* Posts by Sir Runcible Spoon

5770 publicly visible posts • joined 29 May 2007

Most IT contractors want employment benefits if clobbered with IR35

Sir Runcible Spoon

Re: Sick Pay?

Sick pay for contractors does indeed come out of the company coffers, so it's not 100% accurate to say we don't get sick pay, we do.

However, it also isn't quite right to say that is the same as permie sick pay, because if we don't work then the company doesn't get paid for that time, so the sick pay for the contractor comes out of money already paid in, rather than coming from magic money-tree, which is why contractors might say they don't get paid if they are off sick.

So, their company doesn't get paid when they are off sick, but their company does pay their sick pay, which is limited to the amount of cash in the company accounts. Extended periods of sickness will exhaust cash reserves, at which point the contractor won't even be getting that sick pay.

You can be pedantic and split hairs, but the bottom line for a contractor is that if you don't work, you don't get paid. You can also be released from your contract with very little notice if you are off sick and they need the work done - permies can't be sacked for being off sick like that unless it's part of a wider set of circumstances etc.

Sir Runcible Spoon

Re: Contractor rights

Corp tax is on turnover, so after VAT is taken off, but before everything else.

Also, I don't know anyone on £1000/day - those gigs are typically of very short duration (<week). If you can get that for longer, fair play.

I'm considered good at what I do in an area that's in high demand. Getting more than £600 is rare, lots of companies don't want to pay that - especially when they are paying money on top for the agency's cut.

£350-450 is typical for an IT Security Engineer to take home to his Ltd. company.

Sir Runcible Spoon

I think you're missing the point.

HMRC have done this to try and raise more taxes and think contractors are an easy target (a bit like motorists).

They haven't done it because permie's hate contractors, or that they think contractors are avoiding too much tax, it's because they want more money for the coffers.

Only they didn't really think it through did they? If contractors respond by raising their rates or moving to other work, or getting permie jobs - then HMRC and other government agencies with IT projects suffer increases costs and a skills shortage.

So in the end by trying to encompass as many contractors as possible they are costing themselves more money than they are raising. If they try and do this with the private sector then they have no idea what kind of backlash they are in for from UK Industry.

If I have to charge more to cover these additional costs then the tax man benefits, but businesses don't benefit, the contractor doesn't benefit, and if UK-Gov wants to use contractors then I'm pretty sure the costs will outweigh the benefits.

Let us not forget that HMRC make the rules for IR35 complaince *very* vague. They are ignoring actual contracts and re-defining the goal-posts whenever it looks like they have got it wrong.

It's no co-incidence that initially almost all public service contractors were considered inside IR35, and then, magically, they weren't any more - and blanket statements were made etc. - how was this possible if they weren't making it all up as they go along?

This is a money-grab, pure and simple. I earn the money I charge, I'm extremely good value even if some permies do consider me expensive. I regularly implement cost savings and deliver work that saves companies millions of pounds a year. The fact that I do that consistently is why I keep getting taken on for difficult projects for very large companies - they understand the difference between cost and value. HMRC don't.

Sir Runcible Spoon

@Lee D

I agree with what your saying, in principle, but the reality is that the one-man band setup is pretty much identical to the large scale service providers - I've known people who have been placed with clients for many many years, in BAU roles, and they wouldn't come under IR35.

To me the main test of a contract vs disguised permie is the nature of the work being undertaken, whether it is for one client or many (sometimes a client will not accept someone working on other contracts for security reasons, or the amount of effort required for the work precludes it).

If the work is intermittant (i.e. project based, the money can run out and you're gone etc.) then you shouldn't be under IR35. If the work is BAU, or if the money for a project dries up and they will find you other work to do, then I can see how this would look like disguised employment.

However, the bottom line is that a client tells me what they want doing, it's up to me how I do it. If they like the results I keep getting paid, if not then they get someone else - no questions asked etc. - How is that anything like a permie?

