* Posts by Throatwobbler Mangrove

333 publicly visible posts • joined 7 Aug 2008

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Online defamation suits on the rise

Throatwobbler Mangrove
Mushroom

jeez

1) is it true that the "number of online defamation cases brought to English and Welsh courts has more than doubled in the past year" or that the number of defamation cases reported by Sweet & Maxwell's Lawtel and Westlaw products has increased by that amount? That has been the methodology in past years. Not every case is reported; not every reported case is reported by Lawtel and Westlaw.

2) more generally, where's the insight and analysis in this article? is this a good thing, a bad thing, an insignificant thing considering how few cases there actually are and how few disputes ever go to court?

What's the fricking point in having articles supposedly written by people from law firms (Pinsent Masons) when they're simply rewrites of other media articles which are themselves rewrites of a press release? Where's the accuracy and insight you'd expect from a professional in the field?

iPhone app tracks Android-equipped Surrey cops

Throatwobbler Mangrove
Thumb Down

huh

And that's exactly the quality of analysis we can expect from "The public can then use a sliding scale to say how important that activity is to them"...

Free Ride: Disney, Fela Kuti and Google's war on copyright

Throatwobbler Mangrove

Hmmm...

" in Nigeria, you had Fela Kuti, who is still as iconic as he ever was. This generated money sent back to Brazil and Nigeria. Now people are still making the music but not a lot of money is going back. And those countries could use the money. The culture business is one that generates jobs that are pretty good"

I have to say I am sceptical about whether the amount of money that was repatriated to Nigeria in return for Kuti's intellectual property was a significant contributor to its GDP and whether music "exports" ever employed as many Nigerian musicians as beer drinkers at the Shrine ever did.

Range Rover Evoque Si4

Throatwobbler Mangrove
Thumb Up

have to say

"Passengers can also perform the impressive trick of watching TV or a DVD while the driver keeps an eye on the sat nav, thanks to the screen’s prismatic dual-view technology, which presents a different image depending on your viewing angle. "

That sounds pretty f'ing cool.

David Cameron turns water cannons on social networks

Throatwobbler Mangrove
Facepalm

errr...

"...the update of the RIOT ACT to remove police responsibility for any riot damage."

The Riot Act was repealed by the Statute Law (Repeals) Act (E&W) 1973. Only the Riot (Damages) Act (E&W) 1886 remains in force.

The Riot Act did not make the state responsible for damage. The Riot (Damages) Act did.

The Riot (Damages) Act doesn't create or structure police powers or behaviour during public disorder. The Riot Act did - until it was repealed more than thirty years ago.

What was your point again?

HTC sinks $309m into audio tech from Dr Dre

Throatwobbler Mangrove

I don't think it's about the chip

It's just that everything sounds better in Dobly...

Fake collar bomb victim back in lock down

Throatwobbler Mangrove
Headmaster

aha

This is known as the "I don't know anything about the subject and it's not really relevant but I'll push my opinion anyway" approach.

There is an easily-found and not-terrible wikipedia page on exactly this topic: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-defence_%28Australia%29

The general principle in Australia is the traditional common law rule that people are entitled to use force to defend themselves so long as the degree of force used was actually believed by the self-defender to be proportionate on reasonable grounds. This is the same rule that exists in England & Wales and in the US too, except where Castle laws have been adopted to change it. It has been amended by statute in Victoria which has adopted a US-style law.

Quite what this has to do with the case at hand...

Throatwobbler Mangrove

i doubt it's actually relevant...

...but re: "that one of the applications of Appen Butler Hill's software is in fraud detection".

One of the other applications is in intelligence/surveillance/monitoring of intercepts, seeing as they do speech-to-text in a number of languages spoken in markets in which phone banking and call centres aren't yet a big concern i.e. Urdu, Pashtun etc.

But I say that only as an aside, there's nothing to suggest it's relevant here (as far as I can see from reading the papers).

