META Happy New Year 2008: a "best of" 2007 BEST OFs
Let's start by wishing you a prosperous, joyous and all-around successful happy new year! We wish we could join other sites in presenting you with an insightful retrospective; alas, we cannot - we only started a couple of months ago, and we have yet to finalize the "look and feel" of our website.
What we can do, however, is throw you a floating device to help you breath through the "must read" reviews, retrospectives and predictions for the coming year - after all, Wired thinks that information overload will be THE problem for 2008 (1). But where Wired sees a problem, Seth, who just published a new book, sees only opportunities (2).
Established, fast growing sites can and will dazzle you with "best of " lists drawn from their own content. Lifehack, for instance, will bombard you with 70 tips and tricks, all worth reading (3) and if that's too much, Lifehacker has more (4). Confused?!? Well, you'll need to clear your head and gain a new perspective on life. Zen Habits comes to the rescue, with their own "best of" homebrew compilation (5).
If Seth wet your appetite for business news, you might want to jump straight to what the Economist has to say. Until then, our 6th "best of" is a compilation of the best Internet Marketing articles (6); you will find this most useful if you blog for money or if, unlike most internauts for whom the Internet is Pornland, you think of the Web as a still untapped resource. Entertainment is most likely the main driver of Internet searches and tigsource answers that call with a compilation of the best freeware games of 2007 (7).
Two thousand and seven wasn't exactly 1984, but like every year since 2001 it's been marred all over the world by progressive losses of civil rights and particularly of privacy. If that is your concern, you will find 8,9 and 10 particularly troubling. Google is the king of the new world, but the convenience it's showering on its subjects comes with warnings. The more you rely on Google, the more you stand to lose in privacy. Considering that all your email can be so easily stolen, it should come as no surprise to anyone that there are people still using Yahoo for email (11).
Considering how much good press Google has been getting at the expense of Yahoo, you might find that odd. When it comes to oddities, 2007 had its share. Let Reuters quickly walk you through the oddest of them (12). If you'd rather look at photos, find them at Oddrama (13).
One news item the Internet publishers should excel at is technology news, stars and dogs of 2007. In terms of products, Amazon has its unbeatable list of the best (14), but don't be fooled, Amazon has long ago ceased selling only books. If books is what you want to find, look no further than NYT's list (15). Going back to technologies that people actually don't have to make new year's resolutions to use, whether it's websites, products of software programs, you will find them in the next reviews (16-20). As you might expect, Vista is a disappointment, IE7 struggles as well, the iPhone is a resounding success, OLPC is a landmark not so much in adoption but in bringing prices down, the eeepc is its logical companion, Facebook and Digg are the social marvels of the Internet (at the expense of myspace and reddit, respectively) and the solid-state hard-disks would've taken over the world were it not for their high price and, more importantly, their limited size (18).
Youtube is as dumb as most of us, but there is light at the end of the tunnel (21) - also, have a look at the videos grouped in the right-hand column, they are rather dense :)
IBM takes a stab of reading their crystal ball (22), predicting an intelligent grid where we get to plug in intelligent machines named Lenovo and purchase Chinese intellectual products through through IBM's intelligent brokerage. From IBM to open source there is a minimal leap to make (23, 24). Open source software (affectionately known as FOSS, because it is most of all FREE) is what people who are smart and cheap use. There is this thing called Linux that was supposed to take over the world, but it has yet to do so in real, significant numbers.
You might think that the FOSS controversies and politics do not matter since they do not translate even in the rapidly depreciating USD. In that case, the Economist, our fav publication, has a forward looking analysis of the markets in 2008 (25) and also a look a 3 technology predictions for 2008 (27). Don't miss the article on charts, you'll enjoy it even (or especially) if you've never tried technical analysis!
IT Canada World looks at the tech startups to watch for 2008 (29); if you think that it's their technology that makes them special, you're right - here's a retrospective look at the breakthroughs of 2007 (30). Some are simply amazing and it's hard to believe they happened all in the same year: we can make stem cells from the skin, we can make Type O blood using enzymes / bacteria and we find out that female chimpanzees can make spears for hunting.
With so many achievements behind, 2008, the year of the Rat, is hard to beat the good old 2007, but it surely will :)
Once again, a Happy New Year!
