* Posts by Curtis

194 publicly visible posts • joined 30 Aug 2007

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Palin email hacker gets 366 days in custody

Curtis

typical liberals

I see the typical "Liberal" response - "If the victim hadn't been Sarah Palin he wouldn't have been charged". This crime was a little more than what El Reg has reported, and had some rather far-reaching consequences.

1), Ms Palin, as a Vice-Presidential Candidate, was the recipient of Secret Service protection at the time of the incident.

2) The crime was admitted by the defendant to be politically motivated. His father is a State Representative of the opposite party (hence why he was not put in jail for the 20 years the crime he was convicted of merited).

3) The defendant knowingly destroyed evidence after he shared what he learned with the ever loving script kiddies of 4chan.

Had someone not as politically connected as this kid done the exact same thing, he would have had the book thrown at him. And, if such a thing were done aimed in the other direction, there is a good chance that he never would have made it to trial (as he would have assumed ambient room temperature)

BOFH: You just can't go around killing people

Curtis
Coffee/keyboard

Title? What Title!

Simon, you owe me a keyboard. Another excellent story.

Credit card 'flash attack' steals up to $500,000 a month

Curtis

mag strips vs chip and pin

you mock the US's use of mag stripes. in the US, when your card has fraudulent activity, the card issuer is required to prove the authorized user initiated the transaction by either signature or an ATM photo. from what I understand, under "chip and pin", merely the use of the pen proves that the transaction was authorized and the user must find a way to prove that it was not.

note that this attack takes place at the payment processor level, not the bank. i would not be surprised in the least to find out that these payment processors are holding the withdrawals at the regional level to save money by processing in a batch file. especially as i have seen it with my own account (make a withdrawal/purchase at 10 am on the weekend and it not go through until monday, even as an authorization).

Intel chief: Obama (still) driving US off cliff

Curtis
Big Brother

liberal foaming at the mouth

"Innovation and wealth generally come from the bottom. Startups in garages will always be the inventors of the next big thing."

Thanks to the current tax structure in the US, as of 2011 the typical "small business" will now be taxed at a far higher percentage of their income than even a mid-sized corporation. Due to the way they are structured "sole proprietor" and similar methods of starting a small company while limiting liability to the founder's personal assets, these businesses will be taxed at the personal income rate. So, a small business that makes more the $200K per year will be taxed nearly 33% as income tax. On top of that, you have health insurance costs that have been driven up 25% in less than a year, unemployment insurance costs that went up, in some states, 400% in the last 2 years, and local municipalities adding their fees and taxes on top of that.

Mr Obama is a theorist. He has wonderful "theories" that are based on academic assumptions and stances. He forgets that yes, small companies create jobs. Small companies have 2 sets of customers - the average end consumer, most of whom work for larger corporations (startups and small companies cannot afford to offer competitive wages due to the difference in volume of sales) and the corporations themselves. If the consumer cannot afford to buy your product, and the corporations cannot afford or do not want to buy your product, you are out of business.

Keep in mind that the mass exodus of jobs started when the government started forcing corporations to have higher and higher overhead for their local employees and the current crop of liberally educated business majors started cooking the books.

Too many people think of "Big Companies" as the enemy, instead of thinking of "Big Government" as the thing to watch out for. After all, Intel, Dell, AIG et al will not tax away a part of your income to curb behavior that they don't like-and since they don't like it it must be bad for you.

The US Government is the only entity that can take a million dollar company with 0 overhead and run it into the ground within 12 months due to over regulation and trying to squeeze every nickle and dime out of the public.

Not that this political diatribe will see the light of day.

PA school district avoids charges over webcam spy scandal

Curtis

a mistake and a thought

First off, the teachers did not take the pics, the system admins did. Just a note there, the sysadmins were probably BOFHs and care more about their hardware than anything else.

