Posts by Ian Michael Gumby

We've read the Mueller report. Here's what you need to know: ██ ██ ███ ███████ █████ ███ ██ █████ ████████ █████

Re: Not that it matters

First there's a law that protects Grand Jury testimony. So the whole demand for the entire 'unredacted' document is a political bluff only fooling the Democratic base. Former Democrats who now consider themselves independent along with independents and Republicans are not fooled by this.

The only way to get to release the GJ testimony is via a court order. And that has a snowball's chance in hell. And Nadler knows this.

So it won't come out. In fact, Barr didn't have to release it. Gowdy went on national TV saying its release was a bad idea because it won't change anyone's mind. I happen to agree with him on this.

And here's the kicker.

Barr already has invited members of the Gang of 8 and other key Congress critters to come to the DoJ and review the doc within a secure area. Pelosi and other Democrats who have the right to see it. Refused. Think about that for a second. Its already been reported that one Republican has already reviewed the less redacted doc. (Its all unredacted except the GJ testimony that has to be redacted by law. ) [Note If memory serves me... rule 6c???]

So naw, the truth is already out. Just don't expect any Democrat to actually read it because it destroys their past 2+ years of beating on Trump with nothing to show.

Re: Let’s get this straight

No, lets get it really straight because too much BS is being written here.

The initial engagement of Fusion GPS was done on behalf of a rival GOP candidate. However once Trump got the nod, they dropped it. This was all done prior to the Dossier.

Clinton Campaign and DNC funneled money thru a law firm to Fusion GPS who paid Steele for the Dossier which contains information which he purchased from Russian sources.

This has actually been confirmed and proven.

The final result is that the Muller report puts the last nail in to the dossier's coffin. Its fake, unproven, which now leads to the issue of its use for getting the FISA warrants to spy on Trump.

There's more, but I think you just got hit with enough verifiable truth that you need to digest along with some Crow.

Brit Watchkeeper drone fell in the sea because blocked sensor made algorithms flip out

@Blazde Re: Hmm

Surveillance drones? Meh.

Well ok, it depends on which one. What the Iranians got isn't that terribly advanced. You don't need them to be that advanced in most situations.

Now China got a lot of advanced tech, and they didn't even need to leave their cubicles to get it. But that's a different story.

@The Man Who failed to earth ... Re: You'd think

You'd think that people would think about the problem...

First GPS... unless you're using the military precision signals along with a good connection to a few of the sats, along with a really good clock on the plane itself... you're not going to be accurate enough to know your specific position. (You can add a radio signal from a known ground point to also help too.) Commercial GPS is only accurate within 1.5meters at best. This is in part due to the maps, but also the clock signals and the quality of the clock in the GPS device itself. Surveyors that get down to 1cm precision have to set up and keep the units still for 24 hours before using because even throughout the day, the sun and atmospheric conditions can impact the signals.

But I digress, the issue isn't position, but one of flight controls... airspeed, altitude, attitude (AOA) etc ...

So GPS will have nothing to do with it.

I guess you could put some accelerometers ?sp? throughout the plane to help identify some information, but not all of it. So if you have a sensor failure... you are SOL and will lose the aircraft. This is where flight control systems need to be improved.

While I am an engineer, I am not an aeronautical engineer so I don't know all of the stresses and issues with flight systems.

I have to wonder about adding redundancy to the sensors to help and to also think about other things that they could do to measure AoA (pitch) etc ...

@AC ... Re: is it just me

well at least they can't say they don't give a flying f....

Note that since they fly from waypoint to waypoint... its very easy to actually get them to draw 'dick picks' with their flight path, along with other naughty things.

Just saying.

Hey, remember that California privacy law? Big Tech is trying to ram a massive hole in it

Re: "You can easily roll your own analytics"

Not that we care too much about SEO, as you may have noticed from the headlines and writing.

Touche and well played.

True. People hunt out El Reg and hear about it from word of mouth. No need to worry about search results.

But I have to ask... is a Tweet an actual official response from a company? Meaning what one person says in a tweet, regardless of his position in the company, is it the company's official position?

