* Posts by Daniel 4

212 publicly visible posts • joined 26 Jun 2009

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Hundreds of websites share usernames sans permission

Daniel 4

Violating computer security is only a crime if you're "Anonymous"

"In August, they revealed JavaScript hosted on MSN.com and three other Microsoft websites that secretly logged visitors' browsing histories across multiple web properties, even when the users deleted browser cookies to elude tracking. The researchers also exposed a marketer that helped websites deliver targeted ads by exploiting a decade-old browser flaw that leaks the history of websites that users visit."

To me, it isn't that surprising that this occurred. What is disgusting is that nothing has been done about it. Laws are already on the books that make this criminal behavior - not the tracking itself per se, but deliberately and knowingly bypassing the security measures on another computer. Just from this paragraph alone, it is my firm belief that both Microsoft and this marketer should be under criminal investigation. I also question whether or not a fine alone is adequate punitive action; there where individual humans who made the decision to bypass the security settings of thousands, if not millions, of computers on the 'net. If some kid somewhere scraped out this much information from people's computers against their will, the FBI would be turning over the couches and shaking them looking to see if clues would fall out.

Someone, or multiple someones, should be in prison right now.

-d

P.S. - Not trying defend anyone with my title, just pointing out the double standard.

VeriSign demands website takedown powers

Daniel 4

Speaking as an American...

I sometimes don't understand why the civilized world doesn't establish a replacement for ICANN, and replace ALL their activities. Personally, I think it would be worth seeing the internet break for a year just to stop this abuse. While we're at it, perhaps the rest of the world can go IPv6 - otherwise, the new replacement for ICANN will just have to grab half or so of the IPs assigned to the U.S. for equitable distribution worldwide.

Perhaps the country which should get the honor of hosting the new ICANN is the first well-wired, stable nation willing to pass legislation granting the new ICANN complete immunity from local courts, modeled somewhere between organizations like the U.N. and diplomatic immunity for Ambassadors?

-d

No icon, because I couldn't decide between J/K and the Flame - they both apply.

Would you let your car insurer snoop on you for a better deal?

Daniel 4

Would you let your car insurer snoop on you for a better deal?

Not only no, but hell no!

It has nothing to do with my driving, either - I had one minor traffic violation my first year driving, and a perfectly clean record for well over a decade (approaching two now!) since. It's all about mission creep, black boxes in my car, and, if the truth is to be known, OnStar. We've already seen that the authorities will take advantage, with secret court orders if necessary, any technology we allow in our vehicles. I'd rather drive a 1970's smoke belching diesel than put up with that.

-d

Trusteer rebuffs bank security bypass claims

Daniel 4

Proof of concept code requires root

It is quite common for proof of exploit code to have further restrictions than any malware in the wild would have. After all, a security researcher doesn't want to just hand over everything to the world only to see their work pop up as the next 0 day virus/trojan. In fact, while the proof of concept code was demonstrated at a conference, it was withheld from the public (in complete contradiction to Trusteer's self-serving and blatantly misleading PR release) to provide time for a fix to be implemented.

In other words, this was responsible security disclosure. If Trusteer can't keep up with the speed the real world moves at, then they should get out of the digital security business.

-d

Daniel 4

@Dan Clarke

Sounds like time to change banks to me.

-d

Stallman: Jobs exerted 'malign influence' on computing

Daniel 4

Re: Thanks to people like that, oss exists.

Ilgaz:

The problem is, thanks to people like RMS, many OSS projects have occasionally come close to dying, too. Case in point: GPLv3. All I can say is thank goodness Linus Trovalds put his foot down on that one; I personally know at least one company that absolutely would have migrated from linux to another platform. Put bluntly, RMS spends far more time hurting his case than helping it.

-d

Daniel 4
Joke

Humility is for those who don't know tthat hey are right

When I see someone come out of a bar, jump on their bike, stick a light cigarette in their mouth (yay ashes in the eyes!), and take off down the road without a helmet, I assure you - I don't agree with his decisions; I do consider him a fool, and make no apologizes about it.

-d

Daniel 4

"Well, not directly. It's a bit tricky, and require a bit of work. I can either jailbreak - which voids warranty and sends my accountants spinning - and use something like ZodPlay."

Do you still have Applecare on at least one of those? Because I don't have a single purchased piece of media from Apple in my collection, and all I had to do was just what the poster above said:

1) Import

1b) (Optional) Select songs to sync if your collection is too large to fit on your iThing.

