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Submission + - Why have email attachment sizes not grown

Submitted by Stonefish
Stonefish writes: Email system are quite capable of sending and receiving large attachments however size limits are generally tiny. In the late 1990s I worked for a research organisation maintaining their mail system and had recently introduced mail size constraints. Within the first day it had blocked a number of emails including a 700MB attachment. Being a master of all thing Internet I called him up to tell him how firstly how such a large email would cause problems for the receiver and secondly how there were far more efficient ways of sending things. Given that he was on the same campus he invited me down to his lab to discuss this further. After showing me round his lab which was pretty impressive apart from the large "Biohazard" and "Radioactive" materials labels on the doors. He told me that the facility that he was sending the attachments to was a supercomputing hub with similar "Fat" pipes to the Internet so the large emails weren't a problem. I then spoke about the "efficiency" of the mail protocol and he said that he'd show me what efficient was and did a quick, "drag, drop and send" of another 700MB file of his latest research results. He was right, I was wrong, it was efficient from his perspective and all his previous emails were easily available demonstrating when and where they were sent. As a result of this we changed our architecture and bought bulk cheap storage for email as it was a cheap, searchable and business focused approach to communications.
However 20 years plus later even though networks tens of thousands of times faster and storage is tens of thousands of times cheaper email size limits remain about the same. However email remains cheap, efficient and ubiquitous. Instead we expect people to upload a files to a site and generate a link and embed in a manner that means we lose control of our data or it dissapears in 12 months.

Submission + - Ask Slashdot: What to do about the slickest Android advertising scam ever?

Submitted by shanen
shanen writes: What should I do about the slickest Android advertising scam that I've ever seen?

And yes, I'd rather be spending my time more productively, but I could NOT find any way to report it to the google and I'm sure it's racking up LOTS of victims even as I write.

Let me start by describing what I'm seeing. Then I'll describe how I got there. Next I'll have to speculate on how the scam is collecting money and I'll close with a few words about why the google doesn't care and deserves its increasingly bad reputation.

It's a full-screen display. At the top it has the Chrome logo and "2020 Annual Visitor Survey". That's followed by my actual location at a fairly local granularity, which is impressive and adds authenticity. In larger font it says "Browser Opinion Survey". Next there is some text thanking me for my participation and saying "You may choose only (1) product from the list below. This entire screen is covered by a festive balloon-drop display, but now there is a popup on top of the balloons, and it seems to be suggesting I can pick an Apple iPhone 11 Pro worth a lot of money for a buck if I just "Click Here". Below the popup there is a section that appears to be reactions in a Facebook style. There's a place for me to click Like, Comment, or Share, and the next line has thumb-up, heart, and smile icons and the number 143, presumably representing the total number of reactions so far. Then it starts with comments, first from "Alex Goodwin" saying "Thank you!!" Scrolling down there are 11 comments, only one of which is a fairly obvious tip it's a scam, but all of which are skillfully crafted and plausible. (Going to speculation, but I think the "obvious" one is carefully targeted at more gullible suckers who have scrolled down that far.)

Now how did I get here? I started in a language game. It's a free one, but at one point in the game it throws a search for definitions of the word. So I started by trying to look for a definition and as I entered that website it threw up the Chrome survey, so I'm not sure if it's really originating in the game (as an Android ad) or if it came from the website (via a different advertising channel, but probably still google's). It did NOT appear to be an ad, but rather claimed to be an invitation to express my opinion about the Chrome browser. It was a beautifully worded and extremely plausible survey, with only one tilted question, and that one was tilted exactly the way you'd expect the google to tilt things in their own browser's favor. In the process it had hinted about entering a lottery for an iPhone.

Now to start with the speculation. I think the next click is going to claim that I've entered the lottery successfully and my phone will be billed for my ticket. Most likely it will also start collecting personal information, but claiming that the google is just confirming my personal information for my sucker "prize". These tickets are probably in-app purchases, but the scammer's plan is to take the money and run away, and they could get a lot of money in small purchases. Depends on how long until the lottery is supposed to last and how widely they can broadcast the scam, but they are also counting on (1) low motivation to complain because the in-app purchases are small and (2) the google's indifference to the scam. Point (2) is reinforced by my time-consuming but unsuccessful efforts to find a reporting channel directly to the google. My speculations have to stop there, because I'm NOT going to pursue this scam any farther, and I'm already worried about what the scammers know. What else besides my location? And how did they get that?

Continuing with the theme of how little the google cares about supporting criminals, I'm going to tilt to solution approaches: The google could help us follow the money trail for the apps, though I admit that I'm not sure how much that would help here. It's a beautiful scam, but from here (the potential victim's perspective) I can't even see where it's been inserted into the chain. "All your attention are belong to us" is the google's only concern, but you'd think they'd be concerned about scammers stealing attention, especially when using one of the google's own logos. I keep thinking I can't despise the google more, and then...

Beware the google and all things googlish.

