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The Typo Millionaires

theodp writes "Slate's Paul Boutin reports on the sordid history of the oldest scam on the Internet. For almost as long as the Web has existed, there's been a thriving economy of sites, services, and software vying to grab you as soon as your mistype a URL. Studies estimate that 10-20% of all hand-entered URLs are mistyped, adding up to at least 20 million wrong numbers per day, helping to enrich the likes of porn purveyors, ISP's, Paxfire, Microsoft and VeriSign."

214 of 308 comments (clear)

  1. An anonymous, underground internet? by caluml · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Interested in joining an anonymous, underground internet?
    http://meta.fshell.org/

    1. Re:An anonymous, underground internet? by Cthefuture · · Score: 4, Insightful

      This is an interesting idea that I have been wondering about for some time. However, when people start saying things like "don't tell anyone how you got in" that does not make me feel comfortable. It's the whole security by obscurity thing.

      I mean, if it were truely a great design then why not switch the entire Internet? A good design can handle the load. A good design is still secure (or anonymous) even if everyone used it.

      Are there any other "nets inside the Net" out there?

      --
      The ratio of people to cake is too big
    2. Re:An anonymous, underground internet? by caluml · · Score: 1

      If anyone has any questions, I suggest that they come in, and ask them there.

    3. Re:An anonymous, underground internet? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

      Sure.

      While these folk have used the 10.x.x.x range for their tunnels I've been busy setting up gateways in the 192.168.x.x range. Feel free to connect and explore but try and avoid the infamous 127.0.0.1 gateway; there there be nothing but hardcore pr0n.

    4. Re:An anonymous, underground internet? by Taladar · · Score: 1

      It looks like they are using the 10.0.0.0/8 adress space which is only 16777214 adresses large in the best case.

    5. Re:An anonymous, underground internet? by rbarreira · · Score: 1

      I'm going to give this a try... if it works on windows :) If not, I'll do it later only...

      --

      The AACS key is NOT 0xF606EEFD628B1CA427BEA93A9CA9773F
    6. Re:An anonymous, underground internet? by caluml · · Score: 1

      Erm, yep.
      There are plenty more /8s left unassigned by Iana if they get stuck though.

    7. Re:An anonymous, underground internet? by vally_the_poo · · Score: 4, Funny

      George W. Bush was right finally: there are internets !! Woaw, that will change my all life man !

    8. Re:An anonymous, underground internet? by kyouteki · · Score: 1

      if it works on windows


      If you go in there running Windows, they'll lynch you.

      --
      A slashdotter who didn't build his own computer is like a Jedi who didn't build his own lightsaber.
    9. Re:An anonymous, underground internet? by mindstrm · · Score: 1

      Looks good, however, they are using 10.0.0.0/8

      They would have honestly been better off just using a big chunk of currenly unassigned IANA space... because like it or not, 10.0.0.0 is private space, and actually in use in some form or another all over the place in corporate and personal networks.

    10. Re:An anonymous, underground internet? by rbarreira · · Score: 1

      ahah. Who cares? :D

      --

      The AACS key is NOT 0xF606EEFD628B1CA427BEA93A9CA9773F
    11. Re:An anonymous, underground internet? by rxmd · · Score: 2, Informative

      They might have been better of using IPv6. Seeing they're tunneling it over IPv4 anyway, this would rid them of all addressing problems.

      --
      As a state gets corrupt, its laws multiply; the most corrupt states have the most numerous laws. (Tacitus, Annales 3:27)
    12. Re:An anonymous, underground internet? by caluml · · Score: 1

      Yep - just grab a /8 that's not currently allocated rather than use the defacto /8 for private networks.

    13. Re:An anonymous, underground internet? by mindstrm · · Score: 3, Insightful

      To make it worse, 10.0.0.0/8 is reserved for private use.. which means it's in ACTIVE use by tons of private networks all over, which makes it wholly unsuitable for a shadow internet. A far better choice would have been to simply hijack a /8 that's still unassigned.

    14. Re:An anonymous, underground internet? by owlstead · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Very interesting idea, but is it possible to use the same technology to create a virtual LAN, just for my friends? I'm not so sure that I trust all these anonymous people to be honest, and not wreak havoc. A virtual LAN to my friends though would be a big plus (and a very bad dream for the record industry), next to the real internet of course.

    15. Re:An anonymous, underground internet? by Fortyseven · · Score: 1

      Why, are you lookin'?

    16. Re:An anonymous, underground internet? by InfiniteWisdom · · Score: 4, Insightful

      There have always been internets. An internet is simply several LANs connected via IP routers. Somewhere along the line one big huge internet formed that we refer to as the Internet (notice the capitalization). Today other internets are usually referred to as "intranets".

    17. Re:An anonymous, underground internet? by recursiv · · Score: 1

      I can't. I failed the aptitude test.

      --
      I used to bulls-eye womp-rats in my pants
    18. Re:An anonymous, underground internet? by recursiv · · Score: 1

      It works. I had to take some creative diversions from the given directions, but I got in.

      --
      I used to bulls-eye womp-rats in my pants
    19. Re:An anonymous, underground internet? by recursiv · · Score: 1

      Disregard. Upon further consideration, I did not fail the aptitude test.

      --
      I used to bulls-eye womp-rats in my pants
    20. Re:An anonymous, underground internet? by dmneoblade · · Score: 1

      Ah, so thats where the underground was hiding! Success!

      --
      Warning, knife is sharp. Please keep out of children.
  2. Great by suprchunk · · Score: 1, Funny

    Now I am poorer than I originally thought? Damn.

  3. What you need, when you need it by Inda · · Score: 2, Funny

    I see no problem. :)

    Slashdit
    What you need, when you need it

    --
    This post contains benzene, nitrosamines, formaldehyde and hydrogen cyanide.
    1. Re:What you need, when you need it by darkov · · Score: 2, Funny

      I prefer slashot.com. Check out the "related categories". They certainly understand their market.

    2. Re:What you need, when you need it by sxtxixtxcxh · · Score: 2, Funny

      i found a left-wing paranoia site at "slashdot.org" ...

      --
      for a minute there, i lost myself...
  4. 10-20% of all hand-entered URLs are mistyped by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    As are 75% of all hand-entered /. submissions.

    1. Re:10-20% of all hand-entered URLs are mistyped by darkov · · Score: 4, Funny

      As are 100% of /. comments.

    2. Re:10-20% of all hand-entered URLs are mistyped by brianber · · Score: 1

      And it would appear that Slate's editors weren't paying attention, either, that or the "your mistype a URL" was on purpose. The submission was cut/pasted from tfa.

    3. Re:10-20% of all hand-entered URLs are mistyped by jkendrick · · Score: 1

      This has always been the case and most recently the principle has carried over to eBay with free services like Fat Fingers that lets you search for items listed on eBay that have been misspelled.

      --
      jk
    4. Re:10-20% of all hand-entered URLs are mistyped by nmnilsson · · Score: 2, Funny

      I assume you mean cmoments?
      ( or you'd have to adjust your percentage? :p )

      --
      No sig to see here. Move along.
    5. Re:10-20% of all hand-entered URLs are mistyped by WeblionX · · Score: 1

      He just forgot a decimal point.

      --
      (\(\
      (=_=) Bani!
      (")")
  5. For years it has been done by simple individuals by GNUALMAFUERTE · · Score: 2, Insightful

    The real problem is when an institution like Verisign does this kind of stuff. Many ISPs put some thing in their zones that shouldn't be there, the problem is when a root server does it.

    ICANN Should put his pants on and take action.

    ALMAFUERTE

    --
    WTF am I doing replying to an AC at 5 A.M on a Friday night?
  6. Fortunately... by rbarreira · · Score: 1, Interesting

    we geeks have little risk of that happening to us, since decent typists (like we should be) are looking at the screen while typing, instead of looking at the keyboard...

    --

    The AACS key is NOT 0xF606EEFD628B1CA427BEA93A9CA9773F
    1. Re:Fortunately... by tepples · · Score: 2, Insightful

      decent typists (like we should be) are looking at the screen while typing

      But if the typo occurs in the last few characters of a URL, then even the best typist might not notice it before pressing Enter.

    2. Re:Fortunately... by swiggidy · · Score: 1

      Or, you can type the URL into google, then if it's wrong Google tells you and offers a better answer. This way you don't even have to be careful.

