Posts by Gray

US border cops must get warrants to search citizens' gadgets – draft bipartisan law emerges

Another political 'feel-good' move

So, on paper it sounds good. The agency can stand before the press and laud the important new safeguards put in place to protect American citizens' rights and privacy.

Except: the exception. "If officers have serious concerns about a traveller but have no time to get a warrant, they can seize the electronics and later apply for a warrant retroactively. If the warrant application fails, all the information harvested must be destroyed and may not be used in further prosecutions."

The "serious concern" is purely in the mind of the officer, as directed by guidance from the officer's supervisor. This is a rather flexible provision that can let matters proceed 'as per usual' with little change. As for "information harvested must be destroyed," of course it will. Except for that auto-transmitted to the federal data repository in the Utah desert.

As for applying for a warrant, we the citizens have become all too familiar with "rubber stamp" warrant approval arrangements in US courts.

Trust. Once lost, nearly impossible to regain.

Head of US military kit-testing slams F-35, says it's scarcely fit to fly

Re: The music has stopped ....... and the party's over. What do imagine comes next?

The "something missing" is America's next big "super carrier" that carries its own integrated Ballistic Missile Defense system (and a squadron or two of F35's).

Re: de Havilland Mosquito?

A shame, really... just at a time when we've invented stable epoxies and cyanoacrylates, we've deforested all the suitable woods! Perhaps carbon black=>carbon fiber=>Black Mosquito?

US Customs sued for information about border phone searches

Re: The Constitution doesn't apply...

And a forth-coming Executive Order could extend that to 1,500 miles. Few people know about the 100-mile rule; even fewer would care.

Seagate dismounts Korean design center, fscks 300 workers

Re: Poor people

So it seems the MBA principle of expendable employee inventory applies outside the U.S. as well as inside, to include immunity from accountability to that provincial council that was persuaded to cooperate in establishing a 'long term' employment benefit for their region.

One wonders if the Korean cooperation parameters were as inclusive as those in the US, wherein states are encouraged to bid against other states in offering the most attractive inducements for site location, with guarantees of no taxation for years or decades; with no impact fees or consideration asked for new infrastructure burdens (such oddments as highways, schools, civic services, power corridors, housing, etc.) Once the community has made the investment to accommodate the new industry, the industry takes flight in the dark of night.

Official: America auto-scanned visitors' social media profiles. Also: It didn't work properly

Re: the DHS: it's only a state of mind

to implement full marshal law on the continental United States of America.

No, Sherlock. That's 'martial' law. As mentioned earlier, it would be best if you all stayed away, at least until the Trumpanoia recedes a bit and our legislators weary of ulcerated knees from bowing and scraping at the threshold of the Trump presence might regain their senses.

Truth told, martial law is probably on the horizon but NOT until the Breitbart conspiracy teams can incite a sufficiently horrible terrorist attack worthy of another 'Patriot Act' response. Stay away; don't visit, don't upset our DHS people. You wouldn't enjoy the experience.

The Register's guide to protecting your data when visiting the US

Other than that...

We sincerely hope you enjoy your visit!

(A US citizen who lives in the magic 100-mile zone, which also includes the Pacific, Atlantic, and Gulf coastal strips. As provisionally-permitted residents...those of us who were born here...we're expecting a slight revision to CBP rules: mandatory check-points and personal document inspections at all state border crossings.)

Want to come to the US? Be prepared to hand over your passwords if you're on Trump's hit list

Re: What happens

You can visit the USA, just keep to New York, Washington state, Oregon, and California.

Sorry, Charlie... that won't work. You'd best stay clear of eastern Washington, eastern Oregon, and northern California. Those are hotbeds of rural discontent seeking The Trump Deliverance®. It's the more populous western portions of WA and OR, and the southern portion of CA that rejected the Joy of Trump.®

Our Huddled Masses

And this is why I cancelled my trip to the United States.