Comment Free speech? Really? (Score 1) 126

So, if this lawsuit wins, the ISPs get to keep selling user information. Users can't really stop this, due to the fact that most locations have only one (or, if they're lucky, two) providers. The law that the lawsuit is fighting says that they have to get permission from their users before they sell said information. If the lawsuit wins (and strikes down the law), the free speech of the ISP's users is squashed. If the lawsuit loses, the users' free speech is protected, and the ISPs can no longer sell the users' information without permission. I kinda hate that the right to make money is now considered a free speech right here.

Submission + - Are there any non-evil email providers out there these days? 5

Submitted by Shane_Optima
Shane_Optima writes: I've just been locked out of my own Gmail account, yet again, on the basis of behavioral profiling. I'm not even sure I'll be able to get back in this time, since I had the audacity to move 300 miles *and* get a different phone number since the last time I logged in to that account. The last time this happened, I tried to prevent it from happening again with any of my accounts by setting security questions (which I normally give garbage answers to), only to discover that Gmail no longer supports them. What was Google's old unofficial motto, I swear it's on the tip of my tongue...

So anyway, I'm thinking it might be nice to be able to change ISPs, go a few weeks without checking the inbox, perhaps even use a VPN now and then without the default assumption being that I am a Chinese hacker. In short, I would prefer to use something utilizing a radical security model wherein possession of my password (randomized, and not used for anything else) is the only credential needed for accessing my email.

Are there any major web mail providers left that haven't embraced this godawful band-aid approach to security?

(I may not be a hard core anonymity nut, but I would also prefer to sign up for an email account without providing a driver's license photo / social security number / DNA sample.)

Submission + - Kansas City Science Store Resurrects AC Gilbert Chemistry Set, the best-ever toy (kickstarter.com)

Submitted by McGruber
McGruber writes: The A. C. Gilbert Company (Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A...) was once one of the largest toy companies in the world. It manufacturered Erector Sets (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erector_Set), American Flyer toy trains (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Flyer), and chemistry sets (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chemistry_set).

Chemist John Farrell Kuhns (https://www.kickstarter.com/profiles/1742632993/bio) received an AC Gilbert Chemistry set for Christmas 1959, while he was still in grade school. By the time Kuhns was twelve years old he had a home lab set up in my family's basement. Now, more than 50 years later, he still has a home lab.

As an adult, Mr. Kuhns wanted to share these experiences with his daughter, nephews and nieces, and their friends. But he soon discovered that real chemistry sets were no longer available. He wondered how, without real chemistry sets and opportunities for students to learn and explore, where would our future chemists come from?

In 2004, Kuhns and his wife opened their science store, H.M.S. Beagle (http://www.hms-beagle.com/) and last year used Kickstarter to launch a new Heirloom Chemistry set. (https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1742632993/heirloom-chemistry-set). Kuhns uses a CNC router to cut out his wood cases, which are then hand assembled and finished with the shiny brass hardware and exotic wood inlays. Kuhns also synthesizes, purifies and/or formulates and packages all of the chemicals.

Gary Hanington, professor of physical science at Great Basin College, was another child who was lucky enough to own a Gilbert chemistry set. Hanington wrote about his set in this article (http://elkodaily.com/lifestyles/speaking-of-science-a-c-gilbert-chemistry-sets/article_30dc31c8-c258-11e1-9dfd-001a4bcf887a.html).

Sadly, not everyone sees the educational value of real chemistry sets. The AC Gilbert chemistry sets are #3 on Cracked's "The 8 Most Wildly Irresponsible Toys" (http://www.cracked.com/article_19481_the-8-most-wildly-irresponsible-vintage-toys_p2.html) and #8 on Complex.com's "The 25 Worst Must-Have Christmas Toys Ever (http://www.complex.com/pop-culture/2012/12/25-worst-must-have-christmas-toys-ever/gilbert-chemistry-set)

Comment People are just getting this now? (Score 2) 726

I kinda thought that was the point from the beginning. I'm kind of surprised that almost 20 years later people are finally starting to get the point of the film. I loved it when I saw it in the theater, and I bought it on VHS, and then later on DVD. It's a great film. Sure, it's cheesy as hell, but still, the message is good. You just gotta read between the lines.

Comment Re:This is the work of the LORD (Score 3, Funny) 102

by ireallyhateslashdot (#45022093) Attached to: GTA Online Runs Into an Online Roadblock
I'm not sure why we should praise a New Zealand pop singer. I'm also not so sure that the "thou shalt not kill" thing applies to pixels. I'm pretty sure that God would have said something like "thou shalt not use algorithms to effect the deletion of pixels through the interaction of a user interface".

Comment Re:Can we have someone go to jail now, please? (Score 4, Insightful) 246

by ireallyhateslashdot (#44826397) Attached to: Exxon Charged With Illegally Dumping Waste In Pennsylvania
And also why we have such a thing as "negligence". They apparently were negligent; either in their maintenance protocols, equipment checks, or, well, making sure that contaminated waste is securely and safely managed. I would say that that warrants a criminal charge, but that's just my opinion.

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