Phishing Expeditions
Jim Henley alerts us to someone trying to scam info from Paypal users. Beware and do not respond to these types of phishing spam.
Similar attempts imitating Citibank and Bank of America are also making the rounds right now.
Internet
John Perry Barlow
Has a blog. Link it now. Read it regularly.
Barlow is one of the good guys. He cofounded the Electronic Frontier Foundation in 1990 and continues to be active as its Board Vice-Chairman. You can find some of his writings here.
Oh, and he is a damned good lyricist.
Via Lynn Kiesling.
Nielson’s Internet Top 10
The Nielson folks can speak for themselves:
Selected by Nielsen//NetRatings� European
analytics team, the following ten websites and Internet applications are the ones we feel have had the
greatest impact on the Internet and on society as a whole so far.
A few of the European centered selections were not familiar to me.
Via beSpacific.
Librarians using the Internet
The American Library Association has released an updated version of Libraries and the Internet Toolkit:
The American Library Association (ALA) has produced this “toolkit” to assist librarians in managing the Internet and educating their public about how to use it effectively.
As Seth says: Worth skimming if you’re interested in the topic
RIAA v Verizon
I don’t condone stealing other folks property even if it is overpriced shoddy music.
However, I applaud the US Court of Appeals of DC’s decision in RIAA v Verizon:
The recording industry’s effort to curtail online piracy was dealt a significant blow today when a federal appeals court ruled that Internet service providers cannot be compelled to disclose the identities of customers suspected of illegally sharing copyrighted songs.
Well, they really can be compelled but it must now be with full due process:
Using the DMCA subpoenas, the RIAA was able to obtain the names of suspected file sharers from ISPs without filing lawsuit and without getting a judge’s approval. Without that subpoena power, the RIAA would have to file suit against unnamed file-swappers in order to obtain their identities.
The complete opinion is here (PDF) and provides some entertaining reading as the court hammers the RIAA. On the other hand, the court did not address constitutional issues raised by Verizon thus leaving the door open for congress to mess things up again.