* Posts by Aqua Marina

631 publicly visible posts • joined 30 Dec 2011

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US websites block netizens in Europe: Why are they ghosting EU? It's not you, it's GDPR

Aqua Marina

Re: Overreach

I feel obliged to point out yet again, that if a US company has no presence in the EU (i.e. an office) then it can feel free to ignore the GDPR and stick it's middle finger up at the ICO.

The GDPR is a law that only applies to entities within EU borders.

Can't pay Information Commissioner's fine? No problem! Just liquidate your firm

Aqua Marina

Re: Liquidate company to avoid paying

Where the ICO originally went wrong was the procedure it followed with companies attempting to liquidate voluntarily. There is a process where the ICO can force a stop to the voluntary liquidation, an administrator is brought in, and following an investigation of the administrator the director banned from starting another company within X years.

Only recently has the ICO started to do this and is now getting better results.

IPv6 growth is slowing and no one knows why. Let's see if El Reg can address what's going on

Aqua Marina

“And no one knows why”...

Of course they do. As long as IPV4 works without visible consequence, it will be used.

Only when things noticeably stop working will the rest of us grudgingly act.

The same happened with Netbeui and Windows networking. It was only when the internet became a thing and the visible consequence of using Netbeui was “no internet access for you” did small businesses make the effort to switch. Ditto to IPX on Novell networks.

Brit reseller Aria PC mounts appeal against £750k taxman VAT fiddle ruling

Aqua Marina

Re: Ignorance of the law is not a defence...

I’ve partly changed my mind on the above, but only because I’ve spent the last 2 hours reading up on the workings of the First Tier Tribunal. It looks like right to trial by a jury of your peers has been abandoned for tax cases. I think that there is sufficient case for Aria to appeal due to the tribunal being incorrect on a point of law, but, I feel that only companies or persons with large enough pockets could afford to go down this route.

TLDR: the law it appears has been changed in favour of HMRC process because it appears the courts are too dumb to understand all these complex tax rules, and heck, HMRC must know what it is doing because it makes the rules, so simples!

Aqua Marina

Re: Ignorance of the law is not a defence...

As much as HMRC would not like this to be known, HMRC whilst an agency of government, it is not a court of law. Only a court can determine if the law has been broken.

The situation Aria finds itself in now, is that HMRC has determined that tax is due. This is it's purpose, it is the collector of tax. HMRCs determination however has no more legal standing than an opinion. It is a very highly regarded opinion within government, but it is still simply an opinion. If HMRC wishes to enforce it's determination, it must get a court order to do so, i.e. Aria must stand trial in court for tax evasion.

At this point in time today Aria is innocent of all charges (because there are non legally brought yet), and HMRC is simply following HMRC procedure that in theory is supposed to save the courts time.

At some point HMRC having exhausted all other avenues of revenue collection will take Aria to court. Up until this happens, the burden of proof at each stage of HMRC process is upon Aria to prove it's innocence. Again I'll say that HMRC is not a court, so the normal burden of proof such as innocent unless proven guilty is irrelevant at this point.

Once a court case is brought, the burden of proof changes. HMRC has lost many VAT carousel cases simply because it cannot prove beyond a reasonable doubt, that the defendant wilfully committed tax fraud. By law, the burden of proof is placed upon HMRC to prove it's case, not Aria to prove it's innocence. However, if Aria accepts HMRCs determination before a court case, and pays the bill. It cannot appeal later regardless of truth.

I believe that El Reg is misleading the average-Joe reader via carefully crafted headlines into believing Aria is committing tax fraud. At most El Reg's actions have successfully resulted in a situation that non-criminal tribunal cases (i.e. procedural cases that if contested eventually lead up to a true court case) should be performed openly and not secretively and can be reported about.

I could go on for another few pages but instead:- TLDR. Aria are at another step in a long line of HMRC processes designed to get them to part with their cash prior to an actual criminal court case, in much the same way that dodgy debt collectors persue you relentlessly, constantly hoping you pay before a court says you don't have to.

Oh and at some point, a court decide that this process should be open to public scrutiny, and El Reg have taken credit. When did El Reg move to San Francisco?

I got 257 problems, and they're all open source: Report shines light on Wild West of software

Aqua Marina

Re: The particular issue around Open Source licensing

"IANAL but (at least in the UK) EULAs are not legally binding."

