Posts by Cliffwilliams44

Blizzard president, HR chief exit games giant in wake of sexual harassment uproar

Re: Difficult learning curve

These things happen all the time when women take jobs in male dominated professions. As someone who's been in the construction industry for decades (as IT), I have seen the aftermath of this. Women join a job sight, engage in all kinds of banter with the "boys", but when something goes wrong, i.e. they get disciplined for not being a very good employee, we end up with "sexual harassment!" And thus the woman walks away with a nice settlement. It has been my experience, having to work closely with our council during discovery, that 80% of sexual harassment allegations are garbage! The plaintiffs had no problem with the flirting and joking until something changed for them, then they went for the payoff!

Yes, there are guys who are dicks! and should be dealt with immediately. But, that one situation stated in the article, "woman in a relationship with her boss, allowed him to take nude pictures of her, which he then shared" I am sorry for her, but, there is a certain amount of self-responsibility here on her part!

Customers warn Gartner of AWS's high-pressure sales tactics in latest verdict on public cloud providers

Re: Gartner Magic Quadrant

Yes, they eat it and its the IT staff that has to suffer the food poisoning.

Right to repair shouldn't exist – not because it's wrong but because it's so obviously right

The opening of this article reads like the brain mushed spouting of some indoctrinated college sophomore! Restricting access to technology based on the biggest BIG LIE of the modern era only shows that the "Climate NAZIS" main concern has nothing to do with Climate Control and everything to so with People Control.

As I read in an article this morning there was a heat wave in 1911 that killed 21,000 people in Europe! Was that caused by Global CO2 increases? I think not! As the "Industrial Revolution" was only 50 off years old by them.

Regarding right to repair, it IS a huge issue. I doubt it will get solved as the Corporations have millions in lobbying money and those advocating it have little.

Here's 30 servers Russian intelligence uses to fling malware at the West, beams RiskIQ

Re: if you know the suspect addresses

The "Order" was not to monitor the "content" of said phone calls or emails but to monitor the recipients of these communications so see of communications originating with the US to knows terrorist targets outside the US.

I agree that this is not a legal order as it violates the 4th amendment and we all know that "restricted surveillance operations" like this are fraught with the potential for abuse.

Also the last 2 Democrat administrations have taken Domestic Spying to new levels never seen in this country before.

'Woefully insufficient': Biden administration's assessment of critical infrastructure infosec protection

"The Memo outlines plans to change that, with an "Industrial Control Systems Cybersecurity Initiative" that sees government and industry collaborate to define security baselines."

Government and Industry collaboration, Mussolini would be so proud of us!

Israeli authorities investigate NSO Group over Pegasus spyware abuse claims

Re: How does it work?

Regardless of whether you think what NSO are doing is right or wrong I always wonder why:

When members of the International Left, of which Amnesty is a major player, "steal" proprietary and confidential intellectual information or communications from a government or corporation it is seen as some public service but when it is done in the reverse, i.e. The DNC emails it is viewed as a crime! This smacks of the typical legal double standard the Left always wants to operate under.

This incident requires answer:

1. Does NSO retain control of the distribution of the spyware to targeted individuals.

2. Is this supposed list accurate as to submitted targets by their customers. or

3 Has Amnesty just made up this list (including the dead journalists) as a way to target a known adversary of theirs, Israel.

4. If the list is genuine, was it obtained legally? An insider leaking the list is NOT legal.

5. If not then those who stole it and those who received it should be prosecuted.

Biden warns 'real shooting war' will be sparked by severe cyber attack

"Wag the Dog" as they say. No, this won't be an action against Russia and most certainly will not be against China as Slow Joe is far too "in bed" with the Chinese for that to happen.

It will most likely be against Iran. Once he loses badly in the next election, which is at this point a veritable certainty. This will be the play used to regain his popularity.

But I believe it will fail. The American public bit Left & Right has had enough of the endless wars in places where these wars make not a shred of change in the lives, politics and ideology of those living in these nations.