Also, with 58,000 pics taken, that's... well... ALOT of pictures. I wonder is they had an automatic program taking the snaps every so often on ALL the computers and only pulled them up when something came up. Like a student whose parents did not buy the insurance on the system that was part of the T&Cs to take the system off campus. The admins note the system is off campus, check the snaps, and notice that the kid is popping what look like white pills (a candy called "Good 'n Plenty" here in the states) resulting in their sticking their noses in and causing this mess.

However, none of this excuses that the system would have had images on it that qualify as "child pr0n" in this country. This is one of the few crimes in the US that does not have to have an "intent" side, as simply possessing the images is the crime. Just ask the hated teacher that got fired because his students sent him dirty pics and called the cops.

How an ancient printer can spill your most intimate secrets

Curtis
FAIL

no history

Government Agencies, Doctors, Automotive Repair, Police Departments, ad infinitum are still using Dot Matrix printers. These printers are preferred due to low maintenance, low user intervention, and ability to print NCR forms. Sure, you can have your laser/inkjet print multiple copies, but there still runs the risk of it printing one form differently than the others (think contract law and legal proceedings).

As for a stoplight that can detect Horse & Buggy, such a sensor would be useful for motorcycles, cars made with non-ferrous materials, and even the, you know, Horse and Carts that are still seen in some parts of the country.

Microsoft wins big in Chinese piracy lawsuit

Curtis

Title

What I think many people are missing is that China is notorious about not respecting anyone else's copyrights, patents, or anything else. They take what they want when they want. The landmark here is that MS won the case. The big thing, in my opinion, is the attitude of the respondent, "they (MS) think they can charge whatever they want". Obviously, someone needs an introduction to the free market economy. Yes, MS can charge what they want. Don't like it? Go Unix, Linux, BSD, or a host of other solutions. As the user, you do not get to tell the developer what they can charge, only what you will pay. If they say "no deal", when you pay their price or do without. They chose to pirate the Software, they got caught, they refuse to negotiate with MS for licenses, and now they got slapped by a judge. These guys are not the "victim" here, they're little better than MS is their attitude and behavior. They just got slapped because they couldn't out-bribe MS.

School secretly snapped 1000s of students at home

Curtis

sooo....

We now have it going from "only used when the laptop is reported stolen" to "he never paid the insurance, so that gave us the right to turn it on". IHMO (IANAL)- This is nothing less than state supported voyerism, thought policing, and most likely child pornography (although I will bet there are no safeguards in place to make sure that there was a record of imaged "deleted" by people viewing them and, statistically speaking, there will be one of those pictures somewhere). If I were this kid's attorney, I'd be all over the "Safeguards" in place for the data.

The Borings get another whack at Street View

Curtis

Not exactly

"Trespassing" is also when someone enters posted property without permission. In most cases, all you have to do is post a sign at the beginning of the driveway that says "posted: no trespassing" or "private drive". For all that i think they're money grubbing d-bags, they have a point. If Google can come onto their property and photograph their home, then so can anyone else. While this may not seem like a big thing, it could be extremely important to their insurance company. Important enough to cause them to lose a high value rider if they didn't fight it in court.

2016 bug hits Windows phones

Curtis
WTF?

Mogul (HTC Titan)

Yup... The phone says 2010, the SMSes say 2016. Since my phone has been flashed to a 3rd party carrier (MetroPCS), and I have a different SMS/MMS client installed, I don't think it's WinMO. I wonder if it's a time hack from the wireless network.

Dell tech flashes woman with (her own) jubblies

Curtis

don't laugh

Regarding your last 3 sentences. I worked at telephone outsourcer in the States where we did Dell Desktop and Laptop support. One of my co-workers was actually named Elvis. It's a more common name than you think.

Conficker smites Oxford Brookes network

Curtis
Alien

re: amanfromMars

unfortunately, some of you show how new you are around here. AMFM is a icon on el Reg, to the point the Alien Icon was named after him orignally. While you may think it's random words strung together, there is a meaning there... and if you start to find yourself understanding what he's saying, it's time to go find a new hobby.