We'd prefer that all of you stay away. Go elsewhere. We'll be busy building a wall all around our borders, then huddling down in abject terror at the feet of Trump Terrific who has vowed to not only Make America Great Again® but to Keep America Safe®.

Perhaps when the crisis has passed...

IETF 'reviewing' US event plans in the face of Trump's travel ban

Only the second week

given the toxic combination of an anti-intellectual and racist presidency

Hang tight... this is only Trump's second week. There's lots & lots more 'toxic combinations' to come.

Don't worry, America: Elon Musk says he'll have a word with Trump

Re: Musk 'n' Trump

The same caution applies to Mr. Musk as applies to every member of the Republican Congress: never, ever forget to wear your knee pads when granted an audience with The Donald.

'Grey technology' should be the new black

Re: Current pet peeves:

I'll take Firefox as my prime example: the unpredictably changing UI seems to be the project of a horde of summer-vacation 13-year-old school kiddies. "Let's change these menu/icon/commands and see how 'kewl' it is! Just for giggles & funsie's!" That crock of crap moved me over to Pale Moon, and a Classic UI add-on.

The other utter pile of crap is the 8-inch Android tablet I was persuaded to buy by my younger offspring, again because: "Kewl, Dad ... you'll love it!" Yeh, right. That comment about the "secret symbol" or the "hidden word" or the "two-finger double-direction spiral swipe" to initiate the most basic functions. The UI of every app bears no relation to any other app, and all seem best suited to a cage full of spastic shit-flinging monkeys.

Postscript: fer crissakes! Can't anybody design an audio alarm 'beeper' that is less than effing 12 khz? That's about 10 khz above my hearing-impaired range. It's no fun to walk into a room and everybody under the age of 40 shouts, "Turn off that damned wrist alarm!"

(Age: 76 & still exhaling warm air. Not totally tech-ignorant: I got here, didn't I?)

Americans fear their data isn't safe, yet do little to defend it

House without locks

This article reeks of putting down users for failing to compensate for a paradigm that's been pure crap since the earliest days. Essentially the entire industry, hardware and software, has profited from building the equivalent of houses without locks; then sanctimoniously demanding that the purchaser become their own locksmith. Even so, the 'standard' solution is equivalent to a hasp with a hair-pin clasp.

Passwords? Inadequate from the very get-go, and the explosion of internet commerce, personal finance, and social sites exponentially scaled up the problem.

Let's blame Microsoft which failed to provide a human-engineered personal security solution into their product. It would have been very easy to implement a secure PW generator and storage utility, with UI prompts to manage a suite of secure passwords. Additional security should have been provided on the hardware side, with a random PW generator chip that worked as a unique authentication code to accompany the user's PW. Additionally, the software would automatically remind the user to trigger PW changes/updates at frequent intervals.

In short, the users should NOT have to tell the damned computer to implement security; an intelligently designed computer system would remind the user that automatic and personalized security measures are in place, with reminders to backup and refresh. As for turning the damned thing on in the first place, a personal key or inserted card or other lock/unlock device would make a helluva lot more sense, security-wise.

No... we were brain-washed from the very beginning by lack-wit, cost-cutting, inward-focused providers who brayed that "passw*rd" was sufficient security, and it was the user's obligation to think it up, memorize it or write it down and then all would be safe enough. And don't forget to buy and install this year's latest AV nagware.

Amazing! 200 million people in the USA aren't frickin' home-educated computer security experts! And the US government is proving to be the biggest Dodo of all. So we wonder why it is that we've accepted shite for security because from the earliest days we were given fuck-all for security by the builders... houses without locks!

President Donald Trump taken on by unlikely foe: Badass park rangers

Re: Political Minders

I'm just waiting for the Ministry of Truth to be founded

Breaking news: as a buried provision deep within the last Defense Authorization Bill, the Republicans inserted a clause abolishing the governing board of the Voice of America broadcast network, and added a provision to allow VOA broadcasts within America which had previously not been allowed. Within the first week, the Trump Admin has appointed two men in their 20's as defacto Ministers of Information, directing the VOA.