DOH! Housing contractor loses unencrypted stick down the pub

Throatwobbler Mangrove
Thumb Up

If you're going to take that approach...

...then surely the problem is that power sockets are left "live". If users needed to contact an Sysop-approved electrician to have a socket connected to the power supply, we wouldn't have half the IT problems we do today.

Heathrow to get new facial recognition scanners

Throatwobbler Mangrove

and also...

...when it does happen, what exactly is the security risk? They've both been through security screening anyway, haven't they?

Apologies in advance if I'm being particularly dense here...

Four illegal ways to sort out the Euro finance crisis

Throatwobbler Mangrove

well...

"The EU isn't truly one country with the same law, taxes etc everywhere."

True, but the UK, US and (I'd guess) most federal countries don't have the same law and taxes everywhere either. IIRC, Scottish Parliament can vary income tax by +/- 3%; variation in laws and taxes between US states is obviously much more significant.

Shale gas frees Europe from addiction to Putin's Pipe

Throatwobbler Mangrove

pedantry

There is no need to use the definite article when referring to Ukraine. It's just "Ukraine", not "the Ukraine".

http://www.infoukes.com/faq/the_ukraine/

Groupon faces multitude of legal headaches in US

Throatwobbler Mangrove

hold on

" there's the slightly bizarre insistence by some states that unused vouchers and coupons are actually the property of the state itself, analogous to forgotten-about bank accounts or people dying intestate."

It's not bizarre. The purpose is to ensure the banks etc don't have an interest in making it difficult for depositors/whoever to find out if they have unclaimed deposits/balances.

Plods roll out new Police National Database

Throatwobbler Mangrove

...but

...to be fair, no-one claimed Huntley's murdering would have been prevented by the PND...although I suppose you could suggest it was implicit in the linking of the two.

Bitcoin collapses on malicious trade

Throatwobbler Mangrove
Alert

111100101011100101011101

it's been quite interesting listening to the bitcoin fanbois talking about how they're going to buy bitcoin because it's a more stable and reliable store of value than normal currency (GYAC - it has been around long enough to be reliable and the volume of trading has been highly unstable) and how it's not just a big trick based on confidence that can fail at any moment (just like Bitcoin has today).

Refusal to unveil scuppers French refusal-to-unveil trial

Throatwobbler Mangrove
WTF?

do me a favour

"Ask Queen Rania"

You what?

I'm about as likely to be interested in Queen Rania's thoughts on interpretation of Islamic religious doctrine as in Prince Harry's thoughts on post-Soviet environmental movements. Why would anyone care what the thoughts of some posh dizzy PR girl on the issue were?

Throatwobbler Mangrove
Thumb Up

food for thought

"I've heard it said too that the burqa isn't a religious garment, but it's pretty difficult to define what is and isn't a religious practice"

Indeed, that's true.

Of course, the state can avoid such dilemmas by minding its OWN BLOODY BUSINESS and not trying to liberate women by telling them which clothes they are and aren't allowed to put on their body.

Computers locking up kids in NSW

Throatwobbler Mangrove

title

This class action is good news and I wish the plaintiffs well. However...

"The problem seems to be that the NSW Police’s dated operational system, dubbed COPS, has trouble communicating with the state’s troubled JusticeLink computer system...in a classic example of “picnic” (Problem In Chair, Not In Computer), police have been accused of relying solely on their COPS system"

Isn't this a PICAIC (Problem In Chair And In Computer) situation?

Egyptian ad gives Vodafone credit for revolution

Throatwobbler Mangrove

Looking forward to similar work

If JWT is so proud of having helped overthrow an authoritarian regime in Egypt, then presumably they'll be gearing up to do the same in other markets in which they operate: Syria, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Russia...right?

