* Posts by Dillon Pyron

852 publicly visible posts • joined 15 Feb 2007

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Substitute teacher's conviction for porn popups set aside

Dillon Pyron

amicus briefs

I know 10 people who filed amicus briefs in this case. Most of the security community was behind her on this one. Of course a prosecution witness is going to provide information that only serves the prosecution. However, he really wasn't qualified to do the job and missed several pieces of exculpatory information.

Disclaimer: I'm a professional witness.

Crocodile tears for under-fire Microsoft MVP

Dillon Pyron

Terms of agreement?

It comes down to this: What did he agree to? As far as I can tell, Microsoft still hasn't publicized exactly what agreements he's in violation of.

As far as hobby vs selling is concerned, there's no prohibition against making some money on your hobby. I'm a SCUBA instructor. It's not my profession, it's a hobby. But I still charge for it.

Dutch students brew up powdered alcohol hit

Dillon Pyron

Crystal Lite

So while the ever-so-overconcious weight watchers are popping Crystal Lite into their water bottles, I'll just go along with the crowd.

Water drink mixes are popular with the high school set around here. This could get interesting.

Priapic litigant sues health drink outfit

Dillon Pyron

Spammers?

I anticipate a load of spam tomorrow advertising it as a cheaper alternative to vIaGrA or CeA1aS

MS, Yahoo! and Google snub debate on freedom

Dillon Pyron

And where will it be available?

Will China get to see this?

And how long before it gets DoSed?

Chip start-up could ignite Blade PCs

Dillon Pyron

Will the vendors adopt it?

Will the vendors adopt it? Only if the margins are superior to what they are getting for "business" PCs. And the volume will have to make up for the raw loss in revenue.

It's going to have to be consumer driven. Which means they will come from a smaller company who will either be bought by IBM/HP/Dell or driven out of business when one of them decides to join the fray.

Blade PCs are a great solution, but I don't think many people see the problem yet. Most companies now see laptops as the solution to a lot of their desktop issues. My current customer certainly does (even contractors are issued company laptops).

Blade PCs would solve the problem of the worker taking home a million names, addresses, SSNs, birthdates and credit card numbers. If they need to work from home, issue them another client (like I said, they better be cheap) and use a VPN (broadband goes without saying. Noone with a business need uses dial up).

I wish them well.

Firm offers to patent security fixes

Dillon Pyron

open source issues

Just as long as they don't use any GPLed code.

This is yet another reason for ending software patents

So what's in a URL? The Reg URL?

Dillon Pyron

Keep it

As an American, I say keep it. I've been typing it for years, why change now.

Besides, my t-shirt and cap both say www.theregister.co.uk. You'd make me buy a new set? Oops, shouldn't give you guys any ideas.

Ads watchdog okays Intel 'world's best processor' claim

Dillon Pyron

Today vs tomorrow

Monday's "best processor" is Tuesday's second slowest. That's just the way it is in the processor world.

SEC slaps admin order on IBM

Dillon Pyron

Yes father

That's like when my father told me "don't let me ever catch you doing that again." I made sure he never did.

Unknown group sues DOJ over gambling laws

Dillon Pyron

It's not about morals

It's about collecting taxes. You don't think the winners report their winnings to the IRS.

Wireless power limit doubled to bridge digital divide

Dillon Pyron

WiMax my patooty

I've got brain cancer from my mobile. The mere fact that the phone spends 16 hours a day on my hip and probably 30 minutes at my ear is irrelevant.

And I'm going crazy from my Wifi and house phone, both of which use that deadly 2.4 gighertz band.

Luddites!

US appeals court smacks down FCC obscenity rule

Dillon Pyron

FCC regulation of cable and satillite

Meanwhile, the FCC, in a power grab, is seeking to regulate "standard" cable and satellite. I guess a recent airing of "Hustle" on AMC where Stacy says "this is bullshit" would have prompted a fine.

The FCC needs to come into the 21st century. I've heard 13 year olds using "shit" and "fuck" (and much worse), so we're not really protecting innocent ears. Any parent who let their children watch "NYPD Blue" has only them self to blame for the kid picking up "naughty language".

Judge pours generous portion of cold water on Zango

Dillon Pyron

Bye bye Zango?

Is this close to the end for them, at least in their present incarnation? Of course, crudware (I like that) makers can roll out "product" faster than security tools can update them. What we need is consumer education. If people wouldn't load it, they'd go away.

Buttocks, thongs, and bullsh*t: Street Viewers cop an eyeful

Dillon Pyron

OTOH, Google Earth can't get my address right

A friend sent me a link to my house. Good thing he didn't try driving there, because they have the wrong house.

MoD boffins in Cornwall GPS-jamming trials

Dillon Pyron

IFR landing

I've made a GPS assisted IFR landing before (clouds down to 75 ft). Here's hoping for VFR weather, otherwise there will be a lot of planes going to alternates. They should probably plan on that, in fact.

