Of course banks have an absolutely outstanding record on security, don't they?
I actually get eMails from my bank (genuine ones) asking me to log on to my account and providing a useful link to do so. Basically they look like phishing emails. In the light of the phishing problem banks *should* cease all email to their customers and broadcast that they will never email you as widely as possible so that their customers will know that *any* email purporting to come from their bank is a scam.
Do they do that? Not a chance!
So chip and pin is secure, is it? Try doing a quick Google for "chip and pin security"
A lot of stuff there, isn't there? And a lot of it by people who appear to know their stuff, too.
And you don't have to change the pin on a genuine card. Creating a forged card that will validate against *any* pin would suffice.
Then you have to take into account the difference in scale. A compromised bank cards allows the crook access to a single account. A compromised ID cards will allow wholescale identity theft. The 'thief' will be able to do anything that requires the use of an ID card in the victim's name. That includes crime and activities associated with terrorism.
This makes the forging / cracking of ID cards several orders of magnitude *more* valuable to criminals and terrorists than cracking a mere chip-and-pin debit card. That means they will put several magnitudes more *effort* into circumventing them. Can you *imagine* the black market value of forged UK ID cards?
And the other issue with ID cards has a direct relationship with chip-and-pin cards. If a chip and pin card is compromised then the burden of proof is now placed on the customer to prove it. This is almost impossible to do as, as you believe, chip and pin is 'infallible' (even though it has been demonstrated that they are not). OK, so you get ripped of as in the Watchdog article and your bank account gets cleaned out. Nasty, but not the end of the world.
Now assume a similar thing happens to your ID card. The 'authorities' have a similar delusion about the security of these cards to banks have about chip-and-pin. This is nicely demonstrated by the rhetoric of various Gov't ministers. So someone produces a fake ID in your name and uses it in the course of a crime or act of terrorism. There you are, up before a judge and jury all of whom believe in the infallibility of the ID card system. What do you think your chances are of walking free?
And stop using the 'boffin' icon for 'Janet and John' postings, it's very misleading.
And you can't take anyone who posts as an AC seriously, anyway.
You really don't understand what you are talking about, do you?
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1) Why should databases be distributed? Should just be 2 data centres, a live one and one replicated for Business Continuity.
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A database without which the entire country will grind to a halt based on a simple live+backup structure? OK, they *may* do it that way, but the ensuing chaos when the main site goes down and the backup won't come up would bang several nails into the Government's coffin lid. We ain't talking about a piddling little ecommerce site, here.
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2) A terminal verifying an ID card wouldn't need to receive ID record details, just a verification YES or NO from a service interfaced to the database. In fact, the biometrics will also be stored on a chip on the card, so in most ID verification use-cases the data never leaves the terminal, the card software just returns a YES or NO - a bit like how chip-and-pin works, the pin is on the card, the terminal only calls the database to verify the amount of the transaction and not the pin, the pin doesn't get transmitted anywhere.
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And what about the terminal used by clerks and officials to input/view/edit data? If the biometric verification is performed 'on-chip' then the system will have no way of identifying a forged ID. In other words, unless the biometrics are *centrally* verified, they are vulnerable. If they *are* centrally verified, they are vulnerable. Or, to put it another way, just like biometric passports already have been, biometric ID cards *will* be compromised, and that means the data they are protecting will be compromised.
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3) Database backups can be automatically encrypted to prevent them being of use if they are lost or stolen. Indeed, individual columns in tables in databases can be specified to be encrypted so that they're meaningless without properly authorised access.
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And backups can be made that *aren't* encrypted. We are back to that underpaid sysadmin and his mafia payoff again. Or even a run-of-the-mill cock-up like the one that just occurred.
Authorised access. Are you kidding me? That means *nothing* at all. All you need is the access credentials of an 'authorised' person and you can read the lot. People leave passwords on bit of paper, they leave their smart cards lying around. People can be bought. People are stupid. You can encrypt away to your hearts content but it only takes one person to be forgetful / stupid / corrupt and all that encryption is worthless.
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4) You're right about financial incentives being the most common way to enlist inside help with fraud. That's why any security clearance for government data centres includes a financial background check. Those with "large mortgage arrears" need not apply.
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Are you *seriously* that naive? We are talking about the people (the Home Office) who employ illegal immigrants as security guards, here . And while 'background checks' may show up a mortgage arrears, there are *plenty* of ways to owe (very nasty) people a *lot* of money that *won't* show up on any background check. And people can always get into financial shit *after* they have started work too.
It is virtually impossible to implement a system like the national ID register that will be administered, at varying levels, by, literally, thousands of people and make it totally secure. Personally, if it were competently built, I'd give it, at most, 5 years after it goes live before it is compromised.
Knowing the underpaid and overworked people that will be building the system I would hazard a guess that its security will be totally blown long before it goes live, however.
And, underlying all of that, this whole pile of shite is going to be run by HM Goverment who, time and time and time again have shown that they are totally clueless when it comes to information technology and have shown time and time and time again that they, *absolutely* cannot be trusted to keep our personal details secure.
"1. If there is national biometric ID you cannot get any service just by stealing data. You have to get an ID first which may end up being difficult because your new identity details will not match the old ones in the database."
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And what are IDs if not data? Just because a record represents a fingerprint, iris scan or other biometric data doesn't preclude it from being 'lost' or misappropriated.
