Posts by VoiceOfTruth

Cloudflare to fire 1,100 staff whose jobs just aren’t AI enough

Re: Hope nothing important is affected

My apologies for missing your joke. I read it too literally.

Around 2000, the internet was described as a 'network of networks'. Now it seems a lot of those networks seems to go through AWS or Cloudflare.

Re: Hope nothing important is affected

The Reg uses Cloudflare.

Actually, IMHO, too much of the internet now uses Cloudflare. What it does, it does well. But it is a single company point of failure.

'Dirty Frag' Linux flaw one-ups CopyFail with no patches and public root exploit

See Liam's article about a new NTFS driver here (https://www.theregister.com/software/2026/04/20/linux-71-will-have-an-optional-new-ntfs-driver/5226567), and particularly his comment about "The real lesson to take from this is about clean, maintainable, thoroughly commented code".

Make no mistake, there is a lot of obscure, hairy code in the Linux kernel. It's not a secret. It's in places where few angelic penguins fear to tread.

Iran war hits datacenter building supply chains, upping costs

Vocabulary

>> The Iran conflict

The illegal American war against Iran. Trump and his armed pirates and bombers should face a Nuremberg-style tribunal.

Trump jumps from 'anything goes' to 'strict regulation' AI policy

This is why Trump has no credibility

Iran had an agreement, which the the USA tore up.

Canada had a trade agreement, made by Trump, which Trump later tore up.

But the USA gets pissy when countries 'won't make an agreement'.

Attackers are cashing in on fresh 'CopyFail' Linux flaw

Re: Downplayed by the Linux community

There you go... downplaying it.

If read only does not mean read only, then that is a major problem. I wonder what else has gone wrong in the Linux world when I read this. Somebody somewhere tried to be clever, and totally negated the meaning of the words 'read only'.

Downplayed by the Linux community

I can imagine the finger pointing by penguins if this happened in Windows land.

Who on earth thought it was ever right to undo what is meant by 'read only'? Somebody dropped an enormous clanger here. It makes me wonder what other stupidities and undoings of things we take for granted have crept into Linux.

NHS to close-source hundreds of GitHub repos over AI, security concerns

Another step towards privatisation

But the NHS has no problem granting Palantir access. Hmmm.

Where to buy a non-Apple, non-Google smartphone

Re: Not very convincing

>> Tory legislation, brought in under Labour.

Labour moved to the centre right under Bliar. That captured a lot of the Daily Fail readers.

Huawei?

Harmony OS is de-Googled.

FBI cyber boss: China's hacker-for-hire ecosystem 'out of control'

Pikachu face

>> Brett Leatherman

Well, I l would like to see Google and MS spies extradited for helping the American regime spy. They don't even hide it.

Phone users know when to hold ’em, delay upgrades amid inflation

Correction

>> the Iran war

The USA's war against Iran. Long wanted by, caused by, and started by the USA.

Britain's £6B armoured sickener Ajax cleared for duty despite injuring troops

Re: Not just one cause

The West, and in particular, the USA squandered the peace dividend.

NATO marched right up to Russia's borders. What did people expect them to do? Britain, France, and Germany have all invaded Russia at one time or another. Germany murdered 20 million Russians in WW2. The 'peace loving West' is a fabrication.

They are sitting in it wrong

All they need to do is sit different.

Linux cryptographic code flaw offers fast route to root

Re: Genuine question: *BSD?

>> BSD's also tend to not really install anything by default (aside from the chock load of proprietary software you can't easily check the security of), thus installs are typically custom and exploits cannot depend on many programs being installed.

Name the 'chock load of proprietary software' installed with FreeBSD. Name even one thing.

Perhaps you are referring to things built on top of the BSDs. But that is not part of the BSDs any more than Photoshop is part of Windows.

Re: Genuine question: *BSD?

The BSDs do get security issues. FreeBSD had a bunch yesterday.

I am happy to fan the flames here, and state that FreeBSD is remarkably simpler to use than Linux. I have seen Linux descend into very unnecessary complication just to make it more complicated and 'modern'. I can look at a FreeBSD howto or document from 20 years ago, and simple things like 'ifconfig' still work as they did then. Just doing a search why Linux changed from 'ifconfig' to 'ip' shows this result: The ip command is more versatile and technically more efficient than ifconfig because it uses Netlink sockets rather than ioctl system calls.

As though that matters even one groat to Bob the Sysadmin. It also complicates matters if you try to do a search for 'ip'.

I think some people in the Linux world do this to burnish their programming chops, while making life harder for anyone who doesn't have time for this crap.

Met Police's Palantir deployment has its own officers watching their backs

The hypocrisy

>> This presumption of wrongdoing and attack on officer's personal lives is unacceptable.

The police presume everyone is guilty. The number of false arrests by the Met is startling. It reached such a level that the concept of 'de-arresting' had to be invented. That papered over the cracks. Instead, the Met should have been disbanded for wilful wrongdoing. Start again from scratch as the whole body of it is diseased.

