Posts by Pascal Monett

Gamers! Ransomware will scramble your save files unless you cough up $1,000

Steam ? Not a problem.

Anyone who actually uses Steam knows that all you have to do to regain your library is reinstall Steam and logon with your password.

Steam is reliable. Steam does not care about your hard disk, your graphics card or your CPU. You can log on to your own account from any computer or tablet that can run Steam - as long as you have your password, you have access to all your games.

You can upgrade your PC, you can install Steam on a brand-new HDD, you can even copy your existing Steam directory on a different PC - the only thing that counts is that you log on with your ID and password.

If Steam is the only problem for someone, then it is no problem. Reformat your disk, reinstall the OS, install Steam and log on. Fuck those scumbags.

Cyanogen said to be hoovering up cash, but NOT from Microsoft

Re: They're evil, not stupid

Um, we're talking about Microsoft, not Google.

Microsoft has demonstrated that it is stupidly evil. Microsoft has failed in practically everything it has tried outside of Windows and Office, but it has not been capable of gathering a micro percent of what Google has got on everyone while pretending to "Do No Evil".

So, as far as evil is concerned, Microsoft urgently needs to participate in Google seminars on "How To Become An Evil Genius", because one thing is certain : Microsoft has lost the crown in that area.

This isn't the one-stop EU data protection you're looking for

Typical politicos

Announce a broad, all-encompassing law, and then immediately start poking holes in it to take into account everything and the kitchen sink.

Instead of analyzing the issue thoroughly before providing a review of possibilities to be approved at national level in order to proceed with caution and not leave open the possibility of saddling a solution with a cargo of exceptions.

But I believe the latter requires actual work, whereas the former only needs lobbying.

Ban Minecraft? That's jive, Turkey!

Re: it encourages the raising of pigs for food

It does not encourage the raising of pigs. You can raise cows or chickens just as easily. There is no in-game bonus for raising pigs.

And, if you think about it, cows give meat and skins, chickens give meat and feathers, whereas pigs only give meat.

So, on a per-effort basis, there is no encouragement to raise pigs, it's quite the opposite.

But hey, they're in the game, that's for sure.

One does not simply ask the inventor of the WWW what he thinks about memes

Cats

There is obviously nothing to say against cats.

And anyone who says otherwise will have their curtains shredded.

Can we have a cat icon ?

MPs 'alarmed' by millions of mugshots on Brit cops' databases

Re: safeguards could be put in place

Safeguards are in place, but total surveillance just runs roughshod over them.

But hey, as long as you can get your toaster back, everything's all right, right ?

Wrong.

What you don't understand is that dictatorships always thrive on surveillance. Fidel Castro held Cuba in his hands because every other citizen was an informer. Imagine what a newly-minted dictator would get with a country under 24/7 observation.

Creating the means to detect any dissent is logically followed by the desire to quell that dissent. And you know what they say about absolute power . . .

But it looks like you're going to just have to find out the hard way.

Re: tell me what the fucking problem is

The fucking problem is not that state surveillance could keep criminals in check. London is the most watched city in the world and I don't recall reading that crime has vanished.

The problem is that, in a surveillance society, it is the watchers who decide what is a crime. It is their interpretation of events that counts. The problem is that what you think is legal, honest citizen behavior today could well be criminalized tomorrow and you'll only learn about it when the police lorry stops next to you and you're whisked off, never to reappear.

The right to privacy is what is keeping our society from becoming a civilization of oppressed individuals. It is your conviction that the police have to prove your wrongdoing before convicting you that gives you your peace of mind and ability to function as a valuable part of society.

With state surveillance, everyone becomes closed in, anyone who is taken is by default judged guilty, and people who think otherwise shut up for fear of being taken themselves.

Is that really the society you are defending ? If so, why are you not working for the NSA ? Maybe you are.

Linux kernel devs adopt Bill and Ted's excellent code of conduct

Every time I have read about Linus addressing mails to someone before, it was for his absolutely unacceptable attitude as far as professional communication is concerned.

It would appear that some of his fans here do not accept that, but it remains that he seriously needs to change his ways when addressing people who might have made mistakes or done something he considers as a mistake. If this publication is a step in that direction, then good for everyone, but nobody can deny that a step needs to be taken.

Begging your pardon, but I do not where the withering attack on his intelligence is. Nor do I see any overt contempt of coding skills. Finally, there is no invitation to become a pizza deliverer.