    3. Re:Fortunately... by rob_squared · · Score: 1

      Sadly, my hands aren't transparent, so I can't see the whole keyboard and use it at the same time.

      --
      I don't get it.
  7. *cough* by colmore · · Score: 1

    http://lsashdot.org/

    --
    In Capitalist America, bank robs you!
    1. Re:*cough* by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      I suppose you think we type sl or s[ret]l several times a day instead of ls? Nope, not us slashfolk, never, not once!

    2. Re:*cough* by operagost · · Score: 1

      http:///..org

      --

      Gamingmuseum.com: Give your 3D accelerator a rest.
  8. Beginner Users by Aneurysm · · Score: 4, Insightful

    It's a shame that the people who are probably more likely to mis-type a URL and not notice/tell the difference are probably beginner users of the internet. These people are also perhaps more likely to fall for scams such as downloading trojans etc. I work as an IT trainer teaching older people how to use computers, and many of them are unable to tell the difference between typing something into a search engine, and typing something into an address box. They are definately the people that don't know that mis-typing a URL actually makes much of a difference, and I have seen many of them attempt to install malware, just because the install box has popped up, and they have no idea what to do with it.

    1. Re:Beginner Users by perkr · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Agreed, my parents have very little clue on stuff like that. Actually I think awareness of scams and security basics like an URL is an "address" and things you type in a search engine are search times should probably be on the priority list for an "learning to use computers" curricullum, esp. for older users.

    2. Re:Beginner Users by Aneurysm · · Score: 2, Informative

      It's true, I teach primarily for Microsoft Office. The module that we run that people have more trouble with than anything else is the internet, simply because of the amount of acronyms/jargon that is used. One question asks them to find out some information about three different ISPs. Invariably on their first attempt they come up with Google, Yahoo and AOL. It takes some of the older students weeks to learn the difference between ISP and search engine.

    3. Re:Beginner Users by owlstead · · Score: 2, Funny

      Yeah, that would explain the link to slsahdot.org in the article below. Those people that type URL's wrong are all lusers. They probably get internet access just to be able to read slsahdot.org, that must be ti. Whoops where I go.

    4. Re:Beginner Users by E_elven · · Score: 2, Interesting

      How about "ISP is the company you pay your Internet bill to"?

      --
      Marxist evolution is just N generations away!
    5. Re:Beginner Users by Aneurysm · · Score: 1

      That's pretty much what I say. But then you have the problem that they identify the term ISP ONLY with the ISP they personally use. They don't realise that there are more than one ISP, and then you're nearly back to square one. Also many of them don't even own computers, much less have the internet at home.

    6. Re:Beginner Users by Peaceful_Patriot · · Score: 1

      ...many of them are unable to tell the difference between typing something into a search engine, and typing something into an address box.

      I see this all the time, even with people who seem tech-savvy enough to know better. I don't know how many times I've heard, "I typed 'blahblah.com into AOL Search and it wasn't there!" I don't know why this bugs me so much. I give up trying to explain the difference. I guess they are less likely to wind up at one of the scam sites as in the article.

      --
      There is nothing so powerful as an idea whose time has come.
    7. Re:Beginner Users by pipingguy · · Score: 1


      many of them are unable to tell the difference between typing something into a search engine, and typing something into an address box.

      I just noticed last week that if I type my primary keywords ("piping" and "design" without the quotes) into the address box of Firefox it takes me directly to my own webpage instead of returning some kind of error message or search results page for the subject matter. Obviously, Firefox is jumping straight to the #1 Google result, but why should this be happening?

  9. not new by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    I remember the time several years back when I read about people registering misspelled web addresses. So I thought I'd take a look, and tried the first spelling mistake I thought of, www.hotmale.com.

    I've been very careful since about what I type.

    1. Re:not new by Peaceful_Patriot · · Score: 1

      www.hotmale.com...

      Ha! I saw a kid do this while attempting to check his mail at a High School I was working at. The shock nearly knocked him out of his chair and his friends had a great time teasing him about it.

      --
      There is nothing so powerful as an idea whose time has come.
    2. Re:not new by NayDizz · · Score: 1

      I'm quite fond of http://www.whitehouse.org

    3. Re:not new by bluprint · · Score: 1

      True story, I know a girl, that was teaching at a summer camp for kids. (She was in school at the time, and is now a regular teacher...). These were young kids...maybe 10ish I think...maybe a little older, I don't remember. Anyway, they were teaching them how to use email. She told them to type in hotmail.com in their browsers. Sure enough, one of the kids typed "male" instead of "mail"...needless to say, she freaked out and was very careful about what she told them to do after that.

      --
      A modern day witchhunt.
  10. slashdot by digitalchinky · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I recall once typing in slashdot.org, (incorrectly) and ended up at a site displaying nice frequency/time graphs of how often that occured. (A lot)

    I wish I could remember what it was - I think salshdot.org - (now just a black page with an automatic redirect)

    One of those milk through the nose moments.

  11. Studies? by strider44 · · Score: 1

    "Various studies have estimated that 10 percent to 20 percent of all hand-entered URLs are mistyped"

    Surely that number is slightly exagerated there? My personal score would be well under 1%, and I practically live on the internet. That's a lot of URLs that I type.

    Especially with the drop-down menus telling URLs that start with the letters you are typing, I don't see how people could mistype that many URLs.

    1. Re:Studies? by rbarreira · · Score: 1
      --

      The AACS key is NOT 0xF606EEFD628B1CA427BEA93A9CA9773F
    2. Re:Studies? by zeux · · Score: 4, Informative

      I work for a company that exploits mistyped URLs.

      From our business, we found that a dial up user does an average of 4 bad requests a month and a broadband user an average of 10.

    3. Re:Studies? by Black+Perl · · Score: 1

      Surely that number is slightly exagerated there?

      Oops! A typo. That should be "exaggerated"

      My personal score would be well under 1%

      The evidence you provide refutes your claim.

      --
      bp
    4. Re:Studies? by AssFace · · Score: 1

      Do you honestly go through life and look at published statistics and think "huh, well I don't do that, therefore this whole study's end numbers must be wrong"?

      --

      There are some odd things afoot now, in the Villa Straylight.
    5. Re:Studies? by null+etc. · · Score: 1
      My personal score is well under 1% as well, which means there's ALOT of people that are compensating for our lack of typos.

      I had trouble believing it, until I remembered one huge demographic: kids 11-16. IM session:

      "Uhm, did u reed hw assmint 2nyte?"

      "Yep, sed sthng bout web sight called www.wallstjernal

    6. Re:Studies? by TelJanin · · Score: 1

      You're thinking of kids 5-12.

    7. Re:Studies? by strider44 · · Score: 1

      Do you know the ironic thing there? I first typed in exaggerated, and then thought "no that doesn't look right!" and deleted one of the gs. So basically my typing is alright, I just can't spell.

    8. Re:Studies? by strider44 · · Score: 1

      so you think me misspelling exaggerated is similar to me mistyping Google?

      Google, Slashdot, BBSpot, Fark, Penny-Arcade, PVPOnline, all the sites I visit frequently, aren't easily misspelled words (they are the sites I visit most commonly), and I don't think I've ever typed in the wrong domain name because of bad spelling.

      www.exaggerated.com isn't a real site. I don't see how me misspelling exaggerated refutes my argument.

  12. Google are kings at this by essreenim · · Score: 2, Interesting
    enter ww.google.com instead of www.google.com - same result

    And put an extra 'o' in:

    www.gooogle.com - same result

    1. Re:Google are kings at this by jacksonj04 · · Score: 1

      if ww.google.com gives you anything other than google then you're infected with something.

      google.com is owned by Google, any subdomains (like www. and ww.) are also owned by Google. If something is redirecting ww.google.com then you need to run a spyware scanner, check your hosts file, or simply use a better browser.

      --
      How many people can read hex if only you and dead people can read hex?
    2. Re:Google are kings at this by kd5ujz · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Try www.466453.com
      This is Google spelled out on a touch tone phone.

      --
      -William
      God is everything science has yet to explain.
    3. Re:Google are kings at this by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      My favorite is http://cheesemuffin.info

      How the fuck that's supposed to equal "Google", I've no clue. But apparently it does!