Google considers that their search algos are proprietary IP. I'll wager that if Congress were to subpoena Google to provide their search algos even in a closed door session, they would fight it kicking and screaming bloody murder all the way.

Sorry, I don't trust them.

As to the size of your tech team... you could always make this a 'volunteer' project. I mean if you can get a group of junior birdmen rocketeers to take on launching a playmobile astronaught into the high altitudes... then you should be able to find a couple of people to do this... ;-P

(Ok, that project is definitely more fun than putting the screws to Google, but this would probably provide more Karma to El Reg. )

-Just Saying...

Re: Ironic

Its not ironic.

It takes a sociopathic person who ignores what is right and ethical for their own personal gain.

So no irony or shock.

@didodeisgn Re: Ian Michael Gumby

Nice that you fixed it.

But the larger issue Google Analytics.... Cookies have nothing to do with it.

You can easily roll your own analytics. So too can many companies that have a large digital presence.

Another question not asked... what happens to your page rankings if you don't use Google Analytics.

;-)

Again, part of the real reason why Google needs to be split.

EL Reg Needs to make a slight correction/ clarification

First, this is California Senate Judiciary Committee not the US Senate. (Not clear in the article, but implied)

Other than that...

The bill is being sponsored by State Senator Henry Stern who is a Democrat in Los Angeles.

It would be very interesting to see what sort of campaign donations he has...

Also how much press this is getting...

This is also an example of just how important it is to consider breaking these companies up.

One more question... El Reg never has addressed.

In today's Big Data environment, along with El Reg promoting seminars on Machine Learning, AI and what not...

Why does theregister.co.uk still use Google Analytics?

If they are brave enough to answer, you'll start to understand the monopoly Google has. ;-)

Now, how to boost fibre throughput to a stonking 240Gbps? With frikkin' spin-lasers, of course

Re: So how do they get spin into the lasers?

You're going to need a bigger washing machine...

Google readies Pixel for the masses, but are the masses ready for Pixel?

@AC Re: Google has since declined to send us any more samples

Actually I have to agree with El Reg on the privacy concerns. You may click on the box that says no, but does that really mean what you think it does?

The reality may shock you and yes, it does piss Google off when people identify the pixel, not as a phone, but an electronic leash / monitor that lets you make calls and send text along with running some 3rd party apps.

Before you call someone a twat, look in the mirror.

Amazon boss snubs 'expensive', 'sub-optimal' relational databases. Here's looking at you, Larry

Re: @Teiwaz 'Would you like a black, always-on cylinder in your kitchen...'

Well since its been at least 30 years since I've seen the movie, IIRC the line was "Soylent Green its made from people.... " But I was just trying to be cute and drop the reference.

@Kevin Re: Scalability buzzwords

Sorry have to down vote you...

You bring up a couple of points that aren't actually true or relevant.

First, RDBMs are used in two different types of applications.

1) OLTP (Where you have transactions and multiple types of isolation in ACID)

2) DW (Where you're not locking the data but using a different subset of SQL

Now OLTP databases are not infinitely scalable, Distributed locks are a pain and get worse the larger and more distributed the data becomes.

DW... RDBMS top out around 100TB but that could have increased in the past couple of years.

In terms of vendor lock in... you have your engine and then you have your tool sets. That's where the vendor lock in occurs.

W.R.T Bezos...He has no clue about what he is blathering on.

I find it funny that the first comment is less about Bezos and RDBMs and more about Alexa.

Or the fact that AWS does in fact have a vendor lock in based on both their tools that they are encouraging, along with the high cost of exfiltrating data.

And yes, I happen to know a lot about both RDBMs and Big Data. Having spent time within Informix , IBM and have been doing Big Data stuff for the past 10 years.

To your point... Snowflake is making the same argument. Not that I agree with it.

There's a reason RDBMSs made sense in the past. Unfortunately you can easily lose temporal data unless you're careful.

@Teiwaz Re: 'Would you like a black, always-on cylinder in your kitchen...'

Soylent Green is People!

Big Brother image because... well... you need to see the movie. A classic that is older than most here.

So you've 'seen' the black hole. Now for the interesting bit – how all that raw data was stored

Re: Never underestimate the bandwidth of a station wagon full of tapes hurtling down the highway.

huh?

