* Posts by Gerry 3

162 publicly visible posts • joined 24 Oct 2011

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Brit regulator pats self on back over nuisance call reduction: It's just 4 billion now!

Gerry 3
Alert

Re: 60 calls a person

Yes, the TPS list seems a good way for scammers and fraudsters to identify numbers that aren't spare or allocated to fax machines, burglar alarms etc and may well be answered by a vulnerable person.

Most of my nuisance callers don't ask for me by name, so the TPS could well be the source.

Gerry 3
FAIL

The Office of the Chocolate Teapot

Just like all the other so-called regulators, Ofcom and the ICO are utterly useless. They have an unhealthily close relationship with those they are supposed to regulate, and they don't want to fix the problem because they'd rather issue turgid reports for the next thirty years just to keep themselves employed and looking busy.

Why doesn't the dozy Ofcom simply mandate that 1477 (Automatic Call Trace) is made available free of charge on EVERY line? (They eventually decided to do this for Caller Display, but sadly it won't happen until October.)

1477 stores the originating number at the victim's exchange for enforcement action, even if it's been withheld or spoofed. It's simple, quick and far better than laboriously trying to report fake numbers to the ICO. But despite having been a standard network facility for decades, hardly anyone has ever heard of it, even within BT. Even worse, apparently it's only available on business lines.

Similarly, Ofcom should require all telcos to offer the equivalent of BT Call Protect free of charge; it shouldn't be available only from the most expensive telco.

Wileyfox goes TITSUP*: Smartmobe maker calls in the administrators

Gerry 3
Facepalm

So what's next?

Presumably there will be no more updates unless someone waves a magic wand and takes over.

Apologies for asking silly questions, but what are the options for Swift owners? Can it be updated from another source, or switched to a different operating system?

Or is it equivalent to running a laptop with Vista on it, usable but potentially increasingly dangerous, and good only as long as the battery lasts?

Gerry 3
Unhappy

Shame, it did what it said on the tin

That's a great shame, it was good to have a 4G phone with a removable battery, FM radio, 3.5mm socket and two SIMs, all at a very competitive price. Waste a grand on an iPhone X and you'd get none of those basics.

I wonder whether any Swift updates and replacement batteries will now be available?

Dodgy parking firms to be denied access to Brit driver database

Gerry 3
Alert

Yes, parking debts ARE enforceable !

If it's a private company it's not a fine, it's a debt.

But it's enforceable as this lady found out when she was hit with £24,500 for having parked outside her mother's garage (where no-one else could pay to park because it would have blocked access to said garage). So the parking company suffered no loss of income, and no-one else was inconvenienced. There was no victim.

She may have been more than a tad unwise not to challenge the notices, but the outrageous charge seems contrary to natural justice.

Welcome to rip-off Britain.

Gerry 3
Alert

It's not just private operators...

The world's worst private operator was TfL. One Saturday night about 8pm I parked here at the back of a long row of cars (roughly where the yellow cone is, but there were none at the time) noting that the nearest sign said 'No Stopping 8am - 7pm'.

Came back at 1am to find the car was gone; nothing to say what had happened. Eventually found that TfL had towed it to a pound miles away in a desolate area without any public transport where there had recently been a series of murders. In the leafy darkness and with a car straddling the gap it was impossible to detect that what looked like one long bay was in fact two bays with VERY different rules: turned out that where I had parked was a 2-minute (sic) limit except for buses, even though it wasn't on a bus route.

Other similarly restricted bays nearby were clearly marked, but not the 'honeytrap' bay I used.

Worst of all although TfL towed 24/7 because it was so lucrative, their pound didn't release cars on a Sunday. Not much fun walking round London all night long in the wind and the rain when your coat's in the car, even less so if I'd been a young girl or had had a car ferry or flight booked for the Sunday.

Had to wait until Monday morning to pay an eye watering £260 to get the car back. TfL ignored my appeal, and the so-called independent adjudicator refused to do anything without the input from TfL.

Cowboy private operators seem paragons of virtue in comparison to Trouble for London.

Gerry 3
Thumb Down

It won't work, just like all efforts by so-called watchdogs to regulate dodgy companies, cold callers etc.

In particular, the British Parking Association is a complete waste of space. It doesn't even bother to wag a finger at Marks and Spencer about their use of an 0845 car park helpline that's been banned for years, and that they're also breaching Ofcom regulations by failing to warn of the rip-off charges.

