Posts by Tron

ICANN warns UN may sideline tech community from future internet governance

The past was better than the future will be.

Computing and the net empowered people at the expense of governments.

The empire has been striking back for a while now, or hadn't you noticed. The small stuff is done incrementally, and is easily missed. The big stuff causes a flutter, but they ride it out.

Ultimately, the net will be fully reconfigured as a mechanism of control and universal surveillance. Dumb terminals (even dumber than Chromebooks) will replace computers, and coding - as a potential threat to national security - will be fully regulated.

The progress bar is more than half way. Enjoy what time is left.

Last rites for the UK's Online Safety Bill, an idea too stupid to notice it's dead

Re: Not holding my breath

Well, they've taken Sterling down 25% turbo-charging inflation, sent home all those foreign types (who staffed the NHS and pretty much everything else), and hammered our cross-border trade. Why not go for the Nobel in Stupidity and cut us off from the rest of the net 'to protect the children'.

The BBC have gone into overdrive, running multiple internet scare stories at the same time to support the government line: Internet too dangerous. Not D-Notice compatible. Let the government manually check everything before it goes live or turn it off.

I'm actually gathering address data and considering how I would revert to offering stock by post in paper catalogues. That's how little faith I have in the morons that run this country.

I'm also looking at emigration. I doubt I'm alone. If you have the skills, you can escape Chav Britannia, and leave it to rot in incompetence and hubris, banning something new every Monday. Sad really, as this was better than most places to live and work just a few years ago. Absolute toss now. Completely broken.

South Korea's biggest mobile telco says 5G has failed to deliver on its promise

5G worked for some.

It allowed manufacturers to sell new phones, even to people who had little chance of actually connecting to a 5G service. That will happen again with 6G.

It created an enormous amount of e-waste leveraging the ending of 3G (as 6G will probably do for 4G) and causing idiots to dump their 4G, when it still worked fine for everything they did with it.

It allowed governments to sell spectrum chunks for huge sums of cash, ensuring consumers would be charged more, so telcos could make a profit. Ideally fundamental infrastructure should be funded by the state, so use of it can be made by everyone at the lowest possible cost.

The lesson they refuse to learn is that user costs and e-waste could be reduced by having a standardised TRX module that could be replaced by a new one when +1G crawls out. As easy as removing a memory card. For Pixel users, a 'memory card' is something on which you can store your data, so when your phone dies, you can move it to another phone, rather than having to send it with your phone to a random stranger if you want your tech fixed.

Incidentally, South Korea is famous for having had really fast internet connections early on, so 5G probably wouldn't be as impressive as it could theoretically be in other countries.

India's digital public goods diplomacy scores wins around the world

India is the next China.

Does it have a back door for the government built in?

Meta to use work badge and Status Tool to snoop on staff

GAFA is run by lawyers and suits now.

Everything they do now to roll out corporate control will just see the quality leave. There are better places to work. GAFA don't innovate any more. They buy innovation in. Get a better job and leave them to rot.

Germany to cut Huawei from networks 'irrespective of costs'

Re: Oh, just shut up!

If you want to know what the Germans are thinking re: national security, ask the Americans. They'll know.

https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/us-security-agency-spied-merkel-other-top-european-officials-through-danish-2021-05-30/

Re: Modest proposal.

I'm sure the SAGE committee could brush all that minor climate stuff to one side and devote a few weeks to the pressing issue of national security that you raise. I suspect they would point out that a Microwave could be weaponised to pop open the door and blast radiation at its user. The ex-wife of the uncle of the CEO of one of China's biggest microwave manufacturing plants is a paid up member of the CCP. What more evidence do you need, that commie microwaves could undermine Western civilisation?

I suspect some of my downvoters haven't even checked for reds under their beds this week.

Modest proposal.

Quite so. The EU should be dependent upon the US, not China. At least all of Germany's computing equipment runs American software, so no chance of the Chinese snooping on all of them via backdoors in that.

Chinese kitchenware is OK though. As long as it doesn't have WiFi.

