Posts by trillyuk

Safe Harbour v2.0 greenlights six bulk data collection excuses

Post Snowden

Snowden opened the lid on a whole load of things National Security was doing that we didn't know about. I do not think post-Snowden overnight we are aware of everything that is now being undertaken by "National Security" and herein is the problem. Its National Security, not International Security or EU security even within the EU, so countries are going to a greater or lesser extent protect their sovereign interests.

The realistic prospect of the USA having a sound privacy framework we can trust when the USA does not participate in the International Criminal Court (ICC) suggests to me that privacy compliance is merely to satisfy commercial interests rather than being interested in fair play. Look at the US issue with Apple and the FBI and imagine how that might play out if other countries were involved?

International privacy agreements / law one way or another for many years is going to be a mess. We are going to need to trust the provider of the solution, hardware, software or cloud to act in our best interest and protect our data as they have a commercial interest in ensuring we trust the brand to continue to buy from them.

To me the irony is the messier it privacy law becomes, the more cognizant companies need to be aware of the potential commercial risks associated with having data located in one country or another. Safe Harbour was always a bit of a kludge and with its demise, my hope is companies that think about the bigger picture regarding data privacy and have a strategy to address this minefield.

Trustworthy x86 laptops? There is a way, says system-level security ace

Horses for courses

An interesting article as shows someone or some entity determined enough is likely to find a way of extracting what they want if they try hard enough. Here is the point though, like home security we do not all make our homes like Fort Knox and yet the threat of forced entry is real to a greater or lesser extent were you live. http://www.crime-statistics.co.uk for those in the UK.

So the measures we take to protect ourselves and I expect most people that have contributed to this thread are most likely to be in proportion to a perceived threat(s) and value of what we are trying to protect. One person view is liable to differ from another about what measures are appropriate.

I would expect if ME could be identified as a source of a mass leak of data that say affected users bank accounts it would be disabled in some way. I would expect the use of a microphone to transmit sensitive data, at least at the moment is going to be in the realm of 007 antics, possible, but unlikely for the general population. Moreover, while users continue to click in droves in email links until this becomes an unproductive way of obtaining data the potential of using ME or similar seems restricted again to the 007 and Q’s of this world.

My concern is that if I am sitting in GCHQ and being aware of what the possibilities are what measures do you put in place? Actually, I do not want to know, just that someone is doing something about it and protecting us and building the Digital Fort Knox for stuff that matters.

Dixons Carphone still has 7.5k Windows XP EPOS systems

Sainsbury's as well

Sainsbury's also run XP on POS termianls and PC's running in Sainsbury store bank. Pop into any Sainsbury's that has a mobile phone shop. The Mobile part of the business is run by the bank and yet they continue to use XP as the sales terminal.

I was invited to use the terminal on external websites to compare specs across different phones, this worried me than the POS terminals as suggests all of Sainsbury's is running XP. Would liked to be proved wrong

Microsoft Lumia 950 and 950XL: Clear thoughts of Continuum with a snazzy camera

Microsoft has waited two years to unleash new flagships.

"Microsoft has waited two years to unleash new flagships. But with Windows 10 Mobile, it falls further behind the competition, and the worst thing is the wounds are entirely self-inflicted."

Been a Windows Mobile 6 and Windows Mobile 8.0 / 8.1 user and loved but defected to Apple not because it better, I don't think it is. I am seeing more OS related bugs in my Apple 6 Plus that I ever saw in Windows 8.1. But guess what the odd now and then switch it on and off works and I have access to a whole load of content, apps and support from many vendors.

I miss a lot of things about Windows Mobile 8.1. My wifes phone is now my old 925 so I keep in touch and reminded how easy it is to zip around the system.

As another comment pointed out by theotherJT a few years down the road it might pay off.

As I found out during my career you can be wrong for a long time before you are right. With Windows Mobile, it my personal phone, its just not that important to me to stick to something that is busted and going through the pain it is I have enough grief elsewhere in my life without Microosft adding to it.

