Most of the telemarketing calls I get these days showup as toll-free numbers on Caller ID...
Some are probably spoofed, but toll-free numbers make sense in that telemarketers could more easily entice people to call back, but not sure if that's really the reason or something else? -probably a combination of reasons?...
Anyways, a screening method that works like a charm if I choose to pick up the phone, which is rarely, and I see a toll-free number or other goofy number on Caller ID...
I'll pickup the receiver and say nothing - if complete silence, which is nearly always the case, then it's a near sure bet it's a telemarketer... sometimes, if really annoyed, as in I'm expecting an important call or whatever, I won't even wait to listen - I'll just pickup and hangup the receiver immediately.
It's been my experience that telemarketers don't call back right away after a hangup... but a legitimate, non-telemarketer caller likely will assume the hangup was due to a faulty circuit and will promptly call back right away.
In regards to the do not call list here in the States... it's helped a bit, but overall leaves a lot to be desired - the numerous loopholes don't help... charities, politicians, surveys, business "relationships", telecommunication companies (partial loophole), etc.
Many Americans use one or more of the following tactics to reduce telemarketing calls...
* Sign up their phone number(s) on DNC list
* Screen all calls using answering machine / voicemail
* Switch from land-line to cellphone (this won't work for much longer as more telemarketers just call cells with no regard to the law, which lacks definition and more importantly seems to lack tough penalities / lack of enforcement)
* Get rid of phone service entirely and use VOIP, etc along with pre-paid phone cards
Yes, so true - it can take much, much longer sometimes... from my understanding, for domestic items (U.S.), the bank must notify the depositor if they expect the process / hold to take / last more than 10 business days.
Foreign checks are a whole different matter completely... banks will typically send them out for "collection"... not really up on how that works; is there is even a set time limit for such items?
Still the same problem... the customer presumably enters the number into their computer - if it's been hijacked, such a security scheme is greatly weakened.
With that said, with a minor adjustment, such a scheme can be made very secure by having SMS be the *final step*.
Example...
1. Customer logs in as usual.
2. Performs transactions, etc.
3. Customer logs out.
4. Customer is notified via SMS, only after being logged out (will thwart most all man-in-middle attacks), that transactions have been performed and the customer is asked to approve / deny each transaction via SMS on their phone.
Using SMS is the right idea... but is far more secure if it's treated as a completely separate channel - the steps outlined above keep the channels separate; truly two factor... neither is directly connected to the other*.
Ron
* assumes the person never manages / accesses their cellphone account / SMS via the same computer.
Actually, the hold on deposited checks is much longer than 24 hours... a check that's "cleared" typically isn't final until days later...
Banks have to makes the funds available, on a provisional basis, within as short as one business day... however, the funds are NOT truly the depositor's until the check is final - and that can take 10 business days.
Many folks, especially on Ebay, get burnt that way... a fraudter will send a bogus money order / check to the seller and request express shipping... by the time the seller is notified the check is bogus, the fraudster is long gone - many variations of the scam, such as someone will send a "cashiers check" for more than the sale price "by mistake" and then request the remaining amount be refunded by bank wire, etc.
While on the topic of "deposits", electronic check as used by like PayPal is actually ACH and has nothing to do with Check 21 whatsoever... ACH may be reversed for upto 60 calendar days... something one should keep in mind if withdrawing money from say PayPal or a brokerage account, etc... paper is still better in some ways; bank wire is best.
I'm surprised no one mentioned it yet - bank customers that choose to use (likely have no choice eventually) two factor authentication may be in for a nasty surprise... I bet, much like Verified by Visa, the onus of proving fraud will be further shifted to the customer - banks will contend that two factor authentication is super-duper secure and any security violation must be solely the customer's fault.
Speaking of fault... two factor authentication, as proposed, is faulty from the start... sure the barrier for fraudsters is a bit higher, but not by much... a variant of the traditional man in the middle attack is all it takes...
Keys, etc are no good if the fraudster takes control of the victim's computer itself... and even worse, the fraudster may not even have to program a complicated trojan, since many folks already use software (or unknowingly have it installed) that allow for remote access.
Banks are going to love this - sure the key tokens, etc are going to be a hassle for them to distribute, etc, but in the longrun banks will be able to shift more of the risk to the customer unless consumer groups speakup... perhaps they have... if anyone here knows more, please reply - thanks!
If only that was true in reality - many merchants were hit earlier this year by carders that had managed to get ahold of a large database containing complete card details, including the respective card codes.