Driverless cars will lead to data-sharing – of the electrical kind

Gerry 3
Alert

Why they're pushing Smart Meters...

Am I the only one to notice the relentless push to force people to take up smart meters? There will be massive surcharges (aka taxes) overnight and when you use more than a few kW because the juice is obviously going in to your electric car.

PPI-pusher makes 75 MEEELLION nuisance calls, lands £350k fine

Gerry 3

Re: Ofcom is to blame

Agreed, Caller Display isn't a magic bullet, but call blocking hardware won't work without it. Anonymous Call Reject is almost a magic bullet because it blocks many unwanted calls without requiring expensive hardware.

The point I'm making is that victims need all the help they can get to block and report fraudulent / nuisance calls, but Ofcom and the ICO are just a waste of space. They shouldn't allow telcos to blackmail vulnerable telephone users into buying expensive network services that cost the telcos nothing to provide.

It's daft that the health service withholds numbers on data protection grounds: when they send letters, the envelope shows the patient's name and shouts NHS all over it, so they clearly haven't thought it through.

To avoid having calls rejected, they should follow BT's good practice and use a Presentation Number that when called says "The NHS tried to call you, but don't worry, we'll call again if necessary". Or if they're really concerned about privacy, it could just say "We tried to call you..." or "Sorry, this number does not accept incoming calls".

Gerry 3
FAIL

Ofcom is to blame

Why doesn't the utterly useless Ofcom insist that all telcos make 1477 (Automatic Call Trace) available free of charge to all subscribers, together with Anonymous Call Reject and Caller Display ?

Dialling 1477 during or after a nuisance call is far quicker than laboriously messing around trying to report them to the ICO's website, which is obviously a waste of time when the number has been withheld or spoofed. 1477 isn't fooled by any of this, it stores the REAL originating number at the victim's exchange for subsequent investigative action.

But most telcos have never heard of 1477 and don't make it available, and as usual Ofcom the toothless watchdog is still happily dozing in front of the fire.

Spy-on-your-home Y-Cam cameras removes free cloud storage bit

Gerry 3
Happy

Re: Hoover Free Flight Fiasco

Yes, in 1992/3 the Hoover Free Flight Fiasco offered two free flights to Orlando if you spent just £100 or more. They thought that only 1 in 8 would take up the offer and that they would buy add ons, but they were overwhelmed by demand from people who bought the cheapest product just to get the completely free flights.

As I recall, they phoned me one Thursday and asked whether I could fly the very next Tuesday. I well remember their disappointment when I instantly replied "YES !" and declined any add ons.

Abolish the Telly Tax? Fat chance, say MPs at non-binding debate

Gerry 3
Stop

Stop falling for TVL's misinformation !

There still seems to be a widespread belief in the TV Licensing propaganda that you have to tell them if you don't need a licence, and that you have to let them in to your home in order to prove your innocence.

None of these myths is true. There is NO obligation whatsoever to communicate with TV Licensing or to let them in, except in the unlikely event that they have a valid search warrant.

Of course, the threat-o-grams will get ever more menacing, but if you don't need a licence you can happily ignore them or pop them into an unstamped envelope and send them back unopened.

But if the threats get tiresome, they can be stopped dead in their tracks (at least in England and Wales) simply by stating that they can't send the boys round because you have withdrawn their Implied Right of Access, and therefore that any further threats to do so will be dealt with under the Malicious Communications Act 1988.

BBC Telly Tax petition given new Parliament debate date

Gerry 3
Facepalm

The date of 16 October is wrong.

The Westminster Hall debate will be held on Monday 20 November 2017.

http://researchbriefings.parliament.uk/ResearchBriefing/Summary/CDP-2017-0172

Gerry 3
Stop

Re: If you have issues with the Telly Tax...

>"The frequency doesn't bother me, I simply refuse to make any form of contact when it will (A) cost in terms of postage, or phone call, and (B) does not guarantee anything to stop them turning up to "inspect my home".

You can always email enquiries@tvlicensing.co.uk, use the form at www.tvlicensing.co.uk/cs/contact-us/question.app or send an unstamped letter to Customer Services, TV Licensing, Darlington, DL98 1TL. It's the address for cheque payment, so they will accept it.

