* Posts by corestore

419 publicly visible posts • joined 13 Jul 2007

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US Supremes just blew Aereo out of the water

corestore

1. A very rare case where I agree with Scalia; this was a real tortuous stretch. SCOTUS essentially said, it doesn't matter what the law says and if you technically comply with it, if you LOOK like a cable company you ARE a cable company.

2. The answer will be crowdsourcing, not centralising. We need an Uber for the airwaves. Something like sharemyslingbox.com (not a real URL, an illustration of the kind of concept).

3. "There has grown up in the minds of certain groups in this country the notion that because a man or corporation has made a profit out of the public for a number of years, the government and the courts are charged with the duty of guaranteeing such profit in the future, even in the face of changing circumstances and contrary to public interest. This strange doctrine is not supported by statute or common law. Neither individuals nor corporations have any right to come into court and ask that the clock of history be stopped, or turned back." - RAH

Google Glass gets 2GB of RAM. Think about this. Two gigs of RAM

corestore

Re: Glassholes

I don't see it as derogatory at all... it's typical British tongue in cheek wordplay.

When I got Glass I blogged about being inducted into the 'Honourable Order of Glassholes'

Google, Microsoft to add remote KILL switch to phones

corestore

Also...

There HAS to be some way of undoing the 'kill'. There HAS to be.

Think.

The possibilities for mischief, false or erroneous kill requests etc. are legion.

And, what happens the day crackers (or indeed enemy state hackers) get hold of the keys to the kill switch system? How many millions of phones could get 'killed' before they manage to turn the system off?

It needs to be an on/off switch, not a deadly death permanent bricking.

corestore

And what's the real subtext here...?

Also gives the networks the ability to brick your phone if you do something they don't like, such as an unauthorized SIM unlock?

T-Mobile boss: 'High and mighty' Verizon and AT&T are 'raping you for every penny you have'

corestore

Excuse me?

T-Mobile?

The company that tried to bill me $7,000 for three days light to moderate internet use in Iceland four years ago? And insisted the bill was correct, represented the true cost of providing the service, and was perfectly reasonable, a bargain even?

And only backed down (and backed down quickly!) when I threatened them with the law of unconscionable contracts?

Pot? It's Kettle on line one...

Tor is '90 per cent of the net' claims City of London Police Commish – and he's dead wrong

corestore

It isn't 90% of the internet...

...but the post-Snowden lesson is that it (or something like it) bloody well SHOULD be!

Top Canadian court: Cops need warrant to get names from ISPs

corestore

Sounds like telcos and ISPs in Holland should be putting certain strategic bits of infrastructure overseas, out of reach of Dutch law, if they have any interest in protecting privacy of customers.

corestore

Re: alternative view courtesy of StateWatch...

Well how did bway.net get their AnonDSL service working?

(I think they've changed ownership and systems a few times since then, so I have to refer you to archive.org - https://web.archive.org/web/20040321130622/http://www.bway.net/bway/dsl/anondsl.html )

Obviously it's not very compatible with static IP addressing, but otherwise... yes you need to manage IP address allocation, but you don't need to keep a long-term log of what you've done!

corestore

No-one is mentioning the elephant in the room here; why do ISPs routinely record the association between IP address and account details in any case?

If you're privacy-minded, the surest defence against turning over data, with or without a warrant, is to make a point of *not keeping the data in the first place*. Keeping IP address allocation records should be turned off by default.

My previous, excellent, ISP - bway.net - did that as a matter of policy, and proudly advertised the service as a pro-privacy feature; they called it AnonDSL. Given Snowden etc., it's only a matter of time before more and larger ISPs start doing exactly the same thing for exactly the same reason. The market for privacy IS out there.

Are Facebook rants about harming your wife protected free speech? US Supremes to decide

corestore

I'm extreme, and extremely passionate, when it comes to free speech. Very very little should be banned. But I don't have a problem with criminalising real, specific, and explicit threats of, or exhortations to, violence. "Death to the Jews!" is fine. "Bring plenty gasoline, we're going to burn those Jew bastards tonight - meet here at 11pm" is not.(1)

This one is very close to the line, if not over it. I think a lot will hinge on the interpretation of his so-called 'disclaimer'. I think it likely that the disclaimer may have been very much tongue in cheek, intended to enhance the threats, rather than the reverse.

(1) No antisemitism intended or implied; I just picked a random group who are sometimes targeted by racists for my example.

US allows commercial use of sharper satellite snaps

corestore

Re: People are starting to react to surveillance.

