* Posts by Mark 85

12880 publicly visible posts • joined 22 Nov 2012

James Clapper has found another reason why he lied about NSA spying

Mark 85

Clapper... how about firing his ass for starters..

He should be fired and charged with perjury to Congress. Instead, we get spin, spin, and more spin.

Relevant link: https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/1621

Brit 'naut Tim Peake will run the London Marathon – in space

Mark 85
Devil

Better turn the AC on high and ship the ISS additional air fresheners... although I imagine the ISS already smells like an old gym on a Friday night*.

* Around these parts, the gyms are packed on Friday nights with every machine being used and people wandering around hitting on the people actually using the machines.

Scandal-hit Toshiba faces investor sueball over accounting woes

Mark 85

Re: Management Culture

I think this attitude and culture is more widespread than we know. I've been around too many companies where "shoot the messenger instead of fixing the problem" runs rampant. The difference in Toshiba's case is that they got caught cooking the books.

Alleged Silk Road architect arrested in Thailand

Mark 85

Re: America - World Police

Given it's the internet, one never has to be a citizen or even step foot into the country where the crime is committed. I wish the Brits, the EU, etc. would start using this. If enough extradite miscreats (especially malware types) it's possible that the fleecing of citizens everywhere might at least slow down.

Mark 85

Re: Pay?

Did he really think that the chance of getting caught was zero?

Yes. It's usually one of two things.. either they don't care if they get caught, or in tech-related and certain other crimes, it's a "I'm smarter than them, I'll never get caught" mentality. And time after time if we believe the reports.. it's both.

Adobe's Flash tools now embrace HTML 5. Sadly Flash is still alive

Mark 85

Facebook and Flash

So they'll keep pushing Flash because of Facebook. Thanks for ensuring that neither will ever be on any device I own.

Obama calls out encryption in terror strategy speech

Mark 85

@Trevor_Pott -- Re: Encryption doesn't kill

You forgot Prohibition back in the early 20th century. No alcohol... Hah!!!!! Yeah, bans and laws work.

Mark 85

The whole discussion of encryption and terror is a mixed bag of contradictions. The politics will not allow that.

For example, on the side most police cars are the words: "To protect and serve" (or words to that effect". Talk to any cop and he'll tell you that "protect" is impossible in today's world. Everything is weighted and they end up as "after the fact". Just like the government's waffling on whether SB was a terror incident or work-place incident. If they were on top of it, they would have known before it happened and could done the "protect" part. Which what the politicos what us to believe. Encryption or no encryption would not have made a difference.

Another contradiction is that they cannot possibly process all the data they collect, but they want even more. This will do what? The answer is nothing except the after the fact cleanup.

The bigger problem is if they do detect a crime or terror incident about to happen, what do they do about it? How do they judge whether it's a couple of people musing out loud or the real deal? We can't arrest or detain someone because they "might" do something. This leads us back to the "after the fact" reality.

If the US were not engaged in an election season, I suspect the rhetoric would be totally different. And I'll toss in, if the politics were not so splintered where all we have two sides yelling at each other not sitting down and having an open and honest discussion with an open mind, thing would be different.

This speech and the parts about the tech industry is sheer theatre to grab attention. The inability to realize that more laws, less encryption, more data collection will stop crime and terrorism is sheer folly. If one looks back 30-40 years ago, there was compromise and thought (ok.. not always, but it was there) now there is no semblance of rationality. The quest for more power has corrupted. And that corruption is being shoveled down to the man on the street. Whites, blacks, Christians, Muslims, Repubs, Dems, they're all too splintered and quite possibly the system is broken beyond repair.

It's late, I'm tired. I've been around long enough to know BS when I hear it and lately I've heard way to much out of Washington. Excuse the rant, but we need to understand that government does not have our best interests at heart. It's out of control and running amok. What they (and the French) are calling for only makes us more vulnerable to those with evil intent, even if it's only stealing our bank accounts and not our lives.

France mulls tighter noose around crypto

Mark 85

, you basically HAVE to live in paranoia; otherwise, you get caught with your guard down and you're dead.

I suggest you stay in your house, and make sure it's a bunker. Even walking outside and trying to cross the street can kill you. The odds being higher on that then terrorists.

A wise man once said, "those who are afraid to die, have never really lived". Be aware of the risks and enjoy the time you have. No one gets out of this life alive.

