* Posts by Kit-Fox

81 publicly visible posts • joined 19 Jun 2009

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Blessed are the cryptographers, labelling them criminal enablers is just foolish

Kit-Fox

Re: Will government idiots never learn? They might have to be taught by example

I'd suggest that it means neither group are all that bothered with absolute accuracy (or as near to as possible) Lets face it do the US army really care where their shells/missiles land? Based on their performance since 9/11 I'd suggest not (and that appears to apply to most allied armed forces too).

As for blacksmiths, well the process of fettling matters and can be used to make a forged peice fit, and you can always weld on an extra bit if appropiate etc, there are ways to make things work and add/remove materials

However context matters, and when talking about maths and crypto, preciseness and accuracy matter a lot (which was the point of the joke). You cant just make up the rules of maths to suit your needs in such situations where you care or there is the potential to introduce large gaping security holes. (or in the case of Nasa forgetting the change between Imperial/Metric, losing a multimillion probe to mars another good example of preciseness/accuracy mattering)

Kit-Fox

Re: Will government idiots never learn? They might have to be taught by example

You'd lose all online and remote banking payment services

No MS Teams / Zoom / Skype etc

No online shopping, pretty much no online services

No ATMs

No Legal advice or complex cases dealt with by lawyers

No mobile phone services - this would probably affect the emergency services radio systems too, military too potentially

Contracts would probably grind to a halt as well

All of these things are underpinned by encryption in some form or another. In some cases yes there are ways around that but its slower, more labour intensive and requires more input from the "customer"

Are all the 20-somethings today used to having everything at their fingertips going to go back to doing things how it happened in the 50s? Will they be happy about that?

I suspect it would cause an awful lot of problems, especially if the tech companies/banks etc could co-ordinate to bring their withdrawl of services at the same time. It might make government ministers actually pay attention to the fact that encryption and privacy are needed. Also yes I do believe it would lead to riots and an increase in violence and cause societal issues of a magnitude that could cause some countries to struggle to manage it.

Kit-Fox

Will government idiots never learn? They might have to be taught by example

Soon Pi will no longer be 3.14, but just plain 3 as the .14 is clearly messy and the sign of a creator who had no idea what they were doing :P (/sarc in case it wasnt obvious)

I still stand by my view that if the tech companies wanted to, they could demonstrate to countries and the idiots running them what will happen when crypto and privacy is removed by simply turning off the service for 7 days (1 calendar week) in that geographical location.

In this instance but turning off Fb / WhatsApp / Instagram / Signal / Telegram / Twitter etc etc ad infinitum (I dont know, nor care to know them all) as well the banks turning off all secure pay options for online services too (after all thats encrption too right? :P ) for all Aussie users, the government and the idiots running it could them observe what is the outcome of what they desire but I suspect they wont like the result (I'm guessing total riots and breakdown of society within 72hours).

MY GOD, IT'S FULL OF CARS: SpaceX parks a Tesla in orbit (just don't mention the barge)

Kit-Fox

You all Astronauts on some kind of Star Trek?

I guess Elon Musk is a huge fan of Star Trek Voyager then? Episode 1 from season 2 - The 37's

Where a rusty old pickup truck from the 30's is found floating around the delta quadrant

At least this is a more environmentally friendly Tesla electric car heh

Sysadmin given Licence To Perve shows why you always get it in writing

Kit-Fox
Pint

Have an upvote kind commentard for such grace of writing skills

you certainly made me chuckle :)

Here's a great idea: Let's make a gun that looks like a mobile phone

Kit-Fox

Re: Apologia

Mind you, I do break UK law every day when I leave the house with my tiny EDC Swiss Army knife in my pocket, because the blade locks. So the general tenor of my point still stands:

Again you are incorrect, a locking knife under 4 inches in length is perfectly legal to carry around with you as a pocketknife without breaking any UK laws as long as; the blade does not lock automatically when the knife is opened (ie you have to operate a switch to lock it open)

Please do carefully learn the UK laws & rules about these things before posting incorrect information

Kit-Fox
Stop

Re: How pathetic is this?

