Sure, it's probably too easy to use someone else's credit card without their permission. But remember that the transactions are not settled until long after the swipe (say, a month). Credit cards, evil as they are with their obscene interest rates, do offer substantial protection for consumers and in case of fraud you have recourse without having to pay a cent.
For example, if someone else purchases something with your card (fraud) you can call up your credit card company and indicate that you did not conduct this transaction, and that the merchant does not have your signature on file. They will check and see, indeed, the signature is not available.
Another example (a bit off topic but still interesting) is when the Canadian discount airline, Jetsgo, suddenly went bankrupt. They were even selling tickets to passengers the day before they shut down operations. AFAIK, people who bought their plane tickets by credit card had their transactions cancelled because they were not / could not be provided the product or service they paid for. There was no legitimate sale.
The stock thing was just an example. The point is, knowledge is valuable and Google has a lot of knowledge about people through their searches and index. Google could make money and still keep their streamlined, free search engine -- it doesn't necessarily have to be all ad revenue.
Geez why would they go the route of a costly infrastructure setup when they already have what they need?
I'll tell you what they're doing, they are using knowledge of what everyone around the whole world is searching for to tap into all kinds of consumer trend and demand opportunities. You know all those shoppers club cards that track your purchases, and credit cards which track all your spending habits? That data is awfully valuable. And Google has the best knowledge in the world. All they have to do is perfect the way the data is organized and packaged to marketing buyers.
For a quick glimpse of the possibilities, let's say you play the stock market. Wouldn't it be brilliant to know what potential investors are really interested in this week, what they have been researching online... well Google knows! I'll be they realize this, and are working on a way to capitalize on it.
We've been over this before, everyone, DON'T FEED THE TROLLS! Any enterprise that ditches a free OS that is also at the forefront of high-speed computing and research, well, is probably an enterprise that isn't smart enough to survive.
And it's not just males that enjoy pornography (because they disrespect women etc.) That argument is nonsense. I know plenty of women who thoroughly enjoy viewing and jilling off to pornography, albeit softcore stuff. I doubt that older generations would admit to it, but my girlfriend (in her 20s) tells me she has always kept porno mags around her bedroom.
There is nothing sneaking into your computer without your knowledge or consent. Here is what vitalsecurity wrote about a big warning dialog box that popped up:
"Being a curious soul, I agreed to the install"
Similarly, if you are browsing along and you click on an EXE, Firefox will warn you and ask if you want to open the file. If you decide to do something stupid, you pay the consequences.
Your guess is as good as mine whether this data is worth anything, but daily mail volume for these stats is about 1,000 emails daily. The spam "level" is an index computed by our mail server.
SEC1: You are being charged with fraud, come with me sirs.
PHB1: I did not intentionally participate in any wrongdoing. I had no idea my underlings were conducting shady business. We run a tight ship here.
Accountant1: I'm just a dumb fucking accountant and I'm not accountable to anyone. And there's no conflict of interest in my line of work. I take a shit on GAAP daily.
The problem with housing is that getting kicked out of your own home is the LAST thing you want to have happen. So you will cut out everything else first, leverage the crap out of your finances, etc. before you will default or accept an offer where you don't at least break even.
Um, except you won't be able to leverage the crap out of anything, because interest rates will shoot up so high you'll barely be able to make your monthly payments on anything. Kiss your car good bye too, hell kiss anything you don't own outright good bye because bankruptcy isn't going to help you.
bravo, sir! (mod him up). very noteworthy is #10, the time to take best advantage is RIGHT AFTER when everyone is feeling really bad and nobody wants to invest in any market.
Um, I hate to bring bad news, but the markets are not done crashing yet. Why? Above all else, historically low interest rates which have fuelled debt driven America. The "growth" we've seen is artificial and definitely NOT sustainable. Consumers borrow all their money; mortgages, credit cards, car loans. The underlying rates are guaranteed to rise over the next few years -- your payments on your car loan will rise, mortgage payments will rise. And the government is changing laws (fresh news!) to make sure you can't escape debt through bankruptcy
And that's just the consumer side. Businesses are equally screwed. Look at the balance sheet for all the banks and financial companies. They are heavily debt financed, because money has been so cheap to borrow. The banks can not keep this up, so expect many of America's major financial institutions to falter or even crash.