Given the continuing onslaught to discredit the press; executive orders to muzzle government agencies; and an information campaign to trust only official White House sources, it seems clear America's Ministry of Truth has arrived.

Ref: MSNBC "Rachel Maddow" broadcast, Weds, 24 Jan 2017.

Trumping free trade: Say 'King of Bankruptcy' Ross does end up in charge of US commerce

Re: Same idiocy regardless of location

Empirical examples: When I worked in a leading print shop in Boise, ID, the practice was for each shop to hustle trained talent from other shops. There was no entry-level training, and very little on-the-job training. Industry-proficient vocational training was not offered in area schools.

Currently, living on a large Pacific NW island, we've been stymied trying to convert a home heating system from electric to propane (95% efficiency upgrade). No electrical concern we've called even bothers to return phone calls. One local heating contractor retorted that "we cannot find qualified workers to hire." I dared not ask why they didn't offer an apprentice or on-the-job training for local kids needing their first job. Fact: small US business cannot afford the expense of training; they get no tax breaks in most areas; and few vocational schools offer such training, and those that do are quite expensive. So we see small business stealing each others employees, or limiting their services to existing accounts. That's the situation in our small chunk of the world.

Nadella calls for AI sector to move beyond 'worshipping' a handful of companies

Re: Really??

Nadella called for AI that helps build on human capability and creates more trust in technology from a security and privacy point of view

More trust? Security? Privacy? RUN! ... do not look back, do not stop to save anything... just shutter the ol' homestead, load the blunderbuss, and head for the hills! Nadella seeks to unleash the Flying Monkeys!

Apple vs. Samsung goes back to court, again, to re-assess the value of a rounded corner

Another universe entirely

American legal/judicial system? Common Sense? C'mon, people ... that's not even in the same universe!

Besides which, no court case is ever conclusively concluded until it's sifted through appeal after appeal ... all the way, perhaps, to our currently fashionable eight-member Court of Supremes... the politically-neutered Ministry of Ju$tice.

Routine jobs vanishing and it's all technology's fault? Hold it there, sport

Re: Yeah cause retraining is so easy!

You dope! You can train and learn for free with a new thing called a, wait for it, a book.

Take all that self education and apply for a new job. Good luck getting through the automated application screening process without a diploma, formal certifications, or former job experience. Stand there helplessly seeking an organic application evaluator to hear your impassioned arguments, while the security guard approaches to remove you from the line.

The days of arguing your self-education, special abilities, unique skill set, and impressive personal qualities are gone... they simply don't translate well onto paper to be scanned by the application sorter. Dream on. Or seek comfort in arrogant self-delusion.

Re: Automation has been happening for decades...

What scares me is that the advanced economies never really figured out how to mitigate the impact of free trade and globalization on people who were highly-trained in specific tasks in a factory or production line.

I don't know about our socially-attuned neighbors across the pond, but here in the US we've perfected the art of "Just wait--we've promised to provide job retraining, any day now!

Recall the line from A Christmas Carol: "...and decrease the surplus population!" Thanks to empty promises, the "surplus population" here have revolted and in their anger voted in the Ghost of Christmas Future... the spectre with the bony fingers pointing to a yawning grave.

Ruh-roh! Rick Ruhl rolled out of Ham Radio Deluxe in software kill-switch aftermath

Re: A step in the right direction

But the whole "won't work if it can't phone home" thing still pisses me off AND is a really bad idea in a ham radio context.)

Maybe I'm a Luddite, but the ARRL & FEMA adoption of Internet-based technology to route Ham Radio emergency communications via WinLink 2000 & Pactor IV digital radio transmissions, linked to internet message distribution and delivery. introduces two basic flaws: excessive modem costs (thousands of $$) due to proprietary technology; and reliance on a working internet system. As with HRD, criticism of the "official" methodology is severely discouraged by ARRL & FEMA. Suggestions that the internet is fragile during disaster events is typically answered with, "but it won't be unavailable everywhere, so we can always reach it" beggars credulity. Other digital transmission methods are open-source, far more robust, freely available, and quite effective, but ARRL & FEMA rejected them all.

