Posts by Nomen Publicus

Info Commissioner pleads with Tories to jail data thieves

world gone mad

So, you can't get locked up for violence, but you can for annoying a business?

Gov tempts young London onto ID database with booze, 'games'

Useless for travel

The ID card allows travel between EU countries, but if UK was part of the Schengen zone there would not be a need for any documents at all.

So, the ID card covers 27 countries and a few bits and bobs of other countries. A passport covers 193 countries (including the EU.)

If you want to visit DisneyLand:Florida you will need a passport.

UK.gov uses booze to lure London kids into ID scheme

A scene from the future?

"So, you've got a replacement for that passport you inexplicably lost while drinking in Leeds?"

"Yeh, cost a fortune as well. But I got a deal on a passport plus an ID card!"

"Really?"

"Yeh, though the return ticket to Manchester was expensive."

"Why did you need to go to Manchester?"

"For the interview."

"Oh. So you are going to take better care of your passport?"

"Oh yes. And I'll keep the ID card in the passport so I'll always know where it is!"

Manchester ID staff suffer isolation as new dawn fades

Perhaps nobody knows...

While there have been full page ads in the Metro free paper and I've seen exactly 1 online ad on a web page, there has been no other visible advertising at all.

OTOH, how difficult is it to work out that the ID card doesn't permit travel to the America, Africa, Australia and other non-european countries so what is the point if one already has a passport?

2010 will be the year of the net tablet, claims analyst

Duh?

Were these the same people who said that netbooks were small, underpowered and would never sell?

Darling forces ministers to draw up spending hit lists

Obvious

ID cards?

Is Mandy right to cut science funding?

Mandy or Maggie, who can tell?

I remember Maggie Thatcher saying almost exactly the same things.

I feel an Animal Farm quote coming on.

"No question now, what had happened to the faces of the pigs. The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again; but already it was impossible to say which was which."

Naked scans: Net cries nude-o-geddon

Unlikely claim

"Besides, images taken by the scanners are not ever saved to any form of permanent medium, so there is no scope for images to be played with in this way."

Sorry, I don't believe you. There are good legal reasons why the images must be retained - such as a dispute between the passenger and the airport about the search.

Johnson reveals ID register linked to NI numbers

Yes it's deep, keep digging!

To be fair, the people running the project have shoe-size IQs and have extreme difficulty remembering to breath when the keeper with the pointed stick takes a tea break.

However, as time has passed, the original idea of a nice clean database containing few if any errors has degenerated to something that will be little better than the passport office or DVLA can provide, using security methods that a child could, and probably will, defeat.

The suggestion of combining passports, driving licenses and id cards into a single document was rejected for no good reason so driving abroad will involve at least three UK documents, each claiming to contain ID info (of course there are other documents that may be required but they aren't issued by uk.gov)

BTW, the 2400 applicants are from just Liverpool and Manchester so far. For some reason MPs have not been asked to sign up, perhaps the results would be embarrassing (and result in expense claims?)

iSlate? I spy more control from Cupertino

Other tablets will be available

Is it i-slate.com or is-late.com :-)

Apple is in the business of making nice easy things for the computer agnostic majority. If you want an open platform, buy any one of the dozens of other tablets that will appear on the market in the 6 months after Apple announces a tablet computer.

Multiple travel firms refuse ID cards as passport alternative

Fractally wrong?

I'm a bit puzzled about all this. Anybody who wanted to travel abroad this season would already have a passport if they followed the standard advice from the passport office. As the passport is far more useful than the ID card (covering all countries, especially the US) why would anybody in the Manchester or Liverpool area spend another £30 for an ID card?

The only thing lacking on the passport is the holders address - but then as nobody can yet verify the address on an ID card, the passport is not at a great disadvantage. Indeed, it is the ID card holders responsibility to keep the address on the card correct, but if it cannot be verified (especially outside the EU), how can it be trusted by a 3rd party.

Hackers break Amazon's Kindle DRM

Pointless game of hide and seek

It's quite simple really. If you have a bit of stand-alone kit with DRM, there is already in that kit all the information you need to break the DRM. This is the reason why DRM gets cracked so quickly. The ONLY protection that exists is "security through obfuscation" and we all know how well that works!

UK ID card project descends into muddle

Doesn't even reach half-truth status

"Identity cards cost £30 and, like a passport, they are valid for 10 years. " says the government propaganda, sorry, web site.

What they don't say is, your data stays in the database even if you don't renew (assuming you still have the option in 10 years.) Also, if your data changes and you don't tell Big Brother, you get a fine.

All in all, it's both cheaper not to get an ID card and there doesn't seem to be any disadvantage to not getting an ID card.

So, don't.

UK e-Borders scheme thrown into confusion by EU rules

4,700 arrests

You only crow about the number of arrests when the number of successful prosecutions is negligible.

Department for Transport pours millions into eTicketing

It's policy Jim, but not as we know it.

Not long ago, we in Greater Manchester were asked to vote for a "congestion charge" and get new funds for the trams and buses. At the time we were told that there was no "option B", a no vote would lose the funds.

The result of the vote was an overwhelming no.

