Posts by JMB

Times websites want £1 a day from June

Murdoch charges

I notice The Sun has an article by John Humphries this morning supporting charging for access to online newspapers. Presumably there will be more articles like that in the Murdoch newspapers, all supporting the charges.

Foreign Office changes tourist advice after Israeli inquiry

Israel

And MOSSAD won't be able to make a copy of a biometric passport?

With the people concerned all apparently living in Israel and so supporters of the Israeli regime I keep wondering if any were approached through intermediaries and allowed the copying of their passports?

BT ordered to share telegraph poles for fast broadband

Poles

Does it work both ways, do the companies have to give BT access to their fibre and any ducts they have?

BAA poo-poos Bollywood star's pervscan printout put-on

PERVSCAN

What worries me most about these is that they generate a false sense of security. It has been said that they would not have detected the recent case of explosive hidden in underpants.

It is always dangerous when the authorities put too much faith in technological solutions to problems like this rather like the dodgy bomb detectors sold to the Iraqi police.

PERVSCAN

I did not find his story very convincing.

But wasn't there a report a few weeks ago (on The Register?) which said they had a training mode where the image could be saved or sent to a remote terminal.

I also think one interview about them said the operator could send the image to someone else if he saw something suspicious. That seems a very basic function to have available.

It is obvious that if they see someone with something hidden then they are going to want an image saved - imagine a suicide bomber who detonated the bomb after it was seen then surely they would want an image saved?

I think the authorities are trying to be economical with the truth about these machines.

I think we can be sure that the paparazzi are going to get hold of images of celebrities in these machines eventually.

Save DAB! Send FM radios to Africa

DAB

"Plus there are still articfial restrictions such as only allowing people to slect 10 dab presets on portables,"

And how many FM radios have more than 10 presets?

Why do you need more than 10 presets?

Teletext toddles off as licence taken

Teletext toddles off as licence taken

It is still running in the STV area but just about all adverts and many of the page links are dead.

I hardly ever used ITV's teletext service because there always were too many adverts but always liked CEEFAX. I had first heard about many news stories from the CEEFAX Newsflash on Page 150. I don't think the digital service has any equivalent, you either watch a programme or the news. That is supposedly progress.

Does anyone remember the early days of CEEFAX with row by row live coverage of the Henley Regatta - IN-OUT-IN-OUT-IN....

And of course TeleKnitware that linked direct to your knitting machine.

CEEFAX art with a black cat down a coal mine.

Full-body scanner blind to bomb parts

Full-body scanner blind to bomb parts

How long before they decide that monitored CCTV cameras are needed in aircraft and airport toilets because that is the one place that someone can assemble their bomb without being seen.

Car-stopping electropulse cannon to demo 'next month'

(untitled)

Might be interesting to see used on speed cameras and Talivans :=)

McKinnon: The longest ever game of pass the parcel

After eight years, the music may finally be stopping

Is it not just Labour has not the courage to tell the Americans to get stuffed and either drop charges or have him tried in the UK but they do not want to risk sending him to the US and getting a long sentence or even worse committing suicide. So they drag it out until after the election then it is the Conservative's problem.

Brown offers free laptops to deprived UK schoolkids

Brown offers free laptops to deprived UK schoolkids

Wasn't there an experiment years ago in Scotland where computers were given away with Internet access to people in a council estate and most disappeared (i.e. sold) quite quickly.

What is the betting that these households that cannot afford computers for their children will have large screen TV and paying Murdoch large sums for access to all the Sky channels?

What happens if it is claimed the computer has been lost, do they just give another one away?

It seems a typical ZanuLab crackpot scheme to get a few headlines.

Bono accuses ISPs of 'reverse Robin Hooding' over piracy

Bonio accuses ISPs of 'reverse Robin Hooding' over piracy

Presumably multi-millionaire alleged musician and expert on everything Bonio is in favour of all of us who have never downloaded a piece of music, legally or illegally, to pay the government tax on our ISP charges to make him even richer?

