* Posts by Ole Juul

2726 publicly visible posts • joined 27 Apr 2007

Canadian bloke refuses to hand over phone password, gets cuffed

Ole Juul

Re: Hummmmmmmmm

I'd be more interested in not leaving any potentially suspicious setup on my device. If I wanted privacy I'd keep my stuff elsewhere and accessible via VPN on the net. Access or download after I get across the boarder if needed.

That said, I really don't think means and methods are relevant to this story. This is about an important principle.

Broadband routers: SOHOpeless and vendors don't care

Ole Juul

Why does this problem exist?

Surely they're not held back by the development cost, because I'd wager they'd sell as many units if they put one of the excellent open source router distros on them. It's not like they're making money on the firmware. I assume that these companies just don't care, but why is there no pressure on them to fix the problem?

Ole Juul

Re: Why, oh why...

And many are being sold and/or advertised by companies giving them favourable reviews.

.hotels. .hoteis ... not a typo but a window into ICANN's baffling world

Ole Juul

criticism?

Like that's going to work. An oak stake might be more appropriate.

International effort to wrangle t'internet from NSA fizzles out in chaos

Ole Juul

Re: wrong tactic

@ Koconnor100: "The solution is to make your own for your nation, possibly kicking out any foriegn traffic out of certain area's (government servers and individuals) , and create a filter for , say private individuals who don't speak chinese to cancel all traffic from china , they're not interested."

So you want to get rid of the first two W's in WWW?

Sick of Chrome vs Firefox? Check out these 3 NEW browsers

Ole Juul

New browsers pop up all the time.

Still nothing like the good ol' days of the 90's browser wars. I wouldn't mind another go around. I remember installing Cello on Window's 3.1, though that was the last time I used Windows. Still, it's nice to see Microsoft moving on. Perhaps that will help liven things up a little.

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

Ole Juul

I feel old

Settings can be turned right down so the only functionality on the phone that still works is the ability to make and receive phone calls.

And that would make it next to useless, I take it.

Ikea to start making electrified furniture. What could possibly go wrong?

Ole Juul

No electric chairs?

Too bad. I'm getting tired of the old whoopee cushion and was hoping for something a little more mortifying.

Tim Cook chills the spines of swingers worldwide

Ole Juul

Re: A car key I have to recharge every day?

Its battery life will also apparently last an entire day.

They've obviously got a ways to go before they catch up with the standard mantle clock with its 15 day windup movement. That may be ironic, but in reality Apple isn't competing with the past, but rather with the future.

Speaking of foresight. What happens if you forget to recharge your watch and still need to start your car in the morning?

FCC says cities should be free to run decent ISPs. And Republicans can't stand it

Ole Juul

They don't want to look bad (but don't mind looking stupid)

Indeed, when that Republican (whatever that is) says ". . . this issue goes to the core of more important principles: the foundations of the US economy and free enterprise." he appears to not be listening to himself. Leaving alone the misunderstanding of "more important principles", he sounds like he does not wish well on the US economy and free enterprise. I think those guys are just saying screwball things because they can't say what they really mean, since it would make them look bad. Now they just look bad because they look stupid - but a lot of people won't notice or care about that.

Bank of England could mint own brand of Bitcoin

Ole Juul

control

". . . getting security right and “without compromising a central bank’s ability to control its currency”

Their mindset is still focused on it being their money that people will be using.

It's the EU and me against the world – Euro digi-chief

Ole Juul

He's got that right.

“They will go to the member states where data protection is least developed, they will hoover up our data, transfer it to California and sell it as a service.”

That's worth addressing - regardless of whether or not it is difficult at this point.

Oh No, Lenovo! Lizard Squad on the attack, flashes swiped emails

Ole Juul

Here we go again

Shades of Sony. Now all we need is the FBI to dogpile on this one. I don't think this is in the same category, but it does look like we're starting to see a template evolve here.

