* Posts by Christoph

3313 publicly visible posts • joined 24 Dec 2007

Google plots cop detection for auto autos

Christoph

Fine if the light is on the roof

Some disguised police cars hang the light out at window level when they want to go emergency. I was in a mass of cars moving onto a big roundabout when a siren went off. Since modern sirens are carefully designed to make it impossible to tell which direction they are coming from, I had no way at all to tell where the emergency vehicle was or which way I should move until it wedged through a couple of cars away and I could finally see that low level light.

Christoph

Re: Loop until... Loop until...

A friend got done for going through a red light to avoid being killed by an out-of-control lorry.

Christoph

Re: Prior Art?

Similar in one of the early Lensmen stories, for people responding to warning of incoming missiles.

Hacker takes down CEO wire transfer scammers, sends their Win 10 creds to the cops

Christoph

If all the ways of fiddling money transfers are blocked, how will the CIA manage its transfers?

Christoph

2fa is not difficult! On my personal bank account, if I want to send money to a new payee I haven't paid before, I have to produce an authorisation code from the 2fa gadget.

If I can do this for 10 quid, why can't large organisations do it for 10 million? If the CEO sends an email saying to pay a new account, that should be authorised with a one time code.

Hollywood offers Daniel Craig $150m to (slash wrists) play James Bond

Christoph

Unfortunately John Cleese is probably too old

It's OK to fine someone for repeating a historical fact, says Russian Supreme Court

Christoph
Big Brother

But we've always been at war with Eastasia!

Drama in orbit: Brazen UFO attacks Earth's Sentinel-1A satellite

Christoph

I wonder how much extra debris was created by the impact?

FBI Director wants 'adult conversation' about backdooring encryption

Christoph

Adult conversation?

Adult conversation: I will throw a screaming tantrum until I get my own way.

Height of stupidity: Heathrow airliner buzzed by drone at 7,000ft

Christoph

Re: Sorry, but . . .

Override the controls, land it, fit it with a tracer, let it go again (or could you fire a tracer in a sticky package at it?).

Probably not a good idea to fit it with a bomb that goes off when the engine is stopped and it's picked up.

Christoph
Mushroom

Re: Cue loads of people saying...

And hope like hell the safety devices work if it's someone that's carrying a physics package.

SpaceX Dragon capsule lands in Pacific carrying 12 moustronauts

Christoph

"12 mice"

Or is that 12 hyper-intelligent pan-dimensional beings?

Notting Hill Carnival spycams: Met Police rolls out real-time live face-spotting tech

Christoph

Re: V

Stop and search more blacks than whites. Investigate blacks more than whites. Let white person off as 'having a bit of fun', but arrest and convict black person for the same behaviour.

Oh look, crime statistics prove blacks commit more crimes than whites.

Plus of course that blacks have more trouble getting good education and a good job.

"The law, in its majestic equality, forbids the rich as well as the poor to sleep under bridges, to beg in the streets, and to steal bread." -- Anatole France

Christoph

That could mean that anyone resembling an image on that database gets stopped and asked to "verify their identity" every few minutes through the whole carnival.

And when they get decidedly stroppy about it after a couple of days of this, then obviously the police officer involved would have to nick them.

A USB stick as a file server? We've done it!

Christoph

Re: More of this, please.

This 'ere WD My Passport Wireless Pro has 3 Tb capacity and a 10 hour battery life. It can charge a smartphone, and it can suck in files from a camera's SD card or a USB stick automatically.

Oh, and you can ssh to its Linux shell, and it runs PHP and SQLite under its Apache server - which presents some very interesting possibilities.

Boffins design security chip to spot hidden hardware trojans in processors

Christoph

Re: But..

You get three of these built by different foundries and then tell them to check each other.

Privacy advocates rail against US Homeland Security's Twitter, Facebook snooping

Christoph
Black Helicopters

Well that's me out then

If they check my account on El Reg they will find multiple postings which are less than grovellingly and slavishly in favour of every action of "The World's Greatest Democracy Yee Ha!".

Which presumably would lead to them blocking me from entry, as I might endanger their constitution (such as the first amendment).

Christoph

Re: have ever participated in genocide

"In times of peace or war have you ever been involved in, or suspected of involvement in,

war crimes, crimes against humanity or genocide?"

Which as phrased would include anyone with a number tattooed on them.

Windows 10 Anniversary Update completely borks USB webcams. Yay.

Christoph

Re: Multiple steam...

"when a PC is running multiple applications that request access to the same webcam."

The user's program. the NSA, GCHQ, Microsoft, several hackers, various viruses, your child's school ...

'Flying Bum's' first flight was a gas, gas, gas

Christoph

Still got a long way to go to match Castle Wulfenbach

Ford announces plans for mass production of self-driving cars by 2021

Christoph

It's nowhere near ready yet

There was that recent crash where the automation missed seeing a white lorry turning across it. If it can't see that, there's all sorts of situations that could confuse it.