(Wankers)

'One size fits all' EU data law would undermine rights, says Clarke

Throatwobbler Mangrove
Thumb Down

huh

""Without reasonably portable health records for example, it’s hard to see how medical services can operate sensibly. Without appropriately regulated data on credit histories, then loans and mortgages might in future be very limitedly available – and might even only be available to the very wealthy," Clarke said."

Well, OK, then, if it's sensible for my health* and credit history** data not to be deleted, then I'll probably act sensibly and won't ask for it to be deleted. Whatever happened to the Tories being the party of personal responsibility?

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/personal-view/3636331/Tories-will-replace-Labour-not-ape-it.html

* because without my medical history the doctor won't know I'm allergic to penicillin and might kill me.

** because without my credit history the bank won't know I'm a reliable fella and will only lend money at extortionate rates of interest. And don't forget CCJs, bankruptcies etc would still be searchable because that data doesn't rely on my consent in order to be recorded, maintained and accessed.

Twitter forced to hand over user details to English council

Throatwobbler Mangrove
Boffin

The answer, my friend...

...is on page 65/66 (!) of the complaint which was linked to above: http://openaccess1.sanmateocourt.org/getpdf/pdftemp/201105281722593538/A-0000074796-1.pdf

The council is suing for libel, false light invasion of privacy, intentional infliction of emotional distress and negligent infliction of emotional distress.

The court order requiring Twitter to provide the information isn't a finding that the council has proved the statements were libellous, an invasion of privacy etc. It's also not penalising Twitter in any way. It's just allowing them to find out who to sue. The council hasn't proven anything...there is still a long, hard, expensive litigation journey to go on yet...

Rumbled benefits cheats offer sensational excuses

Throatwobbler Mangrove
Mushroom

and how about

"if I had claimed the money transparently, honestly and frankly, I would have been entitled to every penny, if not more", David Chaytor

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2011/jan/07/david-chaytor-jailed-mps-expenses

Throatwobbler Mangrove
Mushroom

and another

“All the other peers were doing it”, Paul White alias Lord Hanningfield.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/conservative/8538585/Lord-Hanningfield-found-guilty-of-expenses-fraud.html

Voda stops worrying, learns to love the NBN

Throatwobbler Mangrove
FAIL

An endorsement from VHA?

Jeez, hasn't the NBN got enough problems already?

Russian security start-up kits up 30,000 state bank ATMs, terminals

Throatwobbler Mangrove
Dead Vulture

you're too cruel

Perhaps the relevant press release was written in Ye Olde Englifh longhand...

Save the planet: Stop the Greens

Throatwobbler Mangrove
Alert

title

I'm a bit mixed about the article as a whole (not really knowing enough about the subject) but that quote jumped out at me as weird too:

"Well, umm, however strange this might sound, there really are a lot of people, or perhaps just a few very vocal people, who think that more energy, in and of itself, would be a bad idea."

Well, umm, why weren't they named if they're so very vocal? I'm sure such people exist but it was a weird omission - it just looks like a straw man without detail and without knowing who they are or how influential they are already.

Vodafone AU falls on Easter Sunday

Throatwobbler Mangrove
FAIL

i agree

I filed a complaint with the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman because of poor coverage, dropped calls, missing messages, failing hardware, poor responsiveness to support calls and poor customer service by Vodafone. TIO is now going to investigate my complaint...because Vodafail didn't reply to the TIO and me in the required period.

Wankers.

Russians honour 65-metre fluorescent phallus

Throatwobbler Mangrove
FAIL

yeah...

...uhh...that was the joke.

Russian pres fumes at mystery DDoS hack

Throatwobbler Mangrove

goddamn titles

"This...evokes an unflattering image of him...while prime minister Vladamir [sic] "Dobby" Putin continues to run the country. Isn't it a bit odd that, as president of a country, Medvedev is writing that the police ought to investigate the attack rather than phoning them up and insisting they look into it."

