* Posts by Ole Juul

2726 publicly visible posts • joined 27 Apr 2007

US anti-encryption law is so 'braindead' it will outlaw file compression

Ole Juul

Re: Just a point of clarification...

"Expecting a congress critter to think at all is like expecting the statue of liberty to tango."

It takes two to tango.

Microsoft sues US DoJ for right to squeal when Feds slurp your data

Ole Juul

Re: Hat's off

In this case I'm not questioning their motives. I have not doubt there's a high likelihood that it's not altruistic. In fact my personal view of MS is about as low as it can get, but that doesn't stop me from cheering when they do something actually good - for whatever reason.

Ole Juul

Hat's off

Kudos to Microsoft. We need them to do this.

You won't believe this, but… nothing useful found on Farook iPhone

Ole Juul

Re: Honest

Speaking of honesty; has anybody seen any real proof that the FBI actually did crack that phone? I haven't seen any yet but perhaps I missed it.

I bless the reins down on .africa ... Dot-word injunction hits ICANN

Ole Juul

Re: Rather a long TLD

"compared to the transparent good sense of the originators of the original set."

Which were snatched up by Freenom, a Dutch company that specializes in taking advantage of poor African countries. I've got a few of those domains (.cf .ml) myself and would love to pay for them if the money went to those countries instead of towards some European executive's second BMW.

Ole Juul

" I suspect this is a conflict between an independent businesswoman and a state-sponsored group."

You may have nailed it there, but it is long story. How much Sophia Bekele really toots her own horn is somewhat off-putting. However, she's been working on this for a long time and also worked for ICANN so may be a good contender. To be fair though it's important to note that the TLD will be managed by the DotConnectAfrica Trust. The other contender, South Africa’s ZA Central Registry (ZACR), has apparently received endorsement of the African Union whereas Bekele's group didn't. Here's an older, and African, article about this. Actually, the whole thing is a right mess. Wikipedia outlines the .africa history.

Ole Juul

ICANN will have to go to court to explain its actions.

With ICANN being constitutionally unable to tell the truth that's going to be really tedious.

How to not get pwned on Windows: Don't run any virtual machines, open any web pages, Office docs, hyperlinks ...

Ole Juul
Coat

Re: Still the same after all these years...

"Windows, still held together with tape and bailing wire."

Actually I think it is user loyalty and market share which is holding it together. When Mark Zuckerberg comes up with a native Facebook OS, MS-Windows will be toast because it won't serve any purpose outside a business environment.

Texas Attorney General charged in 32-bit 'eco-friendly server scam'

Ole Juul

Re: God doesn't want me to take your money

I have a hard time imagining the culture in which someone could utter those words and not be looked upon as a religious extremist.

PC market shambling towards an unquiet grave

Ole Juul

crying wolf

- PC market shambling towards an unquiet grave

- The two are agreed that the market remains in sharp decline.

It's a way of talking that fits short sighted bean counters. The reality is that not so many are being sold lately and likely things are just levelling off. Like the "decline" of the CD this could be news for the next 10 years or more.

Infected with Petya ransomware? This tool will rescue your data

Ole Juul

Surely he's not referring to all enterprises.

". . . If enterprises don't start making strides towards defensible architecture today, massive ransoms may end up getting paid tomorrow."

Nothing is perfect, but I am disappointed that the all inclusive word "enterprises" is used here instead of mentioning exactly whom this is referring to. At the extremes there are a number of operating systems which are indeed working specifically on this task. Even some more common ones make this an important consideration. I feel that some very hard working software architects are being unfairly put down here.

Half of people plug in USB drives they find in the parking lot

Ole Juul

No need for extraordinary or malicious measures. There are safe pranks which can effectively be applied here. USB sticks filled with one of the standard stink bomb mixtures and heating up when you plug them in will work fine. When the office smells like rotten egg and faeces, the culprit will be shamed.

India continues subsidising elite IT schools

Ole Juul

A country's best resource is educated people

Education is the best investment a country can make.

Rackspace invites itself into your data centre

Ole Juul

What about bandwidth?

So now we're back to keeping data on premises. But for web availability where's the bandwidth going to come from? I suppose some businesses have it, but most aren't going to be able to compete with a good DC with strong peering.

FBI, Apple continue cat-and-mouse game over iPhones in New York

Ole Juul

Re: @ Ole Juul

"Too optimistic a view."

I see how you would think so, and I agree with the rest of your post. I didn't mean to sound optimistic though. I'm very pessimistic about this situation and suggest that all we do, even though we need to do it, will be for nothing in the end. These governments are on a track to shut down any free speech and related freedoms, that it will be very many years before the people regain control through legal means.

Ole Juul

and the winner is . . .

"I don't see Congress being able to do much"

Regardless of it being election season, it isn't them that's going to decide in the end. It is the software community. New ways will be found to circumvent anything lawmakers decide anyway. And that's how it will ever be.

Microsoft drives an Edge between Adobe and the web: Flash ads blocked

Ole Juul

irresponsible

Flash has caused so much grief for so many people. It is clear that sites that make heavy use of it have a lot to answer for.

