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Announcements => News Articles => Topic started by: Alex Atkin UK on December 31, 2020, 02:56:23 AM

Title: Brexit deal mentions Netscape browser and Mozilla Mail
Post by: Alex Atkin UK on December 31, 2020, 02:56:23 AM
No wonder they hadn't a clue how long it might take to deliver Gigabit to all.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-55475433
Title: Re: Brexit deal mentions Netscape browser and Mozilla Mail
Post by: tubaman on December 31, 2020, 07:41:51 AM
If this is a sign of the quality of the document then I hate to think what else is in there!
Not good at all.  >:(
Title: Re: Brexit deal mentions Netscape browser and Mozilla Mail
Post by: Ronski on December 31, 2020, 08:09:45 AM
Apparently they think it was copy and pasted from a much earlier document, by some one who clearly doesn't know what they are referring to. It also recommends the use of SHA-1 as a "hash algorithm" despite the fact it was depreciated in 2011  :lol:

Unfortunately very few people are technically aware, and that goes for government ministers and civil servant's so these sort of things are always going to happen unfortunately.
Title: Re: Brexit deal mentions Netscape browser and Mozilla Mail
Post by: sevenlayermuddle on December 31, 2020, 10:00:00 AM
It looks like the usual BBC anti-Brexit opportunism, taking facts out of context.

If you follow the link on the BBC web page, the references to Netscape appearing on Page 921 are in a section entitled “ANNEX LAW-1: EXCHANGES OF DNA, FINGERPRINTS AND VEHICLE REGISTRATION DATA”

Quote
s/MIME functionality is built into the vast majority of modern e-mail software packages including Outlook, Mozilla Mail as well as Netscape Communicator 4.x and inter-operates among all major e- mail software packages.

So, it was just a ‘for example’, even if somebody writing it today would choose a different example.

It looks to me as if that entire Annex is pretty much a copy&paste of existing (not old) EU legislation, applying between member states.   Sure it would be good to get it updated, but if it means rehashing their own internal laws, just for the benefit of the Brexit agreement, I suspect the EU would be reluctant to do so.

It may or may not be a concern that EU law, applying to member states, mandates insecure protocols for DNA data exchange.   Does it?   If so, that would be a reason for optimism that we will be making our own laws, in future.  But I’d not expect BBC news to report it like that.
Title: Re: Brexit deal mentions Netscape browser and Mozilla Mail
Post by: tubaman on December 31, 2020, 10:59:27 AM
It says "the hash algorithm SHA-1 shall be applied", so it doesn't appear to be optional!
Why did they put stuff like this in a treaty when it should have been clear it'd become outdated very quickly?
 :o
Title: Re: Brexit deal mentions Netscape browser and Mozilla Mail
Post by: Bowdon on December 31, 2020, 11:28:59 AM
I'd seen this story mentioned a few days ago on the news, and maybe this is just me, but the implication I got from it was that it was a dig at the UK government, like its a rush job.

But I think it is more likely to be at least as much blame on the EU side as I can imagine there is a lot of standardisation going on with legal documents to avoid the costs of re-translating every update. I can imagine the cost and amount of time doing that would become cumbersome over time.

I think they would only update a document if the principle become outdated rather than the examples used.
Title: Re: Brexit deal mentions Netscape browser and Mozilla Mail
Post by: j0hn on December 31, 2020, 11:34:02 AM
It looks like the usual BBC anti-Brexit opportunism, taking facts out of context.

This looks like the anti BBC brigade taking an amusing technology story and twisting it in to anti brexit nonsense.

There's nothing out of context about it.
It's a rushed agreement with 25 year old text in it.

The BBC have simply picked up on a tweet and posted an amusing article in the technology section.
There's nothing anti brexit about it.
It didn't exactly make the national news.

Even the pro brexit Torygraph ran the story...
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/2020/12/29/brexit-deal-includes-tech-clauses-20-years-date/

Your dislike of the BBC is obvious and taints any BBC thread posted on here. This wasn't even a BBC thread.
Title: Re: Brexit deal mentions Netscape browser and Mozilla Mail
Post by: sevenlayermuddle on December 31, 2020, 11:42:00 AM
It says "the hash algorithm SHA-1 shall be applied", so it doesn't appear to be optional!
Why did they put stuff like this in a treaty when it should have been clear it'd become outdated very quickly?
 :o

Well, I can imagine a hypothetical conversation around the table...

EU... "Will you accept the existing laws for DNA data exchange as applied to EU member states?"

Boris... "No, that's daft, your laws refer to ancient technology."

EU... "EU laws are always perfect, and we cannot make any changes that affect EU law without agreement of all individual member states.  We cannot allow special treatment for the UK, just because it is no longer a member state."

Boris... "Sigh."

 :D
Title: Re: Brexit deal mentions Netscape browser and Mozilla Mail
Post by: Weaver on December 31, 2020, 12:06:34 PM
"Commercial Product of the Shelves (COTS)" ?