* Posts by Robert Helpmann??

2583 publicly visible posts • joined 31 May 2011

Stop us if you've heard this one: Facebook and Twitter profiles silently slurped by shady code

Robert Helpmann??
Childcatcher

Re: Theft? Freely given away shurely?

When people give data away freely it's not theft. When people use dodgy Facebook apps to impress their so-called friends and boast abou having a particular type of personality, it's not theft.

Lack of informed consent over something an individual should have control over might not be theft, but it is inherently dishonest. Perhaps creating laws pertaining to online situations that are similar to those surrounding the concept of attractive nuisance is an appropriate response.

T-Mobile US hacked, Monero wallet app infected, public info records on 1.2bn people leak from database...

Robert Helpmann??
Headmaster

Depends on what "allow" means

Uber says it is beginning trials of a program that will allow riders and drivers to record their conversations.

Is this something that requires consent of both? Hmmm.... Looked up the cited article:

The company plans to test it in the United States “soon,” according to the email, but the timeline for rolling it out is still unclear and may be difficult. “Laws in the United States around consent to being recorded can vary from state to state, but we hope to be able to make this available nationally,” the email said.

Uber has never let mere laws stand in their way... or safety, for that matter. Why not just do full video and sound recording of every ride with a consent notice being required before each ride, every time? Maybe a requirement their employees independent contractors have to post a statement in their cars letting passengers know as much would be a good follow on to that. Laws surrounding dashcams and audio recording in cars are not so complicated that they can't be understood by a lay person. For example: https://www.carbibles.com/are-dash-cams-legal/ . I wonder if this is just Uber being Uber and waiting until they feel they can skirt the law that is in some way to their advantage.

Shopped online at Macy's last month? Might want to toss, or at least check, that card

Robert Helpmann??
Childcatcher

Bad Signs

That these sort of Magecart operations continue to succeed is a bad sign for both retailers and security providers.

Yeah, that they skipped hiring pen testers to check out their stuff.

Second time lucky: Sweden drops Julian Assange rape investigation

Robert Helpmann??
Coat

Re: Assange® Leavin' On A Jet Plane?

The US is really trying to nail him on a technicality, the idea that he 'conspired with someone to unlawfully crack a password' or some such

It seems to me that all laws are is a collection of technicalities in much the way that protons, electrons and neutrons make up atoms. There my be smaller legal particles waiting to be discovered, but construction on the Large Jurisprudential Collider is offline pending upgrades to the tort reactors and civil inducers.

Mine has a copy of Complete Idiot's Guide to Business Law in the pocket.

The US Army recruits WALL-E Chris H as its next-generation bomb disposal robot

Robert Helpmann??
Mushroom

They could've Backronymed it to be "Common Robotic Assistive System - Heavy".

It's a Kinetic Armament Block or Overcome Machine.

1Password hopes to cross some items off its todo list with help from $200m in venture capital

Robert Helpmann??
Childcatcher

Re: privacy and security are the two areas of focus

Venture funding is not the ultimate evil that Mr Hansson makes it out to be. As with many things, the devil is in the details. I would be interested to know more of those details, especially as this particular service is one that impacts my professional life. I might have to do a little digging...

What a boar! Wild pigs snort and snuffle €20k worth of marching powder stashed in Tuscan forest

Robert Helpmann??

Re: "Coldiretti – Italy's largest farmers' association – led protests in Rome"

...the most dangerous one, responsible for more dead humans every year than any other two of the list (and off the list for that matter) combined: the Cape buffalo.

Deer kill about as many people each year as do Cape buffalo and they are not even in the Top 10. A very short internet search yields this list of nasties:

Mosquitoes

Snakes

Dogs

Freshwater snails

Assassin bugs

Tsetse flies

Scorpions

Ascaris roundworms

Crocodiles

Tapeworms

Hippopotamuses

Try as they might, ransomware crooks can't hide their tells when playing hands

Robert Helpmann??
Childcatcher

What I want is a file system that keeps incremental copies of files, and flashs up a warning when it suddenly goes from 0.01% of files updated per day to 10% of files updated.

