* Posts by Mark 85

12880 publicly visible posts • joined 22 Nov 2012

FBI ends second iPhone fight after someone, um, 'remembers' the PIN

Mark 85

Re: Q: How is the government ever going to convict bad guys without access to encryption?

Well.. they had the bad guy convicted and waiting for sentencing so the phone wasn't needed for that. So, yes... the things Sherlock would approve of.

Charter can gobble TWC for $78.7bn ... if it bins monthly download caps

Mark 85

I smell a rat

Charter has already said it will agree to the FCC and DoJ terms on the deal.

Charter agreed to all this before the ink is even dry on the regs? But then again, the regs from the FCC are only good for 7 years or until the new administration takes over.

Remain in the EU and help me snoop on the world, says Theresa May

Mark 85

Re: STASI

I think you've touched on a good point. And it's just not the folks on the right side of the pond but also us on the left. It would seem that there's a competition in the race to bottom. Maybe there's an award for which country can be the first to out do Stalin's Russia or Mao's China?

I've been watching both sides of the pond and it sure does look like there's a race on as to which government can be the most vile, most corporate-owned and the most Big Brother-ish.

'No password' database error exposes info on 93 million Mexican voters

Mark 85

Makes me wonder if the same batch that set up that Bangladesh bank system without installing a firewall also set up the Mexican database.

US intercepts Bermuda Triangle bubble podule

Mark 85

Darwin candidate?

Looks like kids' beachballs around the circumference and there's no sign of food or water in thing. I wonder what he was using for navigation also?

According to the link to the NY Daily News points out that he was held for several months as an illegal alien after getting lost on his bicycle in the Arizona desert, I'm wondering where his brain is. There's no landmarks in the ocean and with the wind and current (the Gulfstream), getting to Puerto Rico. Haiti, and Cuba would be damn near impossible.

Amazon attempts rule fudge to take exclusive control of new dot-words

Mark 85

Re: I just want to register...

So far the obvious has not been grabbed: who.moi

Mark 85

Re: Why don't they...

Promise? And Flea-Bay needs to precede it.

Clinton's $1m troll fight

Mark 85

Politics as usual here in the States and maybe ramped up a bit. We have the yelling and screaming Trump and on the other side, the Clintons. I'm not sure anyone else has a shot at it since those two have pretty well shouted down any contenders.

Personally, I have no use for either of them. They both are very scary and seemingly unstable. Yet, they have chased or beaten the more moderate and thinking contenders so far. I guess we take what we can get, not what we deserve. It's almost like watching a reality TV show... a cast of shouty and angry types and others who are more devious.

The only possibility of "balance" is for the President to be from one party and Congress to be controlled by the other. But, there's no one in any position of leadership (for some value of leadership) to negotiate and get them to work together. If it ends up with the President and the control of Congress with the same party, I think we're in really deep doo-doo as there will be no restraints, no checks, no balances. They'll just run amok.

China leaves Apple books, movies on the cutting room floor

Mark 85

Could this be a pre-emptive strike by China? Foxconn is building (or at least looking into) new plants in the sub-continent and a few other places with cheaper labor. This might just be a backdoor move by the government to pressure Apple to pressure Foxconn to stay.

RIP Prince: You were the soundtrack of my youth

Mark 85

Re: Great talent

As can Chuck Berry... ah.. he's still perfoming at his age. Fond memories. I need a road trip to St. Louis in August to catch another of his concerts.

Mark 85

Re: Devastated

As we get older, it seems death gets closer. The young who are "devastated" by this seemingly must have been sheltered and they think that everyone is immortal (or should be). We're not. No one gets out of this life alive. Some go unwillingly, others do it to themselves. And there's those who were in the wrong place at the time being healthy and with their whole life in front of them.

It's sadness all around when the great and the not-great die. If some of these "devastated" people would look beyond the celeb crowd, and maybe at someone they see regularly but never talk to, the world might be better off. There's too much hiding behind the computer/smartphone and not enough real human face-to-face interaction.

Guess what's 'easily hacked'? Yes, that's right: Smart city transport infrastructure

Mark 85

Re: Good find

These stories have popped up from time to time, as I recall. It's just like IoT, much lip service but nothing changes. But with Kaspersky jumping in, maybe someone will listen and actually do something about it.

Dutch students serve up world's first 'drone café'

Mark 85

So... flying IoT?

I'll be sitting over in the corner by the emergency exit waiting for it to deliver a flaming drink ordered by some script kiddie 100 miles away to someone on the other side of the room.

I have my doubts that drones in the workplace or the home will end well.

How IT are you? Find out now in our HILARIOUS quiz!

Mark 85

Re: I went to university down in Brighton...

personality defect which is holding you back and stopping you from becoming a millionaire like Tom Cruise.

The money would be nice, but I don't want to jump up and down on a couch while screaming.... OH.... they can fix that defect then... Where do I sign up?