I'm a pro. A pro drone with a pro camera rig can easily cost north of $80,000:

- $35k for my Red Dragon camera

- $30k for a Master Prime lens

- $25k for a drone capable of lifting them

You destroy my drone, you better have a very good lawyer and very deep pockets because I'm going to pwn your sorry ass, when you get out of jail. Stupid stupid stupid.

corestore

Possibly the ultimate 'Canute Syndrome'; who in hell do the USA think they're kidding, thinking they can regulate the sale of images that weren't even taken on US soil?!

Given the capabilities of other countries in this field, such a law would never survive strict scrutiny under the first amendment; it serves little to no useful purpose.

Remember Control Data? The Living Computer Museum wants YOU

corestore

Re: They don't want much...

Moron managers at LCM?

I happen to know some of the people there. One of their pdp-10s came from my collection. They're extremely high-calbre folks.

You do NOT know what you're talking about, and I suggest you pull your horns in rather sharpish.

Texan parks quadcopter atop Dallas Cowboys stadium

corestore

Send in a proper big octocopter to retrieve the toy...

UK govt 'tearing up road laws' for Google's self-driving cars: The truth

corestore

Re: I'd be curious to know...

If it's going to be sold widely, yes. Are you aware of any provision in the construction and use regs that would specifically prohibit a car controlled by a computer?

If it's not - if it's a small test fleet - there are special provisions for this. SVA etc.

And if it's imported from overseas, as is very likely, then the approval there is good for temporary use on UK roads. I've moved cars between countries on several occasions. Currently driving a UK-registered car on UK plates & MOT in New Zealand as a temporary import. The regs that apply are those in the country of registration, not the country where it's being temporarily driven.

corestore

Re: I'm against it at this time. here's why...

*guffaw*

You've clearly never driven in NYC!

Or, Goddess help us, New Jersey!

Oh, and UAVs are perfectly capable of operating entirely autonomously, and frequently do; you program a flight path, the drone executes it, traveling and loitering as programmed, and returns to the spot it took off from. I'm in the movie business, this is fairly common practice for our drones. They CAN also be flown under full manual control of course, but they don't HAVE to be.

corestore

I'd be curious to know...

Is there actually anything in current UK law that says that a car must have a human driver? Has anyone bothered to *check*? Much of the law in this area is so old that the possibility wouldn't ever have occurred to anyone, and there may well be nothing in law either allowing or forbidding this. And if the law is silent... qui tacet consentire videtur...

I'm sure it's an offence to operate a vehicle without a license, but try taking a machine to court for that offence. They might try a case against the occupant... but which occupant? The one who happened to say "OK Car, take me to Glasgow"? How to prove who said it, if more than one occupant?

And if the occupant has a license anyway, what charge could be offered? Can't be driving without a license. Failing to maintain control? "I maintained perfect control! I had a computer do it for me! If you think it didn't do a good job of controlling the car and an offence occurred, prove it!"

This could get very interesting :-)

corestore

Re: Driverless car

Good point. It'll be 'Ford - powered by Google'

NSA: Inside the FIVE-EYED VAMPIRE SQUID of the INTERNET

corestore

Re: Outrage

Yes. Good old-fashioned human intel.

The alternative - what we have at present - is far, far too amenable to misuse, however benign the proclaimed intentions, however laudable the alleged purposes.

Intelligence work has to be based on capabilities - what your adversary CAN do to you, not what you think they WANT to do to you. And it's very clear, the security state has become the adversary here, and what they CAN do to ALL of us has gone so far over the line that the line is now a dot on the horizon.

"1984 was a WARNING, not a bloody INSTRUCTION MANUAL!"

Mike

corestore

Interesting...

"Documents provided by Snowden show that GCHQ particularly prizes the data they get from Sweden..."

I wonder, I just wonder, if this apparently exceptionally close relationship between US spooks and Sweden could have any bearing on the Assange situation?

I don't LIKE the guy, I think he's a prize plonker with an ego the size of a small planet, but his situation and circumstances seem... convenient. Very convenient.

Australia's first public swatting victim a nice bloke

corestore

Good luck...

"It will probably take weeks to months before we can find out through IP, servers and back-tracking the electronic footprint."

I thought they sent a text message?

Good luck anyway, if they used a pay-as-you-go phone, bought with cash & topped-up with cash...