If I were a plumber, and I subcontracted from a major house building firm and ended up working on a large scale project for over 2 years, would I be caught by IR35? Of course not, so why should IT consultants working under similar conditions?

Sir Runcible Spoon
Paris Hilton

Re: Seconds Out --- Round 5

I'm now wondering exactly how much money HMRC is 'making' out of this situation.

I'm going to guess it's along the lines of what everyone told them when they first proposed this idea and foretold them of the consequences etc. i.e. they are losing money. A bit like the original IR35 legislation did - it cost more to chase people for extra cash than the resultant cash bonus.

Please explain to me why these people are trusted to administer the taxation of an entire country?

FBI chief asks tech industry to build crypto-busting not-a-backdoor

Sir Runcible Spoon
Coat

@AC

Quit mumbling. You'll also find that you made your very own grammatical error, nice rant/troll/whatever that was.

'Until I reading your posts'.....eh?

Sir Runcible Spoon

Re: He's right, but no one here will accept it

I've just realised that he is barking up the wrong tree here (well, duh).

If he truly is talking about SmartPhones, and that he wants manufacturers to make phones that the FBI can get into whenever they want , plus the fact that everyone else on the planet would shun such a device - wouldn't it make more sense just to ban smartphones capable of encryption outright?

That would actually be more effective, quicker to implement, and doesn't require huge amounts of capital investment/breach of rights etc.

I wonder why they aren't doing it that way? After all, criminals/terrier-ists will use devices with encryption regardless of what the government says so it will be about as effective in that sense. They can't enforce this shit outside of the US anyway so it's about as effective in that sense as well.

Perhaps when people are screaming at him that this would mean *anyone* could access their information (if no-one was allowed devices that encrypt) he might start to understand the nature of the problem? I doubt it.

Sir Runcible Spoon

Re: He's right, but no one here will accept it

"or you complain to the council - they have a quick check through your internet browsing history to see what they can use to discredit you."

They can already do that with your ICR (unless you are using a VPN)

Sir Runcible Spoon
Black Helicopters

Re: Nonsense

"The very people they claim to want to spy on"

Precisely - this is about population control on a massive scale, pure and simple. Think about it, even if the somehow managed to get their way, it will only apply to America. Why on earth would they want that?

Sir Runcible Spoon

" or you get blocked from America."

With the added bonus of America being blocked from the rest of the world.

Sir Runcible Spoon
Flame

Re: He's right, but no one here will accept it

Ok, everyone has been far too reasonable to this numpty.

The reason no one here will accept it is because he *isn't* right, anyone not listening to people who know what they are talking about is arrogant, stupid or malicious or combinations thereof.

Let me make this quite simple: If someone else has *your* private key, they can make it look like you *did something* you didn't. Who would you trust with that kind of power?

The only person in the world I'd trust with that power (over me) would be my wife, but I wouldn't trust her not to fuck it up and I certainly wouldn't trust her with that power over everyone else.

So, Mr Numpty-Trollboy what's it to be: Who do you trust?

Sir Runcible Spoon

Re: I'm sure they know better - power grab

Also, how is gaining access to devices (physically in your possession) in any way linked to overall security software?

It's almost as if he is using an example of 'x' to justify 'y', where x and y are from different universes.

Anyone spouting this shit and not being forced to admit they are wrong should simply be refused from office for either a)lying or b)being too stupid to breath without clear instructions.

Does Parliament or Google decide when your criminal past is forgotten?

Sir Runcible Spoon

Re: Going back in time to modify history

If you delink something in the internet, it stops existing for al practical purposes.. so yes, it is basically burning the books to rewrite history, even if the declared intention is not that.

I don't think the book or whatever would be de-listed, just de-associated with NT1's name. You could still find the book user other search conditions I would have thought, and still get to the underlying information.

Sacked saleswoman told to pay Intel £45k after losing discrim case

Sir Runcible Spoon

Re: I feel you are vindicated as well

" and I couldn't prove whatever she said to me in a mtg room as her response."