Siemens shows 1Gbit/s over plastic fibre

Dillon Pyron

Broken glass

I have a small collection of fiber cables that have been snagged, looped, crushed, bent and otherwise very mildly abused. Glass fiber is great for in cabinet connection, but even going between cabinets under the floor presents too much risk for me to be happy.

All hail our new masters, POF.

HTC jumps on touch-screen phone bandwagon

Dillon Pyron

3G

Again, no 3G. People are saying that will kill the iPhone in Europe, unless they release a new version for Europe. HTC has beat them to the punch, releasing a phone that nobody will want.

UK gov skills shortage jeopardising IT projects

Dillon Pyron

Congratulations

The UK has joined the rest of the world, where the incompetent become the managers and the grunts get the work done. And the manager, not knowing WTF is actually happening, avoids reporting up the chain for fear of actually having to explain what's going on.

Of course, the politicians are quite good at ducking responsibilities themselves.

Pirate Bay founders host paedophilia site

Dillon Pyron

Freedom of speech

As long as all they do is talk (and not explicitly), they are breaking no laws. Now, if they host a site with pictures or storied or any of that crap, off with their heads (both of them).

NAMBL gets away with plenty of crap because they are very careful in what they say and publicly do. It's what they advocate and do in private that makes me sick.

I may disagree with what you say, but will defend to the death your right to say it.

Google is Europe's most visited site

Dillon Pyron

Only 34 hours?

I spend a hell of a lot more time. Of course, I get paid to do that (but not read the Reg, hmmmph).

La la la, waiting for a test to run. I'm working and goofing off at the same time.

BMA calls for unity amidst MTAS fallout

Dillon Pyron

12,000 doctors?

Holy Shit! And I suspect that the UK has a shortage of doctors, too.

Chinese user sues Symantec over dodgy updates

Dillon Pyron

Damages?

You mean like he had to go out and buy a legal copy? Especially when he could have gone out on the street and bought one for $1.

Sony cuts price of Blu-ray player

Dillon Pyron

Software

Sony is slowly getting more software (movie) support while Toshiba is trying to get the hardware angle. I think Sony will "win", although in the end, whichever side "wins", it will be the consumer who gets beat up. Half the people will have to buy a second box and new movies. Yes, prices will drop, but somebody's going to have a boat anchor. The Blu Ray/HD-DVD battle is going to go on for some time. Or somebody is going to produce a full feature dual format player.

Of course, until more 1080p TVs are bought, it's kind of a moot point for the consumer. And given the number of interlaced TVs that have sold in the last three years, that may be some time.

855,000 new phones end up in the bog

Dillon Pyron

We've nailed ours

My phone didn't hold up to a dive to 60 feet for 25 minutes (although the SIM worked just fine). I didn't have insurance. My wife's phone fell off her pocket (you wouldn't believe how insecurely she has it). First was uninsured, cost me $100. Second was insured, cost me $50 for a deductible. Insurance is $5 a month. I paid it for 18 months. We were eligible for new phones but oh no, she wanted the same phone. We can afford it, so I'm dumping the insurance. Silly me.

Now she has Blue Tooth and backs her phone up on a regular basis, since she won't put every thing on her SIM. Which also means the next phone will have to be a Moto.

O2 trials one off the wrist for VIP access

Dillon Pyron

Theft?

It took my wife 8 hours to realize she had lost her phone. I wonder how much that would have cost us if someone found it and used it.

Never did see a call on it and nobody answered it or read a text. I wonder what happened to the thing.

Channel 4 refuses to pull Diana crash pics

Dillon Pyron

I agree with both sides

Mike Richards, I was going to say the same thing. Anyone who has seen the Zapruder film has seen some of the goriest that TV has had to offer. And who doesn't remember the famous photo of the Viet Namese general killing the VC?

OTOH, papparzzi are probably even lower than used car salesmen. They make their living harassing and embarrassing. The problem is, so many of us look at the pictures. Who hasn't sneaked a peek at a topless picture of a celeb? As long as we tolerate these pictures in what ever form, they will be around. It's just like drug dealers. Demand means they'll be there. No demand, no paparazzi.

The growing pains of RFID

Dillon Pyron

In the end, who pays?

Who pays for the cost of RFID? The consumer.

"Always low prices. Always."

Unless we have to pass along an expense to the consumer.

MySpace seeks Judge's input on sex offenders purge

Dillon Pyron

Database could be wrong

I recently found the name of a neighbor on Texas' sex offender website. The zip code was right, but the picture and address were different. I've never used My Space before. So the question is, would Don be caught up in this witch hunt?

Flaws galore in IE and Firefox

Dillon Pyron

Full disclosure

The question is, did he notify MS and Mozilla prior to post the vulns? If not he's not much better than a black hat. I've never posted without 30 days notice.

BT declares ceasefire in broadband speed wars

Dillon Pyron

6 Mb regularly

I get a regular 6Mb from Road Runner. Last night (well, 3 this morning) I saw 8Mb. Meanwhile, my neighbor, on AT&T DSL, gets about 2Mb.