Pfft. Spinning rust is terrible for PB of data. It would take almost 100 million "spinning rust" drives to store 14PB. Luckily, spinning cobalt alloy media is far superior. (The last iron oxide drives were sold in the early 1990s.)

Oh, while you're getting to be a word nazi, the term spinning rust is meant as a reference to hard drives.

But to your point spinning drives at 12TB per drive. 100 drives is 1.2PB. 1,167 drives is 14PB.

Now I thought that there were larger drives... like 14TB so that would be 1000 drives.

Re: Never underestimate the bandwidth of a station wagon full of tapes hurtling down the highway.

Not really.

While the cost per TB is getting closer, there is still a significant gap.

Its going to be a while, although... I'd say go w SSDs because they will last longer under the stress imposed on them. (Less likely to fail)

I tend to use Samsung pro drives and M.2 cards, New Egg has a 10pack of 3.8TB drives for $9,750USD

That's ~975.00 a drive for 3.8TB which isn't bad. (Never tried them so I don't know how well they will last. ) Samsung has 4TB for around $1,140 USD.

And Intel has a 7.6TB drive.

YMMV

London's Metropolitan Police arrest Julian Assange

@Scorchio!! Re: Only one charge remains...

Now there's a name from the past.

Yes, looks like he's going to get his just dessert. Finally.

After I wrote the stuff this morning I heard that the US did finally unseal the Grand Jury indictment. It was as I suspected. They have evidence that he assisted in the theft

If true, he's facing 5-15 years. No death penalty.

He's going to rot in the UK while they sort things out.

Actually they did.

Who do you think brought the complaint to the police?

And what they wanted was for him to get HIV tested.

@JohnG

I and several other pointed this fact out many years ago.

Had he just stayed in Sweden and faced the music, he would have gotten less time than 6 years, or maybe no time and then tossed from the country.

Instead he was on bail for longer time than he would have gotten, and definitely less time than he spent in the Embassy.

In fact one of the ironies is that some of his fans argued that his time in the Embassy should count as jail time.

@AC

And here I thought it was a porn parody of Ace Ventura Pet Detective movies.

@Doctor Syntax ... Re: Does he yet have a ticket to the USA ?

Huh?

First you need probable cause to convene a grand jury to indict him.

Then you need to get an extradition order to whatever country is after him. It takes time.

But lets focus on reality.

Assange is a smelly git who forced him on a couple of Swedish girls who in their country can cry rape because no means no. When they say no sex without a condom, and you don't have a condom, its rape.

When you try to wake your partner by performing intercourse... its rape because she wasn't awake to provide consent.

That's why he fled Sweden. And this all came out during his first extradition hearing. Had he done these acts in the UK, maybe one act would have been illegal in the UK, which is irrelevant because of the EAW treaty.

The whole US is after me thing... done to protect his image and because he is paranoid.

That said, the US could have been after him if they have evidence he was involved in the actual theft made by Manning. That would remove the shield he has for publishing the leaks.

In terms of being out of the US hands... in Sweden he was safe. In the UK he would have been safe. Its not until he broke the laws in those countries that he would force him back to Australia where they would have handed him over easily.

He did the runner because he didn't want to go to jail for rape.

The US was 'ignoring' him and still is for the most part. There is a rumor of a sealed Grand Jury indictment, but no official extradition request.

@AC Re: or has committed a serious crime

I guess you don't pay attention to the news in the US. (Maybe CNN didn't cover it?)

The Muller probe concluded a few weeks ago.

USAG Barr was just before Congress supposedly to talk about the DoJ/FBI budget request, instead got an earful from Congress why he released only a four page report and not yet the full Mueller report unredacted. (Which would be illegal BTW because it contains things like Grand Jury testimony which he can't release)

Mueller found no evidence of collusion w Russia on the part of Trump or his staff, although there is evidence that Russia tried.

Now the latest bombshell. Barr believes that the FBI spied and is investigating it.

(This is going to be interesting because they did spy. )

It all goes back the the FISA warrant request and what led up to it.

