tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-136652562024-03-07T19:16:25.997+00:00<i>A somewhat nonrandom collection of Harry's thoughts that in no way constitute a blog</i>Harry Metcalfehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02351218926148250125noreply@blogger.comBlogger64125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13665256.post-1125741376904948132005-09-03T10:46:00.000+01:002005-09-03T10:56:16.910+01:00

The 8th circuit court of appeals has upheld the district court's summary judgement in favour of Blizzard and Vivendi.This means that the original decision stands - and that the DMCA can be used to prevent third parties from improving software they have purchased legally. The core of the matter is that EULAs are, apparently, valid contracts - and that the appellants' acceptance of the EULAs for

Harry Metcalfehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02351218926148250125noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13665256.post-1124972472375171832005-08-25T13:04:00.000+01:002005-08-25T13:21:12.383+01:00

An interesting vulnerability has been found in BBCode. Apparently, this problem affects most products that use BBCode - the de-facto standard for formatting posts in online forums.The problem exists with the [IMG] tag, which allows users to embed images in their posts. It generally works something like this: [IMG]http://server/folder/image.jpg[/IMG] The vulnerability works by creating a folder

Harry Metcalfehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02351218926148250125noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13665256.post-1124631234155140602005-08-24T16:20:00.000+01:002005-08-24T16:20:04.843+01:00

A couple of things happened over the weekend, which I found interesting. First, I had to travel by tube. Upon entering the tube system, my first thought was "I wonder if I'll get mistaken for a suicide bomber". It was not "I wonder if I'll get blown up by a suicide bomber". Of course, I considered the likelihood of either to be pifflingly small, but nevertheless, that was the order of my thoughts

Harry Metcalfehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02351218926148250125noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13665256.post-1124724372979924592005-08-23T12:51:00.000+01:002005-08-23T12:49:46.840+01:00

A few weeks ago, I wrote about an interview with Sir Ian Blair, the Metropolitan Police Commissioner, and its implications on the shoot-to-kill policy. As well as writing that post, I contacted Scotland Yard to see if they would like to comment, and - after several follow-up phone calls - they have responded. Unfortunately, but understandably, they are waiting for the IPCC report on Jean Charles

Harry Metcalfehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02351218926148250125noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13665256.post-1124366329584621212005-08-22T15:45:00.000+01:002005-08-22T15:44:00.850+01:00

This is so cool.Google blog describes the uses for wildcard searches:Sometimes one wants to use a search engine to find a very specific piece of information rather than to learn about a topic. If search engines were truly intelligent, you could just pose a question the same way you would ask a person. An alternative is to get the search engine to 'fill in the blank.' So instead of asking [who

Harry Metcalfehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02351218926148250125noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13665256.post-1124631126022809152005-08-21T14:17:00.000+01:002005-08-21T14:34:06.276+01:00

The Guardian reports that senior sources in the Metropolitan Police have told the Observer that de Menezes was not considered a bomb threat by the surveillence team who followed him to Stockwell tube station. Apparently, he was only considered a threat once the armed officers arrived.These officers are trained to deal with suicide bombers, and their training tells them that a bomber will likely

Harry Metcalfehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02351218926148250125noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13665256.post-1124295076219245752005-08-20T16:56:00.000+01:002005-08-20T16:56:38.900+01:00

TheNewspaper.com reports that a study conducted by the Department for Transport, uncovered by a FOIA request, has shown that the presence of speed cameras increases the number of personal injury accidents - accidents in which someone is hurt.This doesn't surprise me at all. As is probably obvious to most, speed cameras do not reduce speeding overall -- they decrease speeding where the camera is.

Harry Metcalfehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02351218926148250125noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13665256.post-1124368258561201942005-08-19T17:36:00.000+01:002005-08-19T17:35:16.700+01:00

I don't wish to jump to conclusions before the publication of the inquiry into the shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes, but documents have been leaked from the IPCC which cast a grave shadow over the whole affair.It seems very likely that the following is true:De Menezes was not wearing loose clothing or a heavy jacketHe did not run from officers or vault the ticket barrierHe had been restrained

Harry Metcalfehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02351218926148250125noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13665256.post-1124364753062141702005-08-18T12:27:00.000+01:002005-08-18T12:32:33.073+01:00

Via Schneier on Security: The US Transportation Security Agency is considering lifting its ban on small pointy objects. It's also deciding whether or not to give screeners the discretion not to conduct pat-down searches, and not to require passengers to remove their shoes.Well... it's about time. This policy was always completely stupid. I'm glad that someone in charge has finally realised that.

