Posts by EngineersAnon

FBI: Your real SECURITY TERROR? An ANGRY INSIDE MAN

Re: Your real security terror is an angry "inside man"...

And this is news because...?

Fixed that for you.

French novel falls foul of Apple's breast inspectors

What about Apple's rights?

I don't think he should have been unable to publish this, and he wasn't. But surely Apple has the right not to sell material which they deem inappropriate?

If this were a story of a shopkeeper being forced to sell material he considered offensive to his faith, for example, who would you condemn?

Yes, I don't use Apple products (beyond iTunes to store/organize/play my music), both because of the price point and the lack of openness, but that lack of openness is Apple's choice, just as I have the choice not to give them my business. But people who do choose to buy Apple devices should not then complain about the fact that they're limited to Apple-approved apps and content in Apple's stores. And it's not like one can't just download Kindle for iOS and buy the book there.

Boston court confirms Peeping Tom's right to upskirt

Re: Too vague a law to be useful.

The law also only covers people who are "nude or partially nude," the latter state defined as "the exposure of the human genitals, buttocks, pubic area or female breast below a point immediately above the top of the areola." As the individuals photographed were neither nude nor partially nude, the law under which the defendant was charged does not apply, even if they were in a place where they had a reasonable expectation of privacy. It is this error (based on my reading of this story and another on the subject, IANAL) that led to his conviction being reversed.

Apple asked me for my BANK statements, says outraged reader

Re: Recruitment agencies also ask for scans of passports

large A4 certificate with Calif state emblem and lots of fancy script etc to put my older son's UK "short form" birth certificate to shame!

Actually, a US State is much more likely to issue Extracts from Vital Records (birth certificates, marriage licenses, death certificates, etc) on US standard "letter" paper (8.5" x 11" = 216mm x 279mm) than on the ISO standard A4 (210 mm × 297 mm)

*end pedantry*

*at least for now*

US lawmaker blames bicycle breath for global warming gas

I seem to recall...

Hearing about a study which claimed that, once the production, transportation, and preparation of the food required to account for the increased caloric expenditure was taken into account, there was a smaller carbon footprint to travel by automobile than by foot. Unfortunately, I cannot remember any of the details.

Of course, CO2 is one of the "pollutants" human civilization cannot possibly eliminate; the others being H2O, heat, and various trace components of our excreta. Doesn't make the CO2 portion of this guy's argument any stronger. On the other hand, though, why *SHOULD* bicyclists be exempt from paying for road maintenance. Sure, per vehicle-mile they put *less* wear on the road than automobiles, but they certainly contribute some. And, depending on the road's layout and the individual cyclist's habits, they can be far more disruptive to traffic flow than a similar number of automobiles.

John Sweeney: Why Church of Scientology's gravest threat is the 'net

Re: All you need to know about Scientology....

The version I heard is that the bar night was Hubbard and Robert Heinlein, challenging each other to create a superior (how that would be measured is unclear) fictional religion. Heinlein wrote Stranger in a Strange Land and Hubbard wrote the Scientology texts - the difference is Hubbard then ran with it.

Tablets aren't killing ereaders, it's clog-popping wrinklies - analyst

Re: Correlation != Causation

Or place the blame for global warming on the decreasing number of seagoing pirates.

Is that a truncheon in your trousers, officer, or ... an antenna, you say?

"all sorts of emergency personnel who need to be tracked with an accuracy in centimetres"

Why on Earth would anybody need to track emergency personnel with an accuracy in cm? The only possibility I can think of is for SAR on fire/rescue personnel, in the event of a building collapse - but that's even money to put the rescuee in a Faraday cage, negating tracking signals.

Solicitors from hell website unplugged by libel judge

This is why...

The burden of proof should always be on the plaintiff. The solicitors in question were not required to demonstrate that a single claim against them was false. And if the "personal information" was the name and professional information of an officer of the court, your data protection laws need as much overhaul as your libel laws.

Judge dismisses charges against accused Twitter stalker

Try again...

The article says "predicting her violent death," which, depending on the language involved might not be "threatening" anything. It's a fine line, I'll admit, but if the defendant stayed on the correct side, then the tweets do not come into an area where the State has a compelling interest in restricting the speech. In which case, the case ought be dismissed and the defendant, now a victim of spurious prosecution should (but probably won't) be compensated for time lost and costs incurred in defense.

‘Blogger not a journalist’ says Oregon court

Um...

I get the majority of my news from twitter and bloggers. Where do I send an amicus brief for her appeal?

iPhone 4 prototype journo off the hook

And now...

The only remaining question is how much damages the editor will receive from the state. Given that all the equipment he uses for work at home was confiscated on the basis of a warrant to investigate a prima facie bum charge, I expect at least six figures.

Antimatter close to home

re: uh oh

You say antiproton, I say antihydrogen nucleus.

Now we're getting somewhere

Mr. Sulu, engage the Bussard collectors, and prepare for warp...

I trust the Big Boom icon needs no explanation.

Refusal to unveil scuppers French refusal-to-unveil trial

That's odd...

I would have expected the trial to proceed in the defendant's absence, as she has deliberately chosen to behave in a manner prohibited in court - much as an habitually unruly defendant may (depending on jurisdiction) be excluded.

Anyway, IT angle?

One-armed Maine residents whip out switchblades

No issues?

It's a question of combining speed and safety, for individuals in back-country scenarios.

More importantly...

Why did this hit El Reg before either of the Maine news sources I, as a resident, primarily follow?

It has to do...

...with the issues with juvenile gangs in the 1950s and early 1960s. Their characteristic weapon was the switchblade, and governments-as usual-figured the problem would go away if they banned them. Of course, that didn't solve it, but the law remained on the books.

For those who ask about equine emergencies, he had been at a horse show where a participant was dragged behind a horse, and has expressed concern about a similar situation in the backcountry, where other responders might not be available. His concerns about a fixed-blade knife in the event of a fall from a horse should, of course, be self-explanatory.

Anyway, the IT angle?

CTIA cites First Amendment protection of radiation levels

They've got a good case

As there's no evidence of any link between cell phone radiation and, well, anything else. The State of Vermont attempted to impose a similar law in the mid-to-late '90s, requiring all retailers to label dairy products which were produced, or may have been produced, from the milk of cows given rBGH. The law was overturned on precisely these grounds.

Apple to Microsoft: 'App Store name is not generic'

But...

Authority is not a generic term for "place to buy things related to" - unlike store. A sporting goods shop called "The Sports Shop" would have a much harder time trademarking the name - though, of course, the logo and trade dress would still be eligible for protection.