Arrest and release? Bullshit.

Microsoft's patch for a 0-day exploited by Russian spies fell short. Another Windows flaw is under attack

I am more worried about the USA

The USA are the bad guys.

Trump admin pays wind developers to quit, back fossil fuel projects

Re: The US is also actively derailing a net zero shipping agreement

The free world (= Not the USA) could just refuse delivery from or service to dirty shipping.

ICO chief John Edwards steps back as workplace probe quietly unfolds

Investigation

The establishment will investigate itself, and see what lessons can be learned.

DeepSeek's new models are so efficient they'll run on a toaster ... by which we mean Huawei's NPUs

MAGA AI

Tell me, MAGA, how is it going?

MAGA AI: It's beautiful. Like my hair.

I will grab my non-GMO popcorn

And watch as US 'AI' company stock prices collapse through the floor.

This is good news. You can't spend your way out of debt.

US clarifies mobile hotspots part of foreign router ban despite rarity of American made consumer kit

Re: If this is applicable...

Of course it is.

The USA will expect that the rest of the world will follow its edicts. Britain folded like it had a pair of twos concerning Huawei. It will do it again.

If this is applicable...

Then the rest of the world should ban US equipment on the same grounds.

Trump to UK: Stop taxing our big beautiful tech corps or face tariff tsunami

Re: Heard and McDonald Islands

>> his Iran misadventure

His illegal war.

>> The Republcan senators who support him are just as guilty.

From across the pond, I see that Trump has a lot of support. It is not just Trump and his cohorts.

A lot of Americans really don't seem to care how their country is viewed. I find that regrettable and also scary.

Re: Threatening tariffs eh?

That is a narrow reading of events.

So I repeat my question, with more context: Russia invaded Ukraine. Britain denounced it, imposed sanctions, and sequestrated assets.

The USA bombed Nigeria. No response from Britain.

The USA invaded Venezuela and kidnapped somebody. No response from Britain.

The USA bombed Iran. No response from Britain.

Law is only law if it is consistently applied. Otherwise it corruption. Britain is a rump state. It is in the pocket of a regime currently carrying out yet another illegal war.

Re: Threatening tariffs eh?

>> a regime which is actively committing war crimes

Where are the sanctions? Where are the sequestrations of assets?

The truth is simple: Britain is a rump state.

This serves Britain right

It has kowtowed to Trump, and the USA in general, for decades. That is not strength. That is not a 'special relationship'. It is cowardice and weakness.

The USA knows this. Trump is bully enough to really turn the screws. But 'our' passive politicians will speak with the usual forked tongues about how this is 'wrong', then meekly fold and follow as usual.

The USA is not our friend. Trump merely exposes the truth of it.

Next up will be the invasion of Greenland or Canada, as stated by Trump. British 'politicians' will find a way to excuse this too.

Governments on high alert after CISA snuffs out Firestarter backdoor on fed network

Cisco.

>> Cisco Secure Firewall

A bit like the German Democratic Republic. If Cisco was an aircraft maker, it would have been grounded long ago.

>> collate all the evidence and submit it to them for intelligence-gathering purposes.

How about just naming Cisco as too broke to fix.

Chinese attackers are pwning your infrastructure to use in attacks, 10 countries warn

Let's give a big hand for the diversion of attention

Meanwhile the USA hacks everywhere. Through American made equipment. With American back doors.

Medical data of 500k Biobank volunteers listed for sale on Alibaba, UK minister reveals

Meanwhile government ministers

Want to sell all the NHS data to Palantir. The hypocrisy.

American farms have a new steward for their safety net, disaster programs... Palantir

Vocabulary

>> USDA's Landmark platform too, which provided $11 billion in assistance in February

s/assistance/subsidies/. For gun-toting farmers who don't want socialised medicine. And a lot of them voted for Trump and brought the 'need' for subsidies on themselves. They sowed it, now they reap what others have sown.

Thunderbird in hand worth 2 Outlooks as fresh FOSS fave and Firefox arrive

Re: Dark mode

>> I'm not sure whether that's possible to configure.

Thank you for understanding this. See my example above for how easy this is.

Re: Dark mode

You don't get this straight. So let me straighten it out for you.

Lots of apps have their own built in light and dark modes to get round this problem, because it is well known and is an annoyance.

Let me point you to https://u-he.com/products/freeware/zebralette3/ as an example. These have built in skins, and they ignore what Mac tries to impose. You might say this is not dark and light mode, but what I see on screen beats such semantics.

Instead, with Thunderbird, the whole effing thing is dark. Preferences are white text on a dark background. It looks ridiculous.

It is a simple fix: build in a toggle for dark and light theme.

Dark mode

I could not figure out how to turn off Thunderbird's dark mode on a Mac. I am not going to install a theme for something so simple. So this is another user experience fail to add to other fails I have experienced with Thunderbird. So in the Bin it goes. Again.

