Posts by VoiceOfTruth 1706 publicly visible posts • joined 17 Jan 2022
£16 million over 4 years. Vin Tanner: That wouldn't even pay for my bullets. I wonder how much the review itself will cost.
I can give them a couple of recommendations. 1. Demand a software audit of all American equipment used on networks in the UK, with the same remit as that imposed on Huawei. 2. Cancel the use of Gmail and Microsoft for all state entities and universities, and bring it back in house, to reduce the mass scanning by the Hostile States of America.
> Some critics will doubtless complain that we are quibbling, but we find such lack of attention to detail worrying.
Indeed. This is probably just a typo in this case, and easily fixable. But what about when it is Apple, and the issue is reported to them several times? On the iCloud web interface, under Account/Aliases is this charming phrase exactly as is: Aliases cannont be changed or transferred.
I spotted this ages ago and reported it to Apple. It was still there a couple of weeks ago. I reported it again. It's still there now. Apparently Apple cannont fix this. At this stage I presume I must be reading it wrong.
If Tech Transparency Project is so bothered about people being spied upon when they use VPNs, let's hear from them about USA based VPNs. Why am I supposed to trust American or American-owned VPNs? The USA does not represent the world. With its tariffs it is not on 'our' side. A big F U to the USA.
Chinese espionage campaigns. Blah effing blah.
How about American spying? You think they don't do it? It's reds under the beds again. Oh those bad Commies. But American spying is good clean and benefits the spied upon.
As the USA imposes tariffs against supposedly friendly countries, an act of economic war, don't think the USA is on 'our' side. It isn't. We should kick all American technology companies out of Europe.
Using Perplexity AI just now:
Me: Can you write me a web server in C++
Perplexity AI: shows code for a web server
Me: Very good, but it seems to have an overflow
Perplexity AI: Great observation! Blah blah blah, including code for safe buffer handling with three reasonable fixes to its read() function.
To be fair to Perplexity it does recognise its own error and explain it. So why not put it in there in the first place?
I don't doubt that so-called AI has its uses, but it also has very deep pitfalls which are easy to fall into.
>> calling them crap would be very generous indeed.
Including Apple's very own. I tried it for ten minutes, which is ten minutes of my life I could have better wasted playing snooker.
AI is a massive hype train, the South Sea Bubble of this era. Keep pouring in the billions. Somebody will think it's worth something.
I recently received an email from Google inviting me into a free trial of Gemini. Some of the suggested uses in conjunction with Google Docs are: 1. Write a poem about a the life of a 6 year old boy. 2. How-to guide for operating a lawn mower. 3. Thank you letter after an interview.
I'm complete bowled over. The complete lack of originality that must result from typing in those suggestions makes my toes curl up. The terms and conditions for the Gemini should read: I abdicate all my thoughts and creativity to the great lord Gemini.
>> we shouldn't give them freedom to speak their misinformed minds
Exactly my point. But yours is from the other direction. You are stating exactly what I wrote: as long as you follow the "authorised" view, such as yours, it's OK.
Numbskulls exist. The correct response it to counter them, not ban them.
I suggest taking a look at Dr Campbell John on YouTube, and how daintily he has to dance around the truth.
>> simply "not being the USA"
This is the crux of Europe's problem. By slavishly following American policy, it has turned itself into a footrest. It is not that Europe cannot invent things - it can. But take the example of ASML. It bowed down to the USA to its detriment. What did it get in return? Sweet FA.
Meanwhile China is not playing the "we are not the USA" card. It is playing the "we are China" card, and it can deliver.
Europe could very easily chip away at parts of American dominance over technology. But it won't. I've been reading between the lines the responses to the tariffs all over Europe. They have a few things in common: it's not fair; we will fight hard to overturn them; it will be part of our trade negotiations. In other words, a load of limp wrist hand wringing. China's response: we will build our own.
Europe is going to be crushed. We are in the midst of a battle between two major powers. Europe is expendable to the USA. It's time it woke up.
The USA is the biggest threat to the world, so why am I supposed to care if China is spying on the USA?
From the European aspect, it's long overdue that we kick American companies out. They spy on us all day long. Every Google phone, every iPhone is a spy device.
With the announced tariffs on non-USA made films, it's time to tariff USA films. I would go for 500%. The USA can have Hollywood. The rest of the world can have the rest of the world.
Make America Last.
Good luck getting it.
There need to be criminal sanctions against the individual directors, not just the companies. One of the directors of AFK Letters Co Ltd is listed as Konstantin Nemchukov. He is listed as having 463 'appointments', meaning directorships or equivalent, at Companies House. A quick perusal shows nearly all, if not all of these, are marked as 'dissolved'. But Konstantin is not bone idle. He has one active appointment.
