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Slashback: Mutuality, Transport, Spyware 264

Posted by timothy from the goodbye-for-now-alabama dept.
Slashback with more unintentionally odd clip art in Microsoft work for fire, Las Vegas monorail progress, the resolution of SonicBlue and TiVo's legal dispute, and more. Read on for the details.

Well, while we were switching things around here at the ad agency ... An anonymous reader writes "While looking around on Microsoft's site checking out the new Tablet PCs I noticed something very out of Place. In one of their Flash Demos for the Tablet PC there is an Apple Powerbook 1400! To see it for yourself, the flash is located here (then "Tablet PC Overview Demo," then "Tablet PC," then "Powerful") The first computer is really that Powerbook! Pic here."

What about to the legal brothels? Sacarino writes "Back in April, Slashdot ran a story about the Monorail project Las Vegas was embarking upon. It would appear that things are progressing nicely. "It's ugly" critics will be put to shame, the designers did a great job of making it non-obtrusive. (if that's possible in Vegas) Soon you too will pile off the airplane, trudge onto the monorail, then run into the casino to spend that money....ahh, Vegas."

Out of court, out of mind. Enry writes "SONICblue and TiVo have dropped the patent infringement lawsuits they filed against each other. The press release reads: "We believe our energies are better spent expanding the market for Digital Video Recorders (DVRs) rather than fighting each other. Both sides believe in the merits of their respective positions, but the overall success of the DVR category is what is most important to the companies at this time." Take that, AdAge!"

Sounds like a nice way to watch movies. For those intrigued by a 640x480, QWERTY-keyboard color, clamshell-case PDA as embodied by the Zaurus 5600, patrickoehlinger writes "Just found news and pictures about the new Sharp Zaurus SL-C700 released in Japan. With a 640 x 480 pixel display, a small design and a great keyboard! Golem.de has a article with pictures, but it's in German."

Would the BBC spy on you? An anonymous reader writes "The previous discussion on RedSheriff on slashdot was extremely confusing as well as mostly off-topic. The fact is, the BBC is downloading spyware to your machine when you surf their site. Very disappointing and surprising. I suggest e-mailing them to let them know what you think. The problem and remedies are covered in Google groups: "
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.

Slashback: Mutuality, Transport, Spyware More

Slashback: Mutuality, Transport, Spyware

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  • BBC and spyware (Score:5, Informative)

    by Slashdotess ( 605550 ) <gchurch @ h o t m a i l .com> on Wednesday November 13, 2002 @08:04PM (#4664678)
    Well, it's unfortunate but a lot more sites are doing that, as far as I can see. I always get gator popups here at sparknotes for example [sparknotes.com] and it's a pain to click no all the time.

    Well, I guess my 2 cents wont get very far =/

    • Re:BBC and spyware (Score:5, Informative)

      by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 13, 2002 @08:19PM (#4664778)
      An extremely effective solution I've found is to set up Internet Junkbuster proxy (at http://www.junkbuster.com/ijb.html) on your own computer. On Windows systems, you can have it run as a service. Have your web browser use the proxy, and whenever you see an annoying ad, just add it to the blockfile. The proxy automatically rereads the block file if it's updated while it's running, so changes take effect immediately. Just a couple seconds ago, it blocked a potential x-10 ad :P

      • Re:BBC and spyware (Score:5, Informative)

        by Moonshadow ( 84117 ) on Wednesday November 13, 2002 @09:25PM (#4665149)
        The Proxomitron [proxomitron.org] is another such solution, and offers such nifty features such as inline ad filtering/right-click unlocking/prevention of annoying javascript/anything else you can do with a regex. Definintely a recommended tool.

        Strangely enough, though, I've been using Phoenix [mozilla.org] for a while now, and have had no problem with popups. :D

      • Re:BBC and spyware (Score:2, Informative)

        by mrbuttle ( 587604 )
        The last official release from Junkbusters Co. was in 1998. You may want to take a look at Privoxy [privoxy.org] . It's Junkbuster rebuilt, with many new features, at version 3.0 and a release date of Aug 28 2002. It's available in most of the favorite flavors [sourceforge.net]

    • That's why I use Opera (Score:2, Interesting)

      by RatBastard ( 949 )
      Since I moved to Opera I've not had to deal with any Gators or other crap like that. Opera Beta 7.0 is really nice (once you get used to it) and is worth the money, IMHO.