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"2. If there is a national database there is no need for such transfers"
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You don't work in IT, do you? Are you, perhaps a politician or senior management who thinks data moves around by magic? Just because there is a national database doesn't mean all of the data is in one place. Databases can (should) be distributed, you know. And how is a Government minion in Edinburgh going to access the data if the database is in London without data transfer?
Yes, I know we are talking about electronic transfer, here. But because of the way this system will be used there will be, literally, thousands of terminals to read and verify ID cards and handle your personal data. Each and every one a target for organised crime.
Data sat in a database is useless. For data to be useful it has to be transferred. When data is transferred it is vulnerable.
And, of course, the ID database(s) will need to be backed up. The backup media, even if not physically transported can still be copied and/or stolen.
And no matter how secure you make the technology, the weak link will always be the humans using it. Compromised UK ID cards would be of *enormous* value to both organised crime and terrorist groups, so you can be absolutely sure they will throw their, not insignificant, resources at the task. Anyone can be 'bought' if the price is high enough. Would a system administrator being paid £30K-£40K would turn down an offer of a few £100K, or more, to make a copy of a backup? Most might, but it only takes one with a large mortgage arrears.........
Perhaps if Government ministers (including, and particularly, the PM) and their 'usual suspect' IT contractors offered up their necks as surety for the ID card database a few more of us might believe their hype about its security and infallibility.
So how about it, Gordo? How about you, and your entire cabinet offer to resign and call a General Election if a single, solitary, ID / biometric passport database record gets 'lost' and/or ends up in the wrong hands?
How about if the clowns who will actually build this database offer to compensate the taxpayer to the tune of, I don't know, say, £1M per lost record.
I mean, its going to be totally secure, isn't it. So there would be no risk of Gordo making a trip to Buckingham Palace if he made such a pledge, is there? Totally risk-free, then. And a sure fire way to boost the public's confidence in ID cards.
Yes, we all know that ol' Eyebrows isn't *personally* to blame. But the Government, in general keep banging on about how they can be trusted with our personal data with regards to the National ID card database while time, and time, and time, and time again they demonstrate that they, absolutely, cannot be trusted any further than I could throw a number 9 bus.
And yes, I can, and do, do a *much* better job, as could a large number of other Reg readers whose jobs also involve secure/sensitive data.
Depends on what defines 'next gen'. If you focus on the narrow benchmark of CPU and GPU 'grunt' then, yes, the Wii has more in common with the previous 'generation'.
If you concentrate on gameplay, however, then the Wii is far ahead of its competitors. Considering that both the '360 and PS3 utilise controllers that are little different from the original Playstaion's offering then you could argue that the Wii is, at least, two generations ahead of the competition.
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Anonymous Coward wrote:
"That must make it even more annoying for Sony & MS, getting pissed on by such an "inferior" machine."
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Not half as annoying as it is to the disgruntled Sony and MS fanbois, I'd wager ;-P
Either Thomas was capable of doing the job, or she wasn't. If she wasn't capable of doing the job then she should have been fired for *specific* reasons / failings with regards to her duties.
Merely citing 'immaturity' as the reason sounds like, and was treated as, age discrimination, even if this was some sort of blanket cover-all for a number of failings.
In short, the "Eight Member Club" were either bloody stupid or were genuinely discriminatory.
The issue was that, when the cleaners entered, he continued.
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So if you were giving Mrs Anonymous Coward a good seeing to in a hotel room and were just about to hit the vinegar stroke when in barge a couple of cleaners you'd stop, just like that, eh?
F'ing stupid sentence when juvenile asrsehole scumbags are handed down wrist-slaps for *real* crimes.
"It also shows that 94 per cent of individuals are concerned that organisations are selling their personal details to other organisations without permission."
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And yet we are told that most people are in favour of the biggest and most intrusive database of personal details ever conceived being run by an organisation that has shown time and time again that it cannot be trusted with private data.
I am, of course, referring to our wholly trustworthy Government and their plans for national ID cards.
I can, just about, understand why there is some benefit to including HD-DVD and BluRay playback functionality in the '360 and PS3 respectively as a lot of people won't have those players.
But with stand-alone DVD players costing, literally, pocket money prices, I can't see it being much of a selling point.
Add to that the probability that DVD will start to fade over the next 5 or so years and it becomes even more pointless.
Mind you, either PS3 or '360 owners are probably going to get pissed of a lot quicker than that when their format goes 'Betamax' in the next couple of years.
The big problem 'the authorities' will have when, for a variety of reasons, people encrypt their data by default is that they won't know, a-priori, which packets are suspect. They (they being any one of CIA, MI5, RIAA, etc, etc) could spend months tracking down a transfer between and through a number of countries, obtaining warrants and court orders at great expense at each stage, only to find it was some bloke downloading the latest Ubuntu distro.
According to this BBC breakdown of what happened....
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7050915.stm
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"Armed officers reach the train and shout.
Ken and Ivor point to Mr de Menezes.
Three armed officers board the train.
Mr de Menezes stands up and moves towards Ivor and the armed officers, but Ivor forces him back down into his seat.
Two firearms officers lean over and shoot Mr de Menezes dead."
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If the target HAD been a bomber (and not just some poor sod who was in the wrong place at the wrong time) then he would have had plenty of time to set of his 'device' between the point he realised there were armed police ( when they shout "Armed Police") and the point when he had his brain blown to a pulp.
