Posts by Tempest

Cisco ordered to cough up $2bn – yes, two billion dollars – plus royalties after ripping off biz's cybersecurity patents

Hey, take it easy, have you forgotten that

Cisco is an agent for the US National Security Agency as a supplier of hackable routers.

Former antivirus baron John McAfee collared, faces extradition to America on tax evasion, securities allegations

You would have thought . . .

that the under-staffed US tax crowd would have their hands full just chasing down the crooks, er alleged tax evaders, in Trumps phone book, without wasting their time on aged has-beens.

Oh, I forgot, the cabinet member for the IRS, Charles Rettig, sole purpose is to protect Trump and his friends from investigation. Until 2021 January 20, that is.

How's this for overachieving? Man accused of running software outfit as a Ponzi scheme while on parole from previous fraud

Where's the problem?

This is called American Enterprise.

Worked for Trump, why not others?

Salesforce, Deloitte try to flog contact-tracing wares to a UK public sector that's already got a £12bn test-and-trace system

Re-Inventing the wheel. A fully functional Track & Trace is operating in many countries

Google and Apple swallowed their respective egos and cooperatively developed Track & Trace software. IT IS SITTING IN YOUR HAND PHONE NOW.

All that is required is a for a national organisation to establish a minimal support infrastructure.

On my Android hand phone, my App shows the nearest infection is over 100 kilometres away in Da Nang. When I venture into the larger cities I can alter the map scale and see any infections with 500 metres.

There is little to be done to implement the scheme, just a will to serve the population - something the present government is unwilling to do to help the people.

Think tank warns any further delay to 5G rollout will cost the UK multiple billions – but hey, at least Huawei is out

Re: Are we all waiting for 5G? If you don't regularly go into big cities then IMHO . . .

Damn 5G has trouble operating IN buildings, let alone down the road.

Remember 5G is a very generic term when it comes to defining what frequency it uses. The frequency bands for 5G networks come in a pair. Frequency band 1 (FR1) is between 450 MHz & 6 GHz, which includes the LTE band. Frequency band 2 (FR2) is between 24.25 GHz & 52.6 GHz.

There is a chasm of difference between FR1 & FR2, both in technological design and operating terms.

Britain: Technology Leader? NOT

Before the UK rushes off into an unknown 5G future, blindly following the Americans, it might be worthwhile fully penetrating the landscape with Fibre Optic infrastructure (needed for 5G base stations).

5G is more a P.R. campaign, an illusion, that will frustrate more than satisfy users. Nothing is more frustrating that looking at an antenna and you your hand phone being unable to reach it.

So many 'developing' countries have way higher penetration of 4G and Fibre than the UK, the government should be ashamed.

As I write this I am in a hamlet of Bo-Y, population 270, on the Laos/VietNam (KonTum) border where 100 Mbyte Fibre service and 100% 4G service are available. In my No-Star hotel I can view streaming movies and any on-line TV station uninterrupted by technical glitches. The Spratly Islands, way off the mainland in the Eastern Sea (claimed by China), too, enjoy 4G and Fibre Optic service.

If Christine Conder, of Lancashire, can build a profitable Fibre Optic network why not BT? (www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-37974267)

Singapore to treat infosec as equivalent public good to fresh running water

Singapore InterNet - Hardly Unfettered and Definitely Not 'Free'

Visitors to the island state should understand Singapore is an authoritarian state dressed up to look nice.

The 'domestic' InterNet is usage heavily monitored, similarly to the Chinese Fire Wall and many URLs are not accessible, Commercial subscribers have unfettered access to the world InterNet but they, too, are similarly monitored and the police are known to occasionally visit commercial users to instruct them on the proper use of the InterNet.

Naturally, cell services are similarly monitored to ensure 'proper' use of the facilities. The only communications with free access to the world are satellite based. BTW, ensure your Bluetooth remains 'off'.

Remember, too, Echelon-member GCHQ has a listening station, within a well-known centrally located Army camp.

