I'll nonetheless be curious to see what happens with the imminent release of Office 2003. The current Office (XP) doesn't have Product Activation, but the 2003 beta does... I certainly won't recommend it to anyone unless the activation nonsense is stripped. Eventually Microsoft DOES have to convince people to upgrade, and that's a much harder sell than forcing an OEM to bundle Windows and Works.
I can think of dozens of examples where they've removed auctions -- World Trade Center debris, Space Shuttle merchandise, almost any resold software package. Think about this guy who couldn't sell his band's own music because it was on CD-R! (Certainly there was no complaint from another bandmember...) Their rules against what you can and can not sell are byzantine and they appear to act on them all the time.
Of course, the threat of fraud and lawsuits has always been far heavier on the sales side than on the feedback side -- I completely understand why they patrol auctions (in order to avoid someone selling a missile and then getting hit with the Patriot Act), but really the company's policies should apply across the entire site, don't you think?
But eBay will remove comments in certain cases. Post someone's phone number, for example; they also act as an appeals court and can be persuaded that a comment is wrong or malicious -- this is rare, sure, but it does happen.
You're right though: the catch though is that eBay goes to extreme lengths to monitor the items for sale on the site but then professes hands off on user comments. It's kind of like me saying that I'll watch your kids while they're in my house but if they head out back to the pool and drown that's tough shit. I think eventually this will be decided in the courts as it's a very thin line the company's straddling.
But yeah, the guy should have sued the poster of the comments. Suing eBay is incidental. But they have a lot more money.
Just a reminder: Californians can pre-register for the Do Not Call list at http://caag.state.ca.us/donotcall/ (effective October 2003). Other states can simple Google "statename do not call" for the relevant linkage. YMMV.
If this kind of fiction interests you, check out Celine's two big novels from the 1930s: Journey to the End of the Night and Death on the Installment Plan. He rarely uses punctuation; just elipses (...) between ideas. Barely readable, but MASSIVE props for one of the coolest book titles ever.
How is this different -- or worse -- than sites that stick an interstitial between pages. Even Yahoo makes you view an ad after reading more than a few Groups postings, then you click "Continue on to the next message" or the like.
At least if this is a genuine pop-up, you can use a pop-up blocking utility to kill it. With the interstitial ads there's no way around it because they're actually integrated into the page.
Actually: the studios (some of them) make custom discs for Netflix; Netflix has no disc-pressing capabilities. Why do they get custom discs? Because Netflix has deals with the studios that give them a small fee on each rental, and Netflix sends back/destroys most of the discs after 12 months or so. Most video stores resell their used inventory, but Netflix does not (well, very rarely it does, but never with custom discs).
The reason for the monotone printing is that it's ultra cheap for the studio to print and it also prevents people stealing the discs and selling them elsewhere.
Even if your coffeehouse has a T-1 in it, 802.11b is still going to be faster than the wired connection to the Net. Bottom line is that no one will notice that you dropped to b-speed unless you've got one laptop serving FTP to another. Yeah, happens all the time, I know.
Jeez, the memories... As a youth I converted a regular Estes rocket launching kit into a shoulder-mounted rocket launcher by simply putting PVC pipe around the launching stand, gluing the whole thing to a piece of wood, and velcroing the ignition switch the end of it. Presto, instant (suburban) WMD. God, what was I thinking?
My HP LaserJet 6L has always been touchy, but now it is grabbing up to 10 or more sheets of paper with each feed (yes I follow the "remove paper before reloading" mandate). It prints fine, but I just throw away too much paper due to printer jams. I ended up buying a new one last week (on the way!), the same Brother printer the poster purchased.
A Google IPO is inevitable -- but Sergey Brin (the brains behind the company) is not going to be the one that spearheads an IPO, it'll be Eric Schmidt, former Novell CEO and current Google boss.
Also, in the short run, though Brin says laziness always wins out, in the long run, it's greed that always does the winning.
... in a bank vault? Doesn't that presume he'll be able to get into the bank when WW3 erupts? He should install good fire safe at home if he's paranoid enough to take possession of tangible gold assets.
