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 Friday, August 8, 2003
Having Your Identity Stolen By A Murderer. The Washington Post is running a very long, but still fascinating account of a guy who had his identity stolen by a murderer. It goes through the usual tales of how difficult it is to be a victim of identity theft, with the mess being left entirely to him to clean up. Then, things get even worse, when the police put out a national warrant for the killer, but used the ID theft victim's name as an alias. The same guy later appeared on America's Most Wanted - and on the show's website, they actually included the ID theft victim's social security number for anyone to see, and refused to respond to multiple requests to take it down. The article also includes lots of info about identity theft, including a section talking about how it's been popular with terrorists. Not much in the article is encouraging.
[Techdirt]
This is the scary thing. Terrorists would be able to get around all the wonderful security we have simply by stealing someone's identity. And our governemnt databases are so leaky that finding the relevant info (a social security number is ofetimes all that is needed) is easy, when all you care about is getting to some place. If anyone in Hollywood is on the pulse of the network, this would make a very good movie. Perhaps update Tom Selleck's movie, An Innocent Man. Instead of being framed by corupt cops, he could have his identity stolen by terrorists. Or perhaps instead of being framed for his wife's death by a one -armed man, Dr. Richard Kimble, could try to track down the real people who blew up an embassy using his identity.
A light-hearted approach to a serious problem but a lot of people might not even think about this until a blockbuster movie comes out. 11:06:58 PM 
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You Don't Own What You've Bought. Just a sad reminder that, thanks to ridiculous software licensing practices, if you buy used equipment on eBay, you might not be able to use it. In fact, if it's from some companies like Cisco, you might want to make sure you hide it from anyone who works there. People who have bought used equipment, and then had the original company find out about it are discovering that the company is saying their software license is not valid and they need to buy a new one - even though the equipment was already paid for by the original owner. Apparently "owner" is the wrong word, because these companies are basically saying you never actually own what you've bought. This is nothing new, of course, but the stories included in the article demonstrate just how ridiculous this practice is. Buy a data storage system for $4,000, and then have the company tell you you need to pay $15,000 if you actually want to use it? Have a Cisco rep spot a router you bought on eBay and have them demanding relicensing fees and an "inspection"? Thanks to bizarre intellectual property rules, you no longer own what you buy.
[Techdirt]
Apparently, owning something is an Industrial Age pint of view. In the Information age, we only get to lease something, even if we have possession of a physical object. What happens if the company goes belly up? Well, someone still holds the rights and can keep anyone else at bay. This is one problem of copyrights in the digital age. Incremental value can never be added because of the often stringent licensing agreements made, usually by lawyers who have no clue to the real worth of something. 10:57:12 PM
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Google ads a threat to eBay trademark?. The auction giant moves to block Google advertisers from using its trademark in sponsored search results. [CNET News.com]
Tell me why someone can advertise they repair Volkswagons but you are not allowed to use the workd eBay in an ad. eBay wants ANY use of their trademarked name removed from any ad on Google. But how come I see ads all the time that name a competitior, usually with unfavorable results. How can Apple use the word Pentium in any of their marketing material? Something is rotten here. Especially since eBay is full of trademarked names, such as Barbie. 10:54:03 PM
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GameCube production halted. The struggling games company puts production of its GameCube consoles on hold until the autumn to clear its warehouses of unsold machines. [BBC News | Business | World Edition]
Not a good sign. Xbox is only being held up by the ability of MS to throw billions of dollars down the hole. Nintendo can't. Perhaps only Sony will survive. 10:44:24 PM
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Will Classic Games Disappear Forever? [Slashdot]
Well, my son wants to have a party where they play each other on networked games. We have 4 Macs (an iBook, and iMac, a Powerbook and an old beige G3. 3 running OSX and one running OS 9) but I did not want to spend a bundle. So I went as got a couple of copies of Warcraft II, which can be found for under $10. Coupled with the versions we had, I installed it on each computer and set them all up for network play. But this was all on computers running OSX and a wireless Airport network. Something not remotely on the radar screen in 1999, when these games first came out. Yet, they all