Addendum: The article mentions 'fresh water'. Singapore proudly recycles sewer water - best to buy bottled! (Check: https://www.dw.com/en/singapores-toilet-to-tap-concept/a-16904636 )

Google wants to listen in to whatever you get up to in hotel rooms

A Concierges Knowledge Needs To Be Way More Than Recommendations/Bookings for Restaurants

My wife (and I) own 2 medium size hotels on the Central Coast of VietNam servicing both VNese and Foreign Travelers. Whilst we don't run to Concierge Service, our Front Desk personnel are a fountain of knowledge to local amenities.

We always have them note the nature of inquiries so that we might investigate services that we are unable to otherwise locate and add them to our hotel LAN database - we only supply computers in our rooms, with InterNet and on-line world-wide radio & TV access, but no television sets.

Our listings even include both female and male contacts for up close 'personal' services to boat hires, 24-hour stores, etc. One advantage is on-line services are tip-free

It would be interesting to see how Google Assistant functions the wide range of services that guests request.

NATO's at risk if you go your own Huawei on 5G, US government warns Germany

Could It Be That The NSA . . .

hasn't figured out how to hack HuaWei equipment.

The USA is a failing nation and soon the Chinese wil be running the show anyway.

DuckDuckGo cries fowl after being expunged from Google's Android search preferences menu for most of Europe

It's Simple - Google Can't be Trusted

Google can't be trusted. Period.The only services that we use are Maps (which Google redacts data or adds false data); and translate (which it captures}. Ever checked the length of Google search expressions? Little wonder the InterNet is slow.

It sleeps with Government agencies. it shares search data, as in volunteering search data to the (without warrant}.

The only complaint I have with the Duck is the length of it's URL.

Even if Google scoops data through the Android OS, it likely doesn't on our hand phones, they don't even have SIMs (yet we still get full service)

Why Not . . .

Just install the DDG Browser?

Windows to become emulation layer atop Linux kernel, predicts Eric Raymond

Don't Forget the Microsoft IoT Law Enforcement Suite

A Microsoft project for in-car and body-worn camera systems, drones and aerial surveillance systems use the cloud to provide officers with a real-time, connected view of other first responders around them, and real-time situational awareness for officers. Microsoft has partnered with scores of police surveillance vendors who run their products on a “Government Cloud” supplied by the company’s Azure division.

MS has a “Public Safety and Justice” division with ex-law enforcement staff. This is the heart of the company’s police services, andit has operated for years out of public view.

Veritone, along with China-based Hikvision, provide facial recognition services, closed-circuit TV cameras, environmental sensors (for radiation and dangerous chemicals detection), along with automatic license plate readers (ALPRs). In New York over 9,000 NYPD and privately operated camera feed in to the 'beast'. A drone option from Aeryon Labs, the SkyRanger, can provide real-time streaming video.

All these options, not necessarily sold by MS, are plug compatible with MS equipment.

I spent a few months in the US this Spring and a group of us followed the MS MAPP vehicle around gathering data. There are sufficient weakness for disruption, some of which were tested with great success.

Singapore, South Africa and Brazil have systems and Britain will soon join them

Bad boys bad boys, what you gonna do? Los Angeles Police Department found fibbing about facial recognition use

"it had only been deployed in “a few limited instances.”; Lies and More Lies

The Los Angeles PD has a history of dirty tricks - even more so these days that Federal Funding has increased. They have a well-earned reputation for abuse - think Rodney King. Since 2000, there have been nearly 900 killings by local police that were ruled a homicide by county medical examiners. Since 2000, only two officers have been charged for shooting a civilian while on duty.

Facial recognition is a feature of LAPD smartphones whereby a cop can take a photograph of a person and within a minute or two produce potential 'hits'.(They also use other devices to take fingerprints with attachments to their smartphones.)

Now companies such as Microsoft, with their IoT suite, are gearing up to get their hands on the Federal pot of gold.