No, it's not odd at all. The message is not an abstract "I'm outraged that the prosecutor's office isn't doing enough about this and I wish they would" whine to the world at large. The message is to the prosecutor is a clear one that "this is a DDoS that should be investigated, as opposed to the DDoSs that shouldn't be investigated": http://www.eurasiareview.com/russia-blogosphere-under-attack-analysis-09042011/

Georgian granny disconnects Armenian internet

Throatwobbler Mangrove
Boffin

off target

Georgia has a big, friendly and democratic-ish neighbour in the form of Turkey, as well as Black Sea access for any underwater pipes it feels like laying. This is why it's in a position to onsell net access to Azerbaijan and Armenia.

Armenia, on the other hand, has an unfriendly neighbour in the form of Azerbaijan (a substantial chunk of Azeri territory is occupied by Armenia and Karabagh), an unfriendly neighbour in the form of Turkey (which is allied with Azerbaijan and is arguing about whether the Armenian genocides did or didn't happen) and a relatively unfriendly pariah neighbour in the form of Iran (not much good for net access anyway). That's what it is so dependent on the single link from Georgia.

Anti-social media in defence a token of chronic stupidity

Throatwobbler Mangrove

title

or better still, let's just drop the use of autism as a simile or metaphor for institutions' behaviour because it's rubbish.

UK gov 'draws US attention' to Bradley Manning concerns

Throatwobbler Mangrove

not quite

No trial/court-martial having taken place, no breaking of civilian or military law has been proven. Hence the concern over supposed security and safety measures which a) appear punitive (extrajudicial punishment) and b) would look a lot like cruel and unusual punishment if they were indeed punitive (Eighth Amendment).

Tribunal rules Digifone paid bung for Irish GSM licence

Throatwobbler Mangrove
Thumb Up

their troubles may not be over (thankfully)

All OECD countries have laws prohibiting the bribery of foreign officials. Bribery in country A by company B can sustain a prosecution in country C if the company has a sufficient presence to trigger C's jurisdiction. The US FCPA in particular draws the line very wide indeed. I don't know off the bat where Telenor's operations were in 1998 but e.g. if they were quoted in the US or issued securities there, the DoJ would have jurisdiction to investigate. The same might apply to a number of other OECD countries with jurisdiction over Digicel/O'Brien/Telenor and other interested people, even if the Irish authorities cbf'd doing anything about it...

UK cyclists hit by fraud after online purchase at website

Throatwobbler Mangrove
Pirate

What to do with proceeds?

1) Weren't there also similar concerns about another major bike/sports bits retailer about a year ago? (Don't want to name names because I can't remember which one it was)

2) So, assuming I am the scammer, what do I do with the thousands of ten quid top ups? Do I go around selling them for a fiver to corner shops? Can I order real stuff using my prepaid credit balance? Can I divert inbound calling card calls through the mobiles with the stolen credit?

I can't see how the fraudsters benefit from the payg credit. Can someone explain?

Dear US gov: Stay the hell out of Silicon Valley

Throatwobbler Mangrove

huh

"Ever since the US Justice Department inserted itself into Microsoft's business practices, however, the tech world has been forced to invest in lobbying federal lawmakers. Just last year, Google increased such spending by 29 percent over 2009."

1) Practically all major US corporations lobby and make or funnel political donations to protect their corporate interests, not just "the tech world". There is nothing unusual about tech firms lobbying. It's pretty remarkable that the author thinks that the whole of US tech firms can be explained in terms of one cause, one effect, one timeframe and one trend.

2) US v Microsoft litigation began in May 1998. Google was incorporated in September 1998. Using Google as an example of how corporations have changed their political activity post-US v Microsoft is a pretty pointless exercise seeing as Google Inc didn't have any pre-US v Microsoft activity!

Free Wi-Fi, SMS alerts for Sydney commuters – if ALP wins election

Throatwobbler Mangrove

well

to be fair, now that practically in Sydney everyone owns mobile phones, what would be the point in replicating that communications network and display at every bus stop at vast expense? They'd spend a huge amount of cash over x years doing it all when by x-1 years, practically everyone will have a phone that's capable of running a Sydney Buses when's-the-next-bus-Doris app.

