Posts by Ole Juul

Is domain overlord ICANN the FIFA of the internet? We'll know this weekend

Very good article

I just want to say thanks to Kieren for really putting out on this one.

Russian Tor network-wrecking effort takes bizarre turn

Makes sense

I can guess that the company doesn't want the contract and regrets taking it. Perhaps Tor is not as easy a target as was assumed. This case is probably going to be an expensive one as it is dealing with the breaking of a government contract. As far as lawyers fees are concerned, is $150K a lot?

Happy birthday to you, the ruling was true, no charge for this headline, 'coz the copyright's screwed

Copyright theft

Indeed, the Judge got one right, but he missed a very important part. Warner has been collecting 2 million dollars a year for a long time and they should be ordered to pay all that back.

Child abuse, drug sales, terrorism fears: Why cops halted a library's Tor relay ... for a month

Re: Why shut down the exit node?

. . . the only thing coming out of the exit node is going to be the nice clean, harmless traffic from people accessing legal websites but don't want to be spied upon while doing so.

Indeed, one of the popular sites on the dark web is now Facebook which is accessible at https://facebookcorewwwi.onion/

Over the line

The police are hired to uphold the law, not make it. When they step over that line and try to influence what is currently legal, then we have a serious problem. I bet they'd like to see a curfew so it will be easier to monitor who's prowling about at night. How close are we to that being a reality? This affair shows that we are probably closer than most people think.

India's daft draft anti-encryption law torn up after world+dog points out its stupidity

Which universe?

". . . provision requiring all citizens to store encrypted messages and data in a plaintext form readable by the government for a period of 90 days.

I wonder if the law writers have the skills to do this. I can tell you right now that the citizens don't.

Look out, world! Apple is about to launch .apple

Re: I wonder if they'll let me register the domain cr

You're right, all these new TLDs are an easy hosts file entry. However, not being an Apple fan I hardly notice that alternate universe anyway, so there's not much point.

Britain's FBI wants 'Five Eyes' cosy hookups with infosec outfits

Re: So... memorandum of understanding

Does this mean any system that uses an Intel CPU is now considered insecure?

The way I read it is that Trend Micro and Intel Security are now off bounds for anything where security matters.

SCREW YOU, FEDS! Dozen or more US libraries line up to run Tor exit nodes

Re: The numbers game.

Numbers? How many people, and library boards in particular, have now heard of the Library Freedom Project? Things are looking up.

Bitcoin is an official commodity, says US gummint

Where is this going?

Although this worries me I don't think it is all bad. It's inevitable that governments want to get involved with bitcoin, but this is just the beginning and at least it will offer some kind of protection, or discouragement of bad behaviour. I'm more worried about what comes next.

It's not broadband if it's not 10 Mbps, says Ovum

Re: As I understand it

Another example of what happens when brainless marketing-bots get their grubby hands on a nice well-defined engineering term.

Actually, it's worse than that. After the brainless marketing-bots get through with the term, the brainless politicians get to have a go at it. Here in Canada politicians bragging about our infrastructure use the term simply to differentiate from dialup. That means that a 1.5mbps rural wireless is called broadband despite the actual government mandate of 5mbps to qualify.

Don't bother buying computers for schools, says OECD report

The old man was right

"Besides a mathematical inclination, an exceptionally good mastery of one's native tongue is the most vital asset of a competent programmer." ~ Edsger Wybe Dijkstra

Attempted bank robber demands cash transfer ... to his own account

I suspect you might be right on prison being a career goal.

That, or he thinks being a golf instructor is on par.

Swooning MEPs go all Directioner over Edward Snowden

It would send a message

The prize is awarded every year to honour exceptional individuals who combat intolerance, fanaticism and oppression.

DMCA takedown bots must respect 'fair use' of copyright – US appeals court

Re: Excuse me?

"The majority noted that automated systems are able to account for fair use before sending out takedown notices, ..."

How the heck can they believe that?