In other words, it appears that not only did plod kill an innocent man, there's a good chance they wouldn't have prevented him setting off his bomb if he HAD been a terrorist.
There was a case where someone stitching up a 419er lured him to Saudi Arabia to complete the 'deal'. The Saudi police were all too happy to deal with the Nigerian miscreant.
I believe the scammer now needs a specially modified keyboard to conduct his business.
Whether or not this bloke has broken the law, FACT (as well as the RIAA, MPAA, etc) are continuing to shoot themselves in their own feet.
The companies they represent continue to piss off their legitimate customers with DRM, forced trailers and anti-piracy messages (on DVDs) and various other methods that attempt to protect their interests (but do no more than annoy users).
The upshot of this is that most of the music and movie buying public view the 'pirates' as being more like Robin Hood than Blackbeard.
The ONLY way FACT will gain the upper hand in their fight against copyright 'theft' will be to get the consumer on-side. Taking the piss and backing it up with threats just won't work.
De Menezes was already being restrained by a plain clothes (but unarmed) surveilance officer (he had him pinned in an arm-lock against his seat). This officer was dragged off of De Menezes and, despite shouting "police, police" had a gun pressed against HIS head. He was dragged off the train at gunpoint.
He then heard the shots being pumped into De Menezes head.
So, I heartily agree with Tawakalna. Stop being an utter asshole, Davenport.
You are joking, right? 'American' is the lingua franca of the computer world, get used to it or find another profession.
How hard would it be to make browsers understand 'colour' as well as 'color'? Not too hard. But what about kleur, couleur, farbe, χρώμα, 色, 顏色, 색깔, цвет
And that's just a few languages. Now what about understanding alternatives for 'Header'? H1, H2, H3? The H is for header. In French then this should be T1, T2, T3, etc.
And so on for all the other tags and attributes. Then account for languages that don't read left-right-down.
If you REALLY want to write a browser engine to do all that then Gecko is open source, so you could start modifying that.
I see we still get apologists for the advertisers ("People have to eat you know, and advertising is the main revenue stream in the "new economy"")
The thing is, the advertisers only have themselves to blame. If the advertisers had used a certain amount of moderation in their techniques then ad-blockers wouldn't be such an essential add-on to web browsers.
Their problem is that they thought that, as on TV, they can ram as much crap down our throats as they wish, without noticing that the 'web' is a quite different medium.
The result is that ad-blockers are now freely available, simple to install and simple to use.
Even then they didn't learn. We STILL have obtrusive ads similar to the one on this article. The original poster (and many others) is now quite likely to go out and install an ad blocker. He also very likely to configure it to block all the ads he can. So, by merely including ONE obnoxious ad on one page, The Register has succeeded in ensuring that many of its readers will now no longer see ANY ads.
I have less of a problem with this game than with Manhunt 2. The big difference is that the actual object of the game in Manhunt is to commit murder in the most brutal and sadistic way, which is completely different to a war scenario.
The fact is that Manhunt 2 allows gamers to act out something (brutal, sadistic murder) that, if done in the real world would shock and disgust almost anyone.
Those that complain about being adult enough to decide for themselves about Manhunt 2 and condemn the BBFC for banning it might like to consider how they would feel about a game that allowed them to act out other revolting crimes.
How about a game where the object is to rape as many women as possible?
What about a game where the object is to brutally and sadistically murder children and babies (as opposed to adults)?
Neither of the above would ever get made, let alone get past the BBFC, and quite rightly too. I just cannot understand why Rockstar think that the theme of Manhunt 2 IS acceptable.
I'd be interested to know where those that think the BBFC are wrong with Manhunt 2 would, themselves, draw the line?
It really pisses me of when fatties demand special treatment (bigger seats on train, busses, planes, etc, etc). Irrespective of how much they bluster about their excessive lardyness being a medical condition (slow metabolism, etc), it really just boils down to an imbalance in calories eaten to calories burned.
The reason this pisses me of is down to my own physical 'deformity'. I'm rather tall (6'6"), which means travelling on busses, coaches, trains and economy air are bloody uncomfortable. However, unlike the lardies, there is bugger all that I can do about it.
Saw a demo of Sky HD in Currys. Seriously unimpressed. Compression artefacts appeared (to me) to be much more visible than on my Freeview setup (Digifusion PVR into a Phillips 28' CRT). They were using a large plasma screen, and I was fairly close to it (2-3m), so maybe it wouldn't look so bad on a smaller screen or at a greater distance.
It certainly put me off the idea of Sky HD. Nowhere near good enough for the price they are asking (and the cost of buying an HD TV).
1. Menezes didn't 'run away' he was running to catch a train.
2. Police did not give Menezes any chance to surrender. They bundled him to the ground and put several bullets into his brain.
3. Even if he WAS running away. He was being pursued by plain clothes police, so he had no reason to realise who they were.
4. Even if he WAS running away and he DID realise the people following him were 'officials' of some kind (possibly immigration as his visa had expired), that's still no excuse for blowing his brains out without giving him a chance to surrender.
OK, I know why the police did what they did. They were convinced, albeit wrongly, that he was about to detonate a bomb, but that does not change the fact that Menezes wasn't a suicide bomber. He was guilty of no more than overstaying his visa.
Tell you what, Luke. Next time some big ugly bastard starts chasing you, just stand there. He might, just, be a plain-clothes policeman.