Look who's here to solve the Internet of Things' security nightmare – hey, it's Uncle Sam

Ole Juul

Re: We're from the Government and here to "help"

I'm not entirely sure that the government doesn't have a big role here, at least on the municipal level. First of all, they will have to build, or encourage through tax incentives, many more recycling facilities to deal with the surge in broken or obsolete equipment. And then there's the increase in landfill requirements. They should probably start right now by buying more more garbage trucks.

Google to admins: We'll tell you when your network is pwned

Ole Juul

something seems off

help network administrators understand the threats they face.

This is exactly the kind of thing that network administrators do understand. I'm suspicious that Google wants to put a particular slant on their "understanding".

Illegal drugs and dodgy pics? Nah. Half the dark web is perfectly legal

Ole Juul

Re: So dark net is no longer dark

". . . 0.1% of the entire dark web or 0.2% of the legal dark web. Check you out."

Thanks. Actually, I don't think it is so easy to measure how many there are. One thing about .onion sites though is that they are dead easy to set up and can be hosted anywhere because they don't need an IP and so NAT is no issue. There's no need to get/buy an IP or domain name. It's very convenient - and they're certainly not "illegal".

Actually, I should have mentioned above that Tor Browser is not only Firefox with Tor, but it looks and works much like Firefox for your daily browsing.

Ole Juul

Re: So dark net is no longer dark

It never was. It's just an alternate network. In fact this quote from the article:

"websites are hard to find, unless you’re in the know, and sites on the dark web cannot be reached without the use of specialized software."

is complete bullshit. Just download the Tor Browser and you're on. While you're there you can download Darwin's Origin of Species, the Bible, Koran, or other controversial classics from one of my sites here http://ibgk7stvp6bov6x6.onion Of course all these onion sites can be reached from the clearnet as well and you'll find them on Google too. This darknet nonsense has got to be the joke of the century.

PS: The Tor Browser is just a recent version of Firefox with the Tor protocol built in. Also, to reach onion sites, you can just append .to on the end of the address. There are other suffixes which work sometimes like .nu. But why not just do a search here https://ahmia.fi/.

UK Home Office seeks secret settlements over unlawful DNA retention

Ole Juul

secret settlements?

What's wrong with jail time?

Eat your greens, FCC tells ISPs with new broadband "nutrition label"

Ole Juul

"I wonder just how bullshit the "typical speeds" will be. And how that'll be enforced."

I think the idea is that putting it all up front will allow people to compare what the companies are claiming. Competition will be the enforcer.

Ole Juul

Re: What about the free market?

"Oh come on now. It's April the 4th."

Close enough for broadband.

FreeBSD 10.3 lands

Ole Juul

Re: Who uses FreeBSD in preference to Linux and why?

1/ I do.

2/ It works for me

Ole Juul

Re: Compatibility Layer

Systemd is GPL which is incompatible with the FreeBSD license. The chances of that ever changing are very close to nil.

Egypt unfriended Facebook for Free Basics snoop snub

Ole Juul

this is rich

the social networking giant was given unspecified demands to allow surveillance and, when that was refused, the service was suspended. This despite claims from the Egyptian government that Free Basics was actually suspended because it competed with commercial service providers.

Or could they mean competing with government services?

China enacts 'real name policy' for internet addresses

Ole Juul

and verify it

I think the obligation to verify is the big thing here. Will they actually enforce that? I note that ICANN has a real name policy and they do enact it on occasion, but one can generally give fake information if one is so inclined. Another example is Russia who, as I just experienced, ask for passport information when registering their ccTLD. However, that seems to be mostly bureaucratic posturing as they apparently don't verify.

Critics hit out at 'black box' UN internet body

Ole Juul

evolution

Unfortunately all old organizations evolve into zombies. You can't kill them.

Reddit's warrant canary shuffles off this mortal coil

Ole Juul

Tor time

Get it here.

That one phone the FBI wanted unlocked? Here are 63 more, says ACLU

Ole Juul

Re: More fool you

There are lots of phones waiting to get cracked by the FBI. In New York alone there are 75.

The FBI lost this round against Apple – but it aims to win the war

Ole Juul

couldn't afford to take the chance

"Just curious, but why is everybody blindly accepting what the FBI are telling us when they say that they unlocked the phone? Surely they're capable of lying?"

Of course they're lying. They saw a possibility of loosing the case and thus weakening their next try. So they came up with this plan. They know they can't be forced to give proof, but I say pix or it didn't happen.

Ole Juul

Re: End of the War

There will be no end. I think it is more a matter of just how polarized the situation will become. The problem is that software can never be completely controlled by law.

Love our open API? Talk to our lawyers, says If This Then That

Ole Juul

House of cards

Like the JavaScript NPM fracas last week, this just goes to highlight how things have been going the wrong way for a long time. You simply can't keep building dependencies on dependencies forever.

Internet users don't understand security or privacy, says survey

Ole Juul

Re: Survey version 2

Indeed. When the subject matter is not understood, then a survey makes little sense.

