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 Biting the hand that feeds IT Copyright: Copyright 2008, Situation Publishing Fri, 25 Jul 2008 16:18:51 +0200 Haven't they heard of databases and CCTV?Sutton Police have started a scheme to get local kids to turn up to talk to community officers by being nice to them.… Fri, 25 Jul 2008 16:11:50 +0200 'No videogames unless you earn it, 655321'Blighty’s cons soon really will be doing hard time. Because the Prison Service has issued a directive banning 18 certificate videogames from prisons, and has also pledged to reform console use inside jails.… Fri, 25 Jul 2008 15:59:24 +0200 And predictable puns for journalistsToy omnicorp Hasbro is setting the legal dogs on Scrabulous, the Facebook-based Scrabble knock-off popular with timewasting desk jockeys worldwide.… Thu, 24 Jul 2008 21:32:46 +0200 First Amendment meets Groundhog DayTen years after it was rubber stamped by US lawmakers, the free-speech-throttling Child Online Protection Act (COPA) remains in legal limbo, but its chances of survival took another blow this week as a federal appeals court upheld an earlier ban on the statute.… Thu, 24 Jul 2008 14:01:39 +0200 Grudge judgedThe High Court has today ordered a man who concocted a Facebook account to attack a former school friend to pay £22,000 in damages.… Thu, 24 Jul 2008 13:39:50 +0200 News of the World organises whip-round to pay damagesSo the dust has settled, Max Mosley has won his case, and UK privacy law advances a further notch. Does this make any difference at all to the El Reg readers – apart from those few who get their jollies from dressing up in strange uniforms and whipping one another at the weekend?… Thu, 24 Jul 2008 09:02:05 +0200 'The arms industry are your masters, aren't they?'Analysis The UK Ministry of Defence has taken yet another lengthy roasting from the House of Commons Public Accounts Committee, PAC, which has been examining its recently audited accounts. The MoD is accused of "masking" the costs of its biggest and most expensive equipment projects by creative accounting, and responds by pointing out that some of these costs are not of its own making but result from political meddling.… Thu, 24 Jul 2008 09:02:05 +0200 Rights infringement leads to banA horror film has been banned in Germany because it infringes on the personality rights of the German man who killed and ate a voluntary victim on Christmas Day in 2001.… Wed, 23 Jul 2008 22:43:08 +0200 From the penthouse to the Big HouseOne of the world's most prolific spammers has been sentenced to nearly four years in prison and ordered to forfeit more than $708,000 in income for blasting out tens of millions of unwanted emails.… Wed, 23 Jul 2008 21:50:31 +0200 Be nice to our huddled masses, or elseThe European Commission has threatened action against US diplomats and service personnel if there's no movement from the United States on visa-free travel this year. Citizens of 12 EU member states currently require visas when travelling to the US, and according to the Commission no tangible progress has been made in talks to change this, "despite all efforts of the Commission and individual member states."… Wed, 23 Jul 2008 14:47:41 +0200 No one is safeThe number of drive-by download attacks has tripled and they are beginning to affect government websites as well as small business operations.… Wed, 23 Jul 2008 10:52:54 +0200 Wristslap for town halls' street watchers, howeverThe latest reports from government surveillance watchdogs reveals that interception of communications by UK officials surged by almost 50 per cent in 2007. British public bodies including police and intelligence agencies made 519,260 requests for information to telcos and ISPs during the year.… Wed, 23 Jul 2008 00:17:00 +0200 At least one voter still attached to Gordon?Downing Street today denied claims that UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown is currently super-glued to a climate action campaigner.… Tue, 22 Jul 2008 20:32:58 +0200 Knowingly served child predators, feds sayOnline payment service E-Gold and three of its principals have pleaded guilty to criminal money-laundering charges following accusations they knowingly allowed child pornographers, investment scammers and other internet-based criminals to transfer funds related to their misdeeds.… Tue, 22 Jul 2008 20:18:09 +0200 'Back my empty rhetoric - or else'New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo has threatened Comcast with legal action if it doesn't fall in line with his quixotic campaign against online child pornography. And the American ISP is set to do exactly what he wants.… Tue, 22 Jul 2008 14:25:07 +0200 Moving budgets not the same as saving moneyThe Public Accounts Committee has accused the Ministry of Defence of a "culture of optimism" and of creative accountancy to make it look like it's saving money when often it's not.