2) Sync

If you're still having problems, you may want to confirm that your collection isn't bigger than the free space on your phone - if it is, then you'll have to actually go through and select individual albums/artists/songs/playlists for syncing, but that's the only tricky part - and usually only comes up if you have an old iThing with very little storage.

Honestly, I've used several different phones, but syncing an iPhone is one thing I've never had any problems with. The Apple drones exist for a reason, if you're still covered, make them help you.

-d

Daniel 4
Alert

@AC 07:26 - Computers are hard drugs now?

Really? You think 6 months with a mac is like 6 months on a highly addictive drug? Do yourself a favor. Get out, find a soup kitchen. Talk to a social worker about volunteering with recovering drug addicts. Maybe just spend a few lunches with a real junkie.

In other words, get some perspective on the world. You DESPERATELY need it.

-d

Daniel 4
Stop

Well, let's see....

a) Totally crass comment which has been repeated and spewed across the web.

b) Views on pedophilia that most people don't even know about, because they only get quoted and bandied about in VERY geeky circles.

Yeah, I'd say he's going to take more heat for this (choice a) without a doubt. But I'm not at all certain it's about the comment, rather, more about the number of people who have heard it.

-d

P.S. - Fair disclosure: I dislike Stallman, but that long pre-dated Steve Job's death, and all this incident has really done is add "ill-mannered" to my list of negative qualities the man displays in abundance.

Daniel 4
Stop

My tech-addled Grandma won't use iTumes for music, what's the point here?

"Yes, there are other music programs available on the Mac, but come on, iTunes is what everyone uses and you know it. You may use it to store your free music, but that is not its purpose. Apple didn't invest so much time and effort on iTunes because they want to ensure you enjoy your free media, it's a sales portal. So my argument stands, if you buy media you are locked in and Apple can change the rules at any time."

Wrong, wrong, wrong. (Maybe if I say it three times someone will actually listen.) I know people who are as geeky as they come and people who are just getting comfortable enough with their computer to put their credit card number in over "the big bad internet." Not ONE person I know has bought music from iTunes in years. Amazon seems to be the place of choice for a lot of my less techie friends, but it doesn't really matter - even 60+ year old grandmas know enough that they want "EM-PEE-THREES." If some of the people I'm thinking of are this aware, I have a hard time believing that this hasn't crossed a cultural line.

-d

Daniel 4
FAIL

@Barry Shitpeas

"so as long as it runs Android (which everything note-worthy does these days)"

Not trying to defend the original poster (who seemed a little confused), but this response is... well... in context... stupid. After all, we're talking on a forum about an article that covered Apple products far more than Android. Do you think those iPhones just disappeared in the time between when the article was written and you wrote your post? What about RIM's infamous crackberry? Or even the winmo phones? (Ok, I'm giggling at that one too, but it technically still counts.)

Sorry, Android has NOT completely eliminated all other phone platforms, no matter what you may think. Taken off like a rocket, yes. Eliminated the competition? Not even close.

-d

Autonomy slams Oracle's 'Lynch tells whoppers' claim

Daniel 4

I disagree (on the automatic B.S.)

Lawsuits are messy, and in cases like this, leave your P.R. department with a sour taste in their mouth no matter how open and shut the case is. Then there is the ongoing flirtation with HP - you normally try to clear as many ugly court cases before an acquisition, not start new ones. Explaining away Oracle's "evidence" in a way that makes them look silly may be the "least painful" approach, no matter how right (or wrong) they happen to be.

-d

Spotify adds 'temporary' private listening mode after Facebook backlash

Daniel 4
Flame

Up until now, I really didn't care much about Facebook. I didn't like it and didn't use it myself, but that was a personal choice. Now, however, they are using their market dominance in one field to gain a grossly unfair advantage in another. THAT is abusing a monopoly position. Where is the anti-trust investigation?

-d

Ancient auto: still running, up for sale

Daniel 4

@Vic

"(do they have the MOT in Merkania?)"

Yes, though being the U.S. we have to run everything through the States but complicated by a fine layer of federal oversight/potstiring. That said, there are almost always special rules for anything like this - antiques, demo runs (less than 50 vehicles in the production run), etc. - this vehicle actually meets multiple "exemption" criteria. That can keep inspection requirements to a bare minimum in most jurisdictions Stateside.

