates too one hell of a lot of RF transmissions, likely continuous. This is way higher than TETRA (Terrestrial Trunked Radio) system for communications used by Plod, et al.

I, too, wonder what happened to the opt in / out and suppliers pay discussion. It sounds as wishy-washy as any other Cameron policy.

Why is it that government continues to buy bad technology and yet ...

never seems to go back and reclaim their (the taxpayers) money back?

If this happened in a civil setting either businesses supplying to business or to retail customers there would be hell to pay. Many years ago Crown Agents acted as inspectors for overseas governments and they were tough. They ALWAYS made sure their clients got exactly what they were paying for.

On a couple of occasions they caught my department short and it was always compliance or no acceptance.

Pity the UK government doesn't use them.

These days often the government rep who signs off on a deal is hired by the supplier/

Almost Completely a Virtual Meter

I 'acquired' one of these newer 'smartmeters' not so long ago and took it apart, carefully, It was returned but in less than pristine condition.

Almost all the metering is electronic. Sensing (consumption) can be achieved by acoustic-optical doppler, magnetic, mass-thermal, wheel-turbine / pelton, ultrasonic, etc. They have all the angles and substances covered.

The LCD display was chip on glass, driven serially, with the microcontroller linking everything together including RF communications, etc. There was a menu that includes encryption.

Seemingly, the display inviolability is big with regulators, the old mechanical readers failed, but they usually retained the data even when the mechanical damage was severe, This isn't the case with these 'virtual' meters which places the consumer at the mercy of the utility and who trusts a utility?

Technically remarkable, But for the consumer the mechanical meter is best.

I wonder what recreational drugs Apple lawyers use?

At a recent count Apple had OVER 800 patent claims against it which is more than it has claims against others.

If it were ever able to persuade a judge they had the rights to a rectangle, it would take minimal effort to make straight-sided object sprout curves.

QUOTE: "A quadrilateral having all four interior angles of 90°, opposite sides that are parallel, and congruent diagonals that bisect each other."'

So adding a curve would destroy the 90° argument, as well as the opposite sides that are parallel. Since it is early in the morning, my time, I'm not even going to figure the diagonals. But if that is 'thermonuclear' we have little to worry about.

Maybe this would be the patent claim that would force yet another patent law review world-wide.

What's next, the wheel or the circle? I think Fred Flintstone would have something to say about that. At least Yabba dabba doo!

Lucky Mongolians, Nepalese, Urdu and Swahili people ...

they avoid the frustration as Siri doesn't speak their languages.

I am surprised no one has complained about their horrendous data bills OR the lack of capacity to handle Siri communications.

The Americans Know how to Do IT.

The US Government simply stipulates that certain work will be done within the USA by US citizens, not Wanabe's or Aliens but real citizens. And it works, only Canada has waivers and then only for certain classes of security items.

It;s a pity Cameron doesn't consider his fellow citizens first. Besides, he is also missing out on all that income tax whereas the money paid to Indians is gone forever.

As for private data going abroad, does the government even consider the increased risks incurred by using foreign nationals to process data? Does it comply with EU law?

The banks are no better, many fob you off to someone working in a Mumbai sweatshop for handful of Rupees per hour to save money but for customers they are near useless. I spent GBP40 trying to get hold of a British person located in Britain who would actually understand that SaiGon is not an English city when the World's Most Incompetent Bank - HSBC - failed to deliver a card.

Now they have sent me an electronic PIN device that doesn't work - it produces strange hieroglyphs that suggests it's malfunctioning. Wonderful stuff, High Tech. Another opportunity to speak to the Mumbai cretins.

Hasbro Insulting Their Customers

Hasbro is, in effective, saying their customers are too dumb to differentiate between their ingenious transforming toys and a computer.

The Hasbro lawyers are obviously just out of high school, not law school. They must have felt a bit sheepish trying to explain to a judge that the two sets of products are even similar.

Hopefully this stupidity will end because whether they like or not there are only so many words in the dictionary.

They've Been Offering iThingies for Years

The trade in fake travelling money, imitation worldly goods is amazing. The more expensive items are extremely well crafted, one might even say they appear realistic.

Lat year when I visited HongKong I thought the knock-off iPad was a little cheap even for the Chinese but when I picked one up I realised it was too light in weight to be real.

If you think this celebration is expensive, you should take in a Chinese funeral. I have seen hundreds of dollars worth of the finest food put into the grave, along with other expensive items. They also pour many bottles of expensive wine or cognac on the grave to ensure the late departed will have enough for their journey.

People shouldn't knock it, it's tradition. Even people in the West have been buried with worldly goodies including cars.

The Asian cultures respect their forebears far more than do Western cultures, so perhaps they are on to a worthwhile tradition. When did other readers visit their parents or grandparents graves last?

Obviously this principal has never ...

stood by a crowd of teenaged school children and listened to their exchanges. Enough to make a docker blush.

It also highlights how far things have changed for it wasn't that long ago that the BBC excised the word 'bloody' from Flanders and Swann's rendition of their "It's Bloody January again" sung in their 'The Drop of a Hat' album.

The BBC even banned the song "Foggy Dew" from the airwaves as it contained the phrase: "Oh, I am a bachelor and I live with my son, and we work at the weaver's trade" which disclosed that the son was a bastard! (See: < http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foggy_Dew >) The late Burl Ives was once imprisoned in Mona, Utah, for singing it in public, when authorities deemed it a bawdy song!

How times have changed!

