Posts by onemark03

Americans far more willing to hand over personal data

Re: Nuances: "Would you mind sharing some personal info to get better health care?"

How do you define "better health care" in this context?

Mobile-based ID wallets for government are coming

Re: El Reg has a long history of objecting to National ID schemes, has that changed?

The latest Economist seems to think that the British people want the damned things.

See the edition of 12-18 February in the Bagehot article on p. 49, right-hand column, para. 2, lines1-5.

84-year-old fined €250,000 for keeping Nazi war machines – including tank – in basement

Re: WTF?

The way many Brits go on about Germany and WWII, you would think Britain had lost, not won.

Pakistan's Punjab province tells citizens to get jabbed or have their SIM card blocked

Re: Hmm, awkward

No, not when public health and the common weal are at stake.

Remember that we are dealing with widespread ignorance and religious fundamentalism here, spurred on by a fanatical clergy afraid for its own power and influence.

NTT slashes top execs’ pay as punishment for paying more than their share of $500-a-head meals with government officials

Re: Japan is generally very ethical on the whole.

That shit would never fly here in Germany. Executives have been known to sue and win.

(Sorry, no link or ref.)

FBI paid renegade developer $180k for backdoored AN0M chat app that brought down drug underworld

Re: It's all about timing

Indeed.

I was about to say that publicising this little coup was a bad move because it would have warned the crooks that their channel of communication had been blown.

Pity, but I understand the reasons.

There are a lot of people out there who'd like to fire Jeff Bezos into space – but he's doing the honours himself

Re: Over to you, Jeff

Some people just don't think that way.

Why did automakers stall while the PC supply chain coped with a surge? Because Big Tech got priority access

Everything needs intelligence these days ... . No it doesn't.

As I said two months ago, I'm quite sure there's a market for non-digitised or non-computerised motor cars. Someone just needs to bite the bullet.

(Sorry, but I thought it could stand repetition.)

Amazon warehouse workers are seriously injured more frequently than those at similar companies – unions

Soon, those workers will be replaced by Robots.

Exactly.

The Home Office will need to overturn a long legacy of failure to achieve ambition of all-digital border by 2025

As for what benefits

I say this with a gnashing of teeth but freaking things do have their uses. I don't like it but it's a fact.

Why should I have to drive with my actual licence & registration documents?

Nobody is forced to obtain a driving licence and/or motor vehicle. That is the difference.

Re: Curious

Brits historically and culturally associate ID cards with non-democratic forms of government. This is the core of the objection.

Ergo, being asked on the footpath or the road to hand over an ID card is grossly offensive.

Re: Border hawk

At home in New Zealand we track everyone in and out - and we don't use ID cards or compulsory address registration to do it, either.

Re: Border hawk

You're quite right, of course but one method they use as an aid to border security is the use of (compulsory) ID cards and compulsory address registration. I doubt this would be popular in the UK.

Mammoth grab of GP patient data in the UK set to benefit private-sector market access as rules remain unchanged

... very strong case for linking familial records, for genetic disease ...

Yeah?

Try applying to buy life assurance under such a régime.

NYPD puts down $94k robot canine contract after outcry

Robots still [have] a way to go ...

As long as they don't become sentient.

Brit MPs and campaigners come together to oppose COVID status certificates as 'divisive and discriminatory'

Re: Not "divisive and discriminatory", but essential

Preface: I live in Germany which has a compulsory system of IDs for everbody.

Story: I have registered for a jab (I will be informed of the date later.) We have been told to bring our ID cards or passports but this is simply to establish who we are, i.e. that the person who has registered is the person sitting there waiting for the jab.

As far as I know, the fact that we have been vaccinated will not be entered into any official database but I presume we will be issued with the usual vaccination booklet.

As I have said before on ElReg., IDs do have their uses. I don't like it (or them) but it's a fact.

Bring on the downvotes.

proof that I can drive or fly a plane

Pardon me asking but do you have a driving licence?

UK government resists pressure to hold statutory inquiry into Post Office Horizon scandal

... why a body would persecute people for the hell of it.

To uphold the lie that its software was shonky, perhaps?

39 Post Office convictions quashed after Fujitsu evidence about Horizon IT platform called into question

39 Post Office convictions quashed

If ever there was a case for converting more UK commercial law into commercial criminal law, this is it.

why did they uphold judgement on the 3 staff members?

"Because their convictions were not based on Horizon evidence."

As far I am concerned, this could probably stand further investigation.

Or do we know that these three people were objectively and verifiably dishonest?

if you're not suffering then the church isn't doing its job properly.

No.

This is a bit too Calvnistic for the Anglicans.

The Anglican church can be accused of much but not Calvinism.

anglican priest yet put many people through a lot of suffering

How very Christian.

GCHQ boss warns China can rewrite 'the global operating system' in its own authoritarian image

... take control of Karlingsgrad ...

Is it possible that you mean that Russian exclave "Kaliningrad" on the Baltic just north of Poland

Don't cross the team tasked with policing the surfing habits of California's teens

Eye scan, thumb print, DNA analysis next time…?

Or ID cards for pupils.

Some schools do this.

Because technology makes it possible.

Heck yeah, we should have access to our own cars' repair data: Voters in US state approve a landmark right-to-repair ballot measure

Do secure your shit.

Better still, simply put it in the boot - or at the very least in the back seat.

Simple.

OK, so we don't have a flying car yet, but this is possibly even better: The Internet of Beer

... the police do not enforce the law, they are the law.

That's exactly what they do believe ("The law is what I say it is.").