I agree that it is something that Linus acknowledges an error, but he does so with a lot less flame and brimstone than he gives others, which tells me that if he had taken that approach to criticizing other people's contributions, we wouldn't even be reading this article.

Good show Linus, you've proven that you know how to behave civilly. Now do that with other people and you're golden.

We have no self-control: America's most powerful men explain why they're scared of email

Re: you tend to mentally compose yourself properly

That sentence presupposes that there is a mind to compose.

Given some of the tweets I have read, that does not always seem to be the case.

Re: That's becoming less and less common over the years

Really ?

Care to source that ?

Personally, I would very much prefer that a prominent politician spend his time on his job rather than on Twitter.

Unfortunately, I do acknowledge that it would seem that, for many politicians today, they believe that maintaining their image is their job.

@Graham

It certainly means that he didn't read it, and '"Apologist for the powered ruling elite" means that he thinks they run on batteries, apparently.

Sleepy eNom bombs websites in HUGE DNS OUTAGE – remains silent despite gripes

The estimate for the fix . . .

Is as soon as the NSA is done rooting their servers.

Revealed: Facebook Boss Zuckerberg's One Weird Trick When Hiring

Admiring a sociopath only reinforces the sociopath's belief that he is right to be a sociopath.

Super SSD tech: Fancy a bonkers 8TB all-flash PC?

8TB of flash memory, impressive

My associate was really gung-ho about SSDs. He chided me when we chose our new laptops because I wanted the 500GB spinning rust while he took the 250GB SSD.

He was really happy about the speed of laptop - right until the drive failed and he lost everything on it.

Of course, there was backup of the most important stuff, so he didn't really lose anything more than a day's work on a certain project, but I shudder to imagine the impact of the failure of an 8TB drive.

Would you trust 'spyproof' mobes made in Putin's Russia?

Thanks for the info, Matt. That was quite an interesting read.

Re: "you can generally trust your government to do what you voted them in to do"

Yeah, sure. Because Presidents always do what they promised they would.

I'll have a round of whatever it is you're taking.

Seriously, I've been following politics for the past 30 years. The conclusion that I have come to is that it doesn't matter who you vote for. In the best case, you get a politician that doesn't screw up the economy. In the worst case, well, you get Dubya.

The rest all depends on the economy, and the economy is every one of us. So, in the end, it's up to us to get out of a crisis, no matter what a government says.

The car in front has Kaspersky deep inside

"separate the safety-critical subsystems from infotainment components in cars"

Can that not be more securely done by putting them on different physical networks ?

Is that so hard ?

Seagate NAS owners: hide it behind a firewall. Fast.

There's a lot wrong with that. It has been demonstrated over and over again that the public is just not aware of the importance of security measures. Making software updates for your kit is of no use if your customers never apply them.

Kit made to connect to a network must include security by default, because you cannot count on a customer to do it right. As far as security is concerned, the public must be considered as not being able to program their VCR (and yes, I know they probably don't have one anymore, but I think the comparison stands).

Phabba-dabba-do: Samsung hypes up Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge

You can have my S3 when you pry it from my cold, dead fingers.

I have absolutely no need for a slimmer phone, nor do I want the latest fad. I don't spend my time on it, I spend my time developing on PC.

When 4G is actually available in places I go and worth it, I'll mull over the question of replacing this one. Until then, no battery replacement is a deal breaker as far as I'm concerned.

In Barcelona, no one can hear you scream ... HTC, Valve unleash Giger-inspired VR headgear

"Sony isn't really Sony as much as it used to be"

Good. About time their rootkitting, awful, privacy-invading, PC-crashing hardware division burned to the ground. And putting Java into a bloody thing made for watching movies was the absolute worst idea anyone has ever had in the history of entertainment.

I will never buy another piece of Sony hardware again, period.

So I'm not at all unhappy that Sony keeps to films. That, at least, will not be rooted - for the time being.

BOFFINS: Oxygen-free, methane-based ALIENS may EXIST on icy SATURN moon Titan

"a colourless, poisonous, liquid organic compound"

So, acid for blood then ?

If we set foot on that moon, we're screwed.

Elon Musk plans to plonk urban Hyperloop subsonic tube on California

Or a sausage grinder !

