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Jib Jab: This Land Was Made For You and Me
Tech Tuesday: Google, Security and a Question Answered
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MyDoom Worm Variant Causes Internet Storm
A pesky new variant of the MyDoom worm — dubbed MyDoom.m or MyDoom.o — clogged e-mail accounts and crippled Internet search engines Monday with messages posing as either a returned e-mail notice or an alert from an IT administrator. MyDoom.m usually arrives as an executable programme file attachment that launches when you open your e-mail.
The newest variant of the MyDoom worm then sets about to search your address book for e-mail domains (e.g. @telus.net), in the process launching an Internet search using various search engines (Google suffered a major attack). Once MyDoom has located additional e-mail addresses, it sends out a denial-of-service attack across the Web. Note to corporate workers: Have your morning coffee before opening your e-mail.
And Below, VanRamblings’ Newest Tech Tuesday Feature
As is the case every week, the security news just doesn’t stop. Microsoft’s Internet Explorer browser was practically on the 10 Most Wanted list as a bank robber, thanks to malicious code that uses advertising pop-ups to steal data from bank Web sites. Not surprisingly, VanRamblings will provide you with the information you need to know.
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The Internet Explorer onslaught continued unabated this past week, and the message that IE is somewhat less than a safe browser seems to be getting through to an increasing number of Internet surfers. Maybe it’s the constant reports of vulnerabilities, culminating in last week’s news about pop-up ads that can actually harvest password and other data from bank Web sites. Either way, according to Google and C|NET, searches for browsers — most particularly Mozilla, and Firefox — dominated network traffic last week, providing evidence that Microsoft’s stranglehold on the browser market may be coming to an end.
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Last week, Google announced that it had purchased Picasa, a company that makes software for organizing digital photos. Almost immediately, Google made the software available for free, resulting in a massive download of the programme by computer users worldwide. At first glance, the purchase seemed a tad puzzling. Picasa makes a desktop product; Google is a Web search engine. But Google would appear to have big plans for Picasa’s Hello peer-to-peer photo-sharing application, which already works seamlessly with Google’s Blogger Weblogging service. Google is also likely preparing to compete with Microsoft, which has already touted advanced image-search features in its upcoming Longhorn operating system.
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Is KaZaA totally over? Although it’s too early to draw broad conclusions about KaZaA’s future, for some months now the search has been on for file-swapping alternatives that are less hassle than KaZaA. What pieces of software are emerging as the early favourites in the peer-to-peer sweepstakes? eDonkey and its cousin eMule (VanRamblings uses the latter) have gained a loyal following. BitTorrent is the alternative for the tech savvy. Over a period of six months, network management company CacheLogic found that KaZaA had slipped far behind rival BitTorrent, which accounted for 53 percent of actual peer-to-peer network traffic. And, arising Phoenix-like from the dead, WinMX, which has moved into a Top 10 position at Download.com.
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Want more information on BitTorrent? Here’s the scoop: BitTorrent is peer-to-peer software that makes it easy to share huge files quickly and reliably. Remember, with earlier file-sharing networks, waiting behind 15 other people to download a file from some poor sap with a 384Kbps DSL upload pipe? BitTorrent avoids that bottleneck by splitting files into chunks and having people download different chunks from one another. Everyone downloads and uploads at the same time. Inevitably, people discovered that BitTorrent is a dandy tool for swapping movies and TV episodes. Beware, though: The entertainment industry is watching; BitTorrent also exposes your IP address.
Question of the Week
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I accidentally unchecked the ‘Always ask’ option in the File Download dialogue box when I downloaded a .zip file. Now I’m no longer asked about whether I want a downloaded .zip file opened. How do I get that choice back? — Submitted by: Jonathan Kwan, Edmonton, Alberta
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As always, we’ll assume that you’re using Windows XP. Here goes, then: In Windows Explorer, select Tools / Folder Options. Click the File Types tab. In the ‘Registered file types’ list, select the appropriate type (zip, or WinZip File, in your case). Click the Advanced button. Check the Confirm open after download box, and click OK.