As for the story? Institutions of Higher Edumacation are notorious for being hard to secure. From Ivory Tower types who don't understand that they may be in danger, to radicals trying to be a danger, to the occasional package from Ted Kaczynski that blow up when you try to open them. The fact is that Uni's are targets for miscreants and will always be so.

aside from dumbnuts that don't care about the system because it's not their responsability, and people looking for a career that ends in being Bubba's "wife" that infect all of every day life.

Your phone is winding me up

Curtis

@TeeCee

while it may be hard for you to imagine, TeeCee, I've lived it. I live in Florida. Several years ago, we suffered 3 hurricanes within weeks of each other. Our local utility company had become lax about keeping trees trimmed away from overhead lines, with the predictable results. I was without power for over a week, but because the local towers were tied into the grid closer to substations using underground lines, cell phone reception was perfect.

so, yes. i cna see how this could be a usefull emergency phone.

DHS to field Star Trek 'Tricorder' medscanner

Curtis
Thumb Up

@Simon Neill

You owe me a keyboard, sir!

Melting flash-mem giant Spansion files for Chapter 11

Curtis

WARN in the US

one major exception to the WARN protocols is that if the company itself did not know 60 days ahead of the layoffs that they were coming, or reasonably expected, then they do not have to provide 60 days pay and assistance finding new work.

not that it really applies here. as for the great statement by r.a.l. above, this is what happens when you don't have a contract. the majority of way upper management usually have an ironclad, airtight, and bulletproof contact including severance packages.

there's really not a lot the average worker can do, other than maybe try to get a position that's either under contract, or hope and pray. at least these guys weren't in a Right-to-Work state where they would have just been kicked out the door for no reason, then the company announces chap 11, then offers to rehire all the old employees at half their wages.

BOFH: Aspie no questions

Curtis
Coat

umm... straightjacket for 1 please

amanfromMars is making sense... and has been for a few weeks now... i need a rubber room

Exploding mobile phone kills Chinese man

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Thumb Up

@ AC Wednesday 4th February 2009 09:10 GMT

Sir/Madam - you owe my office a new keyboard, monitor, phone (it was a pretty big mouthfull of coffee) as well as my medical bills from biting my hand to try to keep from laughing so my boss doesn't realize I'm reading El Reg from work.

Windows 7 beta washes up on Pirate Bay

Curtis

@ Richard Porter RE:Windows 7

windows NT 3.1

windows NT 4

Windows 2000 (NT5)

windows XP (NT6)

the 9X systems don't figure into the current MS naming pattern because that kernal is no longer used.

Jaw droppers of 2008 - what they'd rather you forgot

Curtis
Alien

I've finally figured out AMFM

If you read The Roger McBride Allen books "The Ring of Charon" and "The Shattered Sphere", there is group of social protesters called the "Naked Purple Group" who delight in double talk and intentionally making things as confusing as possible....

Boffins keep transplant lungs alive in glass dome

Curtis
Black Helicopters

Paging Larry Niven...

one step closer to organlegging and the ARM...

007 Warhead screenplay sold for £46K

Curtis

speaking of remakes....

the comments section is starting to look like constant remakes of a single horrible idea... about like Timothy Dalton as Bond

What's this about Cuba Gooding Jr as the "new" Bond?

Lori Drew guilty in MySpace bully trial

Curtis

huh....

keep in mind that if this case had been a little different (preying on the minor and exploiting them got get the minor to meet for "and adult encounter", well, that's on the books as a crime. this case is just a demonstration of how things slip through the cracks. Lori created a Myspace page with the intent of spying on... an underage girl (to see if she was spreading rumors about her own brat). Then specifically told her assistant to "get mean" right before the final message. Lori's not alone in culpability in this, but she started the snowball rolling. Her personal knowledge of the victim, including the victim's depression, allowed her to manipulate a depressed and lonely child, to the point that the child offed herself.

as for the defense "Noone reads the fine print, so you can't hold her responsible for it" screams guilt. "ignorance of the law is not a defense".

Social workers sacked over Gary Glitter email

Curtis

Umm, overreact much guys?