Just tell them you have withdrawn their Implied Right of Access, and if they still keep threatening to send the boys round you'll take action under the Malicious Communications Act 1988.

That will stop them hassling you ! In any case, they do not have any right to enter your property without a search warrant.

Gerry 3
Facepalm

Re: Don't call it a tax

You've forgotten the really obvious alternative - subscription.

No ads, no direct government control.

Gerry 3
Thumb Up

Re: Please someone tell me why I should pay the license fee?

Another difference is that the essentials of education and healthcare can involve significant outlay at the times when they are needed, so a state scheme funded by taxation smooths the peaks and trough and makes it affordable for everyone all the time.

In contrast, PAYG TV is completely realistic because it's affordable. I don't like Murdoch, but at least you can choose whether to subscribe to watch his rubbish and he doesn't come banging on your door or send you to jail if you don't pay.

Gerry 3
Thumb Up

Re: If you have issues with the Telly Tax...

Brilliant ! But watch out, the Ministry of Food will pop round to invalidate your Ration Book...

Gerry 3
Boffin

Re: It is really easy to opt out now

There is no obligation whatsoever to communicate with TV Licensing: they imply that you have to tell them if you don't need a licence but that's not the case. Similarly, they have no right of entry except in the unlikely event that they have a valid search warrant. And mere possession of a TV in the UK does not require a licence, it's how you use it that counts.

However, if you don't have a licence you'll be hounded with ever increasing ferocity. If so, a letter (from 'The Occupier') withdrawing their Implied Right of Access and threatening action under the Malicious Communications Act 1988 works wonders, and they will leave you alone for ever, not just two years.

BT agrees to cream off less profit from landline-only customers

Gerry 3
FAIL

Avoid Freeola - they don't even support 1471.

Scouse marketing scamps scalped £70k for 100,000+ nuisance calls

Gerry 3
Facepalm

Re: Unicorn hunt

My local hospital withholds their number when robo-calling to remind of appointments, which means that an increasing number of these calls will be automatically blocked by BT Call Protect and suchlike.

They think they can't change it without having a new phone system, which they can't afford...

Gerry 3
Stop

Re: And people wonder why we dumped our landline ?

TrueCaller should be banned by the ICO. It rifles through your contacts list, stealing the names of people without their knowledge or consent and then disclosing this personal information to people that they call.

But the ICO is totally useless, along with all the other so-called watchdogs, so absolutely nothing will happen.

At last, someone's taking Apple to task for, uh, not turning on iPhone FM radio chips

Gerry 3
Trollface

Re: My decorator...

You DAB display will tell you that the DAB simulcast is mono whereas RDS will tell you th FM version is stereo.

Gerry 3
Happy

My Wileyfox Swift happily receives FM when in Airplane Mode.

Energy firm slapped with £50k fine for making 1.5 million nuisance calls

Gerry 3
Boffin

Re: Spawn of Satan

It's existed for years: it's 1477, Automatic Call Trace.

But good luck in getting it activated on your line, the call centre drones will deny all knowledge of it.

Smart streetlight bods Telensa nearly double full-year revenues

Gerry 3
FAIL

Bad designs still pollute the sky

Shame that no thought has been given to the installation in the photo. The angle of the 'Hitler salute' arm means that even though most of the light may be emitted perpendicularly from the luminaire, a significant amount will have an upward component which will be wasted.

We need a swingeing tax on all outdoor lighting installations that aren't full cut off, so that all the light is used usefully, thereby avoiding pollution of the night sky, light trespass and needless CO2 generation.

Spatial distribution is just as important as lumens per watt, but it's still overlooked.

KCOM whacked with £900k Ofcom fine over 999 call handling

Gerry 3

Facebook users pwnd by phone with account recovery vulnerability

Gerry 3

Aah, that probably explains why I was woken up at 0610 the other day by a Facebook SMS asking me to validate my Facebook account. I've never had a Facebook account and never will.

Better mobe coverage needed for connected cars, says firm flogging networking gear

Gerry 3
Unhappy

E-Spy

It's here already...

GSM gateway ban U-turn casts doubt on 7.5-year prosecution in Blighty

Gerry 3
FAIL

As usual, Ofcom has shown that it is far close to the telcos it is supposed to regulate and does absolutely nothing to help the consumer.

Google DeepMind trial failed to comply with data protection – ICO

Gerry 3

Re: Tom

What's the problem with WileyFox, other than making you use TrueCaller which breaches the data Protection Act by stealing all your contacts and publishing the names of owners of the phone numbers therein?

