Posts by Sir Runcible Spoon

El Reg deep dive: Everything you need to know about UK.gov's pr0n block

Actually, if you read that post as 100% genuine then it's more likely to be one of our resident trolls ('unwanted tosspot' or something)

Re: Still at it

"I have nothing to hide."

That's great. Fill in forms, give your local Council all your personal details (of everything) up-front.

That way, people like you, who want to give all their personal details away, can. That leaves the rest of us to have a wank in peace.

Re: Cybergumble

The only time I've *ever* stumbled across porn is with Google's image search. I mean, what the hell was their Algo thinking?

US cops go all Minority Report: Google told to cough up info on anyone near a crime scene

Anyone who has nothing to hide has nothing to say.

Surprise UK raid of Cambridge Analytica delayed: Nobody expects the British information commissioner!

Re: On the other hand...

"Which means that any sensible employee at this point is either going to refuse point blank to delete stuff"

Assuming they are regular 'employees' and not on loan from some other agency.

It would be hilarious if the investigating journalists anticipated this move and were documenting any 'removal' efforts going on at CA.

I bet their power usage has shot through the roof - all those drives being formatted and shredders running 24*7

That long-awaited Mark Zuckerberg response: Everything's fine! Mostly fixed! Facebook's great! All good in the hoodie!

@Charles 9

Unless a person accepts that there is a lot to know, and that they can't possibly know all there is to know, then they can't really be said to know, can they?

The Universe is Torus shaped when viewed from the outside, so there is really only one turtle :)

Re: You signed up for it.

I'm not sure most people understand how their data would be used to manipulate the voting public for nefarious ends.

I mean, they were only told it would backfire on them about 100 times a day, but people who know everything...know everything. Except what they don't know, which is everything :)

Re: I have nothing to hide

Contributing to the undermining of the democratic process (what's left of it) is right up there as a reason that privacy is important.

Magic Leap bounds into SF's Games Developer Conference and... disappears

But...but...

due to their one car being, to put it mildly, a clusterfsck.

It can do 88mph and travel through Tiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiimmmmmmmmmmmmeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

Flux Capacitor icon -->

When you see the engineer

Ask him if they are advertising for so many engineers because the last lot were blinded by their prototype? You never know.

2 + 2 = 4, er, 4.1, no, 4.3... Nvidia's Titan V GPUs spit out 'wrong answers' in scientific simulations

Sacked them I expect :p

Brit MPs chide UK.gov: You're acting like EU data adequacy prep is easy

I've changed my mind

I originally voted for Brexit because I thought the British public and its institutions still had a spine; that a challenge would be an opportunity to put aside our collective apathy and take up the mantle of being responsible for the shit we've made in our own beds once again.

However, upon reflection, I see that this was totally delusional and that there are simply too many people who prefer to blame anything and everything on someone else for this to actually work.

If we accept, for the moment, that the decision to leave the EU has been made, where are the benefits of whining about it and blaming others instead of getting on with the job at hand?

I'm truly saddened to say it, but we're toast - and have been for some time. I only wish I'd realized it was hopeless years ago.

@AC

"BTW the UK fishing industry is slightly larger than the pet insurance industry..."

Any thoughts on why that might be?

Re: Nerds to the rescue ?!

Call that a pep-talk? (Coz it comes across as a bit sarcastic if you don't mind me saying so).

It should be noted, for the record, that no Nerds were instrumental in the decades of failed foreign and home-office policies of the UK government that have led us to being the lap-dogs of US/Europe.

FBI raids home of spy sat techie over leak of secret comms source code on Facebook

I could show you a glorified PC with some extra network cards for $100k if that helps?

Re: "Weed is also accused of earlier nicking $340,000"

"In some cases it's worth stashing the kit at the back of a cupboard for a few months first to see if anybody misses it."

Pretty sure this is how most kit goes missing in DC's.

Ugh, of course Germany trounces Blighty for cyber security salaries

@Charlie

Many times I've decided not to push for the upper whack, you end up with more renewals for sure. It takes time to strike the right balance, took me a few years to get it bang on :)

Plus, you can always trade 'rate rise' against other tangibles that benefit you but don't cost the client extra dough, such as wfh.

Re: Going freelance

First thing you would need to do is refocus your CV to highlight the 'project' related work you've delivered.

Remove all the fluff about how you like to go to the movies etc. on your nights off - no-one cares.

Try to emphasize all the the things you've done that had a positive impact on the company. You need to come across as pro-active, self-sufficient and diligent - they aren't hiring 'yes-people' to kiss their arse.

Grow a thick skin, nothing people say matters - it's results that count. Renewals are your goal now. Some contractors (who give everyone else a bad name) try to play games to get renewals, steal other peoples' work and pass it off as their own etc. Sometimes companies fall for that (it's happened to me) but they get wise after all the good people have gone and the shysters can't do anything, that's a mugs game so don't go there (please).

Change the way you think. You no longer have a career, and you are only as good as your last contract. Part of your new job is selling yourself, so if you have the skills, prove and let people know, don't expect people to notice how you just saved the company £500k unless you tell them.

