Posts by Pascal Monett

Children should have separate sections in social media sites, says UK coroner

Why is age verification an invasion of privacy ?

If you want to buy alcohol, you need to adult.

If you want to enter a night club, you need to be adult.

If you want to drive a car, you need to be adult.

We have long decided that there are things children shouldn't be doing, and we have put protocols in place. Why should the Internet be any different ?

Especially since the Internet is a place where the worst of human tendancies show up.

Now, I have no idea how this should happen, but I pretty much agree it should.

Boffins propose Slinky-like robot that can build stuff in space

"the current and growing orbital ecosystem"

Which has a good chance of being wiped out by the Kessler syndrome.

As for the James Webb, it's in a Lagrange point, so largely immune to the issue and also, largely impossible to repair.

But hey, yeah, one day we'll have to know how to build in space, so might as well start thinking about it.

China dumps dud chips on Russia, Moscow media moans

It's just words

"China's oft-stated ambition to crush corruption, modernize its economy, and focus only on quality development of world-leading products"

It is high time that people understand that, until there are actions that support the words, words are just a leaf in the wind.

Cops swoop after crooks use wireless keyfob hack to steal cars

I call that a successful operation

"Those arrested apparently include the software developers, its resellers, and the car thieves who used the tool"

Well done to the police forces involved.

Good coordination, good cooperation, and the miscreants go down for the count.

Now all that is needed is for the automakers to analyse the fault and correct it.

Why am I skeptical at this point ?

Re: Security is hard!

Yeah, but we're talking about French auto makers . . .

They have enough trouble making cars that don't break down after a year.

Imagine surviving a wiper attack only for ransomware to scramble your restored files

Russia invaded Ukraine in February

We're in October, and the war is still going on.

I think it is clear than the military might of Russia is not what it used to be.

Weird robot breaks down in middle of House of Lords hearing on AI art

"how it differed from human creations"

It differs because so-called AI doesn't exist right now.

Although, for some "modern" artists, one might ask the same question.

India set to extend deadline for absurd infosec reporting requirements

Re: Give them what they want.

Nothing like swamping people in useless data to overturn reporting processes.

It reminds me of an episode of Yes Minister.

Fujitsu and Japanese Uni propose 'endorsement layer' to make the internet trustable

An endorsement layer

Endorsed by users who are "better informed".

Yeah. Like Russian hackers who want to "shape" opinion.

This may seem like a nice idea, but if you're relying on Internetizens, you haven't solved the problem, you're just compounding it.

Japan space agency blows up eight satellites aboard Epsilon rocket

Yup, space is still hard

It doesn't matter how many rockets are being made, the chance of failure is never zero.

Microsoft leaves the Office, rebrands everything as 365

"we are creating an experience"

Oh they certainly have been, and for a long while.

I'm willing to bet it's not always the one they thinking of.

Scanning phones to detect child abuse evidence is harmful, 'magical' thinking

Human rights are a fact

It is not because there are countries that do not recognize them that Human Rights do not exist.

Just like it is not because the school bully goes bullying that he is justified in doing so.

It would, of course, be nice if every country recognized the charter, but we live in an imperfect world and we have to make do with it.

It would appear that there is way too many people thinking about the kids.

Prison inmate accused of orchestrating $11M fraud using cell cellphone

Re: Why can't they solve this problem?

Why bother with the construction ?

Just plug a cell phone jammer and be done with it.

Honestly, I don't understand how jails do not take this precaution.

Inmates get a cell phone ? Fine. They shouldn't be able to call, so jammer. Job done.

You're in prison. There's no reason for you to be able to contact anyone outside of authorized channels.

Scientists model turbulence to boost space propulsion

Ah, thermodynamics

"Turbulence is notoriously difficult to model"

What do they say ? "If you think you understand thermodynamics, you don't have a clue" ?

Particle flow. Interesting idea.

Of course, all this new research is only possible because of all the servers that in The Cloud^TM these days.

So there are cases when someone else's server is useful.

Delta Air Lines throws $60m at flying taxi startup Joby Aviation

Delta has $60 million to throw away ?

That's news.

I thought airlines operated at the limit of bankruptcy.