UPDATE (Jan 1): Hangover alert! We forgot to include Michael Geist's excellent A to Z review of the year in law & technology, 2007 Darwin Award Winners or even the 2007 memorable quote list with video!!Sources
Corrections
20080126 - readmore + clean-up
Fraud 101: Spam, spim, chain mail and other time-wasters
We recently learned that Canada's Competition Bureau (7) took the unusual step of warning the public about several hoaxes perpetrated on the Internet and not only (9). This is a good opportunity for this article, since after getting for the nth time a chain email from a friend, I had already decided it's about time I write this little ditty, in the hope that if I am to receive more junk / chain mail from friends, they will at least be more interesting / innovative.1. Chain letters
It's very tough to protect yourself from chain letters because the "enemy" is really a hapless friend. You cannot educate / lecture your friends, as that is the surest and simplest way to lose them. But when you've been using and abusing the Internet since the early 90's, like I did, you've seen the same chain letters several times, sometimes translated in the various languages you and your friends have in common.
It's hard to understand what and who invents these. Although we have a few theories, we will not indulge in this silly sport. Rather, we will try to explain why they are bad and how to deal with them.
Such chain emails are, fortunately, easy to spot. The tell-tale sign is usually a statement to the effect:
"for every email you send you (or I) will make $1000"
"if you don't forward this email Viracocha will kill ye"
Hoaxes are bad because they waste time and clutter our mailboxes. They are very frustrating especially when received for the 10th time. When a friend forwards you a hoax, the implicit message is "I could spend 1 minute verifying if this is a hoax, but I prefer to make you waste 1 minute for the 10th time today deleting my crap".2. Spam
This is something we all hate. Luckily, things are now far better than only a few years back. Statistical analysis - more specifically, Bayesian algorithm - helped improve spam filters dramatically. This works by analyzing what you (and possibly others) have marked as spam vs. what you consider to be legit. Each word gets a score based on how often ends up in the spam folders vs how many times occurs in the legit correspondence. Together with other words and clues it allows the program to guess whether any email message is good or not. If you are using Google Mail, you must have noticed the improvement. If you are using Outlook, chances are you are still fighting an organized military with a broom. That's because the filters Microsoft has included in Outlook are not based on "live" statistical analysis, but rather on what Microsoft decides is the top monthly spam. Luckily, you can easily correct this problem with SpamBayes (5). Still, GoogleMail is far better not only than Outlook, but even than any other service, so if you have a problem with Spam, get GoogleMail - it has free spam filters (hotmail was trying to charge for it earlier), free POP, free IMAP, all the storage you want, multiple labels, unlimited filters, etc. You can use it with Outlook easily, if you would rather not store your email off-site.
Google spam filters are so good that there are signs that the spammers are giving up (3).3. SpIM
SpIM is spam for instant messaging clients and is especially prevalent on Yahoo!'s network (at least that used to be my experience). How does it work? Well, you are happily feeding your Internet addiction, when every now and then a message from a "melita" or "larissa" or who knows what other name you've never heard of pops on your screen asking you to visit some porn website. You then have to close that window manually, which is a total PITA because it interrupts your work flow. To protect yourself, you could allow messages only from people already in your contact list, but that is not what you want to do. What if an old friend has just found you and tries to message you? What if your house is on fire and your spouse can only use someone else's IM account to let you know, but can't, because you won't allow it?
These are all good questions. The only solution that I know of that can intelligently allow legit messages while denying SPIM is a Trillian plugin. (Pidgin should have something like that too, but if it does, then I don't know about it.)