ISPs slam Digital Economy Bill's multi-million pound price tag

ISPs slam Digital Economy Bill's multi-million pound price tag

I wonder if the music industry would be as keen on this if it was financed by a tax on the music industry rather all the innocent users of the Internet.

Lawyers scared of computers

Data protection

We need higher penalties for breaches of the Data Protection laws but also penalties for using "Data Protection" as an excuse to conceal things. The person should be required to explain how the Data Protection Act prevents it and if they are lying then they should be fined.

Tiny TV could make billions for FCC

Tiny TV could make billions for FCC

It is not quite the same as the UK, we are getting relay stations carrying DTT but the higher power sites are still needed to provide a feed for many of these relay stations and also people in remote areas not fed by a relay station.

It is possible to use lots of small sites in urban areas but not feasible for scattered rural communities.

The big problem in the US is that you have lots of small TV stations all competing with each other. It might be difficult to get them to cooperate to install a large network where every station is received equally in the area. There were similar objections to using a digital radio system like DAB where a number of different stations share one transmitter and are all the same at the receiver.

Top cop's 'stop stopping snappers' memo: Too little too late?

ACPO plc

ACPO have been setting police policy for years and often profiting from the policies.

Durham police demonstrate DNA will stuff you

A little knowledge is a dangerous thing

This seems a good example of a little knowledge being a dangerous thing. The police seem to have little knowledge of chemistry but think they are experts.

"If the police have to test something to show it is safe, then maybe they should arrest everyone and then just release the innocent!"

In discussions and interview over topics like the police retaining DNA of innocent people it has obvious that they do not understand the concept of being innocent. As far as the police are concerned no one is innocent (except themselves of course) just not been convicted of anything yet.

Royal Mail promises 2nd class service on postcode data

Poscodes

If the Post Office claim they "own" postcodes then perhaps everyone should stop using them on letters. It would dramatically increase the amount of work in the sorting offices.

Bonuses all round for failing Border Agency

Bonuses all round for failing Border Agency

The interview of some government muppet by John Humphries this morning was funny. He kept saying how they had worked hard and deserved their bonus. John Humphries kept responding with "so they have done the job they are paid for so why do they need they paying extra?".

As usual it is just the senior people who are considered hard enough to get £10,000 bonuses, not the people doing the actual real hard work in unpleasant and possibly dangerous circumstances.

They just don't understand why people are so angry about automatic bonuses to senior staff.

MB

Generators and UPS fail in London datacentre outage

Backup power systems

One problem is that people are often reluctant to test them fully in case they don't work!

One way to do it properly is to pull the breaker on the incoming mains supplies.

Kent Police exceeded powers in too-tall photographer case

Kent plod

There were reports at the beginning of the week about the police using the charge of "joint enterprise" against people who saw a crime take place but took no action to stop it.

Does this mean that any other police officers who saw this unlawful act take place are guilty of Joint Enterprise because they took no action to stop it and should be charged along with those that illegally detained him?

Police Intelligence may be a thing of the past

ACPO

I am uncomfortable with the amount of influence that ACPO has in areas like this. It seems to be a cross between a trade union and a very lucrative commercial operation yet is allowed to decide policing policy and seemingly organise things like those described here.

Gov advisers slate Home Office over innocents' DNA retention

DNA

"- All police officers should have their own DNA collected as a condition of employment"

Does that mean that they are not already required to give a sample of DNA? I would have thought they would need to in case they contaminated the scene of a crime. But if they don;t then it makes a mockery of the statement we keep hearing about having nothing to fear if you are innocent.

T

IDC Ecco Personal

GPS

I use a Holux GPSport 245 which I am sure is as small as that and has longer battery life. I use it to log my track for long periods then synchronise with any photographs taken and add the Lat/Long to the file for future reference. But a location can be saved and it will point towards that location.

http://www.holux.com/JCore/en/products/products_content.jsp?pno=349

Channel 4 to become Channel 3D tonight

Sainsburys

So no 3D for the Scottish Highlands and Islands because no Sainsbury stores North of Central Scotland and Aberdeen

Elgato DTT Deluxe

Elgato DTT Deluxe world's smallest USB TV tuner

With devices like this and WiFi dongles, I keep wondering why no one puts a USB socket at the top of a laptop's screen. It would be the ideal location for anything with an aerial.

