* Posts by Velv

2756 publicly visible posts • joined 21 Jan 2010

Blighty's online pr0n gatekeepers are begging for a regulatory beating, says digital rights org

Velv
Headmaster

Re: Bloody big state Tories

The Conservative Party

HELLO!

Velv
Boffin

And do some research on the "best" country to point your VPN at.

Switzerland for example has some very strict privacy laws that prevent access to your data, including IP addresses.

Cram this in your Pai hole! New York, Cali, eight other US states sue to stop T-Mobile-Sprint merger

Velv
Mushroom

Re: America, Inc.

1) Drain the swamp.

I seem to remember a Presidential candidate promising to do just that, DRAIN THE SWAMP!. Pity he was short 3 million votes in the election and didn't become President

Oh, wait...

Give my regards to Reigate: Print biz Canon to up sticks in the sticks

Velv
Mushroom

Star Wars A New Hope, Gold Five: "STAY ON TARGET"

Tories: "STAY ON TARGET"

Despite the increasing evidence of how bad Brexit is going to be for the people of the UK, the Tory party (who never wanted Brexit in the first place but caved in to a couple of loons with money) insist it must be delivered. Stop. Ask the people again, and properly this time with an understanding of what Brexit actually is.

Or carry on like Gold Five...

Money laundering and crypto-coin legislation could hurt open-source ecosystem – activists

Velv
Headmaster

Don't ask stupid questions, of course they would get rid of them if they could

TSB appoints new tech transformation chief cuz last tech transformation went really, really well

Velv
Headmaster

I've worked for several UK banks and they pretty much all are going through transformations all of the time.

In most cases they rarely finish properly and are replaced by the next fad coming along.

To quote Mr. Incredible:

No matter how many times you save the world, it always manages to get back in jeopardy again. Sometimes I just want it to stay saved! You know, for a little bit? I feel like the maid; I just cleaned up this mess! Can we keep it clean for... for ten minutes!

'Happy to throw Leo under the bus', Meg Whitman told HP after Autonomy buyout

Velv
Coat

Country and Western

Elwood:

What kind of music do you usually have here?

Claire:

Oh, we got both kinds. We got country *and* western.

from Blues Brothers

Swedish court declines to detain Belmarsh prison resident Julian Assange

Velv
Mushroom

Master of his own destiny. He’s already held by the UK, the Merkins have said they want him, he’s got nothing to lose by volunteering to go to Sweden (there’s less risk of the Swedes handing him to the Merkins than the Tories British)

Infosec bloke claims: Pornhub owner shafted me after I exposed gaping holes in its cartoon smut platform

Velv
Coat

Re: Who watches cartoon porn anyway?

I'd go with Betty, but I'd be thinking of Wilma

Uber JUMPs at chance to dump load of electric bikes across Islington

Velv
Go

Next logical step

Gig economy delivery “drivers” will no longer have their own transport.

They simply accept a delivery job, pick up the nearest hire bike, pick up the delivery, maybe swapping bikes, reach destination and un-hire bike, deliver. No need to make investment in your own bike and spend time and money finding somewhere safe to lock it on each job.

Not really a practical or cheap option yet, but give it time.

Now Chinese-made drones rubbing US govt up the Huawei: 'Strong concerns' DJI kit threat to national security

Velv
Pirate

It's going to be interesting to see just how quickly the shelves in US shops become bare when all the products with Chinese components are removed.

Jeff Bezos finally gets .Amazon after DNS overlord ICANN runs out of excuses to delay decision any further

Velv
Facepalm

Re: Who will use it?

"How are TLD a "scam" ?"

D'oh!

It's not the content of the URL on the TLD that's the scam, its the selling of the TLD in the first place to companies with too much money. Creating new TLDs was purely a money maker for ICANN.

Twist my Arm why don't you: Brit CPU behemoth latest biz to cease work with Huawei – report

Velv
Terminator

Re: Since when have...

There are a LOT of things sold in the US that have ARM licensed chips irrespective of where they are made.

