This is the first thing I thought of when I read the article the other day. Google ads gets your referer string which contains the search query you used on Ask.com and much of the same information Google would have gotten had you simply used Google for the search.
Plus odds are pretty much any link you click on from the search (and pretty much and page you visit for that matter) will contain either Google ads or Doubleclick ads. Even if it's an ad-free site, you'd be surprised how many sites have google-analytics web bugs implanted that also track your behaviors online.
We should all really, really hope Google keeps its 'do no evil' promise, because something tells me they have enough blackmail information on enough powerful people to do a whole lot of 'evil' if they so desired.
There's an inverse relationship between how honest a company claims it is, and how honest it actually is.
This is most evident in the worst offenders and propagandizers in the media world: Fox News' "Fair and Balanced," and CNN's "The most trusted name in news."
With this in mind, Google's "Don't be evil" should set off alarm bells for anybody concerned with their privacy.
I don't know where you live or what sort of weirdos you have for neighbors, but in my neck of the woods the people I know are really struggling to be able to afford such "incredible luxuries" as a modest home, gasoline, and groceries, all of which have doubled in price in the last 5 years while wages have stayed stagnant. Heaven forbid they get sick or injured and have $50k in medical bills added to their woes.
It seems creators of these shows spend more time shoving commercials and their political agendas down the throats of developing minds than they do teaching any useful skills or information.
When I was a kid, me and all the kids I knew were raised by loving parents. It seems these days parents are too exhausted from the 60 hour weeks just trying to keep up with ever-increasing expenses, and as a result their children are drugged up and raised by soulless marketing companies via the idiot tube.
>One could certainly imagine a trojan that was hard-coded in the firmward and kept moving >itself around the disc after attempts to delete it.
If it did that, the user would at least see a trojan that keeps moving and know there's a problem. Imagine rootkit code in the firmware that is completely invisible, except when it detects the Windows (or insert favorite OS here) kernel being loaded within x seconds of power-on, it "slipstreams" itself into the binary as it's being read. The rootkit could snoop your data and do any number of horrible things without you ever knowing it's there. If you used a rootkit scanner to scan your kernel file, it would come up clean. Even taking the platters out of the drive and reading them externally would show a clean drive.
Who says this isn't already out in the wild? It was only sloppiness that caused it to be caught this time.
Maybe part of the reason that people don't have enough to live on is that all the manufacturing jobs, which used to be the cornerstone of the American economy and middle class, are now in China.
I don't know how much faith I have in this "new economy," which seems to be based on people selling overpriced houses to each other and getting further and further in debt.
I mean, so what if there's a trojan that steals my identity and turns my computer into a botnet node? So what the materials it's comprised of let off poisons that will kill me and my whole family? I saved $6 on this baby!
News flash: many people in the 3rd world have learned English. Have you called into a tech support or customer service line this century?
100% of IT positions don't need to be exported/given to immigrants to drag down the average wage, just enough so the supply outweighs the demand. Then the screws will really be applied (even more than it they have already) to the American worker.
The key word is ILLEGAL. If I were to walk into the DMV carrying a huge baggie of crack, which is illegal, I'd most likely be leaving in handcuffs. So why can an illegal walk into the DMV with documents basically proving he's a non-citizen and expect to be treated any differently?
If the dollar is inflating at 10% a year, and you're only getting a 5% per year raise (generous), your pay is decreasing 5% per year.
That means after 10 years, the American middle class is making 60% of what they were previously.
Add in the massive job cuts of companies and jobs moving to China and India and you have in a nutshell why the middle class in the US is doomed to extinction.
Questions from other members : Slashdot Swag Package
Q: Do you deliver to the Soviet Union?
A: More than likely we can accommodate shipping outside the US. Please contact anniversary@slashdot.org with a specific address request and we can work with you.
Whenever I read about advancements in storage space, what comes to mind for me is now there will be NO incentive for companies to ever throw away information they have about you. In years past, physical storage limits--and later data storage limits--has caused companies (and the government) to routinely purge data. With hard drives getting bigger at a rate faster than they can fill them, why expend the effort to get rid of old data? Why would they spend the manhours to delete old data, when it's cheaper just to keep adding larger drives?
The possibly negative consequences here can be very damaging. Imagine the security breach when a company "loses a laptop" that contains 30 years of your transaction history. Or, say you're 20 years old right now, imagine what would happen if in 2040 you decide to run for congress and your opponent pulls out dirt from your Google searches and GMail chats of your youth? Imagine the blackmail material that could be uncovered.
The possibilities are endless, but without a real revolution in the way corporations and government operate, they all seem to lead to the absolute end of privacy.
