Posts by teamonster

UK Special Forces soldiers' personal data was floating around WhatsApp in a leaked Army spreadsheet

Re: Several thoughts

I'm wondering how much of the ills of Britain in general can be laid at the feet of these people.

Back in the 90's I wound up on a training scheme run by the government. Several of us on the same course decided to get together and compare notes. To our surprise, we found that several of us had different course documentation, even though we were supposed to be on the same course. We touched base with our 'trainer', who spent all day in his office and we only saw when he was either entering or leaving the premises. We were told 'sorry, but some of you got the wrong course documents.' Barely a shrug that we could have failed the course when we arrived at the final and it was for a different discipline than what we were studying. We taught each other and prevailed, but it was all our own doing.

I have found similar amounts of care and attention at other businesses I have worked for - many of them large international companies. I wonder continuously how our history would have been different if these ass hats - who seem to be everywhere - had not muddled up just about everything they touch.

Just imagine being a so-called 'security professional' and being called on the carpet for having the same level of competency as Dido Harding. Ouch!

Self-driving car LIDAR stalwart Velodyne sued for sacking a third of its staff claiming coronavirus was the cause

So they are outsourcing a lot of work overseas?

I'm just going to get some popcorn and sit back and wait for the show to begin!

There must be a lot of competent techs and engineers in India, but I've never worked for any firm in the US that bothered to find them. They ALWAYS found the lowest-bidder-knows-English-over-any-technical-skills group of lazy idiots. Look to Boeing and the sh*tshow that was their recent Starliner test flight for confirmation.

Admins sigh as Microsoft pushes Teams changes – let everyone play!

Re: When we were kings...

Don't forget "Password" passwords by numpty users. Also, widely disseminated, admin passwords that most users never change, so wind up being ajar doorways to your network.

It is IT's job to shackle users. At the end of the day, IT will be on the hook to support whatever some middle manager has decided is a great idea (surprise - not, it probably isn't a great idea). Also, it will be IT that will be blamed for "Why did you allow this department to spend X per seat on this software?".

Re: Money is the root of all evil.

No, not money itself, but the marketing drones and bean counters are the root of all evil. The minute in a tech company that you put one of them into a position of power, rather than an engineering bod, you are asking for trouble. I've seen it time and time again.

When the IT department speaks, users listen. Or face the consequences

Re: What an unpleasant display of smugness here

This, one thousand times.

Why are we coddling people who won't follow the rules that ensure that their stuff is kept safe? Nobody has time to go surfing in hard drives to find whatever files have been squirrelled away wherever. On top of all that, these people aren't apologetic at all. The fault of their loss is always someone elses. Someone else who receives a ton of abuse for their troubles. We are supposed to stay late, miss deadlines and endure screaming fits for these people?

What happens when YOUR project is put on hold while the IT guy is busy trying to retrieve data off the numpties hard drive? There is small number of IT staff and they are now trying to fix problems that shouldn't exist and everybody else who followed the rules have to wait while we sort out the problem children who can't behave.

No no no no no!

Re: Piss poor IT management

This is assuming that the user will know to inform the IT guy that they haven't followed company policy. The IT bod will just turn up, maybe when the user is not there, and assume that they have followed protocol and all their data is safely up on the server.

Also, if the user hasn't followed protocol, does the IT bod have the time or the resources to start data recovery on the drive? This at minimum would involve some kind of boot disk - assuming the drive was still working - and then trawling the drive for personal files in wherever location the user had decided to stash them. What if you don't find them all? Is the IT Dept then held liable for not recovering them?

Once you teach users that not following instructions has no consequences, then you might as well not bother with any kind of IT policy. As has been illustrated elsewhere in this article's comments, even extreme catastrophe won't teach some of these morons the error of their ways. Lessons will not be learned and thanks will not be given. You are just making more work for yourself.

Re: Piss poor IT management

I have been in a situation where I have been a visiting tech at a remote office. I have walked in, set up and then and had to field local user complaints, as well as dealing with a variety of server issues that would take up a lot of time. I was the only tech guy at an office of about 100 people. If a user presented with "I can't follow basic instructions" I didn't have the time to do a search on their drive for all .doc and .xls files wherever they might have stashed them.

