I was fixing my next-door neighbour's daughter's laptop the other week. I booted it up and was faced with a password. I tried a blank password which didn't work, but then Windows gave me a hint. With that hint I guessed it in one try.
I'm guessing they were invested in the ponzi scheme and those payments were from the scheme not part of their actual salary.
Still... 30 years for writing some software that they were ordered to write by their employer (more than most murderers get). Yes they could've not written it but they'd have been out on their backsides. Leaving your job to take the moral highground might be nice and idealistic but when you have bills to pay in a recession you don't rock the boat.
I feel a bit sorry for them. Of course I could be wrong and they could have been totally in on it and doing it quite willingly.
I saw it at the Biggin Hill airshow last year, having seen the last flight many years ago. It was still the most awesome thing on show and got the best reaction from the crowd, and was the most excited the commentator got all day as well.
Who at Google gets to be the moral arbiter of all posted content?
What is offensive to some people isn't offensive to all (except, yes, in this case it is obviously offensive to all people of normal sensibilities).
A stupid verdict. As much as there is irony in it in some ways, it is still a massive precedent to set. They cannot reasonably police all user-posted content. It's kind of like suing the council for allowing a mugging to take place on their streets.
Somebody can park a car with my number plate on (might be my car, might not, might be my IP address, might not.) and I get a ticket on it and then a "fine" comes through the post to me because the car is registed to me. It is not enforceable because a) It is not proven that the offence was commited by me (merely that a car bearing an identifier that could be spoofed was), and b) they have no authority to fine people. In fact all they can do is request damages according to their loss. That is known as an invoice.
I don't see this as any different. If you are accused of downloading 5 movies then the damages should be the cost of those 5 movies. In fact it should really be the studio and rights-holders margins, and not the retail cost. They have no authority to fine you, only the courts do.
If I hadn't read this and got one of those I would have assumed it was a scam along with the "send us £250 cos you've won the lottery and need to claim it!" scams and filed in the recycling bin.
Sorry, I was meant to be sarcastic but it didn't come over very well!
Even if it just speeds up queues I'll be happy. I got stuck for over ten minutes behind a dumb idiot who couldn't work out that any one of the 500 metal objects he seemed to have on his person could be setting off the bleepy machine.
There was no way she could pay $2m so there was no point in even trying to get the money from her. But $54,000 might be possible, and as she is not exactly wealthy will also have a fantastic effect on her quality of life, and that of any children she may have.
Sorry but £25m for doing nothing is a pretty good money-spinner if you ask me. Doesn't matter how much you make overall, £25m for doing naff all is good business sense.
My wife got a "parking ticket" the other day for the heinous offence of forgetting to display her permit in a small pub car park that she parks in every day.
Obviously I have no intention of responding to them, but so far they have wasted money on sending people to the car park, and will possibly waste money on the DVLA as well getting MY name and address (not my wife's name - the car is registered to me). I know enough to ignore it. It is an invoice, not a fine, and I did not enter into a contract with them so they cannot pursue me for anything. And if they did all they could claim in law is the cost of any loss. As my wife has a permit there is no monetary loss.
If the word gets out enough and people refuse to be bullied then these firms will eventually go out of business. In fact I'd like the DVLA to help them by putting up charges to £10 a time. Then they'll make a profit, too!
I see your point(s) and indeed wasn't that shoebomber guy white (or at least white-ish)? The point remains though that a white, middle-class family from Surrey flying to Disneyworld should be bottom of the "suspicious" list. Single men, fair enough. The only time I've been stopped by customs is when travelling as a single man, That tells us something. But as I said, I've no objection to me or my kids going through a scanner really.
More to the point though is the general stupidity of the situation. When travelling last year I wasn't allowed to take a small amount of medicine for my son on board ecause the bottle it was in could potentially hold more than 125ml, even though it only had about 30ml in it. That is just stupid. I was, however, allowed to take a cigarette lighter (for burning), a belt (for strangling), a pen (for stabbing) and a mobile phone (as a remote trigger). Good thing I didn't have that anti-histamine!
Does anybody want them? Another unelected quango staffed by idiots with no common sense.
Profiling makes perfect sense. My family, consisting of 2 adults and 2 young kids, going on holiday to Florida are blatantly not a threat. The guy with the ticking rucksack is. So why screen us?