      With IE you really get what you pay for. Nothing.

    • Re:BBC and spyware (Score:5, Informative)

      by doorbot.com ( 184378 ) on Wednesday November 13, 2002 @08:37PM (#4664889) Journal
      If you used Mozilla on your Windows box you wouldn't have that problem... I just tried it for myself and no popups or Gator installs.
      • "If you used Mozilla on your Windows box you wouldn't have that problem... I just tried it for myself and no popups or Gator installs."

        Just one more reason why I use mozilla religiously and disable activeX downloads in MSIE by using X-Setup [xteq.com].

        Seriously, gator has gotten to epidemic levels. I'm a university student (in Canada) and I've gotten to the point where whenever I log onto a machine, I automatically fire up Ad-Aware [lavasoft.de] and scrup the machine for spyware. (Every engineering student gets 500 mb to store/install whatever.) 60%+ of the time gator is running, plus there's a bunch of bonzibuddy shite. The really bad ones have cnsmin installed which is much harder to get rid of. (Ad-aware can't do it on its own.)

        The point I'm trying to make here is that it's gotten to the stage where it's "everyone for themselves." The web is the wild wild west and only those gunslingers who are the fastest and smartest remain at the top of the food chain.

    • Funny, I just went to the link you posted and I didn't get a pop-up.

      Oh, wait... maybe it's because I use Mozilla [mozilla.org]!

      Yeah, cheap shot but someone had to make it...

      ;-)

  • Monorail!? (Score:2, Funny)

    by Pean ( 524414 )
    Lyle Lanley: Well, sir, there's nothing on earth Like a genuine, Bona fide, Electrified, Six-car Monorail!
    What'd I say?
    Ned Flanders: Monorail!
    Lyle Lanley: What's it called?
    Patty+Selma: Monorail!
    Lyle Lanley: That's right! Monorail!
    Miss Hoover: I hear those things are awfully loud...
    Lyle Lanley: It glides as softly as a cloud.
    Apu: Is there a chance the track could bend?
    Lyle Lanley: Not on your life, my Hindu friend.
    Barney: What about us brain-dead slobs?
    Lyle Lanley: You'll be given cushy jobs.
    Abe: Were you sent here by the devil?
    Lyle Lanley: No, good sir, I'm on the level.
    Wiggum: The ring came off my pudding can.
    Lyle Lanley: Take my pen knife, my good man.
    I swear it's Springfield's only choice...
    Throw up your hands and raise your voice!
    All: Monorail!
    Lyle Lanley: What's it called?
    All: Monorail!
    Lyle Lanley: Once again...
    All: Monorail!
    Marge: But Main Street's still all cracked and broken...
    Bart: Sorry, Mom, the mob has spoken!
    All: Monorail!
    Monorail!
    Monorail!
  • Not to sound like too much of an idiot but the newspost didn't have much in the way of detecting the spyware on my box. I suppose it is safe to assume if I have hit the BBC site lately I am "infected" but I would like to be able to remove it manually not just disable it in the firewall. Anybody willing to offer some insight on this on both win2k(work) and linux boxes?

    • Re:detection and removal of redsherrif (Score:2, Informative)

      by Anonymous Coward
      http://www.funnyjunk.com/love.php?id=427226 [funnyjunk.com] :)
    • Ad-Aware works pretty well

    • Re:detection and removal of redsherrif (Score:4, Informative)

      by VS1 ( 448806 ) on Wednesday November 13, 2002 @08:16PM (#4664752) Homepage
      its a java applet, called RedSheriff. check your firewall logs. i found the google discussion group to be quite informative. and ad-aware dosnt find it, so says the googel discussion that was posted with the story.

      good luck.

  • Monorail Gamble (Score:5, Funny)

    by greymond ( 539980 ) on Wednesday November 13, 2002 @08:09PM (#4664713) Homepage Journal
    I'm all for that thing - Actually I think EVERY CITY IN THE WORLD should have a monorail and then we should have monorails connected by super fast trains - then I won;t have to fly anymore. I HATE flying, not because of terrorists - I just don't have wings and don;t like being flung around in a giant metal bird.

  • Redsheriff (Score:4, Informative)

    by dolo666 ( 195584 ) on Wednesday November 13, 2002 @08:10PM (#4664721) Journal
    Here is a link to Redsheriff's privacy policy, cached on google [google.ca] (just in case).