Some years back I was behind a bus that had a black and white photo-realistic advert painted all over the back. So lots of different greys in different blobs. I missed seeing that bus until I was very close to it. They had actually managed to camouflage a London Transport double-decker bus.

And then there's stealth cyclists. Not the usual ones who ride at night with no lights, but the ones who also wear dull colour clothing and remove the reflectors and anything else that might make them detectable. I came very very near to hitting one of those once on an unlighted road where I'd dipped my lights for oncoming traffic.

How are automated cars going to deal with those if they can miss a white lorry?

Demise of Angler, the world's worst exploit kit, still shrouded in mystery

Christoph

Maybe they quit while they were ahead?

"generating some US$34 million annually."

Unless they had huge numbers of people that's plenty of money to retire on. They might have got sensible and decided there was no point in continuing the risks when they were all already rich. Some people can actually be satisfied without needing to have a bigger super-yacht than anyone else!

Baffled Scots cops call in priest to deal with unruly spirits

Christoph

Re: Applying the cynicism filter...

6. And don't even think of calling in actual experienced investigators who can pin down the entirely mundane cause.

(Though it seems you can no longer try for a million dollar prize now James Randi has retired.)

Violence, vandals and vomit: London's naughtiest tech Tube stations revealed

Christoph

Doesn't include the worst sort of delay

That doesn't seem to include the figures for One Under, which tends to cause extreme delays while they clear out the bits of the poor sod who jumped and find another driver to replace the one who may never be able to drive a train again.

IT analyst: Oz census data processed as plain text

Christoph
Black Helicopters

They should worry

For the last UK census, the forms were processed in the US. With lots of assurances which post-Snowden we know for certain were meaningless.

So the NSA have a complete copy of the raw UK census data, which they can use to leverage all the other data they grab.

Dark scientists' LUX-ZEPLIN doubles down on WIMP hunt

Christoph

"WIMP signals are unique as they interact with the nucleus of a xenon atom, whereas other background particles such as photons, neutrons, muons or beta particles interact with a xenon atom's electrons."

Why would a neutron interact with the electrons and not the nucleus? It certainly interacts with other nuclei - for instance that's how the atomic bomb works.

Floods hit India's IT hubs, wash away some credibility

Christoph

Management were taken by surprise by the appearance of the monsoon. Obviously they can't be held responsible for the failure to predict something that happens every year.

The return of (drone) robot wars: Beware of low-flying freezers

Christoph
Boffin

Deliver by underground conveyor

When are we going to get the underground conveyor belts that Hugo Gernsback predicted more than a century ago in Ralph 124C 41+?

Raving mad: Glow sticks are secret weapon in Facebook's 2.1Gbps laser internet drones

Christoph

Wot no triffids?

So it's safe to look at the green flashes in the sky, you won't get blinded?

(Mind you, if the light is visible from below I don't think the astronomers are going to be pleased about this, or the areas with dark sky certification.)

WhatsApp gets another Brazilian whack as magistrate blocks it again

Christoph

Isn't it odd that the people who are demanding draconian laws 'because terrorism' are the same people who are bombing and oppressing other countries and doing pretty well everything in their power to make sure there's lots of aggrieved people who have no outlet but terrorism?

Silently clicking on porn ads you can't even see – this could be you...

Christoph

"Oft repeated, but incorrect."

I'm sure the victims of Operation Ore will be delighted to know that. The ones that are still alive and weren't driven to suicide that is.

Christoph

"hidden from the victim, silently clicking on porn ads online

Which will be no help at all in your defence if the police find a child porn image from those ads in your cache - if you are in possession of it then you are guilty.

Software bug costs Citigroup $7m after legit transactions mistaken for test data for 15 years

Christoph

Re: One of the simplest checks of all

No, you come at the grand total by a different route, checking at a different point.

For example, every time a transaction actually happens the stored procedure which implements it (and does all the security checks, and cannot be amended except with a *lot* of safeguards) also adds the amount to the grand total. There's various other possible ways.

Christoph

One of the simplest checks of all

Here are the details of all our transactions. Here is the grand total of all our transactions. WTF they don't match up?

Revolutionary Brit-made SABRE hybrid rocket engine to burn in 2020

Christoph

£60 million?

Aren't we lucky that the UK government is willing to devote such huge amounts of funding to the project?

Why, that's enough to keep NASA going for several minutes!

Christoph

HOTOL had to be redesigned as SABRE when they realised that putting the engines at the back was a bad idea due to the change of weight distribution as the fuel burned up. SABRE has the engines in the middle of the fuselage.

I fondly remember an official illustration of what HOTOL would look like - the artist had even included painting in the ship's name on the fuselage. It was, of course, Anastasia.

Trial to store benefits claimants' personal data on blockchain slammed

Christoph

Re: Misdirection

"This should re-open the question of whether we should allow people living on the benevolence of the state should be allowed to spend other people's money on booze."

Benevolence of the state? No, the money paid as National Insurance against the possibility of various misfortunes. Other people's money? No, the money paid out from the common fund to those who suffer misfortune.

