Posts by Welsh Skeptic

Huawei sues US govt over claims Trump administration ignored company's Freedom of Information requests

I wonder if Canadian law is anything like British law whereby the first line of the extradition treaty is that people cannot be extradited for political reasons.

Having followed the Julian Assange trial it appears that British Justice has morphed into Injusttice. It appears that the magistrates court has already decided his guilt from the start. If there is any justice, it will be overturned on appeal but I did read that Priti Patel has the power to ignore any appeal and immediately deport him.

Will Wanzhou suffer the same fate?

FYI: Someone wants to launch mobile broadband satellites into space used by scientific craft – and NASA's not happy

Starlink was obviously a military project from the start and America has recently confirmed this. I am sure that America had decided they had lost the 5G race and this was a way to leapfrog the opposition.

What does surprise me is how quiet Russia, China and all the other countries that might be affected.

Musk wants to put up 42,000 satellites, Amazon 10,000, OneWeb about the same. What if Russia China and others put up equal quantities?

I suppose it would quickly solve the problem when they start to bump into each other and the planet is shrouded by an impenetrable shield of junk metal. No space travel, no radio astronomy, no GPS, the list goes on and on.

I hope you have all held on to your paper maps as you will be needing them soon. I feel sorry for those who have grown up never needing a real map I wonder how they will cope?

With less than two months left, let's check in on Brexit: All IT systems are up and running and ready to go, says no one

Like many others, I am totally confused by everything.

Part of me says that they will get some sort of deal at the last moment as come the first of January there will be the biggest gridlock in the world possibly lasting for weeks or months.

The other part says that the Fairy Tail Prince and his entourage of little helpers, sticking rigidly to their little book on game theory are going to screw it up and then the real games begin.

If I was Macron, I would round up all the migrants in France and give them a one way ticket to Britain. Of course, they will be stopped and sent back but then France says it will not accept them.

I like the story about HMRC. Late last year, they finally got round to appoint somebody to head up a replacement for CHIEF. I believe they were only in the job for one month before they quit.

It is rather like the customs officials that France and Holland took on to train about three years ago as it is generally recognised that it takes that long to learn the ropes. It appears that Superman Gove reckons he can do that in as many weeks

It wont be called a dog's dinner but a Gove Mashup surprise.

Easyjet hacked: 9 million people's data accessed plus 2,200 folks' credit card details grabbed

When the BBC reported on this,they said that it bore all the hallmarks of a Chinese hacking team.

I wonder did they get this information from EasyJet or was it something dreamt up by their inhouse disinformation team.

Of course, they might have thought the Russian angle has been a little overplayed of late, who would care if it was Iran and as for North Korea that will be saved for another time.

It will be interesting if what they mean by "sophisticated" ever emerges?

Surprise! Plans for a Brexit version of the EU's Galileo have been delayed

Reading the very interesting comments, surely the simple and most obvious solution if it is needed in the first place is to link up with Japan who cover their area and with India covering their area to form a complete system and so reduce some of the junk that is already up there.

More seriously, Musk and his 10,000 satellites must be regarded as the biggest threat for the Kelly cascade especially when all the other countries will want to put the same number up there.

It would appear that we are blindly heading towards just what everybody was afraid of and nobody seems to be doing anything about it.

Just another stupid example of how the human race is rushing towards extinction.

Perhaps the insects will be better at running things until they make the same mistakes.

Bose customers beg for firmware ceasefire after headphones fall victim to another crap update

I would have thought that the small claims court was the way to go. I have never used it but I understand it is very cheap and it has forced companies in many instances to do the right thing.

Remember if the defence does not tun up you automatically win. So if all these customers filed separate complaints, BOSE would be completely over whelmed.

Tech and mobile companies want to monetise your data ... but are scared of GDPR

I was reading the other day about the DVLA and how they make £20 million a year selling driver's details to parking firms for £2.50 a time.

As far as I know, the DVLA has never asked me if it is okay for them to hand out my data in this fashion, so could it be breaking the law.?

We all know that the DVLA is run by a private company and they might argue that they only had out information to companies belonging to a trade association but you then find out that this association is run like a private club with perhaps only the interests of these firms being their main priority.

My humble suggestion is that the DVLA should introduce a tick box as to whether you agree to your data to be shared with all and sundry.

What also surprised me was that a third of hospital parking charges was paid for by the staff. Talk about milking a captive clientele.

Good news – America's nuke arsenal to swap eight-inch floppy disks for solid-state drives

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windtalkers

Would anybody be surprised if America still had a few Navajo on their books for secure communication.

Scariest thing about Halloween? HMRC and Defra systems still a risk to post-Brexit borders

I seem to remember reading in The Register that HMRC late last year took on a new person to head up the change from CHIEF to CDC and also to read a few weeks later that the person had resigned.

If CHIEF crashes will custom officials have to resort to paper forms to record all the new data flooding in?

Again I read that the Netherlands had taken on 1500 new customs officials whilst Calais had taken on 700 but I have failed to see what HMRC has done.

Perhaps part of the emergency planning of the government is to set up new parking fines for all the vehicles illegally parked in the world's biggest traffic jam or even to introduce road charges to limit the amount of traffic on the road.

If I was Macron, I would seize the opportunity to off load some of one's immigrants by giving many of them one way tickets to the UK.

Samsung Note10+ torn apart to expose three 5G antennas: One has to pick up something

I have read that because of 5G, Amey has felled 17,500 roadside trees in Sheffield. Could it be connected with the fact that they also have the contract to install 5G and trees unfortunately block the signals.

I also read that the reason why removable batteries were ditched is because some people removed them when they wished not to be monitored or tracked.