Which is why I always like to follow up a meeting with a summary of my notes of what was discussed. If they feel that I have misrepresented what they have said they can email a response etc. - but if they try and 'correct' me in another meeting then I simply follow that up with another summary email.

In looking back at the email trail, that kind of behaviour screams avoidance for the purposes of not leaving a trail and should strengthen your case.

Sir Runcible Spoon
Paris Hilton

Re: Money here

Would you care to elaborate, or are you happy just to induce some kind of fear response based on ominous tones?

'A sledgehammer to crack a nut': Charities slam UK voter ID trials

Sir Runcible Spoon

Re: It's almost as though...

I'd love to provide a citation, but it wasn't something I took detailed notes about unfortunately and it was a few months back that I saw it.

It's possible that the initial justification was exaggerated in order to easily refute it, hard to tell now.

Sir Runcible Spoon
Joke

I'm the bill payer, and so's my wife!

Sir Runcible Spoon

Re: It's almost as though...

When the requirement for ID was touted a little while back there were reports that this would somehow disenfranchise minority groups etc.

Then some bright spark went and actually *interviewed* the very people that were being used as part of that argument against requiring ID and all of them said they had no problem with it, in fact most of them welcomed it.

Doesn't assuming a generic lack of some kind of ability/opportunity based on a racial stereo-type count as racism? With all the changing meanings of the word it's hard to know for sure, but I'm fairly sure it actually does mean that. Well, that's exactly how those people interviewed reacted anyway - e.g. "where do they get off on assuming we wouldn't have ID?" etc.

Apple's new 'spaceship' HQ brings the pane for unobservant workers

Sir Runcible Spoon

Re: What about the manifestations?

"That doesn't work on internal curved surfaces either which is a pain for bowls."

I really thought you'd said 'bowels' there for a moment.

Reddit 'fesses up to just a little Russian reaming

Sir Runcible Spoon

@Phuzz

I do look for opposing bias to dig under a story, but I was really referring to the stories that are often omitted by MSM, regardless of their spin.

Sir Runcible Spoon

I do try to ingest multiple views of the same event n order to see where all the spin is, but I'm really struggling to find information sources that are even remotely unbiased.

Sir Runcible Spoon

Re: As someone from a significantly smaller country

Russian Propoganda is real, as is American, but that doesn't mean it's a threat unless we allow it to be.

The best defense against this kind of behaviour is education and an ability to think critically (and be allowed to express those thoughts). However, since these attributes are the exact opposite of what the ruling class wants then yes, it is a threat (but only because we have hamstrung our own defenses).

It's a bit like bad weather can be a threat, but only if you go out in it without being properly prepared. These days most people don't know how to cope with weather :)

OK, who is shooting at Apple staff buses in California? Knock it off

Sir Runcible Spoon
Joke

Re: Metaphor for Comments

Do you mean ineffectual or backup up by hot air alone?

Sir Runcible Spoon
Coat

Re: It'll be an android user...

My eyes were tired when I read your subject - I'm now really interested in finding out what an asteroid user is.

UK peers: Is this what you call governance of facial recog tech? A 'few scattered papers'!

Sir Runcible Spoon

Re: Data retention

" Facial recog will get progressively worse."

You know they're talking bollocks about not being able to delete photo's, right?

Reg man wraps head in 49-inch curved monitor

Sir Runcible Spoon

Re: Has anyone ever gone so far as to...

Yeah, they're called Virtual Machines or RDP sessions :)

Sir Runcible Spoon

re-sizing

One of the issues I've found with a 3440x1440 curved monitor is that some websites display based on your monitor resolution, rather than the size of the actual window. Presumably they aren't aware that not everyone runs everything full screen?

This had the unfortunate effect of some crucial menu options being waaaaaaaaaaaaay over to the right, with a small section on the left displaying the actual content. When I was running this in a window I initially thought the menu was simply missing. That's a lot of scrolling, and then you can't see what effect an option has had until you scroll back left again - unless you like viewing your websites as if your eyes were 3ft apart :)

BOFH: Honourable misconduct

Sir Runcible Spoon
Paris Hilton

@Dante

Not sure what you were replying to, but Silk was a Drasnian spy wasn't he?