On the other hand, he might merely beat the crap out of you and take your wallet and phone.
how some little prick driving around in a 1.2 Corsa with bastardised bodywork, a zonking great tailpipe and little blue lights everywhere doesn't already know that this shouts, louder than anything, "Caution, dickless wanker on board"
"British bike lanes and paths, as anyone who's used them much knows, are rubbish. Their layout almost always prioritises the convenience of motorists over that of cyclists; pedestrians and drivers ignore them most of the time"
Whaaaat!!!!
Are we talking about the same group of road users, here? Are we talking about the same Lycra-clad arseholes that view pavements as their right-of-way (particularly when avoiding traffic lights) and pedestrians as people to be ridden down? The same alien-helmeted dickheads who think traffic lights, one-way streets, pedestrian crossings and give-way signs just don't apply to them? The same bunch of peddling halfwits who see no problem with cramming their bikes onto trains and blocking the doors so that nobody can get on or off?
OK, these may be the minority of cyclists, but they are a total pain in the ass to other road users AND pedestrians. Far from being "those who pose the least risk to others and who are themselves most at risk from others", these 'Lycra Louts" are an extreme hazard to pedestrians, other road users AND themselves!!!
"If there's no secure DRM mechanism available for the Linux, then the BBC won't release iPlayer for Linux."
There is no secure DRM. Full Stop. End of story. The whole premise behind DRM is broken. The player MUST contain the means to revert the encrypted / protected data into its clear form. Therefore any DRM implementation will ALWAYS be susceptible to reverse engineering.
"*The Reg wasn't allowed to attend the briefing because we're "always horrible" to the Beeb"
So the toys get chucked out of the pram. Typical of the BBC.
I see that Ashley Highfield also made the following comment in the BBC News article.....
"With spectrum capacity severely limited on Freeview at least until 2012 we believe quite strongly that IP (internet protocol) is a great route to getting HD out to wider audience."
Surely the "director of Future Media and Technology" cannot be THAT clueless? Does he SERIOUSLY consider that HD over our current crappy up-to-8mbps-that-only-really-gives-1.5mbps-if-you-are-lucky broadband connections is workable?
"This person has committed a crime that any sensible person would judge to be many many thousands of times worse than the person who merely angered the RIAA"
Spot on!
Rip-off ordinary computer users and make a fortune doing so = slap-on-wrist.
Share a few crap tunes and make no money from it = massive fine.
I note that Orlowski is STILL not permitting comments on his pro-RIAA rants.
There was a project in one of the old electronics mags (1980's)(Practical Wirelss, IIRC) that did a similar thing. It was based on a hidden switch instead of wireless, but worked in a similar way.
If you didn't deactivate the circuit, it would start a timer. After a couple of minutes it would start interrupting the ignition circuit, causing the car to misfire. The idea was that it would appear like an ignition fault instead of a security device, causing the perp to abandon it.
Register
105 posts • joined Wednesday 11th April 2007 15:06 GMT
Page:
@Anonymous Coward
Ah, you work for a bank. That explains a lot.
Of course banks have an absolutely outstanding record on security, don't they?
I actually get eMails from my bank (genuine ones) asking me to log on to my account and providing a useful link to do so. Basically they look like phishing emails. In the light of the phishing problem banks *should* cease all email to their customers and broadcast that they will never email you as widely as possible so that their customers will know that *any* email purporting to come from their bank is a scam.
Do they do that? Not a chance!
So chip and pin is secure, is it? Try doing a quick Google for "chip and pin security"
A lot of stuff there, isn't there? And a lot of it by people who appear to know their stuff, too.
And you don't have to change the pin on a genuine card. Creating a forged card that will validate against *any* pin would suffice.
This makes interesting reading:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/consumer/tv_and_radio/watchdog/reports/insurance_and_finance/insurance_20070206.shtml
Then you have to take into account the difference in scale. A compromised bank cards allows the crook access to a single account. A compromised ID cards will allow wholescale identity theft. The 'thief' will be able to do anything that requires the use of an ID card in the victim's name. That includes crime and activities associated with terrorism.
This makes the forging / cracking of ID cards several orders of magnitude *more* valuable to criminals and terrorists than cracking a mere chip-and-pin debit card. That means they will put several magnitudes more *effort* into circumventing them. Can you *imagine* the black market value of forged UK ID cards?
And the other issue with ID cards has a direct relationship with chip-and-pin cards. If a chip and pin card is compromised then the burden of proof is now placed on the customer to prove it. This is almost impossible to do as, as you believe, chip and pin is 'infallible' (even though it has been demonstrated that they are not). OK, so you get ripped of as in the Watchdog article and your bank account gets cleaned out. Nasty, but not the end of the world.
Now assume a similar thing happens to your ID card. The 'authorities' have a similar delusion about the security of these cards to banks have about chip-and-pin. This is nicely demonstrated by the rhetoric of various Gov't ministers. So someone produces a fake ID in your name and uses it in the course of a crime or act of terrorism. There you are, up before a judge and jury all of whom believe in the infallibility of the ID card system. What do you think your chances are of walking free?
And stop using the 'boffin' icon for 'Janet and John' postings, it's very misleading.
And you can't take anyone who posts as an AC seriously, anyway.
What!!!
"Chancellor Alistair Darling also said yesterday that the disaster actually strengthened arguments in favour of ID cards."
He's a bigger muppet than he looks if he thinks anyone is going to swallow that line.
They also do a nice line in:-
assholes
@Anonymous Coward
You really don't understand what you are talking about, do you?
