Posts by Tron

Christie's stolen data sold to highest bidder rather than leaked, RansomHub claims

quote: it most likely wasn't a "true" auction.

Because the buyer and the seller were not charged huge fees?

Microsoft accused of tracking kids with education software

So what?

We are seeing a lot of complaints from activists nowadays about things that only activists actually care about.

Microsoft isn't monitoring individual kids. That's not what this sort of tech is for. They will just want feedback on how their software is being used for the next version.

In schools, teachers monitor pretty much everything kids do - so they don't really have any privacy.

The kids won't give a toss about what the software is doing. They are more concerned with important stuff like vapes, chocolate, and anime.

Parents don't care as long as the kids get educated and the teachers don't go on strike.

However, the EU could ban all software and the net in classrooms for the potential 'harms' it might cause to privacy, mental health, well being and safeguarding. Teachers can go back to using text books, exercise books, white boards and OHPs. Kids will actually learn to write properly. The 80s were great and kids may be happier reliving them, because the world they are growing up in now is really crappy. So, yeah, go ahead EUians. Let's go back to the future. It couldn't be any worse than the present.

Intel CEO says sanctions on China squanders opportunity for US chipmakers like Intel

Sanctions don't work.

They backfired on Russia and they will backfire on China.

If China buys and uses US tech, the NSA will have back doors in all of their systems.

If they build their own kit, the NSA will have to make do with spying on just their own allies.

Nationalists love sanctions because they aren't very bright people.

Contrary to its fine print, Google says it won't confiscate repair returns that have unapproved parts

That would be theft in most legal systems.

I don't think you can rewrite legal statutes in the small print, even if you are Google.

London hospitals left in critical condition after ransomware attack

Plan B. Have one.

If your services touch the public internet they are vulnerable. So you should have a back-up plan that offers a rapid and smooth fallback to a resilient analogue/manual service for when it happens. As essential as a fire drill. No audit sign off and no bonuses until you can operate without vulnerable software. Given that this is going to last some time (and even longer if the NCSC are involved), the fallback for hospitals should cover all services on site. Time to rediscover paper forms and have them ready. Digital is a luxury, not a default.

UK may not hit goal of 95% mobile coverage, commons committee warns

Re: Devon

POTS should be retained. It gives us resilience. They have cancelled the initial turn off dates, but some poor unfortunates have already lost it.

Arm chief exec scored $70M in New York IPO bonanza

Overenthusiastic colonial adventurism from El Reg.

ARM is owned by SoftBank, which is based in Japan. It is no longer 'Brit', any more than our car industry is. Or pretty much anything else here. Perhaps the Tories should have outsourced the government to SoftBank too, rather than have attempted it 'in house', given the complete Horlicks they have made of it over the last 14 years.

Researchers warn robot cars can be crashed with tinfoil and paint daubed on cardboard

I'm applying for a grant.

I can crash a car with one snip of a brake cable. Ivy league only. I don't consort with riff raff.

No wonder the UK government are wiping most of the uni sector out if this is the sort of thing they do nowadays. I remember when academics used to build faster computers, create new computer languages, invent entirely new tech and push the boundaries in their fields. Now they are the tenure tracked wing of 4chan.

Snowflake denies miscreants melted its security to steal data from top customers

Generally...

...you need more than customer access to a service to hack it, or each and every one of its customers could. The breach is usually further up the food chain.

Services should be able to spot a large exfiltration of data. It should also be possible for users to program in exactly what would constitute a breach of their data for a service to block it as soon as it is detected.

Google to push ahead with Chrome's ad-blocker extension overhaul in earnest

An alternative to dumping Chrome.

You could either capture incoming web data before it hits Chrome in a browser translation layer [in an external device or software], manipulate it, and then feed it to Chrome, or you could run Chrome in a hidden window, replicating whatever content you want in a visible window, and not replicating any you don't want until your script works on it. You are still using Chrome, but the way you want to.

