Why would a web developer use the ping attribute now?
I think the main developer who would want to use it is Google with their adwords program. They're probably trying to minimize the bandwidth those redirects consume for all the clicking that happens on their ads. This is on top of the bandwidth of every page view requesting the ads to be embedded in the first place, which can't be avoided...
Even if Google can shave off 6% of unneccessary redirects (all Firefox users), that's a big bandwidth savings.
This is likely the system to be deployed. Even so, there are other safety mechanisms that could be implemented. For instance, there could be hinged rubber stoppers that contain some kind of steel ball inside of them. As long as the maglev is functioning, the stoppers are retracted by the magnetism operating the elevator. Once the magnetism ceases, gravity pulls the stoppers down to make contact with the track and stop the downward motion of the elevator.
These are scattershot methods, though -- good for placing spyware or zombies on large numbers of random machines, but not terribly good for getting your code to run on a specific computer, which is what a law enforcement or intelligence agency would really want.
As you pointed out, you can put the exploit in an image on a website. You want to filter for a specific profile of people, put that image on a website that targets the people close to the people you want to spy on. Put the image in your signature of your account on an islamic fundamentalist web forum. Wow. You comprimise the computers of some innocent people who might actually exchange email with members of Al Qaeda or friends of Al Qaeda. With their computers owned, you've got the ability to add a graphic attachment signature to their email so they start comprimising their friends' computers. Keyloggers are installed, so even if they're transmitting secret messages via SSL, PGP, etc. the content gets phoned home pre-encryption.
Even skipping the forum method for initial seeding of the trojan.. Say you're a spy agency in China that wants to see what kinds of rockets or airplanes Boeing is working on for the US. You have your soldiers walk into the Shanghai Daily News and take control of the web server computer for ten minutes. Add a directive to.htaccess that will redirect visitors coming from a specific domain (*.boeing.com) and have them pull an alternate graphic from the docroot that contains the trojaned wmf file. Now Boeing is sure to have Chinese ex-pat engineers working in the US that will visit the newspaper's site on a daily basis to see what's happening in their hometown. Once their computers are comprimised, you can work your way all through the company like I mentioned in the previous example.
If spy agencies aren't using this exploit, they're slacking bigtime.
If it was paid for, they are required by law to say so.
You are confusing FCC regulations banning radio payola with infomercials. The mouse piece is clearly a commercial masquerading as published content. This is the second Hexus link from Slashdot this week that screams advertisement.
The anti-trust law that Microsoft was convicted of breaking was that they leveraged a monopoly in one industry (Computer Operating Systems) to suppress competition in another (Web Browsers). Other posters on this topic are proposing that this is a repeat offense.
Joel Klein-- "In this specific case the evidence is overwhelming that Microsoft was unable to compete on the merits and decided in its own words "to leverage its monopoly" in order to "make people" use their browser."
Netflix has already partnered with Tivo, which already has tivo-to-go that works for the video iPod.... potentially they're ready to roll-out downloadable movies...
Dump that Microsoft Optical Mouse immediately. Or at least never use it on top of any printed documents. Coupled with their own closed-source driver, its laser functions as a scanner sucking up all the data on your table. If you run it on top of a papers, etc. eventually, it will scan the entire thing, OCR-it, and send the contents to Redmond.
Actually, the current estimate on the war in Iraq is $350 billion.
Wait a minute! I thought this Iraq affair was part of the IPv6 migration plan. Cheaper gas, faster internet I was told.
Now that I've checked around on some websites, it looks like the current story is something about preventing torture and human rights abuses. Either that or implementing them abroad-- the photos and the text aren't matching up.
Anyway, the big obstacle seems to be these fundamentalist zTerm zealots kidnapping our telecom engineers and holding them hostage trying to block multimedia internet content and return us to tools like lynx and gopher.
I can appreciate your attempt to reign in the GP perspective of punishing companies over security breaches. Like you wisely wrote, no usable security system is 100% invincible.