  • Homer sez... (Score:4, Funny)

    by ocie ( 6659 ) on Wednesday November 13, 2002 @08:10PM (#4664722) Homepage
    Hello, Vegas? Give me 100 bucks on red... D'oh! All right, I'll send you a check.

  • Powermac too (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Dolly_Llama ( 267016 ) on Wednesday November 13, 2002 @08:13PM (#4664737) Homepage
    If you can sit through the whole demo, there's a second mac. About two thirds of the way through is a PowerMac Desktop I'm gussing circa 1996. I'm no mac expert. Maybe someone else can identify the model?

    • Re:Powermac too (Score:4, Funny)

      by Dark Lord Seth ( 584963 ) on Wednesday November 13, 2002 @08:33PM (#4664861) Journal

      Well, the MS marketing department obviously has no clue what they are doing then...

      Marketing Manager: Look, give me some Microsoft notebooks and a Microsoft PC to use in our new flash on the double!
      MicroSerf: Uhm, we don't make those, we only cripple them.
      Marketing Manager: Damn it! What is the first, least expensive thing you can find?
      MicroSerf: Uhm, this company we just bought out used "Macintosh" equipment, so called "Powerbooks" as wel as some sort of desktop system...
      Marketing Manager: Excellent! We'll use those! Make sure the flash files include blue gradients.
      MicroSerf: Blue gradients?
      Marketing Manager: LOTS of blue gradients and a cheesy music that would make a Game Boy cry.
      MicroSerf: Jawohl herr oberst!

      • Re:Powermac too (Score:4, Interesting)

        by Dolly_Llama ( 267016 ) on Wednesday November 13, 2002 @08:42PM (#4664920) Homepage
        in all likelihood MS contracts an advertising firm to create the flash demo for them. Ad firm creative directors then mine for stock art of people using computers and them photoshop XP onto the monitors. Since the stock art is created by yet more advertising types, the computers in said stock art is more likely to be macintosh than is statistically likely in a sample of office situations.

        Ahh, advertising... the festering, never healing scab on the ass of American Industry.

  • "downloading to"? (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Klerck ( 213193 ) on Wednesday November 13, 2002 @08:14PM (#4664743) Homepage
    "The fact is, the BBC is downloading spyware to your machine when you surf their site."

    Last I checked, the BBC would be UPLOADING software to your machine. You would be the one downloading it. God I'm sick of people misusing that word.
    • hmmm... how about "off-loading"? :-)

    • Re:"downloading to"? (Score:3, Informative)

      by Phroggy ( 441 )
      Last I checked, the BBC would be UPLOADING software to your machine. You would be the one downloading it. God I'm sick of people misusing that word.

      Originally "download" meant transfer from a large mainframe to a small client, while "upload" meant transfer from a small client to a large mainframe - regardless of which end initiated the transfer.

      However, since a mainframe wouldn't be likely to initiate a transfer, normally downloading = receiving, and uploading = sending. These became the new meanings of the words.

      So yes, the meanings have changed, but understand that some people haven't caught on yet. Go easy on them.

  • It Worked (Score:5, Funny)

    by cscx ( 541332 ) on Wednesday November 13, 2002 @08:14PM (#4664744) Homepage
    Well, while we were switching things around here at the ad agency

    And in doing so, it got a front-page link on Slashdot, direct to the Microsoft Tablet PC demo / info page. Thanks, Slashdot!

  • Downloading (Score:4, Insightful)

    by DarkZero ( 516460 ) on Wednesday November 13, 2002 @08:16PM (#4664750)
    The previous discussion on RedSheriff on slashdot was extremely confusing as well as mostly off-topic. The fact is, the BBC is downloading spyware to your machine when you surf their site. Very disappointing and surprising. I suggest e-mailing them to let them know what you think.

    I don't know about the rest of you, but I don't trust technical "facts" from people that don't know the difference between downloading and uploading. That's like hiring a plumber that asks you what room the bathroom sink is in.

  • Las Vegas (Score:2, Funny)

    by cscx ( 541332 )
    They should have used the money to repair the potholes on Main Street.

    Don't want the prostitutes tripping and falling into holes, now do ya?

    • FWIW (Score:2)

      by unicorn ( 8060 )
      It's a private project. If you read around about it, you'll find that the city isn't paying for it, at all. It's financed by a whackload of bonds, that will be paid off the revenues generated by fares.

