PETE'S SOMETIME
NEWSLETTER
June 18, 2001
No matter where you go, there you
are
Hi Ya'll,
Privacy? What's
That?
How private is the information held in credit reporting agency,
insurange company, medical, phone company, and other databases? What can you do
to lessen the chances you'll be an Identity Theft victim?
The non-profit
Privacy
Rights Clearinghouse organization has answers to these and other
privacy issues. Click on the Fact Sheets link (left sidebar). In Fact Sheet 3,
for instance, we find: "
Privacy tip: Do not include your telephone number
on the outgoing message of your answering machine ....", and of course never
your name. In Fact Sheet 18 we learn,
"There are virtually no online
activities or services that guarantee an absolute right of
privacy."
As you read through the Fact Sheets you'll discover the
Federal, and California, laws regulating various database, telemarketing, and
junk mail industries. Also, you'll discover how those industries' lobbies have
made, or nearly made, some of the Federal laws meaningless because of all the
loopholes they got our Congresspersons to include.
Ever Hear of
Echelon?
It was in the news a tiny bit early in May. In short, the US and
other countries are scanning all e-mail, chat rooms, pagers, long distance
telephone and cell phone calls, FAXes, satellite communications, looking for key
words which may signal criminal, terrorist, and subversive military, activities.
PC
World.com has an article on what little is known about Echelon. Is it
privacy invasion? The Governments involved believe it is a noble cause and
beneign for law abiders. What do you think?
Do You Work for a Large
Company?
E-Mail
Privacy at Your Job: A recent survey of major U.S. companies shows about 75%
of them now monitor employee e-mail, phone calls, Internet connections, and
computer files. That's up 100% from a 1997 survey. In another survey, 79%
of responding workers say they have their own Web e-mail accounts through
which they send and receive personal mail while at work, and 58% of respondents
say they aren't worried about employer monitoring. This article explains why
maybe both groups should be if they're doing anything other than company
business.
Election 2000
Issues
There are magazine and newspaper articles, mailbox
stuffers, expounders, politicians, voter guides, and Web sites galore
telling you the political points of view, and perhaps how you should vote.
At Public Agenda Online we find
Clarifying
Issues 2000 Guides presenting entirely unbiased reports on a number of
issues. These Guides are "designed to help you clarify your views and weigh your
values concerning some of America's most challenging problems.... The goal is to
examine each issue from the perspective of citizens, not politicians."
Each one examines three points of view, offers arguments for and
against each view, and suggests some tradeoffs and costs. You make up your own
mind. Is Mr. John or Ms. Jane proposing anything of substance, or just
trading on the popular opinion of the day? Perhaps these Issues 2000 Guides will
help you decide if either one is going in your direction, or make you wonder
(and write them) why not?
Security
Goofs
The SANS Institute, DOJ, and FBI issue
List of Worst Net Threats. Top of
the "sins" lists for both company and home users is not verifying who sent you
an attachment and what's in it (including screen savers and games), not applying
Operating System and Software security updates (did someone say MS Office and
Microsoft and Netscape browsers?), and not keeping Anti Virus software up to
date.
Print Your Own
Tickets
Movie tickets at no extra charge are available at
Moviephone.com and
MovieTickets.com. Order your
tickets, pay with credit card, print them on your printer, bypass sold out sign
and ticket line at theater, and give the ticket taker your printout. If one site
doesn't handle "your" theater, the other one probably does. The two sites are
linked up with different chains.
TicketMaster.com is
also getting into the print-your-own ticket game for the usual stuff it
handles.
IRS for
Kids
http://www.irs.gov/taxi/ is aimed at
teenagers. For those ready to start their first summer job, it explains
what taxes are, what they're used for, types of income (salary, hourly,
tip), and the Withheld and FICA taxes that make their paycheck smaller than
what they were told they would be getting, or why earning $280 may result
in a $226 paycheck.
Right now, they are also running a nice section for teens
(or anyone who hasn't a clue) wanting to start their own business: Do you
have what does it takes?; Sole Proprietorship or Partnership?;
Employes?; Making business, management, marketing, financial plans; Permits
& Licenses; Business expenses and record keeping; Quarterly estimated tax
payments; Sole Proprietor and Partnership taxes and tax forms; and a multiple
choice questionaire to test ones understanding of it all.
There's also a section on Tax Terms at a young person's level,
and one for secondary school teachers containing resourses for Intro to Taxes
classes.
Commercial-Free
Internet Radio
Radio Free Virgin,
backed by the guy who owns Virgin Airlines (and who, strangely enough, is a
computer-phobe,) is a set of 25 Internet-only radio stations, or
"channels". Click the News and Channels buttons along the bottom of
the page's logo to find out what Radio Free Virgin is all about and read
descriptions of the channels. The few channels I've sampled so far
played a nice mix. If you don't care for the current piece, you'll probably like
the next one. The sound is very nice. I think they might be using my Windows
Media Player 7.0 Beta behind the scenes
But before you can listen to anything, you've got to
download their "Player", which is no big deal. It's just a small
program that's really just a device to link directly to the channel you
want to listen to. However, before downloading the player, click the site's Help
button to learn how to use the player. It has no Help of its own. And forget
about using the player's volume control; it's too hard to manipulate. Use
Window's volume control instead.