As others have pointed out, there is a major problem with real estate evaluation. Across the board, everyone is overvaluing their assets these days. Consumers think their houses are worth way more than they are. Financial companies think their mortgage backed securities are worth more than they are. Banks keep fibbing about the asset value from their derivative investment strategies.
It's NOT a pretty picture. Also remember that foreign investment is rapidly leaving the US, the dollar is plummeting (foreigners are smart enough to not invest in the US). etc. etc.
I'm actually very relieved that slashdot readership recognizes, as I do, the intense parallels to Orwell's 1984 (Newspeak, doublespeak, etc.) This is encouraging as right now our society is still free thinking enough to see the attempts at manipulating us for what they are -- ridiculous lies to the public. There is cause for concern though, this is how it starts, and by the time it has caught on (unchallenged) people are no longer aware of the daily irony, and satire turns into daily life.
I absolutely adore the use of terms like "privacy officer" when describing these people. I see the irony but I'm starting to become concerned that the public may not anymore. People, the Orwellian world is here now and it's so obvious that it's worth reflecting on it for a moment. doublespeak is the twisting of language such that a phrase really means something quite different. Such terms become generally accepted by the public. Invading countries: war, invasion == spreading democracy. War is peace. See? Increasing monitoring of citizens in America, skyrocketing budgets for spy agencies and we are told that everyone is enjoying increasing freedom. Police state == freedom. It's quite beautiful in a way, the way ideas are twisted. Perhaps language is becoming a weapon...
Who knows more about data privacy than somebody who has compromised the privacy of millions?
I see what you're getting at, but I really don't think it applies in this case. Sure, blackhats / crackers make excellent security professionals who can apply their skills positively. But note that these are always people who first and foremost were interested in technical skills and intellectual stimulation from pushing security systems.
On the other hand, the people who go into the field of marketing have one well defined goal: to manipulate and deceive consumers for profit. I have studied alongside these people when I made the huge mistake of wanting to take some marketing courses. The ideas I learned and people I met literally made me sick to my stomach.
I do not know a single marketing person who is in it for academic interest -- those people tend to be psychologists. Marketers are business oriented and highly profit motivated to the extent where everything else (privacy, ethics, environment, culture) take back seat. These people sell their souls in pursuit of money.
You might think I'm exaggerating. But look at the specific people in question. Who works at DoubleClick or Gator, unless they have a genuine professional interest in the wide reaching manipulation of the public for profit sake? I really have zero confidence in these people's s ability to make an honest, well meaning effort towards the rights and privacy of consumers and citizens.
If this is for real (and I do trust Salon) this falls into the O.M.F.G. category. Someone slap me.
I recently listened to a documentary on CBC radio about pervasive irony in today's world. It was an interesting program because they were suggesting that the political scene these days is like a living satire. It's just too weird... and this news about a spyware marketer being appointed to a privacy committee is just insane. I see four fingers!
I am not 100% certain but in Canada, I asked my lawyer (who also does corporate law) and he just scoffed at EULAs, saying they are not real contracts. IIRC he said, "where are the signatures?"
[Verisign] Why there's a charge like that I don't know, but yet we give into them because "they're trusted".
Verisign sells trust. If someone came to me with a $1000 bill in their hand, and asked me "do you trust me?" I'd be pretty tempted to just stamp them TRUSTED and take the cash. That's a fundamental problem. I think only the government or government supported nonprofit organization can be an ideal certificate authority.
I agree with this. Ensuring economic reliability for citizens is the government's job, not the private sector's. There is a major conflict of interest when private companies (e.g. Verisign) are making a business out of selling certificates -- i.e. selling trust. Verisign wants your money; what's their motivation to make sure your paperwork is legit? Verisign regularly accepts forged business reg documents, from what I have heard.
Let the government issue crypto certificates, I say.
Having an internet presence is critical to running a successful business venture...creation of a truly international digital economy necessitates the development... Especially in these days of questionable computer security and the impossibility of ascertaining...
Dude, wash your mouth out with soap, the marketing speak is vile.
mod this AC up. That is the reality. Anybody can get a certificate... it might take a simple forged document. These companies are about making money, so they will happily sell a certificate.
Even though I'm a dedicated spam fighter, I'd have to agree with respect to the domains. It really doesn't seem like spam to me by any accepted definition of the word. I am just amazed though that people will start clicking ads when they reach a site which is obviously the wrong one. How does an average person's thought process work?