Things got interesting because Barr is the only grownup in the room. He's trying to correct the wrongs and clean up the DoJ and FBI.

@Jellied Eel Kinda Sorta

No, Sweden has first dibs.

(If they want him still)

Then the UK for bail jumping.

Then he's off to Australia.

After that... who know?

1) US could extradite. Going back to Manning's Article 32 hearing... The US had made a claim that Assange assisted Manning during the theft. This never came up during the Court Martial, Manning plead guilty to those charges which actually shielded the evidence from coming up.

2) Australia could rescind Assange's passport. Meaning he can't legally leave the country. (Unless under arrest and extradited.

Or something else along those lines. Maybe the Russians invite him over for some tea?

I'm sure he's pissed Putin off.

Only one charge remains...

Since he was never charged, he outlasted two of the charges due to statute of limitations.

IIRC there is one charge left.

Will Sweden still want him? Maybe.

He still faces charges in Britain for jumping bail.

And if the US wants to extradite him... it would be very interesting.

Assange could fight it, but he would have to stay in a UK jail while he appeals the charges. (Like they're going to give him bail after the last time...)

Or he goes back to Australia. Because he jumped bail and caused a bit of a political mess costing millions in overtime for the plod, they can send him there w guards and probably in cuffs.

There the US would have an easier time extraditing him if they want him.

Menu mischief and interface deceit targeted by US lawmakers

Re: Amazon

But, but , but ... surely you wanted to join Amazon Prime so that you can get free 2nd Day shipping.

My wife accidentally joined then called to complain and then un-joined Amazon Prime.

For us, Amazon is the last choice when it comes to shopping.

She'll go online and buy from the vendor direct, before Amazon.

The blast isn't for the OP, but for Amazon because they, like Google are truly evil.

Re: What is A/B testing?

Son, this is El Reg, Not Jeopardy.

Brit rocket boffins Reaction Engines notch up first supersonic precooler test

@Jim Mitchell you must not live in the Midwest.

Not all storm shelters are underground.

There are reasons for this and there are alternatives where you have re-enforced walls.

The hollow masonry wall is just that... hollow, but when re-enforced w concrete and rebar, it will withstand the force of a 2x4 being blasted at storm speeds. Homes with no storm shelter or basement can have an inner room be set up as a shelter.

Part of the issue of going underground... what happens if you have no egress and you get trapped? Or if you have a pipe burst and your shelter gets flooded. (Yes, there is more to the design of a good shelter than just putting it underground.

@Persona Re: Amazing

Uhm 6km is ~3.6 miles.

Of course that's not too long when you consider large transport, heavy lift aircraft could need 8-10K feet or ~1.8 miles.

So I don't think runway length should be an issue.

Re: So much potential

That said, dropping them all into the middle of the Atlantic might work!

That said, you would indeed prove that those who say that climate change is man made because the combined hot air from said politicians would quickly melt the icebergs, causing sea levels to rise dramatically and causing most of the UK to be flooded. (Unless you live in the Mountains of Scotland. )

So sure. that would be one way to solve Brexit... flooding London along w most of low lying Europe.

Then on the other side of the pond, most of the US East coast would be under water. Think of all of those yuppies on Wall Street treading literal water.

Two Arkansas dipsticks nicked after allegedly taking turns to shoot each other while wearing bulletproof vests

Re: Definite Darwin Award winner in the making

There's a couple of movies where people gamble by taking shots. One is based on a dual and speed, the other that I remember they had different odds/payouts based on the caliber of the round and if they could still get up.

So this isn't new.

As to the vest... they don't say what type.

And there are several different .22 rounds. Lets assume .22lr.

If you get hit in the right area, you can actually die from a .22lr (e.g. back of the skull, or pericardium)

If the vest was Kevlar, two shots in the same area, depending on the size of the caliber and round, the vest could fail.

And yes it would leave a welt.

Less Darwin but more idiot redneck.

Frontline workers urged to help stop UK.gov automating data slurps for immigration checks

Animal House ... Some Animals are more equal than others.

Those in power want to keep their power. Right Pig? ;-)

Ex-Mozilla CTO: US border cops demanded I unlock my phone, laptop at SF airport – and I'm an American citizen

Re: @anothercynic

Naw Penalty Box is a roped off section with uncomfortable chairs where they try to make you sweat as other passengers watch you sit there ...