Trillian is, as you probably know, an instant messaging client that connects to all possible networks and allows you to access them from the same interface, grouping your contacts based on their relationship to you, rather than their network of choice. You no longer need to have Windows Messenger, Yahoo Messenger, AIM and ICQ all running at the same time, taking memory and screen real estate away from you and slowing down your computer. Trillian basic is free; if you want to your plugins, you need the Pro version, which is $10 or $20, can't remember. To deal with SPIM, you need to install Trillian SPAM challenge (6). This plugin will then issue a challenge/response check to anyone trying to contact you; this eliminates robots and SpIM. Other plugins allow for a multitude of other features, including shipment checker, incoming messages forwarding to any email address or cell phone, etc.4. Malware or phishing websites
These are websites that have been infected with some kind of virus, trojan or spyware. This malware is hidden somewhere in the webpage code and it infects you as you load the webpage in your browser. Many times, legitimate, high-traffic websites might become infected unbeknown to their rightful owners. Google might sometimes alert you when that happens and they are known to remove such sites from their index(4). Perhaps the best way to protect yourself against such malicious websites is to use a secure browser, such as Opera (the most secure browser of all) or Firefox with the NoScript extension, with Java disabled. Secondly, be very careful with what information you are giving away. In 99% of the cases, there is no reason to give away your real name, your real address or your D.O.B. even though the website might insist on it.. Use your judgment, don't be an automaton.5. eBay, PayPal or other shopping sites
This chapter would most likely require a separate article all by itself. Suffices to say for now that the problem with PayPal as well as its parent corp, eBay, is the lack of or inadequacy of their buyer or even seller protection policies. Most credit cards offer some kind of protection, but with PayPal, you're toast. You are completely at the mercy of your vendor, who may or may not deliver your merchandise, and may or may not send you what you thought you were purchasing. Either way, you will probably end up on your own and you will have to swallow your losses. That is why, if you have an alternative (such as a credit card), avoid PayPal.
There are even certain fraudulent non-Internet activities you cannot really protect yourself from. One such case involves the fraudulent use of Interac. If when you pay with your bank card the vendor makes a backup copy of your number and password, then imprints them on a card and empties your bank account, you will find that your bank will seldom reimburse you for the loss. Similarly, if somebody breaks into a shopping website that has your credit card numbers, there is again very little you can do about it. If a payment processor is dishonest, again, there isn't much you can do either (1).
Credit cards used to provide some form of protection against fraudulent charges, with usually $50 or $0 deductible for fraud, but lately, some agreements have been updated to either remove or drastically reduce such protections. We will be writing more about this shortly.Sources
Corrections
none so far!
Fac(eboo)k off, Canadian Pornking!
Just like pop will eat itself, Facebook will one day self-destruct (2). Until then, it's getting an ever increasing mind-share and implicitly expanding media coverage. In the last salvo in this war for our brainspace, we learn that Facebook is taking a Canadian porn site to court over alleged attempts to steal private details of users(1).
The lawsuit names Istra Holdings Inc., the numbered company affiliated with SlickCash, and defendants Brian Fabian and Josh Raskin as either "residing or working" at the same Toronto address. The SlickCash website boasts that its partners have been "involved in every facet of the online adult industry" since 1999. The suit also names Ming Wu and six other defendants whose identities remain unknown. The amended complaint was filed last Wednesday after Facebook was granted court orders in Canada forcing Internet service providers Rogers Communications and Look Communications to divulge subscriber information.
Obviously, it's great to hear that the two ISPs, Look and Rogers have actually upheld the privacy of a user, no matter who they were or what they've done. After all, the allegations have yet to be proven in court. We can only hope that they do the same with all such requests and are not using this as a PR opportunity. As for PR, it is unlikely IMHO that Facebook will recover at least the money spent on trial from that numbered corporation even if they win, which if true, suggests that the trial itself is rather demonstrative - although clearly necessary and a step in the right direction. Almost since its inception, Facebook faced significant criticism regarding its privacy policies. The following video clip has been around for more than 1 year and is alleging a nefarious connection between Facebook and CIA / NSA.Facebook and Privacy
Facebook had its share of privacy woes, perhaps far more than any other Web 2.0 outfit. It started with persistent allegations of connections to CIA. This is not as outlandish as it may seem. CIA has an official policy, launched in the previous decade, of cooperation with private corporations and of active involvement in the private sector. It only makes sense that they do this, as that is the most efficient way of spending the taxpayer's dollars.
Some of the privacy issues the Facebook users identify are not always valid. Nonetheless, the Beacon system is a little too intrusive for anybody who delves into the details.Facebook vs. Myspace
It's hard to believe today that Myspace was once mightier than Facebook. Facebook has become cooler long time ago and has been growing much faster. It seems that Facebook users are more educated, usually university students and graduates, whereas Myspace addresses the lower end of the spectrum.Advertising on Facebook
With its increasing popularity, Facebook has become a great advertising medium.