El Reg 'buys' acre of Brazilian rainforest

Dillon Pyron

Belize

We bought two acres of a Belize rainforest two years ago. Complete with teak trees. We have friends who own 16 acres of a teak forest in Costa Rica. Many people are doing this.

Cloudmark takes anti-spam to the edge

Dillon Pyron

False positive

When you do the spam control upstream, the user never knows about false positives. Eudora gives me about one false positive every other week, and about one false negative every three days.

Zero-day sales not 'fair' - to researchers

Dillon Pyron

Some other government?

And what if China made him an even better offer? Or someone broke into his office and stole it? Or, while he's attempting to sell it, someone offs him?

Selling vulns might be like selling drugs. He's dealing with some shady characters.

Raytheon inventions are programs and not patentable

Dillon Pyron

Copyright

All you can do is copyright the source code. While they might be able to defend against minor changes, a major re-write would be indefensable. The interface (look and feel) might or might not be protected. I forget how that famous case finally ended.

Bush hugs trees in sudden policy U-turn

Dillon Pyron

Rain in Belize

Two years ago it rained pretty heavily every day we were there. The floor of the rain forest was deep mud. I guess the problem is more inland.

Power firm plans low-energy credits

Dillon Pyron

Rebates

Last year Austin Energy gave us a $1500 rebate for installing insulation to bring our attic up to 33 and buying a high SEER A/C unit. To spend anyway we wanted. SSE are a bunch of pikers. Or maybe they're just Scottish.

Mozilla quashes Firefox JavaScript peril

Dillon Pyron

Patch Tuesday

"What sets firefox aside from you know what is the speed with which the vulnerabilities are plugged after they're found (and almost always *before* they're exploited) and the transparency around the whole process."

And it's not even patch Tuesday.

Enron emails inspire GCHQ spooks

Dillon Pyron

Encryption

If you really want to get a message out, just encrypt it.

Dell cheers Q1 with workforce decimation

Dillon Pyron

Contractors

I'm one of the 5300 contractors. We've been told that some of our contracts will be cut short. In other cases, new contractors won't be brought on when our contracts expire. Dell limits contractors to 9 months or 1450 hours, which ever comes first. For me that will be about 6 1/2 months.

Spyware mum foils pervert

Dillon Pyron

You want keyloggers?

You want keyloggers? I've got plenty. Some you tell what machine (by IP address) to send the data to (sort of a /var/log/daemon thing). Others log to a file on the local machine in an encrypted form. Some are USB devices that you connect between the keyboard and the machine (4GB is an awful lot of keystrokes). I've even got a keyboard that records and plays back. All acquired from legit sources. Except in Germany. And I've used them for similar purposes, catching crooks (although usually locally). Like catching a guy who was sending encrypted email (gets by the filters) with sensitive data.

Google ducks angry authors

Dillon Pyron

Long Tail?

Would someone explain "Long Tail" to me?

Sharp Aquos LC37XD1E 37in HD TV

Dillon Pyron

When is the TV industry going to realize ...

... that I want to listen to my television on my A/V receiver, and not some $10 stereo speakers on the TV? One would think that someone like Sony (who's receiver we have) would figure that out.

CD WOW! vows to take £35m High Court defeat to Europe

Dillon Pyron

Used?

Is it legal to sell used CDs in the UK? Why not take the wrappers off the CDs and sell them as used?

Kev, I'm sure we could work out some sort of arrangement, although I'll be shipping would eat up most of your savings.

'Brown should rethink EU proposal on VAT'

Dillon Pyron

VAT in the US

There are those in the US (let's, for simplicity, call them Democrats) who argue that a VAT would be simpler than the arcane income tax. Let "the poor" file a form for a rebate of what they pay.

Perhaps advocates of this should investigate how it really works.

Doctor Who faces extermination

Dillon Pyron

US popularity

It's right behind BSG on SciFi.

As far as US crap, I listen to KUT (NPR), Bob (60s-07) and Virgin on iTunes.

Jobs waves iPhone, talks applications

Dillon Pyron

Used to want one

When they were announced, I was hot for one. Now I've seen and used several "smart phones" (but not bought). None of them have any appeal to me. So I'll just use my V551 for a while longer, even though Cingular wants me to sign up for a new plan and buy a new phone. They've even promised me "an advanced reservation" for an iPhone.

US Stingray style sub motherships test missiles

Dillon Pyron

IT?

WTF does it have to do with IT? Maybe they have Windows for Warships.

Germany declares hacking tools 'verboten'

Dillon Pyron

Tools of the trade

I use many of the same tools in my security assessments. I always get an acknowledgement and agreement from the customer, signed by an officer, before I start out. But I use things like nessus, netstumbler, airsnort and others. All tools also used by hackers.

I guess security assessments are now verboten in Germany.

Toshiba gives price-cutting AMD the nod

Dillon Pyron

Add Toshiba

Add Toshiba to my list of possible laptops.

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