Posts by Sir Runcible Spoon

Re: Patel

" and I don't hear much of VPN services in China easily circumventing their censorship"

Yes, well, you wouldn't would you? As soon as you *hear* about it, the Chinese government are able to crack down on it. Doesn't mean it doesn't happen (and that's just from China -> elsewhere, who knows what can still be achieved if all your traffic is internal to the Chinese border firewalls).

You're also forgetting that the Chinese government can just throw money/people at something to get it done, with extreme punishments for failure - which isn't exactly the hallmark of a democracy.

Actually, you've helped provide an excellent example of why we shouldn't want this.

Prevent all VPN's and develop your dictatorial powers all in one stroke, bonus.

Re: Estonia tells you who in government has been looking at your data

but you can't deny that knowledge is knowledge - I didn't claim any of the other stuff you mentioned :)

Re: Patel

"One solution I see (even though I'm technically inept) is some legislation that forces ISPs to block encrypted traffic, unless the user is checked against some license - and that license comes with a mandatory "law enforcement access" details."

I'm glad you qualified your opinion as inept, at least you get one point for accuracy.

Concepts of this scale do not neatly translate into a worldwide deployment of a single (complex) technology. For reference, government departments don't even understand their own rules (HMRC) and they can't even implement an age verification check for porn without cocking it up (pun intended).

Just so you know, it would be *extremely* difficult to deploy in a single large company, let alone all large companies, excluding private citizens, across the globe, meeting all legal requirements for all nations and still deliver the intended goal.

In the real world it's as close to something that is impossible that I can think of, and that includes matter transformation, free energy and teleportation across vast distances.

Re: Estonia tells you who in government has been looking at your data

You can formulate a response, depending on whether or not the intrusion was justified.

The key point being that you have knowledge upon which to act, as opposed to not even knowing it's happening.

Re: child abuse and terrorist content

If those are the 'pro's' of banning encryption, perhaps we ought to be highlighting the 'con's' as a counterbalance?

How about:

-No more online banking/bonking by phone/contactless

-Power utilities hacked and we get taken back to the Victorian era (without the horses to do all the work)

In fact, we only have to lose the power for *everything* to fall apart very quickly..

-no food

-no fuel

-no heating

-no help (police/fire/ambulance)

Re: Stop spying on me!

That might well be the case, but I wouldn't rely on it.

Re: in their own propaganda that they can no longer recognise truth or reason"

The main difference of course being that neither Russia or China have set out their stall on the righteous moral high ground that the US has.

In fact, the only reason I can see that those other regimes are starting to appear more palatable to many is because the US has lowered the bar of what it means to be 'the good guy' (if they ever were). Still, it's the perception that counts in this case.

Do you recall the kerfuffle of the 'Great Firewall of China' and all that was meant to represent? Fast forward to today and we are seeing our politicians clamoring for more of the same. China didn't have a democracy to lose. One could argue that we don't either, ultimately, but again - it's about perception.

Re: Juniper and Cisco spyware

If you're technical enough to get the most out of them then Draytek *are* pretty decent - just limited in an Enterprise environment. For roll-yer-own they're good bang for buck.

Re: "being stupid enough to believe you can get away with it"

I wasn't aiming at Trump in particular, I was pointing at the people who are the day-day lawmakers and shakers, the 'civil' 'servants' of the world.

It isn't limited to the US of course, but they are the dodgy apple in the barrel for sure.

Re: Long serving US senator clueless about politics?

The law of unintended consequences predicts the rise of flat earth views in american politics as a result.

Re: What they really want..

The UK already has a law to put you away indefinitely if you don't hand over your passwords when asked.

Re: THE LIES

I was going to say that this is so obvious it hardly needs to be said, then I remembered what year it was and where we're all headed.

Now I would say it's hardly worth saying because no-one in power cares enough to listen.

Re: Other countries

Even if the continue to allow big business to use stong encryption, what about 3rd party suppliers/contactors who have access to sensitive data? Do they also get to use strong encryption or will Barr just accept there are holes in every bucket from now on?

Re: Nope

you've only to combine it with rot-13 to make the code nigh on unbreakable as you'd have to analyse the output from *every* book to end up with something you could then try and parse as 'normal text'. Other options are available (such as using a book you wrote yourself, or adding an abitrary number to the book refenece numbers etc.)

Re: Juniper and Cisco spyware

Having the power to do something and being stupid enough to believe you can get away with it is (in my opinion) a purely American government conceit.

Some people are so invested in their own propaganda that they can no longer recognise truth or reason.

Re: "Cue gags regarding this note being more bent than a 9 bob note"

"The chaos facing the UK is *your* [all those who voted Brexit] problem, not mine."

How about all the people who voted to cede our parliamentary powers to the EU in the first place? Did you vote for that then? No, you didn't, because we didn't get a vote, did we?

Re: "Cue gags regarding this note being more bent than a 9 bob note"

" the implication that not to do so is some sort of treachery that will be to blame for any future problems with his economic policy"

Who said anything about blame? Personally I think Johnson's an idiot, but I would rather the overall situation improved rather than proudly wallowing in shit saying 'I told you so' to anyone who dared vote for Brexit.

Re: "Cue gags regarding this note being more bent than a 9 bob note"

"If I might be so bold, fuck you."

Gee, that devolved quickly.

Re: ... and the best of it

"by "they took away his life" I, of course, meant them castrating him chemically, among other things."

As did I.

Re: ... and the best of it

One could argue that Turing ended his life after the system had taken it away from him.

Re: Money...

"Only is there is a Captcha on it (Evolution if the Turing Test)."

I had one set of 'captcha' foisted upon me that took me over 80 goes to get right. How on earth are we supposed to know if something is a shop-front if it's written in Chinese??

I reckon Captcha's are the exact opposite of a Turing test, set by AI to weed out the humans.

Re: "Cue gags regarding this note being more bent than a 9 bob note"

During periods of change and uncertainty (which we are currently in since it was announced we are leaving the EU, but haven't actually done so yet) there is always an element of adjustment and new footings established.

However, what is to say that in a few years time our economy won't be booming? As far as I can see most economies these days are based on confidence. If one accepts this assertion, then it naturally follows that anyone attempting to undermine confidence in our ability to do business (as a country) is the same as trying to make the economy worse.

I get that people are afraid of change, and that there are a lot of people who don't want to leave the EU, but the only sensible solution now is for all of us to accept what is and try to make the future a bit better by pulling together, rather than pulling ourselves apart and creating the very scenario that people puport to be afraid of.

Johnson may be a buffoon, but he has a lot of charisma. I'm not suggesting we give him a free pass to do whatever he wants, but if he tries to get people to work together for all our sakes then perhaps we should at least support that.

If the general populace has become so cynical as to throw out all positive actions because they might be tarnished with a few unpleasant associations then there really is no hope. We can only do our best to focus on the ideals we wish others to express in the hope that it helps everyone lift their overall game. Is that really so much to ask?