-d

HideMyAss defends role in LulzSec hack arrest

Daniel 4

Useful, but only for legitimate needs

These services can be a real godsend for a lot of people, but no, they really aren't very useful for hiding anything illegitimate - they are, in practice, just another ISP who has all of your details.

If you use mobile internet, swap locations a lot, find yourself stuck behind restrictive firewalls when you have a legitimate need for full internet access - these services can be invaluable. Personally, I used one the last time I was moving and had to use the Cricket mobile internet service for a little over a month - it changed it from unbearable to at least tolerable. However, anyone who thinks that they are actually getting real anonymity from them clearly doesn't understand how either the internet or the law works.

-d

45% of Android users to upgrade to rival phone OSes

Daniel 4

The loud stand out

"The Apple fans are as rabid as this guy. Just read above."

No, it's just that the overzealous ones tend to be loud. If I went by what I read online, iPhone users and Android users should be having turf wars with violence to rival any L.A. gang, shiving each other with blades made from shattered phone displays. Most people I know in real life tend in the "eh, I like this one better" direction more than any sort of fanaticism, no matter what they use.

-d

Apple gives green light to Eton solar cell iPhone case

Daniel 4

One good use...

Camping/backpacking, or any other trip which takes you off the grid for more than a couple days, may find a special purpose solar charger like this beneficial. Of course, if you're that far off the grid, your phone probably has no signal, so you're probably using mostly the video/audio capabilities. That seems like a strange thing to spend hours per day doing on a wilderness trip, but it's possible. :)

-d

Openwave sues: Asks for halt on iPad, iPhone, BlackBerry

Daniel 4
Stop

NOT a patent troll

They DID innovate, and they DID bring some products to market - ahead of their time, in some ways. Complain about the patent system all you like (I certainly do), but by most commonly accepted definitions, Openwave absolutely fails the patent troll test.

-d

Daniel 4

@Pen-y-gors

Well, first off, we're dealing with two completely different jurisdictions. To be honest, I don't know what the rules are on serving papers in Germany, but they clearly allowed it to happen - which has nothing to do with what's happening in a different case in a U.S. court. Second, preliminary injunctions are usually issued to stop (further) damage from happening. At the moment, that doesn't seem like a truly immediate issue - if Openwave wins, they will be awarded damages as well as either getting some form of ongoing compensation or a preferment injunction.

I doubt they'll win, but since they actually did real work, even to the point of producing a real product, I don't mind them trying.

-d

Marriage makes women get fat, divorce does same to men

Daniel 4

Childbirth

Nope. Modern birth control (of multiple varieties) provides enough couples without children that it makes childbirth easy to correct for in studies.

-d

Anonymous/LulzSec chick-lit MP kid threat pooh-poohed

Daniel 4

How do people keep seeing this woman as honest?

She's not honest, she's an-ex music biz employee who obviously cares more about her career than her kids. I wouldn't trust her to manage a paper route, much less hold public office.

I'll give you feisty, though.

-d

Daniel 4
Mushroom

She deserves the hate for what she has done to her kids

"Which you you prefer - a straight "yeah, that was me," or the weasel mouthed "but I didn't inhale" type of answer we've come to expect from politicians? Sticking the answer out in public may seem like publicity hunting, or it may be a very effective way of castrating the "journalist" trying to corner her."

We must have read different articles, because what I saw was a politician who didn't have a clue about her subject matter invite the worst of the Internet to harass her children even more for purposes of sensationalism. Personally, I was disgusted. And before I get downvoted into oblivion, maybe everyone would like to remember how well it turned out the last time a parent got on the net and made an ass of himself telling people to leave his daughter alone - both he and she were Internet stars, as I recall - though not nice ones

No, she should have handed this over to the police and been done with it.

-d

BlackBerry Messenger archives open for inspection

Daniel 4

The consumer Blackberry has never been secure

"Secure comms is a major part of the blackberry sell, they will shoot themselves in the foot (or radio) if they do this."

The reason a Blackberry is secure is ultimately because your data is encrypted end-to-end between you and the back end server. For (mostly business) customers running their own Blackberry Enterprise Server, this means that not even RIM itself has the decryption keys. However, consumers use Blackberry servers owned and operated by RIM. Obviously, RIM will have a copy of the encryption keys at that point.