Oh well, electrical flying taxis. A nice idea - until one falls on your head.

Intel chips in on optical modem for DARPA's 'internet of satellites'

Space-BACN

Well, sometimes they manage to acronym properly ;)

It’s 2022 and netizens are only now getting serious about cybersecurity

Well that's your problem

"anything that is discussed enough times at the dinner table eventually makes its way into the board room"

Eventually.

How reassuring.

That should probably explain all those "We take security very seriously" messages, when they don't have a fucking clue what it means.

Rookie programmer's code goes up in flames ... kind of

Re: Was the update deployed? Or not?? If so, When?

It doesn't really matter.

As we all know, as soon as you've touched a piece of code, whatever happens next is your fault.

IBM: Hey Joe, we make chips, too. How about some of 'em subsidies?

And it continues

Once again, billions of dollars are being earmarked for companies that already make tens of billions of dollars a year, while education and healthcare are left in the doldrums.

I'm starting to get fed up with that.

Amazon halts work on ‘Scout’ delivery-bot that delivered parcels no faster than humans

"fuelled by an ageing workforce"

What ?

They've got more than a billion people and they can't find a thousand youngsters to deliver packages ?

AI eye-scanner can tell whether you'll croak it from a heart attack

"reduce burden on already stretched healthcare systems"

Okay, point number one : if they're that stretched, they need better funding. Take a billion or two from the military budget, that should do the trick.

Point number two : if this tech actually works, it should be generalized and encouraged. A non-invasive, presumably quick method of determining heart risks should become a yearly check-up procedure for everyone.

I have rather high blood pressure even in the best of conditions. My doctor says that I have the heart of an ox. I wonder what my results would be.

Japan tests probe to land on Martian moon Phobos, bring a chunk of it back to Earth

Best of luck

When the celestial clock is determining your schedule, it kind of puts the word "mandatory" in a whole other context.

Former Uber CSO convicted for covering up massive 2016 data theft

Uber. Again.

The never-ending slew of scandal and misfits.

Frankly, by now, the company should be disbanded, it's management forbidden from ever managing again, and it's name buried under a ton of concrete.

IceWM reaches version 3 after a mere 25 years

Impressive

It's astonishing to read how much work is being done on a desktop environment that practically no one uses.

Hopefully, these efforts will bear fruit when Windows is finally relegated to the dustbin of history, where it belongs.

Waxworm's spit shows promise in puncturing plastic pollution

Allow me to hope that there will be a better outcome for this.

Rather than take the L, Amazon sues state that dared criticize warehouse safety

Re: Key question

Agreed.

A corporation is not a citizen, and certainly not when its bank account is in the billions.

Unfortunately, some stupid judge way back when in the Wild West decided otherwise, and here we are.

No Shangri-La for you: Top hotel chain confirms data leak

"a sophisticated threat actor"

Yes, of course.

Because any hacker that can get through your defenses has to be sophisticated.

Yeah.

VideoLAN to India: If you love FOSS so much, why have you blocked our downloads?

I use VLC

I have been for about a decade already.

I didn't even know VLC was based in my country.

Irony ?

DoJ ‘very disappointed’ with probation sentence for Capital One hacker Paige Thompson

"the sentence he imposed was based, in part, on his belief Thompson will not commit further crimes"

So, a judge with a touch of naiveté.

How touching.

India's IT services sector wants workers back in offices – but not all the new hires

"detailed how Infosys pushed back her employment by five months"

I had an offer in 2010 from a Swiss bank. They wanted to see me, but they said I had to live in Switzerland to be eligible for hire.

I live in France. At the time, my wife was a school teacher. I was supposed to uproot everything, get a house in the most expensive country in Europe, and then go through a hiring process without any guarantee of actually getting the job ?

You sign me a contract saying I will be hired when I am a Swiss resident, and I'm coming.

You leave me in doubt, you can go frack yourself. I'm not ruining my family's life on a hope.

Physics Nobel Prize in a superposition between three quantum physicists

79, 75, 77

It's called work, whippersnappers. A lifetime of it.

Kardashians they are not.

UK hits Russia with British IT services ban

"British IT services ban"

UK IT is banning services to Putin ?