There is a middle ground in this debate, though, and I believe that is fining companies over negligent security practices. After a breach and theft of consumer data, an independent security audit can identify if the damage to consumers was the result of a corporate negligence towards security. In that case, they would be susceptible not only to fines, but also civil suits, I think. In the same way a property owner can be sued by visitors if they get hurt due to the owner's negligence in maintaining their safety. Since slip-and-fall lawsuits raise such negative conotations, I know this isn't the most palatable example, but that's what I've got for you!
Of course people who want to outlaw smoking indoors
I didn't advocate for any laws to be created against smoking in the above post. I was highlighting another way in which tobacco addiction negatively affects our society. There are a lot more items in the 'cons' column than in the 'pros' column for tobacco. This is another con.
Also, your examples of candles, laterns, and incense is not contemporary for the United States and is a complete fallacy. Like also bringing automobile pollution into this discussion, candles, lanterns, and incense provide some service or benefit to the human condition. There is a value or need that we get from these things existing. Obviously, incense provides the least significant value, but it also probably is the least dangerous in this list. What is the value brought by tobacco?
I understand your confusion on this matter. Business Objects is not saying it will open up the source code for any of their products. Instead, they're announcing planned integrations between their products and Eclipse. In the article is also a reference to Macromedia currently working on an Eclipse integration called Zorn. It's completely acceptable for Business Objects to sell closed-source products that are extensions to Eclipse. That's sort of the business model that Eclipse fosters.
Seth
another threat from smoking
on
Safe Cigarettes?
·
· Score: 4, Interesting
Tobacco addicts endanger our lives more than by the carcinogens they exhale into the air.
Their habit also is the leading cause for fire-related deaths.
If you live in an apartment building and smokers also live in that building, you are depending on them not to fall asleep with a cigarrette burning in an ashtray on their beds. It's really common for an entire building to go up in flames due to unsupervised cigarrettes. So, yeah, smoking is a pretty significant threat to non-smokers.
Video cameras? That's the most expensive and least effective way to guage traffic. For starters, you've got falliable humans watching video output from the cameras. These humans require salaries, healthcare, retirement, paid vacation, etc. At most, with human-video camera implementations, you get, "Yeah, that street looks clogged up. Maybe you should take that other one."
With modern cellphones reporting GPS coordinates, you get computer-measured flow data from the roadways. This is where a program can actually be written to give real-time routing suggestions to emergency vehicles. If you need to get to the hospital quick, coordinating a bunch of civil servants watching monitors 8 hours a day to decide on the best route is not what I think is the best method.
Funny thing is, they've fought against PVRs, and now most of them even offer one as part of the subscription.
It is funny. Mostly because you've lumped seperate media entities into one collective 'they'. In fact, there is a diverse crowd of players in the world of PVR. The entities opposing PVRs generate their revenues through advertising. These are regular broadcast networks like NBC, ABC, etc.
The companies offering PVRs generate revenue from subscriptions. These companies also make money from advertising, so your observation is correct, there is a conflict of interest at play.
4 missions per year does not mean 3 months lead time.
Astronauts train for over a year for their flights. Missions are being prepared for concurrently. I do not know what the required lead time is, but it's undoubtedly greater than 3 months.
Michael Robertson: What happen ? DVD Jon: Somebody set up us the bomb. Michael Robertson: What you say !! Officer: You have no chance to survive make your time.
WRT: Sony - are you arguing that Sony doesn't use similar agreements with third party manufacturers and software developers in their Playstation product line?
When I read this article, the first thing I thought was console manufacturers. All perpheral devices such as controllers, memory cards, light guns, etc. designed and sold for use with console video games have licensing fees built in that get paid to the console maker. Same with the software. Apple is only following the example set way back with the original NES system.
Additionally, consumers will benefit to some extent from licensing for peripherals. These contracts help ensure compatibility with future software revs of the iPod. If a vendor makes anything that intimately interfaces with the iPod other than via the mini-plug jack, Apple could break compatibility in future software updates to the iPod. This wouldn't even necessarily be motivated by evil intentions. Support for legacy devices in interfaces burdens development costs, so companies are always looking for opportunities to remove support for them when convenient. Anybody in QA testing can tell you this.