-d

Windows Phone dev GM splits with Microsoft

Daniel 4
Joke

Charlie Kindel the eco-warrior?

"No, just because I don’t work at Microsoft anymore you may not use Google," he told his children. "Remember, every time you use Google, a puppy dies."

Ok... so, in 2010 Google revealed that they handle more than 1 billion searches per day. Even assuming very tiny puppies massing .5 kg a piece, this would be half a million metric tons of dead puppies per day, or over 180 million metric tons of dead puppies per year. This would appear to be vast majority of the solid waste produced in the U.S. per year.

Quick, ban Google to save our landfills and reduce methane from puppy decomposition!

-d

RIM to turn in BlackBerry-using looters after London riots

Daniel 4
Joke

Totally evil thought

"No sympathy with the rioters - anyone who enters a riot with a phone switched on is asking for it."

Let me correct that for you....

"No sympathy with the rioters - anyone who enters a riot with THEIR OWN phone switched on is asking for it."

Sorry, just had a thought for some really nasty mischief that could be done here... ;)

-d

Daniel 4

When there is a crime, get a subpoena

If RIM is handing over customer data without ANY due process, then you can rest assured that I will consider them a branch of the intelligence services from this day forward. It doesn't matter if my shop is looted or my car torched - due process is due process, and shouldn't be thrown away just because it is inconvenient.

HOWEVER, since crimes were clearly committed on a wide scale, it shouldn't be hard for the police to get a subpoena for this data. Very few reasonable people would suggest that RIM should challenge such a subpoena. In fact, if I were in RIM's position, I'd have the data ready to go, all burnt to DVD/however the police prefer it so when the nice officer showed up with the proper paperwork I could hand him what he needs right then and there.

-d

Google points finger at human after robo car accident

Daniel 4

@TheTerribleSwiftTomato

"Honestly, I was a little bit sad when I saw this thread and the number of downvotes for the OP. What I saw is a community of IT professionals, instead of being at least a bit enthusiastic about a technology that's *actually* "magical and revolutionary", immediately attack the one person that argues with the tone of the article, ostensibly because he *dared* to defend a megacorp as a side effect."

If you really want an honest set of answers to that...

1) The OP showed EVERY sign of being a shill. The account was created THAT day, it made ONE post, and it was to defend a corporation in the middle of a bad PR problem, with no apparent understanding of the culture of the local site. Oh, and it caught this article fast enough to do all of the above faster than the regular readers could make a post. Obvious shills (even if by some chance they aren't, they just manage to act like it) get downvoted. It's an internet user reflex; to get upset about it is like spitting into the wind.

2) The Google auto car is NOT "magical and revolutionary". It is technological and evolutionary. Honestly, they are still pretty damn cool, IMO. However, the google auto-pilot tech had NOTHING to do with the downvoting of the OP. The OP was downvoted because he was an apparent shill.

3) http://www.thefreedictionary.com/shill

-d

Daniel 4
FAIL

@NixKnacks

Not ignorant journalism, acerbic. Sarcastic. Very jaded, and occasionally acrimonious. This is The Register. If you don't understand this, I'd suggest that you either have a very low reading comprehension or are exceptionally new to the site. Is this the first article you've read on El Reg? It's the first post on the NixKnacks account - I think most of us can draw some obvious conclusions from that alone.

-d

Anonymous and LulzSec spew out largest ever police data dump

Daniel 4

@5.antiago

"Sad that your comment has got 2 down-votes, it really shouldn't. Releasing information on informants is indefensible. It's significantly different from releasing information on police officers; the majority of informants are everyday members of the public, like old ladies on council estates."

Really? I'm not going to download this 10g of data and try to mine it to confirm my suspicions (for one thing, I am not so confident in the anonymity of the internet as Anon seems to be), but I suspect that most "informants" are criminals themselves who sold out their mates. I have... minimal sympathies. It would be unfortunate if retribution were taken against them, but we aren't talking about "old ladies on council estates." They fall under a different class all together. They're also usually less likely to be vindictively hunted down by the multiple felon who was sold out by one of his own.

Along the same lines, after I thought about it for a while (and I thought about this for some time, I must say) I can honestly say that I don't see a great increase in danger to at least U.S. police (Arizona, Missouri, etc.) from this data leak. I've lived in multiple locations in the U.S., including Missouri, and every single time could tell you where the local cop(s) lived, usually along with their names. The police may not publish a directory, but their home addresses are an open secret. Now, are they at greater risk for all sorts of mischief now that their social security numbers are dumped all over the net? Of course! But that's a FAR cry as claiming that their lives have been endangered.