American supremacy, space, liability, funding, openness – AI gurus lay it all out to US senators

Re: Presentation to the US congress? Beneficial to society?

the government has a role to play in democratizing AI, to stop knowledge being locked away in the hands of a few major companies

Bwaa-ha-haa-haaa! The role? Tax the living bejezus out of the peasants, ramp up US university research grants, grant patents for the University framework developments, license the publicly-funded discoveries to mega-corps who lure University researchers away to Corporate development labs. Result: corporate exploitation of proprietary AI applications. Trump that!

Hack the Army: US military begs white hats to sweep it for bugs

Never gonna check out!

Perhaps think of the US Army's offer as their version of the Roach Hotel... you can check in, but .,..

Office Depot halts PC Health Checks amid bogus infection claims

Re: Shocked I tell you!

Thus the real issue was you weren't able to make your buggered installation of Linux print on that printer??

Thus the real issue was that I weren't able to make the buggered HP driver for that particular model that I downloaded from their website and installed, work as promised. Her earlier model inkjet printer (not HP) I'd set up both wireless and USB cable and it worked flawlessly under Linux. Problem is, she used it so little that the print heads kept drying up; she used more ink cleaning heads than she ever did in printing. She saw the price of replacement ink refills, and chucked the printer. That's when the Office Max/Depot follies began. (She didn't ask me first, not wanting to bother me.)

Re: Exploit US citizens for maximum profit

Corrupt sales practices, agreed. As for "fuck stupid population," many of us use computers as ancillary tools, and have as much need to delve into their inner workings as we do the refrigeration or heating systems--our other home appliances. Despite that (see my comment above re: Office Max/Depot abuse of elderly customers) I'm willing to bet that we're far less stupid than you seem to be arrogant and insulting.

Re: Shocked I tell you!

No shite, Sherlock! This is the same chain that sold a business model laser printer to my 72-year-old friend when she asked our local Office Max/Depot store to help her select a personal printer for her home. They loaded her up with the printer, an "accessory" package of over-priced, useless crap, and a two-year service agreement. The price tag? Somewhat over US$500. This lady prints the occasional e-mail, letters, and recipes. She had no use for the office duty-rating, or the built-in scanner and fax functions.

I'd earlier wiped her Toshiba laptop of a buggered Win 8 install, and replaced it with Linux. She'd been using it for six months and loved it. It took two of us to lift the printer to install it beside her desk. It refused to acknowledge Linux print commands. Two of us loaded it back in her SUV; it took her nearly an hour and many threats of going to the state consumer authorities to get a full refund. The sales staff then "ordered" her to buy a smaller replacement machine from them. She walked out.

I sent away for a small personal color laser printer and a full set of replacement cartridges (with two black) for an even $200. She pocketed $320 in savings. It is compact and light enough she can pick it up by herself. It connected to Linux and printed on the first attempt.

Moral of the story: don't trust 'em to help Senior folks who ask for advice and service. And that's my second experience with that store. They did the same thing to an 87-year-old lunch buddy of mine last year. Except I caught it before he unboxed it. I'm 76 and just a hobbyist, but I'm tech savvy enough to know 'em when I see 'em: Greedy Predatory Bastards!

Encrypted email sign-ups instantly double in wake of Trump victory

Privacy

Proton Mail ... for precisely the same reason we demand glue on our envelope flaps!

Drubbed Grubhub bub scrubs anti-Donald-dubbed snub sub-hubbub

Meaning what you say

Kid youselves not: Trump meant every word he said during his political campaign. He is a known quantity; his character and actions have been consistent since his youth, and all are well documented. So GrubHub's CEO statement was clear: Trump's words and actions are intolerable if emulated by any employee of this firm.