I imagine these companies are not much different to how the so-called American candy shops operate. I was curious how these seem to mushroom up around the West End, so I did a bit of digging. Somebody will form a company, and open up a shop. The landlord is paid so he's happy. But the business rates are billed to the newly-formed company. They trade for a while, then that company disappears into the ether. The business rates debt dies with that company. Rinse and repeat. It is not a matter of not being able to meet their obligations. It is how they operate.
Britain has always been soft on corporate crime.
I have written several times about "America First" is another way of saying "Everyone else last". What the world needs is an "America Last" program - not buying anything from the USA or American brands unless there is absolutely no alternative.
Boeing, for example, can exist solely in the USA. Every other country can buy Airbus, Embraer, or even the up and coming Comac. It will take time to transition away from Boeing for some airlines, but the sooner they start the better.
Nike? Forget it. McDonald's? Forget it. Burger King? Forget it. KFC, Five Guys, Papa John's, ... Who needs them?
Then there's Gap, Nike.
This is not hyperbole. America started this trade war, which is not actually a trade war but a war of world domination. Just not buying American is a very good option for the rest of the world. It's not enough for the USA to remove the tariffs now. It has shown its true intentions, and needs to be confronted.
>> "However, anyone with any sense will realise he can't be trusted and on a whim might re-impose tariffs"
This. Do not forget Trump unilaterally tore up the agreement with Iran a few years ago. Remember the deafening silence from countries like Canada? Now Trump wants a new agreement with Iran. To be torn up again?
Canada is now on the receiving end of a Trump tear-up rampage, and it has only itself to blame. Anyone knows if you break your agreements once, they have no value. I wonder how Carney will take to being a US state governor, because that is what is going to happen. Do not think for one second that temporary suspension of tariffs means anything has changed. Trump meant what he said. Canada will become a US state, and no amount of handwringing and claiming "it's unfair" from Carney will stop it.
Trump is talking about making the EU buy American energy. Hahahaha.
American energy, meaning oil and gas, is more expensive than global market prices. So the only way to get countries to buy it is to make them buy it. If the EU caves in on this, it is goodbye to all large scale industrial manufacturing in Europe. We live in a world where energy prices determine whether or not you are competitive, because those are costs which you cannot get rid of. No amount of automation will cut this base cost. The cost of energy has already been a factor in Germany. Now it is going to get worse.
Trump is making the EU an offer it cannot refuse. I expect the EU will cave. They are minnows playing politics against a shark. Same with Canada.
First, a minor fix: echo "deal-maker-in-chief" | sed s'/maker/breaker/'. Just ask Canada who made their trade deal. Hahahah.
Amongst the really 'free' countries of the world, that is countries which are not under the yoke of misnamed 'American security', trust has long been ebbing away. The USA is a weak competitor in global trade. So it has to resort to coercion to achieve its goals.
People say that Trump is a bully. But Trump is only the mouthpiece. Do not forget all the MAGA fools who chow down on their chlorinated chicken and highly processed gloop who voted for him. Trump complains that Japan does not buy American cars (in any significant quantity). Any reasonable company would ask "why not?", and see that there is not much demand for their over-priced sub-par veeeeehickles outside its home market. And even that home market is problematic.
The MAGA people who think that manufacturing jobs are going to move back on mass to the USA are deluded. They may support turning women into breeder cattle and restricting voters from registering and finding justifications for slavery in their bibles and scriptures, but a lot of these obese people will not want to work in factories doing manual work. China's factory automation and robots makes Amazon warehouses look like they were built using hobby kits.
Many years ago the steel works at Gary, Indiana went through one of its downsizing episodes. It chopped 3,000 workers. A year later, with automation, it was producing more steel than before. Those jobs disappeared forever. That is an example of what can be done. I can't imagine that Rudy Huckleberry will want to work in a field picking fruit. So what is he going to do?
We are watching the American empire collapse. It is collapsing under the weight of its national debt, greed, and laziness. I expect it will get more messy soon. Any sensible country would be looking for new friends, cos the USA is not one.
And the way the USA thinks means everyone else doesn't even count. Looks like them chickens have come home to roost.