So, my final conclusion is that while I can't really condone this action, I find the wave of condemnation to be greatly overblown.

-d

... now I wait for my own wave of downvotes. *sigh* ;)

Apple sued over Mac OS X 'quick boot'

Daniel 4

@Destroy All Monsters

Maybe you should have specified "software patent protection," because considering that you posted that here in El Reg, I'm surprised that your first vote was a downvote.

-d

12% of UK don't carry cash

Daniel 4

@Bluenose (Impulse vs. planned purchases)

"Have you tried to buy an airline ticket, car, theatre or concert tickets or any one of a host of other items with cash. Probably not because you would realise that its rarely possible to do it."

Which has absolutely nothing to do with me using cash or not on a daily basis. I'm certain that there are people out there that just get it into their head to buy a car in the morning and do so before tea time, but for most of us, we know when we're going to be making any of those purchases in advance. So we can still use cash for our daily life if we so choose.

-d

Your mom, girlf, boyf: Spying on your phone and email

Daniel 4

@ZimboKraut

"Also my daughters communications are 100% checked.

Every email she sends or receives is automatically CCed to my wifes and my email address.

But she knows about it.

Granted, my daughter is only nine, but I will keep it this way for at least another 5 or 6 years."

You, Sir, are a perfect example of what I would like to hold up as the ideal. No secrets, and an intention to back off when she is old enough and "[has gotten] to the point of reasonable responsibility."

Thank you for sharing.

-d

Daniel 4
Alert

@James Hughes 1

"But things are a LOT different now to 10 years ago.

My parents did a good job on me too btw, which is why I want to do the same for my children."

You mean the way that the world is MUCH safer for our children than it was for us? I agree, the statistics, research and crime reporting makes that pretty clear - even with the "new dangers" of our age, our children are much more likely to reach adulthood without traumatic experience - or even just reach adulthood - than we were.

So obviously, we should panic over the threats that are left, and try to wrap them in bubble wrap until they are 18, upon which they will "be adults", have no real life experience to fall upon, and get themselves in trouble, maimed or killed by being thrown into the deep end to see if they can swim. Sounds like a plan to me!

</very bitter sarcasm>

Perceived risk is not the same as actual risk. Adolescence exists in no small part to teach our children to be adults, and to take more and more responsibility. We have to stop hovering over our children - our TEENAGE children - all the time if we don't want them to have trouble later on.

-d

Daniel 4
Stop

No, not responsible - misguided, rude, and occasionally illegal in their actions

"So why does this article seemingly portray sensible, responsible concerns of parents as a bad thing?"

Well, I can come up with a couple of rather good reasons. You already mentioned the first - that whole "without consent," or perhaps more accurately, "without knowledge." The article also makes it clear that we're talking about teenage children (last two paragraphs). I would never go through my teenage child's belongings, including correspondence, without telling them so - it's only right and proper, they may be your kids, but they're humans, too.

Finally, the article never said at what point the parents stop. They mention people spying on their adult partners, and if someone is willing to do that, I don't see why they wouldn't spy on their adult teenage children. That's not only unethical, but depending on the circumstances, it's illegal.

In short, for the love of all that's holy, watch over your kids very closely when they are young, but realize that if you find it necessary (or even comforting) to read your 16 year old teenager's emails every night then either you or your child has VERY serious problems (all the more so if the "teenager" is 19). Relax that leash a bit as they get older, otherwise you are only doing them a disservice - and eventually, you are breaking the law.

I guess to answer your question in a sentence, I'd have to say that the "sensible, responsible concerns of parents" aren't a bad thing, but the way they are handled can be.

-d

Feds arrest 16 in Anonymous hack probe

Daniel 4

Even an indictment would be nice...

But yes, at least a little presumption of innocence would be good. It's not like these individuals (the people arrested, not the nameless faces on the far end of a computer that they are accused of being) are people we have long histories about, either - so we really are just taking the FBI at their word right now, something I'm not that comfortable doing. Of course, even should they be convicted, there is a bit of a difference between running LOIC on a single Anon "raid" than being anything more than an edge, bit player. It's yet to be seen if the FBI even managed to catch one person worth doing anything more than just using as an example (not that they will hesitate at that, naturally).