Sir Runcible Spoon

Uh Oh

"someone in an impeccably cut suit sporting a sharp tie and a razor thin plain face wristwatch. Legal."

For some reason that line arrived in my ahead accompanied by some ominous sounding percussion, along the lines of Dunn, dunn, DERRRRRR!

Sir Runcible Spoon

Re: I can't help but feel...

They can fall with style, but I'm not putting any bets on them getting 10 points for the landing!

Sir Runcible Spoon
Coat

Re: I think I even have a script for that.

Fred West?

So the suits swanned off to GDPR events leaving you at the coalface? It's really more IT's problem

Sir Runcible Spoon

Re: Meanwhile...

"because Brexit means do whatever you feel like doing."

Whatever gave you that idea? If we want to do business with, and in, the EU then we are going to have to be compliant. Just as any US company will need to be in order to process EU citizens PII.

Revealed: UK.gov's 'third direction' to keep tabs on spies' potentially criminal activities

Sir Runcible Spoon

Re: Document now online

They are openly admitting that our spies engage in criminal activities as part of their job, and that the guidelines around that function should be regularly reviewed.

Brit spooks slammed over 'gentlemen's agreement' with telcos to get mass comms data

Sir Runcible Spoon

Re: Telcos?

Telcos (plural).

Who are they kidding? There is one Telco in this country that *still* owns 95% of the underlying transport system for data, even if other 'ISP's' rent some of it off them and re-sell it.

It would therefore have to be a Telco with a Retail and a Wholesale department.

It's only a two letter acronym, based on where it is and what it does.

Ph*cough*orm.

US Supremes take a look at Microsoft's Irish email slurp battle, and yeah, not a great start

Sir Runcible Spoon

Re: "So basically that means Windows 10"

"knowingly shifting data to avoid a criminal investigation is already a crime under existing laws -"

So is destroying data that you are legally meant to keep, but that doesn't stop some US authorities doing that very thing and getting away with it. It's all a crock of shit, you can't believe a word these people say.

Sir Runcible Spoon

Re: "The whole idea of territoriality is strained"

They're missing the point by a country mile.

If the US courts decide that they *can* demand US companies hand over data that is stored on servers in other legal jurisdictions then those US companies are going to start losing customers very quickly.

There are a number of government agencies in various countries who are using Office365 (regardless of whether that is a good idea or not) and this law, if enacted, would give the US carte-blanche to take all that data *legally*.

Can't see other counties playing along with that, especially once GDPR is in force.

Voice assistants are always listening. So why won't they call police if they hear a crime?

Sir Runcible Spoon

Re: @Boltar

I'm not aware there is much left to head towards unfortunately.

Even the once great and practical land of Oz seems to have been infected with it.

20'years ago: house on fire = stick another shrimp on the bbq. Now? They're more likely to ban house ownership.

Tor pedo's torpedo torpedoed: FBI spyware crossed the line but was in good faith, say judges

Sir Runcible Spoon

Re: My sympathy meter is broken

Someone keeps making a valid point about the new laws generated as a result of these tactics, but others keep pointing to the incident that was used to shoe-horn the door open.

Less words, more meaning, and perhaps we will find we are all on the same page.

That pedo's went to a site and got nabbed due to being hacked by the FBI seems like just deserts, but the law that now allows US law enforcement to hack any computer on the planet will not be restricted to pedo's now that it is enshrined.

If you think they won't abuse it, then well, you're just wrong.

Sir Runcible Spoon

Re: Given an IP address can be spoofed by a printer theses days you'd better be careful about that

MAC addresses can be spoofed, not sure what the other unique info is (OS serial number? CPU serial number?)

Does my boom look big in this? New universe measurements bewilder boffins

Sir Runcible Spoon

Re: Something's not right here.

