* Posts by JimmyPage

3215 publicly visible posts • joined 5 Mar 2010

Increased gov spy powers are NOT the way to stay safe against terrorism

JimmyPage Silver badge

Voting Green ...

I'm not voting Green because I want a "Green government"

Nor because I have any natural sympathy for their cause.

However, a few Green MPs might be able to control the balance of power - particularly in a complex hung parliament (no *two* parties can form a majority). And curb the terrifying excesses of both Tories and Labour.

Maybe this is the rise of the cynical voter as antidote to the cynical politician ?

LIFELESS BEAGLE on MARS: A British TRIUMPH!

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Re: Successful failure ...

Moreover it got to Mars in one piece. So was it under engineered. Or was curiosity massively over-engineered ?

Warning: Using encrypted email in Spain? Do not pass go, go directly to jail

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Re: Another reason for Google to leave Spain

Interesting idea ... the access to outside services acting as a driver for political change

What do UK and Iran have in common? Both want to outlaw encrypted apps

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Stop

Surprised how many people point out the laws this would break

the government will just change those laws too.

JimmyPage Silver badge

Will they ban notes in newsagents windows too ?

Browsing in a London suburb recently, and 90% of the notes were in non-Latin script. Except for the odd number.

They might be saying "for sale, fridge freezer, needs cleaning"

or, they could be saying

"Drop the goods round the back, and knock twice"

JimmyPage Silver badge
FAIL

Many years ago experts warned

if the spooks get too clever with bypassing encryption then the bad guys -certainly them muslamic terrorists - will revert to faxing each other handwritten pages of Arabic.

In code.

Incidentally, as an aside, do the readers of El Reg think it would be possible to plan something without using electronics ?

Personal Ads in printed magazines.

Handwritten replies to P.O. Boxes.

would be enough to initiate contact. Then have established an offline connection, the bad guys could use it to establish an anonymous online connection - say ads posted on Craigslist in cipher, and replied posted on Gumtree in cipher. All of which can be done openly, under the noses of MIx

JimmyPage Silver badge
FAIL

Privileged communication ?

So, emails between lawyers and clients must be made available to the state ?

Oh, hang on - THEY ALREADY HAVE TO.

You lost your privacy years ago - and no one (well very few) even noticed.

don't believe me ?

link

It's 2015 and ATMs don't know when a daughterboard is breaking them

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2014 - our most cashless year ever ?

Brief chat with MrsJP, and we *think* the last time we "got any cash out" (i.e. cashback !) was a month ago. We still have the remains of it in our wallets. The only thing it gets used for nowdays is the Friday night chippy meal (and I suspect they take switch, if you ask - just nobody does).

Bad news for charity bucket slingers, I'm afraid.

Anyway, back to the story ... I'd be fascinated to know (but not so fascinated I actually Google it) whether cashpoint use in the UK is increasing, declining, or steady. Especially since banks must really hate them when they aren't replacing staff.

JimmyPage Silver badge
FAIL

Re: How come... USB ~?

Because it's cheap ?

Sardine fishing in Kerala: Who benefits from mobile phones?

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There is nothing new under the sun

Do you know what the first *use* of the telescope was ? (As opposed to the first thing it was used for, which is a subtle difference).

For a select band of merchants, to be able to get a 2 hour preview of the incoming ships in Venice - thus allowing them to rig the prices before the customers knew the availability.

It's certainly a debatable point as to whether this use subsidised the astronomical applications of telescopy, but it's certainly true that this was when magnification and resolution were ramped up immensely.

Hackney council leaked thousands of locals' data in FoI blunder

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Mushroom

11 "views"

but any one of those could have been a download ....

****ing muppets.

Can't stop Home Depot-style card pwning, but suppliers will feel PCI regulation pain

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PCI-DSS doesn't exist in isolation

but needs to be hooked into a national regulator that has the teeth. Primarily in the UK, that being the FCA (formerly FSA). Who have the power of fine, and are certainly not afraid to use it. I really wouldn't want to be working for anyone who suffered a breach in the UK. PCI approved, or not.

If the regulator is useless, then there's no incentive to comply with PCI.