Re: Not really news, Biden

While coding better software is important the real issue is that the weakest link in your security defense is your employees! Most of these current ransomware attacks are perpetrated through social engineering. Target someone in a position where they may have access to a large portion of a companies data, get them to perform some action through social media, email, even a phone call, i.e. either inadvertently or some time deliberately install malware on their devices and your in!

They have not targeted a vulnerability in a program or operating system they have targeted a vulnerability in the Human Interface!

We on the IT side tend to focus exclusively on the technical aspects of security and completely ignore the human factor!

Re: Not really news, Biden

I know many won't like this but it is time to phase out writing software in C, C++. Rust may not be at the place where it can replace everything C based languages can do but that transition need to happen. There are too many inherent dangers coding in C, C++ that languages like Rust can mitigate. This won't stop dumbass programmer error but it will stop some of the common problems with C based programs because Rust will not let you compile with these vulnerabilities.

Re: Not really news, Biden

Bottom line, you can prevent all this with proper security measures and user training. The biggest problem is "That costs money" and Corporate leadership will not spend the money "until something bad happens"! It is much like "disaster recovery", they only want to spend on it AFTER an incident that loses data!

Then there are the Security Professionals who spend more time selling FUD and crap products than actually protecting their clients.

And there is the "internet generation" that will throw childish tantrums if you block social media on their corporate devices. They view this as an infringement on their "civil rights". Unfortunately most management doesn't have the courage to tell them no. Usually because they don't want their social media blocked. And then there IS management, who request exemption from every security measure you try to implement.

Finally, people should only have access to what they need! Not what they think they need. As a senior IT employee do I have full access to our financial system? NO! and I don't want it. When someone requests access to something that is outside their job requirements the answer should be NO! No matter their position.

Iranian state-backed hackers posed as flirty Scouser called Marcy to target workers in defence and aerospace

Re: Can't believe people

If this includes expensive suits, high end apartments in glamorous placed all over the world, access to many attractive and willing women, all kinds of really cool gadgets and a "license to kill", then I'm in!

Re: Can't believe people

Such is the nature of espionage! Except now it can be done from a distance by fake personalities instead of training a hit young lady in all the tactics of spy craft.

Some "infamous" examples are:

Mata Hari

Anna Chapman

Vera Atkins

Krystyna Skarbek (Churchill's favorite spy)

Nancy Wake

Pearl Cornioley

Virginia Hall

https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2016/11/allied-world-war-2-female-spy-movies

Targeting "techy" lonely men has always been an effective means of gaining valuable intellegence.

Er, no, we would like to continue suing Facebook, US state AGs tell courts

All of these anti-trust Breakups that have occurred throughout (at least) American history have not resulted in the result those who started them expected.

Lets look at 2 prominent examples:

Standard Oil: When Standard Oil was broken up, essentially to limit the earnings of the founder John D. Rockefeller the result was that Rockefeller obtained a controlling interest in virtually all the subsequent companies that resulted from the breakup. Rockefeller's earnings actually increased after the breakup of Standard Oil. In regards to the consumer, the price of oil related products was not significantly effected.

AT&T: While the breakup of AT&T did result in the creation of many regional phone companies (to which AT&T had if not controlling, at least significant interest) The quality of service did not improve much. The advent of Wireless technology and the internet did more for consumer prices. The end result today is that these regional communications companies all collapsed and were acquired by 3 major carriers, AT&T, Verizon (who acquired World Comm) & Century Link. The most significant event that occurred to improve service and cost for consumers was the advent of VOIP phone service. Allowing internet/cable companies to provide phone services without the investment into standard switching equipment and running lines or paying the 3 big carriers to lease space on their lines.

Government bureaucrats and idiot elected politicians, who are clueless as to how the real world works, should think twice before they embark on ill conceived efforts without understanding the ramifications of such efforts. Do they really think that if Zuckerburg is forced to sell off WhatsApp and SnapChat he will not buy up a controlling interest in these now separate companies? What will be the end result for consumers? It certainly will not be that their personal data will no longer be monetized. It most certainly will!