WANTED: A plan to DESTROY metadata, not just retain it

Counterpoint :

The daughter that lives abroad now might come back at some point, either permanently or just visiting, and be happy to find that her account is still available and her brownie points still recorded. Of course, finding out that her account expired after a given period is not too much of a heartbreaker either.

The fact that her address is wrong is irrelevant - it shouldn't even be in there anyway. Are they going to mail her something ? Send goods via post ? Don't think so, so it is not pertinent data.

EU governments are CRAP at cloud, moans Brussels' infosec watchdog

Why would a GOVERNMENT need a Cloud policy ?

The Cloud is something that might be useful for companies, internally or as a platform for services, or for individuals as a storage location available to them from anywhere.

Both of these entities have one thing in common : they have no need to compile data concerning an entire population on a daily basis. Not talking about state surveillance, just the boring stuff like tax returns and administrative filing. That is the kind of stuff governments do, and they're already doing it.

That means that the government already has its servers in place, its comm lines working and, hopefully, proper physical security about the premises. This data is being accrued most likely via the Internet already, and, if I refer to my own country, citizens can already access their own data via a secure portal.

What would be the advantage of moving to "the cloud" in this case ? Nil. What would be the disadvantage ? Probably too many to count, but the first one on my list would be putting citizen data into the hands of a 3rd party that is not answerable to the citizens.

I will not accept that move with my personal administrative data.

TalkTalk 'fesses up to MEGA data breach

Re: Again!

Sorry, but that does not feel enough for me.

Personally, I think that any company that has not been diligent in the protection of my personal data should see its CEO go to jail and its board fined on their personal fortune.

If it impacts me personally, I see no reason why it should not impact them personally.

Watch: FIRE-SPITTING time-lapse images of Sol showcase NASA's sun-gazing highs

THAT !

It's the screensaver I want.

'We have NO IDEA who put those ads on our TVs', Sammy simpers

It's not everything we try to keep private, it's everything we have a right to keep private.

There is a big difference between the two.

'Come on, everyone – block US govt staff ogling web smut at work'

Thrust, urge, stiffen, orgy

I'm sure those terms were chosen exclusively because they fit the editorial line on the subject matter, eh ? (nudge, nudge, wink, wink).

But more seriously, the day that anyone finds the way to "prohibit the access of a pornographic or other explicit web site" without impacting any other sort of material is the day we have finally found a functioning AI.

Won't happen tomorrow.

Accused Goldman Sachs code pilferer sues FBI for 'wrongful arrest'

Goldman Sachs is a scientific institute now ?

Or do they think that their specific formulas for massaging numbers to demonstrate their wishful thinking qualifies as science ?

Ex-NASA boffin dreams of PREDATOR-ish tech in humble microwaves

"browsing the internet while you wait"

Yeah, like I don't already have a tablet that can do that.

Can we stop trying to find stupid excuses to wire everything up to the Internet ?

Not really

Given that the NSA is hoovering up everything first, then applying analysis to it, the comment stands.

Evolve: A shoot-em-up full of scary monsters and super creeps

A rare kind of game, really ?

"Turtle Rock's title is a rare kind of game, in that it's entirely reliant upon other players for it to be a worthwhile experience."

Oh, so it's just like Call of Duty Online, every Battlefield since number 3, and just about every multiplayer shooter that is being made since five years ago.

Yup, sounds very rare. Especially since the single-player titles are something that have practically gone extinct since Y2K.

Could we please cut the marketing drivel ?

Show me the money, America! It's time to learn how to pronounce 'Xiaomi'

Given that everything is now produced either in China or in some geographically close country, you can take you 1970's dogma and put it back in the folder marked "Obsolete".

If we had to rely on things produced in the Northern Hemisphere, we'd have trouble getting things more technologically advanced than forks & knives.

ATTENTION SETI scientists! It's TOO LATE: ALIENS will ATTACK in 2049

It is a totally obsolete notion in the Age Of Internet.

Except for those numpties who try to discover where any US Fleet is at any given moment. They then get the immense privilege of discovering the notions of Security and Obscurity in one fell swoop of an FBI van.

Re: Why is the assumption that whatever is out there is hostile

Because of two simple facts :

1) any race that has developed itself to be space-worthy has first had to establish itself as the ultimate predator in its own native environment. You can't build a spaceship if you fear being eaten by whatever tiger it is you have there.

