Posts by Pickle Rick

BBC bumps telly tax to £180 as Netflix lurks with cheaper tiers

Re: A SInking Flagship?

> The claim was...

So you didn't like the word "enforce" - I get it. Not here to write a white paper buddy.

Make Auntie Great Again - tick; Mission creep - tick

Re: A SInking Flagship?

> it's a complete fabrication that's got less evidence than a teapot on the Moon.

Not on my part.

Not sure I'd class it as "evidence" to your standard as this is from the Grauniad, first I found with a search.

>> "However, the details of the deal are already raising questions about whether the content made for YouTube will be paid for using the licence fee."

I tend not to post "fabrications" to the best of my ability thank you, regardless of the wooliness surrounding £Org's intentions.

SOHCAHTOA

Mad you should say that, I was measuring up a new staircase yesterday. Phone calculators are shite, with rise/run, the angle I was looking for was ~45 deg, phone kept coming out at <1.0 --- that ain't right! No idea why, looked like it wanted to play in rads. Where's my PB100? (That thing has been run over by a car and still works, a bit dented tho!)

I can only give one back :)

In short: yup. But we're talking "aired 'television' broadcasts" not a live streamer on their own web site for example. It's what you're watching, not what you're watching it on.

Re: TVL Crapita Contractors != Enforcement "Officers"

I'm not contending the gist of what you're saying, but I'll give a few clarifying points.

> imply they are police empowered

Essentially, The Goons are doorstep salespersons, on commission. They _are_ empowered by Acts, but not by the fuzz. The constabulary only attend, on occasion, in order to prevent a breach of peace by either party. Under Common Law, access to premises is implied (ie. for knocking on a door, not entry). This implied access can be withdrawn at any time (cf trespass) _unless_ a court signed warrant of access is in-hand, then they have right to access.

Re: licence fee enforcement

You're conflating proximate and ultimate causality. "The Goons" work for deCapita, DeCapita "works for" Auntie.

+1 for "threatograms" - I'm keeping that!

(BTW, don't do a web search for "BBC Aunty" with the kids about!)

Just want to ask (I've never been a dog owner): How much was a dog licence? I can't imagine that it's a drop in the ocean compared to daily upkeep. Then bring in vet bills and I suspect that "low income" is on pretty thin ice for affording TCO - which I find sad TBH. Pet insurance? Okay, it's still a cost that's prohibitive to "low income" - although I get we haven't established the bar here.

Quick anecdote, from about 15 years back. Some friends of mine took on a cat, as the owner was going over seas. They agreed, on condition that pet insurance was paid for. Lucky they did. Some time later "Lewis" needed an operation to remove an eye. I looked at the bill. Among the other items listed was "Surgery @ £90/minute". Holy feck! (He was a great cat - and after that I could never help myself but say "Why is there only one "I" in Lewis?)

PS. Love El Reg's forums for tangents :D

A SInking Flagship?

I don't watch telly, it doesn't entertain me - and I've no issues with those that do find it worthwhile.

The Beep are desperate. 15 years ago TV Licensing brought in £5Bn annually, that's now £3.5Bn - not inflation adjusted. 300K fewer licences were issued in 2024 yoy. And now they're looking at trying to enforce licence requirement for watching YouTube... WTF has Betty's upload of her cats chasing a laser pointer got to do with them? That's a blatant money grab, unbecoming of such a (previously?) venerable institution - it's a bad look IMHO.

As for the price hike, it's one of the things I've never really understood. Businesses that see a reduction in income due to falling customer engagement raise prices to try to recoup, which drives punters away. Seen it with so many times with pubs that invariably close shortly afterwards (which really does make me cry!) Lower the prices a bit to encourage "footfall" seems sensible to me, but hey, I'm not an economist.