Palantir bags $480M from Pentagon to inject battlefield AI into the entire military

It's AI, so...

...it's probably a good idea for the residents of Moscow, Idaho to consider moving.

FCC boss wants tighter rules to prevent devastating satellite explosions in orbit

Explosions have always been an important part of scientific endeavour.

quote: you get investigated to make sure you made every reasonable effort.

Will everyone allow others to investigate how their spy satellites were built?

With any luck, the Pi-controlled Tron-1 will be leaving orbit before all this red tape is implemented, powered by the finest solar panels and lithium cells China can supply. The batteries cunningly double as a self-destruct mechanism in case of emergency. To protect them from the cold, they are each wrapped in a mitten. To keep all the bits from jostling about, I'm filling internal cavities with a sack of tiny polystyrene beads. The down-link will stream music as well as data back to Earth as it heads for deep space: 'Benson, Arizona, blew warm wind through your hair...'

US Treasury says NFTs 'highly susceptible' to fraud, but ignored by high-tier criminals

NFTs still exist?

Wow. They outlasted the metaverse.

I immunised myself against 'bad actors' in the 80s, researching straight-to-VHS pron. Assiduously.

Activist investor pressures Texas Instruments to stop spending cash on fabs

Those activist investors will be getting a visit from the G-Men.

US companies are supposed to be switching to the Chinese model, choosing nationalism over profits. The North Koreans call it Juche. Didn't they read the memo? Windowless room time.

Colorado governor signs 'best in the world' right-to-repair law

Yeah, but....

...suppliers may just delete Colorado from the drop down list of addresses on the ordering page. It's a big planet.

China shows off machine-gun-toting robot dog and its AI-powered puppy

Irrelevant.

Robodogs, terminators, tanks. Doesn't matter.

Just use insurgents and target the leadership of your enemy on day 1. Simpler, faster, cheaper and vastly reduces the number of dead civilians, damaged property and emissions.

Google’s in-house docs about search ranking leak online, sparking SEO frenzy

Re: Why did Google disable access to the cache

Because governments don't want you to remember stuff. Campaign promises. Things they have erased from websites in their legal domain (which Google's cached copy would not be in).

Google's cache was really useful. Most of the net is. Google's cache has gone. Most of the net will too.

Governments got caught out with the whole internet, global village, empowered citizen thing. The Empire has been striking back for some time now. Haven't you noticed?

Incidentally, this leak may be a good indicator of what happens when you replace carbon-based lifeforms with AI. So until the AI bubble bursts and goes the way of NFTs and the metaverse, grab some popcorn and enjoy the show.

PayPal is planning an ad network built off your purchase history

The basis for this is not solid.

If I've just bought a washing machine, I don't need to see adverts for a dozen more.

Ebay's logging of submitted searches is far more accurate.

But I don't actually care. They can process data on my purchases as much as they want, to direct ads. It really doesn't bother me. I don't consider my privacy to be impinged. It shouldn't bother other people on here either, as most of them run ad blockers anyway.

An invasion of privacy? That would be having my e-mail address and phone number appear on parcels sent to me. That's stipulated by governments, not tech companies. If you want to be a stalker, delivering parcels is probably your best career option.

By 2030, software developers will be using AI to cut their workload 'in half'

That sort of prognostication rings a bell.

Weren't we all supposed to be whizzing about with jet packs on by the 1990s, our homes powered by mini nuclear reactors in the shed?

And what did happen to the metaverse?

Microsoft's Recall preview doesn't need a Copilot+ PC to run

Re: How much HDD space does this pointless crap use up?

Well, I have less than 256Gb spare on my HDD.

How much HDD space does this pointless crap use up?

Not that I would ever use it. Purely out of interest.

Parliamentarians urge next UK govt to consider ban on smartphones for under-16s

quote: (Apart from the fact it would never work): wow, that's a retarded idea, if I ever heard one.

Well they have form: Have you heard of a little known policy called Brexit?

In short....

