Posts by Phil O'Sophical 7402 publicly visible posts • joined 28 Oct 2011
Only they could be that stupid!
Not at all. Adobe and Android have both provided multimedia code where insufficient bounds checking on data allowed code corruption of the application, and execution of arbitrary code. Nothing at all to do with the audio format, just a bug in the implementation of the program which proceses the audio data.
you just need to use *listen-only* modules
It's a bus, which implies data transfer must be acknowledged. The stereo may start out as a protocol client, unable to initiate transfers, but the physical hardware has to be two-way. Once you rewrite the driver in the stereo via the hacked song you can make it a bus master and have it send commands as well as acks
They thought that they were so smart that the criminals would never be able to hack the O/Ss or networks.
No, it just never occurred to them that anyone would want to do so.
I meet this every day, trying to persuade programmers to write secure code:
"But why would anybody want to hack this?"
"To show that they can."
"That's silly, I don't need to protect against that."
or
"There's a race condition between creating that file and setting the protection on it."
"Oh, but no-one would put the effort into getting into that window, it's tiny."
People are, by and large, too nice and too honest. They concentrate on the clever features, and simply never think of how or why a malicious user would try and misuse the code to do something it wasn't designed for.
I can't think of any reason why a car stereo needs to communicate to the drivetrain.
The usual reasons are:
- increase volume with speed.
- block viewing video (DVDs) when moving (handbrake off).
- switch on reversing camera display & parking radar when reverse gear is engaged
etc.
all of which require only one-way comms, car to stereo. The problem is that it's a bus and inherently two-way at a physical level. The software in the stereo might be designed to make it a client device only, but that's the software that was rewritten by the hack so it could become a bus master.
A convoluted procedure to access the data is no use when they are stood by a car trying to check if its a fake blue badge or not.
And what data do they actually use? Are badges tied to registration numbers?
My father had a blue badge, quite legitimately. When he & mum came to visit us they would bring the blue badge with them so I could put it on my car when we went shopping or out for a trip.
Anyone seeing me, or my car, would have immediately jumped to the conclusion that I was scamming the system, unless they happened to see my dad walking slowly back to the car from the shop.
Then for instance you band VAT such that essentials (however you define them) are taxed differently or exempt to make it less regressive.
But that just leads to the Jaffa cake/biscuit argument. We're already getting close to the point where internet access is defined as a necessity, when that happens Google will just declare itself an ISP and argue that it's therefore an essential and should pay less tax.
The moment you allow exceptions, and it's well-nigh impossible not to, you open the door to lawyers exploiting loopholes. The legislations ends up as warts on top of warts on top of warts.
I just flew on a new Lufthansa 747-8 from NYC to FRA.
What I noticed was that the seating in cattle class (where I was for the low, low price of $1000 RT) was now ten across compared to the old 9 across.
All transatlantic 747s are 3-4-3, for as long as I can remember. It's 777s that were 2-5-2, much nicer unless you were stuck in the middle of the 5.
As for the 380's, maybe nice planes in general, but BA have fitted really crap seats. On LHR-SFO my backside was numb after two hours, there's no padding in the seats, and the headrest doesn't have the folding 'wings' that 747's had. It will be very interesting to try the new LHR-SJC service that BA are starting in May, with 787's. Smaller planes, more comfort, shorter immigration queues.
You can see what the price is; it's the price you pay for the bundle.
That's true after the fact. I think the concern is that when looking at the ads, the headline price like "5.99/month" is misleading, since it doesn't cover the extras like line rental (a monthtly charge, but cheaper bught in advance) and of course that headline price is only valid for some unspecified number of months after which it will go up to, say, 29.99, unless you also get your TV and/or phone from them, etc.
If you're thinking of changing supplier it's not at all easy to compare old with new.
"if the publication endangers life and the person publishing the material intends it to (or is reckless as to whether it does) have that effect."
Suddenly Draw Mohammed Day becomes an act of terrorism.
But how is that materially different from the old freedom of speech test of "shouting FIRE in a crowded theatre"?. All freedoms necessarily have some limits, when they start to impinge on other freedoms. Publishing information with the intention of hurting someone, or in cavalier disregard of the fact that it may cause injury, is surely foolish at the very least, and should be punished?
"Draw Mohammed Day" shouldn't cause any problems by that definition, but "publish Snowden's address and schedule, with details of his security team's weaknesses" could, for example.
I remember back in the 80's when BA took delivery of its first 757s, I was on one of the first shuttle flights in one of them. After a safe but very "firm" landing at Heathrow the pilot came on the intercom to apologise: "Sorry about the bump folks, but it's the first time we've flown one of these and we wanted to see how well it could land by itself." We were all glad he waited until after the landing to tell us...
believe they just block the IP ranges of known VPNs. If you have your own OpenVPN/other connection, you are probably fine. They may block IP ranges of VM hosts as well if it becomes noisy enough.
If you have a contact with decent DSL in the target country then a pair of Raspberry Pis and OpenVPN is cheap and almost trivially simple to setup, and it's difficult to detect.
Incandescent bulbs are certainly inefficient at producing lght, but who says the heat is waste? It was 2C outside last night, I'm fine with those bulbs adding to my home heating, the thermostat will adjust the central heating to compensate, nothing is "wasted".