Harry Metcalfehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02351218926148250125noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13665256.post-1124288867166605392005-08-17T15:11:00.000+01:002005-08-17T15:27:47.173+01:00

Apologies for the recent lack of posts. I've been on holiday.News.com reports that the Bush administration has asked ICANN to delay the creation of a .xxx top-level domain name, so that the suffix can receive "further scrutiny".The Bush administration appears to be reacting to approximately 6000 letters and emails from concerned citizens. They don't seem to have objected to the concept on

Harry Metcalfehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02351218926148250125noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13665256.post-1123541838935417312005-08-09T15:31:00.000+01:002005-08-09T15:32:51.816+01:00

I recently wrote about a pilot scheme in the US to require visitors to carry RFID-enabled cards at border crossings, in an attempt to acheieve better border control (I assume).Well, yesterday I read at Schneier on Security that the record for reading a passive RFID device was set at 69 feet! Just goes to show. The US government has said that they won't read the cards except at borders, but who

Harry Metcalfehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02351218926148250125noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13665256.post-1123539176127356192005-08-08T23:13:00.000+01:002005-08-09T11:26:39.926+01:00

Be careful with your 'contact' forms in PHP.It's very easy for a cracker to hijack your contact form to send spams or anonymous emails if you don't validate your input very carefully. Consider the following example:&lt;!-- HTML contact form here (just pretend) --&gt;&lt;?phpif($_REQUEST['Message']){ $Valid['Email'] = ValidateEmailAddress($_REQUEST['Email']); $Valid['Name'] = $_REQUEST['Name'] $

Harry Metcalfehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02351218926148250125noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13665256.post-1123343259114215802005-08-06T16:36:00.000+01:002005-08-06T16:47:39.120+01:00

Sir Ian Blair, the Metropolitan Police Commissioner, has always seemed to me to be quite a reasonable man. I've seen him speak on TV several times in the aftermath of the London bombings. The first time I saw him was on Question Time, in which he defended the Police's shoot-to-kill policy for suicide bombers. Today, I watched another interview with him, in which he said the following with respect

Harry Metcalfehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02351218926148250125noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13665256.post-1123247564709810542005-08-05T13:55:00.000+01:002005-08-05T14:12:44.716+01:00

I've been thinking a lot about the Police's shoot-to-kill policy for suspected suicide bombers. It's been stuck in my mind mostly because it just feels wrong. Unfortunately, I couldn't quite put my finger on a good reason why.Well, Bruce Schneier - as regularly seems to be the case - has done exactly that. In fact, it's a reasonably simply critisism, and I'm a bit annoyed that it didn't occur to

Harry Metcalfehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02351218926148250125noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13665256.post-1123070778314339132005-08-03T12:57:00.000+01:002005-08-03T13:06:18.320+01:00

Not that there's anything wrong with copying a good idea, but when it's Microsoft copying Google, you've got to ask: why don't Microsoft come up with their own ideas?They've already copied Google Maps in the form of Virtual Earth, and now they've ripped off Google's start page too, in the form of Start.com.I must say though: start.com is nice. Nicer than Google's original. I think Virtual Earth

Harry Metcalfehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02351218926148250125noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13665256.post-1122912242420792572005-08-02T14:32:00.000+01:002005-08-02T14:31:53.343+01:00

A West London man, Gregory Straszkiewicz, has been found guilty of "dishonestly obtaining an electronic communications service" for accessing an unsecured wireless network without permission.One really has to ask if this is reasonable. Obviously if he had committed a crime on someone else's network, that would be a different matter, but that doesn't seem to be the case.I sometimes hear arguments

Harry Metcalfehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02351218926148250125noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13665256.post-1122900696579445142005-08-01T13:33:00.000+01:002005-08-01T14:10:56.673+01:00

