U. S. Postal Service to Offer Free Postcards WASHINGTON - The U.S. Postal Service announced today that it would offer a free postcard service. The service known as FreeMail will debut later this summer and provide people with a way to communicate without paying the price of postage.
"We now have a low-cost alternative to postcard-rate stamps." Stated Postal Service Spokesperson. "When sending a postcard, all you need to do is write a small 'X' where the stamp goes and its free." The service will permit the Postal Service to scan the contents of your postcard message and print targeted text advertisements in the available blank-space. "We promise not to use any annoying images so the advertisements will be in unobtrusive red lettering."
Privacy advocates raised concerned about the scheme stating that it violated the basic trust of the government to transport the mail. The Postal service addressed these concerns by saying, "A FreeMail postcard is scanned by a computer that analyzes the text and based on the the location of the mailing, the destination, and the subject-matter of the sender's message, the recipient will see a pizza delivery number or coupon code for a local dry-cleaner. its really a great way to promote local business." The spokesperson also indicated that the postcards would be rarely analyzed by a human and the text of the messages would only be kept for "a short while" to identify message trends and to fine-tune the system. "You can always pay your 23 cents and send it by regular mail."
"We expect airlines to be some of our first advertisers, displaying flight deals to some of the exotic locations that the postcards are mailed from. Of course, if the postcard says 'This place is terrible,' then you may see an ad for a car dealer instead." The Postal Service stated that FreeMail would only be available for hand-written postcards. "We don't want a pizza delivery ad printed on a postcard from a realtor. That would be tacky."
The Postal Service Spokesperson concluded by saying, "We just hope we don't get Slashdotted with mail."
Suppose a piece of artwork in a gallery is copyrighted. You take a picture knowing that doing so is illegal. Perhaps you even do this covertly. You go home and you reproduce the photograph life-size and hang it on your livingroom wall or something. You may show it to a few friends, but you're the only one who has it.
One evening, armed burgulars hired by the gallery break into your house, and steal the photo from you. Well, maybe under the words of the bill, they might just take photos of the the photo hanging on your wall, but they still broke into your house. Imagine if that were legal. Quite scary.
Oh yeah, I forgot the part where you go to jail and reimburse the gallery for breaking into your house and pay them whatever damages they incurred from the photo that was hanging on your wall.
My fastest computer that I use daily is a PII-400MHz running Debian that I bought about 4 1/2 years ago. Since I'm not a gamer, this works fine for me. The only upgrade that I've had is moving up to 352 Megs of RAM with a strange arrangement of DIMMs. I keep on telling myself that I'm going to build a new computer soon, but I sometimes wonder what I will gain. It might make mozilla slightly quicker and the screensavers run smoother, but that's about it. Besides, I'm curbing a potential counterstrike addiction.
That's because you have air conditioning, as one must in Houston.
I just wonder what would happen if your computer was outside. I'd give it a few hours before you hard drive platters melt. I sure don't miss the weather there.
The last thing I would worry about is someone grabbing my credit card numbers. In the U.S federal law only holds you liable for $50 of fraudulent spending assuming that you make reasonable attempts to stop it, like reporting stolen credit cards and strange things on statements. The burden is obviously placed on credit card companies and vendors (I think the vendors take almost all the responsibility), so they have all the reason to promote secure transactions and keep their data safe and hire competent employees.
The latest and greatest computer cracking equipment might steal your credit card number, but we're not talking about major personal loss here.
This is kind of offtopic. I just wanted to let people know so they don't fall for these credit card insurance scams or think they'll be doomed financially if an e-commerce server is cracked.
The last think I would worry about is someone grabbing my credit card numbers. In the U.S federal law only holds you liable for $50 of fraudulent spending assuming that you make reasonable attempts to stop it, like reporting stolen credit cards and strange things on statements. The burden is obviously placed on credit card companies and vendors (I think the vendors take almost all the responsibility), so they have all the reason to promote secure transactions and keep their data safe and hire competent employees.
The latest and greatest computer cracking equipment might steal your credit card number, but we're not talking about major personal loss here.
I just wanted to let people know so they don't fall for these credit card insurance scams.
Slashdot Mirror
U. S. Postal Service to Offer Free Postcards
WASHINGTON - The U.S. Postal Service announced today that it would offer a free postcard service. The service known as FreeMail will debut later this summer and provide people with a way to communicate without paying the price of postage.
"We now have a low-cost alternative to postcard-rate stamps." Stated Postal Service Spokesperson. "When sending a postcard, all you need to do is write a small 'X' where the stamp goes and its free." The service will permit the Postal Service to scan the contents of your postcard message and print targeted text advertisements in the available blank-space. "We promise not to use any annoying images so the advertisements will be in unobtrusive red lettering."
Privacy advocates raised concerned about the scheme stating that it violated the basic trust of the government to transport the mail. The Postal service addressed these concerns by saying, "A FreeMail postcard is scanned by a computer that analyzes the text and based on the the location of the mailing, the destination, and the subject-matter of the sender's message, the recipient will see a pizza delivery number or coupon code for a local dry-cleaner. its really a great way to promote local business." The spokesperson also indicated that the postcards would be rarely analyzed by a human and the text of the messages would only be kept for "a short while" to identify message trends and to fine-tune the system. "You can always pay your 23 cents and send it by regular mail."
"We expect airlines to be some of our first advertisers, displaying flight deals to some of the exotic locations that the postcards are mailed from. Of course, if the postcard says 'This place is terrible,' then you may see an ad for a car dealer instead." The Postal Service stated that FreeMail would only be available for hand-written postcards. "We don't want a pizza delivery ad printed on a postcard from a realtor. That would be tacky."
The Postal Service Spokesperson concluded by saying, "We just hope we don't get Slashdotted with mail."
Suppose a piece of artwork in a gallery is copyrighted. You take a picture knowing that doing so is illegal. Perhaps you even do this covertly. You go home and you reproduce the photograph life-size and hang it on your livingroom wall or something. You may show it to a few friends, but you're the only one who has it.
One evening, armed burgulars hired by the gallery break into your house, and steal the photo from you. Well, maybe under the words of the bill, they might just take photos of the the photo hanging on your wall, but they still broke into your house. Imagine if that were legal. Quite scary.
Oh yeah, I forgot the part where you go to jail and reimburse the gallery for breaking into your house and pay them whatever damages they incurred from the photo that was hanging on your wall.
My fastest computer that I use daily is a PII-400MHz running Debian that I bought about 4 1/2 years ago. Since I'm not a gamer, this works fine for me. The only upgrade that I've had is moving up to 352 Megs of RAM with a strange arrangement of DIMMs. I keep on telling myself that I'm going to build a new computer soon, but I sometimes wonder what I will gain. It might make mozilla slightly quicker and the screensavers run smoother, but that's about it. Besides, I'm curbing a potential counterstrike addiction.
I just wonder what would happen if your computer was outside. I'd give it a few hours before you hard drive platters melt. I sure don't miss the weather there.
The latest and greatest computer cracking equipment might steal your credit card number, but we're not talking about major personal loss here.
This is kind of offtopic. I just wanted to let people know so they don't fall for these credit card insurance scams or think they'll be doomed financially if an e-commerce server is cracked.
The latest and greatest computer cracking equipment might steal your credit card number, but we're not talking about major personal loss here.
I just wanted to let people know so they don't fall for these credit card insurance scams.
Wow, take a look at their customers on page 46 of the S-1. Hmmm... the IRS. Quite a few big name corporate customers as well.