And all the other bundled spyware and the total lack of instructions, but knowing Google I fear that's probably the case with any Android device.

Gerry 3
Boffin

Re: Gah!

No, they just corrected their spelling mistake, they changed 'Do No Evil' to 'Do Know Evil'...

Doormat junk: Takeaway menus, Farmfoods flyer, NHS data-sharing letter... wait, what?

Gerry 3
WTF?

How do the NHS expect those who have very sensibly opted out of receiving Royal Mail Junk Mail to exercise their right to opt out of medical data slurping??

Oh, wait...

BMW climbs into IBM Watson's cloudy connected charabanc

Gerry 3
FAIL

Oh well, that's BMW crossed off my list...

Labour says it will vote against DUP's proposed TV Licence reforms

Gerry 3
Stop

Re: Yes, I know. I'm a wimp.

Just withdraw their Implied Right of Access, tell them that you are well aware of the licensing regulations and that you will also take action under the Malicious Communications Act 1988 if they issue any further threats or send the boys round.

They won't pester you again.

BTW, there's no obligation to tell them whether you have a TV, nor do you have to let them in to check (except in the unlikely event that they obtain a valid search warrant).

Paxo trashes privacy, social media and fake news at Infosec 2017

Gerry 3
Facepalm

Re: Naselus

Blatantly ageist poster condemns elders as racist...

Just 99.5 million nuisance calls... and KeurBOOM! A £400K megafine

Gerry 3

There IS a Complaint Button

Or rather, a facility code. It's 1477, Anonymous Call Trace. It stores the offending caller's real number at your exchange for subsequent investigation / action, even if the number was withheld. (Withholding the number only prevents it being disclosed to the called party: it's still transmitted all the way to the destination exchange.)

But good luck in getting it enabled on your line, your telco probably won't even have heard of it.

Crooks can nick Brits' identities just by picking up the phone and lying

Gerry 3
Boffin

Re: I always politely hang up, then call them back from the number printed on my card

Not a different phone, a different LINE. However, most exchanges will now drop a call within a few seconds of you clearing down, so the risk of a scammer holding the line open is much reduced.

Gerry 3
Facepalm

Bank security is a complete joke

The golden rules of passwords are (1) not to share them between accounts, (2) not to use information in the public domain (3) to change them regularly.

So what do they ALL use ? Parameters that break all three rules: Date of Birth, Mother's Maiden Name, First Line of Address & Postcode, Telephone Number. Obviously no-one ever phones them or sends them cards on their birthday !

Worst of all, when calling back they expect you to provide your security details when they have offered no evidence that they really are calling from the bank. When challenged, they invariably seem utterly bewildered and refuse to provide any info, endlessly repeating the mantra of 'Data Protection'. They still refuse to co-operate even when I suggest providing info that would be useless to anyone else e.g. 'Ignoring the pounds, what's the odd number of pence in my account?'.

The silliest were Flow Energy. Their website told me to enter my DoB from a drop down menu, so I entered one from early in the last century. Two weeks later they rejected my application, saying that it was an invalid date ! They said they were happy with a date other than my real DoB, but it couldn't be an invalid one (i.e. too old) even though their Computer Said Yes.

We're 90 per cent sure the FCC's robocall kill plan won't have the slightest impact

Gerry 3

Re: WHITELIST

Truecaller drives a coach and horses through data protection by rifling through your contacts list and publicly linking the numbers to the owners' names without their knowledge or permission. It should be banned by the ICO.

Gerry 3

OFCOM: Too Little, Too Late. As Usual.

There's long been a facility in the UK to flag nuisance calls where the number is withheld. It's 1477, Automatic Call Trace. It stores the offending number at the local exchange for subsequent investigation. However, it's not available by default and you'll find it almost impossible to get it enabled - you'll be lucky to find anyone that's ever heard of it.

BT (the most expensive telco) has recently made available a free facility (BT Call Protect) that diverts known nuisance calls to voicemail and also allows users to block various categories such as withheld, international etc. It sounds like it may have some effect.

Unfortunately OFCOM (the Office of the Chocolate Teapot) has not mandated it to be offered by all other telcos. The obvious result is likely to be that nuisance callers will clear down as soon as they hit voicemail, so non-BT lines are likely to experience a massive increase in such calls.