      SO they didn't have to dip into the road repair funds at all. That's all still in the city coffers.

  • steve balmer (Score:3, Funny)

    by thopo ( 315128 ) on Wednesday November 13, 2002 @08:17PM (#4664761)
    seems like someone over at MS just lost his job. maybe some MS employee secretely rooting for the Apple Switch campaign.
    If Steve Balmer needs a reason to jump up and down like a crazy monkey again, here is it!

  • Spyware, (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Openadvocate ( 573093 ) on Wednesday November 13, 2002 @08:20PM (#4664783)
    What bothers me most about spyware and insecure windooze programs(outlook etc) is that you can secure your PC by tweaking the right knobs, but then the time comes for that 1/2 year re-install and you have to start all over and remember what to turn off where etc.
    Installing a Windooze pc and connecting it to the internet requires so much work before you can say it's secure. And then there is all the spyware that comes with "great" shareware programs, so you really need a seperate partition to test the programs on first before installing them on your primary installation. Then you need programs like Ad-Aware and a personal firewall to keep track of programs that likes to phone home(have even seen programs with no network functionality all of the sudden wants to contact a server on the net).
    Oh, and let's not forget antivirus software etc etc.
    So I installed a Linux dist, not because I think that it's impossible to infiltrate it, but because the focus on all that Crap-ware has not yet turned too bad there and I feel more in control over what's going on under the hood. Now if only they would make the fonts look right, they are getting better, but not 100% yet.

    I thinking about those 90% of the people with a connection to the internet, who does not have any clue to what's going on. And the great concept with Windooze was that they shouldn't need to know everything about computers to use them. These days they don't, but they do get their pc 0wned in a mild way. :)

    We are beginning to see ISPs offer secure/firewalled connections to the internet. So that might be a new feature(income) for them, firewalling,spam blocking, blocking "bad" ip's. I have seen advertising for it, but I haven't looked into it.
    • Huh, why is that problem unique to windows?

      everytime I install an RPM I feel like someone is saying to me "close your eyes and open your mouth and you will get a big surprise". Then with root access the RPM sprays files in all sorts of directories, overwites system /bin files like "make" and inserts various conficuration scripts in dark places I've never visted in my unix life. Geeze its totally out of control.

      mandrake and a few others give you a gui package view that sort of says what's oging to be affected but it's not like you can remeber what happened a week or a year later.

      for my money the only system I am remotely at ease with is FINK for mac ( and linux). which rarely goes outside of its own directory to mess with basic system stuff.

      but you are right in wishing there was some sort of keystroke file for anytime you did an install or a tweak so you could re-do it later after a re-install or an upgrade.

      • Maybe not exactly on the same lines, but on my linux server I use RPMs, and I find it extremely convenient to run 2 scripts I wrote that back up certain files:

        Script 1 runs "rpm -Va" and checks the output for any files that have a different MD5 sum. It tars up all of these. (Most are in /etc).

        Script 2 looks at each file under given directories (I run it under /etc, /usr/local, and /var) and for any file found that doesn't belong to an rpm, it tars up.

        The result is this: if I had to reinstall things how I have them now on a new system, I can easily see which rpm files I changed (and have the changes right there), and also which files I added (also tar'd up).

        This is much easier than copying /etc somewhere, then referring to it on a new system. Sure you can see which files are different, but are they different because you changed them or because the newer rpm changed them?

        And of course, I keep a list of installed rpms. (rpm -qa > rpm.list).

        -Serp
    • What bothers me most about spyware and insecure windooze programs(outlook etc) is that you can secure your PC by tweaking the right knobs, but then the time comes for that 1/2 year re-install and you have to start all over and remember what to turn off where etc.
      That's why the first thing I do after I get a Windows install just the way I want it, I boot from a linux floppy or CD and dd the whole drive, pipe to bzip2, and store it on a samba share. I can later split that file and burn it to CDs. My current install takes about three CDs.

  • RedSherriff (Score:5, Insightful)

    by sulli ( 195030 ) on Wednesday November 13, 2002 @08:21PM (#4664788) Journal
    From the usenet posting:

    Thanks. The spyware is called RedSheriff. It's a Java applet and its the first spyware that I've identified as running as Java.

    Step one: Unclick "Java" in Preferences

    Step two: There is no step two! There is no step two!

