Comment Re:Pay-what-you-want? (Score 3, Insightful) 158
Well, if you feel something is not even worth $0.01, then you feel it is worthless to you, and if it is worthless to you, then you shouldn't care about not having it.
Well, if you feel something is not even worth $0.01, then you feel it is worthless to you, and if it is worthless to you, then you shouldn't care about not having it.
I was a bit disappointed that no soundtracks were included for any of the corresponding games this time around. I have not had a chance to install the games yet, but reading your post already makes me look forward to hearing the music and also sad that I won't have a simple soundtrack set to play in the car. Maybe we can ask the Humble Bundle crew if they can release some of the soundtracks once X copies are sold or X dollars are raised. They have done similar things in the past.
I got the e-mail from the Humble Bundle crew announcing the Humble Indie Bundle 3 and thought I'd submit it here since this is where I first found out about the Humble Bundles. This was my first attempt at submitting a story, and looks like I messed a few things up. Any way I can fix these?
1. Used the DRM straightjacket icon for the story instead of the Games joystick icon (I didn't know what the icons being shown in the lower corner of my submission meant or why it seemed to change at times.)
2. Unneeded carriage return after "Cogs by", did not show up in the Preview box since it was much narrower and meshed in at the right spot.
I don't really pay attention to tags on Slashdot, so not sure how to figure out which ones should be used.
I don't know why it is always referred to as "The elusive Higgs boson" when Einstein was able to so clearly point to its existence decades ago:
Einstein proving that the Higgs boson can be found anywhere
Looks like Julian Assange can no longer claim that no one has been killed due to documents released by WikiLeaks.
I was very disappointed at how little coverage this launch was receiving due to all the news outlets being so heavily focused on the royal wedding. Hopefully this will allow it to have more of the attention that it deserves.
I am confused how you can say "They are not saying that the only information taken was names and emails" and "They have not said that the personal information was limited to names and email addresses." To me that is pretty much exactly what the sentence that you quoted says: "We want to assure you that the only information that was obtained were names and email addresses."
I could understand saying that it takes a leap of faith to believe that was all that was acquired from the system since from the message we can't determine that it did not also contain other personal data. Since I got e-mails from both Kroger and Brookstone with a few hours of each other that were quite similar, it seems that both were most likely using the same e-mail service provider and that the databases were set up in a similar way. The Brookstone e-mail was a bit more specific, stating:
"We want to assure you that the only information that may have been obtained was your first name and e-mail address. Your account and any other personally identifiable information are not stored in this system and were not at risk."
Since no other personally identifiable info was even stored on the system, let alone in the same database, I am pretty confident that it truly was only names and e-mail addresses that were compromised.
I also do not understand how you can say that if later on it comes to light that purchasing details were also stolen no one would be able to fault them. Even Kroger explicitly stated that only names and e-mails were compromised. If they used a different system than Brookstone, or Brookstone was giving false information in their e-mail, and it comes to light that info beyond names and e-mail were compromised, then yes, that goes well beyond the extent of their original notice and they would definitely be taken to task for lying to and misleading their customers. Maybe if they had only stated "Our e-mail service was compromised and customer names and e-mail addresses may have been obtained by an unauthorized person" you would have a point since that would not explicitly state that that was ALL that was at risk, but both Kroger and Brookstone have made it quite clear that only names and e-mail addresses were compromised and no other customer related data was involved.
"We want to assure you that the only information that was obtained were names and email addresses."
They are not saying that the only information taken was names and emails. They want to say that such is the case. From what I can tell about notification laws, this is to comply with the law. They have notified customers that their personal data has been stolen. They have not said that the personal information was limited to names and email addresses. A reasonable person may interpret it that way, but if in a week they say purchasing details were also stolen, no one is going to be able to fault them in any meaningful way. Krogers has complied with the law. If people interpret this compliance to be beyond the scope of the compliance, then that is a personal problem.