    4. Re:Google are kings at this by pete314159 · · Score: 2, Interesting

      http://www.g00g13.com/
      m4d 1337 534rch 5k1llz!

      --
      If your toast does not accquire any kind of royalty, please do not contact us. We can't help you.
    5. Re:Google are kings at this by knodi · · Score: 1

      Try this one, too:
      http://1089053032/

      Convert any IP to an 8-digit hex #, concatenate the digits, and convert back to decimal.

      --
      Austin is more fun than Dallas.
    6. Re:Google are kings at this by RzUpAnmsCwrds · · Score: 2, Informative

      Google owns that domain because of their search-by-number (T9 equivilent) service for mobile phones. It's easier to enter 466453 on a mobile phone than it is to enter "google".

    7. Re:Google are kings at this by kd5ujz · · Score: 1

      Not on a nokia. I have to hold each number down for 1.5-2 seconds to get a number. With predictive text, it is a LOT faster than entering numbers.

      --
      -William
      God is everything science has yet to explain.
    8. Re:Google are kings at this by RzUpAnmsCwrds · · Score: 1

      Try numbers mode. It works on my 3590.

  13. It's true. by tektek · · Score: 4, Funny

    It's hard typing correctly all the time with only one hand free. ;)

    1. Re:It's true. by fishlet · · Score: 1

      Dude.... get a woman :-)
      or at least some good speech recognition software.

    2. Re:It's true. by brianber · · Score: 1

      I broke my friggin' arm you insensetive clod!!!!!

    3. Re:It's true. by fireheadca · · Score: 1

      > I broke my friggin' arm you insensetive clod!!!!! By typing with only one hand? Calm down a bit.

  14. Not just typos... by bigtallmofo · · Score: 4, Informative

    This goes way beyond typos. There is a whole cottage industry of people registering domain names that unwary site owners allow to expire. I've heard several stories of church groups who accidentally let their domain expire and within a matter of days it had teen porn on it.

    --
    I'm a big tall mofo.
    1. Re:Not just typos... by darkov · · Score: 4, Funny

      Really? I just though it was where you went for teen porn. Do you think I attended a Christian youth group for the singing and praying?

    2. Re:Not just typos... by onion2k · · Score: 1

      Other way round in my case. Ooer.com used to be porn, and now its my homepage. Its great to have a short, pronouncable URI.. but I suffer a lot of spam all coming to someone called "Cecile Lover". :S

    3. Re:Not just typos... by wmspringer · · Score: 1

      I had that happen to me; I stopped updating the website I'd had for >3 years, forgot to renew, and the domain was immediately snapped up by a porn site.

    4. Re:Not just typos... by ajna · · Score: 2, Interesting
      It happened to me. I let a domain expire since I didn't want it anymore, and it was immediately snatched up by a miscreant who set up a referral redirect to a porn site. At this time I complained to my registrar about this but was unsuccessful in persuading them that anything was wrong with this practice.

      However, the next month the domain-snatcher made a mistake by putting up a text version of my real page, with all links stripped except for three referrals at the bottom. At this point I was able to successfully petition my registrar to return control of the domain to me since he was clearly violating my copyright on my site's text and layout.

      As it turns out he was doing this to many people. From an email from the registrar:

      If it is any consolation, this does not appear to have been directed at
      you specifically, and rather appears to be a pattern that this
      individual was grabbing hosts as they expired and using them to increase
      search engine rankings of their linked pages. You helped key us in to
      that, and we have freed up a large number of hosts that they were using
      to this end.
    5. Re:Not just typos... by wmspringer · · Score: 1

      Needless to say, I got some very surprised messages shortly therafter..

  15. Well by antifoidulus · · Score: 1

    no ads on slsshdot, but it is for sale for all you porn vendors who target geeks who cannot type properly.

    1. Re:Well by antifoidulus · · Score: 1

      Including me since I cannot type http correctly

  16. Zappos by strider44 · · Score: 4, Funny

    Shoe shoppers who mistype www.zappos.com as wwwzappos.com get pictures of women who are wearing shoes but not much else.

    Unfortunately, though Slate's servers are well hardened against DOS attacks such as what slashdot inflicts, since every slashdotter who will read that quote will instantly type in wwwzappos.com into his URL bar, the servers of that site will fall under the weight of the 80% of slashdotters who get that URL correct.

    1. Re:Zappos by Aeiri · · Score: 1

      the servers of that site will fall under the weight of the 80% of slashdotters who get that URL correct.

      80% of the Slashdotters that view the article, you mean.

      So that knocks it down to 1%? No, that's too high.

  17. I can't imagine it's that great by Fear+the+Clam · · Score: 1

    When one is trying to accomplish a task, ending up at the wrong site is a distraction, not necessarily a hot, sweaty tangent.

    Just because someone ends up on a porn site doesn't necessarily mean that they'll instantly stop what they're doing and start beating off.

    I imagine we would have read about this behavior in business journals by now if it were the case.

    1. Re:I can't imagine it's that great by teamhasnoi · · Score: 1
      Just because someone ends up on a porn site doesn't necessarily mean that they'll instantly stop what they're doing and start beating off.

      When your name is 'Fear the Clam', I can see why you'd think that.

  18. Plugin For Spell Check by BlackberryCool · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Is there a plug-in to have whatever you type spellchecked or suggested, something like Google Suggest.

  19. Thats understandable... by fishlet · · Score: 1

    Because it's just so easy to mistype goooooooooooooooooooooooooooooogle

  20. misstypes by ngc.for.life · · Score: 1

    If you misstype a street in your map software, you may end up at the other side of the city which will cost you money. Misswrite your checks and lose money as well. The problem are not the URLs but websites behind such URLs that copy the original site. Especially unwanted with online banking and e-stores. It's always the same. If it's about your money. -> pay attetion.

    1. Re:misstypes by Technician · · Score: 1

      The problem are not the URLs but websites behind such URLs that copy the original site.

      Bzzt.. It's the advertisers that support these sleaseballs. If the advertisers refused these sites, they would go away except for the phising sites.

      Maybe they are doing us a favor by snatching up the domains to serve ads so phishers do not register them for phishing instead.

      --
      The truth shall set you free!
  21. White House by ectotherm · · Score: 3, Funny

    www.whitehouse.gov: Current President's home www.whitehouse.com: Former President Clinton's home ;)

    --
    "Nature bats last..."
    1. Re:White House by Kafka_Canada · · Score: 1

      Funny comment, but you've got to wonder about the whole premise of this slashdot article. How is it possible that there's a sizable group of people who would sit down at the computer to look up, say, some research on american politics, and then when they mistype a URL and end up looking at a screen full of naked people decide "what the hell, might as well buy some porn instead"? It just doesn't make any sense...

      --
      Fuck it
    2. Re:White House by eric1207 · · Score: 1

      http://whitehouse.net

    3. Re:White House by imkonen · · Score: 1
      I've wondered that too. I guess it's kind of like the spam phenomenon: It's cheap enough to set up, the profit margin on the few successful pitches makes up for thousands of people who just go on their way? I think there's just a tendancy to underestimate the effectiveness of annoying advertising.

      What really makes me wonder is the dude mentioned in the article trying to trick children with misspellings of CartoonNetwork.com etc. I mean WTF was he thinking? Doesn't his target audience not have credit cards for the most part?

  22. Favorite mis-typed URLs? by chiph · · Score: 3, Funny

    Mine is localhost.com

    Those guys must be making a killing from people hitting ctrl-enter by mistake.

    Chip H.

    1. Re:Favorite mis-typed URLs? by Kafka_Canada · · Score: 2, Interesting

      This isn't a misspelling, but I wonder about the website ©.com. I didn't even know you could register something like that.

      Hope it shows up correctly on your screen, if not it's copyright symbol dot com.

      AFTER PREVIEW: looks like the text shows up fine, but /. stripped the symbol out of the link. You'll have to copy-paste the URL, or type it yourself.

      --
      Fuck it
    2. Re:Favorite mis-typed URLs? by toddestan · · Score: 1

      The link didn't work, but using copy and paste, I got the site to come up.

      That's very interesting, I wonder if I could register http:///..org ?

    3. Re:Favorite mis-typed URLs? by Gwyn_232 · · Score: 1

      That address doesn't work. It must have been slashdotted!

    4. Re:Favorite mis-typed URLs? by chiph · · Score: 1

      Do a whois. It's owned by Wraith Enterprises in Austin, TX.

