* Posts by Commswonk

1777 publicly visible posts • joined 3 Sep 2015

Crooks use WannaCrypt hysteria as hook for BT-branded phishing emails

Commswonk

Re: Maybe we should bring back plain text email.

And a click here link could take users to www.jawsofHelldamnedforAllEternity.com for all the users know.

Yes but... I cannot be the only person who puts the cursor over any "Click Here" box for the url behind it to be revealed. Likewise I cannot be the only person who notices that the "To" box at the top is either empty or says "Recipients" and that the "From" box is more often than not from a self - evidently non - BT address.

I might be the only person who dutifully forwards these spoofs / phishing attempts to BT's "Abuse" address, including a copy of the incoming header information. FWIW the majority of potentially troublesome emails here purport to come from BT and only on one occasion did it require detailed scrutiny to suggest that it wasn't what it seemed.

Mind you being paranoic helps a bit...

Three home security systems found to be vulnerable – if hackers were hiding in bushes

Commswonk

Re: Anything radio has vulnerabilities

Because wires are so difficult to cut?

Quite; but a properly designed security system can detect a cut wire and react accordingly. In some systems adding a wire connection in an attempt to conceal the attack can also be detected because it isn't just "a piece of wire" but a resistance of known value that sits in a bridge circuit where any imbalance can be detected immediately and again used to trigger the alarm.

Plutus Payroll clients and staff fell for plausible business model fairy tales

Commswonk

Re: If it looks too good to be true,it's probably a con somehow..

Well it seamed to be working fine and all legal as well ...

Until it came apart at the seems, that is.

French fling fun-sized fine at Facebook for freakin' following folk

Commswonk

Also to be honest from the UK if you have friends & family abroad, call costs to places like Australia, or Thailand from the UK tend to be a bit pricey to phone someone up for a quick half hour chat and catch up.

Cheap phone packages are available; Mrs Commswonk has one to talk to her daughter abroad.

Facebook tends to be a quick and easy way; "Facebook tends to be a lazy way" might be more accurate. Apart from anything else if I want to communicate with specific friends I do not world + dog listening from the sidelines; if all the friends are mutual there might be some excuse for using Facebook but individual friends deserve individual attention.

Commswonk

Does not compute, Captain

It is prepared to hit them where it hurts – in the pocket – to force them to comply with data protection laws.

And a fine of €150,000 ($166,000) will achieve that how, exactly?

IoT needs security, says Microsoft without even a small trace of irony

Commswonk

I win!

Build cross-disciplinary partnerships that encourage public-private collaboration and inter-agency cooperation

House!

Vodafone loses €6bn mainly due to Indian biz writeoff

Commswonk

More management bollocks

Vittorio Colao, group chief exec, said... there was good potential in the UK to "improve margins" and intends to "play more aggressively" in the data space, as it intends to roll out plans to monetise customer data.

No mention of improving the overall service to customers; achieve that and the margin will follow.

Ransomware scum have already unleashed kill-switch-free WannaCry‬pt‪ variant

Commswonk

I can't help thinking that announcing the discovery of the kill switch might not have been a good idea.

And you should see the number of downvotes I got in another thread for suggesting exactly that.

Another commentator stated (if I understood him correctly) that the "public announcement" was more or less irrelevant because security experts' chatter on blogs would have given the game away anyway.

In turn that made me think along the lines of "FFS what sort of security experts swap notes on blogs that may be / almost certainly are open to being read by the hackers"

I think I despair... if the above is true then there is simply no hope.

Comey was loathed by the left, reviled by the right – must have been doing something right

Commswonk

Re: infuriated those people who know a thing or six about encryption

This is the blog post you're meaning. The author appears to be a security professional whose job is to defeat and destroy malware such as this.

OK; fine. I was querying the wisdom of the widespread publication of what he did via the BBC. Surely a "security professional" might be better to limit the numbers of people he informs of his success and how it was achieved.