On a related topic, the last I read, merchants are permitted to temporarily store card code data... not sure if the time limit is 10 seconds (somewhat reasonable) or 10 minutes (crazy)... I've seen both numbers mentioned... point is that card code data is stored, even if only for a short time, by merchants and/or other intermediate parties - card card is not as secure as it should be.
Simple solution is to power off the cell phone; some newer models are rumored to never truly power off - simple work-around if unsure / paranoid is to then place the phone into a shielded bag similar to what is provided to folks who use EZPass.
Cell phone tracking is already so prevalent that use for traffic monitoring is merely another extension of the extensive data collection that's already being going on for quite some time from cell phone users, including actual data, such as text messages sent/received.
On an aside, most folks have no real need to always have their cell phone on when driving - let the voice mail take calls and help keep the roads safer; due to lawsuits some companies forbid use of cell phones while driving, so why even leave the phone on...
TR-446 Toxicology and Carcinogenesis Studies of 1-Trans-Delta9-Tetrahydrocannabinol (CAS No. 1972-08-3) in F344 Rats and B6C3F1 Mice (Gavage Studies) http://www.cannabis.com/research/tr446study.shtml (mirror of the study published by the U.S. National Toxicity Program)
Slashdot is a simple site in the aspect that only about a dozen articles are displayed on the *main page* daily. Proof-reading and double-checking links, etc for a dozen or so *published* items on the *main page* is simple! And yet Slashdot had yet to get it right...
One would think that with all the computer skills Slashdot folks have, that they'd have built-in spell / grammar check in their submission system along with a duplicate article checker.
Yes. I live about 15 miles from the infamous Kutztown school district, in which a student's misuse of a laptop computer is automatically treated as a felony. Crazy stuff - hope it works out for the kids.
Addendum... while it appears the content at the link may have been changed after the original article submission, that doesn't excuse Slashdot's staff one bit... for Slashdot's staff have had well over three+ hours to update/remove the link, and yet, as of this moment, the link to the offensive picture is still there - does OSTG just ignore Slashdot? -perhaps it's run by robots too? Hopefully the Korean robots have better grammar than Slashdot's LOL!
Emery is a CANADIAN citizen who has NOT been in the U.S. for over a decade, and operates his business from within Canada, including his web servers, etc.
Yet, despite all of that, the DEA has sought his extradiction... and before anyone replies back with something like "but he was sending seeds to the U.S."... the point is the tenticles of the U.S. extend to most ALL CANADIANS and to that of citizens of numerous other countries around the world - the DEA and other various U.S. law enforcement agencies actually have OFFICES and conduct investigations in Canada, and many other countries globally.
Point of my tirade is that moving may not help; in large part due to technology, such as being described in this Slashdot news item.
Sodium pentathol aka "truth serum", and other various drugs/methods, already allows one today to determine quite well what one is thinking / knows.
Technology may eventually the authorities, or whoever, to get an idea as to what one is looking at / possibly thinking of at a given moment from a distance; appealing to marketers, but may be of limited usefulness to authorities, since people's thoughts can be so random / common to what others are thinking - even the most law abiding people have various deep, dark thoughts, but most don't act upon them.
In a nutshell, reading one's thoughts isn't all that useful until one acts upon them - and for many types of actions, that is impossible to trully determine for sure ahead of time due to the randomness of nature; chaos theory.
I see "Intel" frequently on news tickers, etc too referring to intelligence ops, etc - makes me wonder why Intel (the chip maker) hasn't launched an awareness campaign to discourage that; legal action... such as how Xerox ran massive ad campaigns decades ago to discourage use of its name as a generic word for "copy".
Nah... if the house didn't showup in Google, that would be something to sensationalize about.
Brings to mind an interesting project for someone to do - compare Google's overhead maps to low-altitude aerial maps on file around the country...
I'd bet there's stuff Google has been directed to obscure/omit from their maps *of the U.S.* by the government - ie. is Bush's ranch shown in complete detail? Camp David? etc...
And looks similar to many other properties all throughout the country...
If there were large walls around the property and/or other unusual structures, etc, then that certainly could raise suspicions - the best spys are typically those who blend in... one shouldn't be surprised to hear of spys living in typical houses in boring neighborhoods in which no one is the wiser to who they truly are.
To expand on this thought - I don't see how search engines like Google is any real threat to real spys... if anything, the internet can be a plus for those spys who (and/or their support staffs) understand how to create/maintain a pseudo-personality in cyberspace that doesn't truly reflect reality; people often believe what they see on the internet (goes for TV, etc too) without much thought.