Denmark tops European tech table, two other Scandis right behind

Ole Juul

Re: Scandis

For those who don't hail from those parts, you might want to know that the Finnish language is generally incomprehensible to Scandinavians. On the other hand, Danish, Norwegian, and Swedish are very similar and there is some functional comprehension between them.

Red or alive, you're coming with me: Feds offer $3m reward for 'CryptoLocker baron'

Ole Juul
Coat

Russian

I don't see why the FBI doesn't contact the Russian government to collaborate on this.

Why does the NSA's boss care so much about backdoors when he can just steal all our encryption keys?

Ole Juul

Not invented here

He insisted that the right legal framework could be put in place

Unfortunately legal frameworks don't seem to work when it comes to the NSA. They prefer their own in-house solutions.

Internet industry lends support to IANA transition

Ole Juul

All three

. . . committee members may choose to bring some of the rhetoric that has been floating around Washington circles in the past few months and argue that the process risks having over more control of the internet to countries such as Russia and China.

Those voices are probably the same ones that support the NSA. I'd be worried about them as well.

Mozilla mulls Superfish torpedo

Ole Juul

Re: Ban 'em

Banning is letting them off too lightly.

(sarc) It's an attack on the security and safety of the American people. I don't see why it isn't considered domestic terrorism. OTOH, if Superfish was bigger and lobbied more, then Obama could bail them out by issuing a statement that the NORKS are involved. (/sarc)

Evil CSS injection bug warning: Don't let hackers cross paths with your website

Ole Juul

He may be trying some kind of forum injection vulnerability attack. Just don't click on it.

Did NSA, GCHQ steal the secret key in YOUR phone SIM? It's LIKELY

Ole Juul

Re: Any chance of clarification...

@Brictoria As it is, all I am seeing is that no-one seems willing or able to provide an explanation as to where the line between this sort of action being theft or not actually is.

The line is between the government and the people. People do all sorts of things, some of which can be discussed as good or bad, that's how it is. However, the government must not lie or steal - under any circumstances. When that happens, it is time for some serious evaluation about the state of the country.

Just so you know, I don't download files because I don't watch TV or movies. I'm just a cranky old guy with other ways to keep busy and serious concerns about an out of control state. I'm sure there are some filesharing people here, but it is just not an issue in this thread. The important issue is a corrupt government, and that greatly overshadows any discussion about copyright.

PS: Although it's been beaten to death, you're right that the copyright discussion is worth having. Where you're getting all the downvotes is because you're mixing up something small with something very big.

Ole Juul

Thieves

"we know the NSA does like to steal keys where it can"

What's the hot domain dot-news? Er, it's .news

Ole Juul

dang

I just looked up dotnews.com . . . not available.

Former Mrs Dotcom hooks up with Xbox 'toyboy'

Ole Juul

How can a broke person offer a $5m bounty?

He's probably just MEGA broke.

Canuck Bitcoin exchange gives up after security SNAFU

Ole Juul

Why?

Is the exchange quitting because the problem cannot be fixed, or because they've just had enough?

Raspberry Pi, meet face: You're probably NOT Blighty's biggest PC maker!

Ole Juul

Re: Pfft! Looks can be deceptive...

Well, anything that can run two 360 floppies is still useful in my eyes. In fact I've got an Amstrad 1512 here. Actually I've got a Sinclair and an rPi as well. I must admit that although a two-floppy system is not bad, for some reason the rPi does get more use these days.

SCREW YOU, BRITS: We're going through with UK independence ANYWAY – Scotland

Ole Juul

great.scot

Will we now see beammeup.gov.scot?

NetMundial consultation produces collective, apathetic 'meh'

Ole Juul

I'm rooting for the next team.

Two strikes and one to go before the next team is up to bat.

Are you ready to ditch the switchboard and move to IP telephony?

Ole Juul

Re: My personal opinion...