Electric vehicles won't help UK meet emissions targets: Time to get out and walk, warn MPs

The next Carrington event or mass coronal discharge like the one a hundred and fifty years ago will mean that we will all have to switch to horses.

I am afraid that I am one of those people who feel that the green deal is just a corporate means of extracting money.

You read that an electric vehicle when compared to a diesel will need to run for seventeen years before becoming carbon neutral.

You read that if we meet the government figures for electric vehicles, there is not enough cobalt in the world to meet that demand so what does the rest of the world do?

If the carbon reduction under the Paris agreement is implemented, in the US it would cost $8000 a year for each family and I suppose it would be the same in this country.

I read a Swedish professor saying that despite spending trillions of whatever that by the end of the century global warming might have been reduced by 0.2 C and a reduction of 2cm in sea level rise.

This country spends £14 billion on smart meters and for what? Actually, with the recent major power cut, they could have used the system to cut off all the power to domestic uses and also introduce variable pricing so that the customer pays more at peak periods.

Electric vehicles a trillion pounds flight of fancy and wasted money.

Donald Trump blinks in his one-man trade war with China: US govt stalls import tariff hike on Chinese phones, laptops, electronics

I am not very well versed in international law or economics but I was wondering if China might hold an ace up its sleeve that might just trump Trump's trade war.

If China was to add a surcharge on all sanction goods imposed by the US and commensurate in value then this would have two effects. They would have money to pay companies affected by US actions and the conjunction of both surcharge and sanctions would jolt every American consumer into panic mode.

One immediate effect would be to clear out all the backlog that is now clogging up the distribution chain and languishing in warehouses as people rush to buy it before the price hike.

It might speed up the exodus of companies moving out of China but these companies should realise that it is expensive to move and takes time to build up a new experienced work force. Also the gap left in the Chinese market might be quickly filled by a new company employing the same workforce but with newer and perhaps more technically advanced than the old.

Perhaps Christmas this year in America will become all old retro as they go back to celebrating how they did in the past. "Chestnuts roasting around..."

Brexit: Digital border possible for Irish backstop woes, UK MPs told

Having read Nigel Tranter's excellent trilogy of Robert the Bruce, it was always his dream for a united Ireland and Scotland to face up to Edward 1.

It would appear that this dream might yet come to pass. If you want a real laugh who has heard of the Battle of Loudain Hill whereby Bruce with a few thousand bare arsed highlanders annihilated three hundred English knights on horseback.

I would suggest that Ireland and the EU should have a one day training day to stress test the existing system and see what happens. If I was Macron, I would also give free ferry tickets to all the migrants around Calais to also make a visit.

Watchdog asks UK.gov to reissue freedom of information guidance after councils are told to STFU about Brexit plans

In an event of a "No Deal" little is mentioned of the ensuing trade deal with America which Liam Fox and his pals seem desperate to implement with no concern of British interests or its people. Maybe that is why he has stated that he would like all details of any agreement to remain secret for five years or more.

In practice, it will mean that the UK accepts all American law on patents, copyright and intellectual property rights and to give you a taster think of the Monsanto patented pig.

This however is half the story. The US also wants an international arbitration board staffed by international corporate lawyers, the same system that operates between the US and Canada. Twenty times Canada has been sued by international corporations over potential lost profits, each time they lost whilst America has never lost a case.

In case you are wondering about potential lost profits if the government or the NHS refuses to put out for private tender any of the work they do, any Tom Dick or Harry can sue them for the money they might have made if they had got the tender.

If it was up to me, Liam Fox and his stooges should be charged with treason and their heads stuck on pike staffs on all the bridges over the Thames.

The only people who gain over Brexit are those people who keep their money in tax havens. With Brexit, the pond will drop, interest rates rise and half the country will default on their loans. This is why these clever people would like the UK to become a large tax haven so that they can bring their money back into the country and buy up half the infrastructure in the resulting fire sale.

It is a shame, I don't have money as if I had, I could make a fortune.

UK transport's 'ludicrous' robocar code may 'put lives at risk'

I love the comment that humans have to pass a driving test and the thought of a driving examiner sitting in the passenger seat and telling the vehicle what to do.

If it was me, I would want the Minister of Transport sitting in the back seat as well.

Autonomous vehicles are a ridiculous and total waste of money.

There might be a case for a very limited use for lorries on motorways and to be able to get to a depot close to a turn off but that is all. Okay, maybe for a coach in similar circumstances but I would still prefer a driver.

I do wonder how I might react when waiting at a roundabout when an autonomous vehicle comes round. Do I sit and wait or now that it will stop if I jump out?

Perhaps, somebody can answer a question. I know that bikes are meant to be given a 1.5 metre clearance. Does this also apply to horses and pedestrians and should bike riders be held to the same rules?

I might be wrong but I also have a feeling that pedestrians have the right of way whatever the lights say, certainly if the autonomous vehicle if it is programmed correctly would stop much to the annoyance of other road users behind.

Ongoing game of Galileo chicken goes up a notch as the UK talks refunds

Galileo

As with so many things on the news, one needs to know more of the background.

I was under the impression that this project was funded by the EU and possibly under whatever contract was drawn up, all accruing intellectual property rights would be owned by the EU.

On this issue, I am totally biased as a remainer and am just waiting the day that all this folly is over and we vote to rejoin the EU.

As for this country, going it alone is absurd because we cannot afford it and also how many more satellites can be pushed into space before they all collide?

We might feel that it is absolutely necessary to have access to the military channel but in the event of hostilities, all these navigation satellites will be taken out and it will be back to paper clocks and sextants. I wonder how many people in the armed forces can use a sextant?

So the real question, is the Galileo contract in the public domain including any sub protocols?