If someone's house burnt down, would you demand control over the exact details of what they are allowed to spend their insurance money on because it comes from other people who did not suffer fires?

If someone is earning money they are entirely free to spend that money on whatever legal thing they want, people would be horrified at attempts to control that . As adult members of society they are assumed to have the ability to handle their own affairs. If they want to spend the money on booze that is entirely their choice.

Yet the moment they have problems and need support it is assumed that they instantaneously loose all ability to handle their own affairs and to choose what to spend money on - that they must be looked after for their own good, and their spending controlled by people who have never been in that situation and have no experience of the problems they have to cope with. A one-size-fits-all solution that applies the same rules regardless of who they are, where they live, what their circumstances are, what resources they have available. Mummy knows best and they must grovel and obey while being sneered at.

Someone on benefits is just as competent as when they were earning, and has quite enough problems to cope with without officious intervention from do-gooders revelling in grinding them down further, and demanding that They Must Not Have Any Nice Things - anything that could possibly be considered a luxury or not absolutely necessary gets snatched away from them so they have no relief whatever from utter destitution.

For their own good? No, for the sadistic enjoyment of their self-appointed 'betters'.

Christoph

"It would be possible - with agreement from the benefit claimant in question - to set rules at both the recipient and merchant ends of welfare transactions"

Just how long will the bit about "agreement from the benefit claimant" last? They lie in their teeth.

Blighty will have a whopping 24 F-35B jets by 2023 – MoD minister

Christoph

Project this capability around the world

This will allow us, after the US, to be the only other nation to be able to project this capability around the world.

Why the hell would we want to? We are a small ex-important island off the coast of one of the remaining great powers. What are we doing interfering in the affairs of countries thousands of miles away?

Bitcoin child abuse image pervs will be hunted down by the IWF

Christoph

I was under the impression that Bitcoin can't be tracked. Presumably they use some pretty complex data analysis to track people down? And they say this provides 'actionable evidence'. Just how are they going to explain all this to a jury clearly enough for a conviction?

Or are they just going to say "The computer says he's guilty so that's it"? Like in Operation Ore. And in that case how many years and ruined lives before they admit to the bugs in the analysis (that they'd known about for ages but kept quiet)?

Rather problematic either way.

UK.gov wants to fine websites £250,000 if teens watch porn vids

Christoph

Just what is the definition of 'porn'?

Who defines it? How quickly will the definition creep to include anything that the government dislikes or that Murdoch orders them to add?

Lindsay Lohan ‘happy’ to turn on Kettering

Christoph

Have they not heard of the Kettering Group?

Kettering is internationally known as the home of the Kettering Group of satellite trackers.

Here's how police arrested Lauri Love – and what happened next

Christoph

Re: Although the burden of proof lies with Love

You're thinking of several years ago when we had something called "The rule of law". This was designed to prevent citizens being oppressed by the government, so of course it had to go.

Innocent until proven guilty, open trials, being allowed to see the evidence against you and confront your accuser, having to have actually broken a law rather than just annoyed the government, all that has been chucked in the rubbish.

Christoph

Re: It's not looking good...

"Theresa May knows exactly what the public want & need.

Mainly because she's read all their emails."

Man sues YET AGAIN for chance to marry his computer

Christoph

Has the computer consented to the marriage?

There's too many forced marriages already

You can be my wingman any time! RaspBerry Pi AI waxes Air Force top gun's tail in dogfights

Christoph

Re: "forces to be deployed without human loss of life"

No humans killed, just foreigners. If they are not Americans then they don't count as people, just as targets.

Parliament takes axe to 2nd EU referendum petition

Christoph

Yes, of course there's some fraud

It would be astonishing if most of the petitions didn't have at least some fraud. Since this is by far the biggest petition it presumably attracts more.

It quite possibly includes lots of idiots thinking they can boost the petition by putting in false addresses, and lots more idiots thinking they can sabotage the petition by putting in false addresses and then claiming that because some are fraudulent then the whole thing is invalid.

Anyone who wants to actually affect it would have to do a lot of fraudulent entries - it's well over three and a half million now.

'Leave EU means...' WHAT?! Britons ask Google after results declared

Christoph
Facepalm

Re: Seriously...

But ... but ... he didn't know it was loaded!

Pressure mounts against Rule 41 – the FBI's power to hack Tor, VPN users on sight

Christoph

We can hack you, you can't hack us. Because we make the rules.

The US has often demanded the extradition of anyone it suspects of trying to hack into US computers from another country.

If they pass a law allowing them to hack into computers in any other country, how co-operative are other countries likely to be with future extradition demands?

This doesn't apply for the UK of course who are delighted to hand over their citizens with no reciprocal arrangement.

Non-US encryption is 'theoretical,' claims CIA chief in backdoor debate

Christoph
Boffin

Has anyone told Ross Anderson?

I'm sure he'd be very interested to know that there are no encryption experts outside the USA.

When they issue those backdoored encryption products he'll probably set breaking them as an exercise for his students. It might take them perhaps a couple of weeks?