Hmm, put like that, it's weird that NSW Labor hasn't used this as an opportunity to shovel more money in the shitty hands of party donor contractors...

Vodafone confirms Egypt lock-down

Throatwobbler Mangrove

meh

In what sense is Vodafone a British company when capital is stateless and the vast majority of their revenue comes from outside the UK? http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/07/24/vodafone_revenue_down/

Because of their great emotional commitment to the UK and their unwavering financial support of its government? lolzers: http://www.ukuncut.org.uk/targets

McDonalds samples NFC swipe-tech in UK

Throatwobbler Mangrove

uninformative video

That Starbucks video is crap and uninformative. Instead of showing me (the coffee consumer who has no idea what NFC is, not the Reg reader who is probably familiar with it) smiley animations, why not show me how it actually works so I can understand WTF it is and feel more comfortable with using it.

DUP website translated into Irish by mischievous hacktivist

Throatwobbler Mangrove

huh

"The problem is that the Republic has stolen the words "Ireland" and "Irish" to mean something completely different than the true meaning of the words."

You can join the (hypothetical) Bretons whining about how the UK has stolen the word "British"...

Tory councillor arrested over 'stoning to death' tweet

Throatwobbler Mangrove
Stop

not true either literally or in substance

Assuming he is in England or Wales, I refer the Right Honourable Gentleman to s.2 of the Human Rights Act (1998), which incorporated a number of articles of the European Convention on Human Rights into E&W law, particularly Article 10:

"Article 10 – Freedom of expression

Everyone has the right to freedom of expression. This right shall include freedom to hold opinions and to receive and impart information and ideas without interference by public authority and regardless of frontiers...

"The exercise of these freedoms, since it carries with it duties and responsibilities, may be subject to such formalities, conditions, restrictions or penalties as are prescribed by law and are necessary in a democratic society, in the interests of national security, territorial integrity or public safety, for the prevention of disorder or crime, for the protection of health or morals, for the protection of the reputation or rights of others..."

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1998/42/section/1

http://conventions.coe.int/treaty/en/Treaties/Html/005.htm

DDoS attacks take out Asian nation

Throatwobbler Mangrove
Stop

yeah but there's a difference here

"nobody seems particularly disturbed, and speculation on who did the dirty deed is notably lacking"

Could the possible explanation for that be that Burma isn't currently involved in any disputes with neighbours states that have a track record of security agencies co-opting organised crime groups (and vice versa)?

This is what's unclear about the present attack - cui bono. It doesn't seem like the military regime attempting to cut off voters' access to t'internet because they don't really have much access in the first place. The opposition seems pretty feeble and disrupting the internet would only reduce their access to the Burmese people. And no-one else seems to be agitated enough about the situation in Burma to actually bother doing anything.

Could it just be someone doing for the lolz?

Volunteer biker gang foils Westminster CCTV car fleet

Throatwobbler Mangrove
FAIL

It's not a parking violation

"3. Will the Smart Cars have to be parked legally?

The vehicles have Parking Identifier Boards which exempt parking on paid for parking places, resident bays, and single and double yellow lines. They may not park anywhere else and only obtain the exemption by means of carrying out a statutory function. "

http://www.westminster.gov.uk/services/transportandstreets/parking/parkingtickets/cctv/faqs/

First tube station to get Wi-Fi next week

Throatwobbler Mangrove
Thumb Down

Rubbish

Teh Terrorists could just as easily use timing devices or human morons or mobile phones (in the many parts of the London Underground that are above ground/shallow/in trenches and there is reception).

There are good reasons why mobile phone coverage in the tube and in the air should be restricted (mostly to stop people doing my head in with their bloody inane conversations) but ZOMG TERRORISTS isn't one of them.