Commswonk

Re: infuriated those people who know a thing or six about encryption

@ Fred Flintstone: there are too many "freedom fighters" out there who think publishing the full details of this will somehow make our world a better place. From what I see, it's only made the world a better place for criminals. Yes, transparency is a must, but you can disclose the existence of these things without dumping the full code online so some jerk can wrap their own malware around it.

"Freedom fighters" include the BBC IMHO. They interviewed some "IT blogger" (IIRC) who claimed that he had stopped the spread of the current global quite by accident, and he gave an outline explanation of how. (I do not have the knowledge to know if he was talking sense or bollocks, but for now I will give him the benefit of the doubt.)

However, if what he said was true then he and the BBC gifted whoever was responsible for the serious world - wide attack the means and opportunity to circumvent his roadblock and try again. How can security ever be maintained if people are all too willing to blab about how fixes can be achieved? Of course material like that gets news - hounds salivating, but I bet neither the BBC nor any other medium would give much air - time to "how I hacked the BBC's / other news medium's computer system".

Greater Manchester cops fined after victim interview vids lost in post

Commswonk

Wait wouldn't sending evidence by mail break the chain of custody ?

A very interesting point! I was not a Police Officer although I did work for a Force in a civilian capacity for several years, so anything I write is not an expert opinion.

It might depend on whether the material was the evidence or a copy of the evidence. Certainly if blood - stained shirts, knives, drug samples and the like were swilling around in the post then I would expect that could certainly break the chain of evidence, but for a copy DVD with an interview on it... I doubt it.

If the material was "mission critical" then putting the only copy in the post would be foolish on an unimaginable scale, but of course that doesn't mean that it can't happen.

Perish the thought...

Cabinet Office losing grip on UK government departments – report

Commswonk

Obvious, really

"The question of who has a grip of the whole system of Whitehall government has plagued successive governments," said the report.

I fail to see why the above should be the case; the answer is as ever; nobody.

This will continue to be the case until senior civil servants, up to and including the Cabinet Secretary find themselves walking the plank for failure to implement and oversee government policy, or even for "bringing government into disrepute".

It might help if politicians actually put some effort into managing their departments and the civil service in general rather than running around looking for the next good headline and courting / being courted by corporate interests.

Gig economy tech giants are 'free riding' on the welfare state, say MPs

Commswonk

Re: A long time coming

Other governments should take notice.

Never mind other governments; this government should take notice, along with the winner on 9th June.

Commswonk

Re: There is a way the gig economy can work ...

Universal income is often dismissed as a socialist utopia

As you have described things that is exactly what it would amount to. The "market" has already been constrained by the intoduction of the Minimum / Living Wage, and those earning that are generally in receipt of in - work benefits to make up a shortfall. And where do those in - work benefits come from? Taxpayers, that's where, and at the moment there simply isn't enough tax going into the Treasury because the Ubers / Amazons / Facebooks / etc of this world are able to organise their affairs to pay little or no tax and pay their "employees" as little as they can get away with.

There was talk the other day about "barista visas" to allow immigrants to come and work in coffee shops. How many coffee shops do we need FFS? Every cup of coffee you buy costs what you have to hand over to get it PLUS a taxpayer subsidy to augment the living wage. The hospitality industry has a certain reputation for being a low - paid career; the CEO (I think) of a major player in that field was on the Today prog last week talking about opening more beds in the next 12 months, and yet each of those beds effectively costs the taxpayer to fill because of the need for in - work benefits to top up what the chain(s) actually pay in wages.

Carrying this argument to a logical conclusion leads me to suspect that every tourist coming to this country (a very important source of income by all accounts) effectively does so at the expense of the UK taxpayer who has to augment the poor pay of those who look after them during their visit.

This is the economics of the madhouse, and appears to be based on the erroneous assumption that if Corporate Britain benefits then so do its inhabitants; I query the validity of that assumption. IMHO the growth of the gig economy serves to highlight the weakness of the assertion.