What you are looking for is a HIDS or HIPS application (or NIDS or NIPS if you are concerned with multiple systems). There are plenty of vendors that will be happy to take your money and even some free tools that will cover your stated goal.

Bloodhound rocket car target of 550mph put on ice after engine overheat

Robert Helpmann??
Childcatcher

Re: Dear AC

Once upon a time, the space race was all about two countries trying to one-up each other, nothing more. Since then, so very many technologies have grown from it, industries have been built around it and generally the world is a better place for it. This is just one example where this sort of effort has led to all sorts of unintended but useful outcomes. Plus it sure beats warfare as a driver of innovation.

To avoid that Titanic feeling, boffins create an unsinkable hydrophobic metal with laser power

Robert Helpmann??

Re: Hmmm...

There are already ships out there that pump steams of air bubbles under the hull to reduce friction...

IIRC, the same principle is used with some torpedoes, so the militaries of the world probably will be interested.

Antarctic researchers send an SOS to the world: Who wrote this message in a bottle?

Robert Helpmann??
Happy

Re: WE HAVE A WINNER!

Worth following up: any response yet? Inquiring minds want to know.

Remember the Uber self-driving car that killed a woman crossing the street? The AI had no clue about jaywalkers

Robert Helpmann??
Childcatcher

Re: Surely

Jaywalking is an American thing anyway.

People, especially kids, and animals running into the roadways is something that happens all over the world though the circumstances vary. Autonomous diving vehicles have to be able to improve upon human ability in order to have any chance of uptake. This is a scenario a human would normally be expected to deal with. The software failed to do so, resulting in tragedy.

There are a number of open source autonomous initiatives in the works. I would love to see those take off, especially as an alternative to anything having to do with Uber.

That's not long division, Timmy! China school experimented on pupils with mind-reading tech

Robert Helpmann??
Black Helicopters

And may also dispute the underlying premise that 1984 wasn't about how things should be. To us in the West, it is a cautionary tale as to what can happen if the state has unfettered control but to the current regime in China, it may be regarded as a useful blueprint as to how to deal with dissidents. Perspective is everything!

A stranger's TV went on spending spree with my Amazon account – and web giant did nothing about it for months

Robert Helpmann??
Childcatcher

Re: I got nailed by this

It sounds to me that there is an additional issue with Amazon that allows the fraudsters to gain access to accounts and then the one being described in the article that allows them to retain it. Maybe an API that doesn't enforce timeouts for bad password attempts or they're vulnerable to MITM attacks or maybe have CSRF issues. There's definitely more to what happened than what is given in the article.

Boffins blow hot and cold over li-ion battery that can cut leccy car recharging to '10 mins'

Robert Helpmann??
Childcatcher

Re: Charge or just swap the batteries?

Like this...?

I was thinking more like this:

http://www.amcpacer.com/images/archives/mario-bros-3.jpg

Robert Helpmann??
Joke

Re: Charge or just swap the batteries?

What EV manufacturers need to do is go with the same system used in amusement parks with bumper cars: ditch the battery and rely on a steady current from the overhead power grid. Cars will be lighter, making them more efficient. There will be 0 time spent at filling stations, although this will be offset by the inevitable power outages such a system will be vulnerable to.cars can be centrally routed and controlled, making gridlock and accidents a thing of the past. What could possibly go wrong?

'Don’t be so concerned with your image'... US prosecutor lets rip on Uber for hack cover-up as pair plead guilty

Robert Helpmann??
Pirate

Re: NDA ...

The hard parts to understand are why the crooks signed their own names to an NDA and why Uber believed that public knowledge of their lack of security could make their reputation any worse.

It's a case of crooks working with crooks. Uber is all about disruption which means the rules don't apply to them, including the one about honor among thieves.

Is HONK nothing sacred HONK? It's 2019 and an evil save file can pwn much-loved HONK Untitled Goose Game

Robert Helpmann??
Childcatcher

Re: How it might work

I am a bit confused on what makes a flaw that allows execution of arbitrary code "more amusing that [sic] scary." It might have limited applicability due to what is being exploited, but that's still pretty nasty.