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1) Why should databases be distributed? Should just be 2 data centres, a live one and one replicated for Business Continuity.
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A database without which the entire country will grind to a halt based on a simple live+backup structure? OK, they *may* do it that way, but the ensuing chaos when the main site goes down and the backup won't come up would bang several nails into the Government's coffin lid. We ain't talking about a piddling little ecommerce site, here.
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2) A terminal verifying an ID card wouldn't need to receive ID record details, just a verification YES or NO from a service interfaced to the database. In fact, the biometrics will also be stored on a chip on the card, so in most ID verification use-cases the data never leaves the terminal, the card software just returns a YES or NO - a bit like how chip-and-pin works, the pin is on the card, the terminal only calls the database to verify the amount of the transaction and not the pin, the pin doesn't get transmitted anywhere.
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And what about the terminal used by clerks and officials to input/view/edit data? If the biometric verification is performed 'on-chip' then the system will have no way of identifying a forged ID. In other words, unless the biometrics are *centrally* verified, they are vulnerable. If they *are* centrally verified, they are vulnerable. Or, to put it another way, just like biometric passports already have been, biometric ID cards *will* be compromised, and that means the data they are protecting will be compromised.
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3) Database backups can be automatically encrypted to prevent them being of use if they are lost or stolen. Indeed, individual columns in tables in databases can be specified to be encrypted so that they're meaningless without properly authorised access.
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And backups can be made that *aren't* encrypted. We are back to that underpaid sysadmin and his mafia payoff again. Or even a run-of-the-mill cock-up like the one that just occurred.
Authorised access. Are you kidding me? That means *nothing* at all. All you need is the access credentials of an 'authorised' person and you can read the lot. People leave passwords on bit of paper, they leave their smart cards lying around. People can be bought. People are stupid. You can encrypt away to your hearts content but it only takes one person to be forgetful / stupid / corrupt and all that encryption is worthless.
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4) You're right about financial incentives being the most common way to enlist inside help with fraud. That's why any security clearance for government data centres includes a financial background check. Those with "large mortgage arrears" need not apply.
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Are you *seriously* that naive? We are talking about the people (the Home Office) who employ illegal immigrants as security guards, here . And while 'background checks' may show up a mortgage arrears, there are *plenty* of ways to owe (very nasty) people a *lot* of money that *won't* show up on any background check. And people can always get into financial shit *after* they have started work too.
It is virtually impossible to implement a system like the national ID register that will be administered, at varying levels, by, literally, thousands of people and make it totally secure. Personally, if it were competently built, I'd give it, at most, 5 years after it goes live before it is compromised.
Knowing the underpaid and overworked people that will be building the system I would hazard a guess that its security will be totally blown long before it goes live, however.
And, underlying all of that, this whole pile of shite is going to be run by HM Goverment who, time and time and time again have shown that they are totally clueless when it comes to information technology and have shown time and time and time again that they, *absolutely* cannot be trusted to keep our personal details secure.
Re:Just the opposite
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"1. If there is national biometric ID you cannot get any service just by stealing data. You have to get an ID first which may end up being difficult because your new identity details will not match the old ones in the database."
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And what are IDs if not data? Just because a record represents a fingerprint, iris scan or other biometric data doesn't preclude it from being 'lost' or misappropriated.
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"2. If there is a national database there is no need for such transfers"
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You don't work in IT, do you? Are you, perhaps a politician or senior management who thinks data moves around by magic? Just because there is a national database doesn't mean all of the data is in one place. Databases can (should) be distributed, you know. And how is a Government minion in Edinburgh going to access the data if the database is in London without data transfer?
Yes, I know we are talking about electronic transfer, here. But because of the way this system will be used there will be, literally, thousands of terminals to read and verify ID cards and handle your personal data. Each and every one a target for organised crime.
Data sat in a database is useless. For data to be useful it has to be transferred. When data is transferred it is vulnerable.
And, of course, the ID database(s) will need to be backed up. The backup media, even if not physically transported can still be copied and/or stolen.
And no matter how secure you make the technology, the weak link will always be the humans using it. Compromised UK ID cards would be of *enormous* value to both organised crime and terrorist groups, so you can be absolutely sure they will throw their, not insignificant, resources at the task. Anyone can be 'bought' if the price is high enough. Would a system administrator being paid £30K-£40K would turn down an offer of a few £100K, or more, to make a copy of a backup? Most might, but it only takes one with a large mortgage arrears.........
ID chopping block
Perhaps if Government ministers (including, and particularly, the PM) and their 'usual suspect' IT contractors offered up their necks as surety for the ID card database a few more of us might believe their hype about its security and infallibility.
So how about it, Gordo? How about you, and your entire cabinet offer to resign and call a General Election if a single, solitary, ID / biometric passport database record gets 'lost' and/or ends up in the wrong hands?
How about if the clowns who will actually build this database offer to compensate the taxpayer to the tune of, I don't know, say, £1M per lost record.
I mean, its going to be totally secure, isn't it. So there would be no risk of Gordo making a trip to Buckingham Palace if he made such a pledge, is there? Totally risk-free, then. And a sure fire way to boost the public's confidence in ID cards.
Not going to happen though, is it.
Wonder why?
Get real?
@William Donelson
Yes, we all know that ol' Eyebrows isn't *personally* to blame. But the Government, in general keep banging on about how they can be trusted with our personal data with regards to the National ID card database while time, and time, and time, and time again they demonstrate that they, absolutely, cannot be trusted any further than I could throw a number 9 bus.