Some of them even believe that they're both.

That's what's wrong with the idea of city police forces in the US.

A more viable alternative would be a single, radically reorganised state police force along German lines. But it'll never happen.

But I digress.

Working from a countryside plot nestled in a not-spot? Consultation opens on new rural mobile planning laws for bigger masts, wider coverage

Re: Did we have this problem with telegraph poles?

Here in Germany the Deutsche Bahn used to paint its metal poles for electric locosand power transmission a kind of light forest green. Kind of worked in that they didn't stand out so much.

With the advent of the ICE, they don't do this now, unfortunately. Instead, they install gorgeous battleship grey concrete poles and gorgeous battleship grey metal catenary. Shame, really.

Foxconn and Wisconsin reach new deal to do something different at Donald Trump's favourite (flop of a) factory

billions in incentives [and no] economic benefits

Tell the company to build the factory itself, hire the people and start operating commercially (manufacturing and selling the products etc.) and then see what sort of tax-breaks are viable.

That would eliminate the would-be scammers from the genuine operators.

'Meritless': Exam software maker under fire for suing teacher who tweeted links to biz's unlisted YouTube vids

Open-Book Exams

Sat a few of those in my time.

I can only endorse the comments by this commenter on wasting time.

Thou shalt not hack indiscriminately, High Court of England tells Britain's spy agencies

.. do something illegal when ... it is of benefit to society.

Whether we like it or not, the British security services (and the armed forces as well, come to that) are not really there to benefit society. They are there to further or otherwise support the national interest (AKA "defence of the realm"), however that is interpreted or decided and whether we the people like it or not.

Won't somebody please think of the children!!! UK to mount fresh assault on end-to-end encryption in Facebook

competent, professional civil service ... seems like an idyllic nirvana

Not really.

Sir Humphrey proved that even he could not be trusted.

God bless this mess: Study says UK's Christian beliefs had 'important' role in Brexit

"Protestant Germany"

They're about half-and-half, with there being very slightly more Protestants than Catholics.

Sorry, no ref or link.

Would be so cool if everyone normalized these pesky data leaks, says data-leaking Facebook in leaked memo

Re: Flemish?

The article is indeed in standard Dutch (Algemeen Beschaafd Nederlands, or ABN).

Flemish is a dialect of Dutch spoken mostly in Flanders:

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

Harassers and bullies succeed in tech because silence is encouraged

HR is meant to handle this

Not quite.

HR's purpose is to keep the company out of court.

psychopathic IT development manager

Well, bloody good on you!

The trouble is that not everybody has the personal psychological resources to stand up for themselves.

Also, you were lucky the boss believed you over him. Or weren't you?

And you were lucky the company didn't want to lose you. Others don't have that kind of luck.

Adobe co-founder and PostScript co-creator Charles Geschke dies, aged 81

passes

Almost sounds like a digestive function...

Vote to turf out remainder of Nominet board looks inevitable after .uk registry ignores reform demands

pecunia non ...

... olet.

Ex IBM sales manager, fired after battling discrimination against subordinates, wins $11m lawsuit

"The company will consider all of its options on appeal."

Of course they'll appeal - simply in order to get the $11 million reduced. See McDonalds and the hot cup of coffee episode.

Pentagon confirms footage of three strange craft taken by the Navy are UFOs (no, that doesn't mean they're aliens)

Chance of us encountering these other civilisations: Zero.

Or until they simply come and visit us.

Home office setup with built-in boiling water tap for tea and coffee without getting up is a monument to deskcess

instant tea and coffee

God, no!

I prefer the real thing.

OMG! New free speech social network won’t allow members to take the Lord’s name in vain

scientific-sounding words

"Fundamental orifice?"

Just asking.

Docking £500k commission from top SAS salesman was perfectly legal, rules judge

Docking £500k commission from top SAS salesman was perfectly legal

The salesman got screwed, no question, but might this be a case where the salesman should have consulted his own (employment) lawyer before signing the employment agreement?

To have one floppy failure is unlucky. To have 20 implies evil magic or a very silly user

... a user will somehow always misunderstand

All this proves to me that knowledge of and skill in IT and computing generally is still utter Greek to 99% of people.

I also suspect that any improvement in this area will be evolutionary rather than revolutionary.

"Users do not read. Users do not think."

Not quite. It's more a question of "Users are clueless.", i.e. not as clued up as techies.

For blinkenlights sake.... RTFM! Yes. Read The Front of the Machine

"You gonna be long there?"

Er, you mean you didn't have your mobile already switched off?

How do we stamp out the ransomware business model? Ban insurance payouts for one, says ex-GCHQ director

if the directors of the company were made personally responsible

Provided such events were also excluded from D&O insurance - just to make sure.

DoorDash delivery drivers try to manipulate the food biz's payment algorithm to earn a living wage in gig economy

Tipping in the US

I would rather pay more in (say) a restaurant if I knew that the employees were being paid at least a minimum wage and then decide whether I wanted to leave a tip. That's what happens here in Germany.

Belgian police seize 28 tons of cocaine after 'cracking' Sky ECC's chat app encryption

officers in the US armed forces is in the low 120's.

To be an officer in the US armed forces you have to have a tertiary degree but I don't know whether that makes much of a difference in this context.

Australian ponders requiring multiple IDs to sign up for social media, plus more crypto-busting backdoors

Germany doesn't just hand over this information to Facebook & Pals

The German privacy mania has historical reasons: the Nazis and the Stasi, who knew everything about you - especially the latter.

The younger generation is not so conscious of this.