Earlier this year I spent time with photographers who are known as First Amendment Auditors, or Cop Watchers, and our project was to disrupt police technology. No one for feels more isolated than a cop without his electronics. We achieved many successful projects that effectively neutralise, or interfere with, police electronics.

A 'hunting jacket' filled with electronics can effectively kill, or modify, in a radius of 200 metres.

The ill-will enjoyed by LAPD, and many other US police departments, is largely because of the disconnect between themselves and the public they serve. Their 'antics' can be seen on YouTube (just search 'First Amendment' and a destinations).

How would Brits react if surplus Army vehicles were employed to patrol Princes Risborough, Castle Combe or Grasmere?

US finds new Huawei to hurt China with new sanctions at top chip maker SMIC

It's Amazing How Petty The USA & Fearless Leader Trump Can Get

One of the biggest reasons not to buy US products is because of the long 'tail' that follows them.

The U.S. has for decades used aircraft instrumentation to limit sales of foreign manufactured aircraft - think Iran. Fortunately it is extremely easy to circumvent, think of a Chinese aircraft that was stolen and flown into TaiWan years ago. It was filled with US manufactured chips.

My employer uses Chinese manufactured integrated circuits and we can order custom pin-outs for quantities as low as 500 pieces. Try that from a US manufacturer. Anyone who has used a 555 chip are well aware of the pairing of 2 sets of pins - a real pain for PCB designers. When we go to North Korea we carry numerous spare parts manufactured in the USA because the Trump stupidity is something we don't bother about.

The US should remember that the Chinese hold US debt as well being the source of rare metals used in some security enterprises and a quick jerk of those strings would be a painful lesson for Washington to learn.

Many 'empires' have collapsed - look at Britain - the US will collapse too.

FBI boasts of dark-web drug bust: 179 collared around the world, $6.5m in cash and 500kg of narcotics seized

Drugs: Seems to Me to be a Matter of Culture

I live in Indochina, an area well know for it's drug production of marijuana and poppies (the source of opium as well as heroin, morphine and codeine). In fact it is openly cultivated in some areas.

It is very common to see older folk pulling on a 'joint' that would put a prize-sized cigar to shame in North-East VietNam, where marijuana is openly grown and openly smoked yet the only people indulging to excess are Foreigners visiting this beautiful country. In our cities there are drugs but we lack the hordes of police chasing down street vendors as in Western countries.

The only police activity here is in limiting cross-border smuggling of man-made drugs such as speed, ecstasy, etc.

The resources that the USA, and the UK, spend on enforcing arcane drug laws is staggering and could well be used elsewhere. If the US DEA (Drug Enforcement Agency) were to be disbanded little would change other than the number of unemployed would increase substantially.

Fortunately some US States have and enlightened view of marijuana and concentrate on 'chemical' drugs.

As with prostitution, the elimination of drugs is an impossible task.

Proposed US fix for Boeing 737 Max software woes does not address Ethiopian crash scenario, UK pilot union warns

So Many Lessons to be Learned in Aviation and Elsehwere

The failure of Boeing in developing the 737 Max should become a classic reference on how NOT to execute a project and why engineers and not accountants should be in charge.

The obscene conflicts of interest between Boeing and the FAA are criminal, products that don't endanger lives have more responsible Quality Control reporting structures. The increasingly poor Quality Control and Inspection in several recent Boeing Aircraft have been the subject of full length films shown in public fora (forums).

More than one aircraft purchaser is refusing to accept product made at Boeing South Carolina.

For myself AND MY STAFF - the instructions to our Travel Agent are IF IT'S BOEING, I AIN'T GOING. I infrequently fly on a DC-3 in Africa and I feel a damn more safer on those 80-year old aircraft than some of today's engineering 'wonders'.

"Manual trim wheels" are discussed in Wickipedia and their size reduction, given their importance, further exemplifies the compromises Boeing is prepared to make with respect to passenger safety.