Commswonk

Re: Not just the so-called "gig" economy either...

They don't see a credible alternative?

Probably because there simply isn't one.

Commswonk

Re: Its

Only because the government can see a fall in tax revenue as EVERYONE goes self employed status that they are starting to care about this

And trying to ratchet up fees for granting Probate to plug the gap. The Home Office is trying the same trick with other fee - based transactions, specifically the costs of administering the cost of "Approvals" and changes of Secretary for individual shooting clubs.

Heroic stepmum takes one for team, sticks pot pipe up wazoo

Commswonk

Re: You sure

...the policeman spotted Richardson holding a "blue glass marijuana pipe in her right hand" which she then placed "into the front of her pants".

Richardson told the officer that the pipe, which had a burnt residue and whiff of weed...

Yes but did it smell like that prior to the lady attempting to conceal it "in her nether regions".

Proving the chain of evidence might be, er, tricky.

Just how screwed is IT at the Home Office?

Commswonk

Error in Headline

Just how screwed is IT at the Home Office??

There; FTFY

M6 crowned crappiest motorway for 4G signal

Commswonk

Oh dear...

I wonder how much of that coverage was down to EE. Doesn't look good for the much vaunted ESN; I bet the existing TETRA / Airwave coverage is significantly better.

Last year's ICO fines would be 79 times higher under GDPR

Commswonk

Yes, but...

From the article: Although the UK is leaving the European Union, compliance with the GDPR will still be mandatory for British firms that handle EU citizens' data.

All well and good, but will the GDPR be mandatory if the British firms are only handling UK citizens data? After all at that point British citizens will not be EU citizens. And will adherence to the GDPR apply just to data held on EU citizens with British citizens not enjoying the same protection or will it apply to both groups?

I can easily imagine companies that mishandle UK citizens data trying to wriggle out of any liability under the GDPR if they possibly can.

ITU's latest specs show that 5G is not just a wireless network

Commswonk

Re: 5G was never really about faster Mobile

If this article is anything to go by 5G was dreamt up to provide a buzzword - rich environment.

Bingo!

TalkTalk HackHack DuoDuo PleadPlead GuiltyGuiltyGuiltyGuilty

Commswonk

Re: admitted stealing

they have deprived Talk Talk customers of their security and privacy by taking a copy of the information which they have no intention of returning

In turn I can see your viewpoint. However, if (a) takes something from (b) which in turn deprives (c) of something (in this case "peace of mind") then who is legally the "victim"? (b) or (c)? Why was (b) represented at trial and not (apparently) (c). Who gave evidence for (c)?

And is it possible to steal something ("peace of mind") that has no, and can have no, physical embodiment?

Next discussion: how many angels can dance on the head of a pin?

In the meantime I think the dog wants a walk...

Commswonk

Re: admitted stealing

For crying out loud, they did steal something :

In common parlance that is certainly true, but I suspect that what they did might not meet the legal definition of theft, which may not be quite the same as a dictionary definition.

Basic definition of theft. (1)A person is guilty of theft if he dishonestly appropriates property belonging to another with the intention of permanently depriving the other of it; and “thief” and “steal” shall be construed accordingly. (Theft Act 1968)

Now while there may have been no intention to return the copy of the data taken there is also the point that in taking a copy there appears to have been no attempt to deprive its owner (in this case TalkTalk) either temporarily or permanently, and IMHO that does make a difference.

But then IANAL.

Commswonk

Re: admitted stealing

You are, of course, perfectly correct. However, you omitted the obligatory <pedant> </pedant> tags.

High Court hands Lauri Love permission to appeal extradition to US

Commswonk

Re: UK law ought to apply, surely?

...we should be pressing for the US prosecutors to present their evidence to the CPS so they can prosecute the man under the law he has grown up with.

