Posts by Doctor Syntax 40485 publicly visible posts • joined 16 Jun 2014
"Government Tory therefore government stupid."
I'm instinctively conservative - with a small c. But this particular government is formed out of a clique that took over the Conservative party. They've shoved out anybody who showed an inclination to do details and rely on rhetoric and Dunning-Kruger powered hubris.
Gove made comments, aimed at the Civil Service, about group-think. He and the rest of the present government need a mirror.
Elec-trickery isn't the only utility that can get knocked out by industrial kit. Some years back a dyer had a new gas-fired boiler installed and until they got their own supply they connected it to the domestic supply main. Then fired it up the first time in the middle of winter. The initial surge took the pressure down so low that pilot lights went out. It took a whiles for the gas engineers to work out why the pressure was so low in the mains.
Sometimes I wish it happened like that with manorial rolls. Somebody says something in the English of the day. The roll is written up in Latin. The editor translates it back into modern English for publication but what was originally meant. I'm sure vill didn't always mean the same thing in different circumstances but what did it mean when it didn't mean "township"?
"The legal language of the law does not capture how technology works either"
If you try to capture how technology works in legal terms your laws become outdated very quickly.
If you applied such a concept to cars you might have to have separate legislation for causing death by dangerous driving for petrol, LPG and diesel ICEs, whether turbocharged or not, straight EVs, hybrid EVs and plug-in hybrids with Parliament being asked to find additional time to legislate on hydrogen powered vehicles.
Sensibly, that's not how it works. Legislation simply says what's legal and what isn't irrespective of the means by which an act is carried out. One of the functions of judges is to apply that in a changing world. Legislation changes only as new stuff makes new things possible or, as with the various DPAs, experience dictates that changes are necessary.
"The Respondent employs AFR Locate at specific locations in the South Wales Police's area of responsibility. It could not lawfully or practically 'track the movements of individuals as they move around the country'."
The practicality could be addressed by deploying at more locations. If they claim the present deployment is lawful how many more deployments would it require to become unlawful? If it's not possible to answer that then maybe its no lawful now.
Maybe I should try some more recent cameras but (a) an LCD screen on the back of the camera is a nuisance as I can't focus that close without taking my glasses off (b) I find it difficult focussing on the horrible LCD eye-level viewfinder and (b) too often any action shot is missed by the time autofocus has cone its thing. What I really need is a digital SLR camera - a real SLR, not one of those faux SLRs - that takes my existing lenses but not at L-series prices. It looks as if I have to write off the investment in Leica lenses.
"file with enough to get the ball rolling (in this case, the extradition request) ... Then file superseding indictments"
I wonder how well that will play with a UK extradition process. AIUI the extradition is allowed against a given set of charges and facts The court might not appreciate being on the receiving end of a bait and switch.
There's a very simple test as to how much these people would want it if they understood what it meant.
Would they be prepared to have all their online account IDs and passwords published for all to see, all their bank statements for, say the last 10 years, all their emails, all their other messaging device data, all their medical records? Ditto for family members.
It should be a required test for legislators proposing this sort of legislation to publish this up-front.
Put up or shut up.
"There's one seemingly obvious flaw"
Only one? For a start there's the other half of the system, the player or whatever it is that has to handle the material. That has to look at the the field and then do what it's configured to do - which it might not - and it has to be configured appropriately to the audience and who does that?
Then there's the notion that this is an international standard so how do you get different countries to agree on how a particular file should be rated? Or do different countries get to rate material to their own needs and how do you then enforce the distribution of files according to country (although big media marketing would love to have misdistribution enforced by criminal sanctions)?
"A decade ago global corporate profitability was $7.2 trillion"
Yes but countries are dealing with individual businesses. For a country with the UK's size of economy (as of a few months ago) one or two wouldn't be enough and it's still within the scope of Ireland, Luxembourg etc. to under-cut the UK although the fear has been expressed by other coutnries that the UK could try such a tactic post-Brexit. There's also a concern, of course, that the post-Brexit UK economy could be small enough to make it worthwhile.
The Register 
Biting the hand that feeds IT
Copyright. All rights reserved © 1998–2025