That is an assumption. It has never been tested in court.

First SpaceX Falcon 9 Block 5 rocket lobs comms sat into orbit

Aqua Marina

Really they were just across the road ;-)

Obligatory Father Ted link https://youtu.be/MMiKyfd6hA0

It's World (Terrible) Password (Advice) Day!

Aqua Marina

Hey! Don’t go giving out the code to my luggage!!!

Exclusive to all press: Atari launches world's best ever games console

Aqua Marina

Re: I still have mine

FWIW the Vega website is now saying they will ship within the next 7 days.

We need a countdown clock!

Legal tech startup tries to haul 123-Reg to court over 24-hour backup claims

Aqua Marina

“but can be found on the Internet Archive: Wayback Machine dated last year.”

Take a screenshot cos tomorrow that will have been requested to be taken down and purged.

Autonomy ex-CFO Hussain guilty of fraud: He cooked the books amid $11bn HP gobble

Aqua Marina

Extradition?

Did he get extradited to the US? Or has this occurred in his absence? Given that the SFO said he had no case to answer under UK law can’t he just stand at lands-end thumbing his nose in the general direction of the US?

US citizen sues France over France-dot-com brouhaha

Aqua Marina

Re: Shirley

“...French courts have no jurisdiction regarding US domains? (Which is what .com domains basically are)”

I’m wondering if the expat registered the domain in 1994 in France, using a French registrar. If said registrar was still running the hosting then it would be quite easy for the French courts to force transfer of the assets to the government.

Recycling tech biz bosses get years for VAT fraud, money laundering

Aqua Marina

“Didn't realise IT was only thing were supposed to refurbish”

Can’t make my mind up if this sentence makes sense.

Capita reports pre-tax LOSS of £515m for 2017

Aqua Marina

“Why would you bid on those contracts anyway?“

Salesmen will bid on anything that earns them a commission. Once the deal has been struck, delivering it becomes someone else’s problem. If salesmen earned commission on profit rather than sales order value then you would see a completely different outcome.

There is no perceived IT generation gap: Young people really are thick

Aqua Marina

Re: Swearing in the South

I’ve been try’na give it up’a but it’s one of those nights...

BT pushes ahead with plans to switch off telephone network

Aqua Marina

Re: Oh well

“Dunno why you got so many downvotes for what was an informative and correct answer.”

Because this is The Register comments section, where truth is determined by votes rather than fact.

Scissors cut paper. Paper wraps rock. Lab-made enzyme eats plastic

Aqua Marina

Doorways!

George RR Martin in the 90s did a TV movie pilot for a series called Doorways where the protagonists could jump through a portal into an alternative dimension where things were the same but slightly different. This preceded Sliders by about a year (wonder where they got the idea). Anyway one of the plot lines of the dimension they jumped into was that on earth 2 (or was it 3, I haven’t seen it since 1994) they had designed a bug that would solve the earths ecological problems by eating oil based waste. Only the bug spread worldwide eating all the oil, and anything made from it such as plastics. As a result the earth was a much healthier place to live due to no pollution, but we were pretty much living back in the 1800s technologically.

US government weighs in on GDPR-Whois debacle, orders ICANN to go probe GoDaddy

Aqua Marina

"It would mean that you couldn't send anyone over to conduct business in the EU"

It doesn't say anything of the sort. Anyone from the US could come over to the EU to perform business. What they can't do is get on a plane back to the US with a USB stick full of personal data. Whilst that person is within the EU they are bound by EU laws.

"nor would you be able to appoint agents there"

Legally speaking an agent is the equivalent of having an office. So an EU based agent would be bound by EU laws, even if his wage packet comes from the US.

"Apart from the logistical issues such an organisation would have to contend with being gaining a sleazy reputation."

What logistical issues? I can go onto a US based retail website and order whatever I want provided they are willing to deliver to the EU. There are US ebay shops aplenty that do so and the same with Amazon US. No sleazy issues here thankyou very much, you are talking bollocks.

"And if the nature of the service were B2B then its customers would be at risk."

Again you are talking bollocks. I import from the US, and as long as the only personal details I give them are my own as the representative of the company, and not say my whole customer list then there is no risk.

Aqua Marina

“If you want to do business in the EU, you must abide by EU law“

A very common misconception but not quite true. If you want to have an office based within the EU then any business performed from it must be compliant with EU laws. The EU does not forbid its citizens from seeking services outside the EU with organisations to which EU laws do not apply.