      Chip H.

    5. Re:Favorite mis-typed URLs? by bedessen · · Score: 1

      Domain names are ascii-only. What you are seeing is an example of IDN which includes a scheme to convert unicode into ascii so that you can have domain names with localized characters. The actual domain is http://xn--gba.com/ which is what (copyright symbol).com translates to in punycode.

    6. Re:Favorite mis-typed URLs? by Matt+Apple · · Score: 1

      I own MemoryHole.com(which is currently defunct). Perhaps you may have heard of TheMemoryHole.org(I had not heard of it until after I bought my domain name, honest).

      Not only did I get mistyped URL traffic from them but I also got the occasional misaddressed email. You can imagine that the email they get is rather interesting! When I realized I was getting email intended for someone else I would politely inform the sender. But sometimes they would argue with me! "No my friend said it was Memory Hole!"

  23. google spell checker anyone? by SPravin · · Score: 1

    One simple solution to this problem is to use Google spellchecker to good use. I always type URLs in my google box and let google lead me to the page, even if I know the URL. Probably just because I believe Google more than I do my own typing skills..

    - PS

  24. Re: mistyped slashdot url by nikmal · · Score: 5, Informative
  25. Is it really a "true" scam? by lxt · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Is most of this really a scam though? It seems to me there are two levels to this type of behavior - the true scam, whereby a user is led to believe the site they are looking at really is the site they intended to go to, and therefore handing over personal details / card numbers etc.

    However, most of what is described appears to be people capitalising on poor typing skills - a "lesser" scam if you will. I suspect the majority of these miss-spelt domain names don't claim to be the site you're looking for.

    A scam is, after all, to defraud somebody. Mis-spelt domain names is akin to reading a map incorrectly, and ending up somewhere you didn't expect.

    Of course, the fact that many of these sites will then go on to install malicious software etc, and that they generally intend to catch traffic from other sites probably works against this argument.

  26. switch by mpower1 · · Score: 1

    "Microsoft rejiggered Internet Explorer so that if you type in a URL that doesn't exist, the browser will redirect you to a Microsoft page. " This alone is reason enough to switch to firefox.

  27. Can I get that with extra o's? by Agret · · Score: 2, Funny

    Google have prevention for this type of thing on their site by registering multiple domains.

    http://www.gooogle.com/
    http://www.googlee.com/
    http://www.googlle.com/

    Word!

    --
    Have you metaroderated recently?
    1. Re:Can I get that with extra o's? by oldwolf13 · · Score: 1

      http://www.googlle.com/

      The last one there sends you to one of those fake search sites.

      --
      If I can't smoke and swear I'm fucked.
    2. Re:Can I get that with extra o's? by Agret · · Score: 1

      oops - I must've copied the wrong one, there was another one I had open. Oh well nevermind you get the idea :)

      --
      Have you metaroderated recently?
    3. Re:Can I get that with extra o's? by tehshen · · Score: 1

      Try going to Google Suggest and type in "goooo" in the search field for some true goooooooooooooogle results ;)

      "lolol" has the same effect. So does punctuation such as "....." for that matter.

      --
      Guy asked me for a quarter for a cup of coffee. So I bit him.
    4. Re:Can I get that with extra o's? by kent_eh · · Score: 1

      However, they missed goggle.com

      --

      ---
      "I can't complain, but sometimes still do..." Joe Walsh
  28. TLD typos too by northcat · · Score: 1

    This also happens when people forget which TLD a website has. Like suprnova.com .

  29. Re:20 percent?... by xott · · Score: 1

    and I'd quite like to register Lashdot.
    It sounds like a groovy site.

  30. This is actually somewhat scary... by mindaktiviti · · Score: 2, Funny

    If you follow http://www.slahsdot.org/ it's almost the same site but there's "wrestling women" as the most popular link. Does that mean slash dotters have this affinity for buff chicks? We need a psychologist in here...

  31. The Google Trademark by Xeo+024 · · Score: 1

    Google goes after people who register domain names with the word "Google" in it or any variant of it. It also registers hundreds of domains that can be considered common typos, such as "gooogle.com" or "gogle.com."

    It's not only typos, but entire names that people take advantage of, for example people can register names such as google-search.com (inactive) and use the name to attract (trick?) gullible visitors. The typo problem only exists as a subordinate to the larger trademark issue at hand.

  32. MOD PARENT UP by Agret · · Score: 1

    Mod parent up. I do not have mod points.
    Re: Grandparent, I don't see how you can quote "a lot" for how often. The site records a record number of 35 people spelling it wrong.

    --
    Have you metaroderated recently?
    1. Re:MOD PARENT UP by digitalchinky · · Score: 2, Interesting

      That would make me the grandparent, for a website that I typed by accident, 35 hits or so a day is 'a lot' in my little tiny world opinion :-)

      Actually, you are totally right, I did try to research prior to posting, but couldn't remember the link, so I more or less tried to make it sound 'bigger' than it really was. I think I lied.

      Apologies.

  33. New Poll? by brianber · · Score: 2, Funny
    How do you type?

    Hunt and peck.

    Use proper form but look at the keys

    Don't look at the keys

    Speech recognitin softwar wurks fur we

    I don't have hands you insensitive clod!!

    I dictate everthing to CowboyNeal

    Right now, I've got a broken arm, so everything is one handed. Normally, though, I look at the keys.

    1. Re:New Poll? by rbarreira · · Score: 1

      Seems cool to me :D Go ahead and propose it ;)

      --

      The AACS key is NOT 0xF606EEFD628B1CA427BEA93A9CA9773F
  34. Re: mistyped slashdot url by sploo22 · · Score: 2, Funny

    Great... now let's watch it go down in flames.

    I have a feeling they should switch to a bigger scale on those graphs. :)

    --
    Karma: Segmentation fault (tried to dereference a null post)
  35. Re: mistyped slashdot url by Skater · · Score: 1

    There goes their statistics! ;)

  36. Look to the monitor and not the keyboard. by michelcultivo · · Score: 1

    That dumb people that look to the kyeboadr when type.....

  37. Software Makes Wrongs Assumption About Users by reallocate · · Score: 4, Insightful

    ...many of them are unable to tell the difference between typing something into a search engine, and typing something into an address box.

    Both boxes look pretty much the same.

    What you're highlighting is the imlicit expectation among software designers that users will come to understand the how the Internet works. That is, that users will understand what a URL is, how DNS works, what a search engine is, and ehat happens when you enter a search phrase versus entering a URL.

    Those are unwarranted expectations. An analogy would be cars designed on the assumption that drivers understand how internal combustion engines work. Few of us would be able to drive safely if that was a prerequisite.

    The most effective way to protect users from crooks and abusers on the net is to design software that does the protecting and is not based on unreasonable assumptions about user knowledge.

    --
    -- Slashdot: When Public Access TV Says "No"
  38. Re:20 percent?... by Xeo+024 · · Score: 3, Funny

    Wow, 20%, huh?

    People really have to stop typing with one hand.

  39. A friend of mine.. by iONiUM · · Score: 2, Interesting

    does this. He owns easily over a few thousand miss-spells, and offers services to buy up expired domains. There's really 2 tricks to this service.
    The first is to have a program to find domains that expire, and find them the day of expiry so you can pick them up before others trying to do the same. Of course, some domains will do better (ie. miss-spell of slashdot) than others (ie. miss-spell of some joe-blow site).
    The second is to target the material on it to the types of visitors it would get. Of course, with the new domain ad pages from google, it makes this really easy. This is a huge business, honestly, you have no idea how many people, when they get to the wrong page, go through and click on an advertisement.

    So how well does this do? He makes 6 figures canadian a year on it, and that's not including business derived from his own programs to find expired domains. Furthermore, he's my age (22) and still in university. How can you argue with something that brings that type of money for doing so little work?

    1. Re:A friend of mine.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny
      So how well does this do? He makes 6 figures canadian a year on it...

      That's like what... 1000 USD/year? Not bad.

    2. Re:A friend of mine.. by mph · · Score: 2, Insightful
      That's like what... 1000 USD/year? Not bad.
      1999 called. They want their joke, and their strong US dollar, back.
    3. Re:A friend of mine.. by bigberk · · Score: 1

      unless your friend is exceedingly careful, it looks like he might violate google's policy so it seems like risky business. I also don't know if google would have recourse to collect back from you earnings even after they have been paid.