Facebook is now a microuniverse on its own.Sources
Corrections
none so far!
Clean water: filtered, bottled or tap?
We recently learned that the Canadian federal government has failed to produce reports regarding the state of our water supply for more than five years (1). The Conservatives blame the Liberals, while the Liberals don't seem to care. To sweeten the debacle, Harper claims that they are looking into legislation to ban phosphates in household chemicals (2). This is obviously a good move, since phosphates accumulate in lakes promoting algae growth, which decays, removing the oxygen and killing aquatic life. But rather than using the existing evidence which has already allowed Quebec and Manitoba to limit phosphate content to less than 0.5% in cleaning chemicals (the federal limit is 2.2%), Ottawa will pay consultants to be told once again that this may be a problem (and possibly reflect the point of view of the chemical industry).
The stakes are high (16-19). Due to rapid industrialization and population growth, vast areas of the world do not have access to fresh, unpolluted water. Canada has probably the largest such reserves. A few years back an entrepreneur decided to "harvest" the fresh water from the Great Lakes and ship it via oil tankers to Middle East, in some kind of water for oil trade. He was eventually stopped, after having "mined" several transports.
For most cities in the industrialized world, the water infrastructure is not doing well and needs billions in investments. Older pipes have too much lead by today's standards and will have to eventually be replaced. This is why on top of these problems, such lack of oversight and violation of the law is particularly troubling here in Ontario, where the tragedy of Walkerton (15) is still fresh in people's minds.
In this rather complicated landscape, a troubling, baffling trend has emerged: the advertising driven consumption of bottled water.
All the ads you can stomach
The best known brand used to be Evian, successfully marketed as a status symbol. Within a year however, Fiji water has taken the crown. Bottled water demand is created exclusively by advertising and shrewd marketing, since there is virtually very little if any difference to tap water provided by municipalities. Moreover, while tap water has to meet multiple criteria and is regularly tested, bottled water is completely unregulated and is considered a luxury product. More details have become public lately showing that while just as good or sometimes worse than tap water, bottled water is significantly more damaging for the environment.
Most people who drink bottled water do so because they believe it to be cleaner or better than tap water. Isn't there a method to clean further tap water as to assuage any fears people have?
As a proud and satisfied owner of two under-the-sink reverse osmosis (RO) systems, I clearly believe that an under-the-sink system is best for the following reasons:
A 10-gallon system costs less than $400 at the major retailers and can be easily installed. The filters need to be changed once a year and cost less than $60. Costco sells two such systems for $210 (regular RO system) and $330 (zero-waste RO system). The cost savings are substantial: bottled/delivered water is around $0.79/gal, while RO water works out to $0.02/gal. You save $ 0.77/gal. If you use 3 gallons per day, 1,095 gallon per year, you save $ 843 per year!
Let us now look at the alternatives.1. Tap (municipal) water
Pros
Cons
2. Bottled water
Pros
Cons
3. Distilled water
Pros
Cons
Conclusion
If you fully trust the city with filtering your water, keep drinking tap water. Keep in mind though that the Walkerton Tragedy (15) showed that monitoring is not always done correctly.
It is not a secret that a large part of the city plumbing, installed long time ago, before today's stringent standards, have a lead content higher than the safe limit. Furthermore, the water contains more and more mercury - fishermen know that the fish size limit that can be safely consumed in our lakes decreases annually everywhere.
We are very much against drinking bottled water. If you drink bottled water, stop the insanity and install an RO system. If you trust tap water, keep drinking it, you'll be just fine.Sources
Corrections
none so far!
Download DivX Pro for free!
We all know that you need DivX (or its free cousin, Xvid) to watch most of the movies available in digital format. There are now even DivX DVD player. For a limited time, DivX will give you a free license for the holidays. This will enable you to author movies in this format easily. Head over to their website for more: http://www.divx.com/dff/index.php
UPDATE
They run such promotions regularly, but for now, this promotion is over. :( Read More to See the Light...LB Pearson got his Nobel prize exactly 50 years ago
If you're anything like me, and you don't happen to know who The Right Hon. Lester Bowles, P.C., C.C., O.M., O.B.E., B.A., M.A., LL.D. is, you might think "So What?!?". I think he was one of the most important politicians Canada ever had and quite possibly the best.
