INTERNET PRIVACY AND APATHY

May 14, 2002 | Internet, spam

In March Yahoo changed its marketing policy. With no warning, it suddenly granted itself the right to send advertising spam, postal mail, and telemarketing phone calls to tens of millions of its users who had previously opted out. There was a huge outcry by privacy...

WEB SITE HIJACKING

Apr 23, 2002 | Internet

If you own a domain name, make sure its registration doesn’t expire accidentally! The number of domain names being allowed to expire–intentionally or accidentally–is at an all-time high. Shady companies called “traffic aggregators” have...

TRAVEL WEB SITE SHENANIGANS

Apr 11, 2002 | Internet, web_services

I had to chuckle (to avoid crying) reading this article about the squabbles between Orbitz, Travelocity and Expedia. At first, you’ll be sympathetic to the claims that Orbitz is competing unfairly by obtaining lower prices from its airline owners than are...

POP-UP DOWNLOADS

Apr 8, 2002 | Internet, security

You’re familiar with pop-up ads – the windows that appear spontaneously when you visit many web sites. Are you ready for pop-up downloads? Watch for a box to appear asking you to confirm a download, when you don’t recall asking to download anything....

U.S. GOVERNMENT WEB SITE

Feb 28, 2002 | Internet

The U.S. government has reworked www.firstgov.gov. It’s meant to be the entry point for all web resources related to the federal government, as well as providing links to state governments and agencies. The government has spent gazillions of dollars organizing...

WHALE SONGS

Feb 26, 2002 | Internet

Here’s a web site where you can listen live to whales singing and talking, through a hydrophone suspended in the water off the coast of Maui. Best listening times are from 1-9am Pacific time, and it requires RealPlayer. The whales are particularly vocal during...