Scam-baiting YouTube channel Tech Support Scams taken offline by tech support scam

Re: YouTube tech support?!

As we tell our employees, Google, Microsoft, your bank, et all, ARE NOT going to call you regarding your existing account and then ask you details about that account. They have no reason to do so.

You bank may send you a text, email or even a call regarding anomalous activity but they will not ask you to verify your account number or any other identifying details. At most they will ask you for (is US) last 4 of SS number, maybe your address. That's it!

After 15 years and $500m, the US Navy decides it doesn't need shipboard railguns after all

Re: A cunning plan

3.6% of the total US budget!

Jackie 'You have no authority here' Weaver: We need more 50-somethings in UK tech

The problem with using numbers like this is that when I (63 now) started in IT (1988) there were a whole lot fewer of us in this profession than there is now. The expansion of this field did not happen until the mid 1990's. So of course we are going to be a lower percentage of out age group.

My experience with older IT staff (and we have several at my employer) is they do not keep up their skill set. They tend to have specific skills or they are stuck in the same place for years. Nothing is more pathetic than a 50 yr old service desk tech who flat out refuses to learn PowerShell? (just an example)

Age discrimination case against IBM leaks emails, docs via bad redaction

Re: Claw Back the Criminals' Compensation

While I agree. Some of the blame lies with IBMs older workers. I've worked with some of them in my career and they only know "older IBM tech" and stubbornly refuse to update their skillet. All with a company that is struggling to keep up with its competitors.

As is typical of IBM, management is struggling to properly deal with this situation and falls back on the Old School tactic of taking an ax to their older staff.

The PrintNightmare continues: Microsoft confirms presence of vulnerable code in all versions of Windows

Backward compatibility has always been Microsoft's Achilles heel!

This is always driven by their customer base who would scream bloody murder if their 10 Yr old ERP software does not function on the "newest Windows".

We are currently fighting our ERP not supporting LDAPs, which they apparently have no current plan to do so,

Re: As much as I like to dump on microsoft a pile...

Only required if you publish your printers in AD.

Seoul adopts AI for suicide prevention on Han Bridge: Uni boffins train machine learning model on rescue teams' data

Re: @Korev

Marijuana! It is the perfect answer!

Suicide Prevention (SP): Hello Suicide Prevention. How can I help you!

Jumper(J): I'm going to jump off this bridge.

SP: Can I just come out there and have a chat before you jump?

J: I guess so.

(SP rep drives out to the bridge)

SP: Hey before you end it all, how about we share this joint!?

J: Ok. I guess that will be OK.

(the two share the joint)

SP: Hey you hungry? Want to go get something to eat?

J: Sure lets go!

One more life saved!

Amazon: Our carbon footprint went up 19% last year but we grew even more than that, so 'carbon intensity' is down

Good for Amazon! CO2 is a blessing! I like being warm! Ever been in the desert at night? Space is cold! CO2 is our blanket! We need it in case the sun has another minimal period, Volcanic eruptions, etc.! The Earth will never be Venus! Climate Change is a con game and all you fools are the Marks. Remember in the last Ice Age the UK was under several miles of ice!

You might think this is sarcasm! IT IS NOT!

Radioactive hybrid terror pigs have made themselves a home in Fukushima's exclusion zone

Re: Domestic cross breeding is the real problem

Re: Hunting wild pigs/boars it is not killing for the fun of it. They are a serious pest! They have no real predictors especially in places where the natural predictors are gone, i.e. wolves. They are very destructive, they breed like rats and they destroy habitat for other wild animals. Like stated in the article when bread with domestic pigs they have larger litters. (In the US most wild pigs are feral domestic pigs).

The problem at least here in the US is the meat from these pigs is not very useful, even dogs find it rather unpalatable.

I am not a hunter but it annoys me when people who are clueless talk about hunting being cruel! We have driven natural predators out of many areas and then the natural fauna like deer can overpopulate their now limited habitat causing starvation in the winter. Hunting is the only answer to keep the herds healthy.