Mark 85

We're going to have to change that to "We're not as bad as France, yet."

Seems they're setting a standard which I'm sure the rest of the so-called "free world" will soon follow.

The only thing that will really come of all this is that "after the fact", the spooks will know who did what, where they've been, and who they have commnunicated with. Not much different then now except to make the entire population paranoid.

McAfee Security Manager lets anybody bypass managers' security

Mark 85
Facepalm

And of course it's McAfee.... I'm surprised anyone is still using them.

Lock up your top-of-racks, says Cisco, there's a bug in the USB code

Mark 85

I think more like everyone assumes someone else will be doing the security stuff. Since management doesn't make it a priority, why should the troops in the trenches try?

Russia's blanket phone spying busted Europe's human rights laws

Mark 85

Can someone categorically state what the benefit this spying is actually bringing?

Simply put.. control. If you haven't done so, do read Orwell's 1984. It's not about terrorism or crime but about those in power and wanting to stay in power.

Senate asks DHS: you don't negotiate with terrorists, but do you pay off ransomware?

Mark 85

Re: Obvious question

I think you're confusing DHS with NSA. But, since they supposedly (roll-eyes) work together... easy to mix them up.

As for ransomware... not the American way. They don't want our money, they want our undivided faith and belief (and a budget and power) that their getting their way is a good thing.

Smut-seeding Prenda Law ringleader must sell home to pay $2.5m debt

Mark 85
Pint

Excellent news..

Friday and I'll raise a pint as a troll is finally biting the dust. I hope his associates get the same treatment. Bloody scum suckers.

VTech's Android tablet for kids 'hopelessly insecure'

Mark 85

Re: It's a kids' toy

Well..."shouldn't" but it's basically a computer with camera, etc. So it's beyond the "toy" stage in that it has access to the world. There's some danger there...

The bigger point is VTech's attitude towards all these holes in their products.

Work on world's largest star-gazing 'scope stopped after religious protests

Mark 85

Welcome to the US. We have people like that in Congress controlling science funding.

However, I suspect that this has little to do with religion as there 12 scopes up there already. The key is the Green people raising hell. A bit of money, a bit of protest, and the religion will follow since the Greens probably made a loud statement about "sacred ground".

So it's ecology? On a mountain of lava? I doubt there's much there that could be called "ecological" in the term is normally used. Or is it more about money and power? One must follow the money always.

Rounded corners on Android phones cost Samsung $548m: It will pay up to Apple after all

Mark 85

Re: Idiocy!

Escrow doesn't pay interest. If Sammy gets it's money back via appeal, the amount will include interest. Lawyers may be slimy but they aren't stupid.

Mark 85

That is probably not going to end things. If Apple closes it's doors, all those juicy patents will either get sucked up or passed on to a "child" company. In either case, can you say "patent troll"? Yeah, it would be bad.

Rounded corners as opposed to square ones, or beveled ones. I'm disgusted by the fact they could even patent such a thing.

BOFH: Taking a spin in a decommissioned racer? On your own grill cam be it

Mark 85

The only thing that comes close to working as well is a box of warm, fresh from the bakery, doughnuts... glazed usually is best.

Apple pays two seconds of quarterly profit for wiping pensioner's pics

Mark 85

Re: Backup? What's that?

Oh.. coffee isn't supposed to be hot? Unless it's iced coffee maybe. If I set a steaming cup (and a flimsy Styrofoam cup at that) down between my legs, I expect to get burnt. You don't?

BTW, read the whole article. Coffee is served that hot at many restaurants, even today.

Mark 85

Re: Backup? What's that?

This is a very poor decision by the court.

No different really than a lot of other decisions... like the award for the old lady who spilled her coffee and sued McDonalds because 'it was hot and no one told her'. Or the idiots who won lawsuits for doing stupid things with ladders? And let's not even start on the patent trolls winning.

Vote for me, Hotspot Hillary – I'm your $250bn broadband builder-in-chief

Mark 85

Re: Suspicious of any government!

They would want to make it all programmed in Cobol.

They've upgraded then. The last time I did any government work, they were still using Ada.

Mark 85

Yeah but... they're all corrupt in one way or the other. Even if you have a clue, it's tough to sort out who's the least corrupt.

Mark 85
Meh

More politics, more southern ends of north-bound horses.

