* Posts by Mark 85

12880 publicly visible posts • joined 22 Nov 2012

Hey, big vendor: Oracle, Apple, Google, Amazon, Facebook blow even more cash on lobbying

Mark 85

I'm surprised at Amazon. Are they pushing to have the antitrust laws repealed?

AMD sales soar, actually makes a profit, beats expectations, share price... decimated

Mark 85

For all their empty virtue signaling about women in technology they sure as fuck don't put their money where their mouth is.

SNAFU. Money is for shareholders not for worker bees.

There's a battle on over two US spying laws: One allows snooping on citizens – one bans it

Mark 85
Devil

Re: A difficult question

Since this isn't (or appear to be) and either/or situation... pass both of them. The advantages are: It will give the TLA's a choice. It'll tie the courts up for years while allowing the TLA's to run amok. And lastly, every CongressCritter can proclaim at election time that they were for security because "terrorists".

Coinhive hacked via old password to move manic miners' Monero into miscreants' pockets

Mark 85

Re: Fortunately...

Excelllent.. may I suggest you submit them here: http://someonewhocares.org/hosts/ Might help out a lot of folks.

UK financial regulator confirms it is probing Equifax mega-breach

Mark 85

Re: They're smoldering, heres hoping the FCA adds some petrol...

Indeed, any company can pay the fee and get a list of people who meet the criteria the buyer wants. Sometimes is deep criteria (age, sex, income, household location, age of car, etc.) other times it's just maybe location of your home.

Mark 85

@Commswonk -- Re: What Exactly Was The Breach ???

It's almost guaranteed that they have a file on you. Credit card, bank account number or at least verification of an account, insurance (car and home), any utilities, employment (and places you applied for employment) and the list goes on and on. Last time I checked the Big 3 here in the States, I was surprised at what they had. They knew more about me than I knew about me.

As the article states, just about every company share info back with them.

Hackers nip into celeb plastic surgery clinic, tuck away 'terabytes'

Mark 85

Re: terabytes?

Or, more likely, the network lads are in India and only pop in once a month or so, depending on the terms of the contract.

Legacy kit, no antivirus, weak crypto. Yep. They're talking critical industrial networks

Mark 85

Re: Endemic to the sector

Often they have relatively unprotected remote access too including via say mobile phone. What's the worst someone could do though? Turn off your aircon and fry your IT kit?

Think deeper. Industrial controls.. like blast furnaces, assembly line automation, chemical processes, etc. All are disaster waiting to happen if the wrong people get access. Look at the damage the US did to the NORKS nuke program... or tried to anyway.

Feel the pension pot burn, Canadian DXCers

Mark 85

I feel for those employees. Same crap goes on here in the States... retirement plan is suddenly a 401K (contributed to by employees and employer). Then magically, the employer starts cutting the contribution (and/or looting the pension funds). Pretty soon... pension? You're on your own until we lay you off. But it's justified by "returning shareholder value". Damn I hate that justification of everything.

It's time to rebuild the world for robots

Mark 85

@tiggity

In my experience, that applies to here in the States as well. I guess we should count ourselves lucky that we have roads as many places in the world don't have them as we know them.

Uber's revolting sexism, the movie

Mark 85

Re: Who would pay money to see it?

It's not like we don't already know the ending ... On the other hand, it's more proof that Hollywood hasn't had an original thought in decades.

It's not for us techies... it's for the mainstream market who's normal position is eyes buried in their phone or FB.

What's HPE Next? Now it's unemployment for 'thousands' of staff

Mark 85

So.. they slash expenses, get rid of all the people who know stuff and how to, and offshore/outsource even more. The stock price will jump up this quarter and maybe next couple and the shareholders will be happy for the "returned value".... Then what? At the end of the 3 years, HP will be a shell of it's former self and struggling again, if not before. Those who live by the quarterly statements, die by them.