Precious metals are fake money too -- they are only valuable because people say they're valuable (some industrial uses for gold and platinum notwithstanding). The diamond trade is an even better example; if you've ever tried to privately sell a diamond you'll realize the value is far less than what you paid for it -- even if it's in the same condition as when you bought it? Why? Because the cartels keep prices high by controlling the supply and the brokerage of the gems. My point here is only that the "gold standard" isn't any more valid than any other standard. Come to think of it, an "oil standard" would be an interesting proposition...
Also note that even if you try to buy an ounce of gold from a metals broker, rarely will you actually get the gold -- you'll get a certificate for the gold, much like buying corporate stock. If "the government collapses" do you really think you'll be able to go pick up your gold bars?
Just don't look to closely at the debate -- the whole system might fall apart. Nasdaq, anyone?
But then again, Disney and Dreamworks put forth anything *that* good or *that* original.
I assume you meant "didn't" put forth anything...
I was just going to say be careful with dissing Disney -- they released Spirited Away in the US (and will put it out on video/DVD on April 15). So you owe them.
The problem is that the fastest hard drives on the market today are Ultra320 SCSI, which have a throughput of 320MB per sec... or about 2.5Gbps. Even that's theoretical, of course. And few people have an all Ultra320 datacenter.
Just pointing out that the cabling is hardly the bottleneck when you reach that kind of speed, even at the LAN level. I've seen so many people upgrade their switches to gigabit ethernet then scratch their heads wondering why the network is still slow... when the server in the closet hasn't been upgraded in 5 years. Storage will continue to be the bottleneck on the LAN for a long time to come.
In addition to police uses, one of the major applications would be better childproofing (of 28,000 US gun deaths in 2000, a whopping 12,000 of them were accidental deaths among children 19 and younger; see source). Then again, I can't imagine anyone irresponsible enough to leave a gun inappropriately secured and away from children who would have the brains to spring for one of these super-fancy firearms anyway.
99% of blogs exist solely to promote their creators and their works -- I know that's what mine is for, he said with no trace of irony. If anything, this just gives people a chance to stop droning on and on about themselves for a second. Seriously... I think the blog community is nifty, but honestly I'll be glad for the break from navel-gazing.
PS Anyone need a plug? Paypal me...
I wrote the Wired story and, yes, I've seen proof
on
AOL's Merlin Compromised?
·
· Score: 5, Interesting
I'm glad this story is getting picked up in so many places, but I do want to clarify a few things for those who either don't believe this attack is possible, who think I simply wrote it based on a few script kiddies' comments, or who simply don't understand how journalism works.
Yes, I was given substantial proof of the attacks. But my job as a journalist is not necessarily to PROVE that anything happened (that is what lawyers do) -- you'll note perhaps that Woodward & Bernstein's takedown of Nixon was initially based entirely on one man's tip in a Beltway parking garage. It all has to start somewhere.
So I merely collect evidence and present what I have. It was completely credible in this case. In fact, I called AOL five times to get their side of the story. They refused to call me back. But YES, the proof does exist. In fact, observers.net posted some of it here. You can dig around to find their full story on the subject, which goes into greater depth than I had the luxury for at Wired -- which is a general tech news site, not a how-to site for hackers and wannabes. In any event, you will notice that AOL has not refuted the claims in any forum. I honestly have no doubt about the authenticity of these claims after seeing the information provided to me. It's now AOL's turn to either come clean about the attacks or say they didn't happen. Since AOL is afraid of negative publicity, they are trying to keep things quiet. This is not apparently working...
Originally I had hoped to interview the unnamed 14-year-old hacker for my story (which was intended to be mostly about the Merlin break-in) but he balked out of fear of prosecution (he was later interviewed for Observers.net and privately apologized to me for not doing the interview). Hence I focused on the myriad other recent hacks (Japan Webmail, the mumble method, screen name thefts) that AOL has been hit with as well.
Regarding the breaking of SecurID -- if a hacker can call up a rep on the phone and get him to reveal his name and password, it seems pretty plausible that you could get the SecurID code as well. Disgruntled insiders also provide this information readily to their pals on the outside. Of course that's all in the story...
Anyway, if any AOL users are convinced their data is secure I'll be happy to pass along your screen name to the people in question...
Slashdot Mirror
I'll nonetheless be curious to see what happens with the imminent release of Office 2003. The current Office (XP) doesn't have Product Activation, but the 2003 beta does... I certainly won't recommend it to anyone unless the activation nonsense is stripped. Eventually Microsoft DOES have to convince people to upgrade, and that's a much harder sell than forcing an OEM to bundle Windows and Works.
