Posts by alain williams

NSA tactics no better than a CYBERCRIME GANG, says infosec'er

What is the fall out cost

of all of this to innocent business/individuals that have to deal malware and other crap that these people throw around ? Where do we send a bill ?

TWELFTH-CENTURY TARDIS turns up in Ethiopia

So, how many still missing ?

100(ish) just found, but many of those would have been ones that were not 'lost' and so not so spectactular a find.

US spy court says internet firms can't report surveillance requests

Re: In which case ...

BTW, I keep hearing that US sysadmins of multinationals now should not be allowed into data centres in other nations - anyone know why?

Because such sysadmins must obey the laws of the USA. This means that they can be ordered by their government to spy (copy data, insert backdoors, ...) from where they are employed, even if their employer has nothing to do with the USA.

If you handle anything remotely sensitive you should not use a USA citizen. I find this amusing, when I were a lad you would not employ a citizen of the USSR for much the same reason; how the world has changed!

US regulators seek public input on plan to investigate patent trolls

Re: Hunting trolls? You're doing it wrong!

You want to get rid of trolls, FIX THE FRIGGIN' SYSTEM!

Far more fun would be to let the large USA gun lobby have a go!

Oracle sued over $33,000 bill for SaaS: STRIPPERS as a SERVICE

Pictures or it didn't happen

Thus providing an excuse for an e-Reg hack to flex their corporate credit card...

The NSA's hiring - and they want a CIVIL LIBERTIES officer

Protect you much as does your local mafia rep ...

''that is a nice little data center that you have there, it would be unfortunate if it were compromised''.

OK: they don't want your cash[**]; my point is more about use of English, claiming to do one thing while doing something very different. Those who want to believe it will do so and loudly shout that they are the good guys.

[**] well, not directly. They get it indirectly via the taxes that you pay.

Boffins debate killing leap seconds to help sysadmins

What a legacy we will leave

if we remove leap-seconds. OK: it probably will not have any real impact on my kids or grand kids, but as the centuries roll on the clocks will ever get more out of sync with that yellow thing upstairs. When they do come to fix it the problem will be huge: several hours to shift and computer systems which are based on the idea that there are always 86400 seconds in every day without exception.

I am sorry that the real world is more complicated than some would wish - but that is how it is.

Better to get used to it now than have our great, great, ... grandkids curse us for idleness.

Boffins: Earth will be habitable for only 1.75 BEEELLION more years

I had better hurry and sell my house ...

cash in while there is still someone who may want to buy it before it is destroyed.

City of Munich throws Ubuntu lifeline to Windows XP holdouts

Re: Speaking as an MS.. fan.. well long term user

the only problem i would see is getting the users use to Linux.

Most users don't care, they don't really know what the difference between Linux and MS Windows is; they are only interested in what their machine will do for them: can they read email, browse the web, edit a document and print - that covers 90% of non game functions.

Don't even talk about applications: most users don't understand or care.

NSA: NOBODY could stop Snowden – he was A SYSADMIN

The NSA has to claim that Snowden was 'brilliant'

Because if it becomes known that he was an ordinarily skilled sysadmin then they will be shown up as incompetent but not dealing with the common (or should be expected) case of a disaffected worker. As we have seen many times with these sort of people their primary interest is in protecting their own back sides and laying the blame elsewhere - just remember how they pursued Garry McKinnon who had the 'genius' idea of using default passwords to access systems.

I do not know how clever Snowden is, however I suspect that it did not need genius level skills to do what he did, just a bit of determination.

Oracle launches paid support for 'free' NoSQL database

Re: Clever

The GPL obliges you to give a copy of the code to anyone to who distribute a binary. If someone just uses the code remotely (eg a web application) you don't have to give the code since the binary/script runs on your own machine.

The AGPL is GPL + you need to make available a copy of the code to those who use it remotely (eg web).

This is a good license to publish under since it means that if someone uses your code in a public way (eg web site) they need to give enhancements back.

Workers at world's largest – and most remote – telescope go on strike

Re: 200 Employees?

It is isolated enough to need accomodation, a canteen, etc. So there will be maintainance, cooks, ...

See: http://alma.mtk.nao.ac.jp/e/aboutalma/office/location.html

Snowden journalist's partner gave Brit spooks passwords to seized files

Re: Despicable

The law sys you have to hand over your passwords. Otherwise you go to jail.

I though that you had to EITHER provide passwords or provide them with plain tex of what was encrypted or controled access by a password.

I just hope that he changed all his passwords everywhere as soon as possible; although I suspect that they rummaged through his email and accessed whatever machines remotely before he could change them.

Groklaw dead ?

Pamela Jones, a voice of relative sanity on US legal issues in IT, shut down the Groklaw blog this morning.

Really ? I have just been to http://groklaw.net/, it is still there.