MPs urge MPs to nationalise parenting. All parental decisions to be made by a team of MPs led by Liz Truss. On call service for those needing advice 24/7 answered by Trussty, an AI chatbot version of Liz Truss.

Best Buy and Geek Squad were most impersonated orgs by scammers in 2023

Captain's Log, Supplemental.

The digital push is really harmful to older people. In rural areas especially, and with housebound pensioners, the only way they can access their cash or allow people to buy stuff for them is to give them their debit card to use at ATMs.

There is no point in banning this or telling people not to do it, as they have no real alternative.

The only protection they have is a paper bank statement.

Banks want to stop sending these out 'on environmental grounds'. As if any banks give two shits about the rain forest. It is just to save cash for their bonuses.

Make sure your elderly parents get paper bank statements by post. Watch out for sneaky tricks: My bank switched me away from them because it 'couldn't print them' for a while. BS. I've switched them back.

Cracking tips.

Put a note by the landline of elderly parents reading 'No Thank You', encouraging them to consider every call from someone they do not know to be a scam call by default and to say it - and then to put the phone straight down. If it is real and important, someone will send a letter. Older people consider it to be impolite and may be lonely, but they really need to put the phone straight down and not begin a conversation with the caller - conning people is a scammer's vocation and they are very good at it.

Only answer the door to family, friends, neighbours, people you are expecting, the postie and delivery folks. Just ignore anyone else. Don't even answer the door. If an elderly relative cannot see a caller from inside, install a mirror or a very basic door cam - not something complicated requiring a subscription and apps.

Any automated phone call from a bank is fake. They have to securely ID you before speaking to you about your account.

You will never get a genuine call from any global corporation, or from the Prime Minister/President, or Madonna. So if they say they are from Microsoft or Google or whomever, just put the phone down.

Never click on any advert on the internet. No problem reading them, but if you are interested in a product, check it out on Amazon or ebay. That doesn't invalidate online advertising, it just makes it safe.

Never click on a link in an e-mail. Go to the site. My bank sends me e-mails. It really shouldn't. E-mails are not secure.

Capgemini to keep the legacy lights on at HMRC for £245.5M

If they are monitoring this....

I have a stash of as new, old stock CGA and EGA graphics cards and some obscure FDDs. Not cheap though. Like Mr. Biden, I am adding a modest (17000%) surcharge on anything that has any component on it made in China. Even if it is just a capacitor. You can never be too careful. Reds under the bed etc. Those capacitors may have more to them than meets the eye.

Microsoft gives Windows admins a break and MFA a hard push

MFA doesn't make things secure.

It bakes in additional points of vulnerability at which a system can be broken.

Giving Windows total recall of everything a user does is a privacy minefield

Wow. Massive kudos to someone at MS.

They could have dreamed up Microsoft's worst idea ever. And there were so many others jostling for the top spot.

Big Tech is not much help when fighting a junta, and FOSS doesn't ride to the rescue

There are options.

Largely distributed social media operating via encrypted packets of data over e-mail would be an option.

You can operate an alternative bottom-up DNS system if you really want.

You can also build ad hoc P2P networking using phones, moving data when you can, as designed for disaster zones.

The problem is that Western governments will ban all of this, anonymity, P2P, ad hoc, distributed and E2EE, because they are control freaks.

Yes, criminals can use them, but criminals can repurpose anything. You can always catch a criminal, regardless of the tech they are using, with old fashioned policing. It's just lazy to demand a point-and-click solution for the old bill. LEAs have recovered crypto, ghosted dark net sites and probably run at least one of the VPNs. Drug gangs can be taken down by tracing the supply chain.

Ultimately it isn't about crime or protecting the children, it is about controlling their own citizens. And they don't give a toss about unfortunates living under worse dictatorships in other countries. So the internet is being repurposed as a 24/7 system that can monitor anyone, anywhere, for the benefit of Western regimes. And dictators are clicking 'Like'.

I think it is better to have software that regimes can't crack, to protect human rights.