Because they're sleazebags just like the Universal Music Group who claimed that:

"fair use" was something others would need to use to argue against a takedown notice

Actually, sleazebags doesn't even begin to describe a company with such an outstanding lack of social concience.

KREMLIN: Google is ABUSING ITSELF, misusing its mighty market position

Western sanctions and the view from Russia

Google may only have a third of the search business there, but they still have some real advantages. They're also serious about their expansion and were the first to put servers in Russia in response to the new data sovereignty laws. I can see how Yandex feels threatened despite currently being in the lead. Regardless, current western sanctions may well be a disadvantage to Google right now.

Apple drinks Putin’s Kool-Vodka, shoves Russians' iCloud data into Russia – report

Re: Russia is only one of many

@ Tom Samplonius: Microsoft is addressing it by planning to store all the information for Office365 (for instance) in Toronto and Quebec by 2016. Actually we have relevant laws going back to 1986 and the newer Bill S-4 is not only relevant now, but also likely to get some stronger amendments in the near future.

Russia is only one of many

Mexico, Chile, Brazil, and Argentina are discussing this seriously as well and will likely pass relevant laws soon. In the EU, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is developing fast now and will effect all member states. But most notable is the fact that Germany, Switzerland, China, Canada, and Australia already have similar laws in place.

That's a Tor order: Library gets cop visit for running exit relay in US

Tor is just Tor

Tor – aka The Onion Router

Tor is just Tor. It doesn't stand for anything any more.

It is used by whistleblowers, journalists, activists, crooks and lowlifes. All connections leaving the Tor network go through these exit points, which will inevitably carry a lot of traffic that the Feds will be interested in.

In fact it is used by anybody who wants to. The Feds are interested in e-mail, phone calls, and basically any traffic. Tor is not unique in this regard. One can, like with anything that one doesn't know about, make assumptions about what actual traffic is going through Tor and how much of it is related to illegal activity. Mostly because of the nature of the Tor network, there is no data available on traffic content, though several authors with dubious intent have tried to paint the situation as being whatever their paranoid minds can imagine. They don't, however, have scientific credibility. The Tor network itself is neutral, and that in itself is something that does not sit well with the current government.

CPS drops News of the World email trojan 'hacking' charges

Employment

Madam: It is my understanding that you were hired to look after the dog.

Employee: Yes ma'am

Madam: The dog died 10 years ago.

Employee: Yes ma'am

Employee: What would you like me to do now ma'am?

US cop goes war-driving to find stolen gear by MAC address

Re: I think it's a reasonable idea.

I don't think it's reasonable. The number of people running software (installed by them or part of an application or OS) is ever increasing. People using random MAC addresses could get wrongly accused, and false positives will only increase over time as people or software suppliers become more privacy concious. This is a bad idea because it is based on a false premise. It is reminiscent of the boneheads who insist that an IP address represents an unique user or geographical location. They're in denial because the truth would expose the basic fallacy upon which their "idea" depends.

Gloves on as Googler deposits foul zero-day on Kaspersky lawn

Re: Love the smell of zero day in the morning.

It was Cluley who was bitching about having to work on the weekend. Kaspersky is obvious concerned and rising to the occasion.

Love the smell of zero day in the morning.

"[This] clearly makes it difficult as possible for a corporation to put together a response for concerned users," Cluley says.

Should that not read "an unconcerned corporation to put together a response for concerned users"? Sorry if it's inconvenient, but after all this is the work they get paid for.

US gov to Apple: COUGH UP iMessages or FEEL our FEDERAL FROWN

Bureaucrats yes, but there are higher-ups

The Justice Department and FBI officials are indeed powerful, but that doesn't mean they can always do whatever they like. Apple and the tech sector have significant power as well and there could be some heavy backlash for anybody that would take them on. This brings to mind an old saying about suing a newspaper, never piss off anybody that buys ink by the gallon.

Lawrence Lessig's White House tilt hits crowdfunding goal

Re: IMHO...