What she does say is something very different:

The owner of Lavabit tells us that he's stopped using email and if we knew what he knew, we'd stop too.

There is no way to do Groklaw without email. Therein lies the conundrum.

What to do?

Snowden's secure email provider Lavabit shuts down under gag order

Re: Possibility...

''given the unconstitutionality of these laws in general, I'd be very tempted to also ignore the illegal gag order''

Illegal or not - they will do you over.

HALF of air passengers leave phones on ... yet STILL no DEATH PLUNGE

Re: Only a matter of time

''No, a phone without a base station transmits at ZERO power. It LISTENS for the cell search, ...''

But it probably needs to reply to any base station at high power as it is a long way away.

The best way of reducing transmitted power could be for every plane to have a set of dummy base stations that the 'phones could lock on to, and being close would not need to transmit at high power. Because everything is low power it should not interfere with the real base stations outside of the airplane. Several would be needed for the various networks that the 'phones are subscribed to.

A workable idea or complete cobblers ?

WikiLeaker Bradley Manning found not guilty of 'aiding the enemy'

What about the war criminals ?

OK: the have found Manning guilty, what about the war criminals who he exposed - when will they put them on trial ? I note that they are still chasing people from World War II, so the stuff that Manning exposed cannot be too old can it ?

One month on, Edward Snowden cleared to leave Moscow airport

Where does he go to next ?

Presumably Putin is hoping that he will cease to be his problem by disappearing for a couple of weeks before smiling from somewhere in South America.

Oi, Google, you ate all our Wi-Fi keys - don't let the spooks gobble them too

It is not so much wifi passwords

as these can be relatively easily broken, but all the other stuff: like my list of phone contacts that is now in the hands of the NSA. I would be happier if I could back up these settings to my own server.

More worrying that wifi passwords are email login passwords; it would be interesting to set up an email account that is not used anywhere, configure in the android phone and see what loggs in from where.

Steve Jobs' death clears way for '13-inch' JUMBO iPAD HYPEGASM

Re: 13 inches

Why did someone vote that down ? Read the article:

"Apple in recent months has asked for prototype smartphone screens larger than 4 inches and has asked for screen designs for a new tablet measuring slightly less than 13 inches diagonally, they said."

13 inches

You mean diagonally, not across.

WAR ON PORN: UK flicks switch on 'I am a pervert' web filters

Theatre

It just adds to the costs of ISPs, etc.

It is related to the 100ml limit on water taken through an airport -- supposedly to stop people making bombs on airplanes, but not really effective. What it does mean is that the politicians are seen to be doing something.

Re: The ISPs have rewired everything

"Like every device in your house has a separate bloody internet connection from your ISP."

That is called IPv6 -- every device has it's own unique address.

US secret court renews government telephone snooping

Why is the court secret ?

I can understand that some evidence might need to be secret, but why does the court itself need to be secret ? Also: where is the order, why cannot we see it (maybe with some parts redacted) ?

This especially so when they are slurping everyone's data, ie it is not a targetted set of naughty boys. The only possible justification would be real, imminent threats ... maybe it has to be secret so that we don't know that there is, in fact, little justification.

Paypal makes man 1000x as rich as the ENTIRE HUMAN RACE

The interest

Is he keeping the interest ? Even at 0.5% the interest earned on that amount for a few hours would have made him a rich man.

Dear Linus, STOP SHOUTING and play nice - says Linux kernel dev

Re: She's right

but she could try working for Balmer.

At least Linus has not thrown a chair at her ...

There is also a world of difference between the occasional (justified) outburst and continual vilification. When the people do what they are supposed to be doing he is not not rude.

PM writes ISPs' web filter ads for them - and it must say 'default on'

Who makes the list ?

Ie what should be on it ? Will the list grow to contain things that are, by some, deemed ''bad'' ?

I assume that it will contain sex sites, but what about other things that can damage young minds, eg: violence, astrology, suicide, anorexic encouraging, religion ??

I could add: BNP, taliban & facebook since some would regard those as damaging ?

Daily Mail readers will never agree with Guardian readers, so best to leave it down to the individual household and what they see as right for their kids -- ie their prejudices.

Google study finds users ignore Chrome security warnings

How did Google get this data ?

How many people are aware that their decisions like this are reported back to google ?

This is a privacy scandal.

Screw it, says NSA leaker Snowden: I'm applying for asylum in Russia

Travel plans

How about this for a travel itinary:

acquire temporary Russian passport

Trans Siberian express to Vladivostok

Boat to Nicaragua

Mean while, occasional rumours of plane tickets bought from Moscow ...

Forget Snowden: What have we learned about the NSA?

Secret laws

I feel very uncomfortable about talk of secret laws. It goes against all sense of what we have been told our country is all about.