...which makes me unhappy. I have some good friends there.Boingboing reports that the US is piloting a scheme where visitors to the country will be required to carry an RFID card containing their biometrics and personal information.This, in addition to photographing and fingerprinting all visitors to the States, is a step too far. Why is it necessary to gather biometric information on all

Harry Metcalfehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02351218926148250125noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13665256.post-1122901813056531722005-08-01T13:20:00.000+01:002005-08-01T14:11:22.883+01:00

I can't remember where I heard this analogy, but it's really good.This analogy explains a big part of the problem with government or commercial initiatives that accomplish something at the cost of reducing our liberties and/or freedoms just a little bit.In isolation, these programmes seem ok: they accomplish something (perhaps), and don't cost that much in return. We are led to believe that the

Harry Metcalfehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02351218926148250125noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13665256.post-1121654357384428962005-07-27T09:30:00.000+01:002005-07-27T09:29:23.676+01:00

Stunning new screenshots for Project Gotham Racing have been released. They really do look photo-realistic. I wonder how good they'll look at 150Mph, but still - impressive.

Harry Metcalfehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02351218926148250125noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13665256.post-1122376621186965952005-07-26T12:12:00.000+01:002005-07-26T12:17:01.193+01:00

The US House of Representatives has overwhelmingly voted -- 355 to 21 -- for a federal inestigation into GTA San Andreas's sex scenes.I've already posted about the ridiculousness of this whole 'scandal', but this takes the biscuit. One would think that the US Congress has better things to do than investigate cartoon sex. Apparently not. I'm beginning to think that everyone inolved has been

Harry Metcalfehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02351218926148250125noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13665256.post-1121616097423446052005-07-25T16:51:00.000+01:002005-07-25T16:51:34.156+01:00

I thought I'd post about this -- I think it's a really good example of how to advertise on the internet.More often than I like, I go to a website to read an article, and a stupid floating &lt;div&gt; with some garish animation pops up right on top of the thing I'm trying to read. It's immeasurably irritating. The newer ones even make you wait a few seconds before presenting you with a way to

Harry Metcalfehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02351218926148250125noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13665256.post-1122051334983903192005-07-24T15:47:00.000+01:002005-07-24T15:47:03.086+01:00

Canada has a real-life Mr Hanky!The seven-foot turd is the mascott of the People Opposed to Outfall Pollution , or -- you guessed it -- POOP. He has a song and everything! The organisation is campaigning for proper sewage treatment for their city, which -- somewhat surprisingly -- dumps 120 million litres of raw sewage into the sea every year. Isn't sewage treatment a pretty basic need? Even in

Harry Metcalfehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02351218926148250125noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13665256.post-1122130023400064222005-07-23T15:33:00.000+01:002005-07-23T16:12:45.453+01:00

... companies like Microsoft use them to protect such 'innovations' as the smilie. Yes. The smilie. The humble emoticon.ZdNet reports that Microsoft have filed for a patent covering "selecting pixels to create an emoticon image, assigning a character sequence to these pixels and reconstructing the emoticon after transmission". If you're interested, you can read the patent yourself.The FFII has

Harry Metcalfehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02351218926148250125noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13665256.post-1122083549036574632005-07-23T02:50:00.000+01:002005-07-23T03:08:56.503+01:00

Not really much to say here -- Bruce Schneier has posted an excerpt from his book (Beyond Fear) about profiling, along with some extra points.This is well worth reading -- an excellent critique of the strengths and weaknesses of profiling as a security measure.

Harry Metcalfehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02351218926148250125noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13665256.post-1122050232670631092005-07-22T16:52:00.000+01:002005-07-22T17:48:03.100+01:00

According to Wired, a whoooole bunch of stupid nonsense is arriving in the aftermath of the Hot Coffee 'scandal'.Take Two has announced that it is "exploring its legal options as it relates to companies that profited from creating and distributing tools for altering the content". Datel Design & Development, the company that makes the 'Action Replay' system that allows Playstation users to use

Harry Metcalfehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02351218926148250125noreply@blogger.com0