Posts by Stuart Grout

So how do we correct the 'real world' so that it behaves more like the data sets?

Derogations and exemptions

Although GDPR is a big change for industry, governments throughout Europe still have a multitude of derogation and exemptions available so they can effectively carry on as before and they are all using them.

Certain lawyers love these crowdfunded cases as they are usually the only people who benefit, being paid whether the case wins or not.

All bow to the data protection Gods

The European data protection bods couldn't care less if they managed to wreck the entire internet, so long as they get to show how important they are.

Hopefully this won't encourage other governments to pass local laws to demand world wide changes.

Testing the security clearance of the ICO

So if I request the personal details of all MI5 & MI6 agents this information should now be provided to the ICO to read and confirm whether it should remain secret?

Seems like the ICO's office is the best place for native Russian speakers to seek employment.

Disconnect Germany?

Simple solution is to block Germany from access to Google and any non-German social media and let them set up and police their own system.

It seems to work well enough in North Korea and at least this way there is no risk of trying to censor the world to prevent Germans taking offence.

Bigger problem for EU than UK.

The volume of goods that we would apply a tariff to coming from Ireland or Scotland is likely to be negligible as May is looking for a free trade future.

The EU loves high import tariffs as a way of protecting it's frequently failing industries.

Seems to be to the UK's advantage to mostly leave the movement of goods be unrestricted and let the EU try and work out how to maintain their tariff system.

Going back to the AOL model?

If you are worried about seeing bad things on Facebook/Youtube then stop using it!

If you are worried about your children seeing bad things, stop them using it!

If a significant proportion of "users" leave then Facebook/Youtube might have an incentive.

It doesn't take much effort to avoid offensive material on either of the big advertising networks.

Of course if either becomes a sterile walled garden of pre-approved content then I for one will go elsewhere. I still remember the AOL version of the Internet and will certainly not tolerate a curated internet.

Extremist content or bait for extremists?

Seems to me that the Security Services would be better off getting ISPs to provide IP or user data on anyone accessing such material. This would help focus resources people who my be preparing acts of terrorism.

Come to think of it, it's probable that the Security Services are already using these tactics, despite the politicians making their noisy show of "doing something" while the effective work is going on quietly in the background.

FB vs BBC?

Not sure which side to take when it comes to the two loathsome organisations.

FB's main fault in this case is that it is unable to closely monitor 1.8 billion active users in the way the BBC would like.

Now FB may well be cooperating with the Police in some of these situations as a way of gathering evidence, much like the FBI took over and ran some child porn servers to get evidence against pedos.

But then again it is the BBC so I really can't take their side given that the membership of many of these pedo groups probably log on from their BBC works computers.

Typical government thinking!

If they don't have a clear idea on how to spend the money then don't!

It is typical government thinking that believes a budget exists only to be used up rather than deliver a clear benefit to the tax payer.

Walked from one, stayed with another.

When TalkTalk got hacked the service and price I was getting from them was nothing special so I switched to another provider for similar costs but in the hope of better service/security. I've now got into the habit of comparing and swapping landline ISP at the end of each introductory deal.

When 3 got hacked I did a comparison and the 3 product was better than any of the alternatives so I stayed. If I could have found a similar deal elsewhere then the hack would have been enough to go through the hassle of switching.

From my perspective a provider being hacked is a serious factor when considering switching, but it is only one of the factors.

OK in Manchester

Been surfing and streaming for the past four hours without any problems here in Manchester.

You might want to take report from people like Down Detector with a pinch of salt as they don't check whether the number of complaints they get have any statistical significance.

Seems sensible for anyone with a high profile.

As we live in a world where countless people crave their 15 minutes of social media fame and are happy to claim to be victims of some ...ism or ...phobia a cautious approach is the only sane response.

Recent events have shown that it doesn't take much for a reputation to be destroyed. The fact that in today's world you are not allowed to question motivation or veracity of allegations doesn't help.

Be paranoid.

Have witnesses and record interactions.

Even with these precautions you need to be prepared for well intended people to leap to the defence of shit stirrers without bothering to investigate facts.

It doesn't just effect Nobel prize winning scientists, there was a recent case in the UK where a minimum wage security guard in a store was accused of assaulting a breast feeding mum, the accuser leaping for social media to attack the store and the guard. It was only video evidence that showed the whole thing was made up and led to her prosecution. People will do this shit without any rational motivation beyond fame so give them a real reason and there are no limits.

Ideological differences

Interesting to see that China (nominally Communist) is driving ahead with practical plans that will develop it's technology and industry where the USA (nominally Capitalist) gets tied up with the need to support corporations who's only motive is short term profit.

In the long term I expect China's approach will deliver more as they seem to be focused on getting the job done rather than proving whether big or giant corporations are better at spending the tax payers money.

UK comparison

I can only assume the issue is the assumption that the state of Georgia is not allowed to charge for works it publishes.