Before long the directors of nuisance calling companies will be personally liable so they won't be able to escape ICO fines by closing down and starting a new company, so that may help. Automatic jail sentences for UK directors using overseas call centres to make nuisance calls to the UK would be even better.

For many years BT has used fake entries in telephone directories to prevent copying, and map makers have used fake streets and landmarks So why not list fake 'honeypot' numbers that route through to the ICO - make a nuisance call to one of those and you're busted on the spot !

Are you undermining your web security by checking on it with the wrong tools?

Gerry 3
FAIL

I'm none the wiser

Perhaps this is intended only for company IT professions rather than ordinary PC users, but I'm none the wiser. El Reg didn't make things clear, e.g. whether it's relevant and what if anything I need to do.

Similarly, the badssl site is meaningless, as is the USCERT site. The latter is particularly hopeless because its feedback form brings up an Access Denied page and loses all the comments that have been entered, even if cookies are accepted and Ghostery is paused.

OK, I'm probably just thick, but I can't be the only one.

Road accident nuisance callers fined £270,000 for being absolute sh*tbags

Gerry 3

Overseas call centres always leak data

When I was with BT I gave them a unique disposable email address. So far it's received 1420 spam emails. Fortunately they've all been blocked.

Same thing happened with Adobe and Primus Telecom. If you give your details to an organisation with an overseas call centre, expect to be spammed and / or to receive nuisance calls.

Similarly, I give only an 0701 Flextel number out when websites insist on a number, e.g. energy, insurance etc. At over 50p/minute, it doesn't get any nuisance calls !

BT installs phone 'spam filter', says it'll strain out mass cold-callers

Gerry 3

Re: But...

OFCOMatose is always asleep at the wheel...

Mr Angry pays taxman with five wheelbarrows worth of loose change

Gerry 3

When I wrote a British cheque in US dollars...

Many moons ago I fulfilled a schoolboy ambition by collecting someone's car in New York and driving it to San Francisco to deliver it. One dark night I parked it at a meter in Chicago on a main road. I took great care to check the meter, which said that charges only applied from 9am to 7pm. When I ventured out at 8.50am I was astounded to see a $20 ticket stuck to the windscreen. Turned out that hidden in the undergrowth was a filthy old sign that said there was no parking between 7am and 9am. It was invisible at night, not that anyone would would be looking there; the notice on the meter should have spelt this prohibited times in big letters.

I was delivering a mother's car to her daughter who was studying at Berkeley, so my initial idea of just tearing up the unfair ticket might have caused problems for her. The Chicago jobsworths were most unhelpful, repeating that 'a parking ticket is a parking ticket' so I thought I'd show theoretical willingness to pay by posting them a NatWest cheque made out in the sum of "$20 or £8". (Yes, it was a long time ago.)

Imagine my surprise and disappointment when my next bank statement arrived showing a debit of £8 along with the paid cheque bearing several colourful rubber stamps (they used to return cheques in those days) !

Tobacco giant predicts the end of smoking. Panic ensues

Gerry 3

Vaping does normalise smoking

'Normalisation' is a perfectly good argument against vaping. The tobacco companies will always support anything that promotes the acceptability of smoking tobacco or raises its profile, no matter how subtly. Get 'em young !

Fifty years ago, one of the ploys was 'sweet cigarettes', a sugary edible lookalike. Of course, it didn't make any five year old dash out, buy a packet of 10 cancer sticks and start puffing away, but it helped to sow the seeds of association, implying that one day you'd be old enough to use the real thing.

Today they'd love vaping to be allowed everywhere, including No Smoking areas, because it makes it harder to spot anyone smoking tobacco: try distinguishing a vaper from a smoker on CCTV. Fortunately, this has failed because almost all organisations include vaping in smoking bans.

Besides, who knows what's in the vaping goo? Of course, they'd never flavour it with anything addictive or something that research showed created a craving for tobacco, would they?

UK.gov was warned of smart meter debacle by Cabinet Office in 2012

Gerry 3
Coat

Are you a Smart Person?

Smart People have Dumb Meters. Dumb People have Smart Meters.

Smart meter benefits even crappier than originally thought

Gerry 3
Happy

Re: Two reasons

Thanks !

Feel free to use that strapline as often as possible. The more people that become aware of the Smart Meter Scam, the better.

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