In an international survey (24,000 respondents in 24 countries), the group claims more than 70 per cent want the “dark net” shut down (which rests on the assumption that 70 per cent of people actually know what the “dark net” is).

Most of the darknet isn't actually dark and is available on clearnet by appending .nu or .link to the onion address. I run "dark net" sites for a number of reasons - just like other folk do. One is an art project available as an onion site, though also available on clearnet like this. Seriously, if people surveyed have no experience with the topic, what do their answers really mean?

Here's a great idea: Let's make a gun that looks like a mobile phone

Ole Juul

need to?

"It's more so for people that want to be able to carry a gun when they need to and not have to engage other people about why they're carrying that gun,"

Yes, it would be embarrassing to have to explain that you're not man enough to walk around without one.

Cunning scam: Mobe app stalks victims then emails booby-trapped bogus speeding tickets

Ole Juul

Re: Busted

One would think that the mark would realize that the authorities don't use e-mail and all communication, such as a speeding ticket from an automated camera are sent to the address on record for the owner of the licence plate. That is the way it works in this province (Canada BC). I suspect jurisdictions where e-mail will suffice for delivery of legal papers would be rare, or even non existent.

Calm down, dear: Woman claims sexism in tech journalism

Ole Juul

Re: @AC - Of course it was satire.......

"Seems you got the wrong end of the stick there."

wat? I'm responding to the post directly above me.

I'm suggesting to those who are complaining about sarcasm that it would be a good idea to not comment on something they admittedly don't understand - the above article notwithstanding.

Ole Juul

Re: @AC - Of course it was satire.......

"There being a narrower channel is an explanation for why some people do find it difficult to convey or infer tone from text, but it's not something that makes "tone is difficult to convey in text" a fact."

This really deserves some more upvotes. Why is it that some people who are less accomplished at these forms of communication complain about the use by those who are accomplished? I have difficulty understanding French, but I don't complain about other people using it.

Glum, depressed ... and addicted to Facebook, Twitter? There's a link, say medical eggheads

Ole Juul
Trollface

Re: Clinical

"Well for me, it's an addiction to snark. :)"

Does El Reg count as social media?

Yeah, I'm depressed.

Snowden 'more helpful than dangerous' says ex-Colin Powell aide

Ole Juul

between a rock and a hard place

"He has a future so long as he can continue to co-exist with all the restraints and pressures around him. But I'm not sure that's being long-lived. And I don't see him ever being accepted back here."

It must be near impossible to live within the restraints and pressures if one works for the US government. And if one does, then it would be hard to live with oneself - sociopaths excepted of course.

Tor Project works on anti-FBI defenses amid iOS row with Apple

Ole Juul

Re: There's Gratitude...

I don't think there's any irony or lack of gratitude here. If Tor is compromised in any way, it becomes as useless to the US Navy as it would be to you and I.

Clear April 12: Windows, Samba to splat curious 'crucial' Badlock bug

Ole Juul

Re: About that name thing.

You missed Apples release yesterday?

You can't compare this to apples.

FCC boss: Oh look, net neutrality didn't end the world after all. Surprise!

Ole Juul

The thing is that he was still fighting the same fight then, the Telcos just forgot. When Wheeler was lobbying for cable companies they were the underdog. Now that they're on top, it's time to view them differently. The Telcos were touting Wheeler's appointment as a huge win at first. Being not of that same persuasion themselves, they forgot that some people work from principles.

Mystery Kindle update will block readers from books after Wednesday

Ole Juul

Will there be lawsuits?

Those who do not will be kicked from Amazon online properties, including the book store, and their cloud library of purchased books and documents.

Something tells me this will not go well.

Apps that 'listen in' to your mobile get slapped by US watchdog

Ole Juul

Re: Just checked

that's its not April 1st.

It's always April 1st somewhere.

One in five PCs will be a tablet with detachable keyboard by 2020

Ole Juul

Hence just buy a tablet.

I'd say buy a PC. According to the article, 4 out of 5 tablets with detachable keyboard will be PCs.

Google adds worldwide HTTPS info to transparency report

Ole Juul

date format?

The Australian Broadcasting Corporation's certificates are current and expire on March 22 of 2016, the report puts it like this:

C=US, O=DigiCert Inc, OU=com.digicert.www, CN=DigiCert SHA2 High Assurance Server CA

OK, you tell me how one can read "March 22 of 2016" from that. I give up.

Posh frockers Lord & Taylor spanked after Instagram fillies shocker

Ole Juul

Re: Would this be illegal elsewhere?

"I'd much rather enforce laws against false advertising than laws against astroturfing."

False advertising is never likely to be enforceable. You're supposed to know that if you buy that new car advertised with the two sexy ladies that the ladies are not included. Did you want to see a disclaimer on the ads?

Swedish publishers plan summer ‘Block Party’ to thwart ad blockers

Ole Juul

Thanks!

“80 to 90 per cent” of publishers will simultaneously block the ad blockers for the month of August.

Your self censoring is commendable. Anybody who doesn't have their blocker yet, uBlock Origin is a good one.