Russian data scientist unable to claim £12,000 prize in Brit competition A data scientist claims the UK's Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (DSTL) diddled him out of a £12,000 research competition prize because he is Russian – despite assurances he'd be able to claim the money. Vladimir Iglovikov entered DSTL's Data Science Challenge earlier this year. The section of the challenge he …
In a sane world (dream on) acceptance of the entry in the first place should have been good enough as long as the details of the competitor entering weren't hidden. The entry was plainly accepted in full knowledge that the entrant would be disqualified. Pay - up!
Not rules as such.... merely guidelines?
reminds me of a friend of mine - got a job at a restauarant in the Lake district - with accomodation . I helped move him up there (100 miles) . The owners were out so the staff siad "yeah just move your stuff into that room" .. all was well
, then the owners turned up , decided his face didnt fit and it was all off !
I have worked for extended periods in all four of them (including Blighty) and lived in two. Are you sure you want to hear my opinion?
And that link has what to do with May exactly?
"But the events of the next 48 hours ensured that the SFO would not be allowed to collect those files. Instead came a sudden harsh lesson in the realities of power and politics in Blairite Britain."
Plus it's the Guardian, which granted is usually a Labour rag but still...
Just to make things clear, this isn't about eligibility to enter and compete in the competition; it's just about eligibility to be awarded a prize.
Eligibility to enter and compete is covered by Section 2 of the 'Official Rules' which is headed "Eligibility to take part in Data Challenges" and the only restrictions to entry are:
2.1 Data Challenges are open to individuals aged 18 and over. Entries made by or on behalf of corporate entities will not be accepted.
2.2 Officers, directors, employees and their immediate families of the Sponsoring Agencies, BAE Systems, Capgemini UK PLC, Roke Manor Research Limited and their respective group companies, contractors and agents may not participate in Data Challenges.
However, clauses 2.3 & 2.4 of the competition rules do not refer to eligibility to enter and compete but just address exclusions of payment:
2.3 No payment shall be made (whether directly or via a third party/country) to:
2.4 If UK Government is not (or its authorised representative is not) reasonably satisfied as to the potential recipient's identity, no payment shall be made to that person.
And it is sub-clause 2.3b that refers to "a score of 37 or less according to Transparency International's Corruption Perceptions Index 2014"
I find it a bit puzzling to allow someone to enter but then specifically exclude them from being awarded a prize, should they win.
"I find it a bit puzzling to allow someone to enter but then specifically exclude them from being awarded a prize, should they win."
Makes perfect sense.
1. Invite clever entries
2. don't have to play out.
3. Keep prize money
4. Monetise code
5. $Profit$$$
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I find it a bit puzzling to allow someone to enter but then specifically exclude them from being awarded a prize, should they win.
Not that puzzling, this is the usual "kick the Ruskies" shit that emanates from the British government. Regardless of the poor state of Russian governance, I see no reason that the winner should be blocked from receiving the prize he's due, on arbitrary criteria for which he has (I suspect) no personal responsibility. And of course, the thieves and bureaucrats at DSTL will now be claiming that they own the intellectual property of the entry. When it comes to stupid, petty, unfair rule making, the British government is world class, so we shouldn't expect anything more.
I do hope the Kremlin get involved, and do something that causes the British government some suitable embarrassment and expense.
Competition entries, once submitted, become the property of the British government. Such challenges are fairly routine in the world of defence science and technology research as the government tries to slurp the fruits of private-sector thinkers.
Which is most probably why the state of governments is so poor and practically always under some sort of PACT or other [Persistent Advanced Cyber Threat] from that and/or those with a mind not to be taken advantage/cynically abused. And all the really bright sparks are never found toiling in the public sector, are they.
Be honest now. ...... for if they were things would not be so austere and inequitable to be a root cause of so much that is presented by media to terrorise and be a constant source of future daily and zero day concern.
Use Virtual Means and Memes. IT aint difficult like rocket science to uncover new star turns able to create, command and control and crash planetary systems of exclusive executive administration.
And that title could also be written Start a New News Program with Enlightened Scripts to Follow for Real and Make True Enough.
The simplest and slightest of changes in past tales of yore easily changes the reality presented to paint a whole new picture ....... and so it is with the times and spaces in which we all play today
Hello Thomas and welcome to BA "Fly in Comfort & Style" recruiting.
Please have a seat. That's your computer science resume is it?
OK first question, how would you design a fail-safe messaging system to be distributed across 200 critical systems. [45 minutes later] Thank you for your time Thomas.
Shirley, please send in the next applicant.
Oh dear, someone thinks "NCIS:Los Angeles" is a documentary.
Multiplied by "Let's put BAe Systems in charge of running the competition."
What can possibly go wrong in this scenario?
Fair enough, it's defense related, no furriners allowed (if this was the US DoD you can bet that would be the first rule) but "Furriners allowed, but you can't have a prize if you win" WTF?
At least he can put this result on his C.V. to enhance his reputation. I suspect the organisers are not too keen on transparency in this case.
Now, if I felt inclined to be really cynical, I might wonder if he was awarded the result for the purpose of depriving someone who was eligible for the money.
Indeed I suspect it is exactly because of press like this that BAE and DSTL's lawyers have put in such a clause.
If you're doing everything you can to avoid allegations of corruption it would seem sensible to me to avoid making any payments whatsoever, under any circumstances, to countries which score low on the bribery & corruption index in case some graun reporter gets wind of it and puts you on the front page again.
To cut the long film at its first season: Vladimir has an unalienable right to not to take into account the rules of DSTL regarding the author's rights on his projects and developments. And BAE has just added another stinky note to the previous not-too-remarkable and still not desodoured smell of their way of doing "business".
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I'm kidding.
As soon as I see their grubby paws on something I suspect it's going straight down the sh**er.
BAe do have mad skillz though.
At extracting money from government con-tracts (at least there's a fair element of "con" if they are involved).
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