Posts by Catkin

Amsterdam activists throw acid at Microsoft datacenter project

My apologies too, either I'm missing a heck of a lot of jokes or there are people who genuinely believe that and I fell victim to Poe effect.

Can you please elaborate on where you believe laws/obligations/rights apply unevenly to people of differing intelligence? Your comment was rather lacking in detail.

The same laws and obligations apply to the idiot and the genius, therefore they are afforded the same rights. Intelligence tests for voting have been tried, their history is rather unpleasant.

Re: Chips

No vinegar was listed because the only way you can sell acetic acid as vinegar is if it was produced through fermentation. The stuff in the chip shops (and, likely, in your crisps) is 'non brewed condiment'.

Linus Torvalds tells AI haters to fork off

Do we need to "KEEP IT GOING" or do "WE NEED A REVOLUTION"? The latter implies the former isn't working.

Europe's new import rules are coming for your bargains

Re: Now then...

I recommend reading about the origin of those rules and why they're difficult to change, it's all rather ironic.

Re: Seems like nothing more than a money grab

I don't believe this new charge does anything to significantly help those workers. The collected charges don't go to them and it simply gives a market leg up to middlemen who add no inherent value.

EU appears to find datacenter emissions easier to offset than lobbyists

Re: Lobbyists

How does one write a law that eliminates commercial lobbying while still maintaining the ability of voters to engage in exerting pressure upon their leaders? I don't say this as a defence of the practice overall but to point out that it's not entirely corporations buying politicians.

Lobbying is quite distinct from bribery, though the former can cross the line and become the latter.

Ukraine puts its Russian war trophies online for allies to pick apart

A double loss

There are still countries who regrettably prop Russia up by buying arms from them. Hopefully this also helps damage their bottom line by revealing what they can expect for their money.

edit: just noticed the access criteria. Perhaps not directly but one can hope indirect reporting gets through to financial fence sitters.

How dare you stop data loss – that's not your job!

Re: Clocking In and Out

On the topic of the joys of time zones, I was required to do some work in [vastly different time zone from the UK] and really should have noticed that the job sheet specified the working hours in UTC. It was a painful month.

Chinese e-tailer claimed 14-inch box stretched the size of a 9-inch tablet

Back in the before times of 3D printing*, when original Ender 3s made sense**, I bought an oddball clone with a mixing head (2 filaments into 1 nozzle). Unfortunately, after over a month of getting new parts to fix the poor QC on the mechanical bits the main board fried at the first power on and I demanded a refund. They danced around the issue for a further 6 weeks before finally authorising return shipping to China (at my expense).

It turned out their next trick after messing around with replacement parts was to 'lose' the customs paperwork. Fortunately, by this stage, the payment processor were willing to process a refund and, 3 months later, the broken printer turned up on my doorstep. I suppose Chinese customs didn't know what else to do with it.

*by my standards, I realise some here might have been mucking around with Mendels

**I will still defend the Ender 3 as a cromulent printer for its time, it's just not a good first printer for those who are new to home manufacturing

Britain plots digital bedtime after kicking under-16s off social media

Re: Who and which?

Might I humbly suggest that anyone who believes they are able to make that distinction on behalf of everyone else is automatically ineligible on the basis that they are demonstrating psychopath levels of hubris?

Scientists pour cold water on claims phones are rewiring kids' brains

Re: Moral panic

Excellent point and it's worth noting that even that was controversial because some were more comfortable with only the clergy having access to a Latin Bible. The fear was that the average person, able to read the Bible in their native tongue, might reach unacceptable conclusions without a clergyman to give additional information.

If there is insufficient evidence to draw a reliable scientific conclusion then I would hope that has a cooling effect on the rhetoric from those claiming there's good reason to introduce legislation on the basis of harm prevention. That is to say nothing of how much of an insult to privacy said proposed legislation currently contains.

Re: Moral panic

The Gutenberg press was certainly controversial with the elites of the day. Allowing just anyone to spread their ideas with a much lower barrier to entry tends to upset those in charge.

Re: This study will disappear into forgotten.

Look at what happened to David Nutt

AI is code – and can't be prompted into being smarter

Sanitised Inputs

I expect it would be an adversarial arms race (i.e. coders using rewording) but it seems like a flag that highlights 'disregard previous instructions' in anything ingested by an LLM and requires operator (prompter) input to proceed would be more effective than stacking further prompts.

Signal says UK plan to scan devices for nude images 'endangers us all'

The comment you replied to wasn't intended to contrast one party against another, only to highlight that there is an incentive for this technology to be abused.

I'm sure the same technology wouldn't ever be misused to prevent the circulation of a photo of someone enjoying a few beers and a curry with others in a potential violation of lock down.

California passes bill declaring death-by-algorithm to 3D-printed ghost guns

Re: One good thing here

The more left aligned in the United States are, very broadly, generally in favour of more legal restrictions on firearms. Savage himself has spoken out in favour of stronger laws (though he hasn't advocated for a complete ban for the "law abiding).