Queen's Speech: Computer Misuse Act to be amended, tougher sentences planned

corestore

There was a case, a few years ago, being brought by Kent Police as I recall, where a prosecution was being attempted under the Obscene Publications Act, for the content of an entirely private online chat: the thinking being, presumably, that the scope of the OPA could be extended to virtually anything IF the participants in the conversation could be construed as 'publishing' to each other (for sufficiently warped and twisted definitions of 'publishing'). I believe El Reg reported on it at the time.

I'd very much like to know what the final score was in that case; that hasn't been reported to my knowledge.

(It may be relevant to the attempt to criminalize 'paedophilic manuals', whatever the hell they turn out to be. Probably virtually anything, IF in the possession of someone the police decide they want to charge with something...)

Revealed: GCHQ's beyond top secret Middle Eastern internet spy base

corestore

I'm not surprised about BT being in serious cahoots...

I used to be a senior field guy for a large computer company I won't name (DEC).

I worked on systems in GCHQ. No drama apart from getting searched, and not taking parts offsite, especially hard drives!

I worked on special branch systems; those were built-in to safes in secure rooms at the back of police stations. But no drama.

But when I went to work on a system at one of the... more dodgy bits of the BT facility at Martlesham Heath, they wouldn't even let me anywhere near the server installation; they eventually wheeled it out to reception and had me work on it there.

corestore

Re: TRAITORS

You ARE Louise Mensch AICMFP

Ray-Ban to produce Google Glass data-goggs: Cool - or Tool?

corestore

Hah! That's what I said when I first heard about Glass.

Google aren't in the hardware business. It'll be 'Oakley - Powered by Google'.

Mike

Daring danger-drone dives into VOLCANIC eruption – what happens next has to be seen

corestore

Re: Good effort...

Yeah within a foot or two of the drone, not of the operator!!

corestore

Re: Good effort...

It was all shot on Red Dragon 6K, Canon 28-300mm zoom… didn't need the length, but did need a 'shoot everything' lens; you do NOT want to change lenses in that toxic atmosphere!

More story here: http://www.reduser.net/forum/showthread.php?111475-Dragonfire-Extreme-Cinematography

corestore

Good effort...

…but I got a lot closer to a lot more lava, also in Vanuatu. Marum volcano, no drones :)

https://vimeo.com/84947481

https://vimeo.com/84951902

;-)

Blighty teen boffin builds nuclear reactor INSIDE CLASSROOM

corestore

Re: Almost certainly a stupid question...

Apparently the Skunk Works think they've cracked it - and when the Skunk Works go public, that means they're pretty damn sure...

US Senator lobbies feds to BAN BITCOIN

corestore

"West Virginia lawmaker says cryptocurrency mixed up in illegal activity"

Yeah, and greenbacks aren't??

Goddess give me strength!

Terrifying photo special: 'Electric Cannon' anal orgasmo-probe in use ... on a BULL

corestore

I am NOT letting my wife see this. She has enough 'ideas' already!

French youth faces court for illegal drone flight

corestore

Am I the only one who read "French youth faces court for illegal drone FIGHT"???

I was thinking this could be an Olympic sport one day...

Apple pushes back release date for 'dustbin chic' Mac Pro

corestore

Re: @corestore

Here's a good start:

http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=1606920

Mike

corestore

Balls...

My Apple dealer (no actual Apple Stores here in NZ) has stock for immediate delivery. Could nip down and walk out with one in an hour.

I'm turbocharging my 2009 Mac Pro instead; that's a REAL pro machine, and upgrading it is a much better value proposition… #Titan #12core #SSD #USB3 :-)

Judge orders Yelp.com to unmask anonymous critics who tore into biz

corestore

The elephant in the room is...

Yelp can only provide plaintiffs with the details *they chose to retain*.

If they don't keep logs, don't hold any identifying information, they can shrug their shoulders, turn over an empty envelope, and say 'hey we complied - we gave them all the information we have...'

How much did NSA pay to put a backdoor in RSA crypto? Try $10m – report

corestore

Of course...

"RSA always acts in the best interest of its customers…"

Of course it does.

And if you want to find the customer, follow the money…

If someone else is paying for it, you're not the customer, you're the product being sold. Down the river in this case, it seems.

AWS imposes national borders on Cloudland

corestore

Why does everyone want to break the internet?

US mobile telcos: All right, ALL RIGHT, FCC! We'll redo phone unlock rules

corestore

And how is this relevant to anything in real life?

There are an abundance of very cheap unlocking services online; what the carriers do or don't do, do or don't agree to, is *irrelevant* to the real world; people unlock their phones without reference to the carriers all the time.

