Posts by kurucu

Unsuspecting

Often there are two types of comments on things like this: the people running around and screaming and those who insist nothing is as dangerous as anyone ever makes out. Credit to The Reg for attracting more reasonable readers! On the other hand, the comments are more interesting than the story in this case...

There is no doubt about it - this machine is a torture device, there's no way around that. Prolonged pain with apparently no side effects. Well, there certainly are. Aside from the fact that the likelihood of cancer is cumulative with time, and therefore this gun like all radiators of EM energy increases your chances of disease, it physically heats your skin in order to cause pain. Just like being microwaved briefly, or touching a hot object.

So sure, assuming it isn't the blast that knocks a DNA strand in one of your important cells, you are likely to recover from any burning or boiling that it might cause you, just like you would after an accident in the kitchen.

The operational scenario is likely to be one where people get a few quick blasts, recoil from the heat and all is OK. But if someone tries to run away, and accidentally runs in the direction that the beam is sweeping, or the operator gets a bit trigger happy, the burns caused could easily lead to loss of fluids, shock and even death. And that's just burnt skin. If the burns run deep, who knows how much damage could be caused. This could well be targeted at someone's face.

What's more, where in the Western world does a crowd hostile enough to warrant such a weapon ever accumulate!? Surely this was only ever designed for war-torn countries, or are riots anticipated by the powers-that-be, perhaps due to the legislation they wish to pass that removes our last human rights?

I can't wait to see the English version

... served up on the Amazon S3 and with a gaping hole in it's security. Then an apology, some overlooked mistakes and everyone walks free saying "computers, eh?"

£10 per episode!?

Why couldn't they just offer a subscription something like the the licensing fee, divided into a monthly amount and provide it as a subscriber service.

I pay £5pm for a VPN connection and get the iPlayer that way, it works wonders. Why don't they just create an official version.

But, as the article says, if they overcharge I'll simply revert to iTunes purchases.

It is still restricted

"Trivial" or not, a classification is a classification, and by being marked as such indicates that the document is not for general public release. How precisely does the release of this information on WikiLeaks help towards a safer public? Truthful it may be, but there is a reason why some documents are kept out of the public domain. Indeed, Restricted does not necessarily mean that the public can't see it - just that they should not tell people about it who do not need to know.

I don't suppose that this document has everything we suspect/know about the Chinese and other foreign intelligence agencies, but either way the less they know about what we know the better. We are talking about our national security here, and while most of the information this might give them access to (by knowing how not to ask) might be relatively 'trivial' or useless to them, it's that one important thing (perhaps that no one thought of) that this document and the classification system was designed to protect.

Woe betide the employee who let it slip. But no one is immune to prosecution for this - it is your obligation as a British citizen to return it to its owner, which would have been very clear on the front of the document. I find it depressing that we have so little pride or respect for ourselves, that we laugh about this sort of mistake rather than get angry.

Meow not a roar...

... but Apple promised to deliver Snow Leopard on the same day it was released to my door. So why would I go and queue for it? It seems pretty obvious to me why the crowds were small - people had better things to do with their time (like sleep in until the postman comes).

Grrr

So why can't we use it in the rest of the world, if it is just down to AT&T?