His clarification was quite clear: ""I want to clarify that I did not ask for anyone to resign if they voted for Trump," he said. "I would never make such a demand. To the contrary, the message of the email is that we do not tolerate discriminatory activity or hateful commentary in the workplace, and that we will stand up for our employees."

Perhaps he should instead have said : "Don't let the door slam you in the ass on your way out!"

Britain must send its F-35s to Italy for heavy overhauls, decrees US

Re: WHAT F*** Economies of F*** Scale

And the landing gear axles will be serviced and relubricated in Sweden; the windshield wipers will be replaced at a German R&R* site (refurbish or replace decision facility); the ejection system will be the baliwick of France (ooh-la-la!, zee bottoms up!) and the relettering and exterior iidentification and insignia decal inspections and replacement process has been let to Belgium. Scheduling, requisitions, forms, security processing and certifications remain under Pentagon guidance. Cheers!

UK spying law delayed while Lords demand Leveson amendments

Re: Meanwhile in Turkey....

I believe it was Pogo who famously said, "We have met the enemy and they are us!"

Canada confiscates snoops' data nets after illegal trawling dragged up too much metadata

Re: more trouble

Getting flack for getting caught, you mean. An apology followed by the assertion that "what we did was mostly legal" is not an apology; saying "we're sorry" rings hollow if there's no recognition of wrong-doing. As for "respect for law," that fails when there's no consequence for unlawful behaviour. It seems that the embarrassment of exposure is the only significant consequence, but that is fleeting. Doors are slammed shut, papers are shredded, a few politicians' asses get kissed, and then it's on to even more intrusive data gathering. What's lacking in the process is any shred of respect for citizens' privacy rights, or the least bit of agency submission to meaningful oversight.

LinkedIn, Dropbox hack suspect named as Yevgeniy Nikulin by US prosecutors

Hunting Russian Citizens

Russia accuses America of hunting Russian citizens around the world... ?

Perhaps. But at least we haven't put a bounty on 'em yet!

Meanwhile, in America: Half of adults' faces are in police databases

Re: And when it seriously goes wrong?

"And the public will demand that the city stop doing what got them sued."

Ahhhh, America! If (and that's a big "if") the Denver public rises up and demands that the city stop doing what got them sued, the Police Union will rise up with a counter-suit to block/weaken/delay/obfuscate any Denver city administration action. While that plays out, a citizen's group will file suit and the city's insurance coverage will be called to pay legal expenses as they mount, and a thirty percent insurance premium increase will be paid by next year's taxpayers' city property tax increases.

Assuming the victim of police brutality arrest is awarded a $10 million judgment, the City of Denver's insurance carrier will file a counter-suit to avoid covering the liability, and legal fees will further soar. In either instance (the insurer pays the city damages, or not) another thirty percent city liability insurance premium boost will be demanded.

Meanwhile, individual officers remain at home under full pay while investigations plod along; legal fees mount; the police brutality arrest victim languishes while waiting a court settlement while $600/hour legal fees, or the forty percent lawyer contingency share hangs fire, and the Denver voting public is stone-walled by non-cooperative city officials under advice of the city attorneys.

Justice in America: slow, imponderable, and impartial equitable: everyone is entitled to all they can afford .

Re: And when it seriously goes wrong?

The police union will assure that the cops keep their jobs; the $10 million will come from the public budget, thus punishing the taxpayers; and the complainant will be ear-marked for further tracking and investigation as a confirmed "anti-government" trouble-maker.

NSA, GCHQ and even Donald Trump are all after your data

Re: "Our man advises"

"you could follow the lead of the Russian intelligence service and use manual typewriters."

About that typewriter: strip the ribbon and scissor it into bits, lest it be lifted from the bin and scanned. Prefer nylon cloth ribbons; and shun the carbon film ribbons. Inked cloth is very difficult to scan and ribbon reversals provide sufficient overstrikes to confuse the letter sequences; carbon film (IBM Selectric, etc) can easily be read by eyeball with a bit of patience.