Re: User ignore email

I worked for a large flash drive maker in the mid 2000s and we had three people in a year sacked for watching porn on office computers. It was an open-plan cubicle office as well and managers and supervisors were constantly milling around. I have no idea what decision process these people go through.

We also had 2 people fired for playing WoW on work computers. Jesus.

Re: Many issues with this of course..

I've worked in IT for 20 years. Never EVER underestimate entitled stupidity.

I was working supporting Packard Bell computers sold through Dixon's Stores Group to the great unwashed British public when computers were just becoming popular. We were incensed one day to read an article in the computer press about how techs 'make up stories about stupid users' for their own amusement. CD coffee cup holders, foot pedal mice and unplugged computers were all just the equivalent of tall sea-faring tales for IT people. Nobody could REALLY be THAT stupid, right?

Amongst a great amount of 'gnashing of teeth', each of us recounted our own collection of real stupidity to that would turn the hair of the journalist whiter than a sheet. I used to work with the guy who took the coffee cup holder call. The user was not apologetic or cowed when he found out what the CD tray really did, he was still effing and blinding and threatening to sue DSG and everyone in the call centre for his stupidity. I myself have been guilty of underestimating this as well. I had foolishly assumed that my work mate was the source of all cup-holder calls. I have since spoken to an American techy who has also taken one of these. The thought that there are probably many such calls in the history of IT support is a depressing thing to realise.

UK's internet registry prepares a £100m windfall for its board members – and everyone else will pay for it

Re: A US export

I remember some commenters asking why we should be concerned, as it was happening in America, not here. As we pointed out at the time, once the British executive muggers realise what can be got away with in Yank-land, they will try it here.

Re: so...

I think at this point, after net-neutrality and many other fat-cat atrocities, we will be asked, "Why stop now?"

User secures floppies to a filing cabinet with a magnet, but at least they backed up daily... right?

Re: Well if the US ships want the Chinese to keep out of the way

Oh, I believe it. I used to work on computer support for a large high-street retailer. I knew the guy who took the coffee-cup holder (CD tray) call. In most instances, it's portrayed that the customer sheepishly accepted that they'd suffered an ID-10T error. Au contraire!! the customer was ranting and raving at how his PC was not fit for purpose and threatened to sue all of us. Good times. That was just one story of customer idiocy - including users who couldn't tell me if the PC was plugged in and people wanting Apple-talk networks rebuilt over the phone.

Much anger and knashing of teeth occured one day when one of the big PC mags published a story that assured their readers that all these stories are just nasty inventions made-up by techies to enliven parties. We read that, seethed, then went back to talking to morons who should never be allowed near a computer. Sigh.

Wondering why 'Devin Nunes herp-face' was trending online? Here's the 411: House rep sues Twitter for all the rude stuff tweeted about him

I can see them continually demanding more and more evidence to be presented - each submission greeted with hooting and soda being snorted out of nostrils as they are overcome with laughter.

Judge: Have you reached a verdict, Ladies and Gentlemen of the Jury?

Lead Juror: Yes your honour, we find that the defendant is hilarious, and we demand that he be sentenced to provide us more comedic material!

Re: Really?

I knew nothing of this till reading about this lawsuit. I must congratulate Nunes as some of the examples provided me with a rather good chuckle. Ta!

Re: Round 1?

On obviously Trumped-up charges.

(gets coat and leaves).

Boffins discover new dust clouds in the Solar System, Mercury has a surprisingly filthy ring

Re: Make Pluto great again

By this (laughable, but officially accepted) definition, Jupiter isn't a planet. Jupiter has two groups of asteroids leading and trailing it's orbit. Jupiter's orbit is not clear, thus, it is not a planet.

This is why people are getting upset with the IAU. The 'definition' was railroaded through by a small minority of members who seem to have got their diplomas from poundland.

Huawei Mate 20 Pro: If you can stomach the nagware and price, it may be Droid of the Year

No word from ElReg on how a face scanner is probably not a good idea as it's most likely ridiculously hackable with a photograph.

Atari accuses El Reg of professional trolling and making stuff up. Welp, here's the interview tape for you to decide...

What do you expect when you put a Marketing idiot in charge of a tech project?