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* Posts by MeggsChasm

9 publicly visible posts • joined 31 Jul 2018

It may date back to 1994 but there's no end in sight for the UK's Chief customs system as Brexit rules beckon

MeggsChasm

Two things, or maybe three.

1. IBM’s Semaphore system was all border forces ever wanted. Th rest was a catalogue of pliable requirements, largely misunderstood and certainly not verified by the customer.

2. In North America, freight trains cross the 49th parallel border many times during thei progress across the continent. Each freight car has its contents and their customs properties logged against a transponder identifying the car. Just before the train crosses the border, the transponder is read and a bill of lading produced for the receiving bond master so he can quickly work out his bill of work. I cannot for the life of me understand why we should have difficulty in designing, developing and implementing such a system between us and our erstwhile friends on the continent. Please help me out.

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Smile? Not bloody likely: Day 6 of wobbly services and still no hint to UK online bank's customers about what's actually wrong

MeggsChasm
IT Angle

Conflation

Oh dear! As could be expected, such a verbose chain of comments is bound to be liable to a few inconsistencies.

Here, we seem to have conflated personal ID with computer service robustness. Having more than one account, or card access to one or more accounts is as strong as any 2F authentication can be. Presentation of “something you have” Is only of any use when the link between the object and the person is tested at transaction time. QoS in banking systems would be difficult enough if there were to be only one set of rails; the passage of information between account holder and end user is, unfortunately, a series of chain links that have little or no responsibility for chain end to end reconciliation. Maybe the provision of such reliability would be expensive; in which case authentic supply and demand would indicate that some people would be prepared to pay a surcharge for the provision of such an assurance. That this extra cost should be the ethical responsibility of the financial institution may be a question for FCA.

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Outsourcing giant Capita handed £145m for UK.gov's Personal Independence Payment extension

MeggsChasm

Deja deja

This, of course, beggars belief.

The Python-esq aspect is Crapita darlng to cite a long relationship with the government when that relationship is as corrupt as it is. Of course, it would take a brave and cynical person to suggest that this is corruption of the brown envelope variety. I am not brave. But corruption in the form of misunderstood and missed business requirements, lack of stage payments, late fees actually taken off next stage payment, toothless procurement vigilance. Oh, I could go on. But here’s the rub: you know this already. They know this already. I give in.

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Exodus: Tech top brass bail on £1bn UK courts reform amid concerns project is floundering

MeggsChasm

Wood. Trees.

Well, perhaps it's only in my world that technology begets requirements. Especially when dealing with large government projects, the key is to establish firm requirements, to test their user value and to institute passionate scope creep avoidance.

As an aside, I have rarely seen the introduction of a case management system actually benefit its case management "victims" in any reasonably defined way.

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First it was hashtags – now Amber Rudd gives us Brits knowledge on national ID cards

MeggsChasm
Reply Icon

Skimming

Yes, they did. BUT, making this newly acquired data useful, it would have to be the same as the entrance criteria for another application/system. Also, it would need that the"thing I have" (the card) was allowed to be different from the "who I am"; that is that the connection is not tested at time of authentication. Better ways are biometrics (heartbeat,retina,fingerprint) that can be tested at the point of entry. Incidentally, the use of biometrics actually readers the carrying of cards unnessary.

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Gartner to wearables biz: Through failure comes success!

MeggsChasm

Not the point

Not interested in the Gartner debate. Unfortunately, the wearables area is still in its infancy which means that the real market boundaries are not well defined (is it an item of jewllery/fashion or is it a business enabler? And of course, with major players unrecognized, no standards exist for the organisation, storage or transmission.

That is all very well, but please don't ignore the bio wristband from Canadian outfit Nymi. As well as access control, they are majoring in persistent authentication, ideal for mature IoT applications (no conflict of interest/association).

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Think tank calls for post-Brexit national ID cards: The kids have phones so what's the difference?

MeggsChasm

Excellent plan!

My ID is mine, I need it and keep it separate from my financial ID as far as I possibly can. So when I purchase something, I use my name ID. I DO NOT IDENTIFY MYSELF AS A BANK SORT CODE AND ACCOUNT NUMBER.

Similarly my travel ID, or as some call it, my passport. Border Force do not recognise me by my Barclays ID. In fact, my travel ID is superfluous.

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MeggsChasm

Tsunami of comments

Most of them uniformed and/or patently knee jerk reactions.

Identity will be the new credit in years to come. Of course citizens want to hide their financial Stuart, that's why they carry little cards around with their bank account numbers on them and use them as their primary method of interfacing with largely in trusted partners.

Identity is something of which one should be proud and careful. It should be biometric and intrinsic, that is to say not easily obtainable by a third party (vs facial ID, iris recognition or, worst of all fingerprint). Also excellent for payment systems, as we at Chasm have previously shown.

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Facebook insists it has 'no plans' to exploit your personal banking info for ads – just as we have 'no plans' to trust it

MeggsChasm

Who are you and you and you....?

When people ask my name, I don't give them my bank sort code and account. Two separate identities that I need, respect and honour.

And keep separate.

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