Posts by scrubber

Queen Lizzie awarded good behaviour medal

Re: republicans

If she's so fucking good, and the institution so wonderful, how come no country not already brainwashed into it is looking to have Liz adopt them?

Re: Commander in chief

No, I am suggesting, among other things, that she has never undertaken this constitutional rile that she was trained from childhood to fulfil. Others are suggesting that should she ever do so it would trigger a constitutional crisis that would take down the monarchy. I am then left asking: if she won't, and can't, perform her supposed duty, then what is the fucking point of the position of monarch? And perhaps some oil chosen by lottery would be less deferential.to the political classes, especially since their position, and that of their family, is not dependent on the largess of the already privileged using public money.

Re: Commander in chief

"What's the alternative?" [to an hereditary head of state]

Why are people so bloody unimaginative?

Selection at random, like jury duty.

A TV show called I'm a monarch get me out of here.

A cage fight.

Pistols at dawn.

Musical chairs.

A bake off.

Who cares? But it would be nice if the public has some say in, you know, a democracy.

It would also be nice if they could exercise their constitutionally granted powers without creating a constitutional crisis. Then perhaps Blair's massive mandate to smash our rights with 40% of the vote would not have happened.

Commander in chief

As head of the armed forces hasn't she sent "our boys" off to illegal wars to commit war crimes without so much as a frown?

And in nonmilitary terms why hasn't she ever stood up for her subjects and refused to sign any bill that stripped our historic rights?

She's a waste of space and the institution is a national embarrassment for a so called modern democracy.

BT will HATE us for this one weird 5G trick

Re: Buzzword fail

No you didn't.

Mercedes answers autonomous car moral dilemma: Yeah, we'll just run over pedestrians

If I spend $60k on a personal Uber I'd rather it didn't try to kill me when it mistakes a cat on the road for a baby.

But this is a very temporary problem, roads will not be accessible to people soon and automated will be the only, and safest, way to travel.

Twitter yanks data feeding tube out of police surveillance biz

Re: Oxymoron

Security and freedom are not fungible. Neither should they be negotiable.

Missing the point

The cops should not be following anyone without good reason. Just because I drive on public roads does not mean the cops should constantly monitor my whereabouts and be able to track where I've been over time.

Confirmed: UK police forces own IMSI grabbers, but keeping schtum on use

Blinded by safety

I forget, who are the bad guys again...?

Social media flame wars to be illegal, says top Crown prosecutor

Doxxing

Theresa May,

10 Downing Street,

London

What now, bitches...

Disney aims for Netflix. If the deal was made, it would shoot itself in the foot

Market saturation

Netflix has reached the point where it plays by the usual.rules, no more double digit growth as is. They need exclusive, live content to keep growing, but sports are really expensive. They will eventually do it (games on phone, tablet, PC and TV is the ideal for consumers) but the pricing model is not easy to do for a company that says £X gets you everything we have. They have to start demarcating their customers (other than by legally enforced geography) and that won't sit well initially. But Netflix seem to be progressing to the point of being bigger than Disney, star wars be damned, pretty soon.

CEO of shady ad site Backpage and owners arrested on human trafficking suspicions

Re: I can't believe some of you do not understand this!

"Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Amazon and Apple enlisted the Centre for Democracy and Technology to co-ordinate its defence of Backpage. “Digital rights” activist groups including the Electronic Frontier Foundation and the Center for Democracy and Technology filed briefs in support of Backpage."

Do you think these groups are all in it because they want to advertise kids for sale? Or do you think they recognise that the government will always begin an assault on our rights by using terrorism, sex trafficking and/or children?

If people are openly advertising kids for rent on this site then surely that makes life easy for the cops?

"aiding and abetting criminal conduct makes one "punishable as a principal"

Like roads for bank robbers? Google maps for ... any number of criminals from burglars to terrorists? VPNs for anyone from 'pirates' to dissidents to Manning and Snowden.

There are criminals and victims here and justice should be served, but the 1st Amendment doesn't exist just so we can say uncontroversial things, and this is an extension of the right of people to allow people to speak without being held liable for what they say.