And yes, I can, and do, do a *much* better job, as could a large number of other Reg readers whose jobs also involve secure/sensitive data.
@ Kenny Millar
Spot on!
Re:For the last time.....
"Its just that Nintendo price things within Mr and Mrs J Bloggs price range"
Or, rather, its priced at a level where it is attractive to people who aren't nerdy enough to blow a couple of month's disposable income on a toy.
*Lights blue touchpaper, stands well back, waits for numerous fanbois to spontaneously combust ;-p*
Re:Wii isn't a "next-gen" console...
Depends on what defines 'next gen'. If you focus on the narrow benchmark of CPU and GPU 'grunt' then, yes, the Wii has more in common with the previous 'generation'.
If you concentrate on gameplay, however, then the Wii is far ahead of its competitors. Considering that both the '360 and PS3 utilise controllers that are little different from the original Playstaion's offering then you could argue that the Wii is, at least, two generations ahead of the competition.
#########################################
Anonymous Coward wrote:
"That must make it even more annoying for Sony & MS, getting pissed on by such an "inferior" machine."
#########################################
Not half as annoying as it is to the disgruntled Sony and MS fanbois, I'd wager ;-P
Stupidity
Either Thomas was capable of doing the job, or she wasn't. If she wasn't capable of doing the job then she should have been fired for *specific* reasons / failings with regards to her duties.
Merely citing 'immaturity' as the reason sounds like, and was treated as, age discrimination, even if this was some sort of blanket cover-all for a number of failings.
In short, the "Eight Member Club" were either bloody stupid or were genuinely discriminatory.
Oh for F**** sake
What next? Bans on using the correct terms for female dogs, cattle and small jam-filled pastry cases because they are also insulting to women?
And what about this place:-
http://www.streetmap.co.uk/streetmap.dll?G2M?X=243625&Y=129290&A=Y&Z=3
Its about time we rounded up all of the politically correct Thought Police, stuck them all in a field and bombed the crap out of them.
Re:He continued when disturbed
@ Anonymous Coward
###########################
The issue was that, when the cleaners entered, he continued.
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So if you were giving Mrs Anonymous Coward a good seeing to in a hotel room and were just about to hit the vinegar stroke when in barge a couple of cleaners you'd stop, just like that, eh?
F'ing stupid sentence when juvenile asrsehole scumbags are handed down wrist-slaps for *real* crimes.
People are concerned......
##########################
"It also shows that 94 per cent of individuals are concerned that organisations are selling their personal details to other organisations without permission."
##########################
And yet we are told that most people are in favour of the biggest and most intrusive database of personal details ever conceived being run by an organisation that has shown time and time again that it cannot be trusted with private data.
I am, of course, referring to our wholly trustworthy Government and their plans for national ID cards.
Can't see the point of it
I can, just about, understand why there is some benefit to including HD-DVD and BluRay playback functionality in the '360 and PS3 respectively as a lot of people won't have those players.
But with stand-alone DVD players costing, literally, pocket money prices, I can't see it being much of a selling point.
Add to that the probability that DVD will start to fade over the next 5 or so years and it becomes even more pointless.
Mind you, either PS3 or '360 owners are probably going to get pissed of a lot quicker than that when their format goes 'Betamax' in the next couple of years.
I wondered how long.........
it would take to get the fanbios out
Light the blue touchpaper.........
Do they actually have anyone stupid enough to sit on top of that glorified firework?
Plod and keys
The big problem 'the authorities' will have when, for a variety of reasons, people encrypt their data by default is that they won't know, a-priori, which packets are suspect. They (they being any one of CIA, MI5, RIAA, etc, etc) could spend months tracking down a transfer between and through a number of countries, obtaining warrants and court orders at great expense at each stage, only to find it was some bloke downloading the latest Ubuntu distro.
What about.....
1. "Help! Help! I'm being repressed!" (Monty Python and the Holy Grail) Used when being put-upon by the boss.
2. "Oh you mean an African swallow" (Paraphrase)(Monty Python and the Holy Grail). Used in cases of misunderstanding.
3. "He's not the Messiah. He's a very naughty boy!" (Life of Brian). Used when an ass-licker makes a cock-up.
4. "You're only supposed to blow the bloody doors off!" (The Italian Job). Used in case of large scale cock-up.
5. "Here I am, brain the size of a planet, and...." (Paraphrase)(Hitchhikers guide to the Galaxy). Used when assigned a menial task.
6. "Just what do you think you're doing, Dave?" (2001, A Space Odyssey). Used when you catch a colleague viewing dodgy websites.
7. "Do ya feel lucky, punk" (Dirty Harry). Used in cases of general risk taking.
Freedom of Speech
Well, at least we have freedom of speech here.......
Unless the article is by a certain Mr Orlowski........
Freedom of Speech 3
@ Lindsay
################################
"try the FOX network, they're pretty even in their news."
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What you actually mean is:-
"Try the FOX network, they present the news and express views in a way that supports my own political (right-wing) leaning."
And Bush doesn't need 'degrading' by anyone else, he's pretty good at doing that all by himself.
The biggest problem........
with the PSP is that it still isn't a DS
If he Was a bomber........
According to this BBC breakdown of what happened....
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7050915.stm
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"Armed officers reach the train and shout.