More secure is pen and paper, but never write upon a tablet. Always, always write upon a single sheet placed on a hard surface to avoid leaving an impression on the sheets beneath.

Always write in longhand; with luck, nobody can decipher your handwriting.

'State cuts' Assange internet

Re: 1984

Bah! Whistleblowers! Every one of 'em a threat to secret good, oppressive responsible government! Take 'em out, boil 'em in acid, and keep a close watch on their accomplices friends & families.

Like it or not, here are ALL your October Microsoft patches

Re: Windows 7 Updates 12 hour window of opportunity.

Which begs the question, I suppose... but I'll ask it anyway.

Is there a "safe" version of Windows for unsophisticated home users?

Is there a "stable" version of Windows for unsophisticated home users, that can be relied upon to run for, perhaps a year? Without failure or replacement or forced upgrade?

What is the unsophisticated home user expected to do, in this "brave new world" of Microsoft?

FCC slams Comcast with largest-ever fine for a cable company

All of this whining (whinging)...

... is a bit like pissing over the rail into the wind. Feeling the back-scatter of love, yet?

Accept the simple fact that the corporations have captured the government (name yer nation; most are using the same playbook) and Comcast's little "slap on the wrist" by the FCC is really nothing more than a reminder to them to "Please! Don't be so effing OBVIOUS while screwing your customer base! It's embarrassing, and it needlessly upsets the masses!"

So Comcast will soothe us, the disenfranchised masses, with soporific assurances while continuing to ream our backsides with their monopoly-empowered flim-flam finger. Sometimes I feel we are the pre-Revolution French, and it's still early days.

Windows updates? Just trust us, says Microsoft executive

Re: Trust us

Anderson said: "So we can take a look at the user’s identity, the device they are working on, the app that they are using on the device. We can also take a look at telemetry coming in from our partner ecosystem."

GawdAlmighty... I can hear NSA, CIA, DIA, FBI, DHS... all salivating and cheering and back-slapping in ecstatic fits of joy! Finally... every Windows computer around the globe, "phoning home" and ... say! Isn't that data retention center in the Utah desert ready for an expansion? By an order of magnitude, perhaps?

Never explain, never apologize: Microsoft silent on Outlook.com email server grief

Re: Footgun-

Wasn't Outlook the "killer app" that discouraged users from migrating to alternative systems? And the MS genius elite are now applying their "experience enhancement" magic there, too? Just another "drill holes in the bottom of the boat to let the bilge water out" thinking that exemplifies MS these days.

Alleged hacker Lauri Love loses extradition case. Judge: Suicide safeguards in place

Suicide highly unlikely ...

Once stripped naked and tossed into solitary confinement, monitored hourly by guards who come to flush his 6' x 8' concrete cell with buckets of cold water, exposed to 24-hour fluorescent lighting, and threatened with removal of finger and toenails or teeth that might be used to rip open one's wrists or throat or gouge one's arm or leg arteries... I'd say your young Mister Love will be perfectly accommodated in our high-security prison setting. With further luck, it may even be one of our privately-contracted, privately-administered, for-profit incarceration facilities.

As the popular American folk-rhyme goes: "If you can't do the time, don't do the crime!"

Or, as we proudly point to the base of that New York harbor statue... "Send us your poor... your wretched... your huddled masses." Or send Mister Love. That's a start.

Now, concerning a certain Australian currently evading American vengeance justice in your capitol city...

Brave telco giants kill threat of decent internet service in rural North Carolina

Re: Business Perspective

So if your company decides not to make the investment, it becomes judicious to protect your economic future by lobbying against any effort by the people to provide for themselves? Unless you can loan them the money at junk-bond interest rates, and demand a right of first refusal to purchase the infrastructure "at cost" once it's been built out? That's the business model that made America great, right?