Not that I have any real power but still...
I can think of dozens of examples where they've removed auctions -- World Trade Center debris, Space Shuttle merchandise, almost any resold software package. Think about this guy who couldn't sell his band's own music because it was on CD-R! (Certainly there was no complaint from another bandmember...) Their rules against what you can and can not sell are byzantine and they appear to act on them all the time.
Of course, the threat of fraud and lawsuits has always been far heavier on the sales side than on the feedback side -- I completely understand why they patrol auctions (in order to avoid someone selling a missile and then getting hit with the Patriot Act), but really the company's policies should apply across the entire site, don't you think?
But eBay will remove comments in certain cases. Post someone's phone number, for example; they also act as an appeals court and can be persuaded that a comment is wrong or malicious -- this is rare, sure, but it does happen.
You're right though: the catch though is that eBay goes to extreme lengths to monitor the items for sale on the site but then professes hands off on user comments. It's kind of like me saying that I'll watch your kids while they're in my house but if they head out back to the pool and drown that's tough shit. I think eventually this will be decided in the courts as it's a very thin line the company's straddling.
But yeah, the guy should have sued the poster of the comments. Suing eBay is incidental. But they have a lot more money.
Just a reminder: Californians can pre-register for the Do Not Call list at http://caag.state.ca.us/donotcall/ (effective October 2003). Other states can simple Google "statename do not call" for the relevant linkage. YMMV.
If this kind of fiction interests you, check out Celine's two big novels from the 1930s: Journey to the End of the Night and Death on the Installment Plan. He rarely uses punctuation; just elipses (...) between ideas. Barely readable, but MASSIVE props for one of the coolest book titles ever.
How is this different -- or worse -- than sites that stick an interstitial between pages. Even Yahoo makes you view an ad after reading more than a few Groups postings, then you click "Continue on to the next message" or the like.
At least if this is a genuine pop-up, you can use a pop-up blocking utility to kill it. With the interstitial ads there's no way around it because they're actually integrated into the page.
Actually: the studios (some of them) make custom discs for Netflix; Netflix has no disc-pressing capabilities. Why do they get custom discs? Because Netflix has deals with the studios that give them a small fee on each rental, and Netflix sends back/destroys most of the discs after 12 months or so. Most video stores resell their used inventory, but Netflix does not (well, very rarely it does, but never with custom discs).
The reason for the monotone printing is that it's ultra cheap for the studio to print and it also prevents people stealing the discs and selling them elsewhere.
Even if your coffeehouse has a T-1 in it, 802.11b is still going to be faster than the wired connection to the Net. Bottom line is that no one will notice that you dropped to b-speed unless you've got one laptop serving FTP to another. Yeah, happens all the time, I know.
From New Architect's February issue. Also discusses so-called "ethical hacking services" that all the big data services players offer.
And anyway, twin or not, anyone outside my light-cone is dead to me.
That's what your twin says about YOU!
I believe it's still under my bed at my parents' house. Perhaps an eBay sale is in order.
Jeez, the memories... As a youth I converted a regular Estes rocket launching kit into a shoulder-mounted rocket launcher by simply putting PVC pipe around the launching stand, gluing the whole thing to a piece of wood, and velcroing the ignition switch the end of it. Presto, instant (suburban) WMD. God, what was I thinking?
Well, I am using HP brand paper...
My HP LaserJet 6L has always been touchy, but now it is grabbing up to 10 or more sheets of paper with each feed (yes I follow the "remove paper before reloading" mandate). It prints fine, but I just throw away too much paper due to printer jams. I ended up buying a new one last week (on the way!), the same Brother printer the poster purchased.
Watch for my LaserJet on eBay any day now!
While we're at it can we digitally fix Arnett's hair?
A Google IPO is inevitable -- but Sergey Brin (the brains behind the company) is not going to be the one that spearheads an IPO, it'll be Eric Schmidt, former Novell CEO and current Google boss.
Also, in the short run, though Brin says laziness always wins out, in the long run, it's greed that always does the winning.
... in a bank vault? Doesn't that presume he'll be able to get into the bank when WW3 erupts? He should install good fire safe at home if he's paranoid enough to take possession of tangible gold assets.