POTS is indeed known for reliability, but that is by no means universal. I've suffered through the better part or a decade with telco service that would drop out, sometimes for days. And the insult of having them insist on sending out a tech when it's always their own rotten lines, is infuriating. This may not be the norm, but for a couple of years now, I've enjoyed VoIP and its better reliability and voice quality. OK, that's my situation but I'm sure there are others. The telcos are not keen on keeping the same standards they did 25 years ago.

Also, I'm on rural wireless with very low bandwidth. I get very few dropouts, certainly nothing compared to cell phone dysfunction that I hear when people call me on those. I'm sold on VoIP and all the practical functions you can have for free - to say nothing of the pricing. You can chose different providers for outgoing and incoming, even chose routing sometimes. The so called "long distance" concept of billing is a gonner too. One thing though, do get a good provider. Either one of the very expensive big companies (who don't offer much except call quality), or one of the cadillac small companies with dedicated staff who usually offer an amazing array of services for no extra cost. If you are even slightly technically inclined, you can get first class service for between 1 and 2 cents per minute. If you want to do a little more work, CircleNet charges $1.50 per month + .002 per minute in the UK and US, and they're a quality company. There are however, plenty that aren't.

Windows 10 to give passwords the finger and dangle dongles

Ole Juul

This could be a goldmine.

Would the collection of this biometric data from people's computers be even more lucrative than getting passwords? It seems to me that people will be presenting the same data for all uses and thus making it a single point of failure.

Hackers fear arms control pact makes exporting flaws illegal

Ole Juul

Top pic

That looks like the same hacker that was in the other story. Or is this his twin brother?

Amazon's delivery drones shot down by new FAA rules

Ole Juul

Re: Except the cars have to have an operator in the vehicle, who can take control in an emergency..

Surely you could also send your car out to pick something up. I don't see any reason for me to be in it if I'm not needed.

Hackers break the bank to the tune of $300 MEEELLION

Ole Juul

Re: Two years? Up to a Billion+?

I suppose the banks' next step will be to ask for their governments to reimburse them?

Of course. That's cheaper than any other insurance, and saves the bother and expense of fixing the door.

So who just bought the rights to .blog for $20m? A chap living in Panama

Ole Juul

Re: Is the TLD important?

I think there is some value in the branding. As for typing in a whole name, I agree that most people just click or search.

An NSA spy, a Fed and a sysadmin walk into a bar – that's Prez Obama's new cyber-security order

Ole Juul

Security by denial

The new order instructs federal agencies to set up a clearing house of real-time, up-to-the-minute information on what's menacing US infrastructure.

So, they will be collecting reports of how security is neglected, ignored, or assumed to be covered by insurance, instead of taking responsibility for the situation? Thought not.

Air gaps: Happy gas for infosec or a noble but inert idea?

Ole Juul

Re: You really need a vacuum gap...

"if someone can plug uncontrolled devices from uncontrolled systems into an "air gapped" system, it's not really an "air gap" - you just have a slower connection."

Indeed, these guys are just using their own specialized definition of air gap so as to make their point. Sneakernet has always been a perfectly functional way to connect computers.

Don't count on antivirus software alone to keep your data safe

Ole Juul

Re: Who's the Audience here?

The audience is MS-Windows desktop users. That's totally fine, but this may not be the best site for that.

Sony Pictures claims 'Nork mega-hack attack' cost it just $15 million

Ole Juul

Re: Hollywood Accounting

What happened to the billion dollar loss incurred?

That's why they're back-peddling. Now they they want to downplay the situation for the share holders.

Ole Juul

Re: Fact or White house fiction

The White House is peddling their fiction and Sony is back-peddling.

Likes of Google to have undue influence in Brussels, say activists

Ole Juul

Re: Letting companies sue governments for lost profits

I simply cannot understand how anyone would dare propose such a legislation.

Because they have no conscience whatsoever. In fact, they're hired with that qualification in mind. Shareholders close their eyes to the dirty work and don't care where the money comes from. It's sickening.