    4. Re:A friend of mine.. by nick8325 · · Score: 1

      That's like what... 10^1000 USD/year? Not bad. ;-)

  40. Not just URL's by lildogie · · Score: 3, Informative

    AT&T had a national collect-calling campaign telling people to "Dial 1-800-Operator."

    A competitor, MCI IIRC, quickly snatched up the number 1-800-Operater and got lots of the business from the campaign.

    So it's not just URL's that get the typo business.

    1. Re:Not just URL's by nettdata · · Score: 1

      look closer... advertised was "or", while some people were mistakenly calling "er".

      --



      $0.02 (CDN)
  41. Misspellings - Suggested For "slashdot": by michelcultivo · · Score: 1

    Slashdot don't need to register another domains because all the users here don't look to keyboard when typing.

  42. this is how by WormholeFiend · · Score: 2, Interesting

    This is how I found out about slashdong.org

  43. Seem to me that much more than this is .... by 3seas · · Score: 1

    ... counting on human error in order to profit by.

    Hmmm, as an example.... war on iraq for oil....

    credit card promotional interest rates and the untentional failure (honestly forgetting) to make a payment, or not knowing that transfers at 0% or low rates while having higher rate debit ... where the lower rate gets paid off first -- increasing compounded interest on teh higher rate... etc..

    I have no doubt that as a matter of insured payoff, to invest in human failure is a successful investment practice.

    I'm sure better than the stock market scamming of the public,

  44. Hotmail vs. Hotmale by iXiXi · · Score: 5, Funny

    This isn't a fat finger mistake but a funny story. This lady that I worked with was Internet illiterate. She wanted to set up an e-mail address so she could send junk home that was personal in nature. She had trouble with her ISP e-mail and no one at work wanted to volunteer to intercede and help out. I told here to just go to hotmail.com and set up an account for free. She went to hotmale.com and started screaming !! She thought she would be fired on the spot...I had to get the President, John, to help calm her down...hell she was almost 66 years old. Never saw anything like that I guess. /snicker

  45. Not just Microsoft by fuzzybunny · · Score: 1

    There's another typo-squatting game that only the big guys can play. In 2001, Microsoft rejiggered Internet Explorer so that if you type in a URL that doesn't exist, the browser will redirect you to a Microsoft page.

    *Cough*Verisign SiteFinder*cough*

    --
    Cole's Law: Thinly sliced cabbage
    1. Re:Not just Microsoft by m50d · · Score: 1

      There's a name we have for software which redirects you to their site when a url you type can't be found. We call it spyware.

      --
      I am trolling
    2. Re:Not just Microsoft by fuzzybunny · · Score: 1

      Or, in the case of IE, we call it "shit". :-)

      I actually didn't catch that the author goes on to mention SiteFinger two lines down...

      --
      Cole's Law: Thinly sliced cabbage
  46. I seem to recall by 91degrees · · Score: 1

    Salshdot.org used to put slashdot in a frame with a banner ad up top. Taco got a lot of hate mail from that one.

  47. Re: mistyped slashdot url by bairy · · Score: 1

    That's the last time they feed that buffalo some curry

    --


    Get paid to search..It's geniune and
  48. This type of behavoir by antifoidulus · · Score: 1

    can get you sent to prison. A dude made porn sites that were common typos of Disney and Disney names, ie targetting children. He got thrown in jail....

  49. I wonder by CastrTroy · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I wonder if you could make any money doing something like this over the telephone. It would work like this. Register an 800 number very similar to some other high traffic number, like one belonging to Visa, Or some other frequently called company, and play an advertisement everytime someone calls. It's much easier to mistype a phone number as many phones don't allow you to see what numbers you actually typed, or dialed in.

    --

    Anthropic principle: We see the universe the way it is because if it were different we would not be here to see it.
    1. Re:I wonder by rjamestaylor · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Go4it. But remember, you're paying a fee each time someone dials. If you're successful you'll be broke.

      --
      -- @rjamestaylor on Ello
    2. Re:I wonder by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

      The best example of this is when AT&T started a service at 1-800-OPERATOR, MCI registered 1-800-OPERATER and got a fair chunk of their buisness.

    3. Re:I wonder by aduzik · · Score: 4, Funny
      JERRY: Well wait a second, don't you see that's 555-FILK.
      KRAMER: What's Filk?
      JERRY: Filk's nothing, but 555-FILM is Movie Phone.
      KRAMER: Oh Movie Phone.
      JERRY: Yes, so people are just dialing it by mistake and getting you.
      KRAMER: So, I'm Filk?
      JERRY: You're Filk.
      KRAMER: Oh, Mama.
      --
      If it's not one thing it's your mother.
    4. Re:I wonder by rjamestaylor · · Score: 1
      I knew what he meant. And I also know how (un)profitable unintentially viewed, unexpected advertising can be. There's nothing like pissing on people's porches to sell them a vacuum cleaner.


      I stand by my comment.

      --
      -- @rjamestaylor on Ello
    5. Re:I wonder by Teancum · · Score: 1

      I actually had this problem happen to me unintentionally.

      There was a porn 1-800 number that was identical to my phone number, except that my phone number was located in the Salt Lake City (UT) area code---801.

      Needless to say, I got some very interesting phone calls, especially when the number appears in a German magazine. Generally it was a little bit of fun, and a chance to embarass the callers, especially when I put my three-year-old son on the line.

      The phone calls ended when my area code changed due to redrawing the phone district and adding a new area code to my state, and the fact that I moved to a new telephone exchange neighborhood.

      At the moment my phone number is identical escept for one digit to a local grocery store, where I get phone calls for grocery delivery and occasionally some kids trying to call their friends while they are at work. The senior citizens who can't seem to dial the correct number is kinda sad, and I try to be patient with them and not piss them off.

      There was one time, however, that this one person call up and wanted to give a customer complaint. My wife answered it and tried to explain she called the wrong number. This lady who called was so irate that she insisted my wife transfer me to her "supervisor". I ended up talking to the lady and saying "How can I help you?" and took the complaint. I then tried to assure her that the problem would not happen again, and she shut up.

      I get about 2-3 calls per week due to this phone number similarity, but I try to avoid really making fun up the people calling up.

  50. Precisions by zeux · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Oh and we work at the DNS level with DNS NXDOMAIN anwsers.

    That means that these figures I gave in the parent post DO NOT include mistyped URLs going to a registered domain (ie www.gooogle.com which is a domain that does exist) and all the errors caught by msn.com under Internet Explorer and google.com under Firefox.

    Also, we only care about HTTP traffic.

    That explains maybe the difference between our numbers and the 10% to 20% the studies found...

    1. Re:Precisions by Lord_Dweomer · · Score: 1
      What I want to know is why when I type in "o" to have the autofill put in Orkut that if I hit enter too quickly and it just registers "o" it takes me to O'Reily's website. Do I have spyware? Cuz nothing is turning up on Spybot and Adaware.

      --
      Buy Steampunk Clothing Online!
  51. Re: mistyped slashdot url by ghoti · · Score: 1

    Well they _could_ distinguish between people misspelling slashdot and a link, by simply checking for the referrer info in the HTTP request. But then, they probably didn't expect anybody to post a link on slashdot ;)

    But the weekly pattern is interesting. Looks almost too regular to be true ...

    --
    EagerEyes.org: Visualization and Visual Communication
  52. Summary by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

    at a boom-era party in silicon valley, i met a woman who'd goosed her income by developing software that took a list of the most-visited web sites, calculated the most likely typos that surfers would make trying to reach them, and automatically registered those domains if they were available

  53. Their Fault (was Re:Not just typos...) by Laebshade · · Score: 1

    Karma be damned....

    I have no sympathy for them. It's their fault their domain expired normally and someone else bought it up. That's why it's always best to renew at least a few days before the domain expires, or at least have payment information on-file so that a domain can be renewed automatically.

    Now, I do remember reading about a particular domain that was hijacked by another registrar/company in Australia. It was on Slashdot, but for the life of me I can't remember the URL.

  54. Re:perfect example why kids need to be protected by teamhasnoi · · Score: 1
    Why would the kids you want to 'protect' be allowed to watch "Desperate Housewives" in the first place?