Like a Mafioso protection racket: "Would be a shame if all those things couldn't be sold any more"

Velv
Terminator

Re: Conspiracy theory No. 1

"I smell a rat here"

Couldn't agree more. Someone political has threatened had a word with ARM over what might happen to anything using their designs if they continue to supply China companies with licenses.

I see no reason the Board of Directors would reach the conclusion they need to comply with the US regulations on their own, somebody must have influenced them.

Pushed around and kicked around, always a lonely boy: Run Huawei, Google Play, turns away, from Huawei... turns away

Velv
Terminator

Reap what you sow

The beginning of the end of American dominance?

Americans seem to think they are the only First World country, that the rest of the West is years behind, that the Second World is still stuck in 1950s communism, and that South America, Africa and the Far East still live huts. Americans are in for a sharp awakening when Huawei, Samsung and others marginalise the USA.

Velv
Pirate

Exactly, while Huawei might not be able to bundle the Google version of Apps with whatever OS is in the box, is it legitimate for Google to block access to services based on the hardware manufacturer?

Can the user still fire up Chrome or Firefox and browse to YouTube, GMail, etc?

Long-distance dildo devotee deploys ding-dong over data deceit

Velv
Paris Hilton

Re: re: why a manufacturer thought it would be fine to store details of the use of its products

Whomever made THAT decision should be job-shifted to "product testing"

They’d probably consider that promotion, and I don’t mean in a Peter Principle way.

Microsoft goes to great lengths to polish Azure Active Directory's password policies

Velv
Joke

Re: Shakespear optional...

This is just such a REALLY bad idea. It really wouldn’t take the infinite monkeys very long at all to brute force your password.

Velv
Coat

But still limited to mandating only the four types of character :(

Why can't we force users to include Cyrillic and other characters in their password, full BOFH mode :)

Supreme Court says secret UK spy court's judgments can be overruled after all

Velv
Big Brother

"Dissenting from Lord Carnwath were Lords Sumption and Wilson, who said section 67(8) was clear and that Parliament had obviously intended to ensure the IPT could not be judicially reviewed or otherwise appealed against."

And I think they are both right, it clearly was the intention of Parliament to put the IPT beyond review. That doesn't mean Parliament is right or should get away with it. Our legal structure has evolved over many hundreds of years to be as fair as possible to everyone and to remove those protections is itself criminal.

San Francisco votes no to facial-recognition tech for cops, govt – while its denizens create it

Velv
Big Brother

Re: A loophole glaring:

The cynical, while noting that outwardly the industry was against the bill, understand that the loophole covering private enterprise was included specifically to permit San Francisco based companies to develop and offer the surveillance services.

Japan on track to start testing Alfa-X, fastest train in the world with top speed of 400kph

Velv
Facepalm

"In Blighty, HS2 is due to carry its first passengers in late 2026 and is hoping for a top speed of 360kph"

Yeah, and experience should tell us it will be at least five years late (phase 1, London to Birmingham, not running until 2031, phase to nearer 2040), won't deliver the speed claimed (some trains might hit 300kph for short stretches), and be three times over the budget (topping the £100 billion mark, given the estimate was £33bn in 2010).

Don't get me wrong, I'm a big fan of mass transit, and I really wish we could just bulldoze fast lines between our cities like the Chinese. But we have this thing called democracy so the NIMBYs get their say. And there's a lot of NIMBYs.

Velv
Coat

Re: Chris Grayling has expressed an interest

Wrong company.

This one actually has some vehicles.

UK Home Office: If we want Ofcom to break the law, that should be perfectly legal

Velv
Flame

This all sounds just so "American" in it's attempts by government lobbyists to screw over the working classes.

So glad we're a member of the EU and therefore we as the little people get protections against such government interference.

Oh, wait...

Here's what Autonomy told its salesmen they were allowed to do

Velv
Pint

I'm onto the beer

Talk about a ticket to ride... London rail passengers hear pr0n grunts over PA system

Velv
Headmaster

So this is why the Unions are campaigning against single crewed trains...