You wait - the people who pose an actual terror threat will start screaming that it's against their religion to be viewed on a full-body scanner and so they'll be allowed through without it whilst the rest of us are forced through it. Not that I'd be that bothered by it really. In fact it's a great idea. However somebody will soon find a way around it, they always do.
Why the iPhone can't use an MP3 as a ringtone (without complicated conversions to ringtones and uploading them to the phone). It's been a feature on every other phone I've owned for years. Select a song and set it as your ringtone. Simples.
GPS these days is better than 10M, especially with WAAS/EGNOS. It used to be a lot worse when Selective Availability was enabled but this was turned off years and years ago.
The Military version is still much more accurate though but only suitably-equipped military gear can read it (uses a different, much longer PRC IIRC).
Therein lies the problem. They won't understand it and will just make a decision based on whether they like the guy or not. And as he sounds like an arrogant idiot they'll probably send him down, despite the fact that arrogance or idiocy is not actually a crime.
And there is NOTHING in common between the two. Unless they are going for a kind of ying/yang thing - The Happiest Place on Earth compared to The Most Miserable Place on Earth.
What were the "loser" towns that weren't up to Swindon's level of enchantedness?
I don't download music from the interwebs as I prefer to have a CD, but as filesharing is now likely to instantly identify you (ignore what the say) and make you liable for death at the hands of Mandleson, I reckon all downloaders should just go and start shoplifting at HMV. Easier, more convenient and a lesser sentance if you get caught.
<PCSO soon arrives on bicycle, wearing full body armour, er, I mean a bike helmet>
PCSO - "Oi you lot, put those guns down before I, er, ask you nicely to stay put until some more real cops come?"
Anyway, I'm 6'2" and 17 stone so I'm going to stay away from Kent in case I frighten the poor little WPCs. Incidentally, the WPC is clearly not capable of being a police officer if she is intimidated by men of, frankly, average height and should be removed from duty immediately.
But the service they provide is actually very reliable and very good, and I get a sweet deal from them as a result of telling them I was going to leave a few years ago.
"If we could, we'd be witnessing Big Bangs and self-created black holes all over the cosmos and they would be our primary indicator of "intelligent life" ... But if we don't at least try, we might as well have stayed in caves eating cold veggies because we had no tools to hunt or cook with."
You are missing the point, good sir! It probably *has* happened several times already, resulting in the formation of a new universe each time. This time we're the first to get to that stage.
Or, possibly, aliens have got to that stage and when the experiment was proposed it was met with a "WTF? Are you insane?" type response. Only humans would be daft enough to spend billions of Galactic Credits on building something to wipe out the universe.
Still, it's Friday so I'm not going to let the destruction of the universe spoil my weekend.
I was worrried (well, it wasn't exactly keeping me up at night, but you know what I mean) when MS bought Sysinternals. Russinovich was obviously a very talented guy and the products were great, but I thought he'd be buried somewhere deep in MS and forgotten about.
But it seems he is right up there, and doing lots of work on the core parts of Windows. Frankly, that's a GOOD thing and gives me hope for the future.
Samsung UN55B8000 55" LED TV (Widescreen, 1920x1080, HDTV)
LG Electronics 42LH30 42" LCD TV (Widescreen, 1920x1080, HDTV)
Samsung UN55B8500 55" LED TV (Widescreen, 1920x1080, HDTV)
Sony BRAVIA KDL-40EX400 40" LCD TV (Widescreen, 1920x1080, HDTV)
Samsung UN40B6000 40" LED TV (Widescreen, 1920x1080, HDTV)
75 posts • joined Monday 12th October 2009 11:35 GMT
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Valerion
Dump core → #
Posted Friday 19th March 2010 14:09 GMT
In LHC boffins crank beams to 3.5 TeV redline
Meh, nothing but a hi-tech gravel trap!
Valerion
@Graham Bartlett → #
Posted Thursday 18th March 2010 14:28 GMT
In Madoff geeks charged for writing book-cooking code
Yeah fair enough matey.. as I said at the end maybe they were fully in on it. The blackmailing doesn't exactly help their cause much...