Germany should turn the 5G off and pause the trains for a few years (promoting active travel as an alternative). Eventually, everything will have been purified of the commie threat. Prices can double or triple to pay for it.

Any Germans not happy about that should be encouraged to wave a flag, sing a patriotic song, embrace nationalism as a unified people and oppose communism. Then they will feel fine.

Need a decent dining spot in Ottawa? Microsoft suggested a food bank

Use of AI is like a really bad review.

The moment you hit it, you know they don't give a toss about their readership or customers, and it is time to go somewhere else.

They think AI is the future (ie. the next way to reduce their costs and increase their bonuses). The reality is that it is toxic to anyone stupid enough to deploy it, even if overseen by a moron on minimum wage.

Bad software destroyed my doctor's memory

Good luck having a patient record.

For digitisation, emulate what is being used and add easy to learn/access extras that users ask for. Ignore all proprietary file formats and what nots, and stick with the most generic stuff you can. Digitising the handwriting of the medical fraternity requires expertise. OCR or cheap labour abroad is next to useless.

I used to have a GP who I'd known for years, knew everything that was wrong with me, and noted it all down in a folder.

A couple of years ago I'd see a different locum GP each visit. They would ask me what was wrong and only used their PC for ordering referrals and printing prescriptions.

Now I stand no chance of seeing a GP. For some things, the receptionist will tell me that it sounds serious and I should go to A&E. For others, the receptionist will tell me to dial 111. If 111 say I need to see a GP and I try again, the receptionist will tell me that they are too busy, and I should go to the urgent care clinic at the local hospital.

I'm surprised that I might even have a patient record somewhere. If Google are buying access to these, they may be in for a shock.

The government repatriated much of the NHS for Covid and kicked out as many more as they could over Brexit. I think the NHS is dying on its feet - GPs going the way of dentists. The Tories have finally managed to get rid of it. We may need to rely on OTC painkillers and YouTube from here on in.

Author discovers fake, likely AI-generated books written under her name

It's a phase tech is going through. It will pass.

I bought a book on Amazon that was either generated by AI or was just really, really bad. Presumably supported by some fake reviews. Eventually some real reviews will warn people about it, and punters will know to avoid them. They will generally avoid a famous author's name and choose a generic one, as their intention will be to stay under the radar for as long as possible. The fake is out there! If the publication date is before this AI gimmickry was released, you should be OK. Students seeking course and revision books, which will be a popular target for scammers, should look for books from major publishers and use their reading lists.

This isn't new. A while back, a vast number of books appeared on the market containing content pulled from Wikipedia or other internet sources. It was generally easy to spot.

Veilid: A secure peer-to-peer network for apps that flips off the surveillance economy

This is good.

It ticks most of the boxes. It could be better. A bolt-on version that could face-hug any app, hijack I/O and switch it to encrypted P2P would be better. Then all the messaging services that are going to vanish from the UK could be released with back doors for GCHQ, which this software could replace when users applied it.

Cumbrian Police accidentally publish all officers' details online

Quote: the PSNI is bracing itself for fines...

Which will be paid by the taxpayer. Whenever a public body is fined, the fines are ultimately paid by the taxpayer. Whenever a private company is fined such as a water or energy utility, the fines are ultimately paid by their customers. Regulators and the courts exist to give the impression of justice being done. We are being conned and we are paying for the privilege.

Pope goes fire and brimstone on the dangers of AI

AI may spout nonsense that impressionable kids might accept.

Can you imagine the fuss if it informed a group of schoolchildren that the world was created in 7 days by an extraterrestrial, and people could come back from the dead!! Shocking.

India launches contest to build homegrown web browser

Our global internet is being killed off by governments.

This is a way to nationalise the internet. And you can bet the browser will have a back door in it for the Indian government.

India is the next China.

Infosys launches 'sonic identity' – an aural logo to 'reinforce brand purpose'

How much did they waste on that?

If I was a shareholder, I'd expect that to come out of the CEO's pocket before he was fired, along with everyone who signed off on it.