At least when there's a driver and a guard they can each claim it was the other.

Get in line, USA: Sweden reopens Assange rape allegations probe

Velv
Flame

If he hadn't jumped bail he'd probably have served any sentence in Sweden and be supping cocktails on Bondi beach by now.

Alas an overblown ego has brought us seven years and a distinct feeling of déjà vu.

Age verification biz claims no-payment model for 40% of Brits ahead of July pr0n ban

Velv
Headmaster

Re: Who watches the watchers?

(NSFW discussion but no images)

Turns out 17,435,654 people and counting...

Velv
Childcatcher

schadenfreude

Fake ID, VPNs, criminals, paedophiles, free or paid content - all irrelevant.

The ONLY things that matters is that Theresa May (first as the then Home Secretary, now as PM) and the Tories can tell the Daily Mail "we put the protection in place you screamed for, please vote for us in the next election" That it can be circumvented, is impractical, and that it weakens security is not important to MPs today. Wait until they're personal details are breached (and MPs have a history of kinks being made public, so this is just another avenue).

Autonomy's one-time US sales chief can't remember if he took part in grand jury hearing

Velv
Pint

I'm guessing there's going to be a lot of fat Register readers by the end of Summer given the amount of popcorn being consumed...

And in this week's weird news, Feds seize dark-web news site, accuse admins of getting rich off drug cyber-souk

Velv
Black Helicopters

Re: Superhero Justice (NSFW)

Team America: World Police

FUCK YEAH!

Portal to 'HELL' cracks open in street – oh sorry, it's just another pothole

Velv
Coat

Diversity Officers

Has anyone noticed that almost all Diversity Officers are Female?

Want to know why?

It's cheaper

US foreign minister Mike Pompeo to give UK a bollocking over Huawei 5G plans

Velv
Flame

It's a pity the UK has decided to leave Europe, the clout of Europe in the rest of the World is just what the US needs to put it back in its box.

The Chinese make good kit. Do I entirely trust them? No. But then I don't trust the American kit either.

The US is about to invade "surgically eliminate unwanted activity" in Iran, and the stance the UK and Europe take could be very telling for the future. The US is very soon going to find itself isolated on the World stage. Make American Great Again? Trump has almost achieved entirely the opposite, and is on course to totally fail by re-election time.

UK taxman falls foul of GDPR, agrees to wipe 5 million voice recordings used to make biometric IDs

Velv

Re: ...and enables us to get callers through to an adviser faster

I’ve only ever had to call the Corporation Tax office, and both times got through immediately, they were surprisingly friendly, got to the account quickly and fixed the problem on the phone. I guess it depends on the type problem and customer for the service quality.

Velv

Re: Voice ID, over the phone, for financial security?

I’m less concerned when the organisation is one I owe money to, there’s no way they can lose my money through the system.

I’d be more concerned when the technology is securing the money o already have. Barclays seem to believe it is secure, they rolled it out in 2016:

https://newsroom.barclays.com/r/3383/barclays_launches_voice_security_technology_to_all_customers

Ok Google, please ignore this free tax filing code so we can keep on screwing America

Velv
Boffin

Re: 'tis the Merkin way

And it’s going exactly the same way in the UK with HMRCs push to “make tax digital”.

There’s been articles here on El Reg about the new digital filing for VAT. HMRC has published a list of approved software, crucially however there is no price comparison, so you need to trawl the 200 to find a free one. And many of the paid options have the word “free” spread across their pages so search engines don’t help.

Just wait for then next round when SA100 Personal Tax requires a software return...

And in current affairs... Apple recalls three-prong AC adapters after some shocking behavior

Velv
Coat

Re: Duckhead?

Being Apple, depends how you hold it... it could be Duck God, it could be Rabbit

God

Owner of Smuggler's Inn B&B ordered to put up a sign warning guests not to cross into Canada

Velv
Coat

Re: Just waiting for the inevitable

Canada might be paying for it, but the labour (labor) will be Mexican

We reveal what's inside Microsoft's Azure Govt Secret regions... wait, is that a black helico–

Velv
Headmaster

I’m pretty sure Microsoft will give the locations to those Government departments who are eligible to use the service, they’re just not making the location public knowledge.