In this case, given his engineering/tinkering background, it's likely he would speak out against this proposed law and being directly impacted might give him a reason to speak out more loudly. I cannot guarantee he would be against it but it does, in the context of discussion, seem like a reasonable assumption in the absence of a quote.

I can explain further if you're still unclear.

Re: One good thing here

I read it as 'people with a large number of followers and relevant experience in home manufacturing will increase the visibility of this poorly thought out law'.

FCC warns US broadcasters their licenses are a privilege, not a right

Re: Never thought I'd agree with Trump's administration

Don't forget operation Epic Furry. I was sorely disappointed that it didn't involve democracy by way of a convention.

Re: Never thought I'd agree with Trump's administration

I'm curious what portion of those disagreeing can't read past a headline and what portion prefer their pubic spectrum being freely used.

Never thought I'd agree with Trump's administration

I'm always distressed when broadcasters take undue liberties with my pubic spectrum.

Feds unwittingly leak pilots' pre-crash conversation

Re: to help the public understand the circumstances of an accident ???

I think it's easier to understand visually than a transcript with timestamps in terms of the durations between each comment and other audio event.

Prior to this potentially foreseeable event (I recall experimenting with FFTs as a way of encoding audio in an image over a decade ago, out of interest), it seems like a way to communicate the record in a tasteful fashion that is more objective than a lone transcript while avoiding the public having access to the audio itself. That is, assuming ignorance of the possibility of recovery.

UK puts £20.5M behind 'numberplate for the skies' to keep tabs on drones

Re: Obviously

It's double plus good when the legislation is written 'swiftly', in much the same way as a swiftly written essay is better than one written with care and consideration or a swiftly delivered brick is the best way to solve a toothache.

Not like ANPR

ANPR would be more akin to setting up base stations that record the Remote ID of passing drones. This proposal is like mandating an internet connected black box in every vehicle on the road, that tattles on you if you do anything Aunty decides she doesn't approve of.

Admittedly, this was mentioned in the article but I really don't think the two are comparable.

UK age-gating plans risk breaking the internet, privacy groups warn

Re: Age gating is a solved problem

App stores, as much as I prefer side loading, do exist. I believe an application to lock down a system presents a greater hurdle than relying upon site-side age gates. A VPN is easier to set up on an unsecured system than an OS level lock is to bypass; both are possible but, like the lock on the drinks cabinet, responsibility doesn't end when the lock is installed. If you can identify an area where blocking software presents less of a challenge, please do describe it.

For parents/guardians, it seems like telling them that the entire internet is now safe for any child not in possession of a fake ID is more risky than either a black/block list that can be updated in seconds (rather than relying on the actions of foreign site owners) or, for the very cautious a white/allow list.

Age gating is a solved problem

Client side filtering requires zero compliance from any given website operator and protects privacy. It can also be tuned by the user to filter as heavily or lightly as is desired.

If only there were some sort of identified individual or individuals who could take responsibility for the welfare of a given child. Such a hypothetical individual could install the filters and have administrative rights over the device providing internet access to the child and the adults wouldn't have to hand their IDs over to dodgy private businesses in order to look at adult things or have adult discussions.

Two men charged over series of arson attacks on 5G masts

Re: Insults to win them over? again?!

Some conspiracy theories are ahead of the curve but that doesn't make them automatically right any more than the involvement of a conspiracy in the theory automatically makes them wrong and, generally, they are wrong. For every PRISM and Watergate, there's conspiracy theories about every generation of mobile connectivity causing cancer, the Moon landings being faked and the idea that Bush did 9/11.

Agreed on the jeering. For example, for the Covid vaccine nonsense, when you dug down into it, the loudest conspiracy nuts weren't representative of the majority of the vaccine hesitant. Most were in disadvantaged groups who remember that, not too many generations ago, people in their groups were being used for actual, verified government medical experiments or having their demographic-specific complaints ignored. That doesn't mean they were right but it made it a heck of a lot harder to try to change their minds in a calm, rational discussion.

UK gov pays public £550 to discuss Digital ID – then bans journalists from the room

Take a look at the outcome of the public consultation on crossbow laws. Putting aside crossbow owners and sellers, over 80% of the non-crossbow owning public surveyed said they felt there was no need for any further legislation on sales or ownership. Despite this, the government is pressing ahead with restrictions more severe than those on shotguns (no further sale or manufacturing, requirement to gain certification for ownership).

Age checks could turn internet into an ID checkpoint, complains Proton CEO

Re: What if both/all sides are right?

If it's genuinely that hazardous then it seems like parents who damage their children through exposure should be treated in the same way as parents who let their children drink bleach. The question is, is it that hazardous?

Re: There needs to be balance

The entire Internet somehow managed to avoid becoming 4chan without verification. Privately run sites are still free to enforce moderation as they see fit and users can vote with their mice as to which they visit.