Aqua Marina

Re: EU expecting it's laws to be global

At which point the EU has the legal authority to cut the fibres at its borders, appoint its own overseer of domain registry and go it alone. Stopping a whole chunk of annual revenue going overseas.

Life would go on, business would still take place.

Guess who's still most moaned about UK ISP... Rhymes with BorkBork

Aqua Marina

Re: "31 complaints per 100,000 customers"

Came on to say the same thing. I wish my business had 100000 regular customers with only 31 complaints, heck, I'd settle for 10000.

Pentagon sticks to its guns: Yep, we're going with a single cloud services provider

Aqua Marina

Re: JEDI Cloud

"All in one convenient place for the Dark Side to read accidentally unsecured data."

All in one convenient place for the Russians, Chinese and North Koreans to concentrate their hacking efforts.

Talk about painting a target on your back, all your eggs in one basket, single point of failure etc.

The law of run Nintendo consequences: Sega brings out mini Mega Drive / Genesis

Aqua Marina

This years play expo has been cancelled I believe. However they are having one at the Blackpool winter gardens instead.

Aqua Marina

Re: Smaller and Far away....

Sega Microdrive!!!

Ok so they might need a chat with Sir Clive first about the name.

Data watchdog fines Brit council £120k for identifying 943 owners of vacant property

Aqua Marina

Re: I apologize for being ignorant in this...

The short answer is

The mass dump of personal data is what is illegal.

Longer version

Like you say there is nothing illegal about turning up at your local council office armed with a paper notebook and pen, and asking to see public records then making notes. If however you turned up at the council offices armed with a 1000 page per minute high volume copier, expect not to get through the door.

At the moment there is a fine line drawn between reasonable access to public records, and massive data collection. I expect things will start to get messy once the GDPR comes into play. Most councils will probably err on the side of caution, until someone has to sue them to get access to public data.

India: Yeah, we would like to 3D-print igloos on the Moon

Aqua Marina

Re: "A sphere or igloo-like dome is the most efficient shape for a habitat in a vacuum..."

Your problem could be solved by 3D printing construction bricks of various dimensions, then using something like this to lay them afterwards. Sort of a giant Lego technics set!

https://youtu.be/FXhZEV22Jrw

Whois is dead as Europe hands DNS overlord ICANN its arse

Aqua Marina

Businesses being businesses I'm sure that they would find a way to include it in the price, say increase the cost of domain registration by £4.99 per year. I don't think legislation will have anything to do with it. It's a legal requirement for me to have car insurance, but I still have to pay a business for it.

Aqua Marina

Unless ICANN have an EU based office they can’t be fined. The EU based registrars are the ones that can only receive any such fine. The solution is simple, if you have an EU based office, enable anonymisation by default. I have it on my 123-reg account, it works and it has worked since they started to offer it as a chargeable extra.

El Reg needs you – to help build an automated beer-transporting robot

Aqua Marina

Re: Eh.. Get an office Jnr its easier....maybe

I remember doing this in the 80s as a child using cans of coke, a Big Trak and the optional self emptying trailer attachment.

How do I claim my prize?

Not one, but 20,000 black holes hiding in Milky Way's heart

Aqua Marina

So they’ve discovered...

... the Kessel Run!

All they have to do now is figure out how to navigate through it in 12 par-secs!

Law's changed, now cough up: Uncle Sam serves Microsoft fresh warrant for Irish emails

Aqua Marina

If MS Ireland were on the ball, they will have already involved the Irish equivalent of the ICO (EICO?). If they havent I'm sure some well meaning citizens could inform the EICO that the US government is trying to force an EU based company to break EU law. That should pretty much stale-mate it as EU execs would ultimately be liable if they allow the US company to trawl their systems.

The Register Opera Company presents: The Pirates of Penzance, Sysadmin edition

Aqua Marina

Re: RS232 Interface Lead

RS232 Interface Lead

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CDlj0jBtYmQ

Aqua Marina

I Had an IBM job

And then I lost my job

And heaven knows

I'm miserable now

Cambridge Analytica's daddy biz had 'routine access' to UK secrets

Aqua Marina

"Interesting that they did additional work for free."