Forget Norks, Russian hackers are in Sony Pictures' servers – claim

Ole Juul

Too late

I bet the "FBI & NSA bods" wished they had chosen the Russian connection now. After all, since they can never reveal any proof, they can chose any story that suits them - and they do.

Web daddy Tim Berners-Lee calls for net neutrality in Europe

Ole Juul

Re: But not all of my packets shoudl be treated equally....

The concept that the core network will never be congested is great, but all that means is that you are paying more for the service than you should be. Network infrastructure should be running near capacity in order to make itself worthwhile - that's just basic economics.

We've been led to think that telcos need, and are entitled to, excessive and market detrimental amounts of profit. I don't believe that their greed is holy. Prioritizing traffic is a way for them to oversell what they have, and an excuse for not putting very much of their profit plunders into infrastructure.

As for VoIP taking priority, that's fine on a local network, but even there it shouldn't be necessary. I've got low bandwidth and can still squeeze in a VoIP session here even while downloading and browsing. It really takes an insignificant amount of bandwidth - even with uncompressed codecs. If the backbone is running so close to capacity that it doesn't have room for VoIP then we're really in trouble.

DARPA: We KNOW WHO YOU ARE... by the WAY you MOVE your MOUSE

Ole Juul

Typical

These things always start with an assumption which is unproven, and likely wrong.

. . . requires humans to do something that is inherently unnatural: create, remember, and manage long, complex passwords.

As far as I'm aware, people have created, remembered, and managed, long and complex strings of letters and numbers for a very long time. To say it is inherently unnatural is simply not defensible. Actors routinely memorize accurately a whole script for a play. Singers sing long songs. Etc., etc.

I'm not saying they aren't likely to produce something interesting, but I think they would have more credence if they left off the opening assumption and simply said they wanted to explore something.

Wannabe Rulers of the Internet hit control-alt-delete on power plan

Ole Juul

new "terms of reference"

They've already shown what their "terms of reference" are, so why would we believe they're suddenly turned into good guys?

Super-cookie crumbles: Verizon vows to kill off hated zombie stalkers

Ole Juul

Re: Weasel words

Until you learn that firm is the only provider of something you absolutely need.

For certain values of need. :) Actually, much of what I like, even techie stuff, isn't pushed that hard. Also, I haven't seen a lot of ads for water lately - though that day may not be far off.

Ole Juul

Re: Weasel words

I'm sure some people would like to see a 7.

While I'm on the line I'd like to say a word to advertisers: if you piss me off enough, I'll remember your name. That means that you'll never, ever, get a sale from me.

Ole Juul

BS

"Verizon takes customer privacy seriously"

Silk Road trial latest: Ulbricht's Gmail addy appeared on ad for 'Amazon.com for drugs'

Ole Juul

Re: Nothing is as it seems

Sorry if that came off a little convoluted. :) Here goes again:

If the jury had a clue about the internet, they may be able to see their way past obfuscation. However, I suspect they don't in fact have a clue, so they will not understand an honest explanation (if that is what ends up being on offer here). In such a case they will likely go with the prosecutors who they will perceive as the voice of authority. The prosecutors will be pushing the idea that everything is as it seems.

Ole Juul

Nothing is as it seems

The internet is not like other places. Dratel is no doubt trying to make the best of that, but the jury may not understand enough to either be confused or see through it. As in most internet related trials, I fear the prosecutors have the advantage here

'Revenge porn' bully told not to post people's nude pics online. That's it. That's his punishment

Ole Juul

Re: Not sure who is being punished the most here...

You mean his nude face?

At least El Reg is not asking for money to take it down, but perhaps a burka would solve the problem.

'Boozed up' US drone spook CRASHED UFO into US White House

Ole Juul

Re: For the Nth time

when you get right down to it the biggest difference between expensive quadcopter toys and cheap drones is how they're used.

Indeed, a paper airplane could have been even more effective in this case if it had a bomb threat written on it.