* Posts by Josh

8 publicly visible posts • joined 5 Nov 2008

Remembering the true* first portable computer

Josh
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Interesting Stuff

A very interesting read. I never really thought about how guided missiles go about their business until now. fascinating to think these things carried about an entire prehistoric computer system. It's pretty amazing what innovation and creativity can spring out of a Cold War scenario, eh..?

Deviants, perverts, 'weirdos' - who's going down?

Josh

@ I wonder

"I wonder how long till they have cartoon extreme porn loophole closed..."

Not long. CEOP (along with many others, but CEOP have perhaps the most clout) have been lobbying Parliament via consultative committees since 2007 for this to happen, and are pressing for sentencing for 'possession' or simply viewing to be equated to that of possessing or viewing actual CP (by that I mean porn actually featuring real people as opposed to imaginary drawings). If they get their way (and who will oppose them?) you can expect to see individuals found guilty of possessing such drawings, cartoons, comics or CG renders going to prison, onto the SOR, losing their jobs, their homes and ultimately their families. For looking at drawings of fictional people.

CEOP would consider that a job well done, no doubt. All expands the remit, and at a time when the UK hosts less than 1% of all known online CP (IWF's own findings), I guess they have to drum up new business wherever they think they can find it, even if every time they do this they create a whole new type of criminality.

Extreme porn law goes live - are you ready?

Josh
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Thanks

...for keeping this story on your Radar, John. You've been one of the few writers online or off to keep this story in the public domain. I doubt most people in the wider population have any idea what the government are up to, but you and your colleagues at The Reg have maintained a close watch on these new laws (and others) and have always reported in a pretty impartial, but informative way. just wanted to record my thanks for your efforts - I know you come in for some criticism for dabbling in stories like this on The Reg, but I'm sure there are many who appreciate at least one rolling news site that has maintained a consistent interest on behalf of its readers. Long may it continue!

Govt uses Obscenity Law to stuff up cartoon sex loophole

Josh
Unhappy

@ Mark & Jeffery

I think you're right: brave people are needed, perhaps now more than ever. We can't count on the mainstream media anywhere to highlight injustices such as these - they are always more likely to fall in behind the likes of CEOP and tow the official line completely uncritically, especially because this is one of those 'think of children!' issues that seems to render almost everyone incapable of rational thought or argument. Politicians, police and commentators - spineless bastards, all (Reg excepted, of course) and all will happily see this pernicious and potentially very dangerous law pass through parliament unhindered. It really is a complete disgrace that something like this is even being contemplated by our elected politicians.

Josh
Stop

@ Mark

You make some good points, but the reason the authorities in the UK decided to set the upper age limit for 'indecent' images at 17 (whilst the sexual age of consent for males and females, gay or straight, remains 16) is a sop to the child protection industry, nothing more, nothing less. It was mandated and pushed for by the likes of the state-funded CEOP, who want to see their remit widened as far as possible, in order to guarantee work and funding as actual CP in the UK dries up and vanishes completely (see: IWF's own reporting on the actual figures for this).

The issue of 17 year olds being seen by UK courts as 'children', whilst the same courts also give them consent at 16 for sex with whomever they please at or over the same age (gay or straight) is the elephant in the room nobody - police, courts, politicians or media - seems to want to discuss or challenge.

Introducing completely fictional drawings, cartoons, CG imagery and the like into the indecency laws, equating them completely with actual child porn and pushing for the exact same penalties for possession, is an insult to rational thought, common sense and justice. CEOP must not be permitted to get away with this. A drawing (without any photographic content whatsoever) of a naked child, however explicit and in whatever medium, does not constitute child porn, no matter what they keep insisting - at best it could be seen as an offensive illustration, perhaps in very bad taste, but it is NOT child porn or child abuse. There is no victim involved, no child was harmed in any way and there is no defendant to appear before a court. It is a fiction cooked up by zealous advocates to further criminalise whole swathes of the population and it must be opposed all the way.

UK.gov says extreme porn isn't illegal if you delete it...

Josh
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Deletion of images will be no defence...

From the guidelines:

"...21. Case law supports the view that, in normal circumstances, deleting images held on a computer is sufficient to get rid of them, i.e. to divest oneself of possession of them. An exception would be where a person is shown to have intended to remain in control of an image even though he has deleted it - that will entail him having the capacity (through skill or software) to retrieve the image. Porter [2006] WLR 2633..."

This will be interesting, then, once we have a case that gets to court: as the paedogeddon witchunt continues to prove, deleting images on a HDD is NO defence as far as the police in both the UK and US are concerned - they will actually use the fact the images have been deleted as further proof of guilt in court. We have a situation now where there is effectively no defence left to anyone caught in the paedogeddon purge, so complete has the erosion of justice for the accused become.

I await the first case involving extreme porn and will be watching to see how Plod subverts the law, yet again, to secure those all-important convictions...

Danish ISP ordered again to block Pirate Bay

Josh
Happy

Pathetic...

Recording industry dinosaurs unable to reconcile themselves to the fact their 'gravy train' days are well and truly over thanks to the advent of the interweb will keep trying to shut down torrent sites and those self-same torrent sites will keep reopening mere days or weeks later elsewhere, business as usual and F*CK YOU.

I've witnessed it time and again. For every site they eventually manage to pull down, another will spring up - you cannot legislate away youthful rebelliousness or technical savvy.

The only 'message' that ever gets sent out when these idiots shut down a torrent site is that it's time to Google up another one... LOLWUT.

Is the internet going down down under?

Josh

IWF: Not 'feasible' or desirable?

"However, the Internet Watch Foundation claims one reason that it is not interested in wholescale filtering is that this is just not technically feasible."

Hmmm. Colour me a cynic, but one could also suggest that one huge reason the IWF (and others of their ilk) might not be too keen to see this kind of filtering is that it might further reduce their remit: already we know from their own report, that a tiny percentage of child porn originates in the UK (and that was a year ago), presumably leaving them little to do but to monitor overseas sites. With this kind of sledgehammer approach to net filtering, if successful managing to block out a huge swathe of troublesome content, surely it would mean the IWF and organisations like them would have even less to do?