It's basic sales technique into large organisations that buy big, and move slowly. Ensure that your customer is using the tools correctly, efficiently, and more importantly, all the time! Several months onsite support drilling the use of your product into people, and the product becomes mandatory. Decades of follow up sales to follow.

First there were notebooks. Then tablets. And now ‘book tablets’

Aqua Marina

‘book tablets‘

Surely that should be ‘Booklets’!

Reg writer wins quite prestigious journalism prism

Aqua Marina
Trollface

Take note San Francisco office. Real journalism!

Facebook confirms Cambridge Analytica harvested profile data

Aqua Marina

SHHHHHHHHHHH!

After repeated warnings Facebook bans Britain First for 'inciting hatred'

Aqua Marina

And there goes a useful tool?

What am I supposed to use as a yard stick to determine who I really do need to de-friend on Facebook? For the past two years anyone posting a link to a Britain First page identified themselves as someone I really didn’t want to remain in contact with!

HP is turning off 'Always On' data deals but won't say why

Aqua Marina

Re: Return under waranty?

The latest offer on the table is about $65, so post Geohot? Yep. You have until April 18th I believe to submit your claim.

Half the world warned 'Chinese space station will fall on you'

Aqua Marina

Re: Chicken Licken

You just reminded me of the Dappa Laughs vine https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zuDQqcNgS9s

Fancy owning a two-seat Second World War Messerschmitt fighter?

Aqua Marina

Re: ObaKa?

On my iPhone the K key is right above the M key. I’d suggest fat fingers is at faulf.

Aqua Marina

Re: Excuse me ..

Alas these things come from a time before the computerised records and instant worldwide communications we have today. They were also hand made and subject to on the spot improvisations. During the war they’ll have been MacGyvered and cannibalised to keep them in the air. The chances are that all the above is true depending on where you were in the world at the time and whether or not the communication to name things differently had filtered down to you. When the builder finally did get instructions to change the name, he probably thought "Oh, I'll just use up the remainder of this box of serial plates before getting some more made".

EE: Data goes TITSUP* for Brit mobile customers

Aqua Marina

“leaving grumbling UK commuters with nothing to mindlessly tap on their way to work.”

I thought that’s what the steering wheel was for?

Batteries are so heavy, said user. If I take it out, will this thing work?

Aqua Marina

My sister once blew the cylinder head gasket of her first car killing it. The mechanic asked her when she last topped up the engine with water. “You put petrol in cars, not water!” Came the scolding reply.

30 years later and we still remind her of it.

Europe's Unified Patent Court fate in the balance amid German probing (yes, Brexit is in the mix)

Aqua Marina

Re: International organisation immunity

Surely diplomatic immunity only works if the hosting country accept it. At any time Germany could expel him, deport him to his home country and end the diplomatic immunity formally.

As an EU citizen he is probably free to re-enter the country, but with his immunity formally ended if he walked into the office and started acting as king again, there shouldn’t be anything stopping the humourless police doing their thing.

Bloke sues Microsoft: Give me $600m – or my copy of Windows 7 back

Aqua Marina
Trollface

Re: Don't forget to sue them for time lost...

Meh, MS should just tell him to install Classic Shell and to go away!

Crypto-gurus: Which idiots told the FBI that Feds-only backdoors in encryption are possible?

Aqua Marina

Anyone want to make a lot of money?

Approaching this from a business perspective. Our lords and masters have decreed that something must be done. They will not listen to those with suitable knowledge, so the only thing left to do is to give them something, anything and make a bloody f*ckton of money while doing it. Very soon someone else will have this idea and will make a f*ckton of money from it. Probably someone like BAE or Lockheed Martin. The final results do not matter. The fact that someone up high can tick a box that says “it is done” is sufficient. Start a company, sell magic thinking. Close down after a few years and retire to somewhere warm and cheap.

So, are you going to complain that what is being asked for is impossible, or are you going to follow the American dream and profit from it?

Yorkshire cops have begun using on-the-spot fingerprint scanners

Aqua Marina

Re: You think this is invasive

You jest, but it turns out that chimera DNA causes exactly that.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lydia_Fairchild

ASA tells Poundland and its teabagging elf: Enough with the smutty social ninja sh*t

Aqua Marina

Ditto, the Tussauds Waxworks in Blackpool has blown-up (as in poster sized, not exploded) traditional double entendre Blackpool post cards all over the walls as you walk round. Just something to have a titter about.

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