European Commish asks for rivals' moans about Booking.com

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Stop

Re: Am I alone

possibly yes ... the pixie dust booking.com (other travel sites are available) brings to the mix is the social - reviews and other information, which over time can be considered fairly trustworthy.

Travelling can be stressful enough. Start adding in another country, flying, different cultures and languages, and you might be happy to pay x% to somewhere like booking.com, if you trust the reviews. You also get the ability to comment on your own experiences.

Is EU right to expand 'right to be forgotten' to Google.com?

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Black Helicopters

Chilling phrase: "purchase a jurisdiction"

was used upthread.

Given that Google, Apple, et al are richer than a lot of small countries, they *are* a jurisdiction.

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Stop

Private search engines?

OK, OK, OK, so this ruling applies to public (free ?) search engines.

Suppose I set up a subscription-only search engine ? Would that be subject to these "rules".

What if my subscription search engine only works on material stored on my own site ?

I am thinking of various news/legal/technical (medical) archives, which charge to professionals. Presumably that subscription would be intended to cover the real truth, not Google-lite truth ?

Man asks internet for $1k for pebbles. INTERNET SAYS YES

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Boffin

Whisky and water

On a tour of the Glen Moray (shameless plug - you know where to send a crate :) ) distillery, we finished with a taster of the finished product. In actual fact three versions ... an 8 a 12 and a 16 year old dram.

The young - but spectacularly well informed guide - pointed out a little water jug which had some spring water they actually make the whisky from. At this point, one chap, who had been playing the connoisseur commented rather smugly "Glad you have some water for the ladies" (he was an arse). To which the guide, not-quite-as-apologetically-as-he-could-have-been pointed out that professional whisky tasters always put a splash of water into whisky to sample it. Apparently it releases some of the flavouring compounds, thus accenting the nose (smell), and allows the more complex compounds to dissolve, bringing out the more subtle edges of the taste.

So there is a reason.

Sony Pictures struggles as staff details, salaries and films leaked

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Back to pen and paper

Sorry - I call bullshit. I would suggest that no company with more than 100[1] employees could manage without at least one PC doing something for them. And that's in the UK. I have no idea how complex Japanese commercial bureaucracy is, but I doubt it is that much different to the UK.

Given the fact that data is going to continue to be generated (whether inside the IT system, or on paper) at a rate that will exceed the ability to input it (unless Sony were spectacularly inefficient in terms of staff usage), I suspect that in years to come, November/December 2014 will never be available in their MI systems - certainly not to any great detail.

[1]In fact 10 employees might be a push.

Hawking: RISE of the MACHINES could DESTROY HUMANITY

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@HMB

"genius" is not, and should not be a licence to mouth shite to an ever credulous media. And Hawking should know that, so be circumspect in interviews - it's hardly like he's a 21 year old reality TV star.

He should know that anything he says will be afforded far greater import than if Joe Bloggs said it.

What other issues is "genius" allowed to pronounce on ? Biology ? Political ethics ?

What we've getting is Hawkings *opinions*. And well all know about opinions ....

E-cigarettes fingered as source of NASTY VIRUS

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Coat

signals intelligence angle ?

Smoke signals ?

Evil US web giants shield terrorists? Evil spies in net freedom crush plot?

JimmyPage Silver badge

Sounds to me like GCHQ/NSA had access to this message all along....

Every time the government (of any stripe) has wanted more data, and people protest, I have pointed out that my stance is the opposite. Give it to them. Give them EVERYTHING. And then watch them learn about "signal to noise ratio".

They may have already reached the point where they simply cannot process the data they *do* have. Let alone more.

As things stand, it's a fair suggestion that simply by dint of the volume of data they are slurping, they are missing more than if they actually did some legwork.

JimmyPage Silver badge
Big Brother

What is terrorism ?

Maybe animal rights activism ? Nothing *illegal* (but it might be)

How about campaigning against TTiP ? Again, not *illegal*. But people who protest are probably more likely to be terrorists ?

Pro life ?

Pro choice ?

Stop the War ? Almost definitely.

The problem - and fears - about having these powers is not having them now. It's (still) having them in 10 years time. When voting Green, or UKIP is a "terrorist" offence.