I will continue to track how Windows Phone does, for work and personal use. I hope it becomes a viable and popular alternative chioce to iOS and Android. I do not see that happening anytime soon though which is a shame.

As something else

Let’s hear it for data scientists! Making our lives more and more frictionless

Big Data = Big changes for Airlines and others

Bit late on the article response but working within the Travel domain I get why Big Data is so important to so many companies.

The big fight on at the moment is who gets the data and how due to the fragmented nature of the distribution chain. There significant changes being implemented by many airlines worldwide to incorporate a new XML messaging standard (NDC – New Distribution Capability) to replace the one been in use for many decades, in fact early 50’s. What we see now is from airlines, other vendors and intermediaries is just the start once the identification of journey requests is made available to multiple vendors prior to any booking being made.

The airlines perspective on this is that if they know you in advance of a booking being made they can tailor a personalised offer to you rather than the standard fare. Whilst this sounds good a whole load of other airlines also know they are interested in travelling on these dates to that destination. The ramifications how this expanded data set will be used is yet to be understood even within the industry, but one thing for sure is that it is coming, very soon.

Furious LastPass fans fear password wrangler's fate amid LogMeIn's gobble

Another alternative

For those looking for an alternative to LP I have used Roboform for many years and surprised no one has mentioned it as an option so far, it won’t ne for everyone but they support desktop, usb portable and a cloud based sync to every device. There are MAC, Windows and Linux versions, Android and IOS variants and even a Windows Phone version but that was for Win 5/6 last time I looked.

As well as a password manager it works well as a favourite / bookmark manager as well and supports 2 factor authentication and touch ID on IOS and private key to encrypt passwords locally on cloud.

I look at lastpass a few years ago but preferred the interface to roboform whose support is reasonably responsive to the odd query I have thrown at them.

Worth a look even if to rule it out.

Microsoft sabotages own Lumia smartmobe flagship launch

No comments an hour after posting.

Nothing to see here, move on, move on.

As an ex windows phone user getting on for 2 months, along with most of the populations of the world, I don't really care now what Microsoft are doing / not doing on a Lumia phone, if I have a regret it is that I should have jumped before.

Mobile first? Microsoft decides to kneecap its Android users instead

Re: Typical Microsoft

"I just don't get the impression that MS know what they're doing at the moment."

Exactly my own sentiments. For many years I have with my own money purchased a Nokia Windows Phone as it was great for what I needed it for. yes, I was missing out on some apps the guys who had Android or iPhones but I considered I was using a tool that increased my productvity and I still believe to this day its the better operating systemm at least on Win Phone 8.1.

Having read, seen, Microsofts approach to mobile this year, writing off billiions from the Nokia purchase, closing down mobile development centres the writing for me was on the wall and last month switched to an iPhone after my Windows phone died due to a hardware fault.

I haven't looked back and my fixed Win Phone sits in the cupboard unused, the iPhone just works and I seem to be seeing more features coming through on apps like Onenote than I saw in the Windows version. Maybe in a couple of years I will be back on Win Phones once Micosoft have sorted themselves out but probably not. Would seem from this thread I am not alone.

And don't get me started on Win 10 and tablet support, thats a fail, went back to Win 8.1 due to lack of virtual keyboard in browsers other than Edge.

EU data protection chief: Snaffling all air traveller data goes too far

Re: Compare and contrast

Airlines are not that interested in reporting suspect people using their services as long as they have brought and paid for the ticket legally, or if not, it is not the airlines money at stake.

Airlines at times know that they have someone boarding who maybe wanted by the authorities but they would argue they are not the police and down to them to do the job for them. Whilst this might raise an eyebrow the view for an airline to call the authorities at the gate would likely delay the flight. The airline would have to find and unload any baggage meaning that the flight misses it take-off slot and delays all the other passengers which costs the airline money in compensation.

Sonos rattles begging bowl, hopes for $130m cash stream

Sonos have a survey for Windows phone users to complete here

https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/AskSonosWindowsPhone

However, its been there for sometime and wonder if anyone bothers to check what the survey results are......