@Metavisor: Caution over "free" wi-fi =/= exoneration of Google

Who blamed this problem on public wi-fi? That was a little party going on in your own head alone it seems. The point was simply that free public wi-fi is often completely unsecured.

As an Android user whose network hasn't deigned to put out Gingerbread 2.3.4 for my handset it does concern me that Google has been sloppy with security for earlier incarnations of Android. Us geeks can make a judgement about the risks of connecting to insecure wi-fi (again, that was implicit in my point) whereas most lay Android users will take the view: "Yay! Free wi-fi!"

*titter*

Nuff sed.

More likely...

...two popes one grail? Sorry. No really: sorry!

Ian McNee is talking bollocks as usual...

<humble_pie>

...as pointed out by nearly everyone else, it's the client that's affected...doh!

</humble_pie>

Not necessarily...

DHCP server software can be installed on almost any device on a network. When a new client boots it broadcasts to find a DHCP server and it will usually talk to the first one that responds so someone with malicious intent who has access to the network may be able to exploit this. I expect there are methods of network infrastructure security that would mitigate this (Cisco's Port Security perhaps?) but I'm not really qualified to comment on that.

What I do know is that we did "have some fun" diagnosing the appearance of 192.168.x.x addresses on our domain when, unbeknown to us in IT, some numpty plugged an Airport into an office network socket because he wanted to wander around his department with his personally owned Mac using our corporate network wirelessly. By default the device was dishing out DHCP addresses as if it were serving a private network and a number of machines picked them up due to their proximity on the network.

Hey G4Z!!!

Can I have your old HTC Desire then? My old Motorola Dext needs replacing! :-D

I'll even pray for your lost soul when it's owned by Evil Sony Inc...

A good point, Michelle, partially

We are still pretty much in the "Wild West" stage of the internet's development and the LOIC script-kiddie 4chan dwellers are going to be around for a while in this environment. Likewise it's no surprise that Anon's street protests against the Scientology cult were much more effective than DDOS and defacements.

However with the emergence of things like WikiLeaks and the subsequent HBGary affair hacktivism is growing up and finding its political feet: whichever side one takes it is impossible to dismiss as the pranks of some sad "mom's basement" dwellers. Personally I beleive that the material revealed by Anonymous with their HBGary hack gave a pretty scary glimpse of state+corporate dirty tricks on-line and the more light shed on that the better.

Traditional campaigning is important but grown-up hacktivism at its best can play a similar role to investigative journalism, not merely on-line civil disobedience and graffiti agit-prop.

Mmm...yummy Gnome Bars!

And even better dipped in open sauce :-p~

<apologies>

Indeed: Statseeker or JFFNMS anyone?

Perhaps the highly paid external "IT experts" from Logica (oh...quelle surprise!) were too busy examining the insides of their eyelids to check their e-mail.

I mean these "expert" private sector consultants wouldn't have installed such a network without the most basic of SNMP monitoring tools. Shirley!

And next the tsunami of pro-nuclear AGW deniers...

...along the lines of it couldn't happen here because:

(i) we're British

(ii) we don't do proper earthquakes/floods

(iii) I've got a big bucket of sand that I can stick my head in

(iv) <INSERT FAVOURED SPURIOUS BOLLOCKS HERE>

and in any case there's no such thing as anthropogenic global warming so why don't all you limp-wristed lettuce-munching pinko enviro-nazis fuck off back to (what remains of) the Amazonian rain forest seeing as you love plants so much!

Now where was that job offer at the Daily Heil...??

You'd trust this guy to deliver your pizza??

You'd open the box only to find that the poor sap had managed to allow someone to eat all the pepperoni off the top and leave a calling-card in the form of a small dog turd.

As for spending more time with his family, has anyone informed Social Services yet??

You need BOTH hands?

Stop boasting :-p~

And you think...

...that banks get Trusteer Rapport for free? And do you imagine banks don't recover such costs from us in the form of charges and interest rates?

But that's not the main point, which is that any IT security outfit worth its salt offers analysis of mitigation that can be implemented by sys admins and end users. Without that this is hard to distinguish from a corporate form of scareware: buy our software or your customers will be pWn3d!!!

VirginMedia =/= Customer Service

As a longstanding VM (Telewest, Blueyonder) customer none of this is any surprise. The 1st line call centre staff now seem trained to deny any problem their end or with their kit unless something has already been placed on their service staus pages (a rarity in itself). However if you are technically literate *AND* persistent they relent, give you the details of the problem and, if you're grumpy enough, offer a rebate.

It seems to me the only reason for this is to prevent large numbers of lay users from receiving legitimate rebates. This fits in entirely with VM's service model of "spend as little as possible on infrastructure, support and service to enhance marketing and milk existing/new customers as cheaply as possible".

All they have in their favour is that by and large it's a pretty reliable service. When it goes wrong: epic fail.

Kudos!

Almost funny enough to make a barbarian atheist like me wanna go to that church!

Nice one...

...as for WBC: tiny & insignificant group of religious nutcases in vile/transparent publicity stunt? Who knew!?

And whatever next? Illiterate hick pastors threatening to burn copies of the Koran? As if!

To be fair...

..."Non, je ne regrette rien" could well be the M$/Ballmer theme tune given their attitude to the multitude of legal assaults on their monopolistic practices.

As for Sarko, to (mis-)paraphrase Dubya: The French have no word for "putain de merde"

p.s. Surely it can be only a matter of time now before Napoleon the Turd honours the gurus of their own home-grown OS, Mandriva! </sarcasm>

Sense of humour transplant please nurse...

Bill was taking the rise (and rather well I thought) - comprende?