A licensing agreement with a peripheral vendor locks Apple into supporting their device for X number of years, so consumers won't have to sell their BMW Mini Cooper when it stops controlling their recently-updated iPod through the factory stereo.
The new site is a disaster, and it's all about generating revenue through obtrusive ads.
So a couple years ago I was working in London and I was given a laptop to use by my employer. I decided to download the onion to read offline while riding the train home from work one day. Turns out the page wouldn't render because of a reference to a 3rd-party adserver graphic I hadn't downloaded. To fix it, I opened up my editor and was removing these ad tags from the code. Next thing I know, a man grabbed my laptop off my lab and bolted out of the train.
Apparently, the Onion REALLY wants you to see those ads and has implemented some pretty excessive means of enforcement.
a show which has already paid for itself via distribution in other markets!
I apologize for posting a possibly very naive thought here. Since the BBC is funded through the annual TV tax paid by British citizens, isn't it actually true that Dr Who was already financed by that tax and the advertising revenue from it being shown in England? Internet-distributed sales of the show, like you say, is pure icing on the cake for the production company.
Thanks for the clarification. I was vague because I don't know a whole lot about naval warfare. I guess I was thinking in the terms that you've explained. In WW II, a lot of planes carried torpedos for use against surface ships. Now they'll use missles. Wasn't aware they're still using them against subs.
Thanks for this recommendation. I hadn't heard of it. I've mostly been depending on internet radio through iTunes to find different music, but a lot of the stations I listen to don't really broadcast the artist info, so I end up continuing to listen to those stations for those sounds rather than seeking out individual artists.
Slashdot Mirror
Why would a web developer use the ping attribute now?
I think the main developer who would want to use it is Google with their adwords program. They're probably trying to minimize the bandwidth those redirects consume for all the clicking that happens on their ads. This is on top of the bandwidth of every page view requesting the ads to be embedded in the first place, which can't be avoided...
Even if Google can shave off 6% of unneccessary redirects (all Firefox users), that's a big bandwidth savings.
Seth
the Pit Fall at Kennywood in Pittsburgh
Wow. I love Kennywood. Thanks for the reference.
This is likely the system to be deployed. Even so, there are other safety mechanisms that could be implemented. For instance, there could be hinged rubber stoppers that contain some kind of steel ball inside of them. As long as the maglev is functioning, the stoppers are retracted by the magnetism operating the elevator. Once the magnetism ceases, gravity pulls the stoppers down to make contact with the track and stop the downward motion of the elevator.
Seth
These are scattershot methods, though -- good for placing spyware or zombies on large numbers of random machines, but not terribly good for getting your code to run on a specific computer, which is what a law enforcement or intelligence agency would really want.
.htaccess that will redirect visitors coming from a specific domain (*.boeing.com) and have them pull an alternate graphic from the docroot that contains the trojaned wmf file. Now Boeing is sure to have Chinese ex-pat engineers working in the US that will visit the newspaper's site on a daily basis to see what's happening in their hometown. Once their computers are comprimised, you can work your way all through the company like I mentioned in the previous example.
As you pointed out, you can put the exploit in an image on a website. You want to filter for a specific profile of people, put that image on a website that targets the people close to the people you want to spy on. Put the image in your signature of your account on an islamic fundamentalist web forum. Wow. You comprimise the computers of some innocent people who might actually exchange email with members of Al Qaeda or friends of Al Qaeda. With their computers owned, you've got the ability to add a graphic attachment signature to their email so they start comprimising their friends' computers. Keyloggers are installed, so even if they're transmitting secret messages via SSL, PGP, etc. the content gets phoned home pre-encryption.
Even skipping the forum method for initial seeding of the trojan.. Say you're a spy agency in China that wants to see what kinds of rockets or airplanes Boeing is working on for the US. You have your soldiers walk into the Shanghai Daily News and take control of the web server computer for ten minutes. Add a directive to
If spy agencies aren't using this exploit, they're slacking bigtime.
Seth
If it was paid for, they are required by law to say so.