  • Can't read German? (Score:2, Informative)

    by saskboy ( 600063 )
    Try Babelfish for translation [altavista.com] so you can read about PDAs. I don't use PDAs with built in keyboards, but someone else might find the article interesting.

  • BBC privacy policy (Score:5, Informative)

    by elvum ( 9344 ) on Wednesday November 13, 2002 @08:25PM (#4664817) Journal
    The BBC mentions their use of RedSheriff in their privacy policy [bbc.co.uk]. RedSheriff have their own privacy policy [redsheriff.com].

  • Taxies (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Reality Master 101 ( 179095 ) <<moc.liamg> <ta> <101retsaMytilaeR>> on Wednesday November 13, 2002 @08:26PM (#4664824) Homepage Journal

    Monorail from the Airport? Man, that would ROCK HARD. No having to take the shuttles with endless stops or taxis with 20 years of grime built up.

    I do feel a bit sorry for the taxi drivers: this is going to kill 80% of them. Apparently the union is not that powerful in Vegas. :) [which is yet another lesson why union's suck and why they tend to retard progress, but that's a rant for another day]

  • 'Spyware' (Score:5, Insightful)

    by r1ch ( 166865 ) on Wednesday November 13, 2002 @08:33PM (#4664864)
    Ok, I guess I'll probably lose a load of karma for this cos it sounds like I'm sticking up for spyware but what the hell... having looked at RedSherriff's website all this java applet really does is allow them to get around the problems that proxies and caches cause for people that want to find out how many page hits they got - is that really spyware?

    PS - sorry for not jumping on the bandwagon.

    • Re:'Spyware' (Score:3, Interesting)

      by HamNRye ( 20218 )
      Any program that is forced upon you is spyware. If McDonald's made you fill out a questionaire as a term for buying a Big Mac, how would you react?

      I simply do not believe that any website author has the right to upload any program on my computer as a condition of viewing content. I don't care what the software does.

      That being said, it does not appear that red sherrif performs like most spyware and remains active as a service 24/7 on the resident machine. But for those of us who are security concious, and the Firewall admins out there, this is a big deal. I am an admin for a newspaper. This immediately explained the large amounts of traffic going to the IP's mentioned in the group posting.

      Like most businesses, we expense our bandwidth. Red Sherrif Traffic only accounted for .03% of traffic today, but we are also yanks, and we don't read the stinkin' beeb. (God forbid other voices were to leak through the American propaganda machine.) Over time, I might see this traffic rise up to the 1% area and would have to really start to take measures. (Infact, the .03% traffic originated from only 14 unique IP's out of ~300 for the newsroom alone.)

      Does that answer your question??

      ~Hammy
      MY Mission: To build the biggest freak list on /.
      • Any program that is forced upon you is spyware.

        No, no, no-no-NO!

        Spyware, a contemporary of "adware" or "freeware" and a derivitive of "shareware", is "software that you pay for, in whole or in part, by being spied upon."

        Programs downloaded as part of a web site that spy on you can be called spyware, even though what you get is a website, not a program.

        I believe the correct word for "all programs forced on you" is "trojan." Feel free to come up with a new one if it doesn't fit, but please don't co-opt "spyware" to mean something that it doesn't.

  • From the RedSheriff website.. (Score:4, Informative)

    by Angry White Guy ( 521337 ) <CaptainBurly[AT]goodbadmovies.com> on Wednesday November 13, 2002 @08:36PM (#4664884)
    They seem to work for a lot of people...

    Founded in 1996, RedSheriff is an industry leader in interactive measurement technologies and market research. We provide specialized products and services that enable you to accurately assess your company's performance in the constantly evolving digital environment.

    RedSheriff measures in 37 countries through regional offices in Melbourne, Sydney, Auckland, Brisbane, Singapore, Tokyo, London, Copenhagen, Milan, Los Angeles, San Francisco and headquarters in New York. We also have strategic partnerships with several major industry players including the AGB Group, Taylor Nelson Sofres Gallup, and Video Research.

    Our client base includes key global players such as BT LookSmart, Excite, Excite@Home, News Interactive, F2 Interactive, Scandinavia Online, Monster.com, MTV, NineMSN.com, Virgin Direct, Virgin, Genie Internet, Asia World Online, Charles Schwab and Telstra.

    Our strategic investment partners include Deutsche European Partners, Ericsson-Deutsche Technology Fund, WPP, Australasian Media and Communication Fund, and Equity Partners.