Valerion
guessing a password != hacking → #
Posted Thursday 18th March 2010 14:24 GMT
In One in four UK schoolkids admits hacking
I was fixing my next-door neighbour's daughter's laptop the other week. I booted it up and was faced with a password. I tried a blank password which didn't work, but then Windows gave me a hint. With that hint I guessed it in one try.
Guess that makes me a l33t hax0r too.
Valerion
@Neoc → #
Posted Thursday 18th March 2010 10:28 GMT
In Madoff geeks charged for writing book-cooking code
I'm guessing they were invested in the ponzi scheme and those payments were from the scheme not part of their actual salary.
Still... 30 years for writing some software that they were ordered to write by their employer (more than most murderers get). Yes they could've not written it but they'd have been out on their backsides. Leaving your job to take the moral highground might be nice and idealistic but when you have bills to pay in a recession you don't rock the boat.
I feel a bit sorry for them. Of course I could be wrong and they could have been totally in on it and doing it quite willingly.
Valerion
When confronted by people like this → #
Posted Wednesday 17th March 2010 16:38 GMT
In Muso turfed off train for 'suspicious' set list
Ask exactly what authority they have to make you get off a train, or to detain you on the platform, or, in fact, to ask you to do anything at all.
When they reveal that they actually have no powers enshrined upon them by law you can happily go back to ignoring them.
Valerion
No clue → #
Posted Wednesday 3rd March 2010 11:58 GMT
In Global warming may be normal at this point in glacial cycle
When I was at school it was all about the ice-age returning. Then it was all about global warming. Now, again, it is about an ice-age returning.
Good thing with this complete lack of scientific consensus that they aren't trying to set taxes and financial commitments based on any of this.
Oh, wait....
Valerion
Good news → #
Posted Thursday 25th February 2010 13:55 GMT
In Vulcan kept airborne by £400k refuel
I saw it at the Biggin Hill airshow last year, having seen the last flight many years ago. It was still the most awesome thing on show and got the best reaction from the crowd, and was the most excited the commentator got all day as well.
Long may it keep flying!
Valerion
Offensive → #
Posted Wednesday 24th February 2010 14:13 GMT
In Google execs protest Italian guilty verdicts
Who at Google gets to be the moral arbiter of all posted content?
What is offensive to some people isn't offensive to all (except, yes, in this case it is obviously offensive to all people of normal sensibilities).
A stupid verdict. As much as there is irony in it in some ways, it is still a massive precedent to set. They cannot reasonably police all user-posted content. It's kind of like suing the council for allowing a mugging to take place on their streets.
Valerion
Ah good → #
Posted Monday 22nd February 2010 16:53 GMT
In Twitter bomb threat joke man faces possible jail sentence
The streets, and airports, are now safe.
Bonuses all round, chaps. I'll sleep easier tonight for sure.
Valerion
I agree, O2 is very quick → #
Posted Monday 22nd February 2010 14:28 GMT
In O2 claims win in UK mobile broadband speed test
On the extremely rare occasions it actually gives me a 3G signal.
Valerion
Classic movie → #
Posted Tuesday 16th February 2010 11:57 GMT
In Scorsese and De Niro planning Taxi Driver II?
Leave it be.
Valerion
Some say → #
Posted Monday 1st February 2010 16:40 GMT
In The Loch Ness Stig gets pixellated
He has complete control of his image rights...
... and that he can change things on Google by the power of thought.
Valerion
What a dirty rat! → #
Posted Monday 1st February 2010 16:39 GMT
In Man sets mice on musophobic ex-missus
Yeah yeah I'm going.
Valerion
My 4yr old → #
Posted Thursday 28th January 2010 12:03 GMT
In Regulator sniffs around stonking iPhone game bills
Loves to play games on my iPhone. Bubblewrap was installed. Now it isn't.
Thanks El Reg!
Valerion
Sound exactly like private car park fines → #
Posted Wednesday 27th January 2010 19:03 GMT
In Which? warns on pirate letters
Somebody can park a car with my number plate on (might be my car, might not, might be my IP address, might not.) and I get a ticket on it and then a "fine" comes through the post to me because the car is registed to me. It is not enforceable because a) It is not proven that the offence was commited by me (merely that a car bearing an identifier that could be spoofed was), and b) they have no authority to fine people. In fact all they can do is request damages according to their loss. That is known as an invoice.