Mark 85
Pint

Re: Last question should have been...

How do you feel?

(c) Like I need a trip to the pub...

I do believe we have the top answer of the day!!!!

'I hacked Facebook – and found someone had beaten me to it'

Mark 85

Re: Excuses.

One does have to wonder about that. I'd think that any "researcher" would remove their hack after pointing it out to the company. I notice no mention of logs showing when the last time the code sent something to the "researcher". I smell a con job.

Carders cash out hundreds of millions before USA adopts EMV

Mark 85

The cards are rolling out but the stores, etc. are, shall we say "having issues". Apparently, according to them, even if they have the C&P readers, the software takes months to get it work right. I think it's all just BS on the stores part. Either they don't care, or they don't want to spend anymore than they have to.

When is making $20bn in three months not enough? When your name is Google

Mark 85

Re: Any Logical Reason?

You hit it dead on. Most stockbrokers I've talked with(I talked to about 10 when I retired to move my 401K to an IRA) admit it's about emotion. Just like investing in a startup... emotion or buying new car.

I know anecdotal evidence isn't evidence, but they seemed pretty convinced based on what people told them to buy or sell.

Comcast stabs set-top boxes in the back, pipes directly into smart TVs

Mark 85

I think this is why: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/04/21/big_cable_to_sue_fcc_over_boxes/ They save the cost of the boxes and through the proprietary app, lock in the customer. As others have pointed out, TV's are expensive for consumers to replace and the makers dump support over the side real fast...

'Impossible' EmDrive flying saucer thruster may herald new theory of inertia

Mark 85

Until the reasons why the technology works are figured out, I'll go along with "magic" for now.

Dutch PGP-encrypted comms network ‘abused by crooks’ is busted

Mark 85

Re: What's next?

Just give things some time... right now, everyone's suspected of being a terrorist or a paedo.... As we regress, we'll start looking for and burning suspected witches. Regression and oppression at it's best....

Larry Ellison's Brit consortium in 'advanced talks' to buy Aston Villa

Mark 85

Re: Football... the easiset way to burn your money.

I think his America's Cup boat might be worse. There is no income as such. With football, at least there's tickets, concessions, and maybe broadcast rights to a least offset some costs.

Embattled 123-reg flings six months' free hosting at angry customers

Mark 85

So why would anyone in their right mind stay with them? Same for Talk-Talk and others. It seems that some beancounter types only look at what's going out for services and forget the old adage: "Screw me once, shame on you. Screw me twice, shame on me.".

Intel told Irish council all was well just before 12k job cuts announced

Mark 85

Ah... if you were in the States, then Bernie Sanders... yes?

One million patients have opted out of Care.data

Mark 85

Re: Too much BS

Whlst I quite agree, it's this: When did a name have to capture ambition? I'll respond to.

Governments are over-stuffed with corporate types who live in their own worlds. Ever read the PR BS behind a new logo? A product name? They're filled with this kind of fluff and buzzwords. And so it goes.....

Mark 85

So the news is that they aren't "fixing it" or changing anything but the name. By that logic, then things will be all better. </sarc>

Mitsubishi 'fesses up: We lied in fuel tests to make our cars look great

Mark 85

Re: Self Testing

In corporatespeak, that "few hundred million" is profit. To a State it's funding for something or other usually. What they'd do instead is just raise the tax or the license fees...

FBI's Tor pedo torpedoes torpedoed by United States judge

Mark 85

Re: Stable Doors

Is it not possible to get a retrospective warrant by presenting the same evidence to a different judge and asking him to grant it?

No. The equivalent would be the cops breaking down your front door and searching your house. And then going back to the judge asking for a warrant because of what they found. The warrants have to more specific than "anything illegal" or "contraband". There's been a couple of cases where the cops searching for (as I recall) drugs found evidence of other crimes and were unable to prosecute those other crimes on the illegal evidence.

Magnitude malvertisers spew 400 attacks from abused Scot ad firm

Mark 85

There was another article that pointed out that the lion's share of ad revenues went to Google and FB. The rest divide up the crumbs. Ok.. they're still impressive crumbs. I do have to wonder if Google and FB encourage this by their lack of blocking or checking?

Australia admits to running offensive cyber-ops team

Mark 85

Re: most important part

The media part is indeed about spin and perhaps controlling it to hide what they're actually doing. Go back and re-parse the 3rd and 4th paragraphs. Engagement of the media is all about control and keeping the embarrassing bits out of the headlines.

Tweak Privacy Shield rules to make people happy? Nah – US govt

Mark 85

Re: Definition of "independent Ombudsman":

I was thinking it would be a cushy job... Just sit back, sip favorite beverage, occasionally make a statement about how well everything is going and take home a nice paycheck.