Hacker almost derailed Mandela election in South Africa

Throatwobbler Mangrove

Not directly on topic...

...but Peter Harris's last book, In a Different Time, is excellent. It's the history of the deployment, arrest and trial of four MK (ANC armed wing) operatives. Frankly, they didn't achieve much in the way of terrorism (Mandela's description of the MK, btw, see his Autobiog) although they were a bit more successful in intimidating/assassinating black collaborators with the police but the interesting part of the affair was the subsequent trial, in which they demanded to stand trial as PoWs and refused to plead innocent.

http://book.co.za/blog/2009/08/05/book-excerpt-in-a-different-time-by-peter-harris/

Man enraged by sagging pants pops cap in teen's ass

Throatwobbler Mangrove

edited for you

"The difference here in the UK is the old gent would not have had a gun to draw, so the..."

...kids who'd done nothing wrong would not have been shot by the bad-tempered rageball who thinks he's got a right to go around telling other people how to dress.

iPhone app tagged as terror tool

Throatwobbler Mangrove
Thumb Down

Oxford-educated...

...and he still can't think about what his words mean?

"Anything that makes it easier for our enemies to find targets is madness," Tory MP Patrick Mercer told the Daily Mail. "The Government must look at outlawing the marketing of such equipment."

'Anything'? Binoculars, road maps, compasses?

The 'marketing' of such equipment? If it's so dangerous, shouldn't possession, distribution and sale also be outlawed as well?

And so on...

Canada prostitution laws pulverised: politicians apoplectic

Throatwobbler Mangrove
Troll

yes

It's a little like the Bill of Rights.

Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms: http://laws.justice.gc.ca/en/charter/

Lily Allen sues Apple over hacked Macbook

Throatwobbler Mangrove
Headmaster

the headline

The headline is practically longer than the Sun titbit that the post is based on!

Also - I don't think that Apple is being sued by Allen. I suspect it's something more along the lines of requiring discovery to identify a potential litigant, which is different.

Mozambique blocked rioters' texts

Throatwobbler Mangrove
Thumb Down

uncritical

"The riots were encouraged by round-robin text messages." El Reg

"The protests were fuelled by text messages urging people to join in." BBC

Says who? The government that just ordered the censoring? Of course they're going to blame public disturbance on shady criminal elements instead of, for instance, pissed off poor people wondering about where their next meal is going to come from.

It's not a fact that is sourced to the Mozambican media outlet nor the BBC journalist, yet it's critical to understanding the issue. The reasonableness of the censorship depends on the nature and degree of risk the blockaded messages present.

This report casts doubt on the claim that text messages were sent encouraging riot but were in fact planning for protests - just like anywhere and just like Iranians were encouraged to do with Twitter: http://allafrica.com/stories/201009090012.html

"Note that they are not restricting all phone texting, but only to those that are using 'burn' phones or 'pre-paid' wireless phones since these tend to be the phones which are sending the texts."

If you think that the kind of people who are upset because the price of their staple foods has gone up are going around buying disposable phones to spread misinformation, you're completely deluded. You know that GDP per cap per diem is $3 in Mozambique, right? That 70% of people live on less than $2 a day?

Of course it's going to be prepaid phones that are most used to discuss food prices - the people who can afford mobile phone contracts are going to be less impacted by the increases!

http://www.mg.co.za/article/2010-09-11-mozambique-govt-suspends-smses

Linus Torvalds outs himself as US citizen

Throatwobbler Mangrove

dassaasdsads

1) There are no tax benefits ime - in fact, the opposite. Non-US citizens can stop paying tax on worldwide income just as soon as they stop being US residents (and, if relevant, terminate their PR status). Not true for US citizens.

2) If you want to make a jingoistic point about it, there are very few countries around the world that are in a position to throw stones at the US for interning its own citizens on the basis of who they were and not what they'd done. The UK, for instance, was still doing it 25 years after the end of WW2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Demetrius

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