Requirements: Either Internet Explorer 5 or the latest version
of MS Media Player. Download the install file (2.36MB) to your desktop, click it
to install the Player, delete the install file, and click the new bright
red Virgin desktop shortcut to start listening.
Of
Course
The
Democrats have gotten into the ISP business. They charge $0.00, of
course.
The Republicans have
gotten into the ISP business. They charge $19.95, of course.
New
Virus
This one doesn't have a name yet, as of June 8, but the
discoverers are calling it
The Serbian Badman Trojan (TSB
Trojan). It is targeted at home and business Windows 95/98 systems
with DSL, cable, or other high speed "always on" Internet connection. It
won't erase or change any files, but it will steal passwords and other
personal info and transmit it to, and make your computer an open book to,
and controllable by, the virus writers. How might you get this virus? Maybe from
a Web page, chat room, or e-mail. It's disguised as a MOVIE (.avi) file! When
you try to play the movie, the virus program is written to your disk behind
your back, and is executed the next time you reboot. You can read
about it at
Network
Security Technologies (NETSEC), which made the initial discovery
of this virus - on one of their own computers, would you believe.
If that link contains a different Alert by the time you receive
this newsletter, try a couple of AP stories
here and
here.
Dial-Up Ain't
Dead Yet
A
new dial-up modem standard called V.92, and Fax standard called V.34,
should be available in modems by year's end. If you have a 56K V.90 modem you
may be able to upgrade with a software download (probably free) from your modem
vendor. Upgraded and new modems promise 50% faster connection to your ISP,
line monitoring to adjust speed according to line conditions, FAX speed of 33.6
kbps, and support for Internet Call Waiting.
If you've been thinking of buying a faster modem, don't be in a
hurry to pay a premium for the first V.92's to hit the market. For some reason
major ISP's, such as AOL and MSN, are taking a "wait and see" stance. Earthlink
will upgrade a few and "evaluate." I suppose they find upgrading software for
thousands of modems to be nearly as distasteful as having to buy all those 56K
V.90 modems a few years ago. User pressure forced them to do it, and I see user
pressure eventually forcing the V.92 upgrade.
Maybe they are keeping an eye on possibly having to purchase new
modems again in 2 or 3 years. The story reports one industry analyst expecting
to see 144K modems in 18 months. Wonder how those work? FCC limit 56K modems to
53K actual speed because higher speeds generate interference in the phone cable
bundles. Perhaps the 144K's will use a new compression scheme which effectively
transmits 144 kbps (thousand bits per seconds) while operating at a real 53
kbps? However they do it, bring it on!
Environment
New
EPA Dioxin report nearing completion. The good news - From 1987 to 1995
environmental Dioxin levels have decreased 80%. The bad news - Dioin is more
toxic than previously thought. Primary human exposure is from the foods most of
us eat. There are links throughout and below this short article leading to
details and much more dioxin information.
Stalking
the wild Frankensalmon. A British Columbia firm is seeking FDA approval
to market their genetically modified salmon in the USA. These aquacultured
salmon grow 4 to 6 times faster than "normal". In the wild, in general,
Pacific salmon take 2 to 6 years from egg to spawning age. Are these
Atlantic salmon (see next article) or Pacific?
Does that mean these fish can go from egg to market in 1 year or
less and pretty soon salmon won't cost much more than catfish? Sounds like a
good deal. But what if some of these fish escape from their pens (it happens all
the time), interbreed with wild salmon, and pass on their rapid growth rate?
Maybe that would restore some runs to rivers from which salmon have nearly
vanished. Sounds like a good deal. But what if these cross-bred salmon aren't
strong or smart enough to live in the wild? Sounds like a saving grace.
Assuming these "new" fish can survive, they won't have 2 to
6 years to spred throughout the ocean. Normally, salmon spend the first year in
the river, and are about 3 inches long at one year old. Will the
genetically modified ones immediatly start downstream when they are born, or
stick around and eat up all the food their rapid growth will demand? Assuming
they do head for the ocean lickity split, they'll barely begin the journey when
suddenly they'll be adults and it's time to turn around and go home to breed.
What happens to all the fish and birds and animals that depended on those
salmon for food? The fast growing ones won't get to them. Even at the 6-month
turn around point, the salmon eaters are in trouble. Instead of the
normal 4 to 5 inch salmon they eat, all they see now are 10 to 20
pound salmon. And what of the salmon's own food supply? Seems they'd eat that to
near extinction in a few years, and our wonderful fast growers will become fast
diers along with most of the other fishes, birds, and animals. Sounds like
a bad deal.
Before going to the next sentence, read the story...I'll
wait.
Okay, all you good capitalists, lets vote with our wallets.
Everyone for a pound of catfish priced fresh salmon hold up 2 dollars. Everyone
who thinks it's not worth the gamble, hold up 8 dollars. Now everyone put your
hands down, drop your dollar bills in an envelope, and send them to me. I want
to buy one more King Crab leg before they're all fished out.
And Now For
Something Entirely Different
Click Here Hint: Scroll to
the Last link First. It's a mind boggle.
As always, your mileage may vary.
'Til next
time,
Pete
If my musings don't interest you, or you want them sent to a
different address, have feedback, etc., just hit the REPLY button and I'll make
it so.