I bought a Galaxy Note from AT&T. Very cheap. I carefully omitted to sign the contract, never even put the AT&T SIM in it. An hour and $20 later I was home, the phone unlocked, and using my T-Mobile SIM in it. AT&T weren't happy, but conceded that, without a signed contract, I was in the right.

Accused Glasshole driver says specs weren't even turned on for traffic stop

corestore

Re: Is it legal...

That's certifiably insane.

The whole POINT is that the navigation device should be in your field of vision; you need to glance at it occasionally when you're using it! How in hell do you use a satnav that is positioned where you can't SEE it??

If you were literally correct it would mean satnavs are prohibited in CA, full stop - and never mind the poor bloody drivers, the car makers that build satnav into their cars would be on the hook big-time. That HAS to be bullshit, sorry.

corestore

Re: Throw the book at her.

Then they can also convict everyone with an operational satnav; that's a data/video display in front of the drivers seat, is it not?

And they can bang up all the car manufacturers for conspiracy to supply at the same time.

*faceplam* why do people suspend all logic and rational thought just because it's bloody Glass??!!

corestore

Re: Ban 'em, I say...

Try a full eyetap augmented reality system with realtime data, realtime HDR imaging, thermal imaging overlay etc. etc.

That's the way military pilots, and some civilian pilots - especially helo pilots - already fly. In a much more demanding task-loaded role than driving, even in CA.

I think there's a lot of promise in this tech.

Yeah some people will look at pron or cat pics and give it a bad name...

corestore

Is it legal...

…to have a satnav screen on the dashboard?

Yes or no?

Is it legal to have a smartphone (which *can* also play pron videos) in use as a satnav on the dashboard?

Yes or no?

So exactly how in hell can it ever be illegal to use a head-mounted display as a satnav then? Just for starters… and satnav is one of the functions that works *best* on Glass at its present stage of development. It's a bloody satnav you can program with your voice and don't have to take your eyes off the road, or refocus, to use. It's the *safest* option IMHO.

This is just some idiot cop and prosecutor deciding to make a name for themselves with a ludicrous prosecution. OF COURSE it's not illegal!

Mike

HP’s ENORMO-SLAB: The Slate 21 MONSTER tablet

corestore

Everything is converging

Is this a tablet??

Or a touchscreen TV powered by Android?

Is it a distinction without a difference nowadays?

Crowdfunded audit of 'NSA-proof' encryption suite TrueCrypt is GO

corestore

Great, fine...

Give the source a code review.

But don't neglect to review the sources of the libraries and compiler every whit as closely.

This was shown to be necessary long ago. And even then, don't trust too much:

http://cm.bell-labs.com/who/ken/trust.html

Thought you didn't need to show ID in the UK? Wrong

corestore

Re: What exactly is the problem here?

Well that was part of the *fear* with ID cards in the UK; create them, and you'll immediately see a demand for them to be presented in all kinds of situations. 'Identify yourself!' would become the new normal.

Of course, we seem to be headed in that direction anyway, despite the fact that the ID cards themselves got canned.

Heads I win, tails you lose...

corestore

Re: I had full id but I was still denied...

Interesting and probably illegal; discrimination.

If you had had a foreign passport, foreign driving license etc etc you wouldn't have been *expected* to have a UK 'data footprint' of course, and there would have been no problem.

corestore

Newquay

I've just read, and re-read, the stuff about Newquay.

Good grief.

OK it's an overused and cliché metaphor, but this time I think for once it's valid; the Stasi really would be proud.

I left the UK in 1998.

When and how did the British people spinelessly surrender to these kinds of authoritarian policies? Don't people see it?

I guess the old adage about boiling frogs applies...

Adobe users' purloined passwords were pathetic

corestore

Re: I don't get it...

*facepalm*

corestore

I don't get it...

How did this alleged researcher obtain these numbers?

OK there was a security breach, but that wouldn't give access the passwords; **no-one** stores passwords in plaintext.

So what's the deal with the statistics?

Google RIPS aside curtain, exposes Nexus 5 phone, KitKat Android 4.4 coupling

corestore

Re: Went and ordered one

Sparse and 'functional' is GOOD - it's exactly what I want from a phone!

Plain vanilla stock Android is about the best there is; that's WHY I prefer Google devices.

It's all the interface cruft and 'features' that networks and third parties add to Android that make the experience sub-optimal. And of course they always seem to make them so you can't delete them unless you root the phone...

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