It's a bad idea with a precedent. Maybe AVG got the idea from the Fasterfox add-on, which can be set to pre-fetch every link on the page, increase the number of server connections, et cetera.
Last year, several funeral homes in New York were charged with allowing these people to come in and harvest bits and pieces from their clients (the dead), sometimes replacing things like femurs with PVC pipe.
TFA refers to cadavers for medical instruction, but regardless, the problems are twofold. One, often there is no consent. Two, there is little concern if the parts contain cancer or communicable diseases, and IIRC, several people have received infected tissue "donations" who later contracted syphillis, hepatitis, and worse.
"In short, Amazon for me represents the most successful of the new online retailers; they have won my trust and admiration, no easy feat, and so I find this Slashdot story to be questionable at best."
I'll do you one better: I had signed up for Amazon Prime because of the free shipping spiel. I forgot when the trial period ended, and at the last minute, I panicked and tried to cancel it. For some reason I couldn't, so I wound up with an overdraft in my checking account.
When I called Amazon about it, the very first person I talked to refunded the $79 and my $38 NSF fee, without even asking for proof.
As a matter of fact, I emailed them about this very problem last November. Their response was that "folks were
copying the text of our articles and circulating them in e-mail, despite our copyright notices and even our asking them to stop." I will concur that not being able to even select text is extremely annoying, along the lines of a dialog saying "Copyright 1992" when you right-click. Unless, of course, you've got NoScript.
I won't mess with your revenue model if you won't serve pr0n ads or hide sneaky code, 'k?
I, for one, can speak of this monstrosity as well. I had a developed domain for many years that unfortunately came up for renewal while I was hospitalized. When I got out, I called Registerfly (ha!) who gave me erroneous info which eventually caused me to lose it to BuyDomains (may they rot in hell). Those squatters initially asked only $248, for MY domain. But when I expressed interest in it, the price was suddenly $888. The rest of the story is here. They continue to send me spam to this day, telling me my domain is available.
Slashdot Mirror
It's a bad idea with a precedent. Maybe AVG got the idea from the Fasterfox add-on, which can be set to pre-fetch every link on the page, increase the number of server connections, et cetera.
Doesn't it suck having to apply your Windows Updates via punch cards?
This is a big problem, and has been going on for years. Read the book, "Body Brokers: Inside America's Underground Trade in Human Remains", or this MSNBC article about the illicit trade of body parts and tissues.
Last year, several funeral homes in New York were charged with allowing these people to come in and harvest bits and pieces from their clients (the dead), sometimes replacing things like femurs with PVC pipe.
TFA refers to cadavers for medical instruction, but regardless, the problems are twofold. One, often there is no consent. Two, there is little concern if the parts contain cancer or communicable diseases, and IIRC, several people have received infected tissue "donations" who later contracted syphillis, hepatitis, and worse.
"In short, Amazon for me represents the most successful of the new online retailers; they have won my trust and admiration, no easy feat, and so I find this Slashdot story to be questionable at best."
I'll do you one better: I had signed up for Amazon Prime because of the free shipping spiel. I forgot when the trial period ended, and at the last minute, I panicked and tried to cancel it. For some reason I couldn't, so I wound up with an overdraft in my checking account.
When I called Amazon about it, the very first person I talked to refunded the $79 and my $38 NSF fee, without even asking for proof.
That's service.
As a matter of fact, I emailed them about this very problem last November. Their response was that "folks were copying the text of our articles and circulating them in e-mail, despite our copyright notices and even our asking them to stop." I will concur that not being able to even select text is extremely annoying, along the lines of a dialog saying "Copyright 1992" when you right-click. Unless, of course, you've got NoScript.
I won't mess with your revenue model if you won't serve pr0n ads or hide sneaky code, 'k?
I, for one, can speak of this monstrosity as well. I had a developed domain for many years that unfortunately came up for renewal while I was hospitalized. When I got out, I called Registerfly (ha!) who gave me erroneous info which eventually caused me to lose it to BuyDomains (may they rot in hell). Those squatters initially asked only $248, for MY domain. But when I expressed interest in it, the price was suddenly $888. The rest of the story is here. They continue to send me spam to this day, telling me my domain is available.