    If you want to spend zillions of your own $$$ on protecting the children, that's your business. Why not spend it on educating parents on how to monitor what their kids look at on the internet?

    Treat the cause, not the symptom. Look at the countless "War on _____" the government has failed at for what not to do.

  55. Slutdot.org by Cumstien · · Score: 2, Funny

    A lot of times I end up at slutdot.org, but it's not becuase I don't know how to type.

  56. Comment removed by account_deleted · · Score: 2, Funny

    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  57. Microsoft redirect by nfsilkey · · Score: 1

    I have seen WYSIWYG editors consistently muck up URLs, such as http://http//google.com. Can anyone tell me why this redirects to microsoft.com?

    1. Re:Microsoft redirect by belarm314 · · Score: 1

      Because you're using Internet Explorer?

      --
      When moderating, assume I have not yet had my coffee.
    2. Re:Microsoft redirect by pjt33 · · Score: 1

      Safari complains that it can't find the server "http". It's probably Windows - I expect Firefox uses Windows' DNS rather than reimplementing it.

    3. Re:Microsoft redirect by Anonymous+Luddite · · Score: 1


      I get some crap by searchmachine.com or something like that. I suspect it varies depending on who your DNS server is paid to pimp^H^H^H^H redirect malformed requests for...

  58. I second that by mofochickamo · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I also had the same idea about the same site. I thought it would be funny to see what was there. Now I am emotionally scarred and, since I'm a Californian, I'm thinking about suing.

    --
    Honk if you're horny.
  59. Should the title be... by saddino · · Score: 3, Funny

    ...The Typo Milionaires? ;-)

  60. Yep, even former U.S. President candidates! by antdude · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I posted a story on AQFL about it:

    "Former U.S. President candidates' Web sites can be just another place to shop for sex toys, download movies and get a law degree online in a few months...

    When politicians and Internet domain names meet, strange things happen, particularly after the campaigns are over. Click on Elizabeth Dole's old site, and you go straight to an auction of Pokemon video games on eBay. A Libertarian currently owns the original 1996 Clinton and Dole campaign Web sites, and uses them to support 2004 Libertarian presidential candidate Michael Badnarik, while also hawking Clinton and Dole's latest books.

    When asked for an explanation, a top domain-name registrar pointed out that Web site addresses are always rented and never owned, and that former owners can't dictate who picks up their discarded sites."

    --
    Ant(Dude) @ Quality Foraged Links (AQFL.net) & The Ant Farm (antfarm.ma.cx / antfarm.home.dhs.org).
  61. "anonymous" by mattdm · · Score: 1

    Of course, it's only anonymous as long as no one is looking.

  62. Re:perfect example why kids need to be protected by teamhasnoi · · Score: 1
    Here is something else you might want to consider in today's extra-litigious society. Registering 'look-alike' domains may set you up to be sued for trademark infringement by the very corporation you are helping by your efforts.

    At the very least, you could be hit for 'squatting' and find yourself in court over that.

    No good deed goes unpunished. See the girls who got sued for bringing cookies to neighbors, or mikerowesoft.com for various examples.

    I find this whole subject to be increasingly moot everyday, as more people use Google or other search pages, type in the first few letters, and click the first result.

    Don't get me wrong. Anyone doing something selfless is refreshing. Just don't be surprised if it is misinterpreted as nefarious intent.

  63. Re: mistyped slashdot url by tswann01 · · Score: 1

    Obviously they don't differentiate between a manually entered URL and a link.

  64. Re: mistyped slashdot url by dourk · · Score: 1

    Gosh, I wonder why there's a spike in todays graph?

    --
    Wake up.
  65. Re:solution - buy all typo domains by mabhatter654 · · Score: 1
    There in lies the "scam" part of it!

    Right now domain names are treated like "phone numbers" where exact spelling is all that is maintained without expensive legal process. imagine the fall-out if somebody was allowed to "choose" a phone number "1-digit off" from a church for a porn line! While it happens by phone company paperwork, they do try hard to prevent it...

    The situation is compounded when the domain registers are actively registering the domain names like yours for a profit! It's the equivelant of your phone company actively choosing all the misdialed numbers for your church and choosing to put porn on those numbers... and then voulanteering to "sell" you those extra lines for exorberant fees. It would never be tolerated in "normal" circumstance but because it's "internet" for some mistaken reason it's OK.

    It's much the same as why Google is being sued in France. They're profiting from selling ad space to other people's tradmarks... Imaging googling for "slashdot.org" and having two pages of advertizing before you got to "slashdot.org"! I google's case it's a little more murky because you don't HAVE to use their private service..but in the case of Verisign and such you are buying the "name" with expectation that YOU will profit from it....and they are taking your money, AND profiting from the dilution of what they sold you!!

  66. Re:Google I feel lucky by belarm314 · · Score: 1

    After actually looking at the google results page I got in galeon, I see you're right. I presumed he meant he was being redirected to MS's search page.

    Can't figure out how on earth microsoft.com is the top result for http, though.

    --
    When moderating, assume I have not yet had my coffee.
  67. Re:Software Makes Wrongs Assumption About Users by iantri · · Score: 1
    Those are unwarranted expectations. An analogy would be cars designed on the assumption that drivers understand how internal combustion engines work. Few of us would be able to drive safely if that was a prerequisite.
    Since everyone loves analogies -- especially car ones -- I think a better one would be expecting people to tell the difference between a gear shift lever (on steering column) and turn signal lever. Both look pretty much the same, if you don't know what you are looking at.

    It seems reasonable enough to me to know which does what.

  68. Re:Software Makes Wrongs Assumption About Users by SamSim · · Score: 1
    What you're highlighting is the imlicit expectation among software designers that users will come to understand the how the Internet works. That is, that users will understand what a URL is, how DNS works, what a search engine is, and ehat happens when you enter a search phrase versus entering a URL.
    Those are unwarranted expectations. An analogy would be cars designed on the assumption that drivers understand how internal combustion engines work. Few of us would be able to drive safely if that was a prerequisite.

    I disagree. Maybe one doesn't need to intricately understand the principles of internal combustion to drive a car, but the mechanics of how your accelerator works, how your different types of brakes work (and how to use them safely), how a car will react to dangerous conditions, and if you drive an automatic, the mechanics behind changing gear - these are things that nobody should get behind the wheel before understanding.

    In the same way, while the intricacies of DNS and routers and so on need not be explained to new users, there IS, undeniably, knowledge which for their own safety they should be armed with before setting foot on the internet. That spy/ad/malware exists at all is a major one. That there ARE websites out there which will claim to install neat stuff on your computer, but actually just mess it up, or feed you annoying popups. That there ARE people who will email you claiming to want to give you money when actually they want to take money away from you. That the internet not a playground, it is dangerous: that you need to stay alert for and know how to avoid this stuff.

    Not all of this is stuff we can rely on software to do for us. Education is what is needed.

  69. If you want people to join ... by arhar · · Score: 4, Insightful

    ... it might not be a good idea to spew venom and arrogance from almost every sentence.

    However, if you're happy with things currently, go back to your pap-fed, TV-induced brain-numbing stupor, and smile at the nice pretty pictures, the short snappy soundbites, and cower in fear at the Fox news alerts, and feel free not to engage.

    (The instructions are deliberately vague. A sort of aptitude test, if you will.)


    After reading crap like that, I can't imagine any normal person joining this ... only the types bearing strong resemblance to Jimmy Fallon's IT guy character from Saturday Night Live ...

    1. Re:If you want people to join ... by rbarreira · · Score: 2, Funny

      Maybe the idea is that normal people don't join, don't you think?

      --

      The AACS key is NOT 0xF606EEFD628B1CA427BEA93A9CA9773F
    2. Re:If you want people to join ... by siriuskase · · Score: 1

      Normal people would do better in an invite only system, especially if they only invite friends and friends of friends. Even then, a system to track who is inviting whom would be needed to discover the dual-identity trolls who are able to maintain a "nice" identity. I've ruminated over this ever since one of my identities invited the other into GMail. BTW, I'm not a troll, but even good people like to be anonymous at times.

      --
      If you must moderate, please moderate as irrelevent, not something bad, because I'm sure someone will find this interest
  70. The oldest scam on the Internet? by Spazmania · · Score: 1

    The oldest scam on the Internet is forged email, though it was more of a prank than a scam (there was a santa@north.pole.com long before there was a pole.com). The second oldest is the Make Money Fast spam, though it wasn't called spam back then.