There is no recorded instance in history of the state giving itself more and more powers over it's people that hasn't ended - eventually - with the guillotine working overtime, or the bodies swinging from the lamp-posts.

ASA raps vloggers over undisclosed ads

JimmyPage Silver badge

neither is diarist, which is all they are.

Since a broad definition of diary doesn't actually mandate the medium, it's a good use IMHO.

Diarist : one who keeps a diary (whether public or private)

Diary : a recorded collection of a persons opinions and experiences, usually segmented by days.

Given the penetration of the internet, the latter phrase would be assumed to include online diaries too.

JimmyPage Silver badge
WTF?

Vloggers, as we’re apparently meant to call them now,

what's wrong with the proper word ?

Twats.

I'll be back (and forward): Hollywood's time travel tribulations

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Retroactive

I know this wasn't a definitive list, but "Retroactive" is a decent film.

Webcam hacker pervs in MASS HOME INVASION

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Boffin

Of more interest ..

is the league table of open cams - assuming the ration of open/secured cams is fairly location independent then:

US: 4591

France (?): 2058

Netherlands: 1756

Japan: 870

Italy:679

UK:584

Curious as to why France - with a vaguely similar population to the UK has 4x as many unsecured cams, for a start. And the Netherlands, with a quarter the UKs population, but 3x as many cams ?

I really need to get out more.

London police chief: City bankers, prepare for a terrorist cyber attack. Again

JimmyPage Silver badge
Alert

Really

If these "terrorists" come from the same stock as the shoe bomber, underpants bomber, and muppets who thought LPG was somehow high explosive, then I'm hardly going to be shaking in my boots.

However, we have to keep up the hyperbole, or we can't control the masses.

Blackpool hotel 'fines' couple £100 for crap TripAdvisor review

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Facepalm

It gets worse !

Not only have the hotel backtracked (so much for principles and integrity) but also left the fate of the initial £100 fine in doubt ... I can't tell from reading this article.

linky

A hotel that "fined" a couple £100 for leaving critical comments on a travel review website will stop making the charge, trading standards officers say.

Tony and Jan Jenkinson posted the negative comment on Trip Advisor after being unimpressed with the one night they spent at the Broadway Hotel in Blackpool.

The couple, from Whitehaven, later had £100 charged to their credit card.

The hotel manager has not been available for comment.

Blackpool Trading Standards, which has been investigating, said it has now spoken to the hotel's management, who have agreed not to levy these fines in the future.

JimmyPage Silver badge
Unhappy

Denning

occasionally got it right, but overall was a complete arse

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Facepalm

Of course there was an alternative ...

which would have been to offer discounts for positive reviews.

If your first reach is the stick, expect to get beaten, as my Grandad would have said if he'd made it up.

Anonymous ‪hacks the Ku Klux Klan after Ferguson‬ threats

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Coat

"Someday, Mr. Anonymous is gonna fuck up ...

and when he does, we'll find him"

(apologies to the Blues Brothers)

ISPs are stripping encryption from netizens' email – EFF

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Stop

Sigh, kids again ?

If anyone is *relying* on the STARTTLS to provide encryption, then they are (a) thick, or (b) so young as to not know the history of email systems and how a lot of features are optionally-supported extensions to the RFCs.

For myself, if I didn't encrypt it, then it's not encrypted, and would have been treated as such in terms of content.

'Tech giants who encrypt comms are unwittingly aiding terrorists', claims ex-Home Sec Blunkett

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Stop

In the UK

827 people have died during or following police contact since 2004. Families have struggled hard for justice, encountering multiple failures and police collusion from the IPCC. Why is police accountability failing in this most serious of issues?

(cite)

and less than 100 in terrorist attacks.

I know who I'm more afraid of.

JimmyPage Silver badge
Unhappy

99%

Actually, research by the Viet Cong during the Vietnam war showed that if you identify - and isolate - the small number of "leaders", the remaining prisoners are incredibly easy to control - requiring much less [skilled] manpower which can then be sent to the front.

IIRC it was roundabout 5% or 1 in 20. And they were quite easy to spot ....