After seeign tha timage, i remembered it from somewhere (failblog or something) so i did a search, there's one link here (http://www.errorforum.com/fun-n-light-error/15896-chinese-take-away.html) that's from 2007. Granted, 'shopping some child molester in the pic maybe seen as a little outrageous... maybe. Then again, maybe some manager just had no sense of humor or was still butt-sore from her uncle givingher an enema when she was 12...

iPhone passcode blocks everything - except phone calls

Curtis
Thumb Up

US too

Just tried it on a co-worker's phone. Had her lock it, then hit emergency call, and dialed my own cell phone...

On the other hand, she now knows that calling her favorite tech for home support wualifies as an emergency...

WoW accused of turning man's mind into 'living video game'

Curtis
Joke

re:Errr.. WoW's not real?

What do you mean I have an octopus on my face?

Oz man cracks one off while speeding in drug-packed car

Curtis
Boffin

Bullet Calibers

Technically, the 5.56 nato round is a .223 caliber. the difference is in the powder load and the actual size of the round, a .22 caliber round (assuming an lr or long rifle configuation) usually has around 140 to 195 joules of energy and is only good to about 150 metres. there are stories of "fluffy" men being shot with one and the round effectively bouncing off.

the 5.56 nato round on the other hand, usually packs around 1300 joules of energy. I can't testify to the effectiveness of the round on a kangaroo, but can attest to the fact that it works quite well on an alligator.

it's quite common is some parts of america to allow children as young at 12 to begin firing the .22lr cartridge under supervision. there's virtuall no kick to it. as for the 5.56 nato round, that's usually left untill 16 or so when the shooter has enough mass to absord the recoil without breaking an arm or shoulder...unless they don't lock the charging handle and get a cut under the eye when fired.

leave it to a dumb american to know gun rounds and it's effects on verminous wildlife.

Steve Fossett may be alive, investigator claims

Curtis
Alien

Publicity Stunt

I see in September, he turns back up having been resuced by "little gray aliens" ho give him the technology to make Virgin Galactic work...

ok, call me a cynic

Who will be the next Doctor?

Curtis

always remember

a paradox can be paradoctored

Indian gov: Let us into BlackBerry or we'll shut you down

Curtis

@amanfromMars

I need a pint, he's starting to make sense...

Lifelock's fraud-prevention service takes more legal flak

Curtis
Black Helicopters

I wonder

How many of these guys are getting paid by Experian to file these suits? Experian has already said that LifeLock is causing a major cost to them with the fraud alerts. All they do is place a fraud alert on your credit info, and then renew it every 90 days. If fraud occurs, it just goes to show that Experian is not follow US Federal law regarding fraud alerts. A fraud alert is supposed to prevent any new credit from being issued. It is supposed to automatically inform the victim that a credit inquiry has been initiated against his credit, and it is supposed to PREVENT creditors from getting the info that a reasonable company would require to issue new credit. If Experian is still releasing that info, or the issuing company if issuing credit with a fraud alert on the account without verifying the applicant, then LifeLock's not the one at fault (although Experian will tell you it is because of all the false alarms LifeLock is placing) As for a drivers license, in the US most states will check if you have a Social Security Number, and that it matches the name provided, but nothing beyond that. It's no surprise that someone got a fake ID issued using the guy's SS#.

Try reading LifeLock's website. They ADMIT that mst of their services you can do yourself for free. One of they things that your $10/month buys you is monitoring of known ID trader sites for your info. Plus, IF somehow something happens, they will spend up to one million dollars to fix it. The only complaint that these guys would really have would be IF something went wrong, and LifeLock didn't spend the dosh to fix it.

Personally, I bet these guys have some financial stake in Experian or another Credit reporting agency, and this is their way of trying to get the courts to bully a company.

Lesbians turn on lesbians in battle of Lesbos

Curtis
Coat

I can't blame them...