The world has a plastics shortage, and PC makers may be responding with a little greenwashing

Re: The world has plenty of plastic

But that is not what the loudest voices want to do! They advocate targeting western economies who are not the biggest polluters. Their motivation has little to do with the environment and more to do with their Marxist goals. Punishing the Philippines while allowing the west to continue along in capitalism will not hasten the arrival of their Marxist utopia!

Re: The world has plenty of plastic

As we see here, the unintended consequence of brain-dead activist. There was a concerted campaign back in the day to get rid of paper shopping bags. "Save the trees!" and all that! So all the stores went to plastic bags. Which you need more of to carry the same amount of stuff. Paper is easily recyclable, and degrades without environmental damage! Trees are renewable! Plastic is made from petroleum! (no all now but most of it back then).

So now we have shopping bags littering the road side, floating through the air (pilots have seen them as high as 20,000 ft, dangerous if they get sucked into a engine), and littering the oceans.

Also, bag makers are making them thinner and thinner so you need more bags and they break down from UK light into micro-plastics easier.

I wise man once said, "The road to hell is paved with good intentions!"

Re: The world has plenty of plastic

The real problem with getting "any thing done" is you have large groups of "Environmental Activist" out there complaining about these problems but their "prescribed solution" is punitive measures against western economies in the US and Europe, instead of countries like S.E. Asia who are dumping tones of plastics into the oceans daily! Their motivation has little to do with the environment and more to do with their Marxist ideology!

We have this same kind of issue here in the US. We have an entire political party screaming abut the fake crisis of climate change while children in the rust belt die by the 1000s of Leukemia cause be millions of tons of benzine in the ground water. Adults in this same area die young form Hodgkin's disease from heavy metals! Again, doing something about these problems does not advance their political goals.

Hubble telescope in another tight spot: Between astrophysicists sparring over a 'dark matter deficient' galaxy

Oh those plucky Spaniards! Don't they know. "When you question Yale, your actually questioning SCIENCE!"

Pub landlords on notice as 'Internet of Beer' firm not only pulls pints, but can also clean the lines

All jokes aside, if this technology puts 1 human being out of a job then I am against it.

We should not be advocating technology that kills common jobs for common people. Not everyone is suited for technological jobs nor Advanced Degrees. We need jobs for regular people.

Re: There is something to be said for dirty lines

Being a Yank, growing up on the Canadian border Molson Golden Ale was the ambrosia of my life!

Now, Molson Canadian lager, was shite!

Re: No surprise there...

"Thou shalt not make a machine in the image of the human mind!"

Dune.

It's that simple!

John McAfee dead: Antivirus tycoon killed himself in prison after court OK'd extradition, says lawyer

Re: Why was he in a Spanish prison?

Evasion is illegal!

Avoidance is not!

Just for clarity.

Dozens of Iranian media websites devoured by the Great Satan, apparently

Re: Pravda?

Why is it that people like you only believe it is Trumpists or those on the right that will infringe on the rights of the people. This current administration is engaging in outright racist policies, using the power of the state (The IRS, The DOJ/FBI, etc) to target their political enemies and yet goes completely un-criticized by anyone except those who are the targets of said polices? Justice in the US is not blind nor fair anymore. Rioter and looters have been let free without charge yet those who walked into the capital building are being held in solitary confinement without bail and some without charge. People are investigated not because a crime has been committed but because leftist prosecutors are trying to "find" a crime committed by those they politically oppose.

The left in the US is trying to federalize elections to ensure 1 party rule forever while at the same time indoctrinate our children with Marxist ideology!

Yet it is Trump and the right that are the danger!

For one, I have no love for the nut cases in Iran, but, the determiner of "disinformation and propaganda" should be left in the hands of the viewer/reader. It should not be in the hands of any government that touts itself as a free and open society. Especially this US administration who in their short tenure have shown that they will utilize the power of the state to suppress their political enemies by any means necessary.

US Navy starts an earthquake to see how its newest carrier withstands combat conditions

Re: Good choice.