Get your staff's consent before you monitor them, tech inquiry warns

Outliers have minimal push.

We are not part of the EU any more. UK-only requirements for tech design will just cut the UK off from technologies. As well as becoming a third world toilet courtesy of the economic impact of Brexit, we will revert to the 1970s in our technology. Nothing new will be legal here.

4 in 5 Chromebooks sold to US students in Q2 as demand rises

I hate the idea of Chromebooks.

But they may be a useful solution for kids, who shouldn't need much more than a browser and the most basic apps. Someone is probably making a few bucks selling extra robust cases for them so they can bounce on a playground and survive. Can kids even write today, with a biro or a pencil?

BIO is something we should have been kicking arses over for some time, including demanding backwards compatibility on software.

Soon the most popular 'real' desktop will be the Linux desktop

From empowering PC to Orwell's Telescreen.

It's a control freak power grab. All your data and all your software will be controlled and monitored by GAFA. You will have nothing but a dumb terminal - Orwell's telescreen. It's not just the internet but most of our computing infrastructure that will be re-engineered as part of the surveillance state. Allowing ordinary people to be able to write or run software as they wish in their own homes on their own kit is perceived as a threat to national security. Only when Big Brother can see everything you do, monitor everything you do, and control everything you do, can Big Brother protect you from yourself. A small bonus there for older readers, as you have enjoyed the last few decades. The future will be an utterly crappy Chinese-style dictatorship, online and offline.

Japanese supermarket watches you shop so AI can suggest more stuff to buy

AI is the Emperor's New Clothes.

Surveillance of customers doesn't translate into greater sales. It's the same with all those 'directed ads' based on what tech companies know about you. I've been offered things based upon this every day for decades on every web site I go on. The only ones of any value are the simple ones: 'A customer who bought this, also bought this'. Amusingly, I am often offered things that I have bought (and will not need another one of for some years) or things I have examined, but have chosen not to buy. For all of this, AI tech providers, GAFA and the like, charge some mug.

There won't be privacy issues with this in Japan - it has more CCTV than China - and I'm sure Fujitsu knocked out the traditional flow diagram of Byzantine proportions, explaining how it works. It's just that AI is not magic. Big data is not magic either. Number crunching through tonnes of obsolete data doesn't allow you to foretell the future.

When I was a kid I bought a cardboard football pools calculator. You looked at past results, turned some cardboard disks, and it told you what would happen next. OK, it didn't. It couldn't handle complexity or contexts (just like AI). So all this AI and Big Data does, is digitise my cardboard pools predictor. Because it is sold by a big tech company, everyone is using it and it is called the future by muppets on TV, everyone buys it. Nobody gets fired for buying IBM, er, AI do they?

So really, all this is just corporate lemmings doing whatever keeps them employed. It doesn't work. It never will. Nobody cares. Just implement it, high fives, get paid and move on.

As for warmth and competence. I'm not sure you can digitise Japan's customer service. It's called omotenashi. They have well staffed stations, trains and shops - if you are from the UK, Japan is Utopia. On the other hand, Microsoft and Google may own the patents for the opposite of digital omotenashi.

Big Tech's going to love India's new personal data protection bill

Big Brother has gone digital.

India is the next China. If Indians don't want their government to have unrestricted powers, they should be more careful who they vote for.

In fairness to nationalists, populists and dictators, every other regime operates under the same 'control freak' mandate of universal surveillance when in power, just with a bit more window-dressing to cover it up - safeguarding, protecting the children, privacy, regulation, preventing hate crime and fake news etc.

We have all arrived at Orwell's 1984, just a bit later than the Chinese.

Lacros rescues Chromebooks by extending their lifespans

The real solution...

...is not to buy tech with an artificially shortened best before date in the first place. If nobody did, they wouldn't have continued to implement it. The only way we can manipulate vendors is to boycott stuff we consider to be inherently poor. Capitalism 101. If nobody had bought a Pixel because it had no memory card slot, they would eventually have included one.

Brit healthcare body rapped for WhatsApp chat sharing patient data

If they use official, secure channels...