As the kid's experience shows, along with some other replies here that go into detail about the battery, iPod user battery replacement is not only difficult due to poor design, but a potentially dangerous activity too...
Ron Bennett
Proves Again iPods Are Overpriced Disposable Crap!
on
iPod Dangerous When Wet
·
· Score: 0, Flamebait
iPods may be neat, fun, etc... but when the battery wears down for the final time, one is basically left with a paperweight, since Apple chose to cheap out the design and not allow for simple battery replacement; iPod is basically disposable stylish crap - there are better choices.
I wouldn't be surprised Apple was found liable for damages/injury, etc, if the kid's family were to pursue a lawsuit - or have they already?
How does knowing one's identity really make us collectively safer. I've yet to see a good answer to this question.
Requiring identification is basically a way of tracking people; fishing expeditions.
Scanning for explosives, etc is what they should concentrate on... most, if not all?, of the 911 terrorists had valid licenses; many of them had no criminal records... again, my question is how does requiring ID make us safer?
Many of the laser sightings last year appear to have been part of U.S. government tests of the system...
And anyone who doubts that, just search news archives of late last year - the U.S. govt publically acknowledged doing tests around the same time/areas of the "mysterious" laser sightings.
Slashdot Mirror
Most of the telemarketing calls I get these days showup as toll-free numbers on Caller ID...
...
... sometimes, if really annoyed, as in I'm expecting an important call or whatever, I won't even wait to listen - I'll just pickup and hangup the receiver immediately.
... but a legitimate, non-telemarketer caller likely will assume the hangup was due to a faulty circuit and will promptly call back right away.
... it's helped a bit, but overall leaves a lot to be desired - the numerous loopholes don't help ... charities, politicians, surveys, business "relationships", telecommunication companies (partial loophole), etc.
Some are probably spoofed, but toll-free numbers make sense in that telemarketers could more easily entice people to call back, but not sure if that's really the reason or something else? -probably a combination of reasons?...
Anyways, a screening method that works like a charm if I choose to pick up the phone, which is rarely, and I see a toll-free number or other goofy number on Caller ID
I'll pickup the receiver and say nothing - if complete silence, which is nearly always the case, then it's a near sure bet it's a telemarketer
It's been my experience that telemarketers don't call back right away after a hangup
In regards to the do not call list here in the States
Many Americans use one or more of the following tactics to reduce telemarketing calls...
* Sign up their phone number(s) on DNC list
* Screen all calls using answering machine / voicemail
* Switch from land-line to cellphone (this won't work for much longer as more telemarketers just call cells with no regard to the law, which lacks definition and more importantly seems to lack tough penalities / lack of enforcement)
* Get rid of phone service entirely and use VOIP, etc along with pre-paid phone cards
Ron Bennett
Yes, so true - it can take much, much longer sometimes ... from my understanding, for domestic items (U.S.), the bank must notify the depositor if they expect the process / hold to take / last more than 10 business days.
... banks will typically send them out for "collection" ... not really up on how that works; is there is even a set time limit for such items?
Foreign checks are a whole different matter completely
Ron
Still the same problem ... the customer presumably enters the number into their computer - if it's been hijacked, such a security scheme is greatly weakened.
...
... but is far more secure if it's treated as a completely separate channel - the steps outlined above keep the channels separate; truly two factor ... neither is directly connected to the other*.
With that said, with a minor adjustment, such a scheme can be made very secure by having SMS be the *final step*.
Example
1. Customer logs in as usual.
2. Performs transactions, etc.
3. Customer logs out.
4. Customer is notified via SMS, only after being logged out (will thwart most all man-in-middle attacks), that transactions have been performed and the customer is asked to approve / deny each transaction via SMS on their phone.
Using SMS is the right idea
Ron
* assumes the person never manages / accesses their cellphone account / SMS via the same computer.
Actually, the hold on deposited checks is much longer than 24 hours ... a check that's "cleared" typically isn't final until days later...
... however, the funds are NOT truly the depositor's until the check is final - and that can take 10 business days.
... a fraudter will send a bogus money order / check to the seller and request express shipping ... by the time the seller is notified the check is bogus, the fraudster is long gone - many variations of the scam, such as someone will send a "cashiers check" for more than the sale price "by mistake" and then request the remaining amount be refunded by bank wire, etc.
... ACH may be reversed for upto 60 calendar days ... something one should keep in mind if withdrawing money from say PayPal or a brokerage account, etc ... paper is still better in some ways; bank wire is best.