I want to go read my localnewspaper.tld
clickety clickety localnewspapper.tld
Oh, this is obviously not the newspaper site
This strange gentleman is offering me a mortgage! Come to think of it, my pocketbook has been feeling heavy lately. I'll bite!
I just don't understand how people think, I guess. Neither do they probably. But I guess this is what American style "impulse buying" is all about. The marketing psychologists have trained society so well that all you have to do is show advertising, even out of context, and people bite.
Although we use MySQL's transactional InnoDB tables, they can still sometimes be left in an unrecoverable state
Someone please remind me again why massive databases are not yet being implemented with simple discrete file storage on ReiserFS. Sure, MySQL will be faster once in memory but it sounds like the price you pay is lack of robust storage and difficult backup/recovery -- probably the most important part of running a database.
Time to move your operations to Winnipeg, Canada. The power never stops flowing (in the 12 years I've lived here, I only remember two power failures in my residential neighbourhood). I really don't understand why there aren't network server operations set up in reliable power centres such as these.
Slashdot Mirror
Sure, it's probably too easy to use someone else's credit card without their permission. But remember that the transactions are not settled until long after the swipe (say, a month). Credit cards, evil as they are with their obscene interest rates, do offer substantial protection for consumers and in case of fraud you have recourse without having to pay a cent.
For example, if someone else purchases something with your card (fraud) you can call up your credit card company and indicate that you did not conduct this transaction, and that the merchant does not have your signature on file. They will check and see, indeed, the signature is not available.
Another example (a bit off topic but still interesting) is when the Canadian discount airline, Jetsgo, suddenly went bankrupt. They were even selling tickets to passengers the day before they shut down operations. AFAIK, people who bought their plane tickets by credit card had their transactions cancelled because they were not / could not be provided the product or service they paid for. There was no legitimate sale.
lol asif u ahve bettr skillz W/O computers haha - can i refill yer fountain pen mister?? pwned
The stock thing was just an example. The point is, knowledge is valuable and Google has a lot of knowledge about people through their searches and index. Google could make money and still keep their streamlined, free search engine -- it doesn't necessarily have to be all ad revenue.
Geez why would they go the route of a costly infrastructure setup when they already have what they need?
I'll tell you what they're doing, they are using knowledge of what everyone around the whole world is searching for to tap into all kinds of consumer trend and demand opportunities. You know all those shoppers club cards that track your purchases, and credit cards which track all your spending habits? That data is awfully valuable. And Google has the best knowledge in the world. All they have to do is perfect the way the data is organized and packaged to marketing buyers.
For a quick glimpse of the possibilities, let's say you play the stock market. Wouldn't it be brilliant to know what potential investors are really interested in this week, what they have been researching online... well Google knows! I'll be they realize this, and are working on a way to capitalize on it.
"Large enterprises should not use Linux"
We've been over this before, everyone, DON'T FEED THE TROLLS! Any enterprise that ditches a free OS that is also at the forefront of high-speed computing and research, well, is probably an enterprise that isn't smart enough to survive.
And it's not just males that enjoy pornography (because they disrespect women etc.) That argument is nonsense. I know plenty of women who thoroughly enjoy viewing and jilling off to pornography, albeit softcore stuff. I doubt that older generations would admit to it, but my girlfriend (in her 20s) tells me she has always kept porno mags around her bedroom.
Your guess is as good as mine whether this data is worth anything, but daily mail volume for these stats is about 1,000 emails daily. The spam "level" is an index computed by our mail server.
July, 2004....21.7
Aug, 2004.....24.5
Sept, 2004....23.2
Oct, 2004.....27.1
Nov, 2004.....24.2
Dec, 2004.....29.6
Jan, 2005.....26.1
Feb, 2005.....29.6
SEC1: You are being charged with fraud, come with me sirs.
PHB1: I did not intentionally participate in any wrongdoing. I had no idea my underlings were conducting shady business. We run a tight ship here.
Accountant1: I'm just a dumb fucking accountant and I'm not accountable to anyone. And there's no conflict of interest in my line of work. I take a shit on GAAP daily.
bravo, sir! (mod him up). very noteworthy is #10, the time to take best advantage is RIGHT AFTER when everyone is feeling really bad and nobody wants to invest in any market.