I have tried Thunderbird over the years. I always encounter some ill-conceived aspect straight away. The answer is not to disable dark mode on my Mac, thus impacting everything else I do. I wish that somebody at Thunderbird/Mozilla would get to grips with this sort of thing. In the past I have reported bugs, and the response was basically "that is how it is". Thanks for telling me I'm holding it wrong.

Datacenter boom keeps dirty coal plants alive in the US

Re: The reason why

>> the USA has not actually 'invaded' either state,

Landing troops or bombing is an invasion. To leave no doubt about Iran, when USMC pirates landed on an Iranian-flagged vessel, that is an invasion.

Where are the calls to sanction the USA for its terrorism?

The reason why

>> America is locking in decades of new gas-fired infrastructure, as new plants typically have 30-to-40-year lifespans, even as renewables continue to grow.

The USA controls a lot of oil and gas. Add to that the illegal invasions of Venezuela and Iran, which have oil and gas. And let's not forget the illegal bombing of Nigeria (which also has oil).

Meanwhile, China is by far the leader in renewable energy. It completely beats out the USA in hydro, wind, and solar.

Lots of very wealthy Americans want to stay that way. Keep on using gas, and stealing other countries' resources.

Linux may get a hall pass from one state age-check bill, but Congress plays hall monitor

Putting social networks out of business

>> It might even effectively put all the big social networks out of business.

That is unlikely.

But it would definitely put a lot of small social networks, small hobby sites out of business. They would not have the resources to 1. Police their web sites for every post and comment made. 2. Defend against the inevitable lawsuits which will come their way due to a 'bad' post.

The whole idea of age verification at the OS level is crazy. But that won't stop it being implemented. I can imagine the conversation in an oak-panelled room, over glasses of fine wine. Microsoft and Apple reps are there saying: we can do this, no problem.

Scotland Yard can keep using live facial recognition on people in London, say judges

The injustice system of the UK

The judges love to treat the population like serfs. In all but the most egregious of cases, it is nanny knows best. They back the police time and time again.

Yet Pikachu face when the Metropolitan Police is found to be institutionally racist, institutionally sexist, institutionally homophobic, and institutionally corrupt.

That institutional corruption happens because the judges let the police get away with it.

Mythos found 271 Firefox flaws – but none a human couldn’t spot

Re: Not sure what his statement means

>> Open source is a bit like peer review in science - yes, anybody can check,

No. Not anybody. Anybody who is capable and has the time.

Most users of open source software are users - they do not have the ability to dig down into nigh-endless code and find bugs. It's not just the code, it is following the execution path.

And even if they find a bug in version 2.1.1.3.135, that might be negated or replaced by a different bug in version 2.1.1.3.136.

More Cisco SD-WAN bugs battered in attacks

Cisco

All your networks belong to somebody else.

Apple has an opportunity to rediscover humanity in its push toward AI

Spit it out

>> cooperating with governments that violate human rights

Which governments? Because if the USA is not in that list, I call you out for hypocrisy.

Forget call centers, local energy prices mean Britain's latest offshoring wave is AI projects

Before anyone starts

It's not Brexit. It's not Russia.

Britain has not had a coherent energy policy since 'privatisation' decades ago.

Met police trials snoop tech platform in push to cuff more London shoplifters

A couple of things

>> trialing

trialling.

>> These are defined as arrests, charges, or convictions.

Arrests or charges should never be used as a metric of success. Only convictions.

England's school phone ban gets teeth, just in time to bite no one

Re: Disjointed thinking

>> Do you spot a flaw if phones are banned in schools?

Next up will be an amendment. Fines and criminal records for children using phones. Don't think it won't happen. All it takes is some fascistic hand-wringers in the Daily Fail to put it on the front page.

More than one MP has been caught using a phone in parliament.

The House of Lords

A great example of democracy. Not.

Not one of them is elected. Not one of them has a mandate from the population. Some of them have bought their seat by giving political 'donations'.

Yet Britain is happy to point fingers at 'oligarchs' and 'juntas' around the world.

One of Europe's sovereign cloud picks may not be so-sovereign after all

Re: Why were standards set so low?

The policy should be simple: zero US companies involved at all in any way.

Iran has something America can only dream of: cheap broadband

Re: Iran is subject to sanctions

>> The country is run by a kleptocrazy that has brought most of the economy in the hands of a few oligarchs.

I am laughing. Have you looked at the USA?

>> Their mismanagement has emptied rivers and wasted water to a level

Flint, Michigan. Jackson, Mississippi. And so on.

Re: Consumer protection, lack thereof

Your generalised point is correct. So when one reads that the USA is investing billions in something, in another country comparable $something might cost hundreds of millions.

>> economic failure and abject poverty.

Iran is subject to sanctions. That is not economic failure on Iran's part.