HP emails personal data of 1,000 CDS workers to 3rd party

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Stop

The great ICO sweepstakes starts here ...

can I take

1) derisory fine

2) nothing really bad

Boxing clever? Amazon Fire TV is SO CLOSE to being excellent

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Maybe it's me

but there's very little available for "free" on Prime. Considering it's costing me something, I don't like paying more.

There is a massive gap in the market for a business which takes a *single* payment, and then allows access to NetFlix, Prime, BlinkBox, Sky and all the other Johnny-come-lately "exclusive content" providers. Which I would pay.

Otherwise torrent are thataway ---->

If you're suing the UK govt, Brit spies will snoop on your briefs

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Big Brother

And we laughed at the Russians ...

typewriters, couriered documents, and meetings in ad hoc cafes is the way to go.

Poll: Yes, yes, texting while driving is bad but *ping* OH! Hey, GRAB THE WHEEL, will ya?

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Joke

Re: bloody dopamine

parklife

Google revs up Container Engine to drive Docker in its cloud

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Coat

Sorry, I keep failing to stop myself thinking ...

Grindr, Tinder ... Docker

Google’s dot-com forget-me-not bomb: EU court still aiming at giant

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Mushroom

Hmmmm I await the Rumble in the Jungle --->

or Thriller in Manila, as the ECJ ruling slams headfirst into the opposing (and equal ?) judge from the US supreme court that Google cannot infringe US citizens right to free speech ...

note to El Reg: We need a popcorn icon :)

Mars needs women, claims NASA pseudo 'naut: They eat less

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Stop

Re: This'll never work

Physics

Chemistry

but no biology

TBH I have no idea how menstruation is controlled. Which is why I posed the question. Although the 28-day nature of it does suggest lunar involvement.

JimmyPage Silver badge
Boffin

Re: This'll never work

Of course, once they are out of earth orbit - and away from the cyclic gravitational pull of the moon, we have no idea how - or if - menstruation would work.

So in that sense, there's valuable science to be learned here.

My bet is that scientists will discover there's a weird backup system in place.

I would downvote you for casual stereotypical misogyny, but then your post did cause a scientific question, so I guess it's evens.

Forget passwords, let's use SELFIES, says Obama's cyber tsar

JimmyPage Silver badge
FAIL

*Cyber* security tsar ?

...who doesn't seem to know that face-recognition unlock is a standard Android offering ?

Facebook storage techies: We sift through your family snaps to find 'warm BLOBs'

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FAIL

And *this* is what the spooks want to trawl ?

Along with similar (or more) from Google, et al ....

This is why I am unmoved by the government data grab ... they will drown in trivia - and miss the important stuff.

Rebellion sees Chromium reverse plans to dump EXT filesystem

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Stop

£30 a MB ?

I was only trying to remember how much I paid for the 128 *K*B I needed to upgrade my Amstrad 1512 to a 1640. Pretty certain it was around £30 and that was cheap (as a mate had <cough> acquired some from his sandwich placement.

Chatting to Al Qaeda? Try not to do that – Ex spy chief defends post-Snowden NSA

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FAIL

Sigh ...

it's not todays spooks we need to worry about.

It's tomorrows.

Adobe spies on reading habits over unencrypted web because your 'privacy is important'

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Boffin

There's a gap in the market here ...

for a domestic router which effectively runs off a whitelist to prevent dodgy apps phoning home.

At the end of the day, I'd guess 80% of netizens probably access <1% of the net. Facebook, email, news, banking, shopping, Amazon, eBay, Twitter and a handful of other sites.

Much safer to risk some inconvenience, than allow unfettered access to the web.

Almost a reverse net version of a Truecall box .....

Britain’s snooping powers are 'too weak', says NCA chief

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Stop

through the looking glass

30 years ago the state attitude was that "terrorists are criminals".

now we seem to have made a mistake in logic and say

"criminals are terrorists" ...

Official: Turing's Bombe better than a Concorde plane

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Concorde ..

Didn't engineers at NASA conclude Concorde was a bigger engineering challenge than Apollo ? Particularly having to slow the air intake from supersonic to still over 4 metres ?

Anyway, well done everyone !

Shift up, gran! Microsoft turns living room into AR game 'space'

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How cool is that ?

the Holodeck inches closer ....