Precious metals are fake money too -- they are only valuable because people say they're valuable (some industrial uses for gold and platinum notwithstanding). The diamond trade is an even better example; if you've ever tried to privately sell a diamond you'll realize the value is far less than what you paid for it -- even if it's in the same condition as when you bought it? Why? Because the cartels keep prices high by controlling the supply and the brokerage of the gems. My point here is only that the "gold standard" isn't any more valid than any other standard. Come to think of it, an "oil standard" would be an interesting proposition...
Also note that even if you try to buy an ounce of gold from a metals broker, rarely will you actually get the gold -- you'll get a certificate for the gold, much like buying corporate stock. If "the government collapses" do you really think you'll be able to go pick up your gold bars?
Just don't look to closely at the debate -- the whole system might fall apart. Nasdaq, anyone?
But then again, Disney and Dreamworks put forth anything *that* good or *that* original.
I assume you meant "didn't" put forth anything...
I was just going to say be careful with dissing Disney -- they released Spirited Away in the US (and will put it out on video/DVD on April 15). So you owe them.
10Gbps Ethernet already exists.
The problem is that the fastest hard drives on the market today are Ultra320 SCSI, which have a throughput of 320MB per sec... or about 2.5Gbps. Even that's theoretical, of course. And few people have an all Ultra320 datacenter.
Just pointing out that the cabling is hardly the bottleneck when you reach that kind of speed, even at the LAN level. I've seen so many people upgrade their switches to gigabit ethernet then scratch their heads wondering why the network is still slow... when the server in the closet hasn't been upgraded in 5 years. Storage will continue to be the bottleneck on the LAN for a long time to come.
Ok, I stand corrected -- the report includes injuries as well as fatalities. My mistake. Still, that's a lot of gun-related injuries...
In addition to police uses, one of the major applications would be better childproofing (of 28,000 US gun deaths in 2000, a whopping 12,000 of them were accidental deaths among children 19 and younger; see source). Then again, I can't imagine anyone irresponsible enough to leave a gun inappropriately secured and away from children who would have the brains to spring for one of these super-fancy firearms anyway.
99% of blogs exist solely to promote their creators and their works -- I know that's what mine is for, he said with no trace of irony. If anything, this just gives people a chance to stop droning on and on about themselves for a second. Seriously... I think the blog community is nifty, but honestly I'll be glad for the break from navel-gazing.
PS Anyone need a plug? Paypal me...
I'm glad this story is getting picked up in so many places, but I do want to clarify a few things for those who either don't believe this attack is possible, who think I simply wrote it based on a few script kiddies' comments, or who simply don't understand how journalism works.
Yes, I was given substantial proof of the attacks. But my job as a journalist is not necessarily to PROVE that anything happened (that is what lawyers do) -- you'll note perhaps that Woodward & Bernstein's takedown of Nixon was initially based entirely on one man's tip in a Beltway parking garage. It all has to start somewhere.
So I merely collect evidence and present what I have. It was completely credible in this case. In fact, I called AOL five times to get their side of the story. They refused to call me back. But YES, the proof does exist. In fact, observers.net posted some of it here. You can dig around to find their full story on the subject, which goes into greater depth than I had the luxury for at Wired -- which is a general tech news site, not a how-to site for hackers and wannabes. In any event, you will notice that AOL has not refuted the claims in any forum. I honestly have no doubt about the authenticity of these claims after seeing the information provided to me. It's now AOL's turn to either come clean about the attacks or say they didn't happen. Since AOL is afraid of negative publicity, they are trying to keep things quiet. This is not apparently working...
Originally I had hoped to interview the unnamed 14-year-old hacker for my story (which was intended to be mostly about the Merlin break-in) but he balked out of fear of prosecution (he was later interviewed for Observers.net and privately apologized to me for not doing the interview). Hence I focused on the myriad other recent hacks (Japan Webmail, the mumble method, screen name thefts) that AOL has been hit with as well.
Regarding the breaking of SecurID -- if a hacker can call up a rep on the phone and get him to reveal his name and password, it seems pretty plausible that you could get the SecurID code as well. Disgruntled insiders also provide this information readily to their pals on the outside. Of course that's all in the story...
Anyway, if any AOL users are convinced their data is secure I'll be happy to pass along your screen name to the people in question...
Cheers.
Come on, Lucas is just tired of cashing 7 different paychecks at his local money store every Friday.