Let me join the bandwagon : I am hereby banning all Russian companies from my services.

The fact that I have never provided my services to a Russian company is beside the fact.

I have banned Russia !

Yeehaw !

Don't mind Facebook, just putting its own browser in its Android app

"Meta's spokesperson observed that this is more than some rival apps allow"

Oh, so other people doing bad things is a good excuse for you to not do the right thing.

Riiiight.

UK.gov's decision on Newport Wafer Fab ownership delayed for third time

Re: The decision is obvious. Block the sale.

Yeah well, maybe vote for people who can make the obvious decision.

I'm not blaming you personally, in the last thirty years politicians have become specialized in doing whatever they fancy and voters be damned.

I'm just tired of it.

You thought you bought software – all you bought was a lie

Re: Thank you Liam

That article should become standard reading in all technical courses.

India's Mars Orbiter Mission loses contact, burns all fuel, deemed 'non-recoverable'

"a subject of great national pride"

And with good reason.

Total success on first try.

Lasted 16 times longer than planned.

Brought back priceless science data.

Kudos to everyone involved.

PostgreSQL 15 promises to ease Oracle and SQL Server migrations

Re: Age doesn't matter, stability does

Well, given the amount of large companies that are transferring their business-critical data to The Cloud^TM, I think the answer is yes.

EU semiconductor investment not nearly enough, warns chip boss

"I don't think people realize how much investment chip fabrication requires"

And I don't think people realize how much pure water the industry uses.

Not saying that we shouldn't do it, but water management should definitely be part of the equation.

Samsung’s Smart Monitor tries too hard to be clever

a low-end "smart" TV

Why on Earth would you want a "smart" TV ?

They're no better than a normal TV, and they report everything you watch to the mothership.

Fuck smart, I want dumb but efficient.

And I want my privacy.

Text-to-image models are so last month, text-to-video is here

"type a text description of a scene as input"

Oh dear God, that is so going to turn into flying penises.

And when that gets hacked, what do you do ?

Gone in a day: Ethical hackers say it would take mere hours to empty your network

"I do not blame the person who clicks in an email"

I do.

We've seen enough of this. People should know by now.

BlackCat malware lashes out at US defense IT contractor

Secrets Managers

That transmit passwords in cleartext.

Okay, it's been corrected, but why did it start that way in the first place ?

Fake vibrating teeth could make great hearing aids

It's a Monty Python-style thing.

Not indispensible.

Atos rejects bid from rival for digital, big data, security units

"The Board of Directors has therefore decocted not to proceed"

Decocted ?

That doesn't sound like a Board of Directors. That sounds like a Board of Alchemists.

Sage denies misleading customers over perpetual licensing, users not happy

"vendor says it's been 'clear' "

I'm sure it's been clear for the vendor, but given the amount of complaints, calls to salepeople and sheer to-and-fro, it's not that clear for customers.

Besides, if you state publicly that customers with a support contract have a free upgrade, then where's the problem ?

Something is not right here, and that something is simply that fact that Sage wants its customers to pay for a security upgrade that should be provided free of charge.

Bad doggie. No biscuit.

Stop us if you've heard this one before: Exchange Server zero-days actively exploited

"adopting zero-trust principles for connections to the product"

That's a very good idea, because I have zero trust in Exchange.

Astroboffins present fresh evidence of moving liquid water on Mars

"The team believes Mars must still be geothermically active"

Mars is tectonically dead. It has no magnetic field, which means its core is not moving any more.

Granted, the sheer volume of material is going to take an undetermined amount of time to cool off, but if the core was that hot, the ice would have melted.

There may well be a point below the surface where the core can agreeably heat an underground dwelling, but I fail to see how that can impact subsurface ice.

Of course, I'm not a geologist, much less an exo-geologist, so maybe I'm just ranting for nothing.

Fixing an upside-down USB plug: A case of supporting the insupportable

Re: a major company which ran the entire factory production on Win3.1

If they were smart enough to airgap the factory floor from the Internet, I don't see that there's a problem.

A lot of industrial equipment was designed way back when, and nobody's there to port the code to Windows whatever so, as said, if it ain't broke, don't fix it.