Re: business perspective

I understand that history is a bunch of boring shite ... but here's a quick reminder. Isolated rural communities were denied electric service in the early decades of the last century. A somewhat less corporately-owned Congress (using universal Postal service as a guide) decided that America would benefit from universal electrification. So they passed a bill creating the Rural Electrification Administration, which in turn offered low-interest loans so rural communities and groups could form "co-operative" ventures to borrow money to build infrastructure to provide electric service where, in every instance, the corporate electric companies had refused.

Later, that concept was extended to provide telephone services.

Very soon thereafter, the corporate electric companies cried "Foul!" and lobbied Congress to end the "unfair subsidies" to "competing local governments" that were siphoning off potential profits in growth areas that were prospering with their new electric and telephone infrastructure. In some areas, private companies exerted strong political and legal pressures to force a "takeover" of existing co-operative ventures. After all, the build-out was accomplished, the investment made... why not pluck a bit of low-hanging fruit.

Sadly, that is no longer possible as regards America's digital age. Even here on our island, sitting adjacent to a rich urban region, we have only pockets of high-speed internet access and scattered cell-phone coverage. Our few local communities are totally locked-in to the 30-year old cable franchise monopoly.

Seeking social progress in America is equivalent to spitting in the wind to bring drought relief. Actually, the spit may bring slight improvement, compared to the other.

Googler mad over cop scrap

A stacked deck

He might keep in mind that US police have very strong and intractable unions; the trial prosecutor's career depends on police cooperation for any degree of career success; and typical trial judges are bound to honor the "system as it is" ... many are elected and dare not anger their constituent voters. There's a solid reason why police brutality and criminality is so deeply entrenched in the failed US system of justice.

Other than that, I wish Mr. Afshar every success.

PS: There's also a solid reason why most Americans no longer stop to render aid. Between the cops and the lawyers, it's a risky endeavor. Imagine the "Good Samaritan" beaten, arrested, and prosecuted for his efforts.

Non-doms pay 10 times more in income tax than average taxpayer group

Re: So in summary....

Goose. Golden eggs. Hatchet & goose dinner.

Politicians always want it all, immediately.

Tomorrow? That's when our head is on the block.

Microsoft wearable makes lazy lardies pay to play on the couch

An update-triggered extension will assure that no monthly MS cloud subscription payments will be missed: automatic deductions will be forwarded to Microsoft.

Call to kill FBI spying powers

Sen. Wyden is a voice in the wilderness crying out against the tsunami of the "alt right" political deluge and its howling hysteria. He's an isolated figure, standing alone on the mountain. He's doomed to fail.

Inside our three-month effort to attend Apple's iPhone 7 launch party

Re: Not missing much

The new Apple phone now requires wireless earbuds. Retail price: U$159 per pair.

Imagine fumbling with an U$80 earbud and dropping it; watching it roll under someone's foot or into the gutter or off the platform.

"Oh well, I'm so glad I bought a spare pair!"

Apple has ever since founding assumed that anyone with the taste to purchase products by Apple has also shown the good taste not to be poor, or frugal.

Ice to see you! Windows 10 fix for freezing PCs finally flung at folks

Re: WTF?

MS said: "And if you can't manage that, you'll have to contact Microsoft directly for help."

"Sure, Mrs. Jones, no problem! Just pull the power cord from the wall socket; count to 30, and plug it back in. That should do it. No need to call back. Have a nice day ... goodbye! (This call may have been monitored to ensure your Microsoft User Experience.)

FBI Director wants 'adult conversation' about backdooring encryption

Disregard for consequences

Comey really doesn't care; his personal view demands "open doors" to police investigations. All else is secondary. Should the worst happen, and criminal elements obtain the keys, he'll simply go after those "lawbreakers" while demanding an expansion of resources. The man is typical of law enforcement officials in the US: single-minded, uncompromising, and totally unyielding.

NASA's free research trove may have broken arms trafficking rules

Re: NASA: past its sell-by date

They'd reveal just which content was an ITAR violation, but that remains classified.