Additional: There's no such thing as a UK TV License, be that black and white, or color. >:| /pedantry-gripe

Edit: Just did an inflation adjustment check - £5Bn 2010 -> ~£8Bn 2026

Tech support chap invented fake fix for non-problem and watched it spread across the office

When the tech's the target

On one job I had three line managers for different projects. All were in finance. One morning the three of them were having a conflab and shortly after they'd finished, one turned to me and asked "Is it true that if you type 'Google' into Google you'll break the Internet?" Looking at them like they were nuts my response was a simple "No, that's bollocks." Nothing more was said about it, just a few subtly deflated looks that I really didn't understand. I hadn't owned a TV for years, and it was years later until I watched The IT Crowd. They never fessed up, but when I eventually saw "that episode" I finally understood their looks and had a chuckle as I could at last share the joke with them. Miss those guys :)

Supermarket sorry after facial recognition alert flags right criminal, wrong customer

Re: Ban it

I was keeping it simple as it sounded like an intro to the laws for AC.

Re: 99.98 accuracy

Sainsburys don't publish store visit figures, but Argos do! ~29M and Stainsburys will be way more than that. Assuming all the Argos visits are to in-Stainsburys stores that's about 6000/year @ 99.98%. It's gotta be at least 10x that for Stainsburys(?) So a really-really-guessey-guestimate 60K/year false positives..... feck :o

Scale that to all users of Farcewatch, each individual might encounter dozens of checks a day, if not more.

Or, at 1:5000 false positive, and assuming 10 "checks"/day, each individual would get a false positive at least once every two years... everyone... Chuck in petrol stations, every shop etc, it's going to be a couple of false positives per year per person.... Digital ID anyone?

[I'm trying to be realistic with the figures, but...]

Re: 99.98 accuracy

2 times out of 10000

I don't think that undermines your point. I'm trying to find some footfall figures....

Correction/modification:

> They need(ed) to defend against a defamation claim.

*Maybe, depends

Re: Ban it

No claim of criminality need be made. Service refusal does not require a reason. (UK) "Leave the store please." != defamation/slander

Not sure what clothing has to doe with it. The Facewatch source data would've been collected previously.

Regardless of ethnicity, what would happen if the visual check was a perfect match, but it was the wrong person? Are "they" happy to ban the other five identical sextuplets and just say "fuck it"?

It's shit tech and it's implemented very poorly.

IMO it's a drive to close stores, or least they don't care if that's the result - home delivery only. That'd resolve the shoplifting issue and save a bucket full of dosh. Fuck 'em all.

Apples and oranges Mach.

If Sainsburys had registered his image they are DPA DC. (They are anyway, but this is within scope.)

(In the UK, can't speak for Stateside...)

Someone looking at (eg) a newspaper report of someone arrested[1] and making a decision on that alone is a pretty pathetic "check" - no way of defending against that. A DBS check would be the correct check (UK).

Shit situation though, a warning to us all.

[1] It sounds like that's what you're saying, apols if wrong.

Neither Sainsburys nor Facewatch had data on him.

> ...they had simply received a picture from Facewatch

I image there would at least be a name, but I don't know that for sure - surely there's some cross refernce data? (?!?)

It was Sainsburys choice to act, they are at fault, not Facewatch. The Sainsburys staff could easily have verified that they screwed up without needing to involve the victim directly with Facewatch. They need(ed) to defend against a defamation claim. Sainsburys are the data controller under DPA, the shit is *totally* on them.

The victim could have stood in the store, and the Facewatch system *would not have flagged him* - not a known undesirable, and that should have been case closed. _If_ a positive hit, _then_ he could have queried against Facewatch.

> I despise Sainsbury's and Facewatch equally for this.

Me too. The trouble with this is there are now so many outlets to try to avoid...

[No DV from me - I'll prove it, have an up vote :D]

Re: Ban it

Correction: "Right of Access Request" is the official name not "Right to Access" - splitting a hair really.

Also, you can go straight to the Right to Erasure without an SAR first, then do an SAR to see if anything's left that is still held.

Re: Ban it

> The issue is that now a store can refuse you service even if you aren't causing trouble.

That's always been the case in the UK. Businesses (eg. pubs, shops) are not obliged to serve anyone. No reason other than they just don't like my face!

> What is the retention on that facial data? How do I get copies and how do I get myself expunged from these non protected databases?

Submit a DPA SAR (Subject Access Request) to the relevant organisation (eg. in this article that would be Facewatch). There are plenty of advice posts on the web, here's one from Which?.

