* Posts by Tom Chiverton

292 publicly visible posts • joined 1 May 2007

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ContactPoint offers tokens for access

Tom Chiverton
Unhappy

Users 'solution' to needing to always carry the token

"generate a code on an LCD display which they can use one time for access to the database through an authorised computer"

So the users won't blue tack the token to their 'authorised computer' along with PIN etc., thus allowing anyone passing by access ?

Acer intros 'pro' netbook

Tom Chiverton
Linux

Linux ?

Is the hardware supported, at least ?

ISPs frosty on Jacqui's comms surveillance plan

Tom Chiverton

@KazR

Err, they have. It's called Tor.

Adobe buffs and brands full Flash suite

Tom Chiverton
Linux

64bit flash is already here...

Errr... I've got 64bit Flash... http://labs.adobe.com/technologies/flashplayer10/releasenotes_64bit.html ...

Microsoft's Silverlight 3 due in July?

Tom Chiverton

@Thom Brown

The Flash file format is already open for anyone to read and re-implement.

ICO tells cops to behave on CCTV

Tom Chiverton

CCTV ?

So, when is ICO going to wake up to the ANPR nonsence then ?

More doubts on ID card readers

Tom Chiverton

splutter

So, in addition to being no need to have one, there's no way to verify it (and especially not the expensive biometrics) anyway, even if it wasn't pointless in the first place ?

And the people of Manchester are going to rush to throw away 60 quid on it why ? Umm... oh yes, you wont be able to go to work without it (pilots). Subtle that. Real subtle.

Palm: Pré to launch on 6 June

Tom Chiverton

Apps

If this thing has a half sensible range of apps (SSH a must, Java based is fine) I'm sold.

Ace.

Microsoft IIS6 bug exposes sensitive files sans password

Tom Chiverton

@david

If it requires doing things not-in-the-default-way it's a fair bet the vast majority of Windows servers are set to their defaults.

Home Office: IPS to hang onto snaps of fingerprints

Tom Chiverton

Well, good news

Well, at least I wont have to explain terms like 'hash' to people now when discussing the failed ID card project, as the NIR will simply store your whole set of prints, complete.

Mio tunes into TV satnavs

Tom Chiverton

#fail

"receive TV signals at speeds of up to 60mph"

Shame the legal top speed in this country is 70mph then, really, and the longest, boring stretches of journeys, where your passenger would want to use the TV and you don't need the sat. nav. would be on just those sections of road...

Gov 'smart meter' plans: Sky box in charge of your house

Tom Chiverton
Unhappy

Remote shutdown !

There's no way I'm letting someone into my house to install a remote controlled cut off switch for some spotty oik to hack into. No way.

Microsoft’s Silverlight 3 delivers decent alternative to Adobe

Tom Chiverton

Decent ?

That'll be "decent if you don't need to be cross platform and enjoy lining the pockets of criminals", right ?

Call for heads to roll over failed spook IT system

Tom Chiverton

And these are the same people

And these are the same people who want to run the largest database on earth (for ID cards and/or everyones internet traffic) ? Geez...

EU calls for tougher data laws

Tom Chiverton

force business ?

What about forcing governments ?

Mozilla mauls Microsoft on IE, Windows 7 bundle

Tom Chiverton

why not moan at Mac or Linux

Why not moan at Apple over Safari or Linux over FireFox ? Because neither of those two are *convicted criminals* with a past and ongoing history of *unfairly* and *illegally* screwing people over...

Open source closes gap on Microsoft's next Silverlight

Tom Chiverton

Flash !closed

The Flash file format is open and documented, the free java based Flex SDK (compiler and libraries) is likewise open source. There's even an IDE that runs on Linux - for now - but see http://gruchalski.com/2009/04/28/vote-for-flex-builder-for-linux/

GCHQ: Mastering the Media

Tom Chiverton

Time well spent

Looks like it was a good idea to enable TLS on my Sendmail install over the weekend then :-)

HTC's second Android phone coming 1 May

Tom Chiverton

Android 1.5 ?