One in three kids believe Google measures truthiness

Google

You and Yours (I think) did an item on scammers advertising concert tickets. One person caught out said he put the name of the group into Google and used the first name on the list of matches because he thought that would genuine.

I would thought everyone would have learnt to ignore the first few Google matches!

MB

Cambridgeshire cops get coy with FOI

Plod

"if criminals are able to determine which authorities are less efficient at responding to certain types of crime, they might move their activities to those police areas."

Is this why there is so much crime in London?

Microsoft Security Essentials shakes up consumer antivirus

OEM

It would be good if it was ready installed machines when bought.

Many have MacAfee or Norton but only a few month free trial, I suspect many never register them so have very out of date protection on their machines. The more PCs with uptodate protection around the better.

Packing heat gets you shot, say profs

Guns

Has any of the random shootings at schools etc ever been prevented by someone carrying a gun?

North Wales Police institute new happiness law

Police steal camera

Surely the photographer would not have been aware that it was a firearms vehicle if they had not told him, it would just be a picture of a police car? If anyone is endangering their safety it is the plod who identified it as a firearms vehicle.

Home Office foot-dragging exposes ACPO to criticism

ACPO

Wasn't it also disclosed earlier this year or last year that ACPO is quite a profitable organisation.

Weren't they charging exorbitant rates for checking criminal records for people applying for US Visas or something like that. I think they were also profiting from some road penalties - driving courses for people charged with speeding perhaps?

Campaign for official Turing apology gathers steam

Turing

I would prefer that the other people working at Bletchley Park are recognised more.

Many people seem to believe that Turing single handed cracked all the German codes.

Very few of the others (if any) have statues and streets named after them.

Oppressed snappers focus on police in London and Chatham

Comments on: Oppressed snappers focus on police in London and Chatham

Senior police officers seem to be as keen on promoting themselves as much as politicians so the media should comply with the law and put a black bar to obscure the face of any police officer shown in a picture or interview (better still a "clown face"). Local papers should do the same for the supposedly friendly neighbourhood "bobby" who will appear regularly in their pages.

Met amends journo photo guidance to prevent interference

Met amends journo photo guidance to prevent interference

Perhaps lots of FOIA requests are needed to other police forces to see if they have issued the same or similar instructions. Though I suspect that it will continue with the average plod on the streets having no idea what his powers and limitations are.

Vetting database shows suspicion and spying are the new trust

Vetting database shows suspicion and spying are the new trust

There was an item on Radio 4 at the weekend about how the police can send a letter to the manager of the company requesting a CRB check. This can just say that they have reasons to reject the person without giving any details and he is not allowed to tell the applicant about the letter. It cannot be challenged because the applicant is not aware of it so there is no appeals procedure against it.

Oxfordshire reveals ANPR traffic camera sites

ANPR

How long before the police get access to the data from the council ANPR cameras?

Too-tall terror snapper stopped by cops again

Kent Keystone Cops

"I would have thought the police would have learnt from the first time around that it's a bit of a PR disaster to arrest someone just taking pictures."

You would think that any police officer with half a brain would realise that the continued removal of identification numbers is also a PR disaster but there have been reports that it is continuing to happen so it must be being condoned or even encouraged by senior officers and the Home Office.

I have never cease to be amazed at the efforts of the British police to completely alienate most of the British public.

Kent plod

I hope that Kent Police will be prosecuting the people behind this website which shows photographs of Kent police officers without blanking out their faces. Must be an aid to terrorists.

http://www.kent.police.uk/News/Events/Events.html

http://www.kent.police.uk/News/Latest_News/Forecourt%20Watch%20scheme.html

Vodafone and T-Mobile: 1800MHz bad, 900MHz good

T-mobile coverage

Surprised that you think T-Mobile coverage is good in the Highlands and Islands. Just had a look at their map, there seems to no coverage on the A82 up over Glencoe whereas Vodafone and O2 have complete coverage over the route from what I remember. Other routes are similarly not covered.