FBI's PRISM slurping is 'unconstitutional' – and America's secret spy court is OK with that

Mark 85

Re: What's the worst that could happen?

The only thing missing is Room 101.... or so they would lead us to believe.

123-reg still hasn't restored customers' websites after mass deletion VPS snafu

Mark 85

Re: Ahhh

That can't be... it's the cloud.. it's forever.... Oh wait...

Utah declares 'war on smut'

Mark 85

Re: War on Drink

As a corollary.... "Why don't you ever invite just one Mormon to over on Sunday and watch football (NFL)?" "Because if you invite one, he'll drink up all your beer. Invite two and your beer is safe, but they'll spend the time glaring at the other one for being there.".

Clucking hell! Farcical free-range egg standard pecked apart by app

Mark 85

Re: Free range ...

Indeed there is a difference.. a tasty one. "Free Range" seems a bit more liberal the ubiquitous "Organic" that I'm seeing here in the States. I'm not sure there really is a thing like "Free Range" or "Organic" in commercial farming anymore.

I have bought things from a local organic farmer (veggies, pig, cow, etc.) and there's a world of difference between his stuff and the grocers. The problem is, word of mouth... When the sign goes up in the morning for the "harvest of the day", one had better get there early. Beef and pig is under a contract.

Yahoo! shows! off! for! suitors! by! diving! into! red! ink!

Mark 85

So how does this work...?

Revenue, profit, and everything else is down including. morale (probably). And the CEO is happy about this and uses all the buzzwords, too. Unless the goal is to drive the share price down, and thus the heavy investors?

NYPD anti-crypto Twitter campaign goes about as well as you'd expect

Mark 85

@Adam 1

Give it time... they need to set some precedents in courts first.

Mark 85

Re: I think the concerning thing is that "they haven't seen it coming"

you honestly think the person in charge of this shite has the ability/permission to realize and say they're wrong?

It's some PHB or even Vance himself. You'll never hear "I was wrong" by any of them.

Hand over our code to China? We're no commie patsies, Apple cries

Mark 85

Germany is #1?

Really. I am surprised as I thought it would have been the US.

Chinese crypto techie sentenced to death for leaking state secrets

Mark 85

And some think penalties in the West are too harsh for computer crimes and spying.... I can't recall even reading when the last time the death penalty was used here in the States for that. The 50's... the Rosenbergs maybe?

Obama London visit prompts drone no-fly zone

Mark 85

Did the rules change?

Here in the States when El Presidente visited locally (4 years ago), the restrictions were in place for 2 hours before and after arrival and 4 hours before departure. Once AF1 cleared the airspace on departure, all restrictions were lifted. But then, 4 years ago, drones weren't the problem they are today.

I just find it interesting and perplexing that this restriction applies for the entire time AF1 is on the ground.

Windy Wanaka wallops NASA's Super Pressure Balloon launch

Mark 85

Re: but Monday's aborted launch must have been intensely frustrating

Start with a large box and a laser pointer. Once they see the red dot, point it in the box. Once in, duct tape the box shut. Not true herding but close enough.

Mark 85

Re: Windy Wanaka

I mis-read it and thought it had something to with a chocolate factory.

Chinese con-artists cop to US military counterfeit chip switch caper

Mark 85

Re: @thames -- Follow the Money

Having been though this, I trust real world experience and the word of other who have been through it more than I trust some brochure. Waving that around at the Chinese won't get you very far. Come to think of it.. even lawsuits don't get you very far over there.

Mark 85

@thames -- Re: Follow the Money

Very true indeed. The other "catch" is that China has no international respect for patents, trademarks, or copyright. Unless the "invention" is patented in China by a native Chinese, it won't be recognized. This is, perhaps, just another way for them to get product without actually doing any design or engineering.

Censorship FTW! China bans Paris Hilton, minor Kardashians et al

Mark 85
Holmes

But bear in mind that a similar ban in the West would likely have meant any number of Kardashians, Hiltons, Osbornes and Cyruses would never have made it to air.

And this would be a problem.... how?

US congresscritter's iPhone hacked (with, er, the cell networks' help)

Mark 85

I would hope that this excise was for the benefit of those of Feinstein's ilk.

Translated: BlackBerry CEO John Chen on cops-snooping-on-BBM

Mark 85

This smells a little bit like BB is being judge and jury just based on "we want to look at XXXXX's data". One should assume, I guess, that "legal means" equals a warrant? Subpoena?

I wonder if they have the same attitude about anyone who's data was looked at was not implicated?

Google's 'fair use' mass slurping of books can continue – US Supremes snub writers' pleas

Mark 85

Hmm.... so in theory, the same can be done for music and movies? Didn't think so.. Maybe the book authors need a MIPAA type organization?

Idiot millennials are saving credit card PINs on their mobile phones

Mark 85

Re: PINs?!

Wait awhile until you get to the point where you walk into a room and forget why you walked in.