[Vision2020] [Spam] Re: Stay out of jail - beware of spyware

Wed Jan 17 14:25:24 PST 2007

It is hard to know at this point if he is guilty or innocent.  We should give him the benefit of the doubt. A few years ago I had some problems with pop-ups. I tried to get some information on Bill Clinton and found myself in a porn site. In another case I was looking for some information on rabbits. Again another porn site. For several weeks after that pop-up porn sites automatically appeared. I don't remember how I eventually got rid of them.

Roger
-----Original message-----
From: Paul Rumelhart godshatter at yahoo.com
Date: Tue, 16 Jan 2007 21:04:00 -0800
To: Vision 2020 vision2020 at moscow.com
Subject: [Spam] Re: [Vision2020] Stay out of jail - beware of spyware

> 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
> 
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