You do actually have a point there. It's also illegal in UK to wear a stab/bullet-proof vest without legal authority

Complete & total BS - please cite the act of parliment outlawing the sale/ownership & use of body armour in the UK

There are no laws outlawing the sale, ownership or use of various types of body armour in the UK, including stab vests & 'bulletproof' armour (as no armour is ever entirely 'proof' against everything, hence the '')

It can be difficult & expensive to obtain & if you wear overt armour to walk down the street you might be stopped & questioned as to why, but there is nothing they can do about it & any actions taken by the UK police to make you surrender your body armour to them or to prevent you wearing it in the future would themselves be illegal

I suspect if you wore overt body armour in the USA too & walked into Times Square you might also get stopped by the cops & asked why as well.

You own the software, Feds tell Apple: you can unlock it

Kit-Fox

Re: And in the UK...

I tell you what you stick to your idea & i'll stick to how it was explained by several lawyers at the time those sections were written & then again when those sections were brought into force.

so again not a myth

Kit-Fox

Re: And in the UK...

Please read the following links;

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2000/23/part/III/crossheading/power-to-require-disclosure

&

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2000/23/part/III/crossheading/offences

Then weep at the loss of the rule of law in this country as you realise it is not a myth & next time check the actual law as written & approved by parliment

Caption this: WIN a 6TB Western Digital Black hard drive with El Reg

Kit-Fox

A few hundred years into the future, millions of light years from earth & countless evolutions of the Oculus to make Holodeck technology a reality & the bloody thing can only handle black & white. I think we had better Boldy Go back to the time of colour tv :P

(Trek / Voyager & Capt Proton just in case it went over you head)

WIN a 6TB Western Digital Black hard drive with El Reg

Kit-Fox

'Well that was an interesting trip, I was blue all over & had this weird hair that everyone kept trying to touch & just what were those animals trying to do to my ponytail??'

Mars water discovery is a liberal-muslim plot, cry moist conspiracy theorists

Kit-Fox

Re: I, for one, welcome our Martian Kaaba!

Dune reference ftw :) +1 upvote

Microsoft backports data slurp to Windows 7 and 8 via patches

Kit-Fox
Stop

Dear Microsoft,

Pulling this kind of shit will result in the exact opposite of what you hope to achieve in the PC market, instead of people patching & updating their machine right away, they will wait to see if the latest slew of patches are attempts to install backdoors/rootkits/spyware & other 'telemetry' software onto their computers leading to a greater percentage of insecure unpatched machines.

Also there is no consent, informed, implied or otherwise if you dont tell people in big unavoidable text that something you are having them install on their machine as a 'critical security patch' will SPY on them.

Want security? Next-gen startups show how old practices don't cut it

Kit-Fox
WTF?

Slow Slide of English Language

or even just Oopsie McFumbleFingers YOLOing the delete key.

Really, we have to use the term 'YOLO' here even with an -ing on the end it's still a bloody terrible thing to write or say

Get whimsical and win a Western Digital Black 6TB hard drive

Kit-Fox

Now if you look closely you will see in its natural habitat, the lesser spotted iphone, clearly this plucky young member of the tribe has decided to strike out on his own and attempt to create a friendship with the gorilla pack that rules these hills.

Without the other iphone fauna to help keep an eye on this youngling however I fear this attempt is doomed to failure as it would appear that in his rush to make his mark he has forgotten to bring with him either an extended battery or a charge cable & so will be unlikely to make it throughout the night

tune in tomorrow to see just how this plays out & if the plucky young iphone can manage to survive

Kit-Fox

So long Earth & thanks for all the Bananas

Your new car will dob you in to the cops if you crash, decrees EU

Kit-Fox

Just remove it if you have an issue with it

I find it interesting that on a site dedicated to technology & geeks/nerds of all kinds & probably all shades of XYZ-hat hackers that not one has suggested simply finding the fuse/power feed and disabling it or finding the transmitter or SIM card and removing it from the vehicle for regular use (replacing it for MOTs etc if its tested for, which seems unlikely)

Space exploration is just so lame. New apps are mankind's future

Kit-Fox

Badge? Sure, but.....