-d

Segway death blamed on good manners

Daniel 4

Shift in tone somewhat disconcerting, but content remains focused

If by "last section" you mean the paragraph describing "project ginger," I'm not so certain. Seeing as Heseldon owned Segway, Inc. up until his unfortunate demise, the raw information definitely was appropriate to this report. The tone it was delivered in - well, about the best I can say is "it's The Register. Did you honestly expect anything different?"

-d

Daniel 4

Are Segways a realistic replacement for motorized wheelchairs?

"For a lot of people with cerebral palsy or spinal cord injuries the Segway represents an order of magnitude of improvement over crutches or a wheelchair. Compared to getting around in a wheelchair, using the Segway is a huge improvement for anyone able to use it - all of a sudden you are looking *at* people - instead of *up* at people. I've used both and I'll take a Segway any day of the week (I'm not disabled but I've worked all my life with a lot of people who are disabled)."

I've worked all my life - quite literally - with a small handful of disabled people as well. I'm not a professional of any sort in this industry, but living with the disabled in your family as a youngster and continuing to be involved keeps you abreast with some of the issues people face in the real world.

Which gets to the crux of my post: it's hard enough to get a powered wheelchair from point A to point B under anything other than it's own power. If you need to drive to, say, the doctor's office, or if it's the middle of winter and there is a foot of snow on the ground, that wheelchair needs to somehow get loaded onto/into a vehicle - which is either hard work (with minor mods to the vehicle), or requires expensive conversions to the vehicle. So what do you do with a Segway? From everything I've been able to tell, they look even harder to transport than a powered wheelchair. Or, from another perspective, for the extra cost of the Segway, you may have been able to have your vehicle converted.

I'm not saying that this doesn't sound like a nice option for many disabled people, but I am curious as to how you handle these problems.

-d

Daniel 4

@AC 16:27

Yes, you understood what he did correctly. However, without seeing the lay of the land, we don't know if it was even possible for him to go to the other side of the path.

-d

Daniel 4
Stop

The death of a major philanthropist should always be news...

...though you are right that he Segway brought a level of sensationalism here we wouldn't have had otherwise. However, Mr. Heselden was sufficiently well known for his acts of charity that his death would have been news even if it had been a case of going quietly in his sleep.

As far as "he would die anyway," I won't 100% rule out traction issues with the Segway as it hit the edge of the cliff, but once again, the same thing can happen with human feet. Personally, I don't see the Segway as a major contributing factor in his death, though it may have been a minor one. Again, though, the type of shoes you wear can be a minor factor as well. Basically, once he was actually at the cliff edge, it was going to take more luck than anything else to keep him alive, and his luck ran out. Sad, but true.

-d

STOP icon because I don't think this article deserved a FAIL, at least, not for it's mere existence.

Google muzzles political dissidents with YouTube ID tweaks

Daniel 4

This is a serious tangent, but just to make a point...

Perhaps you've heard about the upset regarding circumcision going on in the U.S., especially out in California? Some of that protest material is being labeled "anti-semitic." Of course, they are, taken as a whole*, really no more anti-semitic than the earlier Muhammad cartoon protests were anti-Muslim. Even if they were, it would just demonstrate my ultimate point - Facebook as a platform doesn't provide any special protection to the Jewish community that they don't provide to the Muslim community. Frankly, they can't afford to do so - they'd get roasted over the coals if they did.

-d

* I haven't read it all, and there's a few idiots in every bunch, so I don't doubt that SOME of it is anti-semitic - just a very small minority.

'Meltdown Monday' Anonymous hackers leak military mails

Daniel 4

Not the man on the street being targeted

"The man on the street who allowed himself to be mugged needs to be charged with gross negligence. Doesn't he know that he needs to carry a concealed weapon in that rough neighborhood? I salute these heroic muggers for showing the security holes that must be patched."

False analogy. This is more like saying that the bank has a responsibility to keep a well secured vault, and in bad neighborhoods, maybe some armed guards. This doesn't necessarily excuse bank robbers, but I do feel fully justified in my outrage at "the bank" when I discover that instead of a vault they've been using shoe boxes stacked in an unlocked closet for security.