I wouldn't sleep with a guy either

IGMC

Governator outs Dubya's global-warming 'time bomb'

Curtis
Stop

@ Gareth Irwin

Hey, don't blame America because your country taxes it's fuel so high... out of 107.9p/litre, you knuckleheads pay 16.07p in VAT, the fuel itself costs 32.90p (source http://www.petrolprices.com/price-of-petrol.html). At 3.78 liters to the US gallon, you're then paying 407.8p/US gallon (again assuming 107.9p/litre) as of today, the English pound is worth $1.98...so you're paying 2.059/Gallon for fuel.

Arthur C. Clarke dead at 90

Curtis
Unhappy

Bereft

With Aurthur's passing, the Holy Trinity of Sci-Fi is no more. So long, good sir. My life, and many others, will be a little dimmer.

Mobe snap murderers face justice

Curtis

Death Penalty

One thing some people against the death penalty seem to ignore is that in the US, you must be convicted by a jury of you peers (taxpayers) beyond any reasonable doubt. If 12 of your fellow citizens feel that what you have done is so heinous that society is better off without you, then there's a real problem. In some states, the Jury must also vote on the sentence. So it's not just "Guilty" and the judge sentences the convict, 12 people must agree on the fact that what you have done deserves death.

During the Jury selection process, the Defense council can reject certain jurors if they seem to be too much of the "kill em all and let god sort them out" type, simply on a matter of prejudice

YouTube biker clocked at 189mph

Curtis
Paris Hilton

whels spinning....

the only way the wheel spinning would affect the speedo is if it's the front wheel. that's where the speedo gear is, not on the drive wheel. it's easy to fake a high speed on a video just by swapping the speedo gear for one meant for a bigger tire. as for his actual speed, why not count the time between unique checkpoints? that would give a far more accurate speed reading.

and was there a strumpet on the back of said crotch rocket? evey bike needs a seatcover.

Dell's laptop customisation options not very customisable

Curtis
Thumb Up

Re: how the...

actually, i want to thank the Mods for letting it thru.

as for Dell, one of my great sames is that i was a dell sales consultant for 6 months (after my tech job went to india). I routinely had to re-train the sales staff on my floor about what you could and could not do with systems (selling an AGP4x video card for an Ultra-lite laptop was my favorite.) the sales droids are taught to follow a computer program regarding the configuration of a system, and in most cases have never actually seen one, much less ripped the guts out.

IT managers caught in employees' illicit networks

Curtis

Both side of the argument..

As a Helldesk Bastard, I hated people installing crap on "their" machines, to the point that if someone cheesed me off about it being slow, I'd ask if their work materials were on the network drive and re-image the thing by remote when they went to lunch :)

Being relegated back to (L)User class, anything I want to use that's not work related, I bring in on a cd. My music is in OGG format with winamp running from the cd so I'm not installing anything to the system. I just wish that I could put Firefox on.

Chris Pine steps into Kirk's shoes

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Paris Hilton

@Anonymous Coward

Checkov was brought onto the show as a lead to try to cash in on the Beatles. They selected a person of a similar build and gave him the same hair. They wanted to change the accent, and the actor just happened to be able to do a cheezy Russian accent.

as for Karl Urban, maybe he stank in Doom ( a point I'll duel you in with keyboards at 2 paces!), But he was halfway decent in The Chronicles of Riddick.

Student suspended in gun rights email row

Curtis
Coat

I find it interesting..

that aside from the nuts that think that legal gun ownership causes crimes, noone has addressed a major point here. In many states, if you undergo "involuntary mental counseling" you are banned from getting a concealed carry permit for life. that means that this dean, who obviously hates guns, is trying to take away someone else's right to protect themselves by holding his education hostage. is there also a clause that says that his transcript will be withheld so he is unable to transfer to another school without this counseling?

@ Matt: FYI- its the Castle Doctrine that permits someone to defend themselves in their own home with lethal force froma deadly attack without attempting to retreat first.

some people,especially from countries where firearms are treated as a privilege not a right, don't understand the US' stance on them. The government cannot always be there to protect it's citizens. get used to it. as for carrying a firearm in a school, by federal law schools are "gun free zones"...why do you think that so many shootings happen there? the perps know that no "law abiding" citizens will be there to stop them. there are several stories of teachers and principals going out to their cars to retrieve the firearms that they are licensed to carry, to stop an incident. but those stories never make the news.