I don't see this as any different. If you are accused of downloading 5 movies then the damages should be the cost of those 5 movies. In fact it should really be the studio and rights-holders margins, and not the retail cost. They have no authority to fine you, only the courts do.
If I hadn't read this and got one of those I would have assumed it was a scam along with the "send us £250 cos you've won the lottery and need to claim it!" scams and filed in the recycling bin.
Valerion
One way or another → #
Posted Wednesday 27th January 2010 18:44 GMT
In Microsoft 'offered sex and drugs to distributors'
Microsoft will ensure you're f****d.
Valerion
@The Vociferous Time Waster → #
Posted Wednesday 27th January 2010 16:27 GMT
In Compulsory perv scanners upset everyone
Sorry, I was meant to be sarcastic but it didn't come over very well!
Even if it just speeds up queues I'll be happy. I got stuck for over ten minutes behind a dumb idiot who couldn't work out that any one of the 500 metal objects he seemed to have on his person could be setting off the bleepy machine.
Valerion
I don't mind the idea → #
Posted Wednesday 27th January 2010 15:04 GMT
In Compulsory perv scanners upset everyone
As long as they work.
Valerion
Blurring of Gentlemans area → #
Posted Tuesday 26th January 2010 17:03 GMT
In Top Gear's Stig prowls Loch Ness
Obvious when you think about it - it's where his registration number is!
Valerion
@AC 16:36 → #
Posted Monday 25th January 2010 19:19 GMT
In Free postcoders bang on Ordnance Survey door
The point is the Royal Mail have to maintain the PAF regardless of whether they sell it as it is obviously used by them anyway.
Valerion
The Real Reason → #
Posted Monday 25th January 2010 16:36 GMT
In Damages slashed for US freetard
There was no way she could pay $2m so there was no point in even trying to get the money from her. But $54,000 might be possible, and as she is not exactly wealthy will also have a fantastic effect on her quality of life, and that of any children she may have.
Everyone wins!!*
*As long as you are the RIAA.
Valerion
Not a money spinner? → #
Posted Monday 25th January 2010 16:33 GMT
In Free postcoders bang on Ordnance Survey door
Sorry but £25m for doing nothing is a pretty good money-spinner if you ask me. Doesn't matter how much you make overall, £25m for doing naff all is good business sense.
Valerion
It is awful, however... → #
Posted Wednesday 20th January 2010 19:07 GMT
In DVLA makes £44m flogging drivers' details
My wife got a "parking ticket" the other day for the heinous offence of forgetting to display her permit in a small pub car park that she parks in every day.
Obviously I have no intention of responding to them, but so far they have wasted money on sending people to the car park, and will possibly waste money on the DVLA as well getting MY name and address (not my wife's name - the car is registered to me). I know enough to ignore it. It is an invoice, not a fine, and I did not enter into a contract with them so they cannot pursue me for anything. And if they did all they could claim in law is the cost of any loss. As my wife has a permit there is no monetary loss.
If the word gets out enough and people refuse to be bullied then these firms will eventually go out of business. In fact I'd like the DVLA to help them by putting up charges to £10 a time. Then they'll make a profit, too!
Valerion
@robhogg. lukewarmdog → #
Posted Monday 18th January 2010 13:55 GMT
In Discrimination warning over airport body scanners
I see your point(s) and indeed wasn't that shoebomber guy white (or at least white-ish)? The point remains though that a white, middle-class family from Surrey flying to Disneyworld should be bottom of the "suspicious" list. Single men, fair enough. The only time I've been stopped by customs is when travelling as a single man, That tells us something. But as I said, I've no objection to me or my kids going through a scanner really.
More to the point though is the general stupidity of the situation. When travelling last year I wasn't allowed to take a small amount of medicine for my son on board ecause the bottle it was in could potentially hold more than 125ml, even though it only had about 30ml in it. That is just stupid. I was, however, allowed to take a cigarette lighter (for burning), a belt (for strangling), a pen (for stabbing) and a mobile phone (as a remote trigger). Good thing I didn't have that anti-histamine!
Valerion
Equality Watchdog? Get lost → #
Posted Monday 18th January 2010 12:14 GMT
In Discrimination warning over airport body scanners
Does anybody want them? Another unelected quango staffed by idiots with no common sense.
Profiling makes perfect sense. My family, consisting of 2 adults and 2 young kids, going on holiday to Florida are blatantly not a threat. The guy with the ticking rucksack is. So why screen us?