2) any race that is space-worthy has to have a bureaucracy which has to justify its existence in difficult economic times - thus an invasion will inevitably be a wonderful economic opportunity, for them.

UN negotiations menaced by topless women. Or not

I wonder what it is like in Belarussia

Clearly they seem to have a lot of fun over there.

Unless, of course, said topless ladies are all over sixty, in which case - yes, what a frightening prospect.

Re: What idiots

Not at all. These are the people making noise about arms control.

The people deciding the issue are in weapons manufacturers boardrooms, dressed in suits and very serious about their job.

When they have made up their minds, they will tell the people who make noise which way to make noise.

TITANIC: Nuclear SUBMARINE cruising 'Sea of KRAKENS' may be FOUND ON icy MOON

Re: space plane

Probably because they are actual scientists and are also taking into account mission mass and total cost issues as well as point-of-failure problems.

Adding a space plane will add mass that will increase the payload to chuck out of Earth orbit thus increasing cost. Additionally, it will increase the amount of mass to move to Titan, thus increasing the amount of fuel needed to push it, thus increasing payload even more, which increases cost. Finally, adding another element with another set of possible failure options that are extremely difficult to mitigate from a billion miles away and can totally render the entire mission useless is a risk that most true scientists, fully aware of how little money they are being allotted to work their magic, will most likely prefer to avoid.

Biter bitten as hacker leaks source code for popular exploit kit

Is this good news ?

I'm sure I'm all that reassured about this leak. Does this mean we can be confident that things are more secure, or should we consider that, now that the blackhats have dumped this tech in the open, they have better ?

On the other hand, this might actually be good news for all people looking for an excuse to avoid installing Silverlight.

Proposed US law could deal knockout blow to FBI in overseas cloud privacy ding-dongs

Re: "It's a system that protects America from their government"

Really ?

Doesn't seem to be working very well right now, does it ?

BLAME ENGINEERS: Workstation sales soar by 8.9 per cent a year

It's not just you

I'm not an engineer, just a developer, but working on 3 screens rocks. One for the specs, one for the IDE and one for visualizing results. 7 Terabytes of disk and 24GB of DDR3 RAM is nice too.

Find me a laptop that can do that . . . and I still won't buy it.

Dutch government websites KO'd by 10-hour DDoS

"Dutch MPs are not exactly known for their high inteligence..."

First of all, let me correct that for you : "Dutch MPs are not exactly known..."

Second, congratulations on having the same kind of MPs as everybody else.

It's not the cloud: The problem lies between the chair and the computer – Gartner

Whaddya mean it's not new technology ? Of course it's new technology ! There's thousands of CxOs having gone to, going to, or preparing to go to fancy seminars in tropical paradises to hear about how new it is and bring the Good Word back to their sheeple - uh, I mean, people.

World's governments emerge enraged from mounds of red tape, screaming at ICANN

after-the-fact complaint system

Yeah, because ICANN is really, really reliable where complaints are concerned. There is absolutely no example of any complaint that has not been rigorously handled and justifiably managed, no sir, cross my heart (you shut up in the back, or I will cross your domain off the Web forever).

IBM says dating apps can give you a nasty infection DOWN THERE!

"an app could gain excessive permissions"

Nonsense. Every app already demands ALL permissions to install, even if it's just a stopwatch app, so there's no "gaining" permissions needed.

'Kickass' Somali pirates get their asses kicked by Japanese ass-kickers

Nah, Duvel, Brigand and Grimbergen.

Facebook: Hey guys, come share all your securo-blunders with us!

"We are committed to protecting people's privacy"

Funny, I always have a gag reflex whenever the notion of Privacy gets anywhere near Facebook.

Now Samsung's spying smart TVs insert ADS in YOUR OWN movies

"We are aware of a situation that has caused some Smart TV users"

... have noticed that we are monitoring them. This will stop forthwith to revert to the stealth readings we were doing before until the market accepts less covert surveillance and we can carpet-bomb them with ads for 30 minutes followed by 10 minutes of whatever crap they thought they wanted to watch.

World's mega-rich tax dodge exposed: Meet the HSBC IT bloke at the heart of damning leak

"Although there are numerous legitimate reasons to have a Swiss bank account"

Bullshit.

There is only one legitimate reason to have a Swiss bank account : you are Swiss.

If you're not, you're evading taxes. Period.