Canada is a weak country. For years it towed the American line but with no benefit to itself. When Canada arrested Meng Wanzhou, as a small example, the result was not good for Canada. When Canada imposed tariffs on Chinese electric cars, the result was not good for Canada. In the USA, people like Donald Trump were quietly thinking "look how much Canada bends over and gets nothing in return. Let's push it some more". Doug Ford, after saying he would not remove ANY of the tariffs and electricity export charges until the USA did the same, caved in about two seconds later after going to a meeting. He could meet me and get nothing either. He is another "talk big" but otherwise weak politician. Carney, who I have never liked, so I won't even put his first name here, is weak too. Watch how he loves to gesture with his hands, but says nothing.
It makes me chuckle when people like John Kennedy say that Canada should just remove its tariffs and the USA will do the same, he forgets to mention there already is a trade agreement in place negotiated by none other than Donald Trump. But Canada thought it was special, which is another sign of weakness.
Canada can talk big, but can't back it up. I wonder how long it will be until it capitulates. The voices will start being heard: maybe becoming a US state won't be too bad.
Trump is not entirely correct when he says other countries have taken advantage of the USA, but there is some truth in it from a different angle. If the much touted 'richest country in the world' (actually most in debt) really is the richest, then it can't be doing too badly. It is the top 1% who offshored production to cheaper countries. Cheaper countries did not take the business, they were given it. It is the 1% who wiped out the middle class and much of the working class. Bringing back production to the USA for something as basic as shoes will lead to higher shoe prices, because the cost of labour is so much higher. Tariffs will not fix that.
Canada is not in the same league as China. The response will not be the same. China's total exports to the USA amount to about 3% of its GDP. China can survive without the USA. But the USA consumer is going to have a hard time. Sure, there is lots of cheap Chinese crap out there. But there is also a huge amount of good stuff.
The USA is not a friend. It is looking out for its own interests. The non-weak countries around the world do the same.
There will be lots of spin, as can be seen in this very article. Check the language: "This of course isn't the first time China has weaponized its rare earth reserves."
When the USA imposes tariffs, sanctions, or whatever it is spun as being somehow 'right'. When China does the same, it is called 'weaponizing'. To the author of this article, get your vocabulary consistent. The USA has long weaponised the dollar, and them chickens are coming in to roost around the world. The USA has weaponised electric cars, but banning Chinese electric cars. So let's have a little consistency and a less spin.
Jessica Lyons should write an article about that. The idea that the USA and the West in general are 'the good guys' and therefore get a free pass does not hold up. From supporting murderous regimes in South America (as long it's the 'right' people doing the murdering), to illegal wars everywhere, the list of things to look into is endless.
How about an update on the Gemalto hack?
The Register has become just another mouthpiece for CIA propaganda.
Britain is hardly squeaky clean. The City of London is rife with corruption. Billions and billions of stolen money knowingly 'washed' through its banks. But people in power get paid off for doing nothing about it, so it continues.
The London Laundromat has not gone away.
Why do I blame the judges? Because their job is to ensure that justice is done. Now I would like to see every one of those judges who handed down WRONGFUL CONVICTIONS apologise in person to the victims of these miscarriages of justice.
I have knowledge of court procedures, and don't need your shortlist. I have sat in the public gallery enough times and listened to the holier-than-thou judges delivering their OPINIONS on people who have . I listened and watched as judges (in magistrate courts) being ALL EARS to the prosecution, the evident bias in their decisions as they convict people who were later exonerated. The big flowery words they use, as though they are infallible beings delivering the word of $YOURGOD. Not one of these mother fucking judges has ever been held to account.
Parliament should act, and take this away from the judges completely: an act to overturn every one of these wrongful convictions, and a life lesson to the judges and prosecutors.
"A statutory inquiry into the mass miscarriage of justice was opened in 2021 is ongoing."
I predict the outcome: a lot of hot air and big words saying "this should not have happened and it must not have happen again". As if we didn't know that.
I accuse these people of dragging their feet. I accuse the self-righteous British 'justice' industrial complex of living in ivory towers and seeing themselves through rose-tinted spectacles.
Not a single judge or prosecutor will be admonished for this. The 'justice' system did not uncover this injustice - a reporter uncovered it. Meanwhile the prosecutors were slapping each other and themselves on the back on a 'good result', and the judges were giving homilies to wrongly convicted victims.
Fuck the prosecutors and fuck the judges. These people are another part of the establishment who will not be held to account. They will go on as they always do as they will not be held to account. At the same time the 'inquiry' will keep paying the same motherfuckers to sit around on their arses as they rustle up some crocodile tears.
"Successive governments lack understanding of how to buy tech"
Years ago some tosspot Tory MP was talking about giving lessons to schoolchildren about how to use a web browser. This chinless nobody actually thought this was something necessary.