"You know ... personally, I watched, "Sicko," by Michael Moore, and I can't fathom why there wasn't another civil war on the back of that film alone."

I haven't seen it, but can well imagine what you're talking about. The thing is though, people have long since given up and instead pursue other interests like entertainment and gluttony. I bet if you ran the presidential elections on one channel while simultaneously airing football playoffs on the other, one of them wouldn't get a lot viewers.

NASA wants to send HEDGEHOGS to Mars

"There are several videos of it or its prototype online."

And a good thing too. El Reg videos never play for me.

Here's one that does. (Daily Mail)

Broadband powered by home gateways? Whose bright idea was THIS?

Deal?

. . . if the nodes only need a few hundred watts, who's going to care?

That sounds like about a dollar a day to me, so just take $30 per month of my bill. Deal?

ICANN descends into farce as bigwigs try to cling to power

Re: I am reminded of the words attributed to Cromwell dismissing the Rump Parliament

"what's to stop ICANN's critics setting up their own non-profit and pitching for the contract themselves?

I'll vote for that.

Files on Seagate wireless disks can be poisoned, purloined – thanks to hidden login

modern refrigerators and flammability limit

We're getting off topic here, but I couldn't leave this alone:

"Most people don't know that modern refrigerators are now filled with masses of explosive gas"

There aren't masses of explosive gas. It's a limited quantity and it's limited to an amount that when mixed with the quantity of air in a small kitchen will not form an explosive mixture. Propane, you see, will not ignite unless the gas/air mixture is within the flammability range which in this case is quite narrow. So, pure propane won't ignite, and nor will a thin mixture. Other flammable gasses like acetylene have a very wide flammability range and therefore are quite dangerous. Propane, in the quantities used in fridges, is not dangerous. (See Wikipedia: Flammability limit)

Is it the manufacturer or the consumer that has "no idea"?

"... of course most consumers have shown they've no idea about this stuff by failing to install much-needed new broadband router firmware despite colossal security holes."

Is it that they have no idea, or is it that they have a different idea? I suspect that many consumers actually have a good idea. They think that when they buy a product it is finished and ready for them to use. The idea that it's simply a proof of concept and a work in progress does not enter their minds - and I can't say I blame them.

Strong dollar will deal death to US firms' overseas growth

US Servers

Don't know about storage, but I keep tabs on server prices around the world and even with the high dollar, the US is still by far the most affordable - even at 150ms pings to Europe. The new data sovereignty laws popping up all over the place may be more of a sticking point though.

Photoshop for 40 quid: Affinity Photo pushes pixels further than most

Re: £40 too expensive...

@ Chemist said: "Also available for Solaris and FreeBSD"

From the Affinity web site: Built exclusively for Mac

America's crackdown on open-source Wi-Fi router firmware – THE TRUTH

Just checking

Has anybody here actually measured the output of any of these commercial wifi routers where the power is programmable? I've got a number of them here and it doesn't look like there is much increase in output when the software numbers are increased. It certainly doesn't look linear. In other words it may say milliwatt, but doubling the number does not double the output. Checking output from one radio to the other, and I see very little increase in signal received. Also, practical experience with any transmitter would tell you that output is very much limited by the hardware and the output stage will simply burn out when pushed very much beyond it's intended power.

So. Anybody have any real numbers on the actual dBm increases we're talking about here?

Google to China: Please Play with us, we promise to respect your strict censorship diet – report

Apparently it's "bulked". I reported it yesterday a few minutes after the story went up and it's not changed.

Mind-blowing secrets of NSA's security exploit stockpile revealed at last

They're not triangles, they're rectangles.

And when piled up like that they look like a brick wall.

Spaniard trousers €60,000 bank error, proceeds directly to jail

Re: Not worth it

I'd say you need a believable story. First, your laptop with banking details gets stolen . . . etc. etc. Unfortunately most countries have about a $10 thousand dollar cash or transaction limit at which point the bank is legally obliged to make a report. That one is going to be difficult to get around. So worth it or not, I can't see how you can get away with a large amount.