A Pox on all the homes of Bean Counters.

We're not getting back with Galileo, UK govt tells The Reg, as question marks sprout above its BS*

It's Getting Awful Crowded on the Ground

In my I travels around Indochina, I have noticed a gradual increase in the number of GPS ground stations, used to error correct positioning data transmitted by the GPS systems floating around.

They are useful since the American system no longer positions the famous Ha Noi / SaiGon-Ho Chi Minh City Highway 1A between 10-15 kilometres under the East Sea as it did before the US built stations along the coastline in VietNam and several other countries in the region. Since then they have been sprouting up like mushrooms.

I have seen such stations that support GLONASS (Russia), BeiDou 2 (aka Compass} (China) as well as two limited systems QZSS (Japan) and IRNSS/NavIC (India). I saw a base stations on Chinese 'islands' on my way to both the Hoang Sa (Paracel) and Truong Sa (Spratly) archipelagoes in the past two years.

Perhaps some entrepreneur could lease land in VietNam and region and core some change from Whitehall.As the US has refused the Russians ground facilities, maybe Mexico has some territory you could buy?

Did this airliner land in the North Sea? No. So what happened? El Reg probes flight tracker site oddity

"Canadian open-source intelligence bod Steffan Watkins, whose recent flight tracking research revealed that US intelligence-gathering aircraft were switching transponder codes to pose as benign Malaysian flights off the coast of China,"

I live at 8,000 feet in the VietNam Central Highlands on the Laos border where we have a laser test range.

Steffan Watkins observations might well explain misleading RF communications emanating from US marked aircraft that depart from Singapore's Changi Airport, then travel at low levels across to VN and then are forced to climb as they come over the Highlands.

The paucity of flights at this time make any strange flight paths subject to scrutiny.

Singapore to test compulsory COVID-tracker usage as condition of entry to some venues

Re: This will enable us to open up safely in the coming weeks and months

Obviously, this doesn't apply to local fisher-persons from either Singapore or Jahore Baru who happily sail across the Johore Strait (aka Selat Johor) blithely ignoring the niceties of tracking.

P.S. The seafood restaurants in JB are the greatest!

Singapore, the Police State

Singapore is a police state with InterNet & telephone monitoring, credit card usage info available on line to police, facial recognition. ANPR for vehicles, etc.For privacy uploud you data to a Cloud, and pull the SIM - before landing!

There is one way to avoid this latest idea - use a satellite handset, it beats even their extensive cell monitoring, and essentially the only communications they can't get their clammy hands on.

The Government Communications Headquarters, aka GCHQ, still has an office in Singapore, located in an Army camp, and easily located by drunken louts with English accents at a nearby pub.

The Battle of Britain couldn't have been won without UK's homegrown tech innovations

There were some imports from the USA - Decca Navigator

The Decca Navigator was the brainchild by an American, W (Bill). J. O'Brien as a method of measuring the ground speed of aircraft and he worked on the system independently from 1936 to 1939. Unsuccessfully interesting the US military, or the civil authorities, the concept lapsed until 1939. Not dissuaded, O'Brien contacted a fellow American, his friend H. F. Schwarz, who was resident in London, who contacted the War Office.

O'Brien and Schwarz, with financial support from Decca, refined and proved it's viability. The British military expressed interest in the multi-frequency Decca system which, at this time, employed the GEE system and suffered from jamming.

The concept of radio hyperbolic navigation was common knowledge in the 1930s, The GEE, Decca, Omega, Loran, CHAYKA & Alpha were all hyperbolic navigation systems.

After the war Decca was to be found in aircraft and boats, both military and civilian. There were 2 Decca transmitter chains is use during the American War in VietNam. There remains only remnants of two of the original 6 transmitter station sites existent in VietNam (where I reside) today. During the Cold War tests with Decca, surreptitiously mounted in BOAC aircraft, were conducted on their Moscow routes for potential use in bombers.

