Posts by john.w

I am completly reassured.

"Only authorised users will be granted access to data for approved purposes..."

No doubt they will have the same rigorous controls in place to ensure that anyone who wants access will be given it, just like the DVLA does with our personal data.

The Post Office's private prosecution are the scandal.

Fujistu were complicit in telling a court that their software was reliable but it was the Post Office that saw fit to prosecute innocent people when it knew the evidence was unreliable at best. Let's keep the focus on the establishment cronies that are being protected rather than the 'expert' witnesses who were told what to say.

Days of delays are their fall back.

It is clear that NATS considers days of flight delays for tens of thousands of passengers is an acceptable backup solution.

Cheaper than employing someone to do it.

Supervisors used to do the monitoring, including the time for bathroom breaks, so little has changed except you can now get rid of some unproductive headcount.

Of course the encryption is secure!

This talks about TEA1 not TEA2 that is used by the police and emergency services in SHENGEN area and Britain. The TEA1 version is used in the same way that the Enigma code was shared with 'friends' after the war.

Wi-Fi to the rescue or not

I remember many of the early Wi-Fi alliance meetings (it was called WECA at the time) where documents were passed around using PCMCIA cards because it was the only reliable way to share files.

The EU rarely knows what it is doing

The only function of the EU bureaucracy is to make regulations that they do not understand. Large corporate lobby groups make sure their clients get the regulations to ensure new entrants have the largest barriers and then they cheat the system they designed. VW car emissions is just one of many examples. Another classic is the dual flush toilets that have lost more water than they ever saved.

Keynotes can be good and bad.

I remember two back to back keynotes at a GSM conference in Cannes, first by Douglas Adams followed by Richard Branson. You can guess which was good and which was bad.

The best line was when Douglas told the audience of phone manufacturers that he had invented the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, a portable device with a tiny screen and terrible interface but he was a fiction writer, what was their excuse?

Mission objectives can become dangerous.

At least get the quote right its "I'm sorry Dave, I'm afraid i can t do that"

When developing an audio editing system in the 90's the head of the team was called Dave. For a bit of a laugh one of the software engineers programmed every key on a development system to play the clip.

Fines will never be paid but....

If their phone numbers were to be published and updated regularly by the authorities I am sure some of us less pressed for time could give them a call and ask how they are doing.

Charge it all to the spook budget

So the data won't be stored at this hub but it will be harvested at this very convenient point to be stored by approved agencies of the clandestine variety. Now where is that foil hat?

Banking Apps

Never liked the idea of carrying around access to all by banking in my pocket. Decided to use a nice clean spare phone for the apps that are now necessary as no other support is provided by the bank. If only I could remember the safe place I put the phone.

Password Recovery

There is a lot discussion and worry about securing passwords but little mention of some of the very lax methods employed by companies for password recovery. No point worrying about a secure password if it takes two minutes and simple info to change it.

Pre Musk Twitter had its rules

Twitter used to enforce the rule 'An attempt to harass, intimidate, or silence someone else's voice; unless of course they believed that the 'someone else' needed to be silenced. The only way to be abused by twitter is to be on twitter.

Qualcomm lead the way.

It is amusing that it is Qualcomm, the epitome of the 'our way or the highway' approach to chip sets and IP, that is the supposed victim here.

Apply a simple morality test

If what you are doing is acceptable then there is no need for secrecy.

Quis custodiet ipsos custodes

"various US Republicans who resent having provocative content moderated"

This would no doubt be because Democrats never say anything provocative and would never be moderated by big tech because they inhabit the moral high ground that only they can occupy.