You wait - the people who pose an actual terror threat will start screaming that it's against their religion to be viewed on a full-body scanner and so they'll be allowed through without it whilst the rest of us are forced through it. Not that I'd be that bothered by it really. In fact it's a great idea. However somebody will soon find a way around it, they always do.
Valerion
Not a reliability indicator → #
Posted Thursday 14th January 2010 11:05 GMT
In French top MOT failure league
Most failures are for:
Drivers View Of Road (could be anything from a badly placed tax disk, a sat-nav bracket or a windscreen chip)
Brakes (usually brake pads have worn down)
Tyres (have worn down)
These have nothing to do with reliability.
Valerion
Never understood → #
Posted Wednesday 13th January 2010 14:37 GMT
In Next-gen iPhone rumored for April
Why the iPhone can't use an MP3 as a ringtone (without complicated conversions to ringtones and uploading them to the phone). It's been a feature on every other phone I've owned for years. Select a song and set it as your ringtone. Simples.
Valerion
Cold? → #
Posted Friday 8th January 2010 12:54 GMT
In Endeavour stays toasty in Florida chill
I know Florida is having a chill right now but surely space is colder anyway???
Valerion
Better than 10m → # ↑
Posted Thursday 7th January 2010 17:00 GMT
In Galileo sat-nav contracts, startup dates announced
GPS these days is better than 10M, especially with WAAS/EGNOS. It used to be a lot worse when Selective Availability was enabled but this was turned off years and years ago.
The Military version is still much more accurate though but only suitably-equipped military gear can read it (uses a different, much longer PRC IIRC).
Valerion
How does this fit? → #
Posted Wednesday 6th January 2010 15:55 GMT
In Bosses warned over Scrooge-like approach to snow problems
With the Highways Agency advising against travel?
Valerion
Where's episode 16? → #
Posted Wednesday 23rd December 2009 13:03 GMT
In BOFH: Key performance undertakers
Did I miss it or is this just a numbering error that can be easily put down to too much eggnog?
Valerion
That's because → #
Posted Thursday 17th December 2009 12:17 GMT
In Research suggests Wii Fit is no flab fighter
Everyone only plays the marble-tilt game and the ski jump game, both of which require no effort at all.
Valerion
One complaint is enough? → #
Posted Wednesday 16th December 2009 15:50 GMT
In Watchdog mauls Disney woman's breasts
Excellent, who do I complain to about Gordon Brown? One complaint should be enough to have him removed too.
Valerion
Jury → #
Posted Tuesday 15th December 2009 17:04 GMT
In SF's rogue admin finally gets day in court
Therein lies the problem. They won't understand it and will just make a decision based on whether they like the guy or not. And as he sounds like an arrogant idiot they'll probably send him down, despite the fact that arrogance or idiocy is not actually a crime.
Valerion
I've been to Swindon and WDW → #
Posted Tuesday 8th December 2009 12:31 GMT
In Swindon twins with Walt Disney World
And there is NOTHING in common between the two. Unless they are going for a kind of ying/yang thing - The Happiest Place on Earth compared to The Most Miserable Place on Earth.
What were the "loser" towns that weren't up to Swindon's level of enchantedness?
Valerion
£500!! → #
Posted Monday 7th December 2009 16:22 GMT
In The return of the Psion-sized PC
I mean, well done and all, but £500!!!!
Valerion
I've got an idea → #
Posted Monday 7th December 2009 16:22 GMT
In Spook firm readies Virgin Media filesharing probes
I don't download music from the interwebs as I prefer to have a CD, but as filesharing is now likely to instantly identify you (ignore what the say) and make you liable for death at the hands of Mandleson, I reckon all downloaders should just go and start shoplifting at HMV. Easier, more convenient and a lesser sentance if you get caught.
Valerion
Purleeze → #
Posted Friday 4th December 2009 09:58 GMT
In Tech-savvy UK kids = (over)confident writers
Ive sen the stuf dat mi litl grl rites on msn and its just rubbis init??!!!???!!??!!?
Valerion
The Type 45 → #
Posted Wednesday 2nd December 2009 15:45 GMT
In Navy's £1bn+ destroyers set to remain unarmed for years
PCSOs of the sea.