Banks have to makes the funds available, on a provisional basis, within as short as one business day
Many folks, especially on Ebay, get burnt that way
While on the topic of "deposits", electronic check as used by like PayPal is actually ACH and has nothing to do with Check 21 whatsoever
Ron
I'm surprised no one mentioned it yet - bank customers that choose to use (likely have no choice eventually) two factor authentication may be in for a nasty surprise ... I bet, much like Verified by Visa, the onus of proving fraud will be further shifted to the customer - banks will contend that two factor authentication is super-duper secure and any security violation must be solely the customer's fault.
... two factor authentication, as proposed, is faulty from the start ... sure the barrier for fraudsters is a bit higher, but not by much ... a variant of the traditional man in the middle attack is all it takes...
... and even worse, the fraudster may not even have to program a complicated trojan, since many folks already use software (or unknowingly have it installed) that allow for remote access.
... perhaps they have ... if anyone here knows more, please reply - thanks!
Speaking of fault
Keys, etc are no good if the fraudster takes control of the victim's computer itself
Banks are going to love this - sure the key tokens, etc are going to be a hassle for them to distribute, etc, but in the longrun banks will be able to shift more of the risk to the customer unless consumer groups speakup
Ron
If only that was true in reality - many merchants were hit earlier this year by carders that had managed to get ahold of a large database containing complete card details, including the respective card codes.
... not sure if the time limit is 10 seconds (somewhat reasonable) or 10 minutes (crazy) ... I've seen both numbers mentioned ... point is that card code data is stored, even if only for a short time, by merchants and/or other intermediate parties - card card is not as secure as it should be.
On a related topic, the last I read, merchants are permitted to temporarily store card code data
Ron
While we're all thinking ... think of how many cannabis users could have done so much more if it wasn't for that pesky arrest record, jail time, etc.
The penalties are what create much of the problems, not cannabis itself.
Ron
Simple solution is to power off the cell phone; some newer models are rumored to never truly power off - simple work-around if unsure / paranoid is to then place the phone into a shielded bag similar to what is provided to folks who use EZPass.
Cell phone tracking is already so prevalent that use for traffic monitoring is merely another extension of the extensive data collection that's already being going on for quite some time from cell phone users, including actual data, such as text messages sent/received.
On an aside, most folks have no real need to always have their cell phone on when driving - let the voice mail take calls and help keep the roads safer; due to lawsuits some companies forbid use of cell phones while driving, so why even leave the phone on...
Ron Bennett
What a surprise to click on Slashdot and see news about cannabinoids - I feel like I'm reading my own site ...
... shortcut url http://cann.com/
t ml
I operate CANNABIS.COM
Some informative pages to check out:
Lots of cannabis Research information *with sources listed*
http://www.cannabis.com/research/
TR-446 Toxicology and Carcinogenesis Studies of 1-Trans-Delta9-Tetrahydrocannabinol (CAS No. 1972-08-3) in F344 Rats and B6C3F1 Mice (Gavage Studies)
http://www.cannabis.com/research/tr446study.shtml
(mirror of the study published by the U.S. National Toxicity Program)
Cannabis News
http://www.cannabisnews.com/
And finally, Erowid's Cannabis Vault...
http://www.erowid.org/plants/cannabis/cannabis.sh
Ron Bennett
Slashdot is a simple site in the aspect that only about a dozen articles are displayed on the *main page* daily. Proof-reading and double-checking links, etc for a dozen or so *published* items on the *main page* is simple! And yet Slashdot had yet to get it right ...
One would think that with all the computer skills Slashdot folks have, that they'd have built-in spell / grammar check in their submission system along with a duplicate article checker.
Ron
Yes. I live about 15 miles from the infamous Kutztown school district, in which a student's misuse of a laptop computer is automatically treated as a felony. Crazy stuff - hope it works out for the kids.
Ron
Addendum ... while it appears the content at the link may have been changed after the original article submission, that doesn't excuse Slashdot's staff one bit ... for Slashdot's staff have had well over three+ hours to update/remove the link, and yet, as of this moment, the link to the offensive picture is still there - does OSTG just ignore Slashdot? -perhaps it's run by robots too? Hopefully the Korean robots have better grammar than Slashdot's LOL!
Ron
I rarely visit Slashdot anymore due to all the dupes, frequent typos, off-topic articles, etc ...
...
... is editing and checking links that difficult?
... end of rant.
And then today, Slashdot really outdoes itself with a goatse, or whatever it is, picture
How can such a popular site like Slashdot be so poorly run
And reflects poorly on OSTG - I've never trust any service / product they offer being they can't even run a simple site like Slashdot
Ron
Guess you missed the news about the DEA seeking the arrest and extradiction of Marc Emery then ...