He did more to take this country into modernity than any other P.M. (at least that I know of, which is not saying much) and he did it mostly while in a minority government. Because so many high-schools and even the airport where I first entered Canada bear his name, it is almost impossible to find a video clip with him, but here it is:
As you can tell, the best are not also telegenic... Here's what he accomplished (mostly in a minority government):
Sources:
Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lester_B._Pearson
CBC.ca writeup: http://www.cbc.ca/greatest/top_ten/nominee/pearson-lester.html
CBC.ca archives: http://archives.cbc.ca/IDD-1-73-1265/politics_economy/lester_b_pearson/Corrections
none so far!
10 Things for Human Rights Day
I just got an email from an acquaintance working for Amnesty.ca. Shine your own light on human rights by taking at least one action to mark December 10th, the anniversary of the signing of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights "He has only done what a courageous journalist should do. That is why he has got the support and the sympathy from his colleagues all over the world who uphold justice … 5. Invite a friend to become a member of Amnesty International- Link to number five 10. Be a part of Amnesty International’s global writeathon –
I reproduce it below:
Today is
International Human Rights Day
- 10 things you can do
on December 10 -
It's a time to reflect.
It's a time to act.
1. Write a letter! You can choose from more than 20 urgent cases - some that allow you to write directly to a person wrongfully detained or a human rights defender at risk, and others that allow you to write to a person in a position of influence -
Link to number one
2.. Learn about the impact of letter-writing by watching and sharing Amnesty’s short, powerful videos on Write for Rights TV - Link to number two
3.Help get Chinese poet and journalist Shi Tao released. Sign the e-petition, and a have a chance to bring Alex Neve to your community for 
a day - Link to number three
I am proud to have such a son as Shi Tao" - Shi Tao's mother, Gao Qinsheng, addressing international journalists.
4.Tell a friend about Human Rights Day by sharing Maher Arar & Monia Mazigh's invitation to join Amnesty International's Writeathon - Link to number four
6. Sign Amnesty’s electronic appeal calling on a moratorium on taser use - Link to number six
7. Donate $10 - or whatever you can afford - to help Amnesty International build the world you want - Link to number seven
8. Spread the word about human rights day on Amnesty's open facebook group - Link to number eight
9. Give someone an Amnesty Gift of Freedom instead of a store-bought gift this holiday season - Link to number nine
get together with a few friends, work on your own or look on our map for one of the nearly 1,000 organized Write for Rights events from coast to coast in Canada - Link to number ten
"Amnesty's work is of enormous value to those suffering from political oppression. It is perhaps more important than you yourselves have ever realized"
- Wei Jinsheng, a released Chinese Prisoner of Conscience
Corrections
none so far!
HOWTO: Back-up your DVD for free
In response to numerous requests, we are publishing a no non-sense guide to backing up your encrypted or unencrypted DVD with the use of high-quality, ad/spyware-free gratis programs on Windows XP (it might work on Vista as well).
Backing up a DVD you made yourself, such as a mini-DVD from your Handycam, is trivial - we recommend Nero or VOB2MPG if you want to edit or play with it. As you may have discovered, typical pre-recorded, original DVDs you purchase in store cannot be copied with Nero, hence this guide.1) Legality
In most parts of the world, it is illegal to copy a copyrighted DVD that does not belong to you. In some (and increasingly many) parts of the world it is illegal even to make a copy of an encrypted DVD that belongs to you. We cannot provide an opinion on the legality (or lack thereof) of this action. Your best bet is to check with your friendly neighbourhood lawyer for that (this sounds like a joke, but we're serious; if you think that's crazy, start paying attention to Your Rights Online, take action and fight the chilling effects of misguided legislation). Just like SouthPark, this guide could cause, among other things, your screen to explode and your insurance premiums to go up and should not be read or followed by anyone.2) Controversy
When DVDs first came out, they were advertised as "impossible to copy" due to "unbreakable encryption". Then DVD John (1) cracked the code that protected the data, and the maelstrom followed. The movie industry (aka MPAA) has fought vigorously the publishing of this information, but to no avail. For the past several years it's been trivial to copy DVDs. We see a repeat of this controversy with the new High-Definition DVD formats. The encryption protecting HD-DVD format has also been broken: 09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0, causing a hysterical reaction from AACS (2). In all fairness, the entities protecting the encryption schemes might be compelled by law to react as such, otherwise they might lose any intellectual property rights.3) Programs needed
As you might expect, you cannot copy DVDs by drawing them in your notebook or by using carbon paper. You need to download the following basic programs (they are all ad-free, spyware free, low memory footprint at least at the time of this writing):The bare minimum
Optional
Highly recommended if you want to play with video formats (as above, everything is free):4) Choices
1. Determine if your DVD backup fits on a regular 4.7GB DVD or not, so start DVD Decrypter, select the DVD drive in the Source, then Mode -> ISO -> Read R and look in the info panel.
