Posts by TheVogon 3511 publicly visible posts • joined 17 Jan 2013
"First, relocating the data to a US server does not violate privacy, because they're not showing the data to anybody yet."
It breaks EU law already though unless there is specific informed consent from the user to move the data so AND appropriate protection of the data is in place. That's what matters here. Things get very expensive very quickly for US companies that don't obey EU data protection rules under the GDPR.
"How many more decades do we have to go before companies are held significantly liable just for the fact of not storing the data according to basic security practices defined ages ago?"
They already are responsible and there have been plenty of fines. The GDPR makes the fines vastly larger from next year. And makes the requirements much more specifically defined.
"The GDPR is a very good start but it depends on how it's implemented"
We already know that - the laws are in place and take effect next year.
"because what happens when you have a "too big" company like google, microsoft or facebook? "
As they all have offices in the EU fines would be easily enforceable
"Could they threaten to pull services in the EU in response"
Presumably they could.
"and what would the EU's response to that be?"
I would guess it would be- "go on then". The EU is after all a larger market in terms of both population and GDP than the US.
"I have had letters from a so-called "debt management" company essentially saying that they would do their damnedest to make sure I wouldn't get a new job or a new appartment unless I paid up first."
I suspect they were just telling you the potential impact of a poor credit history and / or court debt judgements. They might have implied it was directly them to get you to pay their debt as a priority, but unless they are the creditor or they take you to court in reality it's your credit record.
"Continuous harrassment on top, but as I said, they ignore court orders"
Well in the UK at least if you tell them the debt is disputed and not to contact you again, it's illegal for them to harass you.
Other court orders are likely irrelevant unless they pertain to this specific debt or you are declared bankrupt or protected while your assets are assessed. And a court observation that you don't currently have funds to pay doesn't stop them pursuing you when you do.
Guessing you are in the US see:
https://www.creditcards.com/credit-card-news/court-judgment-debt-gavel-main-1282.php
"we (this corner of NHS) currently use Java SE 6 Update 39 from 2013-02-01 for all our browser java needs! hooray!"
So set active content to only run in the Trusted Security Zone in IE and use Group Policy to add only sites you trust to that zone. Job done. That will be £20 million please.
"You use a library dedicated to the task. In the Windows world I assume it's much better because you can use a magic unicorn to parse the registry?"
The Windows registry is a binary b-tree database so you don't have to read the whole file to find a value so it's way faster and more efficient than parsing a text file, you have single config repository in a specific location, you have improved system integrity due to fully atomic transactions and you have strongly typed data formats.
"Secure Boot checks that the bootloader has been signed, so if it's been patched by malware, your computer won't boot (which is probably better than letting it boot and encrypt all your files)."
When combined with say Bitlocker and DeviceGuard, it protects the OS and file system from the majority of direct access type attacks. Secure Boot is trust the first part of that chain of trust.
I remember reading that Apple after the last case closed a method where a firmware upgrade could be forced? As potentially they could have been forced to write a custom firmware that unlocked a device. So presumably now if a device is locked on current firmware Apple can say sorry no can do...
"It's the 16-bit Windows software that requires the most work. First, Windows be 32-bit to run it. And you may need to register all the DLL/OCX files, disable UAC, change system file permissions and such. "
A quick fix is just to run it in a 32 bit Windows 10 VDI / VM session. See https://www.groovypost.com/howto/enable-16-bit-application-support-windows-10/
And yes sometimes fiddling is required, but then it's still quite impressive to be able to run 25 years old software on a modern OS!
"I should have been more explicit. Way back the option to permanently disable macros was in the dialog box that popped up warning you there were macros in the document. The option is no longer there, but is of course located where you say."
And whilst I agree for security it would be better, the problem was that people clicked it and then didn't know how to turn it back on - which isn't exactly easy to find. So it caused a lot of support calls, and it was therefore removed when the stronger "ask you twice" sandbox model was implemented...
"I have literally considered, several times, my "ideal startup" if I were a millionaire and needed to run something to keep me occupied. One of the first rules would be "No Windows or Mac" "
And that's possible for a start-up, with some pain and significantly limited choice. Many technology startups start with Macs funnily enough. That doesn't usually last long though.
"I lived on a Linux desktop for many, many years, even managing Windows networks from it."
Because that doesn't require a suite of typical business applications - and obviously you still had to RDP to a Windows box to run management tools - so basically you ran a VDI Windows client!
"Are you seriously telling me that Munich couldn't go down that route"
You seriously think in over a decade they haven't tried their best? According to Munich's IT department on top of the project costs, they have spent €82 million! on remediating products to work with their current setup! See:
https://www.techrepublic.com/article/after-three-years-of-linux-munich-reveals-draft-of-crunch-report-that-could-decide-its-open-source/
"so you literally just get a VMWare window, inside the Linux desktop, of whatever fancy-schmancy app it is that absolutely can't run on anything else?"
Well Citrix is usually the VDI choice of enterprises, but yes they did do that. When people needed a version of Office that actually worked it was via VDI to a Windows box.
And if you are going to do that - why bother with a fat Linux client on the desktop? - just virtualise everything. Where I work we have zero desktops - even in IT - everything is via VDI and Wyse terminals. And FYI the higher end clients like the top of the range Wyse 7040 only run Windows Embedded due to it's better security, features, performance and remote management capabilities than Linux - which is only used on low end boxes. If you don't believe that's why then go read the product descriptions!
"Hell, you could do it via a cloud service, even."
Well, yes. Lots of people are looking at cloud desktop and VDI services on Azure and AWS. Not on Linux though!
"Obviously some migration effort and expense would be involved but the TCO analysis for a 3-5 year period always favoured Linux."
Erm, no, no it didn't. It would have cost €10 million to stay with Microsoft. It cost €18 million just to migrate, several million more to create the Limux build and applications, and according to Munich's IT department they have spent €82 million since trying to remediate systems to work with Linux!
https://joinup.ec.europa.eu/document/limux-it-evolution-open-source-success-story-never
" The option of "permanently" disabling macros that was there 20 years ago seems to have gone MIA somewhere along the line. "
Nope - you can still permanently disable them in options / trust centre, and there is also a Word file format that specifically excludes the ability to save Macros!
"apt install packagename"
After finding the exact package name and repository, then opening a shell, running sudo, checking for and adding the repository if needed and maybe having to run "apt-get build-dep packagename" though. Not to mention maybe having to run "apt-get install base-config" and then "apt-setup" the first time you want to do that....
On Windows just type the app name in the store, click install
Or for non Store Windows apps, click download from Edge, click Run and accept the elevation prompt all from the GUI...
"Woohoo. I'm so delighted that the £12billion+ programme has got us a pair of carriers so reliable that they have 50% availability."
Blame Gordon Brown for that mess. There were much better options but this was pushed through to keep uncompetitive Scottish shipyards in business...
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