While your post has received the upvotes it deserves for the overall sentiments expressed I would quibble slightly with the section quoted above; while he may well have "grown up with UK Law" he certainly seems to have ignored it.

IANAL but I am of the view that we have to be entirely certain about the reasons for possibly staying his extradition: is it because (a) he has AS; (b) because of a belief that he will harm himself if extradited, tried (and if found guilty) and punished in the US; (c) because any sentence imposed by the US Courts would be far harsher than one imposed by a UK Court for the same offence on the basis of the same evidence?

I would not be happy to find that his extradition was stopped purely on the basis of (a) or (b) because on that basis someone accused of a similar offence but without the supposed mitigation of being on the Autistic Spectrum, or without an expressed or implied risk of self harm or suicide might find themselves extradited regardless of any discrepancy between US & UK sentencing policy.

The Gary McKinnon case was now some time ago, and given that computer misuse is hardly likely to suddenly stop I am of the view that HMG really ought to come to a settled policy covering cases of this kind and make that policy publicly known; if the US doesn't like that policy then so be it. IMHO (and again IANAL) the UK should refuse to extradite for any offence if the sentence is likely to be greatly different to that in the UK, even if all the other qualifying reasons are present.

At the same time it ought to be made abundantly clear that being on the Autistic Spectrum or threatening self harm will not be acceptable defences or pleas in mitigation in a UK Court. I wonder in cases like this if "the accused" would be willing to be found "unfit to plead" with all the implications of such a determination.

Shooting org demands answers from Met Police over gun owner blab

Commswonk
Unhappy

Furthermore...

I have just had a quick look at the National Rifle Association * website** and while their "news" summary box does not include anything about this data escape there is an item about a "Met Police Firearms Licencing Survey" with a link*** to a survey company's "questionnaire". Although clearly badged for the Met it is not clear to whom any completed survey form will be sent. To be fair there is no requirement to provide any personal information but there is space for names, email addresses and telephone numbers to be "volunteered". OK; that is not as bad as revealing postal addresses, but it does suggest that the Met is not really thinking about "security" at all.

We may have a serial offender on the loose...

* The UK NRA, that is.

** http://www.nra.org.uk/

*** http://www.smartsurvey.co.uk/s/FETLONDON

PS: the survey is clearly in hot pursuit of an "inclusiveness" award.

Not the droids you're looking for – worst handsets to resell

Commswonk

Re: Leasing companies

@ Steve Davies 3: Why would anyone sign up for that sort of deal?

You and I as individuals probably wouldn't, but as a company you are in the happy position of knowing that it's your customers that will be paying it for you.

'We should have done better' – the feeble words of a CEO caught using real hospital IT in infosec product demos

Commswonk

Run that past me again...

"It is true that we fire people when they don't meet our ethical or performance standards...

Talk of ethical or performance standards doesn't fit well into a company that abuses live medical records. Perhaps he should fire himself.

Alternatively "Ah, this is obviously some strange use of the word ethical that I wasn't previously aware of." (With slight apologies for misquoting Douglas Adams.)

30,000 London gun owners hit by Met Police 'data breach'

Commswonk

What about the numbers? Why are the 25,000 shotguns in London? How many have shortened barrels and live in the back of Ford Transits?

Although I suspect that you are just being mischievous you might care to note that shortening the barrel of a shotgun is a specific offence; it can be done by a (registered) gunsmith in carrying out a repair but otherwise its a complete no - no. You might also care to note that getting an SGC or FAC is incredibly difficult if you have any hint of criminality in your record.

As to What about the numbers the most significant one would be the incidence of theft of legally held firearms, which I believe is incredibly low. I'm not saying it doesn't happen but AFAIK it is not a significant problem in the grand scheme of things.

Commswonk
Unhappy

Re: Its all in the interpretation

"in pursuance of maintaining public safety or the peace" is so vague, that this and almost anything else can be justified by it.