Once you receive the info for your verification you can challenge any errors that are stored for them to be corrected. If you desire, and it's appropriate, you can instruct the removal of data whether it's correct or not ("Right to Erasure", commonly "Right to be Forgotten"). If a org is legally obliged to store the data, you can only ask for any corrections to be made. Be sensible, you wouldn't be able to instruct the government to delete your data for example!

DPA = Data Protection Act 2018 - the same as GDPR under a different name

SAR = Subject Access Request, officially called "Right to Access" but SAR is common use

Re: Is it any surprise…

Gloaters? You really are a prat, aren't you, Percy? In two minutes you interrupt me, alright? Otherwise I'm in real trouble, and don't forget because...

[Cheers! -->]

I can see what you're saying, and agree that that would be the case should an individual want to check Facewatch data is correct, ie. GDPR/DPA SAR.

However, in this particular case, I'd be dealing with the store. Here's my ID, no you can't have a copy, just satisfy yourself that this is correct. Is that the person you were looking for? No? Bye bye. If the store had subsequently registered my image with Facewatch, they would be responsible under DPA to correct that error. I would not be talking to Facewatch.

Re: Ban it

Wow! Some sort of store detective's version of Munchausen syndrome by proxy? Or were they on commission?

Re: Ban it

Regardless of "store" being perfectly acceptable in UK English, consider me suitably chastised!

"In UK English, store refers to a large shop where many different types of goods are sold, but in US English store can mean either a large or a small place where different types of goods are sold, or only one type."

Re: Ban it

In UK law:

- signage isn't required. Businesses use signs just so it's not contested. For private (eg. home use) any complaints to the ICO would result in the ICO suggesting using signage. It's not illegal. It's not enforceable.

- If it can be seen from a public place, it can be recorded legally. Boundaries don't matter. However, the ICO would "suggest" one respects others' boundaries. It's not enforceable. Certain cases could be contested in civil court, eg. a camera obviously pointing directly into a neighbour's back garden over a 2 metre fence. But catching a bus stop? That's a public space, end of story.

You even link the ICO page that states all of that and more, so unsure why you're saying "without full care of the law," unless I'm misreading your point.

Let's run some numbers...

So Sainsburys are in pilot, how would that scale if all stores are kitted out with this stuff?

- In 2025 2 stores trialled for 3 months = 6 store months

- In 2026 6 stores trialling for 1 month = 6 store months

So far, that's 1 store year, resulting in 1 (acknowledged) error

Sainsburys have ~1500 stores nationwide, so at that rate of error with all stores live, that'd be 1500 errors/year nationally. That's not okay.

Okay, there are factors (eg. training) but that's just Stainsburys [sic]

[Numbers rounded. Workings done on the back of a sober brain. Happy to be corrected!]

Study confirms experience beats youthful enthusiasm

Re: Experience includes institutional knowledge

The only thing I'd have to change to write that exact post is "In over 35 years of writing bespoke software..." One of the first things I'll ask is for any relevant procedures. Only once has the result anything but a blank look. And that's with more than a couple of accountancies/bookeepers over the years. By the time scope/spec is finished, they have procedures :)

> "ensure DB is set up properly with correct permissions"

Hey! Have you been reading my HowTos?

Microsoft sets Copilot agents loose on your OneDrive files

OMG!! My files!

>> Microsoft sets Copilot agents loose on your OneDrive files

Oh crapolla! ... ... ... Wait a sec....

Microsoft... nope! Copilot... nope! OneDrive... nope! Phew!

Trolololol :D

Microsoft said: "The agent can provide... grounded responses"

Grounded? Like Musk in a K hole. Did you really think you could slip that in there? M$ are hallucinating hard core.

DDoS deluge: Brit biz battered as botnet blitzes break records

Re: Which TVs?

I'd imagine any Android TV, maybe the Android version maters, but...

Re: malware-infected Android TVs

What, and lose all that juicy ACR data? That seems a bit cruel to those poor advertisers.

Seriously, the nefarious bastards have created these things to be a bot net in the first place. In this case it's just a different group of nefarious bastards pointing the data stream to an unintended server. Those service providers affected could ask the TV manufacturers nicely not to enable the TVs as nodes I suppose....