They might have coverage in most larger towns but a lot of gaps in between.

Some years ago the company that I worked for put all the company mobile phones on T-Mobile, we protested because the coverage was so poor and kept our existing phones on Vodafone.

Riot police raid birthday barbecue for 'all-night' Facebook tag

‘Riot police raid birthday barbecue for 'all-night' Facebook tag’

I wonder if these brave plod will feature on Police Camera Action?

The £200 sounds like vague figure made up so it does not sound as if too much money had been wasted. If it had been a real rave then they would have claimed it cost tens of thousands of pounds to deploy the helicopter.

The all night parties celebrating when Gordon Broon gets voted out of Downing Street will have to be careful they do not get raided by the Keystone Cops.

Would you leave your child alone with a cabinet minister?

Would you leave your child alone with a cabinet minister?

Interesting comment on the press. Local reporters and photographers must often visit their local schools but also other reporters and photographers frequently congregate around the gates of schools if it is vaguely connected with something in the news. A good case could be made for all of them to also vetted.

I had heard comments from people that they have had to have a separate CRB check for each charity that they done work for so I was surprised that the authors are not required to do the same for each school visited.

How does the school check that the person has been vetted? Do they just consult a list or do they have to carry a permit around? If just a list then the paedophile would just need to adopt a similar name to someone already vetted.

The whole scheme just sounds like a money makiong operation for the Quango (and the Chancellor).

Kent Police clamp down on tall photographers

You can't win

You seem to repeatedly hear of cases where someone was not required to give his personal details but in not doing so was considered suspicious and so arrested.

US starts emergency radio tests

US starts emergency radio tests

It reminiscent of all the hype when AIRWAVE was forced on the Uk emergency services, "all emergency services must be able to talk to each other". I am very tempted to do a FOIA request when eventually all the UK emergency services are on AIRWAVE (as expected it is years behind schedule). Each one has their own command and control so they rarely have to speak to each other directly, they all carry mobile phones if it is absolutely necessary.

It is not impossible to interconnect different networks anyway - the telephone companies have been managing for years (you don't hear calls for all the emergency services to be on the same mobile phone network so they can speak to each other).

The UK is heading fast for a "all eggs in one basket" situation where every emergency service as well as Emergency Planning, some parts of the armed services etc will be on the one network. It is claimed to be resilient but I have my doubts.

Spanish court in favour of topless celebs

Spanish court in favour of topless celebs

I get the impression that some celebrities now just accept they will be photographed and don't make a fuss about it.

Google crossbreeds search with spreadsheet

Google

Google develops nice advanced search techniques then clutters up the matches with commercial sites, the biggest problem is filtering them all out.

Asda clamps down on killer teaspoons

Stupid supermarkets

Is there any item on sale in a supermarket that has not been used to kill someone at some time?

Someone has probable been killed by having a till thrown at them so should they allow underage staff to use the till without supervision?

UK spectrum map uncovers mysterious emissions in Cumbria

OFCOM

I thought OFCOM had a remotely controlled monitoring network that was used for spectrum surveillance? It is not as comprehensive as vehicle driving around but would have thought they had got some useful data from that.

Then their is other RF surveillance network that is said to have been installed.

Be funny if the videosender was being used by the police to spy on someone!

Can you talk and drive?

Talk and drive

If it is so dangerous then why do the police allow single-crewed police vehicles use their radios (often almost identical to mobile phones) and use a host of electronic gadgets whilst driving?

Jacqui's secret plan to 'Master the Internet'

MTI

The ZanuLab muppets will justify it in the name of fighting terrorism though I suspect that with this government that it would be used more to track opponents of the government.

I wonder what they would have said in the days of the IRA if a Conservative government set up a project where all letters were routed through a central point where they were opened and the contents photocopied or scanned or perhaps a ban on sealing envelopes.

MB