US govt straight up accuses Russia of hacking prez election

At least in the arms race during the cold war there were obvious reasons for not using the weapons, in the tech war they deploy these weapons as soon as they have them, often against their own citizens. Farewell sweet privacy, we barely knew you and now you're gone.

Probe cops' Stingray phone masts, senators tell US comms watchdog

Protect and Serve

"the ability of minority communities to use ... emergency services"

Given what invariably happens when police show up to a situation involving minorities this is not necessarily a bad thing.

OK Google, Alexa, why can't I choose my own safe, er, wake word?

Re: Fun at conferences

But "horse porn" IS my unlock phrase. And my homepage.

Inside a smoky room...

"Okay, we have access to their communications online, but these sneaky citizens can still communicate privately in their homes. Any ideas?"

"What if we make our listening devices have some kind of utility and people will then willingly buy them and put them in their houses?"

"I know smart phones had enough features to make people carry around our bugs, but what would we have to offer to get people to have this constantly on in their homes?"

"How about we let them look up the weather and start and stop music, by talking to it?"

And that's how the west was lost.

Y'know that ridiculously expensive Oculus Rift? Yeah, it just got worse

Facebook of all companies ...

... should know the danger of going all in on one leading company in an unproven, immature market.

OK, having written that I'm now thinking of Google and Nest.

My Nest smoke alarm was great … right up to the point it went nuts

Re: Judge Wendell Holmes

I think you'll find shouting fire will cause a rush of people whipping out their camera phones...

Or a bunch of smart arses to go over and see what all the fuss is about and whether they can sort it out.

Judge Wendell Holmes

"There is a good reason why "shouting fire in a crowded theater" is often held up as an example of the limits on freedom of speech."

To stop people speaking out against the draft?

If your theatre/home has Nest devices and can't evacuate safely during a fire, drill or false alarm then the fault is entirely yours, not the annoying person/device shouting "Fire!"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X3Hg-Y7MugU - Hitchens

http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2012/11/its-time-to-stop-using-the-fire-in-a-crowded-theater-quote/264449/

Mastercard rolls out pay-by-selfie across Europe

Re: "You use HSBC, don't you?”

Do I look like a Mexican drug cartel?

Should Computer Misuse Act offences committed in UK be prosecuted in UK?

Big Banks

So when HSBC are complicit in money laundering for Mexican drug cartels and groups on the terrorist list then where do the officials get tried?

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2016/jul/11/hsbc-us-money-laundering-george-osborne-report

Complaints against cops down 93% thanks to bodycams – study

Double edged sword

So, let me get this straight, because (some of) the cops are violent, law breaking scum, people are actually pushing for them to travel about scanning the public at large, feeding into a central database allowing them to add it into the face recognition and license plate scanning systems so that they can monitor us not just from static CCTV cameras, but mobile monitoring units (police)?

Seems to me we're actively asking for a panopticon because the people who really want it are misbehaving, i.e. we're rewarding their bad behaviour.

For those who say it will be a locally stored unit, only viewable under review when a complaint or court case requires it, well, tasers, RIPA, pepper spray, FISA courts, civil asset forfeiture, RICO etc. etc.

FBI overpaid $999,900 to crack San Bernardino iPhone 5c password

Dear commentards

I recall a vast number of comments being down voted vigorously and repeatedly for saying this was possible and being ridiculed. Could you all go back and update your comments and votes?

Nvidia: Eight bits ought to be enough for anybody ... doing AI

Jackpot?

Is that prolog course I did back in the day, along with the fuzzy logic maths, finally gonna be useful and marketable?

What's up, Zuck? FTC to probe Facebook for WhatsApp phone number mega-slurp

OK, so they now know that you have food with some number X, see that you travel with number Y and you have issues with the council (and probably which department). If the other people have location on then they know where you probably live, can see locations you may have visited. Using those other numbers they can find your possible extended group (true or not) and given your lack of communication you are a suspicious character and perhaps the police or other security services should be notified.

Allah help you if any of those 3 hop relationships happen to be on some watchlist. How's the weather in Cuba this time of year?