  • Zaurus pics (Score:4, Informative)

    by sakusha ( 441986 ) on Wednesday November 13, 2002 @08:37PM (#4664891)
    Here's the home page of the new Zaurus model (Japanese only)

    http://www.sharp.co.jp/products/slc700/index.htm l

    I surfed around, looks like this unit has cool GPS maps available, that's the most interesting app I found.
  • Here's Sony's site (translated from japanese) on the SL-C700:

    You'll have to click the Translate button, but hey, deal with it. [altavista.com]

  • RedSherrif (Score:3, Insightful)

    by mindstrm ( 20013 ) on Wednesday November 13, 2002 @08:47PM (#4664943)
    Okay.. if this spyware is a java applet.... can someone explain what the problem is? It's an applet; it should be gone when you close your browser, and not come back until you visit a site that uses it.

    The java security model should prevent an applet from spying on you.. or am I mistaken?

  • I don't know about the rest of you.... (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Bobulusman ( 467474 ) on Wednesday November 13, 2002 @08:48PM (#4664950)
    But, per the google group discussion, is used my firewall software to block a couple of IP addresses that the java program is based off of. I just visited the BBC news site, and I'm not getting record of a block to those IPs in my firewall logs. It is possible that they already took this stuff down?

  • redsheriff and Java VM sandbox (Score:3, Interesting)

    by goombah99 ( 560566 ) on Wednesday November 13, 2002 @08:52PM (#4664962)
    I dont get it. the JAVA vm runs in a secure sandbox. the only way out of the sandbox is if you grant the JAVA program permission, for example by accepting a security certificate.
    Or am I missing somthing or is that exactly what is going on?
    my experience and understanding with java is that insecure applets cant access URLS outside their source URL, they cant access other open windows (or atleast not anything that javascript cant access), and they cant access any system level communications or your files on disk. Thus they cant be spying on you. And if you leave the site they go poof. I suppose they could be playing frame games making you think you left the site.

    can anyone tell me how they are getting around these restrictions?

  • Mozilla Immune? (Score:4, Informative)

    by ewhac ( 5844 ) on Wednesday November 13, 2002 @08:54PM (#4664976) Homepage Journal

    From reading the USENET commentary on Google Groups, it seems like RedSheriff only works on Microsoft's broken virtual machine that ships with Windows. It appears that, if you install Sun's JVM, the problem doesn't arise (or at least alerts the user). This would also seem to suggest that Mozilla is immune, since they have their own JVM, yes?

    Yet another reason to avoid IE, I suppose.

    Schwab

    • Re:Mozilla Immune? (Score:2, Informative)

      by EMR ( 13768 )
      Mozilla/Netscape 6/7 uses sun's JVM..
      And the code gets applet gets loaded in a popup anyway..
      so it doesn't load in mozilla if you enable the popup blocker..:-D
      But yeah.. it's an M$ IE Messed up JVM thing..
    • This would also seem to suggest that Mozilla is immune, since they have their own JVM, yes?

      Mozilla the JVM that's already installed on your system. Netscape 4.x (and earlier) has its own.

  • Well then (Score:2, Funny)

    by autopr0n ( 534291 )
    "While looking around on Microsoft's site checking out the new Tablet PCs I noticed something very out of Place. In one of their Flash Demos for the Tablet PC there is an Apple Powerbook 1400! To see it for yourself, the flash is located here (then "Tablet PC Overview Demo," then "Tablet PC," then "Powerful") The first computer is really that Powerbook! Pic here."

    OH MY GOD

    This is the biggest news of the century!!!! FACINATING!

  • Monitoring is not spying (Score:5, Insightful)

    by lesterhv ( 125530 ) on Wednesday November 13, 2002 @09:12PM (#4665066) Homepage
    If I walk into someone's store, the store is permitted to have someone follow me -- either in person, or by video camera. I'm on private property, and the property owner is entitled to watch what I am doing.

    When you surf on a site, you are accessing someone elses server. They are the property owner, and they have the right to a report to see what you are doing.

    There is nothing that I can see that RedSherriff becomes resident on your machine and watches you elsewhere. It just uses cookies to provide enhanced site stats to, in this case, the beeb.

    Nothing to see here... ...move right along, please.

