Lost!

This takes the cake on some of the crazy website User Agreements. I stumbled across a Slashdot Article that led me to a Techdirt Article (see - why can’t I just get to the damn story!) that led me to a user agreement that just blew me away:

For instance, we are the creators of all of the text on this website, and own the “look and feel” of this website. We also own all of the code, including the HTML code, and all content. As you may know, you can view the HTML code with a standard browser. We do not permit you to view such code since we consider it to be our intellectual property protected by the copyright laws. You are therefore not authorized to do so. In addition, you should not make any copies of any part of this website in any way since we do not want anyone copying us. We also do not allow any links to our site without our express permission, except that you must maintain the link in our Copyright Infringement Warning Button as it is designed. Original

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I had the displeasure of reading a sorry excuse for a story on Open Source Content Management Packages for Enterprises. The sad part is, Alfresco wasn’t even mentioned. Drupal, Mambo/Joomla, several Wiki packages and even WordPress where mentioned, again, for Enterprise level CMS - otherwise known as ECM. Someone didn’t do their homework, at all. Continue reading…

It appears that a group has decided to start using Blogs, specifically Google’s Blogger, to introduce Trojan Horses to visitors computers. Infection is via links embedded in the text (ie: a normal link) that causes the Trojan to download and execute. The BBC is covering this.

Unfortunately, anyone that has a Monster.com account needs to be on the look out for Phishing attempts since data was leaked. Symantec noticed the breach and notified Monster, but is insisting that users be wary of email that contain personal information such as employment history, skill sets and more. Like many people, I’m affected by this as well.

Symantec said it had seen reports of phishing e-mails sent out to Monster.com users which were “very realistic” and contained “personal information of the victims”.

The e-mail encouraged users to download a Monster Job Seeker Tool, which was in fact a program that encrypted files in their computer and left a ransom note demanding money for their decryption.

Story

In an odd fashion, Skype has announced that the millions of computers rebooting after a Windows Update brought down its network.

At first, the default Windows Update time and default options don’t seem like much until you figure out that an entire timezone, each with millions of people, have the default options chosen. X minutes after check in, most computers in that timezone reboot, put strain on their ISPs and other services. This is effectively like a rolling brownout/blackout due to too many air conditioners being on in hot areas. The system crashes and restarts, but crashes again and again due to load.

For this reason, as well as the fact that I don’t like my computer rebooting in the middle of something (like a document or my BeyondTV box recording something), I don’t leave the default options on.

Now, to their credit, Skype said that this wasn’t Microsoft’s fault, but I think otherwise. Sure, Skype needs open ports and the ability handle massive amounts of traffic, but so does your average Telephone company. Imagine if everyone in the US picked up the phone all at once. What do you think would happen? Well, you don’t have to imagine because it happened on 9/11. The system had massive problems, dropped calls, crossed trunks, millions of busy signals - even the Internet was effected that day.

I was working at Earthlink the day it happened. We saw our call Q’s go from 120+ calls on hold to less than 10 in minutes. We also saw a huge drop in internet traffic as events played out on live TV but within an hour, global bandwidth was eaten up by people switching from Phone to Internet Communications causing massive loads on the ISP side. Earthlink was even visited by the FBI, they requested that we stay open and even authorize overtime for any employee that works on keeping the network up - Earthlink had a heart that day and agreed.

Anyway, this problem was ultimately created by Microsoft. If they had introduced a random time generator for Windows updates between Midnight and 6am, This type of situation would have never happened. No domino effect, no lost service for millions of customers.

…Then again, if you’re using VOIP, you know the risks of going fully digital at the moment.