Re: Numbers which have been collected without their holders' approval

"someone who has your number uses it"

I can only hope that I'm a big enough PITA that they have me in as some epithet rather than my real name.

but but but ...

I recall Facebook and Whatsapp promise there would be no cross sharing of user info and anyone who thought otherwise was a paranoid freak

A bit like how tasers were only ever going to be used in situations where officers would otherwise have had to use firearms.

HSBC: How will we verify business banking customers? Selfies!

Re: Simplify the process?

"*not my real name"

No wonder they wouldn't let you open an account. Try again with your real name.

It's OK to fine someone for repeating a historical fact, says Russian Supreme Court

Re: But not as bizarre as ...

Whine about that post all you like, but we have an unelected head of state and second chamber yet call ourselves a democracy. We also assisted in illegal renditions of innocent people for the Americans when we knew they were gonna torture them. And spy on people with no oversight. Democracy my arse.

BBC vans are coming for you

Re: Regressive tax

Not at all like the national lottery. If I wanted to gamble in the casino but I had to pay a lottery tax to do so (to fund athletes and the opera and other nonsense) then it would be the same. The fact is that in order to watch advertiser funded live broadcasts, even online, I have to pay for the behemoth BBC.

If you want my opinion on other regressive taxes, or ones where they ostensibly take money for A but spend it on B then wait until there's an article about those but this one happens to be about the BBC.

The majority of people who don't like paying so much to the BBC are those who get little out of it and aren't won over by the same patriotic bullshit that makes people in the UK proud of the also Jimmy Saville-enabling NHS.

Regressive tax

Regardless of your view of the BBC, as a national treasure or a state goliath destroying the free market for media, can we at least agree that it disproportionately costs the poor while benefitting the rich?

If I buy a TV (as a large screen monitor) in order to watch Netflix and Amazon Prime, why do I have to tell some spotty oik in Currys my address? Why does some public employee then use that address to check if I have a BBC license (let's not call it a TV license, eh?) and send me threatening letters non-stop and then try to use legally dubious tactics to access my property to see if I'm 'stealing' the BBC?

And, while I"m on a rant, why do BBC radio listeners get a free ride? Those free-loading pirates living it large off the back of artists and TV watchers. Seen from afar one could call this class warfare where the poor pay for the rich...

Notting Hill Carnival spycams: Met Police rolls out real-time live face-spotting tech

Re: Forbidden

"Wonder what someone had to do to achieve that?"

Be accused of a crime, found not guilty then stitched up by plod and a friendly judge because they know, in their heart of hearts, that you're a wrong 'un.

O Justice, Justice, wherefore art thou Justice?

Radicalisation? UK.gov gets itself in cluster-muddle over 'terrorism'

Re: Nice recommendations

'30 to 40 years ago, you could have said "extremist Irish Catholics represent the most likely source of terrorist activity in the UK."'

And I would have. They seemed to have gone a bit quiet of late, so the most likely source of deadly terrorist behaviour in the UK is fundamentalist reading of religion, esp. the Qu'ran, at this exact time. Come talk to me in 20 years and we'll discuss the rise of extreme nationalism as non-English nationals start to become the dominant population in schools and some people take that as a call to arms to get rid of 'the other'.

Now what you make of these facts is up to you. Some might take a Donald Trump attitude and try to ban everyone who's slightly different from the country, and some might take a SJW attitude and try to jail anyone who thinks diversity might have gone too far. Personally I don't care, as long as some form of liberal justice system is in place I couldn't care less who I share this crappy island with.

Sadly our government seem intent on punishing those who criticise multiculturalism while persecuting Muslims and Afro-Carribeans. Go figure.

Nice recommendations

The press shouldn't report any of the West's disgraceful actions in the middle east and they shouldn't report that extremist Muslims represent the most likely source of terrorist activity in the UK. They should just report whatever the Ministry of Truth tells them to.

What could possibly go wrong here?

French, German ministers demand new encryption backdoor law

Re: Dream On

"I'd love to have a contract providing bath soap to politicians.'

The problem is that when they drop the soap in the shower it's the rest of us who have to pick it up.