    Typosquatting is a youngling. AFAIK, mine was the first (whitehouse.net) and that only happened in 2/96.

    --
    Moderating "-1, Disagree" is simple censorship. Have the guts to post your opinion.
  71. Re: mistyped slashdot url by bagofbeans · · Score: 1

    Over 1000 hits now - soon the counter will be slashdotted!

  72. Re: mistyped slashdot url by noidentity · · Score: 1

    slsahdot.org

    According to the above link, a lot of people are misspelling slashdot.org today as compared to other days!

  73. Re:Software Makes Wrongs Assumption About Users by hunterx11 · · Score: 1

    I don't think anyone drives who doesn't know what an engine is, and ascribes the car's motion to some inexplicable magic.

    --
    English is easier said than done.
  74. The problem goes beyond that by adeydas · · Score: 1

    Other than showing porn sites and selling malicious products, these 20% of the total surfers can be made the victim of credit card frauds too. Just imagine you type in something which you believe is the address of paypal and the give away your credit card number. I am sure scammers always look for possible incorrect URL's of this sort to get on with their 'business'.

  75. Re: mistyped slashdot url by rtaylor · · Score: 1

    Heh.. I think you've thrown off todays numbers a little bit.

    --
    Rod Taylor
  76. Best day at work by uberjoe · · Score: 1
    This reminds me of a time at work when a colleague called me with a dead monitor. I told him it was probably still under warranty and he should go to the manufacturers website. He asked me if I knew what it was, and I said to try www.acer.com. A second later I heard him practically scream in shock and revulsion at what he had seen. He was literally at a loss for words (I guess he had never seen porn before).

    Once I stopped laughing I told him he should check the spelling of his url. Then he started to get worried someone would think he had been intentionally viewing smut during work hours on the campus network. All in all a pretty good day at someone else's expense of course.

    --

    The days of the digital watch are numbered.

  77. Freshmeat.com by N8F8 · · Score: 1

    Made the mistake of typing Freshmeat.com instead of Freshmeat.net a few times at work. A few years ago it was pretty raunchy.

    --
    "God fights on the side with the best artillery." - Napoleon, Marshal of France - speaking truth to power
  78. Re:Nice try? by AMD4L1PH3 · · Score: 1

    Copy/paste. It works. From the website: Classifieds.US America's Free Classified Ads --> http://©.com/

  79. Holiday inn- very famous by way2trivial · · Score: 2, Interesting
    1-800 holiday was famous example
    1-800 h0liday (with a zero) was snatched up by a travel agency, who then booked commisionable stays at holiday inns--

    holiday inn sued and lost

    the agency never advertised as "1-800-h0liday" they just happened to have this certain # with a zero in it.-so it was not infringing on a trademark... kinda harder to do with URLS..

    more of the same here
    http://www.ivanhoffman.com/1800.html

    --
    every day http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random
  80. Yahhoo.com by Jesus+IS+the+Devil · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I used to own yahhoo.com for a while. The domain was getting massive amount of unique traffic. I believe it was something like 2000 uniques per day. Then I got curious and set a catch-all email address. That got really interesting real fast...

    But I gave it up because it didn't feel right. Could have linked it to one of those search engine sites to make some decent change though... Oh well...

    --

    eTrade SUCKS
  81. Re:Software Makes Wrongs Assumption About Users by reallocate · · Score: 1

    The problem is that its people doing nefarious things on the net. Learning how DNS works isn't going to render you immune to crooks and predators.

    Yes, there is risky terrain along the net, just as there is risky terrain along the highway. And, yes, the more you know how to navigate safely through either, the lower your risk will be.

    But safely and effectively using a browser is analagous to safely and effectively driving a car. The latter is completely possible with no knowledge of the machanics of the car's operations. Likewise, using a brower safely and effectively ought to be possible without understanding how the net works. But, cars have a 100=plus year head start on browsers. (Most people will never understand how either their car or the net works because it isn't important to them.)

    Of course, no one expects their car to keep them out of risky neighborhoods, and no one should expect their browser to keep them away from risky sites and links. The education you recommend, then, should be about how people behave on the net, not how the net works.

    --
    -- Slashdot: When Public Access TV Says "No"
  82. Re:Software Makes Wrongs Assumption About Users by reallocate · · Score: 1

    Nor do I. But I know lots of people who don't know how an engine works.

    Most folks I know understand that the letters they type go out onto the net over a bunch of cables and wires and that new stuff is sent back to them. They think of it, I'm sure, as very much like a telephone network. Start talking about name resolution and packets, though, and eyes glaze over.

    Remember, people (at least non-geeks) want to learn only what they need to learn to do what they want on the net. The less to be learned, the better.

    --
    -- Slashdot: When Public Access TV Says "No"
  83. Re: mistyped slashdot url by rob_squared · · Score: 1

    Of course now you're *completely* screwing up their data.

    --
    I don't get it.
  84. Re:LAN by MasterOfCeremonies · · Score: 2, Informative

    Just set up a VPN server on your computer, then get your friends to set up a VPN connection on their machines to your IP. Only allow access to trusted clients.

  85. Ask not what your .... by Presence1 · · Score: 1

    This is a core problem of our industry, and the initial responses highlight it. They just try to talk about how people *should* learn things, and try to bend the analogy.

    For the true analogy, look at the actual history of cars. Drivers were hired along with the car not only because the owners were rich, but because a car requried great skill to just operate with some modicum of safety. The engine was started with a crank, which could break your arm if you weren't careful. Almost every engine parameter had to be continually adjusted by hand. The choke had to be set and adjusted. The spark advance adjustment was typically on the steering wheel and needed continual twiddling to keep the engine running right. There was no power assist on anything.

    Today, how many drivers (other than mechanics and enthusiasts) even know about the choke and the spark advance, much less how they work? And how popular are cars now compared to 100 years ago?

    Technologists who ignore this are fools, and there are too many of them. And, just because you always gt more out of something by knowing more about it, does not mean that we should require such knowledge just for basic use. Believe it or not, some people have other things to do with their lives, and care about other stuff.

    To paraphrase Kennedy: Ask not what your customer can do for you, ask what you can do for your customer.

    To spell it out: do not ask your customer to learn your machine so she can use your (confusing and clunky) interface, ask how you can make it easier, smoother and safer for your customer to use your product.

    end rant.

    1. Re:Ask not what your .... by vandrad · · Score: 1
      To paraphrase Kennedy: Ask not what your customer can do for you, ask what you can do for your customer.

      Uh, so who's the customer of unpaid volunteer OSS coders?

      --
      Nosce Te Ipsum
    2. Re:Ask not what your .... by Presence1 · · Score: 1

      Uh, so who's the customer of unpaid volunteer OSS coders?

      Their customers are the people they hope will use their OSS software, the same as the customers of commercial products (sometimes literally the same, when OSS and commercial products compete directly).

      Customers give time and effort as well as money. This includes the time to figure out how to install the software and how to integrate it into the work or play they want to do.

      We must give them the most value we can for BOTH their money and their time and effort. The customers' time and frustration are more important than the price, whether ot not the product is free. Frustrate a customer (potential user), and they won't use your stuff. Make their life easier and they will use it. Make their life a lot easier and they'll tell ther friends.

      The ideal product is free, installs instantly and takes zero time to learn (by utilizing knowledge the user already has, and making perfect assumptions about what to hide, default settings, etc.). Of course, real products will never acieve this ideal, but we must approach it as best we can.

      The goal is the same, regardless of the product or situation. We want to make it so that as many people as possible find our product useful. This is what it takes to earn the satisfaction and rewards of a job well done, whether commercial or OSS.

  86. Re: mistyped slashdot url by fishbulb- · · Score: 1

    The site assumes that slsahdot is the only way to misspell slashdot.

  87. Re:Software Makes Wrongs Assumption About Users by marcosdumay · · Score: 1

    This is more like expecting that a deiver knows what the bakes do. Really, there is no need for the user to know how DNS and seach engines works, just to know that a URL is different from a search string.
    Of corse, there are users that don't understand that, so a little training is needed, like the training needed to someone to drive, cook or use a TV remote control. There is no way to do software that can be used by everyone with no training at all.