Not as bad as the back room.

Re: @Jeeves Need more court challenges

Yup.

I entered the country. ;-)

Pretty much that's all it took and once flagged, I'm always going to be flagged until I get a new passport.

The Passport Control agents have a lot of power and discretion on what they can do with you.

@Cxwf Re: @taken handle...

According to the article he was compliant, but said he couldn't hand over his Apple stuff without talking to a lawyer or someone from Apple.

He wasn't lying or didn't appear to be lying.

So what would they hold him on.

The major thing... Apple has deep pockets. Meaning they could go to court and fight this where average citizen couldn't.

There's more, but the bottom line... he lost his GOES and we'll have to see what happens on his next international trip.

@Frank Re: @taken handle...

You're right, the CBP knows why the flagged him.

But then so should he...

Something he said. Some place he traveled, who he met with...

His political views. His relatives.. A whole slew of possible reasons.

Or it could have been random and he said something to piss them off.

I've never had an issue w CBP in the US. In the UK? Different story.

@ Someone else. Re: @Ian Michael Gumby -- @Mr Sceptical @VikiAi Don't travel to the US.

Stop calling me Shirley.

No I don't jest.

They do. However if they don't and get caught... its not going to be pretty and of course they'll try to bury it.

@Brotherelf ...Re: @Mr Sceptical @VikiAi Don't travel to the US.

There are two ways this could break down...

1) He is in GOES and they do a background check of members. Assume that it would have past addresses and employment history.

They know who he is before he boarded the plane. So this wasn't random...

2) He gets selected randomly from the set of GOES passengers on the flight.

They have his background information, and he says something to flag him for further questioning. He could have been caught in a lie, or something.

Assume that they also have his social media posts. (I doubt it, but its possible)

Is there a third option?

@Bob ...Re: @Mr Sceptical @VikiAi Don't travel to the US.

Yes, we don't know what we don't know.

However my point is that there isn't a 'random' check where you are whisked away for further questioning.

I mean that random selection is possible, however how you answer the initial questions would cause the situation to escalate.

I don't expect a lawsuit.

He has no case.

He could try to sue that he was illegally detained under color of the law, claim a violation of his 4th amendment rights, but the case would be dismissed outright because of prior case law supporting the government.

Re: @Mr Sceptical @VikiAi Don't travel to the US.

And if they put something on it...

That would be grounds for a lawsuit, which would be difficult but you could win.

(You'd have to show that you were religious about anti-virus protection, and that you scanned the device once you got home.) Also you would need to be able to produce a chain of custody showing that you handed over your device.

There's a bit more, but you get the idea.

@Bombasic Bob ... Re: Don't travel to the US.

It could be over agressive LEO or not.

They knew who he was before he was flagged. Was it a random thing and he pissed them off? Maybe

Or something about him got himself flagged.

Maybe it was something he said in social media.

Maybe it was something else.

Bottom line, we won't know and the guy would be less than honest.

@anothercynic

You got taken to a back room?

I just got placed in to a penalty box while they drank their coffee thinking about what to do with me.

I guess it pays to being clean cut and polite... ;-)

Of course having a major Fortune 100 Global client as my reason for travel could have helped.

@Flip Re: Need more court challenges

I guess you really don't know the law or talk to enough lawyers.

The case law is settled. The government wins, if they play by the rules.

No civil liberties group will raise this issue because there is no new argument that can be raised.

The 4th Amendment challenge was done and the courts shot it down.

You can challenge them... but at what cost? Weigh that against the contents on your laptop or phone.

Its not worth the fight.

As I said, the Government has to play by their rules. And when they don't you can sue. But even then they stack the deck against you.

We can look at the Obama Administration's unmasking of US individuals who communicate outside the US. The capture of intel by the NSA is legal. Unmasking for political reasons is not. We'll hopefully see more information on this after the Mueller report is released to the public.

You want to learn more, go to the Judicial Watch website which is the number one group raising FOIA requests and have had to deal with the US Government playing dirty tricks to hide information.