Sure those who are awarded best commentard should get a badge, but it shouldnt be a bronze/silver or gold one as exist at the moment.

It should a unique badge to highlight the users unique qualities. I think you already use red badges for the staff so perhaps a black one? (as in black sheep of the family)

TOR users become FBI's No.1 hacking target after legal power grab

Kit-Fox

Re: Re : Asperger syndrome...

They don't have to... they'll just write a new law that makes it all perfectly legal...

Perfectly legal in the US yeah, but then they had better never have a holiday in any EU country or we can use the EAW to have them shipped to the UK for trial and as we wont know which agent was responsible all should be held accountable, making the EU off limits to all FBI agents & employees

Unless you mean our political idiots here in the UK will make a law making it legal for foriegn agents to hack computers willy-nilly which I cant see them slipping past the electorate with much ease (well I hope not anyways)

Every billionaire needs a PANZER TANK, right? STOP THERE, Paul Allen

Kit-Fox

Re: Fight it out

Hang on you are forgetting Hari Seldon's Plan here, which clearly says, the foundation can never be beaten ;)

That stirring LOHAN motto: Anyone know a native Latin speaker?

Kit-Fox

Straight from the heart of the playmobil pilot & ref to a mr Pratchett, i think we should go with the following;

We who are about to die, dont want to

Morituri Nolumus Mori

Cops nab suspect using CREEPY facial recog system

Kit-Fox

Re: Why do the words...

... False Positive keep coming to mind...?

Probably because there are no publically figures available describing the failure rate of this latest & greatest tech. After all if juries really understood the problems surrounding evidence like this & others such as DNA, then we would have less convictions which is something the judiciary cant abide to happen.

After all its all to protect us from terrorists & think of the kiddies, so you cant ask for details as then you are some kind of free-radical anarchist who must by definition of the current idiots in power in both elgov & the so called 'police' be detained to protect public safety.

Rember folks Freedom really is Slavery & Ignorance really is Strength

Charity: Ta for the free Win 8.1, Microsoft – we'll use it to install Win 7

Kit-Fox

Interesting that you make the assumption that I'm invovled in the kit buying process, I'm sure nowhere did I actually state I was.

Also the last few places I've been at hadn't actually bought any of their computer equipment, having it all donated to them from various places looking for a quick pr score/tax write-off or whatever brownie points they were trying to earn

So yes I stand by my statement that you arent all that aware of computing in most charities ( unless of course you just hide out at the national head offices of larger charities where stupid amounts of money are spunked on vanity projects and equipment that has no real application ) , as from what I've learnt from others my experiences down in the trenches are in no way unique

Kit-Fox

It will run fine on anything with a dual core and 2GB of ram basically. Any PC pretty much since say 2005 really.

You really dont spend much time around charities do you ?? If (and its a big IF) you are lucky you might find some cheap dual-cored celeron in a machine, probably just about struggling along with maybe 1Gb of ram and probably a 60Gb hdd to boot.

In fact the machines at the charities i've been involved in have all been much older. I see ancient SECC P3 machines & P4 powered rigs in these places just about managing to run XP & if you are even luckier office 2003 but more often than not its the previous office version (XP/2000 wasnt it?) on a daily basis in these places

So yeah a lot of places simply wont have the gunt or space in their machines to run win8(.1) and a modern version of office without hardware upgrades at the same time & a lot of charities cant afford that

Kit-Fox

Re: Things are hidden :-(

The issue isn't Windows, it YOU. If you rely on a MAC filtering, which is SHIT, instead of WPA2, then, trust me, no OS is going to help.

Hang on, you think MAC filtering is 'SHIT' but that WPA2 which has been shown to be quite crackable with the use of rainbow tables and a lil data capture isnt ??

