Michael Gracie

I would really like to know how a politically oriented website is “surreptitiously collecting information about individuals who post” on it. With the exception of gathering a pile of IP addresses, which in this case will likely all point to Colorado (and either Comcast or Qwest), I just have to wonder what information Hans Gullickson really thinks ColoradoPols can actually obtain.

Political parties have proven they can’t get technology use right, and I doubt they are going to get any decent advice anytime soon. It is therefore wishful thinking to expect these types of claims will end before our sun runs cold.

Just because a lot of exploits carry themselves across ports that your firewall keeps open for other services doesn’t mean they are useless. Advising Windows users not to use firewalls just because it creates a false sense of security is just not solid reasoning. Your machine will be clogged with traffic from pinging zombies (who now know you are there, as many firewalls run in stealth), and then there are all the exploits that will now be free to roam all those ports you used to have closed.

At the least, firewall use narrows the focus, leaving your software vendor to patch vulnerabilities in their own products.

Most of the people I know who have weblogs are technology and marketing folks. They have embraced the medium hoping to spread their mantra or help someone with a problem, and in some cases they get a few listeners or contribute a solution. The rest aire differences, bash companies, talk about their significant others, what they ate for lunch yesterday, and spread nasty rumours about their political opponents.

The first group wants to be there, and understand the whats and whys of being there. The rest may or may not understand that their words can be archived for eternity, subject to scrutiny, and even get them in hot water (if they say dangerous things).

Once someone calls you out, don’t expect to dance around the issue. You said it, and now you have to pay for it. And keep in mind that your audience comes to your blog to listen to ideas – they don’t care what you do for your day job. And that audience could be anyone, anywhere. Nobody will be particularly impressed by where you live, that is unless you are crossing a border under questionable immigration auspices.

The average, everyday Joe looks at spam from the email inbox only. The rest of us see trojans lurking in image attachments, links to ID thieves, and stupid comments and trackbacks. If you are a popular marketing type, you may see even more.

I was getting worried for a while, but now I can now safely continue picking on all the universities losing their data. I feared I might eventually have to target someone around my neighborhood, but as it turns out, Colorado universities are taking the issues pretty seriously. Whew!

According to the latest spyware report from Webroot, adware infections are slowing, and system monitors are becoming more common.

With more and more keyloggers on the loose, and music companies watching what you are listening to, the news from Webroot is none too surprising.

Rumour has it that Apple might attempt to twist the Mac Mini into a media console – that’s not too far fetched. Apple has already released an iMac with a remote control unit, so why not.

Folks might think the lack of input devices and monitor would hamper the efforts, and right now the lack of an easy video out does present an issue. I was already thinking I could plug one of these puppies in, slap a version of VNC for OS X on it, and just control it from afar.

The Federal Trade Commission just completed a spam research study which indicated that spam filters work. I’d say wow, but they go on to state the even more obvious. The FTC says spammers actually harvest email addresses from public websites. We never would have guessed.
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Identity theft is being called easy and lucrative. Organized crime is naturally getting in on the game – if hackers and script kiddies can do it, why can’t they. They supposedly control the garbage pickup business, so why not – sift through the stuff for credit card statements at a secure location, eh?

Then again, maybe they are employing computerized means – they made the latest tech agenda setters list, for goodness sakes.

The question came up as to whether telcos are being too conservative with their TV plans, but I have to wonder whether the investment they will have to make is worth the price.
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