Ken and Ivor point to Mr de Menezes.
Three armed officers board the train.
Mr de Menezes stands up and moves towards Ivor and the armed officers, but Ivor forces him back down into his seat.
Two firearms officers lean over and shoot Mr de Menezes dead."
####################################
If the target HAD been a bomber (and not just some poor sod who was in the wrong place at the wrong time) then he would have had plenty of time to set of his 'device' between the point he realised there were armed police ( when they shout "Armed Police") and the point when he had his brain blown to a pulp.
In other words, it appears that not only did plod kill an innocent man, there's a good chance they wouldn't have prevented him setting off his bomb if he HAD been a terrorist.
Works both ways
There was a case where someone stitching up a 419er lured him to Saudi Arabia to complete the 'deal'. The Saudi police were all too happy to deal with the Nigerian miscreant.
I believe the scammer now needs a specially modified keyboard to conduct his business.
So now we know....
the true identity of amanfrommars.
Oh, and by the way, never, ever, EVER mention Gyles Brandreth again.
The mere thought of that overbearing, supercilious, pompous little snot brings me out in a nasty rash.
Cashback
"Glad the guy got the cash back though. Only fair."
They sort of have to cough up. The first bank to tell a defrauded customer to piss off will be the first bank to lose most of its other customers.
Robin Hood Syndrome
Whether or not this bloke has broken the law, FACT (as well as the RIAA, MPAA, etc) are continuing to shoot themselves in their own feet.
The companies they represent continue to piss off their legitimate customers with DRM, forced trailers and anti-piracy messages (on DVDs) and various other methods that attempt to protect their interests (but do no more than annoy users).
The upshot of this is that most of the music and movie buying public view the 'pirates' as being more like Robin Hood than Blackbeard.
The ONLY way FACT will gain the upper hand in their fight against copyright 'theft' will be to get the consumer on-side. Taking the piss and backing it up with threats just won't work.
How the hell....
can anyone punch themselves in the ribs with enough force to break them? Sounds like a load of bull to me.
Re: Wrong Time, Wrong Place
To add to Tawakalna's comments.
De Menezes was already being restrained by a plain clothes (but unarmed) surveilance officer (he had him pinned in an arm-lock against his seat). This officer was dragged off of De Menezes and, despite shouting "police, police" had a gun pressed against HIS head. He was dragged off the train at gunpoint.
He then heard the shots being pumped into De Menezes head.
So, I heartily agree with Tawakalna. Stop being an utter asshole, Davenport.
Re:Small Steps
@Waggers
You are joking, right? 'American' is the lingua franca of the computer world, get used to it or find another profession.
How hard would it be to make browsers understand 'colour' as well as 'color'? Not too hard. But what about kleur, couleur, farbe, χρώμα, 色, 顏色, 색깔, цвет
And that's just a few languages. Now what about understanding alternatives for 'Header'? H1, H2, H3? The H is for header. In French then this should be T1, T2, T3, etc.
And so on for all the other tags and attributes. Then account for languages that don't read left-right-down.
If you REALLY want to write a browser engine to do all that then Gecko is open source, so you could start modifying that.
Good luck.
Ads and ad blockers
I see we still get apologists for the advertisers ("People have to eat you know, and advertising is the main revenue stream in the "new economy"")
The thing is, the advertisers only have themselves to blame. If the advertisers had used a certain amount of moderation in their techniques then ad-blockers wouldn't be such an essential add-on to web browsers.
Their problem is that they thought that, as on TV, they can ram as much crap down our throats as they wish, without noticing that the 'web' is a quite different medium.
The result is that ad-blockers are now freely available, simple to install and simple to use.
Even then they didn't learn. We STILL have obtrusive ads similar to the one on this article. The original poster (and many others) is now quite likely to go out and install an ad blocker. He also very likely to configure it to block all the ads he can. So, by merely including ONE obnoxious ad on one page, The Register has succeeded in ensuring that many of its readers will now no longer see ANY ads.
Not real smart.
Please, Please, PLEASE
Let it be EDS.
There IS a difference
I have less of a problem with this game than with Manhunt 2. The big difference is that the actual object of the game in Manhunt is to commit murder in the most brutal and sadistic way, which is completely different to a war scenario.
The fact is that Manhunt 2 allows gamers to act out something (brutal, sadistic murder) that, if done in the real world would shock and disgust almost anyone.
Those that complain about being adult enough to decide for themselves about Manhunt 2 and condemn the BBFC for banning it might like to consider how they would feel about a game that allowed them to act out other revolting crimes.
How about a game where the object is to rape as many women as possible?
What about a game where the object is to brutally and sadistically murder children and babies (as opposed to adults)?
Neither of the above would ever get made, let alone get past the BBFC, and quite rightly too. I just cannot understand why Rockstar think that the theme of Manhunt 2 IS acceptable.
I'd be interested to know where those that think the BBFC are wrong with Manhunt 2 would, themselves, draw the line?
Watches for the I-Luv-Vista crowd
http://www.findwatches.co.uk/kids-watches-time-teacher-c-65_66.html
Quite right too
It really pisses me of when fatties demand special treatment (bigger seats on train, busses, planes, etc, etc). Irrespective of how much they bluster about their excessive lardyness being a medical condition (slow metabolism, etc), it really just boils down to an imbalance in calories eaten to calories burned.