Once more, with feeling: Dawn to take a closer look at Ceres

Mark 85

Re: Hundreds of millions of km away

I.e. somehow impose the scientific principle that if the political theory and the real-world facts are in conflict then it is the political theory that is wrong.

But that's why it's called politics. Science won't get you elected or more importantly, re-elected. Politics is the "win" for elections.

Boffins trapped antiprotons for days, still can't say why they survived the Big Bang

Mark 85

Maybe Douglas Adams was right and the universe is like a giant pendulum and goes back and forth? Therefore what is an anti-particle in this universe will be a normal one in the next.

New phishing campaign uses 30-year-old Microsoft mess as bait

Mark 85
Facepalm

Since users have to okay execution, Microsoft steadfastly insists DDE is a feature, not a bug.

So it's a buggy feature then with the bug in the users who click on everything?

US energy, nuke and aviation sectors under sustained attack

Mark 85

The alert doesn't say what damage, if any, the attacks have wrought.

Reconnaissance then? Find the weak spots and note them. If and when all hell breaks loose, use them.

Boss visited the night shift and found a car in the data centre

Mark 85

Re: Mini - not really

In our neighborhood, one VW bug always appeared floating in the owner's swimming pool at some point in the summer.

MH 370 search to resume as Malaysia makes deal with US oceanographic company

Mark 85

Re: Landing spot?

Not generous... honest maybe. The saying about a good landing being one you can walk away from applies. Then there's the two types of landings.. controlled and uncontrolled. So basically, all airplanes land.

Hate to break it to you, but billions of people can see Uranus tonight

Mark 85

Rain in here in Oregon so I'll not see Uranus.

Didn't install a safety-critical driverless car patch? Bye, insurance!

Mark 85

Re: Why do I need insurance?

The insurance isn't just there because of anything you might do. It's also there to protect against actions of others.

Except for "acts of God", those aren't covered. So, not all "others". That exclusion on most policies I've seen gives me the creeps.

Mark 85

Re: "Remind me later"

For pure pulling power, go with an ox. May not be fast though.

Survey: Tech workers are terrified they will be sacked for being too old

Mark 85

Re: "experience and wisdom to share"

The closest I've seen to "young buck" optimization was a lad who didn't put any white space, line numbers, comments, etc. into his code as they slowed things down. I was just one long line... maybe 4 to 10 printed pages worth. Took about 3 days to prove to him that he was wrong and then another 6 months on how to optimize his code. <sigh> I don't miss coding these days except for personal use.

Facebook, Google and pals may be hit with TV political ads rules

Mark 85

"Honest ads..." Sounds like an oxymoron to me. But reading what they want to legislate may not be a bad idea since it's already applied to other forms of communication.

I would expect then that if this passes, the "ads" on social media will need to be labeled much like they are on TV, radio, and in the press/magazines, etc.

Lucky Canada. Google chooses Toronto as site of posthuman urban lab

Mark 85

Sounds like the perfect city for Google... they will know everything and sell what they know. The sheeple who live there will just mosey about and consume what Google tells them too. No thought required on the citizens part and Google makes profit! I'd suggest that this idea get burned with fire and quickly.

Google faces $10k-a-day fines if it defies court order to hand over folks' private overseas email

Mark 85

In the lust for more power, logic is the first casualty. The government (and not just the US) tossed logic out the window several decades ago.

Tezos crypto and $232m initial coin offering risks implosion – reports

Mark 85

Variant on a theme....

I get the feeling that these types of "investments" and "startups" have been seen before. The Internet is littered with the bodies (metaphorically speaking) of those who had no clue. In the early days it was get some investors, start a website and sit back to wait for the pile of money to come it. No clue on having "membership fees" for some sites like certain photo sharing ones (long gone many of them), chat sites, etc. But somehow the money was supposed to magically appear. Some companies changed their business model and succeeded, most died off.

And now the apple in everyone's eye is blockchain and cryptocurrency.... there's another bubble out there waiting to burst. I do wonder what's next as maybe get in early, make my fortune and head to some quiet island....