Try as I might I cannot see how public safety is in any way "maintained" by handing out bulk details of perfectly legal firearms owners to people who have no business having it. It has increased the risk to public safety because the opportunities for theft have now been increased.

As a "justification" for the action it seems incredibly flimsy.

Commswonk
FAIL

The Firearms Team will say they only gave it to another division of the Met for an approved purpose and didn't know it was going to be sent to a third party for the mail-outs.

They very well might say that, but it prompts the question "approved by whom". I wouldn't mind betting that the approval process didn't involve a Data Controller; if it did then there ought to be a vacancy for such a post before long.

While referring FAC (or SGC) applications to the applicant's GP is perhaps understandable (to find out if there are any "health" reasons why a certificate should not be granted) there remains a concern in the shooting fraternity that a marker on medical records at a GP's surgery is itself a security risk, given that all and sundry within the practice have access to the records and there is no means of knowing if any of them might be tempted to pass the information to others who might make malicious use of it. Needless to say these concerns have been ignored.

By any standards this looks like an epic blunder on the part of the MET, but I'd be astonished (and pleased!) if any meaningful disciplinary action resulted. In one sense it doesn't really matter; the damage has been done and cannot now be undone.

Back to the future: Honda's new electric car can go an incredible 80 miles!

Commswonk

Re: 80mile range?

kmac999: 80 mile range is the school run or commute to the train station, neither of which requires a 'luxurious' vehicle.

Entirely true, but to expand on a point in my previous post (apologies for the adjacent posts!) I'm far from certain that such use would be particularly wise in the winter. Quite apart from the vehicle occupants being cold (somewhat undesirable in itself) how is a purely electric car with limited range going to provide a draught of warm air to keep the windscreen clear of frosting (inside and out) and have enough power available to operate a rear window heater?

To make matters worse normal respiration generates a lot of moist air which will freeze on the inside of the windscreen very easily, particularly overnight. I know that having a window slightly open can help but who is going to do that in the middle of winter in an unheated vehicle?

Can any all - electric car owner enlighten me (us!) on this point? I genuinely don't know how this problem is managed.

Commswonk

Re: 80mile range?

Anonymous Coward:

Oh, and your range is dependent upon the outside temperature. In winter it drops considerably. They don't tell you that.

And I daresay the inside temperature drops as well. I suspect they don't tell you that either.

I also wonder if the "80 mile range" is continuous running; what is the range is under stop - start driving conditions? After all, acceleration requires more power than running at a steady speed and regenerative braking won't recover all of that additional demand.

Half-baked security: Hackers can hijack your smart Aga oven 'with a text message'

Commswonk

Re: AGA do

@ PNGuinn:

AGA Can't.

Well, somebody had to.

I was going to until I saw that you had beaten me to it.

But I was going to say "AGA Khan't".

Law Commission pulls back on official secrets laws plans after Reg exposes flawed report

Commswonk

Re: When are Prime Ministers democratically elected?

Doctor Syntax: The various treaty changes should have required approval by referenda requiring substantive majorities of the sort which wasn't required by our recent advisory referendum.

Two points: Ireland rejected a treaty change and were told to go away and repeat the exercise because the EU didn't like the result. IIRC a similar rerun had to be held somewhere else in the EU for similar reasons, possibly on a different occasion. Very democratic.

On the topic of "substantive majorities" (which I take to mean "super majorities") I am deeply uneasy; using the recent UK referendum as a model, let us say that "leaving" had required not less than 55:45 as a majority, but had actually achieved 54:46; "motion not carried". So the UK would have remained within the EU despite an actual majority wishing to leave; to me that seems a recipe for widespread unhappiness or worse. The bigger the specified super majority the greater the "unhappiness" is likely to be; an excellent way of pissing off the wider electorate. I am of the view that specifying a super majority is little short of gerrymandering; why run with an outcome that clearly does not have the support of the majority of the voters?

nijam: Not that I'm disagreeing with your general point, but in any other context, that would have been phrased as "... driven by big-business and self-serving pressure groups...".