@Mr Sceptical Re: @VikiAi Don't travel to the US.

Fair?

Yeah, lets pile on the US and say "I'd never go there..." which makes me think of the woman in 'Keeping up Appearances' (Bucket)

The truth is that something caused this guy to get flagged.

He also compounded his mistake by trying to play Perry Mason and tried to incorrectly use his constitutional rights.

He could have tried to argue the 4th, but already the courts have sided with the CBP.

If you're going to travel... make sure you know what's on your laptop, storage devices and be prepared to be stopped. This way you'll have no issues.

The truth... what no one seems to have considered... what happens if you turn over your devices and you end up catching a virus/malware?

Can you then sue the Government for damages? ;-)

Will the CBP also provide a document showing chain of custody?

If they are seizing your equipment under color of law, then they have to follow the rules, don't they? ;-)

@AC Re: Don't travel to the US.

You don't have to do anything wrong. Trump and his "Trumpettes" will take care of that for you.

Wow.

Your TDS (Trump Derangement Syndrome) is showing.

I guess you're not old enough to have been traveling pre-9/11 and then post-9/11.

The extra scrutiny has been around for a while.

And before you go off on Trump, here's a free clue. This has been going on during the Obama presidency. As well as during Bush.

I'm sure I'm going to get down voted, but just trying to keep it real.

Compared to Obama, Trump is relatively clueless when it comes to using Big Data.

(Obama's Big Data team was based in Chicago during his campaigns.)

@Jeeves Re: Need more court challenges

Wow.

Check your attitude mate!

You think the UK is better?

Think again. And yeah its from personal experience.

I've been put in to the penalty box many times in London Heathrow and almost missed my connecting flight because of it.

And yeah, until I got a new passport, I was always flagged for extra attention.

@taken handle...

Uhm actually it does.

You and most here have no clue as to how much data each country has on you from the time you book your flight... and then when you actually board the flight.

What isn't being said is why he got flagged in the first place.

I used to do a bit of globe trotting and never got flagged.

The only time I had issues is when I couldn't get a good set of finger prints or photograph of face... the machines are geared towards people who are 5'6" so as someone over 6' you have to bend down to get a good shot. Only then do you get flagged, talk to an agent for 30 seconds and told to move on.

And if you don't have GOES, you can always use the passport app which some claim is faster than GOES.

The sad truth... even if he didn't use GOES, and just used his passport and walked thru the system, he still would have been flagged for further inspection.

His real mistake is to think he could take the 5th (its the wrong amendment) He could have tried to argue the 4th, but that too would have failed.

@VikiAi Re: Don't travel to the US.

Whoa!

Do you think being a non-UK citizen traveling to the UK for work is any better?

Getting your passport stamped which flags for inspection every time you go back to the UK is not fun.

And this for complying with the US/UK treaties on doing work and not requiring a work visa. (Yes, I was even charged money to call a number in the UK to speak with an official who agreed with what I was doing and that I was in compliance. )

So please... don't be a smug git.

How do you sing 'We're jamming and we hope you like jamming, too' in Russian? Kremlin's sat-nav spoofing revealed

@Jack

There are ways to defeat your attack if you know about them.

Riddle me this... why would it make sense to put a very expensive CS clock onboard a ship?

There's more, but if you understand why the clock, you can figure out the rest.

@AC Re: AFAIK

Most interference systems overwhelm the signal, so the original is not detected. So harder to protect against.

Uhm not really.

The spoof requires that you feed in fake data. If the signal is encrypted and you don't know the key, you can't really spoof the signal, only jam it.

And jamming the signal isn't enough.

There are other ways to ascertain your position in the event of a loss of GPS.

Pecker-checker Becker's hacker wrecker: Saudi cyber-crew stole Bezos' sexts from phone, fed them to tabloid – claim

@eldakka

Yes, if that was the case.

What is now being argued is that Bezos' spy is now claiming that AMI already had the evidence and then solicited Sanchez to provide the information to them so that they can hide their true source.

Using Occam's Razor, i doubt that because its simpler to believe that Sanchez cashed in for a mere $200K (USD) and outed Bezos for whatever reason.