You're right, it isn't fair to blame Windows for user-supplied malware.

However, that does not mean Windows is any more secure; not all windows malware is user-supplied.

Those FCC rules that I referred to in the post up top specifically block that now. Someone wasn't paying attention.

I've always liked the red set--Illinois, Kentucky, and that other one I don't recall off the top of my head. It seems to do me well.

Besides, the color is thematically appropriate for the chinese edition, where the Minister of Finance keeps a close eye on players who are too successful and do not bribe him sufficiently. ;-p

Now that's a happy little situation right there. I'm glad the FCC just stated, flat-out, that telco operators wouldn't be able to pull that particular shenanigans with services like skype here.

Though really, it's not all that surprising. China's gone for home-grown 'equivalents' of popular overseas services for quite some time--look at their 'facebook' and their 'google' workalikes, all doubtless with more than enough spyware built into 'em to keep an eye on dissidents.

Yep, you've got it.

This particular user is one of the 'special people' who requires frequent and painstaking assistance whenever anything changes on the system.

I think that Mr. "I don't believe you" up there might be a little bit defensive on this matter, especially given the screed about how "non-technical" users are not lesser people ;-p

This month's horror story concerns a user reporting a nasty security issue.

The user comes up to the helldesk and reports that they have a, quote, "mysterious cable" coming out the front of their computer. Given that at $company we pay a little more attention to security than, say, Gawker, one of my fellow Ops techs was dispatched to the user's desk to determine what this cable could be and why it was so mysterious.

A few minutes later, he returned, having successfully traced the mysterious cable out the front USB port all the way to the keyboard.

Upon reporting this finding, another tech asked who the user was--and then noted that she had given said keyboard to said user, who had plugged the keyboard into the USB port herself.

.....come back when you have something to show for it.

If you've got at least a website built, that's something, but without even a frontend and a business plan, you can't really expect to get much in the way of support.

It would be an interesting sort of crowd-sourced protest, if a lot of aggrieved people bought abusive domains and pointed them at a protest site existing pretty much specifically to collect them.

Domain registrars would make a mint off of such a protest...and it would be much more 'socially acceptable' than your typical DDoSing.

First registrar to announce splitting the proceeds of such actions with, say, Child's Play or the Red Cross could gain instant credibility with a large segment of the abusive-domain-buying public.

Further, it would sap the banks' resources as their PR people frantically attempt to mitigate the consequences of the protests. Now that we know they'll preemptively buy domains, too, it provides interesting opportunities for cybersquatting...

There is a middle ground--not blocking ads on sites that don't have annoying intrusive advertisements.

That way, you punish the intrusive advertisement funded sites for their poor choice. Over time, they may learn their lesson.

I'm more than happy to allow ads that, for instance, don't cover up vast parts of the UI, aren't animated, don't play sounds, and don't suck my bandwidth with useless crap I have no desire for.

Text-based is nice, too. That way, I can actually get to the content, instead of having to wait 20 minutes for the browser to finish rendering fecking advertisements.

Seems fair--you verify it, you're responsible for it. Applies to everything, really.

The best part is that you can just buy a 'check card' from some vendor who -doesn't- have this policy, and use -that- to 'support piracy'. All MC's time and expense does is add one extra step.

It's always been that way, even back before they got bought out.

(Disclaimer: I learned to read with the WSJ. YARLY. Grandparents had a subscription.)

#1, read the news. It's been prosecuted before.

#2, it's called professional ethics. Independent contractors have to have 'em, because their livelihood depends on their reputation. Corporate drones, less so--their 'reputations' hinge off the company's marketing.

#3, I accept cashier's checks and cash, myself. Only accept a personal check if you know the person and you can kneecap 'em if it bounces. Credit cards aren't really in the books for most independent contractors on the consumer-maintainence side.

(O'course, I try to -avoid- that side, myself; most of my contracting's done in other areas--but hey, if someone wants to pay me $60 to set up a printer and I have nothing else to do, I'm not about to turn it down, and at least when I do it I know it's done right).

Well, that's what competition's about, ain't it?

If you can't provide the services that I demand at the price point I demand 'em, I'll go to someone else who can.

Progress happens. Keep up with the times, or die. That's how the world works.

(Hey, how's your buggy-whip business doing?)

Some of the plans sound like they want to bring back AOL, in essence--the walled garden of 'preferred' content, with, optionally, a pipe out to that "internet" place.

Why we didn't use "you don't want AOL back, do you?" as an argument for net neutrality before completely escapes me.

The WSJ has an impressively schizophrenic personality. The regular articles--the ones that you'd find on, say, the front page of the print edition--are very well researched and well-written, as well as impressively neutral in political alignment. They tend to stick strictly to the facts and use as little conjecture as possible.

The editorial page, however, is sometimes even further to the right than Glenn Beck. It is -RABIDLY- right-wing, sometimes getting close to fascism. It's probably what the Fox News people point to when they try to claim that their coverage fair and balanced.