The reason this pisses me of is down to my own physical 'deformity'. I'm rather tall (6'6"), which means travelling on busses, coaches, trains and economy air are bloody uncomfortable. However, unlike the lardies, there is bugger all that I can do about it.
HD seems pretty crap anyway.
Saw a demo of Sky HD in Currys. Seriously unimpressed. Compression artefacts appeared (to me) to be much more visible than on my Freeview setup (Digifusion PVR into a Phillips 28' CRT). They were using a large plasma screen, and I was fairly close to it (2-3m), so maybe it wouldn't look so bad on a smaller screen or at a greater distance.
It certainly put me off the idea of Sky HD. Nowhere near good enough for the price they are asking (and the cost of buying an HD TV).
MOOOOOOOooooooo
Anyone else hear the sound of a cash-cow being milked too hard.
Ignorant twit
@ Luke Wells
1. Menezes didn't 'run away' he was running to catch a train.
2. Police did not give Menezes any chance to surrender. They bundled him to the ground and put several bullets into his brain.
3. Even if he WAS running away. He was being pursued by plain clothes police, so he had no reason to realise who they were.
4. Even if he WAS running away and he DID realise the people following him were 'officials' of some kind (possibly immigration as his visa had expired), that's still no excuse for blowing his brains out without giving him a chance to surrender.
OK, I know why the police did what they did. They were convinced, albeit wrongly, that he was about to detonate a bomb, but that does not change the fact that Menezes wasn't a suicide bomber. He was guilty of no more than overstaying his visa.
Tell you what, Luke. Next time some big ugly bastard starts chasing you, just stand there. He might, just, be a plain-clothes policeman.
On the other hand, he might merely beat the crap out of you and take your wallet and phone.
Has BSkyB 'bought' ofcom?
I certainly looks that way...........
Arrows
Apparently, medieval archers had dum-de-dum-de-duuum-de-dum arrows.
(You need to be British to get that one)
I still don't understand.....
how some little prick driving around in a 1.2 Corsa with bastardised bodywork, a zonking great tailpipe and little blue lights everywhere doesn't already know that this shouts, louder than anything, "Caution, dickless wanker on board"
Lycra louts
"British bike lanes and paths, as anyone who's used them much knows, are rubbish. Their layout almost always prioritises the convenience of motorists over that of cyclists; pedestrians and drivers ignore them most of the time"
Whaaaat!!!!
Are we talking about the same group of road users, here? Are we talking about the same Lycra-clad arseholes that view pavements as their right-of-way (particularly when avoiding traffic lights) and pedestrians as people to be ridden down? The same alien-helmeted dickheads who think traffic lights, one-way streets, pedestrian crossings and give-way signs just don't apply to them? The same bunch of peddling halfwits who see no problem with cramming their bikes onto trains and blocking the doors so that nobody can get on or off?
OK, these may be the minority of cyclists, but they are a total pain in the ass to other road users AND pedestrians. Far from being "those who pose the least risk to others and who are themselves most at risk from others", these 'Lycra Louts" are an extreme hazard to pedestrians, other road users AND themselves!!!
Secure DRM?
@ Tim J
"If there's no secure DRM mechanism available for the Linux, then the BBC won't release iPlayer for Linux."
There is no secure DRM. Full Stop. End of story. The whole premise behind DRM is broken. The player MUST contain the means to revert the encrypted / protected data into its clear form. Therefore any DRM implementation will ALWAYS be susceptible to reverse engineering.
A load of Wii
@ Stuart Harrison
If the Beeb use Flash 7 (Like YouTube) it should work with the Wii.
Awww Diddums......
"*The Reg wasn't allowed to attend the briefing because we're "always horrible" to the Beeb"
So the toys get chucked out of the pram. Typical of the BBC.
I see that Ashley Highfield also made the following comment in the BBC News article.....
"With spectrum capacity severely limited on Freeview at least until 2012 we believe quite strongly that IP (internet protocol) is a great route to getting HD out to wider audience."
Surely the "director of Future Media and Technology" cannot be THAT clueless? Does he SERIOUSLY consider that HD over our current crappy up-to-8mbps-that-only-really-gives-1.5mbps-if-you-are-lucky broadband connections is workable?
HD that is compressed to buggery is pointless.
BTW, we need an 'evil BBC' icon.
AMFM
They give amanfromMars his own icon and he (she? it? other?) doesn't bloody well use it.
Re:Lets get our priorities right
"This person has committed a crime that any sensible person would judge to be many many thousands of times worse than the person who merely angered the RIAA"
Spot on!
Rip-off ordinary computer users and make a fortune doing so = slap-on-wrist.
Share a few crap tunes and make no money from it = massive fine.
I note that Orlowski is STILL not permitting comments on his pro-RIAA rants.
Still got its tits in the air
Still kaput at 15:15BST
Actually, it seems its just the front page that's knackered....
Clueless politicians
Angela Eagle clearly demonstrates her IT illiteracy when she confuses 'open source' with operating systems other than Windows.
Perhaps someone should point out to her that Mac OSX is anything BUT open source.
Nothing new
There was a project in one of the old electronics mags (1980's)(Practical Wirelss, IIRC) that did a similar thing. It was based on a hidden switch instead of wireless, but worked in a similar way.
If you didn't deactivate the circuit, it would start a timer. After a couple of minutes it would start interrupting the ignition circuit, causing the car to misfire. The idea was that it would appear like an ignition fault instead of a security device, causing the perp to abandon it.
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