In the UK similar guides such as the Civil Court Practice guides are used by judges and solicitors but it's not free. This isn't published by the government and costs around £500. In other areas of law there are other commercial works that act as guides to the laws, few of which are free.

The government also publishes guides but in general they're of limited value. In the past the government guidance was far more detailed but very expensive to maintain. This was probably one of the reasons the government's guidance has become more general and is now always prefaced by a statement that it isn't an authoritative guide.

Being unable to recover the costs of producing such annotated guides has been very effective at making sure that commercial companies are now the main providers of such guidance, a win for free enterprise if not for justice.

Tin foil?

So if I get one of these foisted on my home, will tin foil silence it or will it cut me off it it can't report back to base?

Streaming is a better & cheaper alternative

I gave up on broadcast TV years ago and apart from a few quite friendly visits from their investigation people it's been no bother. When they knocked on the door they were quite surprised when I just invited them in and showed them around. They haven't been back since.

Now I subscribe to Netflix for around £70 a year and could subscribe to Amazon Prime for a similar amount at the same time. This would give a better range of film and video than you ever get from the BBC for comparable costs.

I can't say I miss the BBC in the slightest as I very rarely even bother with the iPlayer.

Petrol station analogy?

I thought the idea of electric cars was to charge them when they are parked up, either overnight night at home or in car parks. Certainly the charging stations around my city (Manchester UK) fit this model.

I can see some benefit in battery swapping stations for people travelling longer distances between cities etc but would think most users of electric cars would be driving around the city or doing short commutes, relying on a single battery.

Manned fighter aircraft were clearly the most effective weapons platform for the past 40+ years and are likely to be the most effective of the next decade. Beyond that their cost effectiveness is in doubt.

The USA and to a lesser extent Russia have clear dominance over any likely enemy when it comes to air power. However if we learn the lessons of history we can see that other countries are looking at ways of nullifying this advantage.

In the same way that air power made Battleships irrelevant in WWII, we should expect other countries who cannot hope to match the power of the USAF to look to missiles and drones to defend themselves.

Developing and maintaining drones and missiles that can swarm against manned fighters is something that many countries can hope to achieve. These countries know that they could never train or maintain a manned force capable of resisting the USA. This leaves them with the choice of either surrendering to the demands and whims of Washington & Moscow or developing/buying a capability to deter attack.

The future drones don't need to be as good as a highly trained western pilot in the latest fighter, it just needs to present a serious risk to said pilot. This risk that can be increased by the fact that the drones/missiles will be much cheaper and probably expendable in combat situations.

A free market in politicians

If you want to push an agenda in the most corrupt country in the world you have to expect to get your hands dirty.

If you expect to influence American politicians/ elected Judges/ elected Police Chiefs etc you have to bribe them with suitable campaign contributions. This means either notes in brown envelopes or paying for something they want on their behalf.

Of course if you did this in another country you would be convicted of corruption and end up behind bars.

Sounds fair

On-line stores already have a significant advantage in not having to pay for retail sites or staff. The additional tax advantage makes it impossible for physical stores to compete.

With regards to E-bay. I'm not sure how they are treated in tax law but it would be easy enough for then to note the % tax to be paid by a customer based on where the buyer is. They already show me what a bid costs in real money rather than the $ the seller might be getting so telling me the sales tax I'll be paying should be easy enough.

Of course it will mean paying more for some purchases but that's just because we currently get a short term benefit in screwing over local retailers.

Alternative option

If Twitter didn't keep a copy of posts after the user has asked to delete them then there would be no problem. There would be nothing there to be handed over if Twitter behaved as users expected it to rather than trying to retain everything after it has served it's intended purpose.

Justice

The good old US of A shows once again that it has the best justice that money can buy.

Fortunately I will not buy any more Apple hardware (only got an old 2nd gen ipod) and will now close down my iTunes account as I've already ripped everything I've bought to a more usable format.

Goodbye and good riddance to Apple, rotten to the core.

UN has a better track record than USA

The UN has a much better track record on these issues than the USA.

If you look at the work of the UPU as delivering fair and effective international postal traffic you can see how it has managed to resist the vested interests of big players for over 100 years. The same can't be said of the USA which bends to the whim of whatever well paying lobbyist is stuffing the brown envelopes.

The USA would find there would be much less support for changes if it would just leave the Internet alone and stop trying to impose it's internal agendas on the rest of the world.

Typical arrogance!

So the Queen makes her kid a Field Marshal, Admiral of the Fleet and Marshal of the Royal Air Force. Treating the uniform and those that have earned their stripes with contempt.

If our politicians (even those that have served) started awarding themselves military rank and playing dress-up in uniforms they would be subject to well earned ridicule and contempt. But then such stupidity comes as no surprise.

Pay the fine and go after the contractor

I assume the contractor the NHS was paying was responsible for doing the job correctly.

They failed and landed their customer with a big fine. I'd be very surprised if the NHS couldn't go after the contractor for the fine and any other expense they can think of. Then maybe the contractor would be even more careful about which subcontractor they employed.