Iran has something America can only dream of: cheap broadband

Re: Consumer protection, lack thereof

"Iran simply subsidizes basic "needs", including broadband it seems, to keep people from protesting too much against economic failure and abject poverty."

There's also the aspect that giving it lets you take it away at a whim too. That's why Maduro took control of incoming food aid (skimming a healthy profit as a bonus); any areas that got uppity could be starved out and the threat of starvation could encourage neighbours to silence any dissent, before their food supply was interrupted.

California ghost-gun bill wants 3D printers to play cop, EFF says

For your examples, that's where the input code is tagged (HDCP, EURion). This is more like your TV interrogating what it's asked to display and deciding that what you're watching probably is verboten based on a secret set of fuzzy data points. Worse still, it opens up the possibility that a content owner might exploit the TV monitoring capability in conjunction with existing legislation to prevent you watching things you didn't pay a subscription for or your adult themed parody of (insert popular franchise here) offends them.

Re: Why not

Saltpeter can be made with urine. We need constant urethral monitoring (from multiple angles) to ensure only the proper authorities are taking the piss.

From the people who brought you 80% lowers

80% printers: a 3D printer with just a bootloader and instructions for California residents to please load the ridiculous rights destroying firmware and absolutely not the unrestricted open source firmware that lets you use your personal property as you see fit.

Hopefully this nonsense goes the way of the infamous Bambu 'security' update that froze out third party slicers until they caved and allowed people to unlock their machines.

UK wants to know if banning under-16s from social media does anything useful

Re: Banning stuff

Is the issue with those who have phones that they are forcing others to use them?

Re: Banning stuff

"I've yet to meet anyone make a credible argument it does more good than harm."

Should this be necessary to decide whether there's a ban? Personally, the sole reason I have a Facebook account is to talk to other home machining and additive manufacturing hobbyists. I'm not one of those people who makes politics their entire personality so the algorithm never shows me rage inducing political drivel, though it does show me the odd stupid 'uplifting' story (e.g. man heard meowing, you'll never guess what happens next).

Hand an appliance without a plug to the average person today and the majority will probably either sit by their dead appliance or harm themselves trying to wire it with the plug in the socket. That doesn't mean we should ban wire strippers, just stick a warning on them and point the buyer in the direction of a good book.

Edit: equally, the majority of television shows are rubbish but I don't think that justifies a ban or diminishes the importance of the better stuff.

Digital euro goes full sovereignty mode, US cloud giants not on guest list

Too much opportunity to monitor the population and, if use or time limited tokens are implemented, ensure they make the 'right' decisions. Chat Control is back on the agenda, this is the other half of the puzzle for enduring hegemony.

Google gives Android users a way to install unverified apps if they prove they really, really want to

What's old is new

I don't know how many Symbian users can still remember a similar situation where you had to acquire a device specific key of your own to install unsigned software but it was a vicious hassle. It might have been a contributing factor to why we don't use Symbian anymore.

Iranian news service claims drone strikes on AWS were deliberate, to probe for US datacenter dependencies

Re: They're finished

I mean in the sense that even Iran recognises it's wrong. At the same time, they only took a quick breather but it should give any apologists pause for thought.

Re: They're finished

The President of Iran apologised this morning for the attacks they conducted on other Gulf nations (sysadmins next?)

They're finished

It's one level of stupidity to drone strike random uninvolved countries, it's an order higher to make sysadmin grumpy over uptime.

You can power a G-Wiz EV with 500 vapes, and this YouTuber proved it

Re: "the mountains of trash"

Why ban something that's recognised by the NHS as a relatively safe, effective method for stopping smoking?

UK still doodling digital pound while Brussels frets over payment sovereignty

Re: Amusing

I don't think any significant number of people who advocate for PoW or PoS based digital currencies are advocatingc for CBDCs. Contrawise, I think CBDC advocates (they exist too) have an even more negative view of PoW and PoS than the average Reg commenter.

In my personal view, the former are silly but people have a right to be silly while the latter offer governments a lever of personal control that makes chat control and age gates seem trivial. In the hands of a government that views VPNs as a problem, they're terrifying; in the hands of a totalitarian government, they're apocalyptic.

Crims hit a $20M jackpot via malware-stuffed ATMs

Re: You just know they skimped on the security

Back in the day, ATMs were one of the last holdout for active use of OS/2 under the bonnet.

UK to demand social platforms take down abusive intimate images within 48 hours

The sharing part is already a crime, that hasn't changed so why would they comment on it?

Ireland joins regulator smackdown after X's Grok AI accused of undressing people

Re: Am I the only one ...

No disagreements on those points, I just wanted to raise the possibility that fake CSAM in the output isn't conclusive of real/fake CSAM in the input set.

Re: Am I the only one ...

Sorry if I was unclear, I meant that I believe a diffusion model would be capable of making simulated, fake CSAM based on inputs of just nude adults and clothed children, though I'm really not interested in testing this hypothesis beyond pointing to pink elephants