Another Day, Another Hidden Data Breach Exposed

Pfizer lost data, blah, blah, blah. All these reports do is strengthen the arguments for credit freezes and against data brokering. If we could freeze our credit reports, this wouldn't be a problem and if they didn't rape us for our data, this wouldn't have happened (oversimplified, yes, but it's the basic idea). Tags:

New NASA Space Suit

Because it's neat: MIT is working on a new suit that is far more flexible and lighter than the current puffy things. JTAG ERROR: No slashdot_ht index defined

The State of the RIAA Today

One defendant of the RIAA inquisition has just been awarded attorney’s fees against the RIAA. The article does a good job of summarizing the history of this case and includes links to articles about more resistance from defendants and the courts againts their unethical practices. It’s worth a read.

US Builds Iraqi Biometric Database

Under the guise of security, the Iraqi people are being cataloged into a US database. First, I want to make it clear that I do not necessarily oppose this move in that it's possible that it will be used properly to target terrorist while leaving innocent people alone. As with all the various privacy concerns here, though, the problem is in what else they plan to do with the data. And let's face it, the US governement has a sad, sick, history of abusing our data and privacy. JTAG ERROR: No privacyorg_ht index defined Tags:

A Blurb About Manhunt 2

I don't know a lot about this game other than it's very violent and has been banned from the UK. Reading about it doesn't make it any better:
“In Manhunt 2, players can mutilate their enemies with an axe; saw their skulls in half castrate them with a pair of pliers; or kill them by bashing their head into an electrical box, where a power surges eventually blows their head apart, ? the letter charges. “On the Nintendo Wii, players will actually act out the violence. One review of the game describes using a saw blade to "cut upward into a foe's groin and buttocks, motioning forward and backward with the Wii remote as you go. ?
Wow, you couldn't make it more real if you tried. Parental groups in the US aren't necessarily determined to ban it and would be satisfied with just giving it an Adult rating. While this is a completely reasonable request and, as far as I'm concerned, a blatantly obvious decision, Take-Two (the game's producer) is fighting this for purely monetary reasons:
An Adults Only rating, however, could be a death blow to the game, since Nintendo and Sony, maker of the PlayStation platform, currently have policies that bar AO-rated games for their systems. That would limit sales for use only on personal computers.
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Your Printer Spies on You

I just want to remind everyone about this so here’s a list of printers that print yellow “Tracking dots” on everything you print. The dots can be used to trace a print directly back to your printer in case of a crime or if something you printed is anywhere near a crime thus possibly involving you. Tags: ,

Beware Microsoft “Try before you buy” Deal

A Slashdot user warns us not to use the “Try before you buy” deal based on his experience with the same deal and Office 2003. He said it changed all the file types to 2003 so when the trial was over, he wasn’t able to access any of his files. Usually, the program will warn you before updating the format, but it won’t warn you that anything you create from scratch during the trial will be locked into the newer program. And as you can read in the comments, most people agree that it’s ridiculous that Microsoft refuses to make the files backwards compatible. Tags:

No Unistall Command in Vista?

Apparently, a recent update to Vista has disabled program uninstall. That sounds like a big problem to me, but so far, no word from Microsoft on the issue. Tags:

Hackers Winning Microsoft DRM Battle

Let’s hear it for the winning team! Yeah! Tags:

More Bad News For the RIAA

Two things today: This and this. I didn’t have the strength to summarize these, but check them out if you’re a fan of watching the RIAA scum writhe.

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E-mail Dangers

Until we find out who the people are who actually buy things from spammers and kick them off the Internet, you're going to have to learn how to deal with and prevent spam.
E-mail Viruses - Learn how viruses are spread through e-mail and how to stop them
Phishing - Spot and avoid lures that pull you into the dark side of the web
Don't be one of those people that loses thousands of dollars to the classic Nigerian Scam.

E-mail Etiquette

Use CC only when necessary and BCC the rest of the time.
Use Reply-All when you mean to and never when you don't.
Practice proper E-mail Forwarding to protect privacy and make e-mails more readable.
Always personalize your e-mails to make it obvious to your recipient that it's valid.

E-mail Tips and Tricks

Using E-Mail Aliases Properly - Be careful about using sensitive data (like your real name) in an e-mail account.
Remember to treat your e-mail account with the security it deserves.
Use a decoy e-mail account to keep your main e-mail account free of spam.
Avoid using any Internet provider's default e-mail.

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Preventing Spam

Spam is annoying and worthless, but you still see it every single day. Here are some tips for preventing and reducing spam.

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E-mail Viruses

Make sure that viruses don't sneak onto your computer through your e-mails. Read some simple tips to prevent that from happening.

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Phishing

By far the most dangerous thing you'll find in e-mails is a lie. Sending a bogus e-mail to someone is generally called phishing, but can also be referred to as a Nigerian scam (depending on the goal of the e-mail). Learn to recognize and deal with phishing before it's too late.

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Nigerian Scam

Many people have lost thousands and even hundreds of thousands of dollars to the classic Nigerian Scam. Don't fall for it!

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How to Use "CC" Properly

Don't violate people's privacy and invite spam into their accounts by CC'ing all your contacts. Learn the proper way to send mass e-mails first.

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Reply-All

It's easy to embarass yourself or harm your career when you don't know how to use Reply-All appropriately.

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How to Forward E-mails Properly

Don't forward e-mails carelessly or you risk looking foolish as best and violating the privacy of all your contacts at worst.

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Personalize E-mail

Follow this simple rule of e-mail etiquette to help prevent your friends and family from falling for phishing scams.

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Using E-Mail Aliases Properly

It can be hard to find a good name to use in an e-mail account that hasn't been used and doesn't give away too much information about you.

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Protecting E-mail Passwords

Your e-mail account is the most important online account you have. Remember to treat it as such!.

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Using a Decoy E-Mail Account

Why it's very important to use a buffer e-mail account to shield your main account from people and companies that you don't trust.

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The ISP E-mail Trap

Don't fall for the trap of using the free e-mail account provided to you by your Internet service!

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