Tom Regan
Comic cursor tracking not funny
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Another Internet company has been caught secretly tracking the movements of its users. This time it's Comet Systems Inc. of New York. Comet makes a free piece of software that turns cursors into cartoon characters or other images. It is a cool, fun idea, especially popular with kids. But Comet couldn't resist adding that little something extra to the package.
Turns out that the 16 million people who use the Comet cursors were having their every move on the 60,000 or so Web sites that support the software tracked via a unique serial number. Unfortunately, Comet had neglected to tell anyone that this was happening, until someone figured it out. Oops!
Comet, of course, originally insisted that it was doing absolutely nothing wrong.
``We don't know your gender, your age or anything except you're a Web browser visiting sites,'' Comet spokesman Ben Austin told AP Wednesday. ``There's not a lot of reason to crunch that data because I don't see that it's in anyone's economic interests. We're stating for the record that we don't do that and we never will.''
Categorize this response under the heading of "not clear on the concept of online privacy." If it's as benign as Mr. Austin insists, then why didn't Comet bother to tell people that their moves were being tracked? Well, it might be that Comet knew that people would see this as a violation of their privacy, and not bother to download their software. Better not to tell them.
When, oh when, will Internet and software companies learn that open disclosure is the best policy? Too many companies to name, including very big ones such as Microsoft, Amazon.com and AOL, have tried to pull this kind of stunt on their users, and it has always blow up in their virtual faces. Worse, it adds to the general sense of paranoia many people have about being 'monitored' while they are online, which makes it a lot harder for those folks who are open about their practices to convince people to use their Web sites or software.
Now Comet has suffered a major public embarrassment and has been forced to offer its users the chance to disable the tracking element of the software. My guess is that a lot of people will just stop using it.
Microsoft Outlook Virus Number 1,222,444 ... or something like that.
Word of yet another virus that attacks Microsoft e-mail products.
The MiniZip virus struck several major companies Tuesday, basically wreaking havoc with e-mail systems. Once a computer has been affected, MiniZip reads the addresses of new and unread mail in the Microsoft Outlook, Outlook Express or Exchange e-mail programs, and sends these folks a message.
The message says: ``Hi (recipient's name)! I received your e-mail and I shall send you an e-mail ASAP. Till then, take a look at the attached zipped docs. bye.'' The attachment, called "zipped--files.exe." launches the virus once opened and the process starts again on a new machine.
While computer security experts say that this new 'strain' is not as damaging as its parent, WormExplore.zip, it shows that virus writers are turning out new malicious code at an alarming rate of speed.
As always, the best advice is simply to NEVER open attachments, from anyone, until your company installs security software that 'disarms' these viruses before they reach your in-box. This is particularly true if you use Microsoft Outlook. If you want more information, use a good search engine like google.com, and look for information on "mobile code security."
Seattle protestors take to the Web
The events in Seattle this week have caught the attention of the United States, if not the world, and WTO protest organizers want to build on this success with a very savvy Web site, called The Independent Media Center.
The site features live and stored audio and video, chat groups (open to all -- some great discussions between those who support and those who oppose the actions of WTO protestors), and an intriguing e-mail program that allows users to send press releases and information to any news organization in the world with an e-mail address.
It's another example of how organized groups are using the Web and the Internet to get their messages out to the public 'unmediated' by the media, who many 'non-mainstream' groups consider hostile to their messages.
It is 'journalism'? No. And it's important to remember that if you visit the site. But it certainly presents interesting information that mainstream media does tend to ignore.