Sadly that seems to be a problem irrespective of where the government actually resides and the process by which it got there; another excellent way of pissing off the wider electorate.

Commswonk

Re: When are Prime Ministers democratically elected?

What is your own experience with the EC, Commswonk? (Point of order; it isn't an "EC" any more; it has morphed into the EU.)

Living in it. I find your enthusiasm for the EU model of governance deeply disturbing; on balance I do not think that model has served the UK all that well, although the "recipient countries" probably benefit quite handsomely. While I would never claim that the UK model is perfect, it has imperfections that I can live with more comfortably than those the EU embodies.

The point that I was making was that it is intellectually dishonest to complain about any perceived lack of democratic credentials on TM's part without applying the same critical comments to the EU, and I stand by that point.

Commswonk

Re: When are Prime Ministers democratically elected?

Various contributors:

Democracy? When was Theresa May democratically elected as Prime Minister?

Whilst not directly elected, a general election is a pretty good proxy for it. And to be fair, she was elected the head of the tories, something like 30 people got to vote, wasn't it?

The parliamentary conservative party voted: just over 300 MPs, who are themselves elected by the voting public.

TM's democratic credentials as PM may not be perfect, but they are a lot better than, say, Jean Claude Junker's. Given that any anti - EU / pro - Brexit comments tend to attract a lot of downvotes I cannot avoid concluding that a large number of people don't mind being more or less governed by the EU Commission of which he is President, allegedly "elected" (IIRC) by the EU heads of Government, totalling (at the time) 28 in number. I find that a trifle odd given that he is completely beyond the reach of any national electorate.

That should ensure a crop of downvotes...

Radio hackers set off Dallas emergency sirens at midnight as a prank

Commswonk

Don't tell me you weren't warned...

"This is yet another serious example of the need for us to upgrade and better safeguard our city's technology infrastructure. It's a costly proposition, which is why every dollar of taxpayer money must be spent with critical needs such as this in mind."

It also illustrates why we need more dollars from taxpayers

T-Mobile US CEO offers kid a year's supply of chicken nuggets for switching from AT&T

Commswonk

On a positive note...

At least it wasn't Turkey Twizzlers TM

Aviation regulator flies in face of UK.gov ban, says electronics should be stowed in cabin. Duh

Commswonk

Re: That was not unexpected...

But only one of those problems is real.

Are we to conclude from your statement that you believe that a Threat Assessment is only valid after the perceived threat has actually happened?

Oh dear... you might wish to consider the adage that "the price of freedom is eternal vigilance".

Commswonk

Re: That was not unexpected...

For obvious reasons, just because government says it shall be so does not mean the aviation regulators agree.

Trouble is that the 2 "authorities" are addressing different problems; the government came out with its edict on the basis of a perceived terrorist threat whilst the regulator came out with its decision based on the fire risk posed by Lithium - ion batteries.

I am willing to accept that both instructions are correct in terms of the problem each is seeking to address; it's just that the two "solutions" are (obviously) mutually exclusive.

Might be worth stocking up on popcorn while the two sort it out between them. If they can...

Outsourcers blamed for cocking up programmes at one in three big firms

Commswonk

Re: It's the contract.....

4. You never get the best quality from the lowest bid. (And the others..!)

Now, old woman Otto is a bear -- you are accused of heresy on three counts -- heresy by thought, heresy by word, heresy by deed, and heresy by action -- *four* counts. Do you confess?

I once heard tell of a well - known broadcaster (NNNPD) that outsourced the maintenance of the broadcast equipment at one of its locations. Not long after, just as the local news was starting, something in the programme chain failed and the studio 'phoned the maintenance men who had, of course, been TUPEd. "We''ll deal with it first thing in the morning". "But you used to provide support within minutes" "Yes but the contract states that we now have a 12 hour response time". (Or something similar)

Put down your coffee and admire the sheer amount of data Windows 10 Creators Update will slurp from your PC

Commswonk

Re: Slowly, but surely...