Like the Death Star on Endor, JEDI created a ton of fallout and stormy weather in cloud market

Robert Helpmann??
Childcatcher

Re: John Boys Ship

I'm hoping for something from the live action version of Space Battleship Yamato.

Samsung SpaceSelfie Galaxy-bearing balloon photobombs Michigan home the hard way

Robert Helpmann??
Childcatcher

Close to Fame

...somewhat-celeb Cara Delevingne...

Come now, she was in several movies I have heard of, if not actually watched. For instance, she was reasonably adequate in Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets.

You're ARIN a laugh: Critical internet org accused of undercutting security over legal fears

Robert Helpmann??
Flame

Hot Potato

A problem with those could lead to much larger problems.

The question isn't one of how hot the potato is but of who will end up holding it.

Your kids will be glad a UK government-funded robot will be changing your nappy and not them

Robert Helpmann??
Thumb Up

@macjules, have an upvote for the Robot & Frank reference. Excellent movie. Good actors, good writing, good story, pretty much all effects (practical and otherwise) contributed to the story. My comment when I watched it was that it was apt to be too much on the nose for comfort.

What simultaneously sucks and doesn't? This new robot vacuum cleaner

Robert Helpmann??
Paris Hilton

Re: You know what also sucks?

That sucks dingo bollocks like a microsoft CEO.

That's a strangely specific reference... wait... I've decided I don't want to know after all.

Franco-stein's on the move: Spanish dictator turfed out of decadent mountaintop mausoleum

Robert Helpmann??
Childcatcher

Re: Teaching

The first I heard of it was in high school when one of the teachers, but not the history teacher, showed us a picture from the war and asked if anyone could tell what was going on in it. It's definitely not taught in American schools. The only reason I have any awareness at all about the subject is that I enjoy reading about history.

We're late and we're unreliable but we won't invalidate your warranty: We're engineers!

Robert Helpmann??
Devil

Just the tip

...passively and totally non-intrusively slipping heated box cutters between unnecessarily glued components is enough to invalidate a warranty and legally permit the Devil to claim your soul and sell your children into slavery.

So that's what it takes to get rid of them. Thanks for the tip! As for the bit about the house, I am having one built and am only planning on doing some of the interior painting. I worked as a painter as a way to pay for college, but even being competent in this area I would prefer to have someone else do most of the work. As for plumbing, electric, gas... I know my limits and they come down to being able to research builders and contractors and the patience to read all of the paperwork.

Slow down, ice-on-Mars fans: Those 'streams' on Red Planet may be caused by landslides

Robert Helpmann??
Coat

Re: Rocks falling at 360 kilometers per hour?

120mph is pretty fast, but nowhere near the speed of sound!

Hold on, now! That's definitely faster than the speed of sound in a vacuum.

Mine's the one with an airtight seal.

Assange fails to delay extradition hearing as date set for February

Robert Helpmann??
Childcatcher

persona au gratin

Enough with the cheesy puns already!

IBM: Why yes, Red Hat is doing great. Thanks for asking. The rest of Big Blue? Sure, wait – someone's at the door...

Robert Helpmann??
Childcatcher

Re: Where's the accompanying IBM layoff/rightsizing/workforce action article?

I was a sub on one of their contracts until the beginning of this year. It seemed pretty clear that the bean counters were running things upstream. The techs I worked with were pretty good but the contract was in constant trouble.

Hundreds charged in internet's biggest child-abuse swap-shop site bust: IP addy leak led cops to sys-op's home

Robert Helpmann??
Childcatcher

Re: Operators of anonymization services like Tor must ask themselves...

The ban Tor brigade need to be going after the politicians that are still underfunding services that protect children, and at local government and police leaders that are still failing children through their inability to work effectively together.

Keep in mind the American agency that went after these sons of bitches was the IRS, not the FBI. The primary function to the investigation concerned money laundering, not child abuse. The IRS catches a surprising number of crims where other branches fail. I have doubts about funding being the issue holding the various law enforcement agencies back from addressing serious crime; my feeling is that it is primarily an issue of the drive and initiative of the leadership of these groups.