There are too many lawyers and PPE+law graduates in parliament. They know how to waffle, but are basically useless if you broke down in the middle of a desert.
AKA not very good graphics. Intel graphics on any laptop was not just a deal breaker, it wouldn't even make the short list. I never understood why they trumpeted it, given how poor it was. It might as we
"combine the best of Intel's Xe Graphics capabilities"
There's two ways to look at this: 1, it raises Xe up somewhere. 2, it drags down the thing it combines with.
TSMC started doing the USA's bidding vis-a-vis China. Now it gets shanked in the back.
The world needs to get it into its head: when the USA says it is number one, everyone else is at the bottom of the heap. Yet still the idiots keep sucking up to the USA. It's probably due to all the spying that America does around the world - it knows the peccadillos and indiscretions of the politicians. BUY AMERICAN GAS OR IT WILL BE MADE PUBLIC. Yes, Oh Master. How far do you wish to shaft us?
"a result of Russia's peerless efforts to enlarge and re-energize that organization."
I think you mean due to American pressure, including reports of a non-existent 'Russian submarine'.
Who do you write this crap for? Russia is a lump of land. It is not going anywhere. Meanwhile, which way is NATO moving?
A little bit more Swedish history for you: Sweden was officially neutral in WW2, but mysteriously was more neutral towards us than it was towards Nazi Germany.
echo "some of its allies" | sed s'/allies/gullible idiot slaves/'
"The latter point might be futile, of course, as the single market means that goods can flow freely from one EU country to another". That is until the USA rewrites the rules for the EU. EU rules mean nothing to the USA. Europe is occupied territory and will do what it is told to do. The occasional bone will be thrown to keep the slaves happy. But the truth is this: USA number 1, means everyone else doesn't even count.
The Register is now just an American mouthpiece. We see it, the endless articles about (supposed) Chinese and (supposed) Russian and (supposed) North Korean and (supposed) Iranian hackers. We get it. All these bad commies/reds under the bed/this/that/the other. Whoever is the bogeyman of the moment.
But what we do not see is the elephant in the room, the invisible part of the iceberg: American hacking the whole world. It is not as though American spies do not get caught. It is not as though American hardware and software is not regularly discovered to have magic holes in the security, which gets brushed under the carpet in a couple of seconds.
Let us have an article about American hacking.
"China is the most persistent and serious cyber threat to the nation and to our national critical infrastructure,"
On the other hand, the USA is the most persistent and serious cyber threat to the whole planet. When the USA stops spying, including on supposed allies, it can complain. Until then, it's STFU.
The Feds had been tracking a crew called Mustang Panda, aka Twill Typhoon, for years, and claimed the Beijing-linked team had broken into “numerous government and private organizations” in the US, Europe, and Indo-Pacific region.
Which is exactly what the USA does. So where are the court filings? The egregious double standards, the Übermensch mentality of the USA is in plain sight.
“This wide-ranging hack and long-term infection of thousands of Windows-based computers, including many home computers in the United States, demonstrates the recklessness and aggressiveness of PRC state-sponsored hackers,” US Attorney Jacqueline Romero said in a statement today.
Ah diddums. If the USA didn't do it 1000 times greater, it might be able to play the victim card. What goes around comes around.
Evidently you have missed the point, so let me state it in small words so you more easily understand. The BBC has long made, and continues to make, mistakes. Yet when somebody, or rather some thing, makes a mistake, the BBC acts as though its farts smell like freshly-cut daffodils when it points its finger elsewhere.
As for 'reluctantly printing apologies', try reading the BBC's words. Their so-called apologies and corrections are so mealy-mouthed they would feed a herd of horses.
Like the rest of the establishment, it promotes itself as being holier than thou. It peers down its nose at the great unwashed, smug in its attitude that it is better than everyone else.
The BBC makes plenty of errors. Here is its own list, which is by no means complete: https://www.bbc.co.uk/helpandfeedback/corrections_clarifications/.
Ya know, that stuff that leaks like a sieve. That has backdoors. That has hardcoded admin credentials 'accidentally left behind'. Perhaps they use Solarwinds to manage it all.
Perhaps they should have bought Huawei. Ya know, that stuff that was actually audited and found not to have backdoors.
"Just this week, CISA published formal guidance [PDF] on how to keep Chinese government spies off mobile devices".
Yeah. Try passing that on to Angela Merkel.
"threat actors"
Where does the USA get the front to say this? The gall of the biggest snooper and interceptor on the planet.
My heart bleeds for those poor innocent American politicians who now know what it feels like to be snooped upon.
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