The current batch of candidates is basically clueless. Sanders started much of this but hasn't a clue how to pay for it. The rest on his side are jumping on the bandwagon and if the Feds pay for it, we the citizens will do their bidding. Once you take the King's shilling.. etc. etc. Well, the corporates will profit since the Feds would probably pay them to build out.

On the other side? Similar batch but no concept of the issues except corporate profits. Most probably haven't a clue what the 'Net is.

No matter who wins we, the people, will probably lose. And this is just one issue. I shudder to think what happens when the election is over and the infighting really starts.

Yeah, I'm pessimistic as hell. There's not one leader in the bunch. No inspiration, no high ground. Just having a urinating contest for distance and not accuracy.

Microsoft encrypts explanation of borked Windows 10 encryption

Mark 85
Trollface

We used to beat MS up for bad security

And now they're encrypting everything... sort of. Or maybe it's just the explanations and what's actually in their updates.

New edition of Windows 10 turns security nightmares into reality

Mark 85

Re: They're damned if they do and damned if they don't

Have an upvote for a well-reasoned and logical post. OEM 's are notoriously bad for providing updates in computers. With the lower margins and pricing of IoT, I expect them to give a crap less.... if that's possible.

Beardy Branson bangs birds on Boeing

Mark 85

Re: Ughh... I do not like where the world is going

Does he have a white cat? There will be the giveaway. And yes, it's a bit un-nerving to think that corporates have ICBM capability. It could lend a whole new meaning to "price war". Luckily for us, none of three are in competition with each other for their core businesses. Now if Apple and MS developed launchers, I'd be really worried.

Revenge porn 'king' Hunter Moore sent down for 2.5 years, fined $2k

Mark 85

Moore got off too easy....

Guilty of hacking and "aggravated identity theft." and that's all he got? Really amazing... a mere slap on the wrist then.

Mark 85

Interesting Tweet

I spent some time reading Brittain'sTweets... I think he's trying to clean up his act and go mainstream. Here's the one of the Tweets that says a lot:

Craig R. Brittain ‏@CraigRBrittain · Oct 14

Ranking of opinions a CEO should care about

1. Investors

2. Shareholders

3. Employees

4. Customers

I think he'll fit right in with the rest of corporate America. Since the last item on the list is "customers", I think I'll take my business elsewhere.

Is Kazakhstan about to man-in-the-middle diddle all of its internet traffic with dodgy root certs?

Mark 85

We believe that by ordering people to install the cers on their machines and handhelds, Kazakhstan will be the first country to resort to such measures.

Hmm... This is probably the first country to admit it. I'm not sure why any country would admit such a thing unless there is something political to gain by announcing it.

Target settles with banks for $40m after data breach

Mark 85

I found it interesting in a conversation with an "associate". They get points for signing up customers to their card which equals cash. And most of the cash register types weren't working there when the breach happened. When they ask, and you respond with something like: "After that last breach, do you think I'm nuts?". You get a blank look and most will ask "what breach".

But yeah... when I need to shop at Target, or Michaels or Home Depot, it's cash only, or a check (occasionally). Or my bank issued credit card and not theirs. I won't have a card issued by a store. Too damn risky.

Facebook to Belgian data cops: Block all the cookies across the web, then!

Mark 85

Re: Boo hoo, Schmuckerberg

These megacorps are just like spoilt little children.

In this case, definitely yes because a quick look at Zuck... the company follows in the shadow of the leader.

How I found a small, weird-looking horned dinosaur from eastern USA

Mark 85

Re: There IS a "SCIENCE" heading yanno...

Exactly. Diversity of knowledge is a good.. no.. make that: a great thing". If you're a one-trick pony, there's websites for that.

Wow, what took you so long? Comcast bends net neutrality rules

Mark 85

Re: Loophole Schmoophole

Dan,

There's always a catch.. does it fall foul of "net neutrality"..? I guess it depends on who's interpreting the things. The end result is that at some point, Comcast will have a lock on a certain share of the market and any competitor or any company such as Netflix that doesn't play along (or pay along) is doomed.

The better price part won't last long either given the nature of monopolies. Once they get the stranglehold, every customer will pay what they demand.

Brit hardware hacker turns Raspberry Pi Zeros into selfie slayers

Mark 85

Re: That was fast...

While that's true, they were in a fixed location and had complaints. If you have one of these devices in your pocket and trigger it randomly, you probably won't get caught. I'm sure the manager at the local Starbucks will just assume there's some problem with the Wifi or the customer's equipment.