Most of the software is out there. Maybe the people building it need to shift out of Geek mode for a bit and give it a front end that non-aspie non-techie users can appreciate. They will need to speak to ordinary people about user experiences, but I'm sure they'll survive the experience. Just think of it as 'first contact'.

Prepare your audits: EU Commission approves first-of-its-kind AI Act

The next killer app...

...will be a state recognised region blocker that VPNs can't beat, for websites, apps, browser add-ons and applications. Not technically difficult. There are probably a few out there. Maybe mobos will get GPS chipsets for it. We have gone past the fun phase bit of tech development. Now we move into the state-controlled phase, where everything gets progressively crappier.

HMRC must grow 'intelligent client' function to sort out post-Brexit tech issues – watchdog

There will be no manual back-up.

So every time this unified pile of crap fails, absolutely everything will stop.

It's hard enough just getting mail in across borders now, and too much 'tracked' stuff is vanishing. Scale that up to imports and exports in general...

The only Plan B they appear to have is to use emissions rules to limit traffic at Britain's ports, taking the strain off the system and killing what is left of the economy.

The NI border fudge has cost UK taxpayers over half a billion over the last 4 years. [Also NAO].

Nobody is allowed to report on the economic damage caused by Brexit (is there a D Notice?). At least the NAO can publicise the costs.

Anyone seen a 'Brexit bonus' yet?

Microsoft offers China-based engineers an option to relocate

Hmmm.

Quote: Congress previously criticising the Redmond-based tech firm for censoring Bing in China.

Would they be the same politicians who would like to see abortion information censored from citizens living in states where they have banned it?

You obey local rules - something American politicians expect people to do when they are in America.

Unless you are a politician. Then you just pardon people that shoot protesters and fly across borders/party during lockdown.

Not just the right wingers either. US Democrats were very supportive of HK protesters until Trump's supporters emulated them. Then it was a coup attempt and very, very bad.

Never trust a politician.

Wiley shuts 19 scholarly journals amid AI paper mill problems

Put your stuff on Academia.

It should stand or fall based on its quality, not on the journal it appeared in.

Academic publishers have been gutting Uni. budgets for years. The internet should have made them obsolete. Too many vested interests and too much reliance on tick boxes to rate depts. and staff.

This will be less of a problem in the UK now as the basic funding model has been broken by the government. The cap on fees and restrictions on international students that subsidised local ones will see UK courses, departments and even whole unis vanish - including highly rated ones. I guess a post-developed country no longer needs educated people. 'After the Romans left' etc.

Apple says if you want to ship your own iOS browser engine in EU, you need to be there

I absolutely adored my Mac Classic.

But I gave up on Apple completely some years ago because of their arrogance, restrictions and absurd pricing. Apple are not essential to computing. You can walk away. The sky doesn't fall in. Microsoft are a pain in the arse, but not quite as irritating as Apple.

Much fun can be had playing with early Macs, but the days when I would consider using an Apple anything for daily computing are long gone.

Can the Pi folk please use their loot when they go public to start selling a works-out-of-the-box, cased, retail Pi PC for the mainstream user. Then we can start having some fun again, 80s style.

Google gives in to Hong Kong, blocks fake national anthem on YouTube

Trolling dictators has never been easier.

Here's the English version, especially for guys and gals walking past a Chinese embassy. I wonder how many times we have to stream it to get it into the Top 10.

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

Not YouTube's fault. As a business, you obey the local laws.

Stifling Beijing in cyberspace is now British intelligence’s number-one mission

Beijing can relax.

quote: securing an open and resilient digital future.

Ha! Nothing here works. The other day the border software for imports fell over. A couple of weeks back the e-gates at airports failed (again). The airport scanner fitting has been put back. The rail network barely functions. The 57 varieties of war-on-driving toll gate software isn't reliable, sending threatening letters to the wrong people. Badly built RAAC buildings are falling down. There are not enough staff to run SEND services, the health service, the care sector or pretty much anything else as Brexit has banned access to them. The economic model upon which UK universities operated has been broken by state xenophobia. And how much did they spend on that covid app?