...the patient will be dead before they get a reply. But at least their privacy will be protected.

The NHS is on its knees for lack of staff. If you sack staff for doing what works, over privacy considerations, you won't have an NHS any more. Then your privacy will be ensured, unless you leave a note about what was wrong with you, to be found with your body, when the neighbours complain about the smell for the eighth time.

We are an undeveloping third world country. As for sketchy bits of Africa, just be grateful for any care you get. You are one of the lucky ones.

All of the emergency services use their mobile phones when they need to, to save your skin. Appreciate it. Life matters more than privacy.

UK government's semiconductor brain trust meets for the first time

The Tories are on the job.

£1m and five years down the line, no British company will want for 2N3904s.

Brave cuts ties with Bing to offer its own image and video search results

Other solutions.

You could bounce your search query off third party web page code, as long as you return the favour, creating an anonymising network. It would work for search queries just as it would work as a crowd VPN service. You could scrape/filter Google search results, allowing users to avoid specific results. This would be particularly useful as Google now ignores half of what you type it and sends you popular/trending crap instead of what you want. You can also implement stuff like persistent search and distributed search, allowing users to create their own links by order of usefulness for any search terms. This would effectively remove the issue of censorship of search. You could also allow endless results (as Google originally did), rather than the 3 or 4 pages it now limits you to. Lots of cool new stuff to do. Would be nice is someone actually did it.

Hong Kong High Court declines to force Big Tech to ban protest song

The Streisand Effect is the Delilah Effect when related to songs, surely.

quote: arouse anti-establishment sentiment.

I do that every day. It improves my well-being and mental health, which the British government encourage us all to take time out to work on.

Maybe folk could rent a room near Chinese embassies around the world and play this daily from the window. Perhaps put media players in 'weather balloons' floating across HK. We could have a 'click to play' button on every website. Mail a media player with GPS capabilities to the CCP so it starts playing when it arrives at CCP HQ. There's a Pi project for you all.

Fed-up Torvalds suggests disabling AMD’s 'stupid' performance-killing fTPM RNG

Generally....

...Someone would post a list of all the duff kit that caused a problem. People would avoid buying it. The manufacturer would withdraw it and replace it with something that actually worked. So how about that?

Aspiration to deploy new UK nuclear reactor every year a 'wish', not a plan

Re: Hospital Strategy

Because they don't have enough cash or labourers any more. And won't. They can't keep the trains running, harvest crops, basic pharma is running short, there are no NHS dentists and fewer doctors. They are closing things down to save money across the country. It is unlikely that there is enough cash to finish one nuclear reactor, never mind build any more.

We are an undeveloping third world country now. I guess it is appropriate for political parties to now replace all the lies in their manifestos with 'wishes'. Personally, I wish there was someone to vote for that wasn't going to be complete shite at running a country.

AI on AI action: Googler uses GPT-4 chatbot to defeat image classifier's guardian

Yes, but....

Calculators are reliable. AI is not. Build your skyscraper on unreliable foundations and nobody will want to rent space in it.

On the record: Apple bags patent for iDevice to play LPs

Re: Had to have been filed 2021-04-01?

Vinyl is mainly marketed as a collectable or to whatever hipsters now call themselves. I wonder how many new releases remain unplayed, like modern first editions of books that are kept unopened to retain the value.

I am old enough to have grown up with vinyl (and still have it). It was difficult to store/post, warps, scratches, jumps, needle aggro, generally fiddly. Much prefer CDs. CDs are alive and kicking, especially in Japan (where they often come with DVDs containing MVs and concert footage) and South Korea (where they come with photo books and assorted kpop goodies). Whilst the discs survive as playable, a CD collection is an asset. You can sell it, donate it or bequeath it. I wouldn't advise putting your MP3 collection on ebay, however much it cost you.

Incidentally, there are some advances in basic CD quality. Look for references to Blu-spec CD2, SHM-CD and UHQCD.