Hubble grabs first snap of interstellar comet... or at least that's what we hope this smudge is

Robert Helpmann??
Childcatcher

Re: 110,000 miles per hour

Same goes for "enter our Solar System from the depths of the universe" when it's from inside our own Galaxy.

Unless the intended subtext is that we are really the dregs of what the universe has to offer in which case it's spot on.

Tearoff of Nottingham: University to lose chunk of IT dept to outsourcing

Robert Helpmann??
Unhappy

Re: The CEO resigned

You missed a trick there, as I was reading it I was expecting it to be "the wurst"

In my defense, there was blood in my caffeine stream this morning, so I was a bit off.

Robert Helpmann??
Childcatcher

Re: The CEO resigned

Not looking forward to Sausage as a Service

Seconded! A drop in sausage levels or quality thereof would be the absolute worst.

Sudo? More like Su-doh: There's a fun bug that gives restricted sudoers root access (if your config is non-standard)

Robert Helpmann??
Childcatcher

Re: I suspect that most didn't even know it was an option

SELinux gives you more than the basic unix system

It should also be noted that there is a SEAndroid module adding similar functionality for Android devices.

Conspiracy loons claim victory in Brighton and Hove as council rejects plans to build 5G masts

Robert Helpmann??
Childcatcher

Re: Wow, what a catalog

You left off "learning and memory deficits, [and] neurological disorders", but I think we can accept these as preexisting conditions.

Welcome to the World Of Tomorrow, where fridges suffer certificate errors. Just like everything else

Robert Helpmann??
Childcatcher

The content expands to fill the space available.

Which leads us to the next killer app: smart fridge cleanup and compression. The smart fridge registers that there is too much crap in it and that most is in danger of becoming someone's science experiment before much longer and beacons that smart trash can over for a quick word.

What the &*%* did you just $#*&!*# say about me, you little &%$#*? 'AI' to filter Xbox Live chat

Robert Helpmann??
Childcatcher

Re: I know it's possible to have fun ...

Sometimes swearing does indeed make life better, but insulting other people never does.

Should I infer from this that you have never driven in traffic? I find it helpful to let my fellow drivers know they are full of <prunes> from time to time and that they are a bunch of <porcine fanciers> while simultaneously indicating through various methods that they should take time to indulge in some <self love>. All meant to be in good fun, of course.

Wondering if the Xbox Live filtering system will look similar.

Apple insists it's totally not doing that thing it wasn't accused of: We're not handing over Safari URLs to Tencent – just people's IP addresses

Robert Helpmann??
Thumb Up

...dogs and cats living together...

Peter? Is that you?

Pitney Bowes: Can we be frank? Ransomware has borked our dead-tree post systems

Robert Helpmann??
Childcatcher

Re: "to pay or not to pay"

I don't handle backups at my current workplace, but I wonder if there is any filtering that can be done at the time of backup that would note changes in baseline number of encrypted files being backed up. It would seem to be a useful feature in these situations.

Mission Extension Vehicle-1 launches to save space from zombie satellites

Robert Helpmann??

Re: "a rescue makes more economic sense"

So the question then is : which is less expensive to lose, a MEV or a new satellite[?]

That is a question, yes, but not the only one. I would like to see a breakdown of costs and returns on a new satellite versus keeping an older one in orbit. Sooner or later, the law of diminishing returns will come into play, but I have no idea when that would be.

'We go back to the Moon to stay': Apollo vets not too chuffed with NASA's new rush to the regolith

Robert Helpmann??
WTF?

In reverse order:

Let's start with the basics and then work forward from there. A very strange set of priorities for human beings - let's try and live on the Moon whilst neglecting millions of people who are still on Earth who have solvable issues? Are you serious?

Because I am willing to help my fellow human doesn't mean I should forsake all other endeavors and resign myself and my heirs to a joyless existence. As far as going to the moon or flying to distant stars, I am willing to put quite a it of effort and resource into getting away from the kind of idiocy you're pushing.

Indeed there are things on Earth where the money would be far better spent. Clean drinking water for everyone?

