Posts by Mark 85

Re: An experiment??

As for tobacco products, I suspect that governments are as addicted to them as any other for the tax revenue they produce. I don't think you will see a ban on them anytime soon.

Therein is the crux of the matter here in the States. How doe it get taxed? States started raising taxes on tobacco products to discourage smoking. It worked. But then the revenue fell off.. so they raised it again. Cue up "chasing the tail".

About two years ago, customs was impounding shipments for China as no one knew the duty on them. It got sorted but I'm not sure the category these things fall under at this point.

There's a couple of States working to re-write their laws from "tobacco products" to "nicotine products" but there's an issue with the patches from places like the medical world.

I won't even get into big pharma and big tobacco as other commenters have done well on this. But taxing e-cigs and vaping products is a problem... for the collectors of said taxes.

@d3vy -- Re: Good for competition?

Sounds like US employees could do with fighting for better employment laws...

I always thought that the two weeks holiday you guys got was bad enough but now your saying that you can be replaced at the whim.of your company.

Exactly that. The unions have been eviscerated and the power now lies with the corporates and their lobbyists. Most states have what is called "work at will".

Here's a link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/At-will_employment

Thus, they can fire anyone, at anytime, without any reason.

Re: Gravity

Restarting the gravity after shutting it off does require some serious steps by several dozen field techs and takes some time. Manglement won't pay the OT to get it turned back on in a timely fashion.

OTOH, there's a bunch of people waiting in line at McDonalds that wouldn't mind if they suddenly weighed nothing.

Hmm.... I have a plan forming.....

We had to get creative and get the CEO to rip Finance a new one. Network wanted a raised floor for the entire building. Building Services who had to pay for the floor balked. Network said, we'll give you the funds from the savings made by doing the wiring with a raised floor instead of through the ceiling and drops all over the place. Finance had a cow... sputtering and spewing about "can't do that". CEO got involved and told them "do it or find a new job". We got the raised floor and the savings were huge beyond the install. Maintenance of the network, reworking as needed is still saving them a bundle.

Re: If Only...

And what the heck does "our learnings" mean, anyway?

Probably that they can get away with f*ckall for security and still make a profit. Possibly more if they fire the IT Security types.

Since most customers everywhere only care about "price"... well... they too get what they pay for.

Re: Tune in for next week's episode, where Comey decries the jury system

And the following week... "Even thinking about a police officer doing something inappropriate is demoralizing. We need to control thought-crime."

Re: Strike 1

You know they're lying if their lips are moving.

No different than any other ISP or Telco here in the States then. Carry on, there's nothing to see here.

Why not name them so someone at the affected companies can bring some pressure to bear on their IT Staff?

Double-edged sword obviously. It also gives the bad guys a heads-up on who's left the backdoor unlocked. They can probably exploit it faster than the company can patch.

I would hope that the companies were at least notified...

Re: Adopt, Adapt, Improve

Add "Clapper" for "all your pictures belong to us and may be used as evidence against you."

Re: Which Browser?

Let's see... drive a stake through it's heart, sprinkle with garlic and holy water.. Wait that's a vampire.. this thing is more like a zombie. Shoot it in the head, then? All the above?

With all the horsecrap that patent trolls toss (with phases like "mutual goodwill"), they need several teams of Clydesdales.

Re: "designed to protect our users"

Nope... Google thinks it is the Internet Police. But only if it doesn't affect them.

Re: Investment or bribe?

It could also just be a good way to hide some cash... and after re-reading article.. maybe get some directorships on some of these company boards. Active investors but quiet ones for now.

Re: Is it in the public interest?

This isn't the first and won't be the last. Companies have been coming down hard on "security researchers" reporting bugs to them also. Seems that burying one's head in the sand is better than rising above and fixing the damn problem. Yeah, whistleblowers and security types may become an endangered species.

Re: Meh....

Ah... something more illiterate than texting using whatever passes for language in them. Got it.

So Google isn't getting a piece of the action then?

Re: personal information is the aim

I'd think you're right but in this case, it might have been a test. The target could be someone who uses their product and what better test than to hack the company that makes it?

Looking at scale and the size of the cutting edge, perhaps the axe was used on the spiders.

Re: How many spied on?

Well, I guess the answer is variable as the population fluctuates daily due to birth, death, and immigration.

The real trick is they can suck up and store all they want, it's the analysis that has to be a problem. How the hell do you analyze all the internet useage of around 300 million people? Yeah.. some are too young or too old to play on the Internet, but still.... I suspect that a lot of this is "CYA" so they can say "we knew about them".

Personally, I believe a more targeted approach than a mass sweep that never gets looked at. There's too many abuses that can be done with the mass approach.

Re: Holy fuck

Do you know this for certain that has no Internet connection? From what I'm hearing and reading, too much of this stuff does have access if nothing else for "updates".

It's been a bit mangled over time it seems. Once upon a time, courts wanted jurists who had no pre-conceived notions about a given trial and by that usually meant they didn't follow the investigations, know any witnesses, defendants, etc. They also didn't follow along anythng in the papers (print days). Somewhere, the lawyers finagled things a bit such they don't want anyone on a jury to have any knowledge, technical or otherwise. Basically, they want ignorance so they teach the jurors... or something like that. So what happens is, we in the States get jurors who have no tech knowledge deciding tech cases.

The one thing I never liked about our system here in the States is that jurors can never, ever ask questions of lawyers or witnesses. Court cases now consist of carefully controlled spoonfuls of only the information that the lawyers think need to be heard. Truth? That seems to have gone out the window when they stopped dunking witches in Salem.

@Oh Homer -- Re: "accidentally"

And so it is with "CC" mass mailings. Most of the culprits probably have no idea what "BCC" is, and if you explained it to them they still probably wouldn't see what all the fuss was about.

There is this problem in a nutshell. Ask the users what "CC" means and then ask what "BCC" means. They don't frikkin' know!!! Carbon Copy? Blind Carbon Copy? "What's that? What a carbon copy?" Education may be the answer or if, big if, the email application writers would allow an admin to remove the CC setting for anything going out of house. Or just remove it. Period. Maybe and automatic set up where TO become BCC when there's more than one email addy.

And let's not get started on the morons who hit "Reply All".....

Re: industry best practices

It would seem that what constitutes "best practices' to us has a totally different meaning to them.

Re: Removed How?

Only if you believe MS. Note that "the details are still being worked out".

I somehow think this is all related to the Rise Of The Machjines. Maybe El Reg should resurrect that bit.

The IoT stuff, it's only going to get worse as the machines gain more control.

Reminds me somewhat of landing in San Diego (California). Drop down over the hills and between the buildings on either side of the flight path. A bit tense but in a crosswind it's a sphincter clencher.

Re: Care!

The covers used to be a cloth tube (bright red or orange) with a "Remove before Flight" streamer. I remember back in the mid-60's that when a plane landed and while at the gate, they put those covers on. I'm guessing that someone figured it cost too much money to have some drag out a maintenance stand or ladder and put them on and take them off.

Re: Slow checking for updates...

I don't believe your 300 million install shit.

Maybe that number includes all the boxes that got the download 5 or 6 times before GMX was put on? Or includes all the boxes that attempted or actually did install it and the user/owner rolled back?