Posts by Sir Runcible Spoon

Re: "People don't hate adverts, just awful adverts"

"but if this becomes prevalent then I am not sure where you go."

Perhaps a nice long walk in the countryside? :)

Re: The Shawshank Connection

Perl Harbor

Server Blade Runner

50 First Data

StarTrek: Into DarkNet

Re: So, what can an individual do about it?

"leaving you a nasty choice: get tagged or get pwned?"

I beg to disagree, I think your choice is actually..

"leaving you a nasty choice: get tagged and pwned or get pwned?"

Re: serious question

"Next thing you know, W10 becomes able to detect it's in a VM and act funny because of it."

I don't see why not, lots of other Malware these days refuses to run in a VM.

Re: HMRC breaks promise to stand by it's own tool - for its' own contractors!

"Are they going to listen now to the calls to delay this nonsense for 6 months?"

I have two words for you that will answer that question: Cognitive Dissonance.

For those that aren't aware of what this means: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cognitive_dissonance

People who have invested a lot (time/money/reputation) on a particular course of action will do just about anything *except* admit they were wrong. They will just dig the hole even deeper (i.e. they will roll this out to the private sector next year).

There will be lots of pain and tears before this policy is actually shot through the head and buried.

Re: easy pickings

"Eh? The point I'm making is that permies don't have the flexibility of contractors to spend their own money as they see fit "

I believe the AC who responded to you by suggesting that you try it out by becoming a freelance contractor - that way you will have the freedoms and benefits you are referring to.

Whilst we can (and should) pay ourselves sick pay from the company coffers, if we aren't working then those coffers dry up pretty quickly. Getting paid sick leave from as part of a salaried job doesn't run out in quite the same way.

Re: I would take another route

"Atm, not sure if wiser to secure yourself, or attempt to get lost in the noise."

If we're talking about serious TLA's then hiding yourself in the noise is reasonable, but since we are now talking about people having access to your details and selling the info then I would go secure.

Personally, I'm not going to go to the bother of VPN's outside my country (I prefer the speed benefits of local connections) so the spooks/law can still get my data if they think it's necessary for some reason, but the bottom feeders won't be getting my details.

Re: Cheap VPN

@AC You could do that with Enterprise kit, but with home routers you are best off doing it with multiple devices.

For example, have a single ADSL router that connects to your ISP.

Inside that you have two routers, one which will create VPN#1 and the other will create VPN#2.

Everything you want to go via VPN#1 you send to the IP for that device, same with VPN#2.

Bobsherunkle!

Re: I think they genuinely don't see the problem.

If you steam open the envelope (which is the IP packet) you still have an encrypted letter to deal with (the contents).

Opening an envelope!=Deciphering the contents

Re: Court fail

"This is just ageist bollocks. I'm over the age of 70. I've been using computers for nearly 50 of those years starting with FORTRAN "

Do you consider yourself 'typical' in this regard? Do you also have a long-standing career in an entirely different field under your belt as well?

It was clearly a general-ism and not intended to be 'ageist'. I refer the honorable gentleman to the following court extract on this very subject..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9VgwxKW0J6I

"Of course all the freelancers' tax affairs are entirely above board so they've got nothing to worry about."

Since when did that stop HMRC from ruining your life? That comment is right up there with 'If you've got nothing to hide you've got nothing to fear'.

*cough*Brazil*cough*

Re: wtf?

Ok, I get that HMRC will get additional revenue from employer contributions for a permie, they might even add up to the difference in tax receipts from the freelancer, but what about all that lovely VAT we collect for the government?

If I were on £400/day (5 days a week, 48 weeks in the year) then the government gets a tidy little sum of over £16k/year in VAT receipts. That would all go if I went permie. It's a lose-lose situation.

Re: More tax revenue?

"Really, where's that? I've been in security as a perm for ~15 years and I can only think of one contractor I've worked alongside in that time (over five employers)"

These days I tend to work for large multi-national suppliers who have large multi-national clients (think companies > 10000 employees).

The team I'm currently working with is about 15 strong now (up from 1 about 3 years ago :) ) and only 3 of them are permie. The supplier just can't seem to find enough good people for these consultancy gigs who are permanent workers. To be honest they struggle to get decent contractors as well - especially on the account I work on - it isn't an easy customer :)

They asked me if I would be interested in a permie role about 2 years ago, and when I expressed my starting price I didn't hear anything back. However, they did keep me on for another two years on my day rate (which has gone up several times due to all the extra value I bring). Based on what I originally asked for they would have made an absolute packet out of the client had they taken me on as a permie back then.

"Perhaps this is why I can't afford to run a car when everyone else in infosec seems to be rolling in money... :S"

Too many variables to comment on that, I have no idea what kind of area you work in and for what type of clients, but if I told you that the technical aspect of my job, whilst still challenging on occasion, is only about 25% of what I actually do it might give you some idea of where to focus. If you would class yourself as a 'techie' then you're missing out on a huge market that wants people with a broad range of people/admin/management skills on top of being technical. That's when the rates start to shift up a gear or two.

I might be expensive, but I'm good *value*. ;)

Re: Contractors band together

"So, could the answer be for consultants to work together?"

I've actually given this some serious thought.

It's a bit of a logistical nightmare unless you know and trust each other well, and if you know each other too well, you should be in business together ;)

@ 2nd AC

"Contractors pay way, way less tax than anyone else doing equivalent work."

Get fucked you numpty, what do you know about it?

A permie doing my job would pay about £24k/year in tax. I pay over £30k/year (that's including the benefit of paying myself a basic salary to lower my NIC).

If I go permie, HMRC loses £6k+ a year in tax receipts - how does that calculate as an increase in any way, shape or form?

Re: Already happening

re: Gary Smith vs Pimlico Plumbers

"In this case, the Tribunal found that the Claimant was not an employee, but because the company maintained some control over the way in which the Claimant worked, he was considered to have been a worker."

I have no idea what the difference between a 'worker' and an 'employee' actually is :/

edit: https://www.gov.uk/employment-status/overview

Re: @Rattus @Ian Michael Gumby

The NHS is a long way from perfect, it's wasteful and underfunded at the same time and the working conditions are crap.

However, it is a *lot* better than nothing I can assure you. I wish I had the power to improve it and cut down on waste etc. (and idiots turning up to A&E with a broken nail but that's another story).

If you've done something stupid and injured yourself, yes you will be on the receiving end of some very unsympathetic arsehole in a white coat and have to wait 5 hours to be treated, but they *will* treat you.

You can criticize the NHS when your country has something better that we can all look to for inspiration.