2. If in the Source box the Copyright Protection System Type nothing is listed than you can copy the DVD with any program, it's not encrypted. If in the information box it is listed with Number of Layers: 1 and/or the size is less than 5,000,000,000 bytes, or if your DVD burner is DL (dual layer) and you have a blank DL DVD handy you don't need another program and you can continue on with our A. Quick DVD Decrypter guide, using the ISO mode.
3. If it says Number of Layers > 1 and/or the size is more than 5 million bytes and you can't or won't burn DL DVDs you can either B. transcode / reauthor the DVD using DVD Shrink or C. split the DVD into 2 regular, 4.7GB DVDs, preserving the original quality, using DVDfab. You will have to either copy the DVD to the HD using DVD Decrypter File Mode, use the DVDfab hack or use DVD43 for on-the-fly decryption.A. Quick DVD Decrypter guide
4. In DVD Decrypter menu, click on Mode -> ISO -> Read R. This will make a decrypted image of your DVD on your hard drive in an *.iso file.
5. Make note where the DVD image will be written. Make sure that the destination drive has sufficient free space.
6. Click the DVD->HD image button and wait for the program to do its magic (you can actually minimize the program to the tray bar by choosing "Minimize to System Tray" in the Control menu).
7. The program makes a loud silly sound to alert you that it's done. When that happens, press the E button in the Source box to eject the disk if it wasn't ejected already, and replace the original DVD with the blank DVD you will write the image to. Close the CD tray either from the DVD drive button or by clicking L in the Source box.
8. Wait a bit for the blank DVD to be read, then click Mode -> ISO -> Write R. This mode will write (burn) the image from your hard drive from step 4-6 to your blank DVD. Optionally, you may also adjust other options, such as PUOs (which force you to watch ads by disabling the skip buttons).
9. In the Source box, click the folder icon to choose the source file you made a note of in step 5, then click the HD -> DVD image button. You may choose to have the image automatically erased once the burning is complete and checked if you so wish.
10. The program will alert you with the same sound when done.
Congratulations! You have made a backup copy of your DVD. See (5) for a more detailed guide, complete with screen captures (warning: heavy advertising).B. Quick & Dirty DVD Shrink guide
DVD Shrink is a very powerful program with a simple, intuitive interface. You can use it to replace the FBI warnings in the DVDs you are backing up with your own static images. I suggest you explore its menus first (there isn't all that much) then read a more detailed guide. You might want to make a decrypted DVD copy to your hard drive using DVD Decrypter File Mode first, then open it in DVD Shrink using the Open Files button. Alternatively, you could open it straight from the DVD drive using DVD43. If you want to preserve the DVD menu structure, use the Full Disc mode. In this mode you can recompress various parts of the DVD individually and may even replace certain screens (like the FBI warning) with your own static images. You can also dump certain soundtracks (like foreign languages) that you are not interested in. I suggest you leave all the subtitles as they don't take usually much space. If you don't care about menus, you can Reauthor the DVD. In this mode there are no menus, and everything plays linearly. You can thus remove certain extras and maybe keep others. Remember: for a large DVD you are trying to fit in 4.7GB, the more stuff you take out, the less you have to compress the rest, resulting in better image quality.