  • Tablet PC? (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Openadvocate ( 573093 ) on Wednesday November 13, 2002 @09:14PM (#4665076)
    I would rather have wanted the IBM Transnote [ibm.com]
    If the tablet PC should work, it should be cheap since I never really think it would be the only PC you would have. it would need to be thinner than it is. It wouldn't need a lot of fancy features. You could have a dockingstation that would give it more features, option for other graphiccard etc. It would have some very for some things, but bad for others.

  • No legal brothels in Las Vegas, sorry... (Score:5, Informative)

    by weave ( 48069 ) on Wednesday November 13, 2002 @09:24PM (#4665143) Journal
    A common misunderstanding is that prostitution is legal in Las Vegas. It's not. It's only legal in counties where the population is less than 400,000 -- which is all Nevada counties except for two. One is Clark County where Las Vegas sits, the other is where Reno is.

    Sorry, you'll just have to drive out to the ole ranch there ya city slicker!


  • FYI, NineMSN [ninemsn.com.au] (Australia's own big brother presence on the web, and the default exit page for Hotmail from Aus) also uses Redsheriff.

    So does Suncorp Metway [suncorpmetway.com.au] a BANK!!!

    As such, microsoft now knows where I bank. Scary.

  • Microsoft's Brilliant Strategy (Score:4, Funny)

    by Stubtify ( 610318 ) on Wednesday November 13, 2002 @10:32PM (#4665473)
    Step 1: Create Tablet PC Flash Animation

    Step 2: Insert random Apple Powerbook 1400

    Step 3: Report "slip up" to Mac centered websites

    Step 4: Report that "over 20% of page views on the new tablet PC pages are from Macintosh computers." to interested third party vendors.

    So now they've got ammo for a real switch campain...

  • The Zaurus 5600 is 320x240 (1/4vga), not 640x480 as
    stated in the slashback.

    The C700 *is* 640x480.
  • http://www.smh.com.au/

    http://www.theage.com.au/

    http://www.cricket.org

    http://www.plannedchildhood.com

    Bastards!
  • ...if they've been able to solve their NASDAQ problems. Their stock has been under a dollar for a long time now (I bought some at .23 and sold at .47). The NASDAQ sent them formal notice several months ago that if they could not maintain a stock price above a dollar for three consecutive weeks by November, they'd be dropped from the exchange. That hasn't happened. The closest they've come is almost .75 cents for a few minutes. I'm not sure the company can survive long enough to make a run of it. I think they were just a touch ahead of their time. They're very probably going to be dropped from the NASDAQ, but more importantly, they're in debt and operating at a loss.
    • The NASDAQ formally announced that they are reconsidering their dollar rule a week or two ago. Back in the 90s it seemed like a great idea. Now an appreciable chunk of stocks (not just tech stocks) are under $1. So many exceptions have been approved and extentions given that it's not really working as a "blanket" rule.

      Heard it on Morning Edition.

      --
      Evan

  • Has no one gone to redsheriff.com? They're a site visitor logging company. I use them at work instead of writing my own huge log files, which were upwards of 2GB/day. Instead, I just log a few things and let the Red Sheriff applet/Javascript combo do the visitor logging.

    Red Sherrif got the contract through our... *thinking of how I can make this anonymous* ...parent organization. I have never reviewed their terms of service, since we are not technically their customer, our "parent organization" is. I'll be sure to check this out and maybe submit it if I find any interesting info.

  • Seattle monorail wins vote (Score:3, Informative)

    by Animats ( 122034 ) on Thursday November 14, 2002 @12:33AM (#4666029) Homepage
    Not by much, but a win, unless there's a problem and a recount. That will be a 14-mile system [elevated.org], biggest in North America.
  • add a 1.8" hd, 802.11b, and an extended-life battery,
    and that sharp device would conquer the u.s. ultra-
    portable market.

  • Browser bug? (Score:3, Interesting)

    by whereiswaldo ( 459052 ) on Thursday November 14, 2002 @01:17AM (#4666166) Journal
    The fact is, the BBC is downloading spyware to your machine when you surf their site.

    What browser allows BBC to send them spyware without the user's permission? If that really happens, it's a browser security bug. I'm surprised the spammers haven't leveraged this bug with their html mail efforts (if it's really that easy to install spyware on a user's system). I find it hard to believe this claim. Anyone have an explanation?
  • The monorail will not go to the airport in the initial building. The taxicab authority is too damn powerful to let the monorail go to the airport, they'd lose too much money. The money talks and the people walk... or hail a cab...

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