The Global Positioning System, and the EU, essentially killed off Decca. (See http://www.jproc.ca/hyperbolic/decca.html for more WW2 information on Decca)

Why can't passport biometrics see through my cunning disguise?

Passport Photos Used For Facial Recognition? You Must Be Joking!

My employment causes even 'large' UK passports to be filled in under a year, until I discovered a method to remove rubber stamp ink, and I used to mess around with my facial images.

I've 'flipped' images horizontally, moved my eye pupils closer and further apart, changed the colour of my eyes, had 'droopy' eyelids, changed my nose profile - even a broken nose, but the Passport Office accepted them all, except one droopy eyelid that covered the iris. The latter was replaced by the identical image with a black (square) dot so the 'iris' could be seen. Facial hair changes are readily accepted by the P.O., as are hair colours.

I object to the UK Government transferring my image to all and sundry. Their ersatz passport offices - in actuality VFS Global - have a chequered security history with local employees who, in some locations, are obviously agents for the host government. I always send my applications straight to the P.O.

But why worry? After they have processed images in to two for the data pages, your image is a total distortion of you!

Now with my ink removal chemical, my present 'large' passport, I have had 63 visas affixed and I still have many pages to use.

Conspiracy loons claim victory in Brighton and Hove as council rejects plans to build 5G masts

Who Needs 5G In Brighton?

Most people have handsets that can't use 5G.

Why should the environment be blighted yet further that affects everyone for a few handset users? Britain already molly-coddles aerial software owners, especially those Tetra eyesores.

At least further 'G's will be long time coming.

Her Majesty opens UK Parliament with fantastic tales of gigabit-capable broadband for everyone

Another Tory Wet Dream

They've done little so far so why should Britain expect more?

Politicians ... fraud artists and liars.

Criminalise British drone fliers, snarl MPs amid crackdown demands

BANNING - Britain's Solution For Everything

These narrow-minded Parliamentary deadheads don't think.

In Britain, laws state that it is illegal to knock on a person's door (or ring their doorbell) and walk away; it is illegal to be drunk at a bar; all whales and sturgeon are the property of the Crown; all cars, until 1976, had to carry a bale of hay;if Londoners annoy anyone by flying a kite the penalty is 500 Pounds; it is illegal for Londoners to carry planks of wood across sidewalks; after 08.00H it it is illegal to shake any rug or mat outside; asking a person for change, under the Vagrancy Act, it is deemed 'begging'; under the Salmon Act it is illegal to handle a fish 'suspiciously'; it is illegal under a 1960 Act to dress as a soldier or sailor.

Other stupid laws state it is illegal to gamble or use obscene language in a library (remember Lady Chatterley's Lover); it is illegal to sing profane or obscene song ib Public; it is illegal for Parliamentarians to wear armour in the House; it is illegal to keep pigs outside your house without adequate fencing the penalty is One Thousand Pounds; it is illegal for a subject's (you) dog to mate with a Royal dog; it is illegal to eat any unmarked swan; for hanging washing out to dry above a street the penalty is One Thousand Pounds; it is illegal to be without footsocks within 100 yards of the Queen; it is treasonous to affix a stamp upside down; it is illegal to die in Parliament.

It's illegal to do many things in Britain, but as the Courts attest, people do them anyway. These numb-nuts think that laws will stop everything. NEWS! - they don't and will not. All these banning laws is inhibit innovation, innovation that is so needed these days.

UK ads watchdog bans Burger King Twitter jibe for condoning chucking milkshakes at politicians

What Happened To The British Bulldog?

Nearly 80 years ago millions gave their lives or suffered injuries for the cause of freedom.

What a waste - given the Nanny Regime that has insinuated itself in to British life and has resulted in almost every facet of life in Britain.

If you don't agree with a advertisement or display, simply don't buy their products.