See (4) for a more detailed guide, complete with screen captures (warning: heavy advertising).C. Quick & Dirty DVDfab DVD splitting guide.
Download and install DVDfab splitter, then the hack archive and expand it in the program directory. This should save you from first backing up the DVD to your HD using DVD Decrypter, which is actually the safe route. Alternatively, you may also use DVD43. Other than this, this program is very straight forward. Simply click the "Copy complete DVD" button, then choose the DVD you want to split in two. When DVD Fab is done, navigate with your DVD burning software (we recommend CD Burner XP 4 because it's free, but Nero is just as good if not better) to the DVDFab folder and burn each DVD.
See (3) for a more detailed guide, complete with screen captures (warning: heavy advertising).5) Sources:
Corrections
none so far!
Massive, unfixed security flaw at Passport Canada
We just learned about a very serious security flaw in the Passport Canada website accepting online applications. Other people's information can be easily accessed by simply applying for a passport and then altering characters in your browser's address bar. The flaw was discovered by Jamie Laning, an IT worker at Algonquin Automotive, in Huntsville, Ontario. The available data includes SINs, driver's licence numbers, mailing addresses, business and phone numbers, federal ID card numbers and even a firearms licence number. Says Carlisle Adams, professor at U of O:
This is exactly how identity theft happens. If you want to take out a mortgage, for example, this is the type of information the bank is going to ask for to make sure you're really the person you're claiming to be. Then all of a sudden there's a mortgage in someone else's name.Although Mr. Laning alerted Passport Canada of the problem last week and the site was suspended through yesterday, the problem has not been fixed, despite Passport Canada's claim to the contrary. While the security flaw in itself is not the most terrible thing, it is deeply unsettling to learn that Passport Canada was unable to fix it within one week, that it deceptively claimed it fixed it and that Canadian law does not even require disclosure of privacy breaches. This means that there may be many more security breaches that happen but we do not know about them, unless somebody makes a FOF request.
The security breach follows two significant events concerning personal information. On Nov. 21, Justice Minister Rob Nicholson introduced legislation making it an offence to obtain, possess or traffic in people's identity information for the purposes of committing a crime. Just two days earlier, Britain's tax and customs service announced it had lost disks containing banking and personal data of 25 million people."I think it's very clear that a strong, mandatory security-breach law is long overdue in this country and it's cases like these that highlight it," said Michael Geist, a law professor at the University of Ottawa.This is not the first negative media report to hit Passport Canada. Only a couple of months ago, Canadian Press issued the following:
Canadian law does not require organizations to disclose when they've suffered security breaches. In the United States the majority of states have enacted legislation requiring organizations to disclose security breaches within a specified period of time.
Passport Canada is reporting continued long delays in processing mailed-in passport applications, despite a streamlined renewal process and hundreds of new employees. And there is concern those delays will only get longer as the busy winter travel season approaches.It now takes a minimum of six weeks to get a passport through the mail; two weeks longer than the agency's benchmark of four weeks.The way our secretive, inept government works, we would not be surprised if Mr. Laning would be charged with terrorism. It is much easier to find a scapegoat than hiring a knowledgeable IT security firm and have the problem fixed.
And that doesn't include the time it takes to get applications and documents through Canada Post.
UPDATE: Brian Masse (NDP) raised this issue in Question Period and Minister Maxime Bernier was told by CEO Gérard Cossette that the website is now "among the most secure".
IT Business published an article citing concerns that the privacy breach will lead to ID theft.
Source: Passport applicant finds massive privacy breach, Globe and Mail Read More to See the Light...
EU Commissioner for Consumer Policy Web Chat
In yet one more sign that the European Commission is more committed to the interests of the individual citizens they represent, EU-commissaris - Meglena Kuneva will engage in a web chat on Wednesday, December 12. The topic of the discussion will be "product safety", particularly the last high-profile incidents with dangerous toys.
Information is a key element for making you, as Europe's citizens, fully aware of your fundamental rights as consumers. But, awareness alone is not enough. You should be able to play your full role as consumers; confident and able to discuss consumer issues. To this end, I plan to set up a web-chat. We at the Commission must be directly connected to your daily lives and we cannot do that without talking with you.
Kudos, Ms. Kuneva! :) Read More to See the Light...