Good point, but why stop there? Cutting off the penis entirely completely eliminates the risk of all STDs. Why not do that? Also, sewing the mouth shut, removing digestive organs, and forcing your child to live off an IV drip eliminates obesity and complications from it including diabetes.
Or you could not mutilate your child, teach him to use condoms, and eat properly.
The foreskin has a very definite purpose. It keeps the head of the penis protected and moistened: an internal organ as it was designed. Also the foreskin itself contains one of the largest concentration of nerves on the body. These features help with penetration and improve sexual pleasure tremendously.
Outside of some religious circles, the practice of butchering newborns is a very new one. A recent study has shown men who have been butchered have only a fraction of the sexual pleasure as normal, intact men.
And attacking a successful "chinese company" because you do not agree with the policies of the (oppressive) government of China is racist
That's quite an assertion there. When you give money to a Chinese company, that income is taxed by the Chinese government and part of the purchase price goes directly to support the atrocities committed by the Chinese government. This isn't speculation, this is fact.
At what point does anybody's race enter into this?
PDFs have long been known as 'landmines of the Internet' for their long load times and the fact so many websites don't mark links as PDF so you never know when you're going to 'trip' over one.
It looks like Adobe is just kicking their reputation up a notch.
Oops, your ignorance is showing, an accurate comparison would be:
1) A privately-owned corporation that exists to create the most profit for its member banks (which profit enormously from monetary manipulation) with virtually no accountability to the American public. 2) A group of legislators put into place by you and me who can be held accountable for their actions.
Under system #2, between 1800 and 1900 the dollar actually gained value (!), between 1913 and 2007 under system #1, the dollar has lost 95% of its value, a dollar in 1913 is actually worth about 5 cents now.
The history of treasury-issued money is looking pretty good.
>The exit polls have been stunninging wrong for the past two elections anyway
Just playing devil's advocate here... Don't you think it's interesting how this has been true for the past two elections, in which use of electronic voting systems has been increasing?
Slashdot Mirror
This is the first thing I thought of when I read the article the other day. Google ads gets your referer string which contains the search query you used on Ask.com and much of the same information Google would have gotten had you simply used Google for the search.
Plus odds are pretty much any link you click on from the search (and pretty much and page you visit for that matter) will contain either Google ads or Doubleclick ads. Even if it's an ad-free site, you'd be surprised how many sites have google-analytics web bugs implanted that also track your behaviors online.
We should all really, really hope Google keeps its 'do no evil' promise, because something tells me they have enough blackmail information on enough powerful people to do a whole lot of 'evil' if they so desired.
We have ways of making you read those 1.5 million books, Mr. Bond.
then click "I'm feeling lucky"
Should one consider that irony?
try {
@eval("-=-=-=- INVALID SYNTAX GOES HERE -=-=-=-");
} catch (Exception $e) {}
echo "Yay, I'm still here!!";
There's an inverse relationship between how honest a company claims it is, and how honest it actually is.
This is most evident in the worst offenders and propagandizers in the media world: Fox News' "Fair and Balanced," and CNN's "The most trusted name in news."
With this in mind, Google's "Don't be evil" should set off alarm bells for anybody concerned with their privacy.
I don't know where you live or what sort of weirdos you have for neighbors, but in my neck of the woods the people I know are really struggling to be able to afford such "incredible luxuries" as a modest home, gasoline, and groceries, all of which have doubled in price in the last 5 years while wages have stayed stagnant. Heaven forbid they get sick or injured and have $50k in medical bills added to their woes.
It seems creators of these shows spend more time shoving commercials and their political agendas down the throats of developing minds than they do teaching any useful skills or information.
When I was a kid, me and all the kids I knew were raised by loving parents. It seems these days parents are too exhausted from the 60 hour weeks just trying to keep up with ever-increasing expenses, and as a result their children are drugged up and raised by soulless marketing companies via the idiot tube.
Just my 2c.
>One could certainly imagine a trojan that was hard-coded in the firmward and kept moving
>itself around the disc after attempts to delete it.
If it did that, the user would at least see a trojan that keeps moving and know there's a problem. Imagine rootkit code in the firmware that is completely invisible, except when it detects the Windows (or insert favorite OS here) kernel being loaded within x seconds of power-on, it "slipstreams" itself into the binary as it's being read. The rootkit could snoop your data and do any number of horrible things without you ever knowing it's there. If you used a rootkit scanner to scan your kernel file, it would come up clean. Even taking the platters out of the drive and reading them externally would show a clean drive.
Who says this isn't already out in the wild? It was only sloppiness that caused it to be caught this time.