Yet the money for the tram network extension is still available and work is already started.

I'm sure that there is a transport policy, it's just that nobody knows where they left it.

Manchester journo gets first ID card - late

MPs first please.

Well, we all now know what to ask any prospective MPs during the next election, "Do you have an ID card? If not, why not?"

Govt promises unemployed free laptops, net access, websites

3rd time loser?

So, what happens when the lucky unemployed person is caught downloading copyright material for the third time. Which insane government policy wins?

Google pockets half of 'unlicensed' news dollars, says study

Whinging Rupert

Just take your awful papers behind a paywall and stop complaining. If you like, I'll explain robots.txt to you for only $10,000 an hour.

Vetting database is mighty maths mess

Big Government, Big Database?

I may be misunderstanding the article (it is reporting on gov-speak after all) but why are people who pass the CRB check being put on a database? If you fail, you must already be on one of the unperson-lists, but if you pass, you are squeaky clean. As I understand it, CRB checks are not transferable, if you pass for the Scouts you still need a second check to work as a teacher, so recording a successful pass is pointless.

It's just that almost nobody is a kiddy fiddler and if almost everybody is on the good list, there will come a point where all newly detected peodos will have previously passed at least one CRB and the entire system will fall into disrepute (if it hasn't already.)

Gov targets boozers as Manc ID card scheme launches

No clue minister?

I can state for certain that exactly zero percent of the Manchester student population carry their passport when going out for a drink. Many of them will carry their Students Union card, but none need a passport. Manchester pubs and clubs have no desire to exclude students for any other reason except poor fashion sense...

Border agency to start fingerprint checks

Data leaking already?

How exactly did Meg Hillier find out the locations of people who had applied? I thought that the data was supposed to held securely.

Cartoon smut law to make life sucky for Olympic organisers

It's a bad logo anyway

I've been waiting for "the powers that be" to admit that the Olympics 2012 logo was just a place holder until they could come up with something better. Here's a perfect excuse.

Half of Sony tellies to go 3D by 2013, says exec

Why?

3D isn't the same as sound or colour. We only see the very near world in 3D, everything else is 2D and the brain uses other clues to judge distance.

Gov net disconnections could breach EU law

No justice here

It's all very well saying that the accused can go to law, but who can afford that route? This is how the RIAA/MPIAA operate, they accuse and then offer a cheaper option of a "fine". Most people can't afford to go to court and just admit "guilt" to avoid a multi-million dollar judgement.

That ain't justice.

Kent Police exceeded powers in too-tall photographer case

Constable Savage

S: (in a slow and somewhat stupid voice) Which charges do you mean then, sir?

O: Well, for instance, this one: loitering with intent to use a pedestrian crossing. Savage, maybe you’re not aware of this, but it is not illegal to use a pedestrian crossing. Neither is smelling of foreign food an offence.

S: You’re sure, sir?

O: Also there is no law against urinating in a public convenience or coughing without due care and attention.

S: If you say so, sir.

O: Yes, I do say so, Savage! Didn’t they teach you anything at training school?

S: I’m sorry, sir.

O: Some of these cases are plain stupid: looking at me in a funny way … Is this some kind of joke, Savage?

S: No, sir.

O: And we have some more here: walking on the cracks in the pavement, walking in a loud shirt in a built-up area during the hours of darkness and walking around with an offensive wife. In short, Savage, in the space of one month you’ve brought 117 ridiculous, trumped-up and ludicrous charges.

You all though that was just a funny sketch from Not the Nine O'Clock News. It turns out to be a remarkable far-sighted prediction of the future.

UK.gov rejects calls to open up on ContactPoint security

Security via government denial?

The security situation must be really bad for the government to be so paranoid.

BTW, The icon should be moved to the almost empty left hand column.

Manchester united against ID cards, ID minister finds

Not even MPs sign up

The BBC is reporting that less than 600 people are in the database. That means, not only has Manchester ignored the extensive (sic) publicity, but not even MPs are signed up.

BTW, the only publicity I've seen was a single, full page ad in the Metro newspaper and a little coverage on the local TV news, where they didn't even give the URL for the web site.

Gov advisers slate Home Office over innocents' DNA retention

Shocked!

I'm shocked, shocked I tell you to discover that MPs and other members of the government have not queued up at their local police stations demanding to be added to the DNA database. After all, if they have nothing to hide...

...Oh, now I understand.

eBooks: What to read on which reader

Dead technology walking?

This really feels like a discussion of which slide rule is best. Five years ago, the idea of a stand alone ebook reader might have made sense. Today it doesn't.

Whether or not Apple ever releases a tablet computer, someone will and to all the commentators surprise it will be a success (just like they all got it wrong about netbooks.)

Right now, the only problem is the display but OLED technology is developing fast and low power colour displays will be available soon.

If I'm going to carry something the size of a paperback book, it better do a lot more than just act as an ebook reader.

Triumph in Geneva! LHC beams up and running again

Not a real test yet.

So far, the EVIL LEVEL knob is only set to 1. Only when EVIL LEVEL is turned to 5 or 6 will there be the possibility of opening a portal to hell. To destroy the earth the EVIL LEVEL knob must be turned to 10 or, gasp!, 11...