There are several reasons. I am one of those who gave my info to Kroger, and doing so has let me save some money, partly because I also did the same with Giant Eagle (the other large grocery store chain in my area.) I pass both of them pretty much every day. Each has good weekly deals, and they both send e-mails of the deals the day before they begin. It makes it easy for me to compare and see which store to stop by in a given week and what to pick up where. They are the same ad fliers that are in the Sunday paper, but I have not bothered to pay for the Sunday (or any other day) paper in years. The on-line account also goes a bit beyond the paper ads. They allow you to "upload" special coupons onto your Loyalty Card. You scroll through the list of optional coupons, mark which ones you want to take advantage of, and instead of clipping coupons and having to remember to bring them into the store with you, they are "loaded" onto your Loyalty Card and automatically used when you go through the check-out.
One other non-discount reason to give them your e-mail and use the Loyalty Card is that if an item is recalled they can track who bought the item and send them an e-mail stating what was recalled, the reason it was recalled, and what to do with the item to safely fix it or discard it or return it for a refund.
I got the e-mail from Kroger within three hours of receiving a very similar e-mail from Brookstone. Although not identical, the two e-mails are quite similar. Foes anyone know who this e-mail service provider is and what other companies may have been affected by this? It is nice to see Kroger and Brookstone act quickly to let their customers know the extent of the data that was compromised, but if this is the fault of a common e-mail service provider I would think that many more than just two companies were affected by this, and interesting to see how different companies react to the same issue. It is also good to see that the third party e-mailer is given only the base details necessary for them to perform their function and are not provided with street addresses or other unnecessary personally identifiable information.
++++++++++++Important E-Mail Security Alert++++++++++++
Dear Valued Brookstone Customer,
On March 31, we were informed by our e-mail service provider that your e-mail address may have been exposed by unauthorized entry into their system. Our e-mail service provider deploys e-mails on our behalf to customers in our e-mail database.
We want to assure you that the only information that may have been obtained was your first name and e-mail address. Your account and any other personally identifiable information are not stored in this system and were not at risk.
Please note, it is possible you may receive spam e-mail messages as a result. We want to urge you to be cautious when opening links or attachments from unknown third parties.
In keeping with best industry security practices, Brookstone will never ask you to provide or confirm any information, including credit card numbers, unless you are on our secure e-commerce site, Brookstone.com.
Our service provider has reported this incident to the appropriate authorities.
We regret this has taken place and for any inconvenience this may have caused you. We take your privacy very seriously, and we will continue to work diligently to protect your personal information.
Sincerely,
Brookstone Customer Care
Maybe the "AprilFools" bit in the product link will help you figure out if this is a joke or not
I can't tell if this is a joke or not but when I go out with friends - yes anonymous cowards have friends - and most of them want to see a movie in 3D I find myself putting on the glasses but covering one eye to avoid eyestrain.
I do not think the number of people being prevented from having internet access dictates how "significant" the issue is in this case. Egypt was mostly trying to prevent people from organizing protests when they cut off internet access. Libya on the other hand is trying to keep news of the government's attacks upon their own people from getting out.
It would be interesting to see the result when a bully tries to give him a swirly.
Oops, too much lack of sleep this week. Forgot the link for Use Tax.
Some states, such as Ohio, have a "Use Tax" which is up to the consumer to register and pay on their own. If I purchase on-line, over the phone, or even drive elsewhere to purchase goods that are tax free where/when/how bought but are taxable in Ohio and I use them in Ohio, by law I am required to fill out a Use Tax form. The Use Tax entry is now conveniently included on the standard Ohio State Tax forms vs having to be tracked down separately as it was years ago, and is calculated as the standard Ohio + County tax. This was done back in the catalog mail-order days to level the playing field. Most states with Use Taxes are pretty lax on making a big deal about it, but it is there, it is the law, and it has been enforced.
Variables don't; constants aren't.