New Commenting System

I've switched my commenting system here at dOgBOi on Tech to Disqus. Should make things a little easier as far as comment moderation, and it'll look nicer too. Let me know what you think.

The FBI's Rick Roll

There's this really cool video. I'm telling you, it's the coolest thing you've ever seen and it'll explain this whole post. It has laser beams and explosions! You can see it by clicking here.

Go ahead, click it and come back.

And if you clicked that link without thinking about it, as many people would be prone to do, you would have just been Rick Rolled. In the original definition of Rick Rollin', a link that is said to go to one thing actually goes to a video of Rick Astley's "Never Gonna Give You Up". No harm done, other than a wasted few seconds (or minutes if you actually watch the thing.)

But the FBI is doing something similar, and the damage is a lot worse than a few wasted seconds. They put up a link in a pedophile message board, and the link says that leads to kiddie porn. When you click it, it takes you to a site which obviously doesn't have kiddie porn. Instead, it logs your IP address, and the FBI stages a morning raid on you the next day.

That might not seem to be too bad. I mean, it's only posted on a pedophile message board, so only pedophiles will see it, right?

Wrong. Links don't stay in one place. The move all around the internet. Between search engines, robots, and plain old human involvement, links move from point to point across the internet. It's not only possible, but likely, that this link has already moved off it's board, and there are people sick enough to find it amusing to post it in places where innocent people will click on it absent-mindedly.

So, you say, no harm no foul. It's all about the intent, right. WRONG. According to the Justice Department, just clicking on the link is illegal. This has already held up in court once. That case is full of murky details, like no kiddie porn was found on the guys computer (though a thumbnail.db file was found with grainy thumbnails.) The FBI says if you click the link, you intended to find child pornography. But what's to stop someone from doing what I did above: Just enclosing a word or a phrase in a hyperlink, and an unsuspecting user clicks on it, leading to their arrest.

This is a dangerous precedent. While I understand the FBI's need to catch pedophiles, this method is entrapment. The courts say no, it's not, but I don't think they recognize the reality of the internet.

So click carefully, or else find yourself Rick Rolled into a stay in a federal penitentiary.

Who Owns Surfing Data?

Who owns a user's surfing data? Is it the user? That user's ISP? The websites that user goes to? The Government? It's a question that really hasn't been answered yet.

Certainly one could make the argument that a user's activities are their own. If you pay in cash, no one can track what stores you shop at, what restaurants you eat at, etc, unless you share that data. (Well, a person could be tracked, but not in a cost effective manner).

But what about ISP's? Don't they, in some respect, hold a vested interest in what sites you visit. If things continue as they are, and ISP's are going to be the policing arm of the internet (as they are in France and as they soon may be in England), then don't they have a vested interest in watching where you go? In some places, they could be held liable for what a user looks at.

And websites? Well, most websites provide free content. They generate revenue through ads, and more and more often these are targeted ads. Since these websites are providing a service to you for free, don't they have a right to use your data to place targeted ads on their website, in order to monetize their service. If they can't monetize it, then they can't offer it for free.

But where are the limits? If my web surfing habits are tracked, doesn't that raise a huge privacy issue, not too mention potential monetary risks? If I'm looking at books and articles about lung cancer, and that data can be used without my permission, isn't it possible that my employer or my insurance company could find out what I'm looking at and my health insurance rates could then go up. Or what if a user is looking at porn when the kids are asleep. Will they then get pornography ads when the kids are awake?

I think there need to be clear guidelines over what data can be collected, who can access it, and how it can be used. If not, the data collected on the internet about a user's surfing habits could be become potentially damaging. This is a frightening prospect, and more step closer to an Orwellian reality.

Changes

This blog is definitely a work in progress. I've updated the template, hopefully for the last time. (I'd rather not change again, simply because I have to re-add all the links, the analytics code, etc every time I change).

I've also changed the comments setting to allow anonymous comments. I've also added comment moderation, simply because I don't want spam appearing in my comment sections. All other comments will be approved, positive or negative.

IM Etiquette

I'm noticing a total lack of etiquette on the part of some IM users. While I certainly wouldn't hold someone's 80 year old grandmother to the rules of Netiquette, anyone who has used the internet for any length of time should be able to follow a few simple rules to make everyone else's life easier.