I now have an inexplicable urge to go and put my WotW CD on...

Strange that.

(Cries of Ooo - Laaa in the background)

OK... Red wire or black... *Clickety* You've emailed the schematic? Yes, got it! It's opening. And... WHAT? NO!

Commswonk

Re: Wi-Fi

A range of 20 m, becomes a range of very little at all if you have an old house that actually has some thick internal walls instead of a modern build house with more plasterboard than wall.

I'll second that. While I have no real need for a wifi connection Mrs Commswonk does* and we have found that it will work well in the next room (one single brick wall), adequately in the room across the hallway (two single brick walls) but not at all in the kitchen or anywhere beyond (three single brick walls). I am opposed to PLT because of the HF radio noise that it generates so I have avoiding going down that route. I even splashed out on a BT wifi extender but have been unable to find anywhere to plug it in part way along any of the possible "routes" between router and target areas, so that scheme was a waste of money - albeit not that much.

And that house isn't "old"; it was built in the mid to late 1960s.

* If buggering about with an iPad counts as "necessary".

Uber wasn't to blame for robo-ride crash – or was it? Witness said car tried to 'beat the lights'

Commswonk

Re: Missing an item

@ Jeffrey Nonken:

Wow, a downvote for the guy who tried to bring facts into the discussion.

If it wasn't for the fact that you are a badge holder I'd be tempted to say "you're new here, aren't you?"

IT contractors behind IR35 calculator to leave HMRC... because of IR35

Commswonk

Re: changing opinion

Is this a problem I should openly admit to? or am I normal within the group of El Reg readers.

This is obviously some strange usage of the word "normal" that I hadn't previously been aware of.

(With apologies to the late Douglas Adams.)

One in five mobile phones shipped abroad are phoney – report

Commswonk

Re: risk of lethal electrocution

risk of lethal electrocution

Um... <pedant> that is tautological. Electrocution is by definition lethal; "lethal electric shock" would be permissible, but "lethal electrocution", no.</pedant>

Time to apply the electrodes to the original author...

People may have been wrongly sent back to prison over faulty tags

Commswonk

Knee - jerk reaction...

Liberal Democrat Leader Tim Farron described the revelation as "a colossal blunder". He said: "People may have been wrongly sent back to prison because of this government's sheer ineptitude. A review is urgently needed to ensure this doesn't happen again.

While the government might rightly be castigated for outsourcing anything to G4S / Capita / Serco I cannot for the moment see how faulty tags can be laid at the government's door.

Another review might be urgently needed to ensure that Tim Farron doesn't happen again either.

I may have to find my tin hat as a matter of urgency...

Ex-military and security firms oppose Home Sec in WhatsApp crypto row

Commswonk

@ Ivan 4:

Is there some law that requires all those aspiring to be politicians to not have any idea about technical things of any sort?

FTFY

Edit: The answer is no because there doesn't need to be. When they all turn up having no worthwhile knowledge of how the world really works anyway why would you need a law to enforce the requirement?

After London attack, UK gov lays into Facebook, Google for not killing extremist terror pages

Commswonk

Re: "more chance of winning the lottery than being murdered by one of these scumbags. "

@ John Smith 19:

And BTW IIRC in London police routinely carry tasers, pepper spray and telescopic batons. Yet this officer is killed by a man with a man stabbing him with, what a 6 inch blade before man is shot by armed officer who happens to be close by.

Partially true.The not true bit is the fact that the Officers on duty at Westminster "guarding" the Houses of Parliament are not thus equipped. As I understand it the way they are kitted out is - in part at any rate - determined by MPs and Parliamentary Security Staff, not by the hierarchy of the MPS; it is arguable that their presence is more ceremonial than anything else.

In any case the speed at which this attack took place may have made the effective use of any of the listed weaponry somewhat uncertain.