[Vision2020] Stay out of jail - beware of spyware

[Paul Rumelhart]

Ted Moffett wrote:

>  
> Paul et. al.
>  
> I wonder if the mayor of Bovill is a truly innocent victim of the 
> digital shenanigans you discuss, given he has been charged with misuse 
> of city computers relating to "pornographic" content:
>  
> http://www.localnews8.com/story.cfm?nav=news&storyID=122 
> <http://www.localnews8.com/story.cfm?nav=news&storyID=122>


It's hard to say without knowing more about the case.  The article seems 
a little confused.  I don't understand the "accidentally sent spam 
e-mail which opened up to porn websites" part.  It's possible he's 
trying to say that he accidentally clicked on an advertisement sent to 
him that was spam that either went to a porn site or to a site that 
installed spyware that delivered porn popup ads.  It would depend upon 
exactly what the forensic expert found.  The part about "eventually 
breaking the machine" indicates to me that it was infested with 
spyware/adware/trojans/etc.  I don't know how they will tell if he 
accessed a porn site through a popup that he had no control over or 
whether he willfully navigated to a porn site.  It would also depend 
upon what the other employees say and so forth.

>  
> I wonder if you can offer your opinion on Microsoft's new OS, Vista?  
> It is supposed to have much better security.  Anyone buying a new 
> computer will soon have Vista as an pre-installed option.


I haven't used Vista yet, and hope not to for a while.  I've decided 
that XP was the last Microsoft OS that I plan to install at home.  I 
don't expect everyone to have this same sort of bias, but I have learned 
over the years to be sceptical of Microsoft's claims about security.  
That doesn't mean that they didn't get it right this time, though.

>  
> As I read about Vista in PC magazine, and Microsoft security software, 
> I discovered Microsoft has made a push to invade the security software 
> market to threaten the other dominant players with "Windows OneCare," 
> which can protect against the threats you discussed.  What do you 
> think about this option?
>  
> http://news.com.com/Microsoft+security+service+to+ship+in+June/2100-7350_3-6036290.html


I am particularly upset about this, because flaws in Microsoft products 
account for the majority of spyware/virus problems.  It would be kind of 
like a city selling heavy-duty shocks to it's citizens for a profit 
because no one can drive on their roads without damaging their cars 
because there are so many potholes and they refuse to fix them.

>  
> As you mentioned, you did not comment on Microsoft's IE7 browser, but 
> if it does function better in regards to security, why not have it on 
> your list of options?  Or do you really suspect it is not as good with 
> security as Mozilla Firefox?


I didn't put it on my list because I haven't used it and would hate to 
tell everyone to move to it and find it has more problems that IE6 did.  
IE7 may be as good as or better than Firefox, I just don't know.  
Microsoft has annoyed me so many times that they have to have an 
extremely good reason for me to continue with their product, whether it 
comes bundled with the OS or not.  I am skeptical of their claims of 
better security mainly because I have heard it all before.  Yes, they 
are slowly making progress, but they have been trying to sell their OS 
as "more secure" since Windows NT 4.0 at least.

Firefox is made by ordinary people who are just as fed up as I am with 
Microsoft's heavy-handed policies and shoddy software.  It's a positive 
work of art that is truly built with the user in mind and not some 
ethically-dubious goal locking people into their product.  Firefox gets 
better quickly, while IE has been stagnant for years until real 
competition came around.  I can also get behind the open source concept, 
which means that you are free to use and free to redistribute just as 
long as you give any changes you have made yourself back to the 
community.  I find that a great arrangement, and try to favor open 
source products at home and (when I can) at the office.

>  
> Well, as many computer savvy insiders, you obviously think Microsoft's 
> software sucks!


I would like to point out that not all of their software sucks.  Parts 
of the operating system are of a nice design, some of their development 
environments are nice to use, and I really love their older ergonomic 
keyboard. 

However, they have done lots of bad things over the years, and don't 
seem to be making any real changes in their behavior despite being ruled 
a monopoly and brought up on charges of unfair business practices here 
in the US and in Europe.  They constantly leverage their monopoly on 
desktops to force competitors in other areas out of business.  They make 
sure their product is the defacto standard because it is installed on 
90%+ of the computers out there, and then tweak their standards so that 
the competition (which adheres to the official standards) breaks.  They 
constantly change their own file formats for their office products so 
that people are forced to upgrade because they can't read the new 
formats that are being sent to them in emails.  They constantly make bad 
choices, such as making ActiveX so easy to abuse by website authors or 
having their email product execute files by default, that causes many 
problems for millions of people (such as the topic that started this 
thread - spyware).  They are forcing DRM down people's throats through 
their monopoly. 

In short, they don't play nice.  So I don't do business with them if I 
can help it.  Even if it hurts me.

>  
> What does, "drink of the Redmond kool-aid?" mean?


I don't see where that was said, but it probably equates to "believing, 
without skepticism or critical thought, press-releases from the 
Microsoft company".  The main Microsoft campus is in Redmond, Washington.

Paul