Really? So ensuring the long term survival of the species in the face of another extinction event is not a good idea? Confused how resource allocation within a budgetary process works or simply pissed because it didn't yield the result you hoped for? If it means so much to you, go do something instead of bitching about it here. You might actually accomplish something worthwhile and at least you have some control over how your time is spent. With any luck, you'll be able to find something more useful to do than mildly irritating those around you.

That's assuming they went in the first place. Which is still questionable to this day.

Just because someone continues to question doesn't mean the issue hasn't been long settled. I should mention that it's good of you to do so as everyone who read your post understands quite well what they are dealing with, but I don't think that was your intent.

Uncle Sam punishes China for abusing Uyghur Muslims – by blacklisting top AI surveillance companies

Robert Helpmann??
Black Helicopters

Re: blacklisting top AI surveillance companies

I thought top AI surveillance company is amazon, non?

Nope, that would be Facebook.

Euro ISP club: Sure, weaken encryption. It'll only undermine security for everyone, morons

Robert Helpmann??
Childcatcher

Re: Simpler

The understanding of how this tech and our laws interact is still evolving. Here's a write-up of a fairly recent case:

https://nakedsecurity.sophos.com/2018/11/01/passcodes-are-protected-by-fifth-amendment-says-court/

Spacecraft that told us 'you're screwed' finally gives up the ghost after doubling its shelf life

Robert Helpmann??
Joke

Re: Boiling point / pressure

Sublimation of the gel would only occur if the material is directly exposed to a vacuum ... like a cross between a wet suit and a dry suit.

My, that would chafe!

GPS cyberstalking of girlfriend brings surveillance and indictment for alleged American mobster

Robert Helpmann??
Childcatcher

Re: American Justice?

er ... what? ... unless you can produce a reference for this hyperbole, I'm going to suggest you are blowing smoke.

Do not engage! I repeat: do not engage! Nothing to see here. Move along. Move along.

FBI called in to investigate 2018 Mountain State mobile voting system hacking

Robert Helpmann??

Re: Gospodin Putin has always cast Longing Dark Eyes on West Virginia's Coal Stocks

I'd like to see Sanders/Warren, Warren/Sanders or either of those two and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

When did El Reg become a forum to discuss oddly specific fantasies? Takes all types, I suppose.

Chef roasted for tech contract with family-separating US immigration, forks up attempt to quash protest

Robert Helpmann??
Headmaster

Re: Flaming idiot, social justice warrior and political hack

because he's a FLAMING MORON?

Up-voted solely on the basis of living up to your handle. For those who down-voted due to the hot air being blown: it's in the name. I feel I have been warned and am just here to enjoy the show.

If you have enough of this type of gut microbe, you can get drunk for free after eating carbs

Robert Helpmann??
Boffin

OMFG...

It'll be the spa treatment of choice next summer.

Someone has already suffered severe side effects from this treatment (aka death). Auto-brewery syndrome is something that has been known and studied for over 60 years now. The most important non-clickbait bit in this story is that the strain of bacteria causing grief to this particular individual was also causing other health issues.

Call-center scammer loses $9m appeal in stunning moment of poetic justice

Robert Helpmann??
Childcatcher

Re: Except the jury dont award anything, they decide guilt

In federal cases like this, the jury has no say in sentencing. Be that as it may, he pled guilty, so no jury was involved.

You mean other than the grand jury because that was still part of the process leading to the scammer's indictment.

Belgian F-16 pilot rescued from power line after emergency ejection

Robert Helpmann??
Paris Hilton

Re: Pilot now shorter and one chance left

Given the choice between a compressed spine and death, I wouldn't take long to choose.

Of course you wouldn't because the ground is apt to choose for you if you are less than prompt.

Consumer ransomware insurance? You could be painting a target on us all for avaricious crims

Robert Helpmann??
Facepalm

Re: How long

...before someone does a ransomware attack on themselves to collect the $50,000 payout?

Some of the oldest archaeological evidence of fraud dates back hundreds of years (weighted dice), so my guess is that as soon as the product is available it will be abused, because people.