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Authored by wol on Nov 2, 2013 18:20:02 GMT
And of course, you know who actually lists "Guardian of the Realm" amongst her real genuine titles...
Cheers, Wol
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Authored by wol on Oct 5, 2013 14:45:52 GMT
I'm a software dev, and I've put in my time in both admin and support roles as well. I've come to the conclusion that a significant percentage of computer users are idiots when it comes to data handling, based on some of the support work that I've had to do (and dev work that I have to do myself). I hear almost every day about how people's email goes to the wrong place and how critical files magically disappear. The fact is that computers are deterministic machines (barring things like multi-threading bugs, etc), and the *HUGE* majority of such stories are caused by the users themselves. I'd agree with you about users - I've done both admin and support too, and the number of users who mess things up right royally has to be seen to be believed. BUT. *IF* the reported facts are accurate, I just find it impossible to believe it was finger-trouble by the users ... Please explain to me how even ONE confidential email can accidentally be diverted to somebody who should NEVER have been on the To/CC/BCC lines. Yes I know, auto-complete ... but a problem of the magnitude described in the article is just beyond the bounds of probability. (Oh, and I have on one occasion successfully debugged a case of disappearing files :-) The mainframe I was working on had a FORTRAN compiler which allowed you to declare files as temporary when you opened them. Unfortunately, this status stuck with file descriptor through a close/re-open, so if you declared the first file as temporary, then re-used the descriptor to open a permanent file, the permanent file would disappear too when you closed it!) Cheers, Wol
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Authored by wol on Oct 3, 2013 7:25:57 GMT
Frankly, that sounds more to me like somebody trying to blame the computer for their own horrible data handling practices (accidentally - or intentionally... - deleting files, hitting "Reply All" instead of "Reply," not keeping backups, etc, etc, etc...). <shrug> Sorry, but that shows you clearly haven't read the article. THOUSANDS??? of confidential emails (ie no chance of "reply all" sending to a wrong recipient) ending up in the wrong hands! I don't understand the gigs of files disappearing, however, unless the spooks hacked the lawyers' corporate server and did a crap job of covering their tracks. Unless of course, the files were on the lawyers' laptops and not backed up to corporate HQ. But how come ?experienced? lawyers can make such an f-up on just one case? Cheers, Wol
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Authored by wol on Sept 16, 2013 19:21:22 GMT
Verily. Prey tell thee anyone. How can the NSA wire tap a tin-can-telephone without you or one's correspondent being aware of it? The string might get a bit soggy on transatlantic calls but the principle stands head and shoulders above most modern contrivances. I think Wayne is temporally challenged, but you seem the same. Wayne can't tell the difference between the 19th and 21st centuries, but why do you think you're in the 16th century? Cheers Wol
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Authored by wol on Sept 13, 2013 15:34:51 GMT
The personal computer sitting on your desk is a general-purpose computer. Your laptop? Also a general-purpose computer. What about your tablet? Your smartphone running iOS, Android, or Windows Phone software? The Raspberry Pi that your neighbor's kid turned into an automatic sprinkler control? Yes, yes, and yes. Of course, those answers are not readily apparent to everyone, which leads to big problems when legal questions arise about what kind of legal protections pieces of those computers and their software are granted. The BasicsA general-purpose computer has a few parts that are important in order to identify it as such. (this page is a work-in-progress) We need to educate the legal profession that most single-purpose devices nowadays consist of a general purpose computer coupled with dedicated hardware. Maybe the obvious way to make this point is to look at technology that sits in almost every living room today - the TV and cable box. If I take my general purpose PC and add a TV tuner card, it can replace my TV and PVR. If I now TAKE AWAY the keyboard and mouse, and replace it with a remote control, it now IS a TV and PVR. In other words, pretty much all dedicated devices like this nowadays are in fact general purpose computers from which functionality has been removed. And as far as I am aware, removing functionality does not make something patentable! Cheers, Wol
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Authored by wol on Sept 8, 2013 15:13:26 GMT
There are other moderators I believe? And how do Newspicks get up there? I thought there was a queue mechanism. So it's not necessarily PJ doing it.
Could be just another case of "lights out and things just keep going on autopilot"?
Cheers, Wol
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