SAGE worries endlessly about foreign threats, but the problems are all in the UK. Everyone here in a position of power or authority is incompetent, corrupt or both. We don't manage water well enough - floods and drought. Solar farms are blocked because the locals don't like the view. There are around 40,000,000 licensed vehicles in the UK, and 61,000 EV charging points. Bit behind there, chaps.

You want resilient systems, run with distributed topologies, end to end encryption (which the government wants to ban), air gapping and get infrastructure completely off the public internet. It's not rocket science. Which is a good job, because the UK's attempt at space blew up and our nuclear deterrent made like a catharine wheel.

Nice country, innovative people, completely ruined by its government.

Microsoft's carbon emissions up nearly 30% thanks to AI

Cunning plans.

Zero waste = If it breaks, sell it on ebay rather than throwing it away.

They could refuse to sell software to any government whose nation doesn't get at least 50% of its power via renewables. Our oppressors du jour would have to go back to using memo pads and calculators.

Google thinks AI can Google better than you can

Re: Big Deal

Indeed. Most of my searches now require an extra click. Google throws up a bunch of irrelevant crap with a link in case I actually wanted to search for what I typed in. I can understand the use of that for typos, but Google's AI doesn't appear to be able to tell the difference between a typo (nearby key press) and a completely different word.

The AI bubble is going to see a lot of people lose a lot of money. You all better hope that doesn't include your employer or your pension fund.

Aghast iOS users report long-deleted photos back from the dead after update

Perhaps...

These photos may be incorrectly recognised as potentially criminal and so held pending possible FBI investigation. I vaguely recall something to the effect that the FBI database checks illicit porn by comparing against ID strings culled from known images. Sometimes a perfectly normal photo will produce the same ID string as a known verboten one. The false positives are weeded out by humans rather than software. They may not bother checking small numbers of images until a specific total is reached, but may retain all of them, even if they are deleted. A bug may have 'restored' them to a user. Just a possible scenario.

Brexit border system outage puts perishable goods transport in peril

Re: A power outage

That's very harsh. They only had eight years to sort it out.

At least Border Force are consistent. Everything they do fails. Passport e-gates go tits up. Mail gets backed up for weeks. Lorries get stuck until their contents goes off.

And the Tories actually think they stand a chance at the next election.

I'm not sure there is anything left that they haven't broken. But I'm sure they will spend their last few months trying to find something.

Destroying offshore wind farms is top priority for Trump if he returns to presidency

Re: These are weird times.

One of the problems with EVs is the explosive potential of their batteries, particularly during charging. There has been a spike in the number of fires in UK properties courtesy of EV scooter batteries. Cars haven't been going pop quite so frequently but a couple of electric buses have caught fire. This wasn't such a problem with ICE vehicles. They might get nicked, but are unlikely to detonate when you park them.

So if you are charging an EV anything, especially in extreme weather, you might not want to be doing it too close to your home, especially at night when you are asleep in it.

Some time back I audited old devices and found a mobile phone with a bulging battery. It went straight in the garden in several plastic bags, away from anything combustible. I took it to a recycling point in a Lipo bag. Nervously.

Phones are easily dropped. Unfortunately, lithium batteries do not like being dropped. Never put Lithium batteries in general waste either, as waste trucks are not gentle environments. There have been a number of Lithium-based fires in bin lorries and at waste sites. As awareness grows, this sort of thing should decline. Audit your rare earth metalware regularly.

I wonder how much work has been done on the impact of Lithium batteries in RTAs. It may be why police have been closing roads for so long after some crashes recently in the UK. As well as injured people, bits/oil on the road etc, there may now be an issue with damaged EV batteries causing problems.

Will Trump bring back the coal-powered car?

Thus saving the jobs of American coal miners. They have been produced before, and turbine tech has improved since they were.

I double dare El Reg to ask His Orangeness if this is on the table.