"What "dark energy" actually is is unknown, except that it is by definition the stuff which is pushing away the galaxies from us"

Baryonic birds?

Sir Runcible Spoon

Re: Possibly.

"as I understand it, we're pretty close to that gravitational center (which should be the place the big bang happened)"

Really? If that's the case then I'm suddenly very skeptical. How many explosions have you witnessed where all the material stayed in the middle? There should be a bloody great big hole in the middle of our universe. If there isn't, then I don't see how it could have started with a bang.

Sir Runcible Spoon
Paris Hilton

Re: Aaaannnnndd...your wrong.

Did that explanation take into account the acceleration that's being observed*

*For various values of observed, obviously. YLYMV.

Sir Runcible Spoon

Re: "Mysterious Dr X says, Universe is NOT Expanding"

You might as well ask what your mind expands into when you relax and meditate.

It's just a view from a different window. Really liked the story in the link, never seen that written out before (but have oddly always known it to be true).

This is why we think there are old souls. However, having thought about it a bit, how come so many of my 'younger-me' lifetimes are 'later' in the time-span of things, everywhere I look there are babies, babies, babies.

Perhaps they need to be loved and taught by those of me who have been around the block a bit? Still, not sure why I would have done some of the things I'm obviously up to when I get into power, I'll have to give myself a stern talking to about that when I see me.

When clever code kills, who pays and who does the time? A Brit expert explains to El Reg

Sir Runcible Spoon
Big Brother

Re: "Don’t worry about AI going bad – the minds behind it are the danger"

tl;dr: If you're going to deploy AI, then be careful, think about what you are doing, and make sure what you are doing is open to scrutiny so potential issues can be spotted before they get out of hand. Talk to each other and use your brains*.

*Considering the people *making* AI are not the ones *funding* AI, then this last bit means we are screwed. The genie is out of the bottle and could only be put back in if you could suddenly educate the entire internet population to be emotionally mature and considerate/tolerant.

Like I said, we're screwed.

Sir Runcible Spoon

Re: Hey, look over there! -->

Yeah, heights don't kill you; it's the sudden deceleration from hitting the ground at terminal velocity that does it every time.

Sir Runcible Spoon

"if the whole thing crashes"

You need to take a step back and determine if the proposed solution is fit for purpose. If the function is critical, then multiple points of failure and backup systems need to be deployed in accordance with the risk profile.

If the overall solution could never meet the requirements of the function and associated risks, then it should never have been sold as such in the first place. So whoever decided to authorise that solution for that particular function is at fault. Everything else is just the cards being played after they've all been dealt.

Sir Runcible Spoon
Terminator

Re: Operating Systems BIOS ReWrite and ReBoot Needed

I'd just like to go on record and say that I've been rooting for the robots since the start.

I, for one, etc...

SRS

Sir Runcible Spoon

Re: Specifications

There will always be a need for someone to oversee a project and keep the bigger picture in mind. This person needs to understand the details, as well as the people, that go into delivering the project.

The overseer can then flag things that seem to be taking the project off track - even if they are in the specs - and also provide guidance to the end-goal if things are being missed that were not in the specs.

Without such an overseer, you end up with a dogs dinner. Would you like to guess how many projects I've worked on with such an overseer?

Sir Runcible Spoon

"Essentially I insure myself to drive."

Easy one to sort out. If the car manufacturer doesn't insure the car on your behalf, for life, then it isn't safe enough*.

*Enough doesn't mean absolutely safe, just a lot better than meat-sacks.

Sir Runcible Spoon
Paris Hilton

Re: Accountability is important.

How is this AI situation any different from other 'created' devices?

If a car manufacture sells you a car that has a serious defect that causes you to crash and die, then the manufacturer is at fault (whether they knew about the fault and still sold the car is the subject of the criminal courts to decide).

If, on the other hand, you tinkered with the car after you bought it and the fault developed as a result, then the manufacturer is in the clear.

How are AI developed machines any different?