Windows 10 market share growth rate flattens again

Mark 85
Trollface

Re: For those of us who have been around awhile..

We did. We even invented fake history for you to quote.

Mark 85

We, in the States, who have been around awhile are aware of the use of "Nark". Goes back to the 60's when one could "drop a dime" and nark on their associates.

Pentagon gets green light for WAR ... of web propaganda against IS

Mark 85

Re: Money Wasted

Anyone looking to bet against me?

Depends... there's the rumor the Russians are moving tac nukes about. For a long time in the past, that was their threat to terrorists, etc. The Daesh do want that "lake of fire" their holy book speaks of, and even identifies the location. So... maybe. Still long odds on betting against you.

Mark 85

It turns out that everyone is funding ISIS buy buying mid-East oil.. that's funneled through Turkey. Methinks the Turks are playing to both sides of the fence in this.

Mark 85

Re: Money Wasted

Well.. it'll be pricey and ineffective to say the least. I guessing certain well-heeled and well-placed contractors are rubbing their hands together and licking their lips at the possibility of mega-dollars coming their way. And since the program will run for 7 years... multi-year profits.

And for the skeptics... what makes anyone think that the "Pentagon" or DoD will actually do this themselves? Even the propaganda films, etc. from WWII were done by contractors (major Hollywood studios) for a nice profit.

Correction: 220,000 kids weren't exposed in VTech mega hack – it's actually 6.4 million

Mark 85

Re: Fake info

And Farcebook is re-enforcing that fine tradition but to some multiple of what AOL had.

Bitcoin cloud miners a '$20m Ponzi scheme – there was no cloud at all'

Mark 85

Re: Weird

Well... if you were one of the "early" investors, you would have your money back and then some. It's everyone else after the first two layers that normally get screwed. The trick would be knowing when a Ponzi is starting and jumping on board to be the first level although that is usually taken by the head con-artist and friends.

Reality... enjoy the smug. There's so little of late to feel smug about.

Oh em gee – Adobe kills Flash Professional (it's called Animate now)

Mark 85

Re: Should have been

In this case, they've generated and output a new turd. Once it cools to air temperature, the polishing will start anew.

Europe launches search for Einstein's space-time ripples

Mark 85
Coffee/keyboard

"Litigious orbit"

I know this is serious business but that and it's definition brought tears to my eyes, loud laughter, strange looks from my co-workers.

Thanks for the laugh...very much needed today.

GCHQ can hack your systems at will – thanks to 'soft touch' oversight

Mark 85

If I read that right and what you said... then both can just keep doing what they are doing as far as monitoring comms outside their borders. But it seems strange the US "limits" and the UK "doesn't limit". Or am I misunderstanding what you wrote?

IT pros are a bunch of wedding and funeral-dodging sickos

Mark 85

Re: HildyJ

Career limiting? Maybe, but definitely less stressful. OTOH, I got in the habit a long time ago of padding the estimates for time while downplaying the "features". I'd have project I know will take a week... tell the PHB "three", he'll go to upper manglement and come back with "be done in two". That leaves a week for the unexpected and also adding "features". If I get done early, I sit on it until the due date. Just because I don't want to fall into that "we expected you to have it done early" trap.

They (manglement) play the system to their advantage, we need to learn how play it back and one-step better.

And then there's the CEO of (I forget which company right now) who arbitrarily picks a deadline date after all the estimates are in. There was an article on El Reg about him. A project would need a year to deliver it and all the features and he'd come back with some random number. A true-power tripper he is.

Mark 85
Coat

@Valerion -- Re: I missed my OWN funeral

Well, I imagine then that you're probably pretty hungry since management doesn't have any brains.. or at least more than one very small hor d'oeuvre.

GCHQ v Privacy International: Computer hacking tribunal showdown begins

Mark 85

And I thought we had it bad from NSA...

You on the right side of the pond seem it have just as bad or worse. I sometimes wonder who is following who's lead here although sometimes it seems it's a race to the bottom and both NSA and GCHQ are neck and neck, so far.

How business is taking the space race to new frontiers

Mark 85

Re: Commercial possibilities

The ROI wasn't important to Og, I believe. Seeing what was on the other side and hoping to return and tell the tale was. Og was more of a Shepard or Glenn or a Gagarin.

His grandson on the other hand.... probably figured out how to hollow it out and make an ROI.