Jeff: I can mirror this excellent article for you, either redirect to or link in slashdot post to alt source. That is if you don't mind political blog / site ? helping out! Also, give WP-super cache a try in place of W3TC, I switched awhile back and noticed better overall performance, however, slashdot/reddit spikes are difficult to handle at times regardless.

Apologize for my scattered / rambling / thoughts in advance...working 25/8 does that. There's a lack of appreciation or rather "awe" with todays generation in regard to semi-pre-mainstream technology..shows such as Tron, VideoDrome, Star Wars, Trek, org Who series, Twilight Zone, Last Star Fighter, anyone born around the mid 70's - early 80's can fill in the rest. Even older reviewers that rated this Tron rehash negative apply to the following observation. When I was young, I couldn't wait until the day/future came that I could own a tricorder...that day has come and gone, I throw them away without hesitation today (mobile devices). The idea of holographic images far fetched then, owning Hal a reality and common place today, Max is idle in the other room, which I just woke up via voice command from the couch. I can track friends via GPS, reach them in near real-time..no more phone tag, tape based answering machines or having to plan the weekend with friends before the bell rang on Friday....there wasn't any real "msg me" or update your places status and I/We'll catch up with you..no planning ahead resulted in a weekend at home. However, fighter pilots could communicate between planets / universities with ease. The idea that TV could control your brain or news media creating facts-from-lies was spooky yet, interesting...much of the headroom universe is present today. Being able to compile code or hack mainframes in seconds was an unreal thought..left for the big screen and to witness all these things, required leaving the house and siting in a room with other humans...not a glass of wine and boxee or mythtv. Movies were once projected on to objects..not the other way around (3D TV). Most remakes or re-released sci-classics require a certain level of "awe" to be enjoyed.....the imagination of yesterday is todays boredom or obsoleted/rev'd quickly. I admit technology has spoiled me some but I can still appropriate a time in my life when it was a future goal to own an 286 an 80MB HDD was a wet dream..being able to beam data from one point to another wireless WOW or a cordless phone that could be used more than 100ft from its base. ..anyway, my scattered point is: older genre based shows are boring....to most of us now. CGI matters more than actual imagination and desire to live long enough to see Jetsons tech. So its okay for the story line in Tron to suck today.....it was never really about the plot..more how far can we bend the mind...the visual concept of giving code human like form was epic for its time, today it actually a reality ( AI/NanoBots ) . Today we take for granted the technology we have.........back then it was a dream of some future and far off time. Today.....COMpuER submit post!

" The US is the "juiciest target" in the entire world? " I'm curious as to what Canada is hiding...behind all that politeness. :-) Even without additional country leaks, indirectly equal [harm] is being done to other governments. A big concern for everyone right now, making sure irrational leaders that tend to over indulge in alcoholic drinks remain sober while perusing the leaks. Take for example, Lil-ill in N Korea he was trigger happy enough before this happened, though I have to admit, I'm confused as to what he has, seem to think he has, or might be capable of doing.

A few thoughts,

The Karma Sutra issue, really there is nothing new about malware like this one. Every day I watch and monitor much worse threats. I feel this one was escalated by the back seat approach Microsoft has taken.

On the M$ site it states that, 3rd party security vendors already have in place solutions to suppress the Karma Sutra threat. Also that they [ M$ ] will not break their patch cycle to address this problem, but.......if you have purchased additional support packages, you can get the patch in advance. They acknowledge the problem, that they have in place the patch already....but the average end-user must wait for the next patch day. Or fork out more cash M$'s way [ Still scratching my head on that one ].

I have one question for M$

" When are you going to allow 3rd party vendors [ security ] to release their own version(s) of the M$ OS [ Windows ] ???? "

I would have zero problems handing over cash to any 3rd party that could offer a secure version of XP. Especially, when it seems that M$ doesn't feel that the every day users of their products are important. It is rather puzzling....3rd party vendors address and watch out for M$'s customers when they don't. Yes, Anti-Virus companies make money by providing computer security and solutions. That's not the real issue at hand, the real issue is the lack of responsibility M$ seems to take for their own products.

An ex-programmer for a rather ' large ' OS provider once told me. " Microsoft and their products are one of only a few services offered that people will accept fault and flaws in, and always return to.....and to boot, they continue to shell out big bucks, not only in the price of the OS, but also in 3rd party technical services that clean and repair their systems of viruses".

I'm not in any way anti Microsoft, I do however feel that they need to ' FIX ' their products, provide more information to the general public about the harm Windows for example can cause [ think big tobacco and the Surgeon General Warning ]. Provide equal product care to all, and again FIX your product(s).

With Karma Sutra the public was made aware of an issue that could have been worse. That is if 3rd party vendors had not provided security solutions for Microsoft and their customers.
I do not feel M$ will ever FIX their product(s), nor will they take responsibility for their flaws, so maybe we need to look else where for a middle ground. One where M$ can continue to produce and sell ' snake oil ' and the customer has enough heads up to purchase/seek if needed extra 3rd party product protection.
How ? , one way is the main stream news media, here in the USA we have Amber alerts, emergency weather, etc. notices on both tv and radio. I suppose they could include Windows security alerts also ? and I would encourage malware writers to include document trashing in all of their code. It seems to wake people up when they hear that their documents and pictures are at risk !!!