Daily Archives: August 31, 2005

Wireless hijacking under scrutiny

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Interesting BBC NEWS story…

A recent court case, which saw a West London man fined £500 and sentenced to 12 months’ conditional discharge for hijacking a wireless broadband connection, has repercussions for almost every user of wi-fi networks.
It is believed to be the first case of its kind in the UK, but with an estimated one million wi-fi users around the country, it is unlikely to be the last.

Hmmm… what’s the legal principle here? That any unauthorised use of anything is automatically illegal? If you’re a householder and you knowingly leave your DECT phone out on the street for any passer-by to use, shouldn’t you bear some responsibility? Running an ‘open’ wireless network is an exact analogy. People shouldn’t steal cars, but we would feel less sympathy for a motorist whose car has been hijacked if it turned out that he always leaves his car unlocked with a note to that effect pinned to the windscreen.

Man dies as son, 7, drives on M5

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From BBC NEWS…

A father died after he allowed his seven-year-old son to drive at 70mph along a motorway, an inquest heard.

Peter Mourier, 50, of Kingshill, Kempsey, Worcestershire, was killed when the car left the M5 and crashed into a tree on 4 March.

The boy was driving from the passenger seat when he hit an object between junctions 12 and 11a. He, and his two brothers in the back seat, were unhurt.

Gloucestershire coroner Alan Crickmore recorded a verdict of accidental death.

Depravity on, er, eBay

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From the You-couldn’t-make-it-up Department (via The Register)…

The Belfast Telegraph and Sinn Fein are leading a campaign to KO eBay auctions of DVD bare-knuckle gypsy-on-gypsy fight action. The newspaper has already provoked eBay.co.uk to pull two auctions for such material, although there is plenty of raw footage still available to eager punters.

The blurb for one of these sensitive productions reads

This is Real Bare Knuckle Gypsy Fights on DVD! Over two hours of Gypsys punching the hell out of each other and shouting stuff that you wont be able to understand! Filmed in England, Ireland and Scotland in country lanes, warehouses and front gardens! This is real footage all caught on camcorder, so dont expect hollywood quality. Just like the film Snatch, only this is for real!

A 100% Genuine Gypsy production comes on a disc like the one pictured below. No sleave [sic], bare disc of Bare Knuckle Fights!

The other interesting snippet from The Register report is the news that Sinn Fein has a “spokesperson on human rights”. Whatever next.

Old wine, new bottle

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I love WordPress, but found the default (Kubrick) presentation template too restrictive (particularly because it forced me to squeeze photographs into a maximum width of 450 pixels). Also, it seemed to waste a lot of screen space, forcing readers to scroll too much. And the interminable Archives list down the right hand side was getting, well, ridiculous. So with Quentin’s advice and expertise, some of these problems have been addressed. Hope you think it’s an improvement.