Rightfully his

Show the court the e-mail from the Nigerian prince that promised to transfer lots of money to his account.

Watch this cartoon on proposed new EU data rules – or you’re DOOMED. Maybe

Howto

1/ call florist

2/ pay for flowers with credit card

3/ tell them where you want the flowers delivered

Stench of confiscated dope overwhelms Catalan cop shop

general malaise?

general malaise consistent with "having smoked something illegal"

OK, I admit that my brains are blown by past indulgences, but as I recall, "malaise" is not exactly consistent with, like I mean you know.

Almost all dot-science malicious, dot-cricket rigged, researchers find

This is good news

More than 95 percent of the hundreds of thousands websites in each of ten top level domains (TLDs) including .country, cricket, .science, and .party are flogging spam, …

If ever there was a short and concise filter for spam, this is it.

Websites aimed at kids are slurping too much info, finds report

It seems now we actually have to teach kids to lie as a matter of course.

And that's not good. Perhaps better to teach them to turn away when confronted with inappropriate behaviour. In fact, teaching them that not every app or web site is really important and that there are other choices would be a better idea.

Wikipedia’s biggest scandal: Industrial-scale blackmail

Re: I gave up on Wikipedia a while ago...

I too have given up on it from an editing point of view. There are just too many "editors" with no respect for useful and verifiable information.

That said, I do use use Wikipedia a lot, but then I have a sceptical disposition and a very active bullshit meter. And that's something which is sorely lacking in a very large number of people. Seriously, would you take a Wikipedia entry about a political personality at face value? I really, really, hope not.

Andrew is right though, this anonymity has got to go. It is a very important principle on the internet, but it's neither practical nor useful to Wikipedia.

Tree hugger? Your wooden harem is much bigger than thought

Re: Define 'tree'

Logging trucks go by my house all day with huge loads of what we used to call toothpicks. Obviously the definition of "tree" has changed in the logging industry.

SOHOpeless: Belkin router redirection zero-day

AUD$150?

I wonder what Belkin charges for a secure model.

Wikimedia sweeps shill accounts after stunt doubles, waterparks scammed

How low?

a Texas outfit called Wiki-PR was identified as behind the sockpuppet accounts

Absolutely amazing that some people will sink that low. Even more amazing would be their clients who must be really desperate if they think that it's not obvious to readers what's going on.

Bloke clicks GitHub 'commit' button in Visual Studio, gets slapped with $6,500 AWS bill

as we push the big, red "Publish" button on this story

Can we have a picture of that?

Ed Snowden crocked cloud, says VMware CEO Pat Gelsinger

Freedom 1, Capitalism 2.

I'm having a hard time seeing it that way. If we must use that comparison then I'd say it's more like the other way around. Didn't Capitalism lose a point by being reigned in by new data sovereignty laws? Didn't Freedom win a point by striking a blow against those who would take our freedoms away?

Oh no, startup Massive Analytic unleashes 'artificial precognition'

When is a tool not a tool?

Technology is a tool, artificial precognition promises to be a powerful tool, and that means it will inevitably – and rapidly – be turned against the people.

I've got a lot of great tools and none of them do that.

Canned laughter for Canadians selling cans of air at $15 a pop

Re: Is it April the 1st?

Actually, it's September 1st. Where have you been? Wanna buy a can of air?

US mulls unprecedented Chinese sanctions in wake of hacks – report

Bad move

The US is actively forcing Russia and China to form some kind of alliance. That's a big piece of the world and not a good idea.

Analysts say the regional chest-beating is a challenge to US dominance in Asia and an attempt to cause Washington to choose between losing influence or confronting the Beijing.

Confrontation won't work. The smart thing would be to get rid of the egotistical psychology and simply accept the reality the US is not going to be able to achieve total world domination. In the end, cooperation always gets you further.