Like Uber, for socialism: Chinese leader calls for more use of AI, big data and sharing economy

Mark 85

Somewhere the ghost of Mao is laughing and Deng Xiao Ping is spinning in his grave.

I doubt that. Read what he said and realize that these were their goals... Control first and foremost to eliminate "erroneous viewpoints". Couple that with big data and Big Brother is approaching adulthood. Add in “develop China into a great modern socialist country that is prosperous, strong, democratic, culturally advanced, harmonious, and beautiful.” and you have the goals from day one but are more economic oriented in their control than physical border expansion. Big data will here again be used to their advantage.

As for the "socialist" part...like most countries that call themselves "socialist", I'm not sure that we in the West truly understand the meaning and implications as they don't use evil "communist" word. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/socialism.

Microsoft Azure ████ secret ██ █████ ██ US govt's ███ ███ centers

Mark 85
Big Brother

Re: Strange partners...

Indeed it is problematical but maybe MS will get the contract for the TeleScreens to installed everywhere. It's not for nothing that MS is known as "Slurp".

Mark 85

Re: ITAR

That's nice.... so do you think they'll actually be able to arrest a miscreant from say.... North Korea?

NYC cops say they can't reveal figures on cash seized from people – the database is too shoddy

Mark 85
Pirate

In 2014, police across the US seized $4.5bn under civil asset forfeiture rules... By contrast, in that same year, the FBI reported that burglars stole $3.9bn from American citizens.

It would appear that the average US citizen would be better off dealing with a burglar than a cop. Shooting a cop is bad but shooting a burglar is ok in most places.

Icon ---> because this is legal piracy.

Mark 85

Re: Because dirty cops have stolen millions or billions

Good points but about that armored car... there is/was a federal program to GIVE the police these things.

Please replace the sword, says owner of now-hollow stone

Mark 85

Re: People may be offended..

Upvote for the Monty Python reference.

Europol cops lean on phone networks, ISPs to dump CGNAT walls that 'hide' cyber-crooks

Mark 85

From where do LEO's get this never-ending supply of clueless thunderc*nts?

The pool is filled with those who wanted to be politicians....?

Mark 85
Big Brother

Re: Fishing

While I agree with you, I would hope that you (or I) never get drug into a police investigation because they can't follow the true path and end up going after someone innocent which is bound to happen. Yeah, it's a real mess with the cops and TLA's wanting everything (including backdoors for encryption and they can't get it. I just hope innocent bystanders (or users in this case) don't start getting rounded up and put in situations they were involved in.

Linux kernel community tries to castrate GPL copyright troll

Mark 85

Re: I'm confused

I'm glad you asked this because it's not something I'm wrapping my brain around. Outside of the old Shareware thing early on, every company, every project, I've been associated with asked for "first look" to see if they wanted it. So if I wrote some code on my own time, I had to give them first look. IF they wanted it, they paid for it.. licensed, or out right purchase. If not, I could do what I want. I would have assumed that those writing code for Linux would have had some similar agreement but maybe not.

Argh, my loafer just fell down the rope ladder! Yes, I'm in the Microsoft treehouse

Mark 85

Does counting beans take up calories that would otherwise be used to heat themselves?

Don't think so. The ones I've worked around were bunch of cold-hearted bastards.

Crypto-coin miners caught toiling away in hacked cloud boxes

Mark 85

I'm waiting for some admin to be found out he/she is using the company's servers to mine. Just a matter of time, I guess.

Mark 85
Pirate

Security company?

RedLock says companies stung this way included security company Gemalto and....

Whoa... hold on there. This is not a sterling recommendation for their services is it? Especially one touting themselves as a "world leader in digital security".

Google adds planets and moons to Maps, but puts bits in the wrong places

Mark 85
Facepalm

See icon...

