* Posts by Alasdair Russell

16 publicly visible posts • joined 23 Jan 2009

Simian selfie stupidity: Macaque snap sparks Wikipedia copyright row

Alasdair Russell
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Re: Good article.

My problem with this is that as far as I understand the photographer had specifically setup the camera so that the Macaques could trigger it. He had placed the camera and set the exposure, focus, etc. to take the picture, and simply left the button as a trigger.

I cannot see how this is any different from a photographer who uses other forms of trigger mechanisms, such as movement, heat, noise, etc to take a picture when there is a subject around. Are you saying that all of these photographs are also public domain? This seems a rather sweeping generalisation to take, and would cause problems for a number of wildlife photographers, but otherwise I cannot see how to distinguish them from the case here.

The Macaque did not "take" the picture as this implies intent and some sort of understanding of what it was triggering. The person with the intent and understanding was David Slater, who setup the situation so that a particular action by the Macaque would cause the picture to be taken with David Slater's equipment. As a result I cannot see how he is not responsible for, and therefore the author of, the image.

Europe MPs: Time to change our data-sharing policy with US firms

Alasdair Russell
Big Brother

Oh Dear ...

"prohibit blanket mass surveillance activities and bulk processing of personal data"

Is it me or did they just basically describe Google's business model there?

FLABBER-JASTED: It's 'jif', NOT '.gif', says man who should know

Alasdair Russell
Meh

Say what you see

At the Webbies this guy puts up his 5 word message as:

It's pronounced "JIF" not "GIF"

surely the sane response is

Then why's it spelt "GIF"?

EU, US launch biggest ever global fight against online child sex abuse

Alasdair Russell

Re: Not that I'm cynical

The lack of any Central or South American Countries in there was understandable. But I think the biggest surprise was the abscence of Canada from the list.

Where were the bullet holes on OS/2's corpse? Its head ... or foot?

Alasdair Russell
Pint

Brings back memories (not necessarily good)

My first experience with OS/2 was that Microsoft shipped a copy of it (I think version 1.2) in the box with SQL Server 1.1 (a partially implemented port of v4.2 of the Sybase product). This was because until NT they did not have a version of Windows that could actually run SQL Server (or any real server product).

My other memory is the two enormous stacks of floppies (20 or so each I think) that I had to work through in order to install OS/2 2.0 and the first service pack on a machine (I think to run the old Lotus Notes Server).

Reg boffins blow lid on sheepsecs

Alasdair Russell
Joke

Approximations

Surely this solution is only valid for a spherical sheep in trans-stellar space.

Apache man disables Internet Explorer 10 privacy setting

Alasdair Russell
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Re: Misinformation

Interesting.

The configuration file is part of the CODE TREE of the httpd project. It is under source control and is distributed with the rest of the code and is patched in the same way the other files are. Thanks for the pointer. Now that I know where to look I can see that it was proposed 4 weeks ealier that the T&R of 2.4.3 be scheduled to start on 10 August (and a reminder went out on the 7th). So the fact that the commit was shortly after midnight at the start of that day is even more suspicious, In the end other issues delayed the T&R by a week but they only arose after the commit. And the T&R is basically a code freeze for the release as no changes can go into the release candidate and if it fails testing (live running for 2-3 days) they choose another trunk tag to base the release upon.

On the other point if you take a look at the patch in question, what he is adding is not a configuration setting but rather a portion of script which runs on server every time a request is received. So whilst it may not be compiled it is most defintely code.

Alasdair Russell
Meh

Re: Anyone can undo the change

This is already logged as a bug for correction in the Apache BugList. Unfortunately it is in the version released 3 weeks ago, so may not be addressed for a bit.

53845|New|Nor|2012-09-08|Remove DNT settings from httpd.conf

In fact there is a bit of a thread going on:

The URL is: https://issues.apache.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=53845

Alasdair Russell
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Re: Misinformation

Roy Fielding committed a change to the trunk version of the Apache HTTP Server less than 2 weeks before a major version release (10 August 2012). This change is live in version 2.4.3 of httpd (21 August 2012) which Apache recommend over all previous releases. Any server on this level by default has this behaviour (and web admins like to keep their servers up to date). Therefore this is indeed potentially live on a VERY large number of servers.

Not knowing the code locking protocols for Apache before a release I cannot be sure, but it looks like he may have snuck it in just ahead of code freeze. Even if reverted this piece of code is going to stay live in some places for a very long time.

Whilst it would be possible for a server admin to turn off this behaviour they would have to be aware that it existed. This is also not possible for web sites on shared servers where they often cannot access the required configuration file.

This is more worrying because Roy T. Fielding is a board member of the Apache Foundation and was its chairman at one point. He has to my mind shown his contempt for the standards process by committing a change which deliberately contravenes the very specification which he helped to author in a much more blatant manner then you could ever argue that Microsoft has. I cannot imagine how he could think that this was a good idea.

Nintendo unveils Network for console connectivity

Alasdair Russell
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Will it have an RJ45 socket

I am more interested in whether they will actually put an ethernet socket in the thing this time.

The requirement to link the Wii wirelessly has caused me a lot of hassle with thick walls etc. There is a good chance I will pass on the new console if I cannot plug a bit of CAT5A into it (and I have bought each of their consoles since the 64).

Easynet blames network collapse on dodgy router update

Alasdair Russell
WTF?

Hmmmmmmm - do we need a translation

"an invalid update from an external source into the Easynet network"

Does this translate as an external attempt to hack a Cisco Router with a default or easily guessed password?

New Facebook developer regs not rogue-proof

Alasdair Russell

Is the Code Served from Facebook?

I remember taking a quick look at Facebook development a bit of time back, and I believe the code of a Facebook App is not hosted on Facebook. A Facebook application uses what they call a canvas which is an iframe pointed at an external server URL (application callback URL) around which they place the standard face book bits (including adverts).

This means that Facebook avoids a lot of the bandwidth issues but also means that as far as I know they cannot preview the code (or the request responses) in any way. They could review the application by navigating to it, but as it could modify the response dependant upon client IP, Facebook User, etc. this might be of limited use. Particularly as the dodgy bit could be turned on later.

T-Orange merger approved

Alasdair Russell
FAIL

The Other Venture Co.

Hmmmmm.

Naming themselves after the goblin company in World of Warcraft which is notorious for plundering the world's resources and dubious business practices is not necessarily their best idea ever.

see http://www.wowwiki.com/Venture_Co

Pig plague and Twitter: The terrifying truth

Alasdair Russell
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Actually Warren Ellis

The Swine Flu reaches Australia item is actually an unattributed retweet of something from Warren Ellis (http://twitter.com/warrenellis) about 18 hours earlier.

US parkies in 'burrow-buster' marmot detonation campaign

Alasdair Russell
Flame

Watching too many 80s Movies

Is it just me, or does it sound like they may have been watching Caddyshack after a late night session and had a "great" idea at the end?

USAF cops seek netflinger rifle to down ultralights, paragliders

Alasdair Russell

Appropriate Acronym

Surely a better name would be -

Projectile

Launcher

Utilising

Mesh

Material

Entangling

Technology

.

.

.

splat