Suzy, Drinker Of Coffee

Some notable stories

… First things first…

Microsoft assumes temporal dominion

“Next week could see chaos as Microsoft assumes control of the fourth dimension, robbing UK businesses of a whole hour of work.

A problem with Microsoft Exchange Server means programmes such as Outlook will turn the clocks back a week early, plunging Britain's Blackberry-wielding suits into a thundering whirlpool of temporal bedlam.

The bug has arisen because this October is unusual in having five Sundays. Exchange is hard-coded to assume only four, and to readjust from BST to GMT on the fourth Sunday…”

So how come the Dundee City Council email server has been sending out messages one hour ahead of time for a good couple of weeks now? Wrong month?

… and speaking of theft…

Mystery surrounds Easynet 'robbery'

"Easynet suffered a large and embarrassing robbery earlier this week and is doing its best to keep what happened under wraps.

Late on Monday, two thieves used a swipe card to drive a van up to Easynet's Brick Lane headquarters. Once inside they began loading equipment into their van. They were watched by two security guards - one was doing his rounds and the other watched by CCTV - but both assumed the thieves, with their legitimate swipe cards also had a legitimate reason to take the kit, according to our sources…

According to other Easynet customers who emailed the Reg, the ISP was telling customers a power outage was responsible for the problems. The company is now owned by Rupert Murdoch's BSkyB. Easynet refused to comment except for this statement: "Easynet is working closely with the police on an investigation following an incident earlier this week."

Which isn't terribly informative. What is even stranger is that the Metropolitan Police and the City of London Police say they have no record of Easynet being in touch Easynet insists the matter has been reported to the police and there is an ongoing investigation. It also sent us this letter (pdf) which was sent out to customers."

… so from a physical robbery, to a virtual one. Once YouTube sold out to Google, many wondered how long it would take before the copyright police were out in force…

YouTube deletes 29,549 copyright-busting files

"Industry predictions that Google may have bought itself a whole heap of copyright trouble when it recently acquired YouTube for a modest $1.65bn, appear to be coming true as media companies worldwide move to protect their assets from illicit online dissemination.

According to Reuters, the Japan Society for Rights of Authors, Composers and Publishers - which represents 23 media companies including TV networks and movie distributors - has successfully lobbied for the removal of 29,549 files from the website.

The Society added it would ask YouTube "to set up screening and other measures to block postings of unauthorised files". It also rather hopefully requested users "not to post video clips in violation of copyright laws".

In the US, meanwhile, a veritable phalanx of media outfits are currently "co-ordinating their negotiations" with YouTube. As we noted earlier this week, YouTube has to date avoided such unwelcome attention, "because with zero revenues it hasn't been worth pursuing".

Google, on the other hand, is absolutely loaded - as its Q3 earnings statement shows - and is therefore worth pursuing. "

… from the copyright police, to your debt being increased by how much???…

Morgan Stanley in billing boo-boo

"Thousands of Morgan Stanley credit card customers were shocked this week to find the bank had multiplied their debt by a factor of 100.

Register reader Gordon Sinclair discovered the decimal point in his numbers had been shifted two places by an IT blunder. Instead of £149.49, Morgan Stanley demanded payment on a debt of £14,349.00.

Gordon said: "On the plus side, they are making another £775,651 available to me in further credit!"

The Mirror reports that 15,000 customers were affected by the blunder. Morgan Stanley will be issuing corrected statements, along with letters coughing to the gaffe.

But at least Morgan Stanley's mistake didn't force customers to pay for their dinners by washing dishes."

… which did actually happen… see here!

HSBC's cash crash forced me to work off my dinner

Oh, but our dear readers thought it anything but minor. Some were trapped at cash registers unable to pay for their groceries as angry senior citizens scowled at them. Meanwhile, those hoping to enjoy a pint or two were forced into the kitchen to clean dishes on Sunday evening after they failed to pay their bills.

Worst of all, some members of the Reg flock reckon HSBC's cock-up was not a rare affair at all."

… see, all this stemmed from…

HSBC customers in cash machine hell

"HSBC's cash machine service turned on customers this weekend with many people complaining that their accounts were held hostage and others saying ATM boxes ate their cards. The issues also extended to HSBC's credit cards with thousands of people affected, The Register can confirm.

Reports of the HSBC failures flooded The Register today. A number of customers shouted that they've been unable to access their accounts for hours. Meanwhile, another HSBC customer tried to use a Halifax cash machine, only to have his card gobbled up.

"Since this [Sunday] morning, HSBC cash machines will swallow your card if you aren't a HSBC customer," one reader wrote, who had his card taken on Sunday. "I've spoken to Halifax, and they've contacted HSBC."

Halifax did not immediately return our call seeking comment.

HSBC, however, did give us a ring.

"We had roughly a two hour outage that started after noon yesterday," said HSBC spokesman Richard Lindsay.

The mega bank has blamed "a standard server issue" for the problem that blocked a computer from verifying the identities of cardholders. Thousands of ATM and credit card holders were impacted, although the bank refuses to provide a more specific number.

"This was a very minor problem," Lindsay said.

Not so, according to our readers.

"I went to pay for some items in a shop yesterday, but as soon as the assistant saw that I had an HSBC card, she stopped me," writes one reader. "She said they'd had problems processing HSBC cards for a few hours.

"Great news if you've just gotten to the front of the queue at Holland & Barretts - those old ladies with their vitamin tablets can get pretty nasty!"

"HSBC have had a major technical failure which has resulted in many peoples' cards being declined, and ATM machines unable to contact HSBC in order to verify account balances," adds reader Tim Arnold in Studley.

Similar accounts came in from other customers throughout the UK and even one in Japan who could not access his information over the weekend.

This issue does not seem to be tied to HSBC's recent identity fraud fright. Earlier this month the bank kicked off a review of some 300,000 accounts to check for evidence of fraud. Close to 27,000 customers have already received notice that their accounts will be clamped shut in 30 days, reports The Times."

… which all made me paranoid when I went to the cash machine queue at the Wellgate Centre, and everyone was queuing for just the one machine! If this has shown you one thing, it’s that we rely too much on computing, and liberties are sometimes taken too far.

posted by Suzy Scott @ 14:20