  88. Re: mistyped slashdot url by marcosdumay · · Score: 1

    Well, someone has just to warn then that they have been slashdoted...

  89. Re: mistyped slashdot url by Duck1123 · · Score: 1

    Great! Now we're going to slashdot slsahdot.

  90. Apple or Phone Sex? by Hooptie · · Score: 2, Interesting
    1-800-SOS-APPL

    Make sure you dial Ess-Oh-Ess NOT Ess-Zero-Ess. One is (or rather was) Apple's help line, the other was a phone sex line. Back in the bad old days I worked at Best Buy and routinely had to deal with customers complaining that we had told them to call a phone sex number.

    Hooptie

    --
    "Heavens, it appears that my weewee has been stricken with rigor mortis!" -- Stewie Griffin
  91. but how would my sig work if not for by museumpeace · · Score: 1

    typos????

    --
    SLASHDOT: news for people who can't concentrate on work or have no life at all and got tired of yelling back at the TV.
  92. It's done already by al912912 · · Score: 1

    Isn't our regular internet anonymous enough?

    The only piece of information that someone has is your IP address, and it's there for routing purposes and, even though you could find out from where is thata dude connecting that's all you can know. Anyway, IP packets are still part of your undergroud internet, so there's no extra anonymity there.

    Besides that, you can have a truly anonymous internet if you don't permit any cookie, and don't have any user account. the anonymity will also be lost in your internet if you add a certain type of registration.

    So, what are you promoting here? Because I have seen this post on other slashdot sites. Is this just a downgraded internet?

    1. Re:It's done already by PIBM · · Score: 1

      No, it's not just a downgraded internet. If you've read the content you should have noted that they are using VPN, standing for Virtual Private Networking.

      What they are doing is creating an encrypted web. When you connect to the server, it is SUPPOSED not to be login what you are doing, and just redirect your packets as a normal one, except that you reach that node with an encrypted packet: you can't be sniffed and it's not possible to know what you are doing with it externally. Internally, this is a completely different thing though, and that's where it require a bit of trust in the server you use.

      As long as the server is really not logging anything, no one inside that web can know who you are outside of it. There is one thing slowing it, that's the harsh penalty of the bandwidth usage. Let's say you and your friend are both using this,and leave close next to each other. You usually were sending your homeworks by email, but once it was stolen and you've been reprimanded for that, so you decide to use that secure channel to send it over.

      You meet your friend in an irc chat room, exchange some private information to make sure it's indeed your friend, and process to send that 40MB powerpoint file. Usually, since you have 100KBps upstream, it takes like 6-7 minutes. But now, that data is encrypted and sent to your server. It then span half of that small web, passing through many ADSL / cable / potl modem and is then sent through your friend server up to him, at 1.4KBps (Speed being of the slowest part)

      It's great that no one out of that net can know what you are sending, to who you are sending it or what it is but those inside node need to be trusted and speed isn't exactly high..

      Even there, if all the nodes were connected to "logged" routers, it could probably be possible to make a correlation between the packets and find who is the source, and who is the destination, but it would not help in recovering the data.

      All in all, it's a nice idea, but far from perfect.

  93. Re:LAN by owlstead · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Yes, but that are all point to point connections. I have got that set up already with my friends. Problem is that you won't get any routing, and you must trust each friend. It's a pain on your firewall and sockets setup as well.

    What I need - and I think more people are interested in this - is something that established a virtual LAN. Now, VLAN is already another technology, so we might need another acronym. I would consider Open Virtual Private Lan, or OpenVPL for short (see below).

    The biggest issues are probably the routing - e.g. broadcast packages - and management. You would also want to set it up as a LAN adapter as well (which requires insight in device driver development). You would probably want to start off with something like OpenVPN and add routing and management on top of it.

    As you can see, I did a little thinking beforehand. Currently my private developments are all in Java unfortunately, so programming the TCP/IP stack in Linux is a bit too remote for me. This IS an interesting idea though, most of you will probably agree.

  94. typos? by Christoff+Ka+Sin+Chu · · Score: 1

    "the likes of porn purveyors, ISP's, Paxfire, Microsoft and VeriSign." So, we were talking about typos? ISPs

    --
    CKSCIII
  95. Anatomy of an "typo milionaire" by e.colli · · Score: 1

    Last week I mistyped an domain who send me to an wierd site, then I look at brazilian registrar registro.br and found this guy:

    http://registro.br/cgi-bin/nicbr/whois?qr=006.209. 119/0001-55
    http://registro.br/cgi-bin/nicbr/whois?qr=002.799. 952/0001-42

    Mostly are to catch mistyped domains, some of her domains are typed like google is spelled in portuguese.
    GLOGUE.COM.BR
    GLOOGUE.COM.BR
    GOGOGL E.COM.BR
    GOOCLE.COM.BR
    GUGOL.COM.BR

  96. Could have sworn by smchris · · Score: 1

    You mean the whitehouse isn't really a man-on-man porn site catering to the military trade?

  97. Hey, it works for me! heheh by DedHerring · · Score: 1

    It's part of the reason my blog about Hawaii politics is hosted at my domain poinography!

    --
    Clever .sig Remove SPAM characters for email.
  98. Mistype /. by kf6auf · · Score: 1

    Apparently, 4020 of us have mistyped /. today, though I went there on purpose today after accidentally going there a couple days ago.

  99. Re:LAN by BlueFashoo · · Score: 1

    How about an Open Virtual Anonymous LAN. You could you call it OVAL. Eh?!

    --
    Nice Marmot
  100. Flim Springfield by DarrylM · · Score: 1

    "All right, this place must be hot. They don't need a big ad, or even correct spelling."

    Ok... so it's not quite a URL...

  101. One example... by teidou · · Score: 1

    Reading my usual comics, I accidentally went to http://www.dilber.com one day, (warning: ad for an "Amateurs" site...).

    Careful what you type at work!

  102. Is typosquatting illegal? Immoral? by defile · · Score: 1

    "Oops! You probably meant to type this domain instead, here's a link. BTW, here are some ads."

    Who could get mad about that?

  103. Re:Is typosquatting illegal? Immoral? by Anonymous+Luddite · · Score: 1


    >> "Oops! You probably meant to type this domain instead, here's a link. BTW, here are some ads." Who could get mad about that?

    That sounds like 'Clippit'

    "You look like you're surfing for Donkey Porn. Would you like some help?"

  104. Re:LAN by siriuskase · · Score: 1

    The trick is having a trusted relationship with anonymous strangers. If all you know is what you see in his posts, how do you know he is trustworthy?

    --
    If you must moderate, please moderate as irrelevent, not something bad, because I'm sure someone will find this interest
  105. You just proved the point by fingerfucker · · Score: 1


    There have always been internets. An internet is simply several LANs connected via IP routers. Somewhere along the line one big huge internet formed that we refer to as the Internet (notice the capitalization). Today other internets are usually referred to as "intranets".

    They are called "intranets", not "internets". It's only you who called them "internets".

    Internet was always used to refer to a global system of computers interconnected via TCP/IP. That's why it was always capitalized. As people started using it in a common language, it was converted from "Internet" to "internet".

    If you have an Internet-like network which is not part of the global Internet, then you've got yourself an "intranet".

    There were NEVER mulitple "Internets".

    1. Re:You just proved the point by InfiniteWisdom · · Score: 1

      Get your facts straight. You might want to start by reading the first chapter of this book, for instance.

    2. Re:You just proved the point by fingerfucker · · Score: 1

      It's quite pathetic that you cite Wikipedia as "facts" and a book on TCP/IP protocols, both of which have nothing to do with the actual etymology and semantics of the word "Internet" and its transformation into the non-capitalized version "internet".

    3. Re:You just proved the point by fingerfucker · · Score: 1

      The sources on dictionary.reference.com which present that "internet" is actually a word are:

      - WordNet (r) 2.0 (August 2003)
      - The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing
      - Jargon File 4.2.0

      The ones which do not are:

      - American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language

      In addition, in support of the capitalized version are:
      - Merriam Webster Dictionary (also online at www.m-w.com)
      - Encyclopaedia Britannica (online at www.encyclopediabritannica.com)
      - Oxford English Dictionary (accessible also via http://www.askoxford.com/?view=uk)


      If you don't see the obvious implications of what these two lists consist of, then you are the idiot here, not me.