Be confident, but don't be an arse. You might be self-sufficient, but you don't get anywhere alienating people. Don't horde knowledge, you would be amazed at how many renewals I've got on the strength that I'm not stingy with my help and/or knowledge. Plus, you can't do it all, you need to make friends on every contract as you will need help at some point.

I should point out that there are other (less stringent) ways to 'be' a contractor, but what I've outlined is one way to be a 'successful' contractor. Your new job security is 100% based on knowing that if your contract ended tomorrow, you can safely take a few weeks holiday and know you will get another contract as soon as you make your CV 'live' on the job sites.

Have a safety net. The hardest part of starting out is your permie notice period coupled with the short notice often required for starting a new contract. You may have to stretch your ethics at this point in time to ensure you don't leave yourself vulnerable - work it out. If you are good, then companies *will* wait for the right person, but not indefinitely.

Once you get up and running, have 6 months money in the bank, just in case. If you have it, you won't need it but I can guarantee that if you don't have it, you will.

There are other things, (like getting an accountant and setting up a Ltd. Company etc.) but they aren't that hard to do - talk to an accountant who specialises and get some advice in that area.

Good luck!

(Oh, and remember not to act like an employee when you are in a contract. The client *asks* you to perform work for them, but it's up to you how to do it. Don't *ask* for time off if you need it, *inform* the client etc.)

Now now..

Your bigotry is showing.

Not everyone has the risk appetite for going freelance.

Imho

Cheap lightning rods.

The term 'cyber security' is very vague. It could mean a data analyst, DB developer, firewall engineer, data protection officer, network manager, security architect, systems analyst, etc.

Re: Switzerland

You can avoid the glass by becoming a freelance consultant.

You are then subject to the laws of supply and demand, rather than slavery salary bands.

I doubt freelance figures are truly reflected in the average salaries presented here, for one reason or another ;) (let's not quibble about whoo paid whooo (what tax))

FYI: There's a cop tool called GrayKey that force unlocks iPhones. Let's hope it doesn't fall into the wrong hands!

Re: Time to break a passphrase?

From the MO it sounds like they've found a way to circumvent the retry limit, and probably only focuses on the 'PIN' variety of password.

In other words - Snake Oil.

Re: "But should they actually be allowed to have one?"

If you don't want mandated backdoors, I think this is the lesser evil.

Thanks for that excellent example of 'False dichotomy'.

Boffins find sign of water existing deep into Earth's mantle by looking at diamonds

I'm thinking they mean 'water molecules' in very low numbers - rather than grouped together as in, say, a pint ->>

Ex-GCHQ boss: All the ways to go after Russia. Why pick cyberwar?

Re: Nothing new here, move on.

Acknowledged. Apologies. Classification as putinbot was in error due to both context ambiguities.

No problem. I think we are all good now.

Re: Nothing new here, move on.

@Daggerchild..you seem to have discovered a number of words in my post that were written in invisible ink.

My comment about the 'scare story' relates to the theatre around the event, not the event itself.

My objection to talking as if the chap and his daughter were already dead was because, I feel, it is in rather poor taste.

The next time you feel like making up some stuff to attribute to me, perhaps you might want to enquire what I meant rather than blindy assuming you know everything there is to know about my thought processes and intentions.

@ Killing Time...I appreciate the reasoned response. In this day and age it's quite scarce. El Reg commentards often seem like the last stand, although I have noticed a distinct change in the wind pattern on here of late.

Re: Nothing new here, move on.

With regards to the recovering thing, I must have heard someone talking about the police officer and thought they were referring to Skripal. It does seem like he is still in a critical condition in the ICU.

My bad. Although I didn't state it as fact at least.

Re: Nothing new here, move on.

No, wasn't looking for a corpse, just pointing out that people are talking about murder in the current context as if they were already dead.

Still, when did objective observations ever get in the way of a good scare story?

Re: Nothing new here, move on.

Can someone point me to the information where the current situation has resulted in someone actually being 'bumped off'. I thought they were supposed to be recovering?

Tim Berners-Lee says regulation of the web may be needed

Re: An idea (A problem)

Sorry, but I'm going to have to disagree with you here.

It might be a foundation question, but first comes the market research to determine whether or not the idea merits putting money behind it.

If it does, then you look into how it could be funded before doing anything else, but validating the idea before throwing money away is a sensible approach in my book, ymmv :)

Re: An idea (A problem)

Who pays the bills is actually a different question to the one posed in the article.

To be sure it's the next question along, but you first have to determine if the solution would work.

Unless by moving straight on to the funding question you are conceding that the idea has merit?

Re: An idea (A problem)

Point is there's a world of difference between a realistic idea and a pipe dream, and if you want to deal with the consolidation of information, short of a new evolution of man, you need something rather tangible and immediate.

How is my idea a pipe-dream? Isn't that how search engines started out?

You build a server that crawls through the internet web pages to create an index, and you create a search tool for that index based on algorithms which prioritize particular results. Once upon a time that was based on key-word searches etc. - I'm not suggesting anyone do anything new, just provide an alternate service.