A friend was in London a few weeks ago and was having a loud 'discussion' with someone who had short-changed my friend. Some character, in street clothes, flipped open his Plod I.D. and said they were breaching some law. My friend, who is university educated, addressed the alleged Plod using an extended vocabulary, expressing himself more vehemently.

Plod responded said he didn't understand what my friend said but Plod said he could be arrested based on his 'attitude'. I think this is what the Army called 'dumb insolence' when I served. My friend switched to Chinese and repeated his opinions, leaving Plod with a blank look on his face.

Seemingly any of the standards that were current but a few years ago have been swept away by the standards adopted by authorities.

Sad.

US immigration uses Google Translate to scan people's social media for bad posts – Er, don't do that, says everyone else

Police in Cambodia (Kampuchea), Laos, Thailand And VietNam All Use Google Translate ...

when dealing with Foreigners.

In VietNam laptops have been issued for this purpose whilst the Cong An's (Plod) other business happily continues on ancient desktops running XP!

Tesco parking app hauled offline after exposing 10s of millions of Automatic Number Plate Recognition images

Parking Control Systems - Real Privacy Collection Systems - Ideal For Extortionists

Late last month the condominium in which I reside decided to waste money installing a parking control system running VinaParking software.

Apart from the significant physical installations fails (a Harley wouldn't fit between the lane guides for motorcycles - my scooter has paniers than measure 1 metre across from one side to the other), the HD cameras fitted are very susceptible to IR and UV radiation. The cameras record rear number plate and a facial image of the driver.

The system collects a multitude of data points apart from the essentials including height of rider (against a visual scale), number of riders, etc. The collected information can be used by unscrupulous people as often car images on newer systems include number plates AND images of front seat passengers who should not be seen together such as in extra marital affairs.

I have long fitted IR & UV radiators to my motorcycle (as SaiGon has over 20,000 traffic cameras as well as a national highway plate reading system) to blind them since the traffic cops aren't able to identify the lamps. The cops are wise to reflective paint (Google 'reflective paint for license plates').

The cameras are 'blinded' on the parking system. EMP generators (search YouTube) are extremely effective for producing false readings, even 'killing' cheap card scanners, and simply dropping a helmet faceplate neutralises the facial capture system.

Most parking systems are set not to impede when a camera 'misread' occurs.

UK ISPs must block access to Nintendo Switch piracy sites, High Court rules

I think I've Heard A SImilar Story Before ...

something about a Dutch Boy, a finger and a dike.

Just another delusional judge.

Fairphone 3 stripped to the modular essentials: Glue? What glue?

"sadly the chips have been soldered on, limiting upgradeability a little"

Solder presents no problems to the technical whiz kids in ShenZhen, why should they to techs in the West?

Huawei thanks Uncle Sam for returning its seized comms kit ... two years later, ya jerks

"there may ... be geopolitical or ethical considerations ... Government need to take into account"

Since when has the "Government" been found in the same sentence as "ethical considerations"?

Trump is a fine example, as have many UK Governments.

Just one in five UK constituencies receive 4G from all four mobile operators – research

Developing Countries Have Better Coverage Than The UK

VietNam has great coverage from Viettel - the system owned by the Interior Security Ministry (Ministry of Defence) - and supports 63 million subscribers!

I have a summer house in KonTum Province hard up against the Laos border and my 4G data rate is around 20 Mbytes (up to 1 gig in larger centres).The Viettel (only) 4G coverage map can be seen at https://www.nperf.com/en/map/VN/-/21932.Vinaphone/signal/. The cost is 300.000 Dong (USD$15) for 24GB of data, prepaid.

Where 4G is unavailable in the mountains and sparsely populated areas there is 3G automatic switchover. There are 4 cell systems offering 4G. 4G coverage covers the out islands of Phu Quoc through to Cat Ba in the North.

There's fraud, and then there's backdoor routers, fenced logins, malware, and bribing AT&T staff seven figures to unlock 2m phones

There are so many ...

websites that provide free unlock codes ... 'locked' cell handsets hardly warrant the name.