Biden and Trump trying to make green tech ever more expensive? Hmm. Probably not worth investing in anything. Just enjoy yourselves, spending your cash, whilst enjoying yourself is still possible.

Japanese scientists propose drug to regrow teeth, promise trials won't bite

They should be based in the UK.

Where NHS dentists have passed into myth. My mother has been on a waiting list for an NHS dentist for nearly two decades. Growing new teeth would be quicker.

Just not like this: https://northstreet.dental/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/two-rows-of-teeth.jpg

Brit publishers beg Apple not to hurt online ad revenue

Ads fund most of the net.

As I've said before, without the ad model, most of the net would vanish and the remainder would be charged for. You smug, wealthy people can pay all the fees, but may miss the services that vanish. A large chunk of the planet would lose the lot. As most of you seem to crow about using ad-blocking, effectively freeloading your way across the net, every chance you get, you don't actually need this new technology anyway. It's depressing that the response on El Reg to this is always so selfish, ignores the basic economics of the net, and yells of an elitist, bubble mentality. The quality of responses on here is usually better than that.

It is an issue if Apple is using AI, which is still pretty crappy and error-prone, to interfere with what should be a wysiwyg content experience. You should see what the website puts up or know that you are not. Such technology is a slippery slope for censorship and content manipulation.

Ellison's exemplar SAP-to-Oracle region rules out ditching Oracle

An omnishambles.

Those responsible for this should have been fired, investigated and surcharged or imprisoned, as appropriate.

If you live in Brum you should consider moving, because the costs of the wage case and this farce means that you are not going to be getting much in the way of services for the next decade.

Once they have thrown another hundred million of taxpayers' money at this, it will be time for them to look for its successor. I expect Oracle will be preparing for the tender by adding AI to their current offerings.

Councils really need to consider using less/simpler tech. Use accountants, printed forms, Excel, A4 pads, whatever. It must be cheaper and more reliable than this shameful disaster.

'Cyberattack' shutters Christie's website days before $840M art mega-auction

Those at fault are culpable.

Sometimes that is the technology maker. More often it is the end user. In cases of hacks and malware it is the criminal. Victim blaming is tacky and unpleasant. Hold people responsible for what is their fault. Vicarious atonement to manipulate tech is not a solution.

If threatened by US government agencies, technology makers could withdraw their products from the US market until the threat is withdrawn. I'm sure America could function happily without tech for a bit.

US tariffs on Chinese EVs may grow from around 25% to 100%

No low cost Chinese EV revolution? Look on the bright side.

No need to rush the EV charger roll out any more as EVs will be expensive and restricted to the wealthy. The real profit will be in ICE vehicle parts and refurbs. A good refurb can take an ICE vehicle back to better-than-showroom with some after market accessories. And maybe stop flogging those scavenged car parts to the developing world by the shipping container. They may be worth more at home when new ICE are banned.

Didn't the Americans panic like this over Japanese cars a while back too?

CoreWeave plows £1B into UK HQ and datacenters as it eyes European expansion

Well...

If the lights go off to keep it running, the locals will be re-enacting that scene from 'Frankenstein' - the one with the mob and the burning torches.

Do they know that the EU and UK have got divorced? EU companies will be forced to use EU clouds and only EU clouds, run out of EU HQs by EUvians. Given the state of the UK economy after 14 years of Tory vandalism, we don't really need a cloud. A RAM pack should do it.

Blue screen of death or Eurovision's Windows95man performance – what's less annoying?

Hmm.

Croatia won the public vote. Until they abolish the 'jury' vote, I consider it to be rigged. You wouldn't want a 'jury' vote in your political elections, would you?

Some of the songs are OK. The influence of K-pop has improved them a bit.

You want us to think of the children? Couldn't agree more

The problem is...

Politicians can demonise tech easily. But if they tell parents to actually do some parenting (monitor their kids' apps, talk to them, limit their use of tech, be their parent rather than their BFF), they lose votes. So guess what happens.