Truly impressive how you balance on that fence...

...but that is the privilege of the largely white educated middle-classes. I suppose at least you have the decency to own up to your position. Being white myself it's easier for me to avoid the unpleasant attention of the likes of the EDL, BNP and their fellow travellers but I have Muslim (and others of South Asian origin - the racist knuckle-draggers make little distinction) friends, neighbours and work colleagues who do not have that luxury.

Typical of nice middle-of-the-road liberals your logic is based on several flawed assumptions:

(i) that we can have a reasonable, informed and productive debate with the likes of the EDL and the BNP - they are not interested and away from their "just within the letter of the law" public face their activists and followers frequently resort to violence, intimidation and thuggery;

(ii) that there is somehow an equation between "Muslim" and "extremist" - if you even know any Muslim people personally I challenge you to find one that even approaches extremism - what the EDL mean by "Muslim extremist" is someone who has the temerity to stand up for some the rights and privileges that you and I take for granted as British citizens;

(iii) that it is perfectly OK for the racists and fascists to go about their business with anonymity - NO WAY: if there is one productive thing about this hack (beyond a bit of propaganda and a good chuckle at the expense of the knuckle-draggers) it is that these people are named and shamed - do you never ask yourself why they are so coy about their political affiliations being associated with their real identities?

(iv) that this kind of discussion on comment boards actually matters one jot - much as I love El Reg what you and I are engaging in is just froth - wake up and smell the coffee! :-)

Be fair Robert...

...this is the Vulture Towers International Media Megacorp (missed opportunity for initials to spell VIMTO there I feel...suggestions?) we're talking about: these uber-hacks are probably coked off their tits and on their second bottle of scotch by lunchtime each day.

For two hundred notes...

...I'd want a lot more than just an iPod dock on an inkjet all-in-one. Or rather I'd want a lot more *instead of* an iPod dock as I don't have a bloody iPod!

Even with the huge cash-back offer this is in the same price bracket as the highly-praised Samsung CLX-3185 *colour laser* all-in-one (that incidentally has Linux support). No thanks!

Clearly an item for the iHavemoremoneythansense fashion victim generation.

iEvolve (but not quite fast enough...)

Yep, sad, but legislation is hardly going to stop this. If some people are too stupid to not be distracted by their shiny phone while doing something potentially hazardous the threat of prosecution is hardly going to improve their survival chances.

In your opinion...

Opinions are great: I have a lot of those too, but when the hard facts blow my opinions out of the water it's time to re-evaluate. Check your favourite hardware tech sites: Sandy Bridge delivers X58 performance at a similar price point to the mid/high-end Phenom II with significantly lower absolute power consumption (never mind power/performance). It's not a breakthrough innovation but to argue that that doesn't represent some kind of technical excellence is pure semantics.

Of course you are right that the vast majority of chip sales are made without reference to the technicalities or the fact that Intel behave in a monopolistic, underhand and possibly illegal manner. But those are hard facts too, that's the world that AMD has to survive in and it will only do so by bringing products to market that are significantly superior to Intel's offerings. Will Fusion be such? Who knows? And therefore, as of now, who cares? You and I may love AMD's product but the faceless market could not care less: they have delivered good (but not Intel-beating) chips late too often recently.

The same goes for Nvidia: it doesn't matter if they unscrupulous back-stabbers (though I'd like to know what your evidence is for that), it can only be a mistake for AMD to upset them to the advantage of Intel. Not nice but true.

Facetious

fa·ce·tious [fuh-see-shuhs] –adjective

1. not meant to be taken seriously or literally: a facetious remark.

2. amusing; humorous.

3. lacking serious intent; concerned with something nonessential, amusing, or frivolous: a facetious person.

But what to do about it??

Oh yeah...I'll just remember to continue not buying anything from Apple! Sorted :-)

Apologies...

<humble-pie>

...am off sick with man-flu trolling the comment columns *ho-hum*

</humble-pie>

You have a point but...

...who is the classy compact aimed at? I bet the biggest chunk of the market is to people who already have a DSLR system for those times when it's impractical to carry around body, a couple of lenses and a flash.

And for functionality the major DSLR systems kick the butt of µ4:3 every time: more/better/3rd party lenses (without any need for adapters), the option of full-frame sensors four times as big as µ4:3 (higher res., less noise, better low-light performance, etc.) and...ermm...camera bodies that aren't nothing - I wonder if you could persuade a pro to part with their Canon EOS 1D or Nikon D3 (or even the next couple of models down) in exchange for µ4:3?

µ4:3 is a nice alternative to a bugdet DSLR in the consumer - it's a different beast from cameras like the LX5 or G12.

Yeah, all those pro photographers are stupid!

I mean why else would 99% of them be using DSLRs with that pointless bouncy-light-reflex-thingummy?

In case you haven't noticed, no digital display device (let alone the small LCD display/electronic viewfinder found in a camera) is remotely capable of capturing the subtlety of light, colour, contrast, dynamic range, focus and depth of field that the human eye can perceive through that mirror and pentaprism. Yaknow? I hope you do now.

Neither compact nor EVIL...

...the Leica & the Canon have (and always will have in these ranges) optical viewfinders, and I would respectfully suggest that attempting to change the lens on the Canon may invalidate one's warranty.

</pedant>

But no mention of the Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX5? Surely a much more significant "classy compact" release for the serious photographer than the pointless Micro Four Thirds DMC-GH2 (http://www.panasonic.co.uk/html/en_GB/Products/LUMIX+Digital+Cameras/Stylish+Compact/DMC-LX5/Overview/5435432/index.html) - it's that or G12 I'd be (vainly) hoping to find in my stocking next Saturday!