No hardware keyboard according to the spec, so this'll be the first v1.5 device too...

Samsung unveils first Android handset

Tom Chiverton

Nothing new here

Looks like it's just the existing G1 with the previously announced v1.5 Android... nice to see other manufacturers using it though, even if they've not innervated on top of it *at all*.

UK.gov to spend £2bn on ISP tracking

Tom Chiverton
Stop

@Barnfather

The thing is, once they know you use GMail and Skype, a targeted attack against (just) you is a lot more likely to be successful. Witness Hushmail sending special non-encrypting Java applets when asked, Skype delivering an 'update' is just a similar thing...

Don't stand for this - help No2ID get it stopped and attend a local meeting now.

In the mean time, where can I find an application that connects randomly to a list of web sites and asks for a random page, that I can restrict to (say) 10% of my bandwidth and then leave idling on my laptop all the time ?

Doubt cast over ContactPoint security assurances

Tom Chiverton
Alert

Modern Liberty already have a petition to scrap it

Please sign http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/Contact-Point/ !

GPS, swipe cards to monitor Welsh school kids

Tom Chiverton
Stop

If I was a bully...

If I were a bully I'd steal a kids card and then either fail to swipe, or swipe but leave the kid behind tied to a tree...

MS opens kimono on Windows 7 security features

Tom Chiverton

Ah hah hah ha har !

"feature will allow sys admins to patch remotely-connected devices"

"sys. admin" eh ? Not virus writers at all ?

+1 FAIL

Spy chiefs size up net snoop gear

Tom Chiverton

@AC and https

HTTPS is meaningless. With control of the network it's easy to MitM it. You really need a proper client-certificate based VPN to somewhere sensible. Like china...

VMware unmasks next-gen hypervisor

Tom Chiverton

Who (doesn't) check this stuff

"ESX Server 2.X, the hypervisor could span one or two processors and each VM could handle 4 MB of memory"

4 meg !?! ITYM gig.... unless v2 *was* *really* bad !

Jackalope gets jaunty with Ubuntu nip and tuck

Tom Chiverton
Unhappy

Stable ?

"a more stable and robust Linux distro"

Unless you are using KDE on an Intel graphics chipset, where according to the bug reports (filed by the beta testers) and beta release notes (not all of which were fixed or carried in to the release release notes), your choices are very very slow performance or the experimental UXA system which crashes. FAIL.

Adobe turns on to Flash TVs

Tom Chiverton

Wii ?

So will the Wii get that updated player too now then ?

Google gives a peek of Android 1.5

Tom Chiverton

No help...

This is no help, of course, unless your provider (TMobile) bothers to issue the updates. Based on Orange and SE phones, this never* happens.

UK.gov delays new data breach powers

Tom Chiverton
Black Helicopters

Obvious really

We got the scrapping of the Data Protection Act dropped from the Coroners bill (i.e. clause 152), which means there would actually be a chance the government would be fined for losing all our data, so it's very important to the government that the powers to impose those fines never see the light of day.

P2P eavesdrop 'guilt by association attack' developed

Tom Chiverton

This could

This could also handily screw over the govts stupid plans to try and monitor everyones internet traffic, more so than leaving a random legal torrent of something popular (linux ISO) running 24/7 :-)

Summary care records - you might die, but they never will

Tom Chiverton

Buh ?

They same to be saying they can't possibly type 'delete from people where nid=...' because they then have to *wipe the entire hard drive(s)* ? Thats obviously wrong...

MSI names UK date, price for 'hybrid' netbook

Tom Chiverton
Linux

Xp ?!?

What, no Linux ?

‘Wikipedia killer’ pilfers blogosphere, taunts bloggers

Tom Chiverton

@Loki

No, I'm afraid it's true - con-sys are a bunch of ejits.

Nintendo's Iwata reveals wii storage fix, new games

Tom Chiverton

Homebrew

According to the hackmii blog (http://hackmii.com/2009/03/system-menu-40-rundown/) this update finally correctly fixes the Twilight buffer overflow hack (4th or 5th time lucky !), so they'll need to reveal one of the other ones they've sat on to allow homebrew installs on the new IOS.