As for while reflecting infrared energy back for reabsorbtion by the emitter., once "reabsorbed" where does it go? It can't stay in the emitting filament, since that would melt. Converting it to light would be nice, but materials which can absorb heat and generate light don't, AFAIK, exist.
Still at least you didn't copy the bit from the Daily Telegraph's "science editor" who described the incandescent filament as emitting black-body radiation...
but the employer should be agnostic to this.
Exactly. If he'd parked a van with the company name on the side in the strip club lot then the company might have had a case for some disciplinary action, but firing him was excessive. As for telling his wife, that manager should be in serious legal trouble.
First define "terrorism". Seriously. You can't.
Of course you can.
It's an approach taken by a minority who cannot, through persuasion or direct force, achieve their aims. They therefore attempt to scare (terrorize) ordinary people so much that those people do what the minority wants, out of fear of the consequences.
There aren't enough people in organizations like ISIL to actually destroy, every restaurant in Paris, or to bankrupt every airline in the US, but attack enough restaurants or planes and people will stop using them, which achives the same end result. Banning encryption plays into their hands, since it limits people's freedom and makes them wary of their governments, which is the aim of groups like ISIL.
Equally, or course, there is no way in a free society to prevent all such acts, even the most extreme police state can't manage that, so the only defence against terrorism is courage. People have to realize that they are in reality very unlikely to be hurt by any terrorist attack, and have to carry on normal life as much as possible, just as we did in N.Ireland and other parts of the UK for 30-odd years.
Politicians, of course, will not accept this. They are supposed to be "in charge", and certainly want to be, so they have to be seen to be doing something. Since there is nothing practical they can do, they invent plausible stuff instead.
Isn't the supposed protective effect of alcohol similarly cherry-picked in the first place?
Something I read over Christmas suggested that the real reason moderate drinking is healthy is that we do it with friends, and it's socializing with friends that is healthy. It's the sad teetotallers & lone boozers who have health problems.
Sounds believeable (enough) to me. Sláinte!
HD will be overcompressed until it looks as bad as SD, to encourage people to "upgrade", and the manufacturers will keep on ramping up production of UHD screens to keep the factories running. You'll soon not be able to buy anything that isn't UHD 3D 15-channel Dolby total immersion surround sound, even if you only want to watch Corrie, by which time the picture quality will still be crappier than good HD is today.
Perhaps we in Europe should start whacking a few American companies that pay no corporation Tax.
You mean by fixing the European laws that make it quite legal and legitimate for the companies to do that? Or are you proposing some sort of taliban-morality-police-style whacking approach, to punish the companies for immorally taking perfectly legal advantage of loopholes in the over-complex legislation that European politicos wrote?
That's an interesting point, and it demonstrates how much damage multi-channel TV has done to general knowledge. 30 years ago I'd sometimes go into the sitting room and find my Dad watching Horizon, or some similar program, because there was nothing else of interest on. He had little interest in the detailed science, but he wasn't stupid and picked stuff up, even if it just allowed him to hold his own in the golf club bar when someone mentioned "black holes" etc.
If he were still around today he'd just be zapping channels until he found reruns of Last of the Summer Wine or somesuch. He'd be happier with his TV, but perhaps less well-informed in general?
Ofcom said that only white space devices that meet "certain technical conditions" and which can operate "in accordance with technical parameters"
And will Ofcom actually verify that the devices do conform, and take action against those that don't, or will it simply ignore the problem as it does for PLT devices and misuse of CE and BS marks?
They're working on subverting every chip they can get their hands on
Which, of course, will change nothing. Have they forgotten that all the WW2 communications intercepted by places like Bletchely park were in clear text, easily intercepted by anyone with a radio, because the spies had first encrypted their stuff by hand using Enigma, one-time pads, etc.
Even if "they" could somehow force the internet and every device connected to it to use only non-encrypted messages, those who want secrecy will still be able to encipher their stuff before it gets anywhere near the internet, and one-time pads (or their opensource software equivalents) have no back doors.
As always this will penalize the honest users doing legitimate stuff like home banking, and make not the slightest difference for the bad guys. Just like all the DRM crap.
Would you make the same comment to his, or anyone else's, face?
Yes, which is why I didn't post it here as AC. He doesn't have a problem with offensive, in-your-face ad-hominem attacks on people if he thinks they are appropriate, and I'd certainly much rather work in a team with people who speak their mind honestly, even insultingly, than with a bunch of politically-correct wusses who are scared to offend anyone.
But if it helps, I'll use the Joke icon next time, OK?
Torvalds declares that bug “a bit embarrassing”
Seems an uncharacteristically mild comment from him, is he back on the meds? Or did he write this bug himself, instead of finding one written by some fucking incompetent shit-for-brains compiler-masturbating excuse for a programmer like they usually are?
I had read elsewhere that the adblue refill was not a user-allowed function; apparently this is not the case.
The dealer did say that when the light came on I could just call in & they'd do it for me, but the fluid is available in garages and the handbook certainly says it is user-possible.
One would think that an ECU which is capable of noting when filters and oil require changing by changes in the inputs to the system and the way the car is driven as well as simply by distance or time might also be capable of noting that said fluids and filters have been changed...
It is. My (VW group) car has an AdBlue filler beside the fuel filler, a warning light on the dash, and a note in the handbook to put a minimum of 8litres in when the light comes on. It's no more complex than filling the screenwash.