1) Your IM Client/Protocol has a status message indicator. USE IT. If you are not at the computer, set your status as Away or Invisible, or put the client offline. It's annoying to type at people, and they're just not there. This applies to VoIP clients like Skype as well. (and it's even more important there, because if people attempt to call you over VoIP and you're not there, it's a waste of bandwidth).

2) Don't type in ALL CAPS. Just like in email, all caps is considered yelling, and it's rude. (You can type one word or a short phrase in all caps to indicate emphasis however. This isn't yelling).

3) Abbreviations are okay. Don't be annoyed, though, if people don't know those abbreviations. Never hesitate to ask what an abbreviation means if you've never seen it before.

4) Learn to read emoticons. There's a huge difference between "You suck!" and "You suck! :p" The first is probably someone being rude. The second is someone joking around. Most IM programs convert common emoticons into graphical smilies, and if your program does this, learn what those smilies mean. (for example, :p will show up as a smiley sticking out its tongue on most clients.")

5) If you can't talk to several people at once without long delays, *don't do it!*. If you can only handle one conversation at a time, that's okay. If anyone else IM's you, just tell them you're talking to someone else and you'll get back to them.

6) If you're busy, but at the computer, set your status message to indicate that. That way, if it's important, people will know you're there, but they won't bother you with trivialities. (And if they do, you can ignore them. Your status message speaks for itself.)

7) IM has varying weights of importance to different people. Some people, like myself, use IM a lot, and it's just as relevant as a phone call. (In some ways, more so, since I can log IM communications.) If you really don't consider IM important, then you probably shouldn't use it to talk to people who think it is. You are just going to annoy them.

8) By the same token, don't be annoyed by the fact that younger people would rather IM than email or use the phone. IM is just more convenient. Sorry baby boomers (and those older) who want voice, but there are many people under 40, and especially those under 25, who simply WON'T use the phone unless they absolutely have to. The phone takes 100% concentration, but I can IM and work on projects at the same time. That's not being rude. That's just efficient time management. (For many under 25 or so, getting them to even use Email is like pulling teeth. IM is pretty much the primary communication medium of Gen-Y. Gen-X's like myself still consider email the primary communication medium.)

9) If you are on the phone (because you have to be, or because you're one of those rare throw-backs who prefer voice over IM) set your status message to BRB (Be Right Back) or AFK (Away From Keyboard) or BBIAB (Be Back In a Bit). This is true even if you are sitting at your PC using a softphone. There's nothing more annoying than trying to talk to someone on IM while they're actually have a phone conversation, because that phone conversation takes 90% of their attention, and they don't respond in a timely manner to IM's (IM communication doesn't have to be instant, but I shouldn't have to wait 5 minutes to get one word answers from somebody whose status message says they are online.)

10) DON'T FLOOD! You don't need to type out the entire contents of your head in one line! If you have to say something that's long, type it in short sentences and end each sentence in an ellipsis like this ... Then hit return/enter. Computer users are used to the fact that ellipses mean more is coming (since well formed menus in graphic user interfaces use an ellipsis to indicate that if you pick this menu item, a dialog box will open.)

11) It's pretty much rude to think that someone should talk on the phone when IM is available simply because you prefer voice. What you are requesting is that they devote all of their attention to you. It's not all about you. :P

12) That being said, for those that are IM addicts (like me), do pick up the phone from time to time. It's not all about us either. But you don't have to do it when it's inconvenient for you. You can certainly talk to your Aunt Ethel on the phone because she hates IM, but do it when you have time to spare, not whenever she wants. (This isn't so much an IM etiquette rule as it is a rule for life. I'm convinced many people bow over too easily to minimize other's disappointment or to prevent someone from being angry at them. Sorry, I'm not that way. If I'm too busy to talk on the phone, then I'm too busy. Like it or lump it. What you think of me is none of my business.)


(This whole post is in response to someone who can't be bothered with status messages. For God sakes, how hard is it to use a status indicator. If you can't be bothered, then shut down the damn program. I understand that people have busy lives and all, but it takes a few SECONDS to change your status. Not minutes, not hours, SECONDS! You wouldn't drive a car if you didn't know how. Don't IM if you don't know how. Mollyrant over.)