Vampires not good role models for Catholics, declares Vatican

Do something useful

Why can't they condemn something like Xfactor and save lives?

Filesharing laws to hit websites and newsgroups too

Copyright now just for the rich?

I wonder if Mandy has actually read the copyright laws? This posting has an associated copyright, but by posting it, I implicitly allow re-distribution. The copyright doesn't disappear. So, who is protecting my rights? I can't afford to wine&dine Mandy on my private motor cruiser while explaining why my copyright needs are important.

Are we getting to a situation where an organisation like the Performing Rights Society gets heavy handed with shops and pubs even when they are playing music from people and groups who are NOT represented by the PRS?

Santa menaced by sex offender postie

Sad jobsworths

So it was impossible for the letters to be double checked before being sent out?

Ofcom talks to spook firm on filesharing snoop plan

Does not compute

Still no explanation how this silly idea will work with encryption?

V-22 Osprey, stealth jumpjet 'need refrigerated landing pads'

A real problem?

NASA have had the same problem for years when they light up one of their sky rockets. A big hole in the ground and f'ing big water pumps seems to work. Might need a bit of adaptation for a ship...

As for "hard" marines, I doubt they would last a winters day in Newcastle in the national dress of t-shirt and shorts.

UK.gov hoovers up data on five-year-olds

small paranoia

I for one welcome this - those little terrorists could have infiltrated every primary school in the country for all we know.

Mancunians finally get to open bank accounts, go to Europe

No obvious presence

On the TV this morning they said there would be booths in Piccadilly Gardens and Manchester Airport where the hard of thinking could sign up.

I pass through Piccadilly Gardens every day. Today, there was no sign of a booth, nor crowds of eager sheep.

Border guards get first dozen ID card readers

Simple Maths

17% of 12,000 is... wait for it... 2,040.

About 2,000 people in Gtr. Manchester applied. First we remove one or two for every newspaper, radio and TV station. Next remove a few for every national newspaper, radio and TV station that has staff in the area. Next remove a few for lawyers interested in human rights etc. There is a very large student population in the area (three universities in central Manchester and many more colleges.) At least a few staff and students will be interested in the reality of ID Cards - perhaps there are a few doctoral thesis being written.

So perhaps 1,000 to 1,500 cards to the general public. Not bad given zero advertising and the difficulty of finding the relevant web page.

Total f'ing failure for the government of course.

UK.gov denies innocent will be hit by filesharing regime

How?

Exactly how will Big Brother recognise copyright material that does not have a free to distribute clause?

Exactly how will Big Brother perform "deep packet inspection" of encrypted data?

Brown's Building Britain website fail

Still waiting

Did the MyLifeMyID report ever get published?

BT Tower restaurant reborn for Olympics

Nice view?

Put an anti-aircraft system on the top of the tower and it could cover all of London...

Now, what shall we do to cover the necessary work? I know, let's re-open the restaurant.

Scientists flee Home Office after adviser sacking

Government playing politics with lives

It's the government that is playing politics, not the scientist. If they had just said, "Thank you for the science.", and left it at that there would not be a problem. But to explicitly state that ecstasy and pot are as bad as actual harmful drugs and change the law to agree with that lie is very wrong.

The minister could easily have said that social factors (The Mail headlines) and politics (voter opinions) were more important than the science and everybody would have just known it was the usual spin.

Brit space agency to probe 'crackpot' antigravity device

On and on and on and on and...

Sounds like an electronic version of the "Dean Drive".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dean_drive

That didn't work either.

Watford council punts parents from playground

Start with the *cause* of children

yet they let just anybody get pregnant....

ID Card scheme banking on 28 million volunteers

Really bad promotion?

The Home Office web pages STILL do not have any useful info about the trial in Greater Manchester. The best you can do is "register an interest". However, if you do that, your information is "shared" with a company called "Rufus Leonard" who is apparently some kind of "brand & digital media consultancy".

An interesting security strategy, share personal info with a 3rd party from the very start.

Anti-filesharing laws revive crypto fears for spooks

Encrypt everything by default

With modern server hardware there is no reason not to use https for everything after the initial connection.

Aussie censor wants power to ban iPhone apps

Why bother?

Has any of this censorship actually prevented the games from being available - bootleg copies passed around in the school yard for example?

Microsoft thinks it can sell one copy of Windows 7 for every four people

Too much for too little

For what is essentially a Vista bug fix and UI cleanup Win7 is very expensive.

Windows 7 - the Reg reader verdict

Damned with faint praise?

Possibly the best I can say is, It Doesn't Suck.

OTOH, I won't be migrating to Win7 any time soon. It's too expensive and doesn't offer anything other than a cleaned up user interface.

GCHQ outsources net snooping... to EDS

forget, history, repeat

EDS isn't one of the "usual suspects" for nothing.

I was once told by someone involved in such corporate matters that the reason why the usual suspects keep getting these contracts despite prior disasters is that only the biggest companies can afford to bid for the contracts. The process is so complex that a company may end up spending millions just to prepare the bid documents.