Aliens crash landed on Earth – and Uncle Sam is covering it up, this guy tells Congress

There will be many more 'sightings' as psychedelics are legalised around the world.

quote: UAPs presented a national security threat.

There are people in America who think that drag acts and Harry Potter novels present a 'national security threat'.

If the US had reverse engineered UFO tech, Putin would be in prison on the Moon.

People walk around with highly advanced cameras on their phones, but all UFO footage appears to have been recorded on VHS several decades ago and stored in a shed.

quote: possible alien intelligence on Earth.

It will be lonely, given the limited amount of human intelligence.

quote: potential dangers.

I thought plastic, climate change, AI, and social media were going to end human civilisation. The aliens will need to pick a number and wait their turn.

School for semiconductors? Arm tries to address chip talent shortages

But surely, technology is the most dangerous thing ever.

It must be, because every day the BBC run scare stories on it. How AI will end humanity and how the internet connects kids with perverts.

For decades, they have informed parents of the dangers of technology, hackers, malware, the internet, computing, porn, apps that threaten national security, bullying, fake news, and numerous social media horrors. Every day of every week of every year, an endless litany of dangers.

And you want parents to allow their kids to get involved in all this? Are you completely mad? Surely any parent who cares about their child would steer them away from the toxic horror show that is digital technology.

Demonise something repeatedly, and it becomes difficult to promote it as a career.

£214m effort to modernize SAP ERP in UK govt systems marked Code Red

Bring back 'Yes Minister' and do an IT episode.

quote: major issues with project definition, schedule, budget, quality and/or benefits delivery.

But it has a cool name. As do the other projects, which will also never work.

quote: Baseline benefits ... are £43 million ... over its 10-year lifecycle, with £239 million cumulative efficiencies.

But not when it goes £400m over budget.

quote: Matrix involves eight government departments.

'Very brave, Minister', as Sir Humphrey would have said. Nothing involving eight government departments will ever be completed.

They couldn't even build an armoured vehicle without deafening soldiers.

The British government have about as much chance of delivering a major technology implementation as the Faroe Islands have of sending a unicorn to Mars.

Thames Water to datacenters: Cut water use or we will

Two options...

1. Build near the coast and use sea water.

2. Dilute the water they use so it goes further. :)

TETRA radio comms used by emergency heroes easily cracked, say experts

Modest proposal.

We should probably assume no digital service to be genuinely secure. One way or another, the NSA, GCHQ or other spook agencies will have effectively backdoored it. That goes for every operating system and telephony protocol. That's why they want the Chinese out - to implement backdooring to spy on their own citizens, they would expose their procedures to the Chinese companies running the hardware and apps. They will not be happy doing that.

They probably run/access one or more or all of the VPNs too. And their primary target will always be their own citizens, not foreign nations.

The only possible solution to this is distributed tech. That may be why GAFA have largely avoided it, not really innovating for the best part of a decade.

Digital revolution at HMRC left 99,000 UK taxpayers on hold over five-day fiasco

I gave up phoning and sent them a letter. I got no reply.

If they just gave the cash to the usual suspects (TUS) and switched to physical and perceptible enscriptible resources (PAPER) using carbon-based life forms on the phones, it would work better.

Heck, if it they reverted to clerks, ledgers, quill pens and vellum it would work better.

I miss filling out the form and posting it. I only managed to ID myself and use my online account as I managed to find a paper bank statement from two years ago at the bottom of a box.

Each thing I am forced to do digitally, which is worse than the paper original, makes me hate digital more. Tech was wonderful. Now it is a tool for state control, surveillance and enslavement.

Germany raids climate piggy bank for €20B to bankroll chip fabs

That is bare-faced fraud.

Luckily for them, they are politicians and can get away with stuff like that.

Google's next big idea for browser security looks like another freedom grab to some

Re: Too late!

Governments are probably behind this, taking control via Google.

Google being evil.

We no more need be civil towards Google stealing turf online than we need be civil towards Putin stealing turf offline.

This gives Google (and those who can pull the strings of Google) too much power. We need alternatives, or we get an online dictatorship.

