[Vision2020] Spam, Bots, and Porn

[Paul Rumelhart]

I agree with you whole-heartedly.  We drink the same kool-aid.  I'm 
running Debian Etch right now, because I like the stability even if I am 
a little behind the curve sometimes with Debian stable.

Linux isn't just for geeks anymore.  Now power users and/or normal users 
with geek support can have a go at it and have it work for them.  I 
follow the Wine project, which allows you to run Windows code on Linux, 
but it's not far enough along yet for the average user to run their 
favorite Windows programs.  That's really the downside.  There is 
usually something out there in linux-land they can use, but they still 
have to make the switch.  Quicken -> GnuCash, Photoshop -> GIMP, etc.  
It's improving fast, though.

It's great if you are either computer-savvy enough that you don't mind 
(or even enjoy) tinkering a bit, or if you simply use the system as a 
device to read mail, surf the net, and look at pictures of the 
grandkids.  It's encroaching steadily on that middle ground, though.  
It's also moving very fast.  Two years from now, it will be a completely 
different story.  Linux has come a long way in the last two years.

I'd have no beef with Microsoft if they'd learn to compete on a fair 
field rather than putting their efforts into changing the rules.  They 
would have to redesign a lot of their core technology to be safer by 
design, but they have the money and the brain trust to make it happen.  
It's a pity that they waste it on half-assed attempts to duck tape their 
systems in an attempt to make them more secure.  Like the sub-system in 
Vista that asks you if you want to allow or cancel all the time.  Want 
to delete an icon on the desktop?  You'll have to click "Allow".  Want 
to completely hose your network settings?  Go ahead!

Paul

P.S.  Do you know of any local linux user groups?  I think there's one 
in Couer d'Alene, but with the U of I here, we should have one here too.

KRFP wrote:
> Paul Rumelhart wrote:
>   
>> I'd also like to see Microsoft nailed for making 
>> their systems so easy to hack into and be taken control of.  
>>   
>>     
> The only way to nail Microsoft is to stop using their products (with the 
> possible exception of their keyboards and mice, which rock). 
>
> The problem is a lot worse then you might imagine. The holes that 
> Microsoft intentionally left in its OS to serve our corporate masters 
> are being exploited in many ways, spam is just the tip of the iceberg.  
> Some estimate that up to 80% of Windoze machines (that aren't behind a 
> serious corporate firewall) are infected with bots (short for robot).  
> Have you ever had a Trojan Downloader virus that was alive on your 
> computer for oh say a minute before your  virus checker found it?  Are 
> you silly enough to use Internet Explorer?  Outlook?  or Windows Media 
> Player?  Do you surf the net without a javascript blocker? (do you even 
> know what I mean?) Then it is likely that you have bots on your computer.
>
> Of course one of the main uses of these bots are to use your e-mail 
> program and your bandwidth to send out lots of spam.  But they do other 
> things, there are hacker masters out there with huge armies of computers 
> that they use for denial-of-service (DOS) attacks, i.e. they pick a 
> website and have all the computers make requests at the same time, they 
> even fragment the requests so that each one makes the server work 100 
> times more then it needs to.  Once they have a web reputation they don't 
> do these attacks they just threaten to do so, and include a dollar 
> figure and a Swiss (or Cayman Island??) bank account number.  The IP's 
> just pay it because it is cheaper then suffering the attack. This of 
> course just goes into the expense column of the IP's balance sheets 
> driving up costs for all of us.
>
> They also use your e-mail account to send fake user reviews for a fake 
> sellers on e-bay.  Then they "sell" products which are never delivered.  
> I hate this one because I'd like to be able to trust the user reviews.
>
> They of course search for your personal information.  And by the way, 
> keyboard monitoring bots are common, and a password really stands out in 
> a string of keyboard input.
>
> And now for the biggie; I recently found out that they set up file 
> repositories and back-door file servers on peoples computers.  Why would 
> they need to store the files on your computer?  Because they don't want 
> child pornography on their own computers if they are going to risk 
> selling the stuff.  Thats right folks, by using Microsoft Windows you 
> are risking having child pornography stored on and distributed from your 
> computer, I think I can leave the moral and legal implications of this 
> to your imaginations.
>
> But there is hope! It's name is Linux.  I still have a Windows install 
> because I like to play games, but I have now disabled the lan port (in 
> Windows) so that I don't need to worry about it anymore (fortunately I 
> don't have a taste for on-line games).  Linux is much easier to use, you 
> can find your programs because they are sorted by type, not by 
> corporation. It can be flasher then Vista or OSX if you want (if you 
> have a 3D graphics card), in fact Vista stole many of it's new flashy 
> features from Linux (typical, they stole windows from Macintosh in the 
> first place).  Installing your software is a breeze, and I don't use the 
> term "your software" lightly, once you download it is is yours, not the 
> corporation's licensed to you (wiki: "GPL").  Oh yeah, did I mention 
> that it's free?
>
> There are many different types and flavors of Linux, and choosing 
> between them can be confusing.  I chose Ubuntu Linux for two reasons: 
> First, Ubuntu is an African term meaning "Humanity to others" or "I am 
> what I am because of who we all are", which is a philosophy I can 
> totally get behind.  And also because it seems to have the most 
> development action, I think due in large part to that philosophy.
>
>
> Dave
> Resident Geek
> Radio Free Moscow
>
> (wow, I should get up early more often, I actually wrote like a whole page!)
>
>
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