Non-profit Payday Loans: Get Nailed, Just Not as Deeply
I don’t know how they get away with calling these non-profit. The Consumerist calculates that the interest being paid by their example case is still at 252%.
Tags: Scams - Ripoffs - Dirty TricksOdd Comment Spam: “Thank You”
Leaving comments that are short and irrelevant to the conversation is a spammer trick for getting bloggers to approve their comment (which usually has a link attached to a site they want to drive traffic to). However, I got three such comments with no links so I wasn’t sure if they were spam or not at first. However, I solved that pretty fast. Do a simple google search for “Dakota .... [Click here to read the rest of this post]
In Arizona, Sharing Music Online is Costly
The results of this case are signifigant because the RIAA didn’t have to prove that the defendants actually shared anything. They won their suit because they were able to prove that the defendants made the songs available in their shared folder which, to the RIAA, is the same as distributing whether or not anyone actually downloads it.
New E-mail Scam: The IRS is Investigating You
Whenever you get something like this, always go to the source, never respond to the e-mail.
Tags: Scams - Ripoffs - Dirty TricksWhy the Consumer Safety Product Commission Doesn’t Work
From the Washington Post, a fairly concise description of what the CSPC is, where it came from, why it's necessary, and why it's almost completely irrelivant today. JTAG ERROR: No consumerist_ht index defined
Gonzales Steps Down, But Gets Off Scott Free?
So he's finally gone. He didn't get prosecuted yet, but will he? That's the question.
Gonzales's resignation is the latest in a series of high-level departures that has reshaped the end of Bush's second term. Karl Rove, another of Bush's close circle of aides from Texas, stepped down two weeks ago. Proof That Telco’s Aided Illegal Spying
It's so nice that our spy chief slipped up and released this information. If it helps the lawsuits against AT&T and the like go forward, all the better. One comment about something McConnell said:
McConnell also said telecom firms should have immunity from lawsuits.
"If you play out the suits at the value they're claimed, it would bankrupt these companies," he said. Drug Testing Cities/Communities
Here’s a neat thought. Drug test the sewage to determine the drug usage of whole cities or neighborhoods. This would be a great tool for determinining safe places to live, though there are certainly some privacy implications if this were used to narrow down to individuals.
More WGA Problems
Microsoft uses the Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA) tool, a piece of DRM software with a catchy marketing slogan, to spy on your computer and then make a decision whether or not your version of Windows is valid. Assuming that it decides it's not (even if it is), it will disable your computer. The best part of the deal is that on Windows XP machines, they slipped the "tool" into the .... [Click here to read the rest of this post]
Tags: MicrosoftGaming: Bioshock Doesn’t Have a Rootkit
There's been buzz that the new game, Bioshock, comes installed with a rootkit. It turns out that it's rootkit free… sort of. The point here is that people were worried that there's inappropriate software secretly installed with the game, and that much is true, it's just DRM, not an actual rootkit. As Ars Technica puts it:
Systems like SecuROM attempt to defeat common modes of piracy, but .... [Click here to read the rest of this post]