New hire fixed a problem so fast, their boss left to become a yoga instructor

> ...a 50/50 chance it'll take the screw from the graphics card with it.

Even worse, when some genius has bent the screw in the backplate _and_ it's threaded so it just spins around when trying to disconnect the VGA. And, as I ain't Spartacus said, that's by touch, so it takes a while to suss "it's one of them!" Then you have to get into the case to sort it. I mean, no jury that understood that would return a guilty verdict, Shirley!

Re: "I did a spot of Artexing"

Yeah, I didn't really know what else to call it (Artex) - it wasn't career move, just getting some funds for a jaunt in the summer.

> Uncommon today as... no one wants to do that bloody job! Oh yeah, and it's shite :D

Pretty much my first job out of college was as an operator, IBM CICS/JCL. 12 hour night shifts. We had various things to keep us awake while tapes were happily spinning and line printers clickety-clacked. When we ran out of things for eye spy, we relied on the "stay awake chair". This was a pedestal chair with a really powerful spring at the top of the pedestal, so you could kick back with your feet on the desk, watching the jobs run. But you needed to keep a reasonable amount of tension in your legs, drift off and the bugger would catapult you clear across the consoles (only slightly hyperbolic!) Always funny when that happened, whether it was me or that night's partner in crime. Happy days :)

Not IT, but many lifetimes ago I did a spot of Artexing - that really is a pain in the neck. Am I trying to be funny? I certainly wasn't laughing at the time.

The lead admin may have become a yoga instructor, but Carl was in a Happy Baby position!

Amazon can't build AI capacity fast enough, throws another $200B at the problem

Re: *Pop* Go The Weasels

Thanks Pascal. Your words, and this coffee, have helped. Phew! That was a close one.

*Pop* Go The Weasels

>> Andy Jassy: We’re growing at really an unprecedented negative rate.

FTFY. The same goes for nVidia, M$, AMD and most of the LLM Cabal.

Yet all the spiel is "We're doing great, and we could do even better!" All this "move fast and break things": build fast; change stock market rules; ignore laws; burn energy; fill the sky with junk...

No one's buying it, literally or figuratively. The markets don't want it. The punters don't want it. For the few that do, you don't need to spav money on this scale. Prove the tech first FFS. I don't want a massive crash, everyone suffers. Hopefully the markets will continue to plummet as an indicator to these morons that this shit will end them if they don't stop. Don't take the rest of us with you.

You're not geniuses. You're. Just. Humans. And dirty ones at that.

/rant

SpaceX wants to fill Earth orbit with a million datacenter satellites

The Sound of Drums

It's just dawned on me! Musk wants to be Harold Saxon and the "satellites" are his Toclafane! Oi Musk! You're the master of bullshit, nothing more.

Re: Flying junk

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is that. It's not even worth talking about daily maintenance.

> unforeseen satellite collisions

Some of those collisions might even be accidental. Not a lot of sovereign space in (near-) space. Maybe the Dogey donkey will contract out defence to Mom, her kill bots always do well.

Substack says intruder lifted emails, phone numbers in months-old breach

Refreshing

Kudos for the plain-speak disclosure.

>> Substack maintains that passwords, credit card numbers, and financial data were not touched.

Discrete systems? Who are these wizards of security? I'll give a "kudos x2" - which is sad really, because this stuff should be SOP.

Italy claims cyberattacks 'of Russian origin' are pelting Winter Olympics

As long as you don't feel icelated :)

If too many get piste off it could lead to a cross country situation.

AWS intruder achieved admin access in under 10 minutes thanks to AI assist, researchers say

Re: What if they reviewed their code?

> ...straight to live testing.

Ah! It was M$ wot did it!

n8n security woes roll on as new critical flaws bypass December fix

Re: JavaScript on the Server

> And we do really, really need a sarcasm icon

Oh, do we? Really? Really, really? Reeeeeally?

Hmm, you might be right :)

Curse of AI to push up PC prices as memory and CPU shortages bite

Re: So when the AI bubble bursts ...

Of course! Of course, of course, of course! Free delivery too, by a leprechaun riding a rainbow coloured flying piggie!