@ Sharon: if you're so against guns, why not wear a t-shirt that says "anti gun, and if i'm in trouble please don't use yours to save me". you don't seem to realize that the possibility of a victim carrying self protection is, in and of itself, a deterrent.

but what do i know, i'm just a "right wing gun nut" that thinks that firearms are one of the few things that keeps the US government from running roughshod over it's people.

oh and @E- sir, i find your comments to be totally uncalled for and out of place in this discussion. i thought there were editors checking these posts. Unless you happen to be a species other than human, it's a fair bet that your ancestors did not evolve in north america. as someone who is of many lineages and races, but typically identified as "Caucasian" by lazy police and bureaucrats, i find it humorous that you feel i should leave the country i was born in, and go somewhere that i can trace less than 50% of my heritage to.

DA suppressed Alabama Baptist pastor autopsy

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Coat

Ah Ha! A Clue, Watson!

In addition to the wrong age in the report, this appears to be a "cut and paste" job. The section under "evidence of injury" details some specific things,including the bound hands and feet. (page 2). Under the section "external examination", the statement that the body is consistent with that of a "41" year od (did he drop a decade somewhere?). there is also reference to the anus being "unremarkable" (kind of odd seeing how he allegedly died), and most telling, the upper and lower extremities are unremarkable. since the evidence of injury seems to indicate some injuries there, i am left with the thought that this was a simple cut and paste job to smear a pastor..not too uncommon here in the states

Terror police lock down Soho to smoke out 9lbs of chillis

Curtis

this s ondon we're talking about...

just how hot could the food be? i mean, it's not like texas where the chili (a soup like meal with meat and peppers) gets so hot that it eats thru the lining in pans...

or is that why it was treated as toxic?

i'll get me coat....

Mystery radio bursts from the depths of the universe

Curtis

I'm so sorry...but someone had to say it

The truth is that it's an interstellar viral vid....the BEM's are sending "All you base are belong to us"

I'm so gonna die for that one

Brazilian physicists boycott Dell

Curtis

Export Restrictions

As I understood it when working for a Dell outsourcer in 2001/2002, these restrictions were following a UN resolution about certain tech being allowed in hostile, belligerent countries. Before the stink, Sony shipped some 4000 PS2s to Iraq, in violation of the US's side of the enforcement. You may remember this stink, Sony got slapped with a monster fine. Everyone was decrying this law then and misunderstanding the reason. Then, after Iraq "fell", it was discovered that the system's video cards were being back-engineered to provide terrain following guidance for "medium range" missles.

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4155/is_20001227/ai_n13881793

" WASHINGTON Saddam Hussein, the president of Iraq, has bought as many as 4,000 of Sony's PlayStation and new high-tech PlayStation 2 game consoles, and may be using them to construct a sophisticated missile-guidance system, according to U.S. intelligence and customs officials.

United Nations sanctions imposed after the 1991 Gulf War prohibit shipments of computer hardware and technology to Iraq. Video-game consoles are allowed.

...

After PlayStation 2's Japanese debut in March, the Japanese trade ministry feared the console's ability to quickly render high-quality images could be adapted for military use. As a result, it banned exports to such rogue states as Iran, Iraq, Libya and North Korea.

..."

Some people will see this as "american bullying", but since these companies are domiciled in the US, they have to follow US export guidelines. And since the US is merely upholding the UN sanctions, well, that gets swept under the rug.

Google, Yahoo! and Amazon sued over email patent

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Why I want to Be a Patent Lawyer When I Grow Up

In the United States, the initial application for a patent is intentionally left as vague as possible in order to allow for latitude when enforcing it. The problem is that the Patent Office is staffed by government workers, people for whom technology is still a black box. So when these ridicoulously broad patents are applied for, the person reviewing it has no clue what's really being said/done. Then, there's such a huge number of patents that they've pretty much given up really searching for prior art the way they're supposed to.

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