… Tue, 22 Jul 2008 11:50:20 +0200 Belligerent blonde Broadway banshee blasted by beakBroadway mogul Philip Smith has been granted a divorce from the actress whose dull video rants inexplicably clocked up over 3m hits on YouTube.… Tue, 22 Jul 2008 11:20:09 +0200 Dump innocents' DNA while you're at itThe Information Tribunal has told five police forces to remove old, minor criminal records from their databases.… Tue, 22 Jul 2008 10:31:22 +0200 Silly Season opens hereIt may be a little early for the silly season, but if last week’s antics by the Home Office and the Daily Mail are anything to go by, it is already upon us.… Mon, 21 Jul 2008 23:12:32 +0200 No fine for 'Nipplegate'America's puritanical streak goes only so far. Today, a US appeals court vaporized the $550,000 fine the FCC famously slapped on CBS for showing the country a majority of Janet Jackson's right breast.… Mon, 21 Jul 2008 11:03:41 +0200 Auto-gyro-dyno-retro copter project lives againThe US military's ongoing bid to revive grand old vertical lift concepts of the 1950s under the name "Heliplane" has gained a new lease of life. The financially-distressed main contractor is to be replaced by researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology (GIT), and the airframe will now be made by renowned high-tech company Scaled Composites - of SpaceShipOne, Ansari X-Prize and Virgin Galactic fame.… Mon, 21 Jul 2008 11:01:17 +0200 Gov caught sleeping on data securityOne of Gordon Brown's senior advisers lost his BlackBerry on a recent trip to China after he was picked up by a woman in a disco.… Mon, 21 Jul 2008 09:02:04 +0200 Dithers over threat levelUS paranoia about Chinese computer hackers has created a diplomatic dilemma about whether or not to warn visitors and business people traveling to next month's Beijing Olympics about cyber-security risks.… Mon, 21 Jul 2008 09:02:04 +0200 Ex-mandarin hides plans for world domination behind criticism of PoliceAs Parliament prepares to recess this week and MPs pack suntan lotion and head for the Tuscan hills, it's traditional for government departments to sneak out important reports and make major announcements of future initiatives on the sly. So it was no surprise last week to find the “Review of Criminal Information” (ROCI) making its way on to the public stage.… Fri, 18 Jul 2008 16:33:53 +0200 Just £60K for 10,000 - bargainThe Department for Children, Schools and Families spent almost £60,000 developing a temporary website which has had less than 10,000 visitors since it was created and which is due to close next month.… Fri, 18 Jul 2008 14:06:59 +0200 Traffic wardens turn to calculators, clampers target ambulancesThis week’s big motoring news has to be Swindon Borough Council’s decision to look again at the use of speed cameras. Or is it? El Reg is not so sure, as we explain below.… Fri, 18 Jul 2008 13:37:29 +0200 Entirely for their own good, apparentlyDARPA, the Pentagon boffinry outfit which bestrides the tech world like some mighty, erratic robot colossus with a frikkin laser beam on its head, has made a new move. The plan is to electronically tag US combat soldiers in a similar fashion to criminals under judicial restraint, the idea being that the troops can then be swiftly found and rescued if they get into trouble.… Fri, 18 Jul 2008 11:59:05 +0200 Over-use of secrecy leads to bullethole in footThe UK Ministry of Defence has told parliament that it has lost or had stolen some 87 USB sticks holding "protectively marked" - ie classified - material since 2003. However, almost all the devices were marked at the lowest grade of classification, and even the remaining few are unlikely to have contained information of any significance.… Fri, 18 Jul 2008 10:02:03 +0200 While MPs get petulantThe Ministry of Justice has published a consultation on changes to the powers and funding of the Information Commissioner's Office - a core conclusion of the Data Sharing Review was that the ICO needed more money and more powers to be effective.… Fri, 18 Jul 2008 09:02:05 +0200 Brown envelopes will probably get there quickerBritish citizens wishing to write to Prime Minister Gordon Brown via email are currently being told that the service is down due to maintenance work.… Thu, 17 Jul 2008 21:07:20 +0200 Abusive conduct threesomeIt's true. The European Union has thrown a new set of anti-trust allegations at Intel.… Thu, 17 Jul 2008 17:50:44 +0200 BAE promises 'no live fire testing'US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) trials of laser missile-dazzler defences on airliners have passed another milestone, with armaments maker BAE Systems announcing that its "JetEye" gear has made its first scheduled passenger flight. The JetEye-equipped plane, a Boeing 767 operated by American Airlines, made a routine trip from New York to Los Angeles.