These carriers are built on the East coast, they cannot pass through the Panama canal so to get a carrier to the west coast it is either a circumnavigation of the world or sailing around the horn which should only be tried in the southern summer.

So testing is always done on the east coast,

At the start of WWII the Japanese Navy outnumbered the US Navy in Ships and planes, The Japanese Zero outclassed the US Navy's primary fighter the F4F in every category. Early engagements between Zeros and F4Fs were only won by some American pilots by their ingenuity and adaptation to combat conditions not by the quality of the aircraft. If it had not been for the luck of decrypting Japanese communications and the also luck of finding the Japanese fleet at Midway the early war could have gone very badly for the US.

The Japanese Navy never fully recovered after Midway. And Japan could not out manufacture the US. The subsequent F5F Hellcat and F4U Corsair vastly out matched the Zero in speed and durability in combat.

Modern carriers can operate many many miles away from their intended target due to in-flight refueling. Anti-missile technology is vastly more superior today. Those who discount carrier effectiveness do not understand how they are deployed and used.

Regarding "powerful enemies" today the only one close are the Chinese. They they do not have anything close to a valid carrier based multi-purpose aircraft. They are currently using a repurposed Russian design that is a very poor match for current US carrier based fighters. Chinese aircraft design is many years behind the US. (Unless they are successful is stealing designs from us which I would not doubt under this current administration)

Re: Wildlife

Whale migration along the Florida coast is long since past by now. Happens in late winter early spring.

The black tip shark migration is winding down right now but they stay fairly close to shore just over the sand bars off the coast near where I live. Most swimmer are oblivious to the fact that at any given time in May and June that there could be several thousand black tip sharks < 100 yards from where they are swimming.

Re: Odd Name

No, traditionally aircraft carriers are named after Presidents, like battle ships were named after states. The only exception is a submarine is named after Jimmy Carter because he served aboard a submarine in WWII.

Dwight D. Eisenhower, Ronald Reagan and Theodore Roosevelt Served in the Army and there are carriers named after them.

" Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System catapult"

Wonderful! I had the dubious honor of being in the Air Wing participating in the trials for the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower. Some genius decided that hydraulics were a better Idea than steam to power the catapults. The loss of 4 multi-million dollar aircraft and the serious injury of 2 highly trained fighter pilots resulted in the scrapping of that decision and steam catapults installed.

Now that China has all but banned cryptocurrencies, GPU prices are falling like Bitcoin

Re: China bad

Maybe Europeans can defend their own countries and stop looking like cheap ass cowards!

Hubble Space Telescope sails serenely on in safe mode after efforts to switch to backup memory modules fail

Re: This is starting to look bad

No, lying about science and then claiming (your) Science is above questioning will get you stoned!

"If you question me your questioning Science!"

What an utterly egotistical, self important statement uttered by someone who was just exposed for lying under oath to congress,

Biden to Putin: Get your ransomware gangs under control and don’t you dare cyber-attack our infrastructure

Re: fucking hypocrites.

"Or time the rest of the world start to grow a set of balls and carry on without involving them."

There are many of us in the US who would be perfectly happy with this outcome. Including the man who last sat in the oval office. But then we have Europe, who likes to complain that the US should mind its own business and simultaneously protect them from the rest of the world. Trump caught flak from all of NATO for suggesting you pay your fare share. The share you agreed to. Many of us here would love to pull our troops out of Europe, out of all of the rest of the world, but then people like you, who say you want us out of your affairs call us "Right wing Extremists!" or "Nationalists".

Why don't you Europeans spend the money, build up your armed forces and defend your own countries and stop depending on the US. Time to grow up!

The current situation with the US, Russia and China was caused by the Left in the US. Obama, who "said" he wanted a new relationship with Russia started an uprising in a country on Russia's border. Why wouldn't Russia be pissed off at us. He started an insurgency in Russia's main ally in the Middle East, Syria. Why? Syria was one of the only middle eastern countries where Christians could worship openly? The only people Assad was "mean" to were the radical islamists in his country.