... and before anyone replies back with something like "but he was sending seeds to the U.S." ... the point is the tenticles of the U.S. extend to most ALL CANADIANS and to that of citizens of numerous other countries around the world - the DEA and other various U.S. law enforcement agencies actually have OFFICES and conduct investigations in Canada, and many other countries globally.
http://www.cannabisculture.com/
Emery is a CANADIAN citizen who has NOT been in the U.S. for over a decade, and operates his business from within Canada, including his web servers, etc.
Yet, despite all of that, the DEA has sought his extradiction
Point of my tirade is that moving may not help; in large part due to technology, such as being described in this Slashdot news item.
Ron
Sodium pentathol aka "truth serum", and other various drugs/methods, already allows one today to determine quite well what one is thinking / knows.
Technology may eventually the authorities, or whoever, to get an idea as to what one is looking at / possibly thinking of at a given moment from a distance; appealing to marketers, but may be of limited usefulness to authorities, since people's thoughts can be so random / common to what others are thinking - even the most law abiding people have various deep, dark thoughts, but most don't act upon them.
In a nutshell, reading one's thoughts isn't all that useful until one acts upon them - and for many types of actions, that is impossible to trully determine for sure ahead of time due to the randomness of nature; chaos theory.
Ron
I see "Intel" frequently on news tickers, etc too referring to intelligence ops, etc - makes me wonder why Intel (the chip maker) hasn't launched an awareness campaign to discourage that; legal action ... such as how Xerox ran massive ad campaigns decades ago to discourage use of its name as a generic word for "copy".
Ron
Jumped the gun on that one - I should have taken another look before posting...
:)
Google finally listened and recently added a distance scale - it wasn't there the other day.
Now Google Maps is finally complete
Ron
Not quite yet ... for all the bells and whistles, Google Maps has a major weakness...
NO distance scale - many folks have sent Google comments about the lack of this important item.
That's among the reasons some folks still use MapQuest, etc.
Ron
Nah ... if the house didn't showup in Google, that would be something to sensationalize about.
...
Brings to mind an interesting project for someone to do - compare Google's overhead maps to low-altitude aerial maps on file around the country
I'd bet there's stuff Google has been directed to obscure/omit from their maps *of the U.S.* by the government - ie. is Bush's ranch shown in complete detail? Camp David? etc...
Ron
And looks similar to many other properties all throughout the country ...
... one shouldn't be surprised to hear of spys living in typical houses in boring neighborhoods in which no one is the wiser to who they truly are.
... if anything, the internet can be a plus for those spys who (and/or their support staffs) understand how to create/maintain a pseudo-personality in cyberspace that doesn't truly reflect reality; people often believe what they see on the internet (goes for TV, etc too) without much thought.
If there were large walls around the property and/or other unusual structures, etc, then that certainly could raise suspicions - the best spys are typically those who blend in
To expand on this thought - I don't see how search engines like Google is any real threat to real spys
Ron
As the kid's experience shows, along with some other replies here that go into detail about the battery, iPod user battery replacement is not only difficult due to poor design, but a potentially dangerous activity too ...
Ron Bennett
iPods may be neat, fun, etc ... but when the battery wears down for the final time, one is basically left with a paperweight, since Apple chose to cheap out the design and not allow for simple battery replacement; iPod is basically disposable stylish crap - there are better choices.
I wouldn't be surprised Apple was found liable for damages/injury, etc, if the kid's family were to pursue a lawsuit - or have they already?
Ron Bennett
How does knowing one's identity really make us collectively safer. I've yet to see a good answer to this question.
... again, my question is how does requiring ID make us safer?
Requiring identification is basically a way of tracking people; fishing expeditions.
Scanning for explosives, etc is what they should concentrate on... most, if not all?, of the 911 terrorists had valid licenses; many of them had no criminal records
Ron Bennett
I'm surprised no one mentioned it here yet ...
Many of the laser sightings last year appear to have been part of U.S. government tests of the system...
And anyone who doubts that, just search news archives of late last year - the U.S. govt publically acknowledged doing tests around the same time/areas of the "mysterious" laser sightings.
Ron Bennett
One simple tip that will greatly reduce the potential of problems is to use ICANN accredited registrars only.
.net) at:
Avoid resellers.
Check the official ICANN accredited list (.com /
http://www.internic.net/
For other TLDs, check the corresponding registry for the list of accredited registrar(s).
Domain name registries around the world (great resource and very stable - been using it for years):
http://www.norid.no/domenenavnbaser/domreg.html
Ron