You should be using as many levels of security as are effective/possible

So using MAC filtering is a start and much more than most average users are even aware of, add on a WPA2 radius server (FreeRADIUS anyone?) and you have a good begninning

Watch out, Yahoo! EFF looses BADGER on sites that ignore Do Not Track

Kit-Fox

I see that most people on here advocate not allowing cookies

a compromise is to allow cookies and then either use an addon to delete them each time you close FF / or other browser of choice, or use something like CCleaner to delete them all on a regular basis

Neither option is really all that labour intensive

Russian deputy PM: 'We are coming to the Moon FOREVER'

Kit-Fox

title

ok, ok lets nitpick the decades old joke. how clever we all are :P

ffs, it was only a throw away joke, even headed with the joke icon. what more do you lot want ?!?!

Kit-Fox
Joke

Its ok we can let the Russians paint the moon communist red...

In the long run it will be a saving for us, all we will need is enough white paint to put coca-cola on the moon then :P

Angela Merkel: Let US spies keep their internet. The EU will build its own

Kit-Fox

I'm amazed that Merkel thinks this will change anything, she is aware isnt she that as far as 'mericans are concerned only US law applies to the world, not the other way around

Staffs Police face data protection probe over 'drink drivers named' Twitter campaign

Kit-Fox

Re: Re:

No. You misunderstand the principle. Innocent until PROVEN guilty.

You misunderstand it too, as the legal principle is actually;

Innocent unless proven guilty

Calling Doctor Caroline Langensiepen of Nottingham Trent uni

Kit-Fox
Thumb Up

Clearly someone who has read & paid attention to Mr Mitnicks books on social engineering as it applies to the field of computer security

I applaud this students application of knowledge & Elreg's response :)

You've been arrested for computer crime: Here's what happens next

Kit-Fox

While it is still held in the UK that anyone who says nothing is guilty, it has been rather a long time since a judge has directed a jury to view a suspects silence as an admission of guilt.

So the best advice I ever heard still stands;

If you are ever arrested for anything, say nothing & continue to say nothing no matter what you are threatened with or presented with. Even when / if you get legal representation, remain silent even towards your legal representative. They are not there to get you out or to help you, they are there to make the process as quick as possible (while making the most money possible) & the best way to do that is to get you to confess.

or more succinctly

Nobody talks, everyone walks

Remember the cops doing the interview are allowed to misrepresent the truth in order to get a confession & they are not in charge of how the CPS might proceed against you.

Even if you find yourself in court, remain silent. Finding yourself in contempt of court is a much better prospect than what you have being charged with.

MI5 boss: Snowden leaks of GCHQ methods HELPED TERRORISTS

Kit-Fox

How about all these stasi wannabe types understand one thing;

All of these surveillance programs & 'enhanced' spying capabilities damage the very ideals of Democracy; Privacy; Freedom; Innocence; Rule of Law & every Civilized society in the world, including the one all of these agencies claim to be protecting.

or to put it more bluntly;

Not in my sodding name, now would all of you bloody spooks & legalised criminals please sod off & die

Hundreds of hackers sought for new £500m UK cyber-bomber strike force

Kit-Fox
Flame

Really hate things like this

This is just to make it look Elgov is doing something without actually bothering to look into the issue & coming up with a real plan

If they were really concerned about IT security they do some of the following things;

- Stop encouraging the idea that 100% of all computing devices should be connected to the internet, regardless of necessity.

- Make the Orange book from the 1980s US DoD Rainbow series mandatory reading at high school so everyone can understand the concepts of password security

- Again stop promoting the idea that everywhere needs wireless, in some cases wireless so powerful that it can be accessed 200 to 300Ft outside the premises.

British spooks seize tech from Snowden journo's boyfriend at airport

Kit-Fox

Re: Association and retaliation

The only thing wrong with this post was you put a joke icon next to it

dear brazil government, please do the suggest retalitory measures suggested by the above commentard and in all seriously make the idiots who allowed this to happen pay through the nose for it

Star Wars missile intercept fails for fifth year running

Kit-Fox

I hate to quote Einstein but it is appropiate at this venture & perhaps those who are controlling them oney ought to take note;

Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.