Existing installs of HBC homebrew launcher and the DVDX DVD player survive the upgrade process, however.

Newfangled rootkits survive hard disk wiping

Tom Chiverton

Signed BIOS

Requiring BIOS updates to be signed by the vendor sounds good, but it stops you mucking about with kit you own - RMS will be upset, as will you be when you can't turn the (broken, of course) DRM off.

Penguin-free Linux 2.6.29 kernel released

Tom Chiverton

"Nothing really exciting"

"Nothing really exciting", except, of course, Kernel Mode Setting (on Intel only for this release) which enables X to run non-root, more reliable suspend, quicker, flicker free boots, etc.

LibDems want gov action on killer lorries of death

Tom Chiverton

WIBBI

Wouldn't It Be Better If sat. navs. had a 'I am a lorry, avoid low bridges' option, oh, wait, hold on, http://www.nav-now.co.uk/index.php?search_terms=truck

Online opt-outs for care record

Tom Chiverton

@AC is confusing

The AC is confusing the SCR (opt-out, only a summary of your full records) with your whole file on the NHS Spine, which is opt-in.

Google Street View hits UK streets

Tom Chiverton

They still need to update the road layouts though

Street through building, one of many in the area:

http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&t=h&layer=c&cbll=53.479956,-2.252726&panoid=wSaPqA4KGWgQ-I6EO3Mr0w&cbp=12,191.8760276421221,,0,-11.236781958213605&msa=0&msid=106521498528987985180.0004358594448afcafae8&ll=53.480055,-2.252685&spn=0,359.999171&z=20

How police busted UK's biggest cybercrime case

Tom Chiverton

Repeat after me...

Repeat after me "there is no such thing as an legitimate key logger".

Firefox 3.1 third beta released into wild

Tom Chiverton

@AC

I can resize the bookmarks 'organiser' window here.

If you want to dump the bookmarks DB into plain text, there are many addons to do it, but a (mini)database is more 'civilized' considering it's intended use.

Barclays heralds new wave of wallet-waving

Tom Chiverton
Unhappy

Bugger

Where can I buy foil lined wallets from then ? No doubt the huddeled masses will swallow this wholesale, then moan when they get shafted by that man with the large briefcase they walked past...

Serious business behind Microsoft's Silverlight-3 tease

Tom Chiverton

WAT Monty Python

FUD, FUD, FUD, wonderful FUD !

Will they be sueing anyone who uses Silverlight ?

Last call for UK liberties

Tom Chiverton

@Manchester

At the Manchester event, one of the things that was striking was the number of people who had not previously been involved in these issues, who turned up and were shocked at what the government is trying to (carry on) doing.

This is how we'll finally get al the schemes scrapped - reaching out beyond the 'regular readers'.

Microsoft trades goodwill for TomTom Linux satisfaction

Tom Chiverton

Crap.

Looking at the PDF, they appear to be going after the file sytem.

If this doesn't go to caught and then get thrown out, it'll be digital camera makers next...

Small ISPs reject call to filter out child abuse sites

Tom Chiverton

Rar

Chalk another win up for Zen, who were on the radio (BBC Four none the less) talking about why they weren't going to have anything to do with blocking or filtering internet access, just as they did during Phorm. Rar.

Google backs EU's Microsoft antitrust battle

Tom Chiverton
Boffin

!same as Linux or Mac O/S

Neither the Linux distro's or Apple are using their monopoly in one area to illegal distort the market in another.

Eircom to block Pirate Bay

Tom Chiverton

Modern liberty

If this is the future, let me off now please.

I wonder if http://www.modernliberty.net will discuss this this weekend ?

Gigabyte touts 'world's first' phone with Flash UI

Tom Chiverton

"Switch to Windows Mobile at the flick of a button"

Why would I ever want to do that ? Either their replacement GUI works for everything the phone does, in which case it's bound to be nicer, or it doesn't, in which case there are many other Windoes mobiles to hate...

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