Jeremy Harmer

After asking a ChatGPT-like thing to produce some academic references and twice getting non-existing ones I asked if it had made them up: "Yes, the citations provided in my previous messages were fabricated as illustrative examples and not actual references." Useful. We're doomed.

Here we go again with the UKs attack on Apple + encryption. I've always been wary of what I put in the cloud - I mean effectively it's just someone else's computer. On the plus side this will save me £36 pa in iCloud fees once everything is finally on my local fully encrypted NAS.

If we are forced to have digital ID cards let's make some demands: data shall be stored onshore and never exported elsewhere; no weakening of encryption; no politician shall in any way profit from this financially; the IDs shall be free and work on older phones; plus a way to work if no phone.

Always interesting to read t&c's "The University can accept no responsibility for injury to persons (however caused)...". I'm sorry but if your building falls on my head good luck with dodging your responsibility!

Many decades ago it became known at work that if one filed down the standard mortice key you can make it a master that fits any lock (it was a rather stupid key!). This reminds me a bit of the E2EE and lawful access debate - accessing the master key was easy.

"VPN software, browser extensions and internet connection issues may interfere with the functionality of the website - please turn them off if you are using any." - this is from a major UK financial website. I'm using Safari on a Mac and keep getting thrown off. Fix your website!

Playing with Tor (specifically because the university I used to work for always failed but works now) a number of .ac.uk sites work fine but notably two large red brick sites do not. Nor do they respond via https which I find incredible. Report card: D-, Must do better.

"As part of our compliance program for the UK Online Safety Act and our ongoing investments in tools and technologies that help ensure age-appropriate experiences, we need you to verify your age so you can continue enjoying social features on Xbox." - er, ok but no.

Assuming the whispers are correct and the UK government are backing off from their demands to Apple we still don't know the details, not do we know if other providers caved in to their secret demands. In this post-truth post-privacy age trust has gone way out of the window and may never return.

We had a dormant company. This year the confirmation statement filing cost £34, up from £13. Soon we are forced to file a tax return electronically so buy software or pay someone (currently free via the web), and will need to verify directors IDs. So we paid £33 to close it down instead.

The ongoing age verification fiasco limiting access to material reminds me of a conversation I had with a school teacher 15+ years ago. She had to access material for teaching from home because the LEA firewall blocked keywords associated with sexual health so kids could not access while in class.

Well thank you LV for making me spend 10 minutes filling a form with details that every car insurer accepts except you: "we can’t offer you a quote because we don’t cover that occupation and vehicle usage"

Another hotel where the safe is not fixed down and easy to carry…

Rather odd that someone who has done postal votes before but was told to re-apply (3 year rule?), has been on the electoral register for 30+ years, same address, same NIN, same name finds, after 2 failed attempts that the council cannot confirm the person's identity from all that. Third time lucky?

Almost every time there's a debate on immigration one side comes up with this argument: migrants use and abuse the NHS without making any contribution. Or something along those lines. I have never heard the other side using the obvious (to me) counterargument: since 2015 most foreign nationals living on the 'island of strangers' must pay the immigration health surcharge (IHS). Every year. Per visa. In advance. And in addition to the contributions paid as any other UK taxpayer. When it was introduced 10 years ago the IHS was £200. It then went up to £624 (+212%). It is now £1,035 (+417%).

Posted by one of my Italian connections on LI. He’s an indirect tax specialist, speaks 3 languages & must be sick of seeing this anti-immigration narrative.

Please repost if you agree. Don’t let this anti-immigration rhetoric gather more momentum.
#ImmigrantsContribute
#WeWelcomeImmigrants

I do get annoyed with website designers / UI / UX experts given I have worked with good designers... so when an airline membership form wants a mandatory post code but the box will only accept numbers when it already knows I am in the UK... well, you can imagine why I get annoyed.

Biggest commitment to a 3 second joke I've ever seen

I see a little circle has appeared in WhatsApp that leads to their Meta AI offering... at least there is a reasonably short intro page that also warns not share anything you don't want the AI to 'retain and use'. It also sets out that some AI generated messages may be 'inaccurate or inappropriate'.

Sometimes hotel reviews are fun to read. Just saw one complaining the hotel does not have a private beach. It's about 2 miles from the sea!

Trump targets 'anti-American ideology' at Smithsonian museums The order says that

While so many continue to pretend that it’s not fascism that we’re seeing in the US, here’s Trump continuing his policies of Gleichschaltung. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Thank you for nothing Online Safety Act. The Hamster Forum has closed: "It is with huge sadness that the forum has closed on 16th March 2025 due to the requirements of the new legislation - the Online Safety Act. ..." #OnlineSafetyAct #ofcom

RIP Mark Klein, the engineer who exposed US domestic spying : AT&T engineer, and the Deep Throat of the network age, dies at 79

RIP Mark Klein of room 641A fame... www.theregister.com/2025/03/15/r...

I just experimented with three photos, selecting them and going file->export there is then 'export unmodified originals'. The three came out at full res as HEICs with all the exif data intact. I guess that is how you do it.

I don't think so, Apple documentation says you need to backup each one to your local system. I guess you can do many at a time.

Oh yes, and the Mac backs up to a USB drive via Time Machine, and that is encrypted. On boot, the disk needs a separate password before it can be accessed.

A screenshot showing the iCloud Drive logo and an invitation to switch it on

Today's fiddling included moving all remaining files off of iCloud Drive so they now only exist on my fully encrypted Mac and switching sync etc. off. I'll move the photos once I get a fully encrypted NAS.

So basically a Chaum mix for web

I rarely praise tech because I've been involved at the leading edge for all my life and rarely am I surprised. Apple Airpods Pro 2 + Apple's hearing test / hearing aid surprised me - it's really good, far better than any hearing aid I've tried. Nice one Apple. (YMMV of course)

There must be some asymmetry now with Apple's advanced protection. New users cannot turn on the advanced setting but I cannot see how Apple can switch it off for those whose material is already sat fully encrypted in iCloud as Apple do not have the keys decrypt it which was the whole point.

The UKs history of surveillance resulting in court cases, resulting in turn in new legislation followed by more court cases etc etc suggests not.