Breach of Confidentiality: BC PCs … and the FBI?
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British Columbia is outsourcing desktop computer support for all government employees. The company awarded the contract: IBM.
Public workers, represented by the BCGEU, have gone on record as expressing concern that the privacy rights of all British Columbians could very well be in jeopardy.
IBM will not only gain access to most of the confidential files handled by the provincial government — the company could be compelled to share your confidential information with the FBI, under the sweeping new provisions of the USA Patriot Act.
The BCGEU has filed a complaint with the office of the B.C. Privacy Commissioner on the issue of citizens’ rights to privacy in the outsourcing of government services, and has also initiated legal action to overturn the outsourcing of confidential information services to private firms.
In addition to the undertaking of the BCGEU, a broad coalition of community groups has launched a Right To Privacy campaign, setting as their goal “no contracting out of information or information management to any company subject to foreign laws that violate the rights of Canadians.”
As of this writing, the provincial government continues its plans to contract out the administration of the Medical Services Plan and Pharmacare to Maximus Inc., an American multinational corporation, by the end of August.
According to an article written by Michael Geist — the Canada Research Chair in Internet and E-commerce Law at the University of Ottawa — and published in the Toronto Star …
A review of both Canadian and U.S. law leaves little doubt that U.S. law does grant law enforcement authorities the power to compel disclosure of personal information without notifying the targeted individual that their information is indeed being disclosed (in fact, disclosing the disclosure is itself a violation of the law).
The troubling truth is that this is not strictly a Patriot Act issue. There are several U.S. investigatory powers that grant similar authority. These include grand jury subpoenas and national security letters, both of which predate the Patriot Act.
Moreover, the application of these laws is not limited to U.S. companies but actually applies to any company with sufficient U.S. connections such that it could find itself subject to the jurisdiction of the U.S. courts. Several cases, including one involving the Bank of Nova Scotia, have found that the U.S. courts are entitled to apply U.S. criminal law, even in the face of a conflicting obligation under the foreign law. This is true both for U.S. companies operating subsidiaries in foreign countries as well as for foreign companies with U.S. subsidiaries.
You’ve heard about it elsewhere, but VanRamblings has the naughty pictures and the whole salacious story (courtesy of Olde Blighty’s News of the World), all for you. “I kept saying to him that I wasn’t ready and he kept asking me why. I told him we didn’t have condoms. But it was obvious he was desperate to make love.” Sure, they call her the Princess of Pop, the blonde babe whose sexy videos are as memorable as her catchy singles.
Since Canada’s, and British Columbia’s, privacy laws are unlikely to meet the blocking statute standard, it seems likely that U.S. law enforcement authorities may indeed compel the disclosure of Canadian data.
B.C.’s Privacy Commissioner, David Loukidelis, wants to know what you think about the provincial Liberals’ plan to contract out the administration of the Medical Services Plan, Pharmacare and other public services to American multinational corporations.
Submissions must be clearly labelled “Submission on the USA Patriot Act” and mailed to P.O. Box 9038, Stn. Prov. Govt., Victoria, B.C. V8W 9A4, or sent by fax to 250-387-1696, or submitted by e-mail to
Justin Cheats, Britney Droops
Justin Cheats on Cameron, and We All Weep
According to Britain’s favourite scandal rag, former ’NSYNC member and current pop prince Justin Timberlake spent two sizzling nights with model Lucy Clarkson (pictured to your right), while Justin’s girlfriend, Cameron Diaz, was 5,000 miles away in Los Angeles playing domestic goddess.
Still and all, according to the voluptuous Lucy Clarkson, neither she nor he scored …
For more on Justin’s boob fetish, take a moment to read the whole romantic, silly, virtually chaste, rock ’n roll story … here.
Star’s Gone From Superbabe To Wreck of the Month
But just four months before her wedding, Britney Spears’ drop-dead gorgeous looks seemed to, well, have dropped dead.
At 22, riddled with spots, the once sleek and chiseled Britney now has a double chin, puffy eyes, droopy boobs and wrinkles.
The whole sordid story is available here. Read it and weep.