Health and safety is the new way to leverage dictatorial control, offline and online. Users should have rights and if we want to do something with the data we receive, and how we receive it, we should not have to be licensed by Google to do that.

TL;DR: Google's online fascism needs to be opposed.

Microsoft’s Dublin DC power plant gets the, er, green light

I am shocked and appalled.

If the diesel generators fail, they do not appear to have a coal-powered back up. That is scandalously poor planning.

The need for students/children on zero hours contracts for ad hoc 'active travel' power generation on treadmills or bicycles if the coal gets wet, requires further research. After all, it does rain a lot in Ireland.

Stolen Microsoft key may have opened up a lot more than US govt email inboxes

Here's a theory.

Beijing spooks hacked the NSA and borrowed the master key they use for snooping on everyone.

Proposed ban on data brokers selling warrantless personal info to Feds revived

Pass all the laws you want.

The authorities will ignore them and laugh as they do, in the interests of national security.

Unidentified object on Australian beach may be part of Indian rocket launcher

Is it anything like this?

Mystery sphere found on beach perplexes Japan.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-64730255

This AI is better than you at figuring out where a street pic was taken just by looking at it

Sigh.

The depressing aspect of this, is that it could lead to blocks on StreetView on privacy grounds. So these academics make a name for themselves at the expense of the rest of us, who lose one of the most useful free resources on the internet.

Bosch goes all-in on hydrogen with €2.5B investment by 2026

There may be trouble ahead,

There is currently no way to produce green hydrogen at scale.

Fire safety officers may soon be blocking the widespread use of large lithium cells as a fire risk.

Heat pumps are wildly expensive, total cost could be £15-20k in a domestic property, more as inflation increases, they are not viable for many UK homes (size, noise, concrete) and they don't work that well.

Post Brexit the UK doesn't have the staff to harvest vegetables, let alone roll out new energy infrastructure at the point of use.

We need more solar farms and turbines asap, because (without a major technological breakthrough that is freely shared), they may be the only alternative that actually works and can be delivered.

'There has never been a realistic plan' for UK's £11B Emergency Services Network

The PAC are missing the point.

The plan was to give government chums (eventually) about £15bn of public money. If they built something that worked it would be a bonus.

Most emergency service folk I encounter use their mobile phones anyway.

Viasat says latest broadband satellite failed to fully deploy antenna

Re: Why No In-Orbit Satellite Techs?

Satellites could go up with a small robot inside, to be deployed for specific tasks, crawling around on its host, taking photos, and doing limited repairs. It's not rocket science... OK it is rocket science, but it shouldn't be difficult.

LG to offer subscriptions for appliances and televisions

So we'll be glued to their sets, not stuck with them, then?

Strikes, the 3-day week, roaring inflation, summer heatwaves. If you enjoyed the seventies, get that brown corduroy out of the cupboard, put the vinyl on and enjoy.

Microsoft admits unauthorized access to Exchange Online, blames Chinese gang

This could come in handy.

Savannah, where is your homework?

I'm locked out of my home PC, Sir. Unnamed officials have told me that it is down to Chinese state hackers. My Dad said it was just Microsoft, but the unnamed officials said he was 'off narrative', took him away for a chat, and when he limped back, he confirmed that it was the Evil Commies. I was hoping for your support Sir, unless of course you are a secret Evil Commie. Have you now or have you ever been a member of the Communist Party of East Norfolk, Sir?

Tesla plots entry to Britain's stagnant energy market

If I win the lottery I'm escaping the stone age and buying a house with aircon.

quote: it's rare not to see a Tesla or two on the roads every couple of days or so.

I have never seen one where I live. I did see an electric vehicle once, but it wasn't a Muskmobile.

These domestic batteries will all have to be removed when fire officers decide they are 'potentially unsafe in specific circumstances', just as people are being chucked out of their flats for years due to cladding. Musk is unlikely to win court battles against Local Council health and safety folk. These people will pursue you to your grave and on into the afterlife for a badly positioned recycling bin. They may already be training dogs to detect the scent of lithium.