You are confusing FCC regulations banning radio payola with infomercials. The mouse piece is clearly a commercial masquerading as published content. This is the second Hexus link from Slashdot this week that screams advertisement.
Seth
They are going to use their dominance in the console market to try to make Blu-Ray the defacto standard.
Sony doesn't hold a monopoly in the console industry. The market is pretty well divided among the XboX, Gamecube, and Playstation. With each generation of console, it's a wide-open opportunity for any participant to take the lead.
The anti-trust law that Microsoft was convicted of breaking was that they leveraged a monopoly in one industry (Computer Operating Systems) to suppress competition in another (Web Browsers). Other posters on this topic are proposing that this is a repeat offense.
Joel Klein-- "In this specific case the evidence is overwhelming that Microsoft was unable to compete on the merits and decided in its own words "to leverage its monopoly" in order to "make people" use their browser."
Seth
Netflix has already partnered with Tivo, which already has tivo-to-go that works for the video iPod.... potentially they're ready to roll-out downloadable movies...
Seth
Dump that Microsoft Optical Mouse immediately. Or at least never use it on top of any printed documents. Coupled with their own closed-source driver, its laser functions as a scanner sucking up all the data on your table. If you run it on top of a papers, etc. eventually, it will scan the entire thing, OCR-it, and send the contents to Redmond.
Seth
Wells Fargo is browser-independent.
Seth
Actually, the current estimate on the war in Iraq is $350 billion.
Wait a minute! I thought this Iraq affair was part of the IPv6 migration plan. Cheaper gas, faster internet I was told.
Now that I've checked around on some websites, it looks like the current story is something about preventing torture and human rights abuses. Either that or implementing them abroad-- the photos and the text aren't matching up.
Anyway, the big obstacle seems to be these fundamentalist zTerm zealots kidnapping our telecom engineers and holding them hostage trying to block multimedia internet content and return us to tools like lynx and gopher.
Seth
I can appreciate your attempt to reign in the GP perspective of punishing companies over security breaches. Like you wisely wrote, no usable security system is 100% invincible.
There is a middle ground in this debate, though, and I believe that is fining companies over negligent security practices. After a breach and theft of consumer data, an independent security audit can identify if the damage to consumers was the result of a corporate negligence towards security. In that case, they would be susceptible not only to fines, but also civil suits, I think. In the same way a property owner can be sued by visitors if they get hurt due to the owner's negligence in maintaining their safety. Since slip-and-fall lawsuits raise such negative conotations, I know this isn't the most palatable example, but that's what I've got for you!
Seth
Of course people who want to outlaw smoking indoors
I didn't advocate for any laws to be created against smoking in the above post. I was highlighting another way in which tobacco addiction negatively affects our society. There are a lot more items in the 'cons' column than in the 'pros' column for tobacco. This is another con.
Also, your examples of candles, laterns, and incense is not contemporary for the United States and is a complete fallacy. Like also bringing automobile pollution into this discussion, candles, lanterns, and incense provide some service or benefit to the human condition. There is a value or need that we get from these things existing. Obviously, incense provides the least significant value, but it also probably is the least dangerous in this list. What is the value brought by tobacco?
Seth
I understand your confusion on this matter. Business Objects is not saying it will open up the source code for any of their products. Instead, they're announcing planned integrations between their products and Eclipse. In the article is also a reference to Macromedia currently working on an Eclipse integration called Zorn. It's completely acceptable for Business Objects to sell closed-source products that are extensions to Eclipse. That's sort of the business model that Eclipse fosters.
Seth
Tobacco addicts endanger our lives more than by the carcinogens they exhale into the air. Their habit also is the leading cause for fire-related deaths. If you live in an apartment building and smokers also live in that building, you are depending on them not to fall asleep with a cigarrette burning in an ashtray on their beds. It's really common for an entire building to go up in flames due to unsupervised cigarrettes. So, yeah, smoking is a pretty significant threat to non-smokers.
Seth
So true. So true.
Seth
If a post is moderated 'funny' there's no boost to the poster's karma. Insightful, and there is. These are thoughtful mods.