Um, I hate to bring bad news, but the markets are not done crashing yet. Why? Above all else, historically low interest rates which have fuelled debt driven America. The "growth" we've seen is artificial and definitely NOT sustainable. Consumers borrow all their money; mortgages, credit cards, car loans. The underlying rates are guaranteed to rise over the next few years -- your payments on your car loan will rise, mortgage payments will rise. And the government is changing laws (fresh news!) to make sure you can't escape debt through bankruptcy
And that's just the consumer side. Businesses are equally screwed. Look at the balance sheet for all the banks and financial companies. They are heavily debt financed, because money has been so cheap to borrow. The banks can not keep this up, so expect many of America's major financial institutions to falter or even crash.
As others have pointed out, there is a major problem with real estate evaluation. Across the board, everyone is overvaluing their assets these days. Consumers think their houses are worth way more than they are. Financial companies think their mortgage backed securities are worth more than they are. Banks keep fibbing about the asset value from their derivative investment strategies. It's NOT a pretty picture. Also remember that foreign investment is rapidly leaving the US, the dollar is plummeting (foreigners are smart enough to not invest in the US). etc. etc.
I'm actually very relieved that slashdot readership recognizes, as I do, the intense parallels to Orwell's 1984 (Newspeak, doublespeak, etc.) This is encouraging as right now our society is still free thinking enough to see the attempts at manipulating us for what they are -- ridiculous lies to the public. There is cause for concern though, this is how it starts, and by the time it has caught on (unchallenged) people are no longer aware of the daily irony, and satire turns into daily life.
I absolutely adore the use of terms like "privacy officer" when describing these people. I see the irony but I'm starting to become concerned that the public may not anymore. People, the Orwellian world is here now and it's so obvious that it's worth reflecting on it for a moment. doublespeak is the twisting of language such that a phrase really means something quite different. Such terms become generally accepted by the public. Invading countries: war, invasion == spreading democracy. War is peace. See? Increasing monitoring of citizens in America, skyrocketing budgets for spy agencies and we are told that everyone is enjoying increasing freedom. Police state == freedom. It's quite beautiful in a way, the way ideas are twisted. Perhaps language is becoming a weapon...
On the other hand, the people who go into the field of marketing have one well defined goal: to manipulate and deceive consumers for profit. I have studied alongside these people when I made the huge mistake of wanting to take some marketing courses. The ideas I learned and people I met literally made me sick to my stomach.
I do not know a single marketing person who is in it for academic interest -- those people tend to be psychologists. Marketers are business oriented and highly profit motivated to the extent where everything else (privacy, ethics, environment, culture) take back seat. These people sell their souls in pursuit of money.
You might think I'm exaggerating. But look at the specific people in question. Who works at DoubleClick or Gator, unless they have a genuine professional interest in the wide reaching manipulation of the public for profit sake? I really have zero confidence in these people's s ability to make an honest, well meaning effort towards the rights and privacy of consumers and citizens.
If this is for real (and I do trust Salon) this falls into the O.M.F.G. category. Someone slap me.
I recently listened to a documentary on CBC radio about pervasive irony in today's world. It was an interesting program because they were suggesting that the political scene these days is like a living satire. It's just too weird... and this news about a spyware marketer being appointed to a privacy committee is just insane. I see four fingers!
I am not 100% certain but in Canada, I asked my lawyer (who also does corporate law) and he just scoffed at EULAs, saying they are not real contracts. IIRC he said, "where are the signatures?"
I agree with this. Ensuring economic reliability for citizens is the government's job, not the private sector's. There is a major conflict of interest when private companies (e.g. Verisign) are making a business out of selling certificates -- i.e. selling trust. Verisign wants your money; what's their motivation to make sure your paperwork is legit? Verisign regularly accepts forged business reg documents, from what I have heard.
Let the government issue crypto certificates, I say.
mod this AC up. That is the reality. Anybody can get a certificate... it might take a simple forged document. These companies are about making money, so they will happily sell a certificate.
- I want to go read my localnewspaper.tld
- clickety clickety localnewspapper.tld
- Oh, this is obviously not the newspaper site
- This strange gentleman is offering me a mortgage! Come to think of it, my pocketbook has been feeling heavy lately. I'll bite!
I just don't understand how people think, I guess. Neither do they probably. But I guess this is what American style "impulse buying" is all about. The marketing psychologists have trained society so well that all you have to do is show advertising, even out of context, and people bite.Time to move your operations to Winnipeg, Canada. The power never stops flowing (in the 12 years I've lived here, I only remember two power failures in my residential neighbourhood). I really don't understand why there aren't network server operations set up in reliable power centres such as these.