Perhaps the spy accessories are slowing the network

The US National Security Agency has, allegedly, monitoring software on many cell systems worlld-wide. They were caught with their pants down in Greece a few years ago when one system, favoured by government ministers including those of the Prime Minister Kostas Karamanlis, were found to have non-standard software. It "conference called" phone calls to 14 prepaid mobile phones where the calls were recorded. See: < http://spectrum.ieee.org/telecom/security/the-athens-affair > for all the untrigue.

There was also the matter of uusual antennae observed from a passing helicopters in their embassy grounds which is in midtown near the Hilton Hotel and the famous glass statue of The Runner in the middle of a traffic circle.

So perhaps the NSA was protecting it's turf when the heat was turned up on ZTE for getting in to it's line of business. What with all the drones flying around and Israeli agents terminating nuclear researchers it's getting sort of crowded in Tehran.

Apple’s layer rejected the sticker plan as “cumbersome.

What a load of tosh. More likely it's a matter of aesthetics (a branch of philosophy dealing with the nature of beauty, art, and taste) of sticking anything on an Apple box. The Ghost of Jobs wouldn't approve.

Perhaps the court should have stipulated the paper colour (fuorescent red) along with the font size (something in the 20's). That would certainly challenge Apple aesthetics.

One Cambodian mobile network is promoting 5G for it's new mobile/portable TV offering - many areas lack water, mains electricity, etc, But they have their portable TV's and solar chargers!

An E-mail (and SMS) is Forever!

In beats me that in this day and age that people don't know the liabilities attached to the use of e-mails, SMS, IM, etc.

Our e-mail system has a multi-lingual dictionary covering all the languages our employees use but it also has a dictionary filter which blocks the use of certain words and combinations.

For example, a word such as 'bugger' would be blocked,but 'debugger' would be allowed. working around the restrictions is difficult 'bug' 'ger' would get trapped whereas 'bug' 'screen' would be permitted. The whole package cost under $200.

In our company case it is made easier since we all use Nuance Dragon Dictating so it makes it seem like you are talking to the other party.

I have always found that talking to/treating others as you would wish them to speak or treat you is always the best maxim although I can see when working in an atmosphere that obviously permeates Goldman Sachs makes it difficult. It seems that the notorious Blankfein has forgotten that HE is the corporate standard.

P.S. 'muppet' should be Muppet™ as it trademark of the late, talented, Jim Henson.

Just who do these MPs think they are? Americans?

Google is an American corporation and has to comply with their laws, primarily.

If the UK wants to introduce new Nanny legislation, they are free to do so but they have to remember their jurisdiction goes only as far as 200 miles beyond the coast.

Of course, the conflict of interest they have doesn't concern these MPs what with Yeo's Pink Computer (on MP expenses) and all the other fraud these characters got up to. I also understand that the Tories have a lot of strange habits to conceal. For instance, Stephen Milligan, a former MP for Eastleigh in Hampshire, and at the time a Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Arms Minister offed himself wearing female underwear. The list includes Profumo (at least he was straight), Hanningfield, Chaylor,etc.

Mosley doesn't really deserve the 'support' he gets, therefore it follows these 'Honourable' gentlemen are looking out for someone else.

At least he doesn't have a cavern named in his notoriety such as the Hell-Fire Caves just outside High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire (see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Wycombe_Caves).

The taxpayers are entitled to know where their money goes and they are equally entitled to know what the people who they elect do. If they value their privacy, MPs should get their snouts out of the public trough and work for a living.

How about Formula 1 and Sex?

An almost unbelievable number of combinations brings Max's name: Formula 1 sex; nazi max sex; sex, car racing; sex, F1 racing; etc.

Mosley has only himself to blame.

One search combo might bring BA out with Max: [ 33 BA stewardesses ]

UK User Pay; North America Suppliers Pay

The proposal was, at one point - who knows now - that USERS in the UK were to PAY for the METER.

In the States there is an element of choice whereas, in Ontario, Canada, there isn't. Still there are many ways to shield the meter so that it effectively is neutered.

Ontario has gone remote metering crazy.

The latest trend is to meter hot water, so they stick all these meters in condominiums (rental units are barred by law) and they are read remotely.

ONLY there is one BIG PROBLEM. The meter can;t differentiate between HOT, WARM or COLD water so in effect they are little more than a scam. One remote reading company is owned by shareholders whose forbears were involved in protection rackets - now they atr taking in the dollars and don't have to break a bone doing it!

Foxconn maybe the world's 10th biggest employer by (live) body count ...

and by the number of suicides, BUT I bet they are way, way down if their salary bill was used as the unit of comparison.

They are simply a glorified sweat shop.

More like a Conundrum

The BBC is a government agency and it could be conferred that much of it's archives are the property, indirectly, of the British tax and licence payers. Almost everything it has stashed away is history - except, of course for the last Benny Hill series they recorded that was maliciously destroyed on the orders of some management pratt.

Whilst I have no objection to paying 'reasonable costs' of conversion, the tendency will for the BBC to see it as an answer to it's fiscal constraints.

Perhaps the answer is a two-tier pricing scheme. A regular fee and another offered to licence holders with a 15-20$ discount.

There is no need for them to 'gift wrap' CDs or DVDs - they can simply slap a plain white label on the product as an effort to cut costs.

External production contracts can easily incorporate provisions for retail sale.

Little of BBC TV fare interests me and my radio interests are presently satisfied by a remote programmable receiver I have installed at a family members house with the recordings transferred over the InterNet.

Don't count on using Smartmeters ...

aince California, and several other states, make the installation of Smartmeters optional. It's likely people of interest to the CIA will demand old meters be retained.

Another another small point, the CIA is prohibited fro operating in the USA.