Off somewhere nice on holibobs? Not if you're flying British Airways: IT 'systems issue' smacks UK airports once again

It's simple, avoid travel with a word ...

beginning with a letter 'B' such as British Airways or Boeing.

Flying B. A. used to be for Queen and Country, now it is for some squalid holding company that keeps Wee Willy Walsh in free, complimentary First Class travel.

Brit couch potatoes increasingly switching off telly boxes in favour of YouTube and Netflix

As An International Travel Warrior ...

I have a handful of URLs that provide access to Canadian, UK and US radio and TV channels - many live. Several are sent decrypted which avoids the need for finding an acceptable credit card.

The Epic browser provides VPN access to several countries. Even works from China and Russia.

Trump continues on the warpath: Now US tariffs cover nearly everything arriving from China

In IndoChina We Love Trump's Tariffs

The Blond Headed Dummy is working wonders for economies in IndoChina.

With every increase in the idiots Tariffs on Chinese products, more plants are built in Laos, Kampuchea (Cambodia) and Thailand where re-labeling is the main 'production' activity.

Recently, a dummy company located in VietNam was shuttered when it was re-labeling Chinese made products as being "Made In VietNam'.

Additionally, exports to our region, from China, are being discounted more in order to keep Chinese workers employed.

Thank you Trump - for screwing Americans again.

Another rewrite for 737 Max software as cosmic bit-flipping tests glitch out systems – report

Who, in the Western Hemisphere, Actually Cares About "Cosmic Rays" ...

other than the military and chip manufacturers?

Carriers were also guilty of ignoring the effects of "Cosmic Rays", to my knowledge Cathay Pacific (Hong Kong) was the first carrier to subject crew route assignments to limitations imposed by "Cosmic Rays" in flights headed over the pole.

And America is the greatest? I think not.

Apple loses FaceTime patent appeal again. And again. And again. And again. And again... yes, it's the fifth time

Apple Is Guilty Of Plagiarism From The Get-Go

Anyone old enough to remember the print adverts in technical magazines from decades ago might remember there were three 'Apples' in the States.

Apple purloined it's logo from a competitor, as well as the name. Just as with the Xerox Park mouse and other things stolen by Jobs.

Dad of student slain in Paris terror massacre sues Google, Twitter, Facebook for their 'material support' of ISIS

Next, the orange-haired Republican orangutan named Drumph ...

will be jumping up and down, as orangutans are apt to do, screaming that people of Mexican heritage are stealing American industries wealth.

Just imagine if a judge of Mexican heritage os assigned the case!

Telstra hauls in Cisco, Ericsson, Juniper to explain TITSUPs

Problems with CISCO and Juniper? Should have bought the best - HuaWei! - GCHQ approved!

Blame Obama - he went around the world bad-mouthing Chinese products and the Australians fell for it hook, line and sinker.

Meanwhile, back in Blighty, HuaWei sets up a GCHQ monitored lab and everything is fine. Except the 5 Eyes group have to crack yet another piece of hardware.

Amazon to bad cable slingers: USB-C yourself out

Economic USB Cable Testers

I was in ShangHai last month and I picked up a USB-C cable test set.

It comprises a SD chip for the software and a loop-around terminator, with LEDs, and a battery powered terminator.

The LED and battery units, as a pair, can verify there are no shorts between pins/cables. The Battery terminator is removed, the software is loaded/run and the screen shows the illuminated LED response to be expected. USD$5.50.

The decent quality USB-C cables, depending on termination types are USD$4.90-5.30.

Leak – UN says Assange detention 'unlawful'

Firstly - the UN WGAD has not authority or jurisdiction over the UK. WRONG, WRONG, WRONG

Oh, is that what you think?

The United Kingdom was a founding member of the UN, and sits on the Council and agreed, by treaty, to honour various matters determined by the UN. This means the UK has agreed to comply to allow certain matters over-rule certain UK decisions.