STEVE BALLMER KILLS WINDOWS

Office 365 is a gift to the NSA

MS helps the NSA gain access to data in its cloud http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jul/11/microsoft-nsa-collaboration-user-data

Now: tell me why anyone would trust it.

Yahoo!: We! tried! to! protect! your! info! ... secret! court! case! will! prove! it!

A Snowden lookalike in Yahoo legal

would be great. Shove the record of the 2008 case over the wall and do a runner somewhere.

I can accept that some surveillance may be needed, but the broad picture needs to be made public.

Snowden, schmoden. Let's talk about crushing hackers, say US'n'China

The real transcript of the meeting

USA: OK, I admit that we were trying to crack your machines

China: We both knew that we were probing each other's cracks and knew that the other knew. We just did not like being honest about it.

USA: Friends again ?

China: Let's shake on it.

USA & China: Great, we can now go back to spying on who really worries us: our own citizens.

US gov SMASHES UP TVs and MICE to nuke tiny malware outbreak

Out source the destruction

''No need to get the office carpet dirty by destroying them here. My brother in law runs a secure destruction facility, he will do it for you and give you a certificate to say that it is done.''

A couple of weeks later: loads of reconditioned PCs spring up on Ebay.

LEO, the British computer that roared

HR ?

Personnel in those days laddie!

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

Lull into false sense of security

Look at how hard they chased Gary McKinnon, someone who did them very little damage; other than showing than exposing USA sysadmin incompetence by not changing default passwords.

If I were Snowden I would remain on my toes.

Telly psychics fail to foresee £12k fine for peddling nonsense

outrageous

But it is the business of government to help to protect those with less than perfect critical facilities from being taken in by scam artists who are trying to lighten their wallets.

Leaked docs: GCHQ spooks secretly haul in more data than NSA

NAT is available for IPv6

It is implemented in the Linux kernel, the main motivator seems to be privacy:

https://lwn.net/Articles/452293/

Nothing to hide ?

If the governments have got nothing to hide, why are the pursuing the leakers like Edward Snowden ?

Using encryption? That means the US spooks have you on file

scare tactic

The implication is: if you don't use encryption then we won't keep your emails. I would not fall for that one.

El Reg rocket squad poised to select Ultimate Cuppa teabag

Re: Milk?

Milk ruins a good cuppa, the flavour is lost under the sweet milk.

Tea without milk is a completely different drink, much more delicate and softer.

For those who have not tried it: you need a good tea (not a supermarket own label), don't brew it long.

The only downside is the residue left on the side of the mug, a small price to pay.

Red Hat to ditch MySQL for MariaDB in RHEL 7

Re: I dunno

That is rather like saying "we won't ship Perl because we ship Python instead. They are both scripting languages and you can do much the same thing in either." But that does not help if youhave an application written in Perl.

Similarly: there are many applications written to use Mysql so RedHat have to ship something that is Mysql compatible so that their uses can run them. Agreed: Postgresql might be better for a new project, but that is a different story.

EU signs off on eCall emergency-phone-in-every-car plan

Will it be an MOT requirement ?

Or will you still get your MOT is this device has 'failed' ?

Ex-CIA techie Edward Snowden: I am the NSA PRISM deepthroat

Re: Land of the Free?

... and the sort of surveillance that was frequently, and rightly, denounced as being oppressive.

All major UK ISPs prepping network-level porn 'n' violence filters

The Swivel Eyed Loons carry the day

Up tight about sex while ignoring stuff that has a far worse effect: gratuitous violence & religious mumbo jumbo.

This will just have the effect of blocking some NHS sites & the like while adding to the costs of ISPs.

El Reg drills into Office 365: The science of compliance

Re: I can't recommend it.

Microsoft may well be doing the best that it can; however it is still subject to the USA Patriot Act.

It would be interesting to have a MS customer (I am am not) write them a letter explicity addressing this issue. I can't complain about them having to obey it, but they should at least come clean.

Thirty-five years ago today: Space Invaders conquer the Earth

Space Invaders in real life ...

I lived in a large house, 40 - 50 of us. We played space invaders in the long sitting room.

Most lined up across the room advancing slowly, menacingly shouting ''Boom, boom'' towards the other end where a lone defender hurled cusions & pillows at the invaders.

Those were the days!

Amazon faces its third strike in Germany

Easy to pay

They can pay their workers out of the corporation taxes that they are not paying

Doctor Who? 12th incarnation sought after Matt Smith quits

Georgia Moffett

She was the fictional Doctor's daughter and in real live is daughter of the 5th Dr and spouse of the 10th Doctor.

A quick reminder

Stop the Microsoft, Skype wedding, screams enraged Cisco in court

Anything with 80+% market share

should be forced to fully document the protocol and (for our unfortunate cousins in the USA) release all claim of patents for use with the protocol.