The US left are in bed with the Chinese. They so want to establish the same neo-Fascist regime the Chinese have in this country.

"And of course if Biden decides he's going to live up to his Time magazine cover image, he might get tougher on both Russia and China.. Who of course might retaliate, and the supply of minerals and rare earths dries up. That would be awkward.."

Don't hold your breath! I am sure China/Russia has all the receipts for the payments made to Hunter that were passed on to the "Big Guy".

Does anyone besides the "Dementia in Chief" and his adolescent staff really think Russia and China care a shit about their "Standing in the international community?" Europe is, or will soon be, addicted to Russian oil and gas and they already are addicted to Chinese money!

Tim Cook: Sideloading is a disaster and proposed App Store reforms would harm user privacy and security

Re: It wouldn't be for people who like to tinker

Let me rephrase this for you.

If a person wants to own a firearm and/or carry it on their person, is there a reason we should deny them the right to do it? They bought the bought the firearm. They own it. Why shouldn't they be allowed to own/carry the firearm without the Government's approval?

Do you still agree? Freedom is freedom

Re: Basically, he's asserting a dictatorship is safer than a democracy.

"Basically, he's asserting a dictatorship is safer than a democracy."

In many ways it is. Violent crime int he Soviet Union was virtually non-existent (if you remove the violent crime perpetrated by the government). I large active police force coupled with very harsh penalties results in an overwhelmingly low crime rate. While safe, it is not the kind of environment most of us would want to live in.

Toyota reveals its work on an honest-to-goodness cloak of invisibility

It has been my opinion that they had already achieved this in 2012? I currently drive the "exceedingly Japanese" Scion FRS (Toyota GT to you Euros), mine is the 2014 model, and I am convinced that people do not see me on the road. The fact that the color of my car is called Asphalt, may be a contributing factor. I've had people (mostly of the feminine gender) in trucks, SUVs and Minivans pull right out in front of me while they calmly stare right over my car. I've had several people slam on their brakes when they realized at the last minute that there really was a car in front of them motionless at the traffic light (He looked in his mirror and saw a very upset and shaken Asian female). So I am convinced that i drive a stealth automobile and now drive appropriately cautious!

And we all know that they have been researching this technology for years int he motorcycle industry!

(Sorry for the stereotypes, but they are completely accurate. I have yet to have a man, in a sedan or sports car NOT see me. It is my opinion that "undomesticated human males" have anti-stealth eye sight.)

Roger Waters tells Facebook CEO to Zuck off after 'huge' song rights request

Re: re. That doesn't mean that the citizens of Israel are responsible for those things.

And are the people of Iran responsible for their government? Responsible for their government spreading terrorism around the region? If the Est were to exact revenge on them for their support of terrorism and Iranian civilians dies would you stand by your decision that "the citizens if Iran ARE responsible for those actions"

........ I thought not!

Assange is just a publisher and what is being done to him is chilling in a free society. I am no fan of the media but when government starts prosecuting news publishers freedom dies. Think about what would have been the reaction if Nixon had arrested the publishers of the Pentagon Papers.

Manning on the other hand, should have been hanged or put in front of a firing squad, and his commanding officer (who put him in that position) should have been revealed and drummed out of the service!

Re: Worth ?

10 quid per stone and 1 re-throw if you miss!

Realizing this is getting out of hand, Coq mulls new name for programming language

Re: There are two hard problems in Computer Science

It's basically another iteration of:

"If you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear!"

In this round of 'Real life or Black Mirror episode', drones that hunt down humans by listening to their screams

Re: Well, Shit!

It's always just benign, until it isn't!

It can't be reasoned with, it can't be bargained with...it doesn't feel pity of remorse or fear...and it absolutely will not stop.Ever. Until you are dead.

Flying dildo poses a slap in the face for serious political debate

Re: Misuse of Drone

Or settle an argument by burning and looting your own community in the name of social justice. And then complain when their communities are depressed and blame it on "White Supremacy"!

A fact they just don't understand: If you burn down the CVS, the CVS will leave.