But your argument fails because the UK used UN resolutions to invade Iraq and various other things.

Reminds me of cake and eating it.

Bill for half a billion quid lands on Apple's desk in Facetime patent scrap

When will Apple learn what is meant by the term ...

Open Software?

They stole the name Apple, they stole their logo and Jobs stole the mouse. A corporate criminal enterprise that got caught, again.

Assange will 'accept arrest' on Friday if found guilty

Diplomatic representation is by Treaty ...

which is why the USA allowed the Japanese diplomats to sail back home after Pearl Harbour - another, earlier, demonstration of US incompetency.

Assange and Snowden have more guts than most. Period.

Both the USA and Britain have no moral grounds to stand on - the USA promoting torture and casting aside international law and invading countries whilst Britain, trying to demonstrate it's 'prowess', follows along sniffing the USA's nether quarters.

Britain and the USA have breached international agreements and treaties with their governments playing the Three Monkeys Game. They have broken the trust that is supposed to exist between the voters and the voted. They spy on the population as if we are terrorists, or whatever. They strip us of our privacy and the mentally-challenged May thinks it is fine and gives them billions of Pounds to GCHQ and the MI mob to carry on.

The employees of these agencies have been at it so long they wouldn't recognise a moral if it hit them in the face.

But Snowden, regardless of his personal safety and freedom, knee-capped the US government that had few coherent justifications for it's activities. That past-retirement Clapper lied, in Congress and on TV, asserting the US government didn't do mass communications tapping. Not once but twice or more - outright lies which he maintained even though he was offered opportunities to retract ot 'correct the record'.

And Assange is equally as committed to honesty in government by allegedly exposing the lies protected by secrecy. If these lies were supportable by fact, things might be different. The charges being sought by Sweden have, at different times, been renounced by the women involved. How many Register readers have struck it 'lucky' only to have their sexual partner express regrets?

And who knows of the underhanded US government agencies didn't set him up like they have with so many including Martin Luther King. The FBI is an expert in framing people, look at their laughable record of security and the staged 'terrorism' events that serve only to increase the myth of the FBI.

There is no defence for what the UK and the USA have done and are doing. I am sure Her Majesty wouldn't condone the castration of Kenyan POWs in Her name.

What Assange is offering takes bravery - given that he is essentially at the mercy of these governments ... and Sweden. How many of you envy his position?

How a power blip briefly broke GitHub's boxes and tripped it offline

What? No UPS?

Who runs a data centre these days without some form of UPS?

Sounds like a cheap operation.

One benefit of living in a country which has unscheduled power outages, is that protection is the norm. My home standby generator runs on gas - the stuff that is leaking all over California - not petroleum. I also use battery power storage - charged by FREE solar.

Scottish MP calls for drone-busting eagles

Ethics?

There is no question of ethics - it's a question of aerial engagement.

The whole idea is to prevent theft - so all is fair.

Maybe flash/bangs used on robotic devices could prove effective, too. I was hit by the casing of such a flash/bang on a robotic military device during development (used to ignite an explosive charge) and it hurt like hell.

Now we have an opportunity to redeploy Stun Guns or use Stainless Steel rotors

The video revealed (1) Where the bird grabbed the drone; (2) The bird conflicted with the rotors.

A pair of wires attached to a high-voltage generator and attached around the periphery of the drone's body might focus the bird on himself and not the drone.

Using razor-sharp edges on the rotors would enhance the likelihood of long term inability to catch drones by cutting a bird's tendons or damaging it's feet. How many of these birds would they be prepared to lose given their initial cost as well as that of training?

Perhaps the chopped feet could be sold to Chinese restaurants and enable them to offer chicken, duck AND eagle feet for dim sum.

This video was staged with optimum advantage for the bird given that the drone was travelling slowly and on an even keel. They must employ the type of photographer that makes the F35 look good.