Maybe part of the reason that people don't have enough to live on is that all the manufacturing jobs, which used to be the cornerstone of the American economy and middle class, are now in China.
I don't know how much faith I have in this "new economy," which seems to be based on people selling overpriced houses to each other and getting further and further in debt.
I mean, so what if there's a trojan that steals my identity and turns my computer into a botnet node? So what the materials it's comprised of let off poisons that will kill me and my whole family? I saved $6 on this baby!
All other issues take a back seat until we can be sure that the legislators we vote for are being elected.
Right now 80% of all votes are being counted by machines that have been shown to be insecure. We must hold our government's feet to the fire.
News flash: many people in the 3rd world have learned English. Have you called into a tech support or customer service line this century?
100% of IT positions don't need to be exported/given to immigrants to drag down the average wage, just enough so the supply outweighs the demand. Then the screws will really be applied (even more than it they have already) to the American worker.
The key word is ILLEGAL. If I were to walk into the DMV carrying a huge baggie of crack, which is illegal, I'd most likely be leaving in handcuffs. So why can an illegal walk into the DMV with documents basically proving he's a non-citizen and expect to be treated any differently?
If the dollar is inflating at 10% a year, and you're only getting a 5% per year raise (generous), your pay is decreasing 5% per year.
That means after 10 years, the American middle class is making 60% of what they were previously.
Add in the massive job cuts of companies and jobs moving to China and India and you have in a nutshell why the middle class in the US is doomed to extinction.
Let me guess: in Soviet Union, bag grabs you!
Whenever I read about advancements in storage space, what comes to mind for me is now there will be NO incentive for companies to ever throw away information they have about you. In years past, physical storage limits--and later data storage limits--has caused companies (and the government) to routinely purge data. With hard drives getting bigger at a rate faster than they can fill them, why expend the effort to get rid of old data? Why would they spend the manhours to delete old data, when it's cheaper just to keep adding larger drives?
The possibly negative consequences here can be very damaging. Imagine the security breach when a company "loses a laptop" that contains 30 years of your transaction history. Or, say you're 20 years old right now, imagine what would happen if in 2040 you decide to run for congress and your opponent pulls out dirt from your Google searches and GMail chats of your youth? Imagine the blackmail material that could be uncovered.
The possibilities are endless, but without a real revolution in the way corporations and government operate, they all seem to lead to the absolute end of privacy.
Good point, but why stop there? Cutting off the penis entirely completely eliminates the risk of all STDs. Why not do that? Also, sewing the mouth shut, removing digestive organs, and forcing your child to live off an IV drip eliminates obesity and complications from it including diabetes.
Or you could not mutilate your child, teach him to use condoms, and eat properly.
The foreskin has a very definite purpose. It keeps the head of the penis protected and moistened: an internal organ as it was designed. Also the foreskin itself contains one of the largest concentration of nerves on the body. These features help with penetration and improve sexual pleasure tremendously.
Outside of some religious circles, the practice of butchering newborns is a very new one. A recent study has shown men who have been butchered have only a fraction of the sexual pleasure as normal, intact men.
That's quite an assertion there. When you give money to a Chinese company, that income is taxed by the Chinese government and part of the purchase price goes directly to support the atrocities committed by the Chinese government. This isn't speculation, this is fact.
At what point does anybody's race enter into this?
PDFs have long been known as 'landmines of the Internet' for their long load times and the fact so many websites don't mark links as PDF so you never know when you're going to 'trip' over one.
It looks like Adobe is just kicking their reputation up a notch.
Oops, your ignorance is showing, an accurate comparison would be:
1) A privately-owned corporation that exists to create the most profit for its member banks (which profit enormously from monetary manipulation) with virtually no accountability to the American public.
2) A group of legislators put into place by you and me who can be held accountable for their actions.
Under system #2, between 1800 and 1900 the dollar actually gained value (!), between 1913 and 2007 under system #1, the dollar has lost 95% of its value, a dollar in 1913 is actually worth about 5 cents now.
The history of treasury-issued money is looking pretty good.
I had the same problem, try disabling all your extensions and using a default theme. In mine, it was the tabbrowser preferences extension acting up.
>The exit polls have been stunninging wrong for the past two elections anyway
Just playing devil's advocate here... Don't you think it's interesting how this has been true for the past two elections, in which use of electronic voting systems has been increasing?
In the past couple weeks I've "lost" at least a dozen messages on gmail. Not bounced, not in spam filter, they just don't appear.
If race and ethnicity are just arbitrary, why are there diseases that only affect members of a certain ethnic group?