Valerion
Question: → #
Posted Wednesday 2nd December 2009 12:52 GMT
In Hacked climate Prof stands aside
On full pay?
Valerion
Since when → #
Posted Thursday 26th November 2009 14:01 GMT
In Kent Police exceeded powers in too-tall photographer case
Are PCSOs considered "backup" ?
PC - "Officer down! Shots fired! Send backup!"
<hides behind car door waiting for backup>
<PCSO soon arrives on bicycle, wearing full body armour, er, I mean a bike helmet>
PCSO - "Oi you lot, put those guns down before I, er, ask you nicely to stay put until some more real cops come?"
Anyway, I'm 6'2" and 17 stone so I'm going to stay away from Kent in case I frighten the poor little WPCs. Incidentally, the WPC is clearly not capable of being a police officer if she is intimidated by men of, frankly, average height and should be removed from duty immediately.
Valerion
I'd tell VM to eff off → #
Posted Thursday 26th November 2009 12:24 GMT
In Virgin Media to trial filesharing monitoring system
But the service they provide is actually very reliable and very good, and I get a sweet deal from them as a result of telling them I was going to leave a few years ago.
I exactly don't do much torrenting though.
Valerion
First step → #
Posted Wednesday 25th November 2009 14:30 GMT
In Cathay Pacific clobbered by kaput khazis
Check the catering contractors. As it's only one airline, the onboard food could be causing the problem...
Valerion
You have the right to remain silent → #
Posted Tuesday 24th November 2009 23:40 GMT
In UK jails schizophrenic for refusal to decrypt files
Unless we decide otherwise, then we'll just throw you in chokey.
Valerion
Ghostbusters said it first → #
Posted Tuesday 24th November 2009 12:15 GMT
In Collisions at LHC! Tevatron record to be broken soon?
Egon: There's something very important I forgot to tell you.
Venkman: What?
Egon: Don't cross the streams.
Venkman: Why?
Egon: It would be bad.
Venkman: I'm fuzzy on the whole good/bad thing. What do you mean, "bad"?
Egon: Try to imagine all life as you know it stopping instantaneously and every molecule in your body exploding at the speed of light.
Ray: Total protonic reversal.
Venkman: Right. That's bad. Okay. All right. Important safety tip. Thanks, Egon.
Valerion
@Lee Dowling → #
Posted Friday 20th November 2009 14:22 GMT
In LHC dimensional apocalypse from midnight: Your thoughts
"If we could, we'd be witnessing Big Bangs and self-created black holes all over the cosmos and they would be our primary indicator of "intelligent life" ... But if we don't at least try, we might as well have stayed in caves eating cold veggies because we had no tools to hunt or cook with."
You are missing the point, good sir! It probably *has* happened several times already, resulting in the formation of a new universe each time. This time we're the first to get to that stage.
Or, possibly, aliens have got to that stage and when the experiment was proposed it was met with a "WTF? Are you insane?" type response. Only humans would be daft enough to spend billions of Galactic Credits on building something to wipe out the universe.
Still, it's Friday so I'm not going to let the destruction of the universe spoil my weekend.
Valerion
Youtube link → #
Posted Thursday 19th November 2009 19:14 GMT
In Arkansas cop tasers 10-year-old girl
Or it didn't happen.
Valerion
Russinovich → #
Posted Thursday 19th November 2009 11:42 GMT
In Windows 7's dirty secrets revealed
I was worrried (well, it wasn't exactly keeping me up at night, but you know what I mean) when MS bought Sysinternals. Russinovich was obviously a very talented guy and the products were great, but I thought he'd be buried somewhere deep in MS and forgotten about.
But it seems he is right up there, and doing lots of work on the core parts of Windows. Frankly, that's a GOOD thing and gives me hope for the future.
Valerion
He's 19??!! → #
Posted Wednesday 18th November 2009 15:33 GMT
In Wall-punching Brit gamer foams (milk) at the mouth
Holy shit, this person can VOTE! And serve on a Jury!
Valerion
I don't know what I'm shocked at more! → #
Posted Wednesday 18th November 2009 11:30 GMT
In MS store staff in spontaneous electric boogie
The fact that MS has a store selling software, or that people actually went into it!
The dancing I'm just passing off as evidence that they hired the staff from Disneyworld.
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