… Thu, 17 Jul 2008 16:26:18 +0200 Angry boffins attempt to bork legislationA Swedish organisation headed by lawyers and university professors has lodged a complaint this week with the European Court of Human Rights over Sweden’s controversial new snoop law.… Thu, 17 Jul 2008 15:58:23 +0200 Wanted: Asst.Perm.Sec for turning off computers at nightWhitehall has set out its plan for slashing the carbon footprint of its computer systems, and will send someone round to turn off all its PCs as early as this evening.… Thu, 17 Jul 2008 14:06:34 +0200 'A high level of monitoring and compliance is needed'The UK government has announced its plans for the national road network in coming years, assigning funding for a variety of different projects. Transport Minister Ruth Kelly has also published plans for a future of "managed motorways", which will require "a high level of monitoring and compliance to make the package work".… Wed, 16 Jul 2008 22:52:48 +0200 Barks at EmbarqCongressman Ed Markey - chair of the House Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet - has called out another American ISP for pimping user data to NebuAd, the Phorm-like behavioral ad targeter.… Wed, 16 Jul 2008 19:15:04 +0200 Denies alleged sexist waysEMC ignored internal discrimination claims from female employees whilst fighting a class action lawsuit filed by other female employees.… Wed, 16 Jul 2008 17:16:18 +0200 Carry this can, and this sack of moneyThe payouts received by the civil servants who took the blame for Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs losing the child benefit database have been revealed.… Wed, 16 Jul 2008 16:20:39 +0200 Sorry seems to be the hardest wordETS Europe, the school exam contractor, has been slammed by the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA) following revelations of marking delays brought on in part by technical cock-ups at the firm.… Wed, 16 Jul 2008 15:06:20 +0200 Time for info law to grow some...teethThe UK's Data Protection Act turned ten years old on Wednesday amid calls to either update the legislation or enforce the rules it established.… Wed, 16 Jul 2008 11:59:56 +0200 For undisclosed reasons at an undisclosed costMinisters have frozen the development of the Scope project, a secure computer network providing key officials with speedy access to secret intelligence on terrorism and other threats.… Wed, 16 Jul 2008 01:14:21 +0200 Mr. Smith's boo-hoo over Goo-HooYes, Microsoft turned up at today's dueling Congressional hearings on the Google ad pact with Yahoo!.… Tue, 15 Jul 2008 20:21:40 +0200 Time to outsource some scrubbingSanity has prevailed in the Google-Viacom case. At least for the moment.… Tue, 15 Jul 2008 19:51:40 +0200 Civil rights? We're not familiarYour e-mail is at risk again thanks to a recent ruling that backs no-notice, warrantless digs through e-mail accounts held by service providers.… Tue, 15 Jul 2008 17:00:10 +0200 Thomas demands proper debateInformation Commissioner Richard Thomas said today that government plans for a communications database are a step too far and need proper public debate.… Tue, 15 Jul 2008 16:16:45 +0200 Again, and again, and again...Detained illegal immigrants are the latest to fall victim to the Home Office's bizarre love affair with electronic tagging. The draft immigration and citizenship bill, published this week, puts forwards proposals for "large" but unspecified bail bonds along with tagging as an alternative to detention.… Tue, 15 Jul 2008 15:53:37 +0200 Report finds processing costs out of controlThe cost of processing each single farm payment has often exceeded the claim's value, according to the Public Accounts Committee.… Mon, 14 Jul 2008 21:10:18 +0200 Trademark at Tiffany'sA federal judge has sided with eBay in its long-running legal battle with jewelry giant Tiffany & Co.… Mon, 14 Jul 2008 09:02:05 +0200 New CRB regs produce a nation of suspectsAnalysis If we had suggested, ten years ago, that one day soon, the government would draw up a list of prescribed occupations: that they would build a database of millions of people who would need to register for those occupations; and that a committee of Public Safety would be set up with power of absolute veto over every individual on the database; it is just possible that you would have decided that even El Reg had taken leave of its oh-so-cynical senses.… Sun, 13 Jul 2008 09:02:04 +0200 Energy + Food = Political StewComment Some more details are beginning to emerge on the Prime Minister's new "food security" theme, which he has just been debating with other big-league politicoes at the G8 summit. Mr Brown and his fellow overlords were also concerned with Zimbabwe and various other things, but seem to have spent most of their time on the "triple shocks" currently hitting the world economy: high fuel prices, high food prices and high credit prices.… |
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