Sky News hack of Canoe Man's email in public interest, Ofcom says

Kit-Fox
Alert

Sauce for the goose....

So when the newspapers hacked all those politicians who were thieving lil ***** & all those celebs who were abusing the law to kee ptheir dirty laundry hidden it was perfectly legal to spread it all over the world was it ofcom??

Because I think you might find that the levenson inquiry disagrees with you that count & doesnt think that such things are in the 'public interest'

oh wait i forgot, justice in UK PLC is only for the well heeled & powerful, so its ok to spread the contents of this guys email all over the world because he cant afford the lawyers. Two wrongs dont make a right & gee that looks like sauce to put on the gander :P

Ecuador denies granting asylum, safe passage to Snowden

Kit-Fox
Mushroom

Pay Attention Obama

Those in Prism shaped glass houses shouldnt be telling anyone else what they can & cant do, just on the off chance those you are telling turn around and throw a cruise missile or two in the direction of your glass house.

'international community' - I'm sure once upon a time this term was quite honouralbe & had throughout the trials of its youth managed to keep its virginity intact, saving itself for marriage to another appropiate term, however hearing it used by the US in this manner reveals this term to be the disease riddled whore it really is :S

Secret US spy court lets Microsoft, Google reveal their petitions

Kit-Fox

by my count...

Only the one direct B5 reference so far :P

Kit-Fox
Alien

Re: The truth is a funny thing

Understanding is a three edged sword; Your Side, Their Side & The Truth

Obama says US won't scramble jets or twist arms for Snowden

Kit-Fox
Facepalm

Irony isnt much understood in the US is it ?

1 - Not a Hacker, not a Cracker, not even a script kiddie. Snowden bloody well had at the time perfectly legal access to the systems he was using & we can only assume in his capacity as a 'systesm administrator' that he also had legal access to the data too.

2 - But he claimed that he hadn't personally spoken to Russian President Vladimir Putin or Chinese President Xi Jinping about Snowden, saying he "shouldn't have to." - Yes Obama, you shouldnt have to call them, just like they shouldnt have to call you & tell you not to spy on thier private citizen 'net usage. Spying on the security services/government of foreign nation is one thing, spying and recording as much as you can about every nations private citizens 'net usage is another

3 - any other government considering giving Snowden refuge to "recognize that they are a part of an international community and they should be abiding by international law," - Yes of course Obama, does that mean you also have to recognise the the USA lives in an internation community as well ?? If I were you Obama, I wouldnt be throwing the first stone, those who live in glass houses & all that :P

oh well

Play the Snowden flights boardgame: Avoid going directly to Jail

Kit-Fox
Devil

Re: I just listened to BBC R4 The MeeJah Show

Doesnt Private Eye only do it if they get a court order?

I believe the reply for them to do something without being expressed told by a court is;

'please refer to to our response in the case of Arkell v. Pressdram'

IE; F*** Off

After all Ian Hislop isnt the most sued man in the UK for nothing

May threatens ban on 'hate-inciting' radicals, even if they don't promote violence

Kit-Fox

Exactly, it came into law via our implementation of the EU Human Rights law, which we were required to bring in by our signing of one of the EU treaties.

Nothing to do with our own law makers. Hence there is no explict UK law & if we leave the EU or 'renegotiate our relationship' or even just suspend it to get rid of terrorists like May wants to do, that human rights statue might easily get revoked or mean less than the paper it is written on

Kit-Fox

There is no explicit UK law giving you freedom of speech, or even freedom of association or gathering

As such you will find our esteemed elgov can & indeed does regularly shaft a good 90% of the population

depressing really just how messed up politics is, i'm really beginning to believe the punchline of that joke about 100 lawyers at the bottom of the sea being a 'good start'

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