As for it not being that popular and starting with a modest budget, I totally agree. Most people probably wouldn't be interested, but you never know do you? This is the internet after all, weirder things have taken hold.

If Google hadn't come along and done exactly this in the first place, they wouldn't have had a huge market share to then subvert the process for paid advertising purposes with the current situation as the result.

I have no illusions that such a service would rival Google et al. but there's no reason it couldn't be built and that quite a few people (me included) would use it.

Perhaps if someone could put forward a more cogent counter-argument to this idea perhaps I could understand the negativity towards something that I see as a very simple and obvious option to pursue.

Re: An idea (A problem)

I wasn't putting forward a business case and full cost analysis, it was an idea.

I don't know, how about crowdfunding? Or Subscriptions? Generous donor? Static (non tracking/screened adverts on the search page itself)?

An idea

How about creating a search engine that excludes paid-for advertisements and puts 'information' resources above sites selling stuff.

The biggest obstacle is finding the stuff we used to know and love (and hate) - so let's make it easier to find stuff, that way more people will make stuff.

So, if you are looking for a new fridge etc. you can go to Google/Bing etc., but if you want to wander the backstreets then you go to the new 'backstreet' search engine :)

Elon Musk invents bus stop, waits for applause, internet LOLs

Re: RE: Crossrail

@handleoclast : I'm gonna give you an upvote just for the funny little anecdote at the end :)

Re: What goes down...

would need powered options for occasional uphill parts)

I vote for those mini-jet engines that the wing-suited nutters used for sustained flight :)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eS2rjcVcaqQ

Note that this was 11 years ago now! God I feel old.

Re: 150 mph

Aren't those figures dependent on the mass of the vehicle accelerating? (Laden mass at that).

1G of lateral force on a train - you'd better be strapped in :)

Re: "Fact is, it's still just cheaper to ditch them in the ocean"

Am I going mad? Surely a mono-rail type system would be much more efficient, cheaper to build, and also quicker?

Your manhood is safe, judge tells ZX Spectrum reboot boss

Re: FTFY

All information will be treated in confidence

Unfortunately, in this day and age, that's not really a promise you are able to keep though is it?

I know someone who is going to a counselor to deal with some gnarly family history, and they tell me that they are constantly having to be careful what they say because she believes the counselor will report her based on some of the things she thinks about (note - thinks about, not actually doing anything).

When you can't trust a medical relationship to be confidential these days, and journalists appear to be fair game for snooping on, then we really have entered the realms of self-censorship and thought crime (not that there was any real doubt I suppose).

Just my 2p.

Capita screw-ups are the pits! Brit ex-miner pensioners billed for thousands in extra tax

Re: Poke in the eye...

What, the 'he/she made me do it!' line?

Typical Bureaucrats

We sincerely apologise for any concern and inconvenience this has caused."

Do these people seriously not understand the anxiety & stress that a huge & unexpected tax bill from HMRC can cause?

These are pensioners we are talking about, right?

Developer mistakenly deleted data - so thoroughly nobody could pin it on him!

Re: That's not how that works

Does the executable not run from memory once called?

Re: Penny pinching...

@AC,

just think, if you hadn't been the source of some of those deletes (and restore requests) then the cost per restore would have been a *lot* higher :)

Re: Two years ago

Why the hell does rm not return an error when an argument is empty? Surely it's an obvious shortcut to wiping the entire drive if the entry is blank?

re:chmod 444

Is there any justification for chmod to be made read-only..ever?

If not, then the code should automatically exclude itself from working on it's own executable, imho :)

Most IT contractors want employment benefits if clobbered with IR35

"We recently had contractors on 6x the salary as some of the permanent employees doing the very same job at the same level."

Perhaps if you could explain why they were taken on at 6* the price for the same work we might be able to gain an insight or two. As it stands it sounds like someone made a bad managerial decision.

What do you do with them once the project runs out of money/is terminated or completes (as unlikely as that sounds)?

People hire contractors because

1. The money comes out of different budgets and doesn't get classed as 'head-count'

2. If you need to save some money quickly, then you can can a project and the associated contractors without any notice or issues with compensation or being sued for discrimination or unfair dismissal or redundancy payments.

3. You don't have to train them

4. They are usually good at what they do. If they aren't you can just get rid of them and get someone else in (see #2)

Re: Contractor rights

My bad about the Corp tax, I should know this stuff, right? :)

One other thing people have overlooked, especially the 'angry permie' types who think all contractors are getting out of paying tax etc.

Based on the amount of tax I generate for HMRC every year, I am paying a *lot* more than I would if I took a permie position with it's lower rates of pay, even when you include all the company contributions.

So, creating a situation that forces contractors into permie roles will not generate more cash, although it probably will put a (brief) smile on the faces of some embittered permies who haven't got a clue what they are talking about.

Also, considering that there aren't many contractors who can get by without being able to cut the mustard, all those permies might be less and sanguine when there is suddenly a lot more competition for their jobs from people who generally have a much more varied and extensive experience to draw upon.

Re: 13 per cent would like paid sick leave

Not if you can work from home ;)