I've had it with these mother-fscking slaps on this mother-fscking plane: Flight fight sparks legal brouhaha over mid-air co-ords

Velv
Headmaster

"Number two: don't smack someone in the face unless they smack you in the face."

Number two: don't smack someone in the face. unless they smack you in the face.

FIFY

Loose Women woman's IR35 win deals another high-profile blow to UK taxman's grip on rules

Velv

Tax is complicated

Loving the over simplistic solutions above. If it really was "just as simple as..." as suggest above then don't you think they'd have fixed it by now?

It hasn't been fixed for two main reasons:

1. It is actually very difficult to write laws that are fair across all the business scenarios; and

2. There are sufficient rich people (and companies) exerting pressure to push the rules in certain directions to minimise their tax liabilities.

The current system is no longer fit for purpose in the world that we live. That doesn't mean it's going to be simple to change it and keep it fair. Changes will move the loopholes rather than close them.

Amazon boss snubs 'expensive', 'sub-optimal' relational databases. Here's looking at you, Larry

Velv
Headmaster

have high-lock-in

A bit like drug dealers, it’s a free upload to get you on board, but have you seen the prices for taking your data out of AWS?

RIP: Microsoft finally pulls plug on last XP survivor... POSReady 2009

Velv
Coffee/keyboard

I'll see your XP and raise you an NT4

Had to logon to a pair of NT4 servers in the last week of March to renew the certificates that were due to expire on 31/03/2019 (yes, that's 31st March for our Merkin cousins)

We don't know whether 737 Max MCAS update is coming or Boeing: Anti-stall safety fix delayed

Velv
Boffin

Already done:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/J-R-Hartley-Casts-Again-Memories-Angling/dp/0091774373/

You can still pick up the original too.

Mystery of the Chinese woman who allegedly tried to sneak into Trump's Mar-a-Lago with a USB stick of malware

Velv
Joke

Re: Maybe unaccompanied young asian ladies are common?

"2+2=4"

Oh, its one of THOSE parties...

Autonomy trial judge gets SaaSy with HPE's lawyer over vital accounts fraud claim

Velv
Terminator

Re: Curiouser and curiouser

Perhaps the Due Dilligence did identify the accounting practises and someone chose to either ignore the report or bury it. Happens more often than you’d think, the ego of an Executive getting ahead of the reality.

TV piracy ring walks the plank after Euro cops launch 14 raids and shutter 11 data centres

Velv
Pirate

Re: "Don't buy a Ferrari"

Don’t buy anything expensive is the lesson.

Houses, cars, yachts, etc are all assets that can be seized. Rented items however are not, and there’s some pretty nice properties on the rental market.

Brexit text-it wrecks it: Vote Leave fined £40k for spamming 200k msgs ahead of EU referendum

Velv

Re: Interesting dilemma

GDPR requires that you do not keep data longer than necessary, so Leave could blame the EU for not keeping the evidence.

Except GDPR wasn't in force when they deleted it.

And when did Leave follow the rules anyway.

Velv
Flame

Re: Dodgy behavior by Vote Leave?

"this was changed to avoid an amendment which would make the threshold 60%"

And in cases of constitutional change that last a long time such as Brexit a 60% threshold is sensible (i.e. impact generations, not just a 5 year General Election).

As it stands, neither side had the support of 50% of the electorate, so the country should not be leaving the EU.

Swiss electronic voting system like... wait for it, wait for it... Swiss cheese: Hole found amid public source code audit

Velv
Coat

Re: Say what you will

There is an old joke...

Heaven:

The police are British

The cooks are French

The engineers are German

The administrators are Swiss

The lovers are Italian

Hell:

The police are German

The cooks are British

The engineers are Italian

The administrators are French

The lovers are Swiss