Seth
Video cameras? That's the most expensive and least effective way to guage traffic. For starters, you've got falliable humans watching video output from the cameras. These humans require salaries, healthcare, retirement, paid vacation, etc. At most, with human-video camera implementations, you get, "Yeah, that street looks clogged up. Maybe you should take that other one."
With modern cellphones reporting GPS coordinates, you get computer-measured flow data from the roadways. This is where a program can actually be written to give real-time routing suggestions to emergency vehicles. If you need to get to the hospital quick, coordinating a bunch of civil servants watching monitors 8 hours a day to decide on the best route is not what I think is the best method.
Seth
That is the funniest thing I've read all month. Seth
Funny thing is, they've fought against PVRs, and now most of them even offer one as part of the subscription.
It is funny. Mostly because you've lumped seperate media entities into one collective 'they'. In fact, there is a diverse crowd of players in the world of PVR. The entities opposing PVRs generate their revenues through advertising. These are regular broadcast networks like NBC, ABC, etc.
The companies offering PVRs generate revenue from subscriptions. These companies also make money from advertising, so your observation is correct, there is a conflict of interest at play.
Seth
4 missions per year does not mean 3 months lead time.
Astronauts train for over a year for their flights. Missions are being prepared for concurrently. I do not know what the required lead time is, but it's undoubtedly greater than 3 months.
Seth
Michael Robertson: What happen ?
DVD Jon: Somebody set up us the bomb.
Michael Robertson: What you say !!
Officer: You have no chance to survive make your time.
WRT: Sony - are you arguing that Sony doesn't use similar agreements with third party manufacturers and software developers in their Playstation product line?
When I read this article, the first thing I thought was console manufacturers. All perpheral devices such as controllers, memory cards, light guns, etc. designed and sold for use with console video games have licensing fees built in that get paid to the console maker. Same with the software. Apple is only following the example set way back with the original NES system.
Additionally, consumers will benefit to some extent from licensing for peripherals. These contracts help ensure compatibility with future software revs of the iPod. If a vendor makes anything that intimately interfaces with the iPod other than via the mini-plug jack, Apple could break compatibility in future software updates to the iPod. This wouldn't even necessarily be motivated by evil intentions. Support for legacy devices in interfaces burdens development costs, so companies are always looking for opportunities to remove support for them when convenient. Anybody in QA testing can tell you this.
A licensing agreement with a peripheral vendor locks Apple into supporting their device for X number of years, so consumers won't have to sell their BMW Mini Cooper when it stops controlling their recently-updated iPod through the factory stereo.
Seth
The new site is a disaster, and it's all about generating revenue through obtrusive ads.
So a couple years ago I was working in London and I was given a laptop to use by my employer. I decided to download the onion to read offline while riding the train home from work one day. Turns out the page wouldn't render because of a reference to a 3rd-party adserver graphic I hadn't downloaded. To fix it, I opened up my editor and was removing these ad tags from the code. Next thing I know, a man grabbed my laptop off my lab and bolted out of the train.
Apparently, the Onion REALLY wants you to see those ads and has implemented some pretty excessive means of enforcement.
Seth
a show which has already paid for itself via distribution in other markets!
I apologize for posting a possibly very naive thought here. Since the BBC is funded through the annual TV tax paid by British citizens, isn't it actually true that Dr Who was already financed by that tax and the advertising revenue from it being shown in England? Internet-distributed sales of the show, like you say, is pure icing on the cake for the production company.
Seth
Thanks for the clarification. I was vague because I don't know a whole lot about naval warfare. I guess I was thinking in the terms that you've explained. In WW II, a lot of planes carried torpedos for use against surface ships. Now they'll use missles. Wasn't aware they're still using them against subs.
Seth
Thanks for this recommendation. I hadn't heard of it. I've mostly been depending on internet radio through iTunes to find different music, but a lot of the stations I listen to don't really broadcast the artist info, so I end up continuing to listen to those stations for those sounds rather than seeking out individual artists.
I'll check out Pandora.
Appreciatively,
Seth