A quick post, with a link to a bar chart (don’t we all love bar charts?) with various liquids listed, and their price per ml. Top of the list is HP, just above blood! Does this mean that HP are a secret society of vampires, or do I have problems interpreting graphs?
The BBC demonstrated that by acquiring some software from chatrooms on the internet, they were able to set up their own botnet and take control of 22,000 user’s PCs.
Apparently the BBC are voicing that as this was not done with "criminal intent" it’s not illegal – and that no personal information was obtained from the slave machines.
I’m a little shocked, I must admit. When has a TV corporation had the power to take it on themselves to hack thousands of computers and then in the same breath say it’s not illegal? Just the mere fact that the BBC took control, means they have broken the law. They have unlawfully obtained use of equipment that they didn’t pay for, don’t pay the electricity bill for & don’t pay the user’s ISP for use of the bandwidth. Stealing, as far as I have been aware has always been a criminal activity – and it doesn’t matter if you dress this with "criminal intent" or not. And if it’s not stealing, then it’s a breach of privacy in the most basic form – you have the right to use your own property without interference from anyone else.
That’s the conclusion I came to, after finding an article on silicon.com. In an interview with Detective superintendent Charlie McMurdie, the police force in the UK are looking to create some kind of magical device that can be used like a "computer breathalyser."
The device would look on somebody’s PC for any illegal activity, such as illegal file downloads, or information on fraud. Or at least that’s what the police believe – I feel a little differently about it though, as you would expect by now..
Rather than sort out their own house, Microsoft in typical and historical style, have decided to explain why their take on "Web Standards" is correct and everyone else should listen and understand their point of view..
Written by Molly Holzschlag using Microsoft’s new apparently open source (with bitter after taste) Oxite, Microsoft’s new blogging platform explains to poor old honest Joe why they’ve misunderstood what web standards actually represent. Rather than being a system of continuity between browsers, apparently it’s all about a "tax" that business people have to pay..
No, open source software is free – if people are informed correctly about how things are rather than swallowing the regurgitated corporate Microsoft BS, they would be aware that if they moved away from the MS .net and IE ideal, things would be quicker, easier and SHOCK, maybe even FREE! Read what Microsoft think you’re thinking here… I guess if they’re trying to flog their blogging software, this article is a good example of comment, rather than fact.
£1 Billion has already been ploughed into a monitoring system in the UK that could make every user of technology in the country a target for Big Brother.
The system, based in a building in Benhall, and reported by TechSnake in July, is being funded to intercept all email, SMS and internet traffic to the tune of £12 Billion, once running. Reported in a post on the This Is Gloucestershire website, the move has caused councillors and MPs to question the Government’s morality.
I, personally, can’t believe what is happening. In a modern society too. It is the civil right of every person to have private communications with each other without the government spying over their shoulders. This typical attitude by government agencies is of course wrapped up in the “threat of terrorism” cliché, that is starting to wear just a little too thin. Preventing terrorism is important, but not to the detriment of every other law-abiding citizen. The fishing net mentality is ridiculous – the process is already in place whereby a government agency can get a court order to track individual’s messages for potential terrorism involvement – the government doesn’t need to employ this level of privacy invasion. So what can we do about this – in the UK and globally?
I don’t know if you’ve ever owned any EA games, and I don’t know if you’ve ever needed their support with them – but trust me, don’t bother because you are going to get nowhere fast with the support team.
I have been a long time owner of EA Sports and Electronic Arts games generally for many years. I have the Battlefield series (apart from 2142) and I’ve enjoyed the Need for Speed games (the older ones more, I must admit.) I have had problems with games in the past, but never had to use EA’s support – and I’m counting my blessings now.
The UK’s government are currently “undecided” as to whether they should have a database that records and tracks every email, website or telephone conversations the UK public make.
What is given another “to stop terrorist activities” reasoning is again interfering with normal innocent daily lives. It’s the general public that are going to be spied on, not the terrorists. How many terrorist’s do they think they would catch, baring in mind that potentially 65 million people would be victimised? All your private communications that are your right as a citizen to be conducted in any way you see fit, stored on a system to be read or listened to without your permission? It seems a little backward and completely open to abuse.
And of all the terrorists using email, visiting websites, or talking to each other – the vast majority will already know about the law and put a very simple layer of encryption in place to protect themselves. And as most of you know, this is not difficult, even with a very basic knowledge and Google at your fingertips, you can be completely anonymous within minutes. It’s just shows the lack of understanding and information the government has when it comes to technology. I don’t know whether to blame their advisers or their own stupidity, but either way this sort of Big Brother attitude can’t be allowed to continue.
Being a sysadmin, I know the power our profession wields. I also know that there are a lot of unscrupulous people. The combination of the two are very rare, in my experience, but with this story it’s strange how badly this guy’s employers got it.
City worker, Terry Childs, was employed five years ago. He had spent time in jail, and also had counts of aggravated burglary and aggravated assault. He was put into a position of power with the City of San Francisco’s new FiberWAN network – a system which holds 60% of the city’s data. After a falling our with the head of security, Terry Childs allegedly decided to lock the system down with a master password – which only he knew. When confronted with the problem, he gave up a password which didn’t work. He was then arrested. As if this wasn’t disconcerting enough for the City, it also appears he has been paid his wage whilst sat in jail!
According to the mayor of the city, the city is still able to function – although they have called in experts from Cisco to hopefully sort the problem out. Childs remains in jail on bail of $5 million.
You all know the story right? Ian Usher has put his life up for sale on the internet, with the aid of Ebay. By his life I mean his home, his job, his friends, his car – everything except himself. Interesting, quirky, but why did he trust the users of Ebay to “play fair?”
Just 24 hours after the bid began it was swamped with pranksters. People using other people’s accounts, people playing tricks on each other – you name it. At what point did Ian Usher actually think this wouldn’t happen?? It’s far too tempting for people to put in stupidly high bids – then “blame it on their friends.”
The current (authentic) bid for his life, as of this post, is about £189,000 ($372,000) which he says isn’t enough to cover the cost of the house! Check out the auction here, it ends in 3 days if you fancy moving to Perth.. And no fake bids please. I mean it.
Don’t worry – the Mission Impossible link is completely warranted here, as this idea was launched with Mission Impossible 3 in Japan last year. So the idea is Flexplay made a DVD with a certain air-reactive chemical on the surface, that when opened from it’s air-tight packaging makes the DVD useless in 48 hours.
So what’s the point? Why not just go to Blockbusters – why would the film studios think this is a good idea – other than as a gimmick? Then there’s the question of what happens to your DVD player if it’s playing one of these when the chemical goes off! Plus if you wanted to keep it, what’s stopping you making a copy like a regular DVD? I think I’m saying that I’m struggling to see the benefit (cost or otherwise) to this idea! Thankfully not available in the UK yet (if they ever will be).
The BBC demonstrated that by acquiring some software from chatrooms on the internet, they were able to set up their own botnet and take control of 22,000 user’s PCs.
That’s the conclusion I came to, after 