Sex ban IT man loses appeal – but judge labels order 'unpoliceable'

East Germany called and want their playbook back

Stick him on the 'Sex Offenders Register'* without the trouble of him being, ya know, an actual offender. What could possibly go wrong?

* alongside drunk people pissing in the street.

Snowden files confirm Shadow Brokers spilled NSA's Equation Group spy tools over the web

Is Security Agency now an oxymoron?

Maybe now they'll see that by focusing on spying on semi-honest people like us they have actually reduced our security.

Imagine they actually cared about our security and fixed these exploits as soon as they found them, imagine how little the Chinese or the Russians would know about us, imagine how secure our online banking and commerce could be. But no, they'd rather hack the webcams of yahoo users and intercept US troops emails to family back home.

UK's mass-surveillance draft law grants spies incredible powers for no real reason – review

"Privacy built in"

Because we're not allowed to know what they're up to.

I remember reading about some subjects of the Crown being irked by this type of General Warrant some years ago, seems to have led to a war of independence or some such. Shame the UK is too busy tugging forelocks to actually do anything about it. (So are the descendants of those brave colonists...)

London cops waste £2.1m on thought crime unit – and they want volunteer informers

Please, please, please can I be the manager ...

... I'd just set my autoreply to be: "That's not a crime, you imbecile" and collect the 50k.

Incidentally, if telling a Labour MP to "go into the sea" is a death threat then is telling them to go fuck themselves a rape threat? Because they really should all go fuck themselves. And the tories. And any libs still around. But especially the SNP.

Linux security backfires: Flaw lets hackers inject malware into downloads, disrupt Tor users, etc

Re: Won't you think of the children?

Jesus, like Santa, is white!

I know this because they said so on a news channel...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7XYlJqf4dLI

London's 'automatic' Tube trains suffered 750 computer failures last year

Re: Fail v fail safe

Not entirely true. Each life has a value. Each commuter minute wasted has a value. At some point holding up (or being fined) for a delay exceeds the lives lost number and then we let people die. This is usually done at the inception of a project, but also applies to upgrades and ongoing maintenance.

Skyscape rebrands to UKCloud following legal challenge by Sky

SkySkySky

Dear Sky,

Skyfuck Skyoff you Skyfucking Skybastards.

But I do like the sound if Skycunts.

Alleged skipper of pirate site KickAss Torrents keel-hauled in Poland

What first amendment?

Why is hosting a link to illegal material illegal? NB. Not only should the links not be illegal, the stuff they link to is at best copyrighted which should be a civil offence and is not actually illegal or copyrightable in every country.

If I have a directory of local fences* is that illegal even if I never buy or sell stolen goods? Are Yell (is that still a thing) breaking the law by listing gun stores?

When does knowledge, and the dissemination of it, become so dangerous that our betters have to make it illegal? When is it better for us to not know facts 'for our own good'? This is not about piracy, this is about the state's (and the State's) ability to stop their citizens from accessing knowledge. Government of the people, by the people, for the people.

* The people who buy and sell stolen goods, not the 'keep out my yard' type.

Star Trek Beyond: An unwatchable steaming pile of tribble dung

Re: Skyfall

Ah Skyfall, the one where the villain has a preposterous plot that somehow comes off in spite of hundreds of unforeseeable events having to come off in the right order at the right time and he actually gets everything he wants yet viewers still see it as a win for Bond?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xmoIDKqfY44

Facebook deleted my post and made me confirm pics of my kids weren't sexually explicit

"the age of Facebook-approved censorship"

I think I see the problem here - you're mistaking a bulletin board with a news site run by journalists.

Bomb-disposal robot violently disposes of Dallas cop-killer gunman

Do we even need cops anymore?

As long as the robot can tell black from white, and I don't mean morally, then surely the US police are redundant?

Wannabe Prime Minister Andrea Leadsom thinks all websites should be rated – just like movies

The Great British Firewall

So a prospective Conservative leader wants to regulate what adults can see? Who'd've thunk it?

Whatever happened to small government?

5 years, 2,300 data breaches. What'll police do with our Internet Connection Records?

"prompting concerns about the increasing amount of data they're holding"

Even if there were no breaches, I'd still be extremely concerned about the increasing amount of data they're holding.