-d

Murdochs won't talk to MPs over phone-hacking scandal

Daniel 4

It's the price of doing business

Do business in a country, subject yourself to their rules. This includes exposing yourself to summons in front of the ruling body when your company becomes an entity of note in a "good of society" inquiry. This is one place where I support U.S. House and Senate subpoenas, and yes, of course, I support the U.K. being able to issue a summons as well. Ignore them at your peril - if you aren't a citizen, I see no reason why you shouldn't have your assets confiscated, a lifetime ban against doing business in the country, along with a lifetime ban against entry.

You are, of course, always welcome to decide (as a foreign entity) that this is worth it (as some are doing with China right now), but you really should just be abandoning everything you own in the hosting nation at that point. If the Murdochs are so inclined, I have no issue with them losing their U.K. media holdings.

-d

UK court dishes out 13 years' porridge to e-fraudsters

Daniel 4

Not truthful at all

"They <b>were</b> sentenced to 13 years in total, as you say they won't be inside for 13 though. Article is accurate what's the problem exactly."

No they weren't. "They" were sentenced for "5 years, 7 months" in the harshest case. 13 years is more than twice that. Anything else is misleading. If you want a more IT oriented example, it would be like grabbing a bunch of fresh out of school IT grads who each did 3 months of interning over every summer and claiming that your firm has "a combined total of over 20 years of IT experience." Perhaps technically accurate, but only in the most misleading way possible.

-d

Is Facebook worth more than Google?

Daniel 4
Joke

Oh, how far El Reg has fallen! *swoon*

Drewc: Ok, I agree I with very nearly all of your points in this forum post (not the article, mind you, but that's irrelevant to this post). But what I want to know is this:

When did the Register develop a thin skin about being referred to as company shills, etc.? I still remember the days when the standard response to such an accusation was to refer people to the "price sheet" for favorable articles, snickering the whole time...

-d

Joke alert because this /is/ meant to be funny, but it could just as easily be a sad frown for the lost "good old days."

Apple patent: 'Pour' your data from iPhone to iPad

Daniel 4
FAIL

Not a software patent

See title.

Nintendo lumbered with lawsuit in 3DS patent row

Daniel 4

Great way to shut small inventors out for good

In this day and age, few small inventors can manage to get production of any sort of real product going in 24 months. If the invention is for something complex enough, they may not be able to get production facilities going on their own at all - which means that they want to patent their invention, and then sell or license it to someone who can. This is perfectly reasonable, and large companies who think they can get around this by just using small inventors IP don't have any sympathy from me.

The problem is caused by the "patent trolls." The firms that do nothing buy buy up large quantities of patents and then sit on them, waiting for a chance to wring money out of anyone who tries to move forward with the tech. On the surface it's easy to tell the difference - if a person or company specializes in one area, has a modest patent profile, and is either owned by the inventor or employees more real engineers, etc. than attorneys, then they're probably legit. On the other hand, if they're mostly made up of attorney's and suits serving up notices to companies who violate their often questionable patents, they're probably a troll. But how do you write that into the law? What fair and balanced description would you use to separate the two that would hold up in a court?

The system is a mess, but throwing the baby out with the bathwater isn't the answer.

-d

Canuck ultralight pilot drops in on strip club

Daniel 4

Re: Public place

Most aviation authorities have a different definition of "public place" than the generic. In this particular case, they almost certainly mean any place that isn't a designated airstrip or a private area restricted from public access, such as a very long private driveway in the country (a feasible strip for many ultralights). Depending on the jurisdiction, an ultralight pilot may not even be allowed to fly over more urbanized areas. It's all about having a few hundred pounds of plane and pilot drop on someone's head - especially when licensing for ultralights is dirt simple to get (or not even necessary - again, depending on the jurisdiction).

-d

New Yorkers battle giant blindness-causing plants

Daniel 4

Triffids mostly killed the already blind....

and then ate the decomposing corpses. Carnivorous genetically modified plants, yum!

-d

P.S. At least, in the book they did. I never did make it through more than 5 minutes of the movie...

Anonymous claims LulzSec merger

Daniel 4

Re: “You lot”? You’re not one of “us” then?

"Provoking the wrath of any bully is a dangerous thing.

Might does not make right."

No, but there are still some things I won't say in public even in jest because I know my government has no sense of humor and is a bully (U.S. of A.). This is despite having "Freedom of Speech." Right does not always protect you. I suspect the earlier AC was making a similar point.

-d

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