Russia tweaks Telegram with tiny fine for decryption denial

Mark 85

There's a large rabbit hole out there that governments are finally leaping into. They all seem to want a backdoor to encryption except for their own (the government's) equipment. Without a concerted effort (and a united one by ALL countries) to shut down the criminals who would attack and grab data, it won't work. As yet, many governments haven't put in the effort to crack down and punish the hackers.

I won't even go there as far as country to country hacking (say Russian to US) as that's even a bigger mess since much is government sponsored. Same for such things as NSA wanting a backdoor here in the States.

Apple slapped hard with $440m patent bill in VirnetX FaceTime spat

Mark 85

I know get the lawyers involved to settle this with an old fashion pistol duel. 2 paces apart though, wouldn't want one of the lawyers accidentally walking away.

Forget pistols... go for the sure thing, pick one: machine guns, shot guns, or nuclear warheads.

Mark 85

Which is great news for lawyers charging by the hour.

Isn't this the way it works? File lawsuit. Win or lose, the lawyers get paid*,

*Except for the ambulance chasers and their "you don't pay if we don't win" adverts.

Twitter to be 'aggressive' enforcer of new, stronger rules

Mark 85

Re: The political choice you make by not making a political choice

Reading other news sources indicates that Twitter may be self-destructing. Low income while bleeding cash, falling membership, etc. It would appear just to be a matter of time. If it fails during the next say, 4 years, Trump (and others) will have to find a new outlet for their bleatings*.

*reference dictionary.com for appropriateness.

'Cyber kangaroo' ratings for IoT security? Jump to it, says Australia's cyber security minister

Mark 85

Self reporting?

That'll work because suddenly every bit of tat will have 5 Kangaroos... even stuff 10 years old. MS.. well we know how they will react. As for rest...meh.

Yes, they'll all think it's a great idea but don't expect any company to mark it's products the less than 5 stars.

Perhaps, some along the lines of "Consumer Reports" with in depth testing? But the big question is keeping the testing independent of who gives them the funding.

Remember how you said it was cool if your mobe network sold your name, number and location?

Mark 85
Unhappy

Re: Now Americans can see

Of course they can see. They just choose to ignore because - hey look, shiny !

Actually I doubt they even look much less see. Except for us IT types, most users haven't a clue what's going on or are even aware that their data is being slurped. Mainstream news isn't going to report because advertisers might just pull out. But then again, I doubt most users don't visit mainstream as much s getting their news filtered by FB.

Huge power imbalance between firms and users whose info they grab

Mark 85

Re: Simple solution

Make it a criminal offence to pass on, sell, or even buy and store indirect personal information. With criminal liability falling on the persons involved, certainly the executives. And pass the legislation quickly.

Unless the board or execs are bleeding off money to personal accounts, I can't recall any prosecution of a board or exec. The companies own the legislatures so fat chance of this ever passing.

Supreme Court to rule on whether US has right to data stored overseas

Mark 85

So, if the DoJ wins, than corporations like MS will probably lose customers in Europe and elsewhere ? If MS wins, then they don't lose customers but also don't dare ever to move any data to the US.

Whatever happened to law enforcement following law. treaty agreements, and practice to get evidence from another country?

Brit intel fingers Iran for brute-force attacks on UK.gov email accounts

Mark 85

Haven't you heard... they (and the US politicos) seem to think that encryption is secure and will remain that way after they get their backdoors. I'm almost positive that equipment used by the various Parliament/Congresses, etc. and most government agencies will be exempt from this.

Mark 85

Well slap my bottom and call me Daisy. Isn't that convenient?

Indeed, Daisy. Lately there's just been too much "convenience" in world politics.

BOFH: Oh dear. Did someone get lost on the Audit Trail?

Mark 85

Re: "Yes. I'm the decoy," I say, as the sound of a heavily loaded shredder...

That's a good one. I'm reminded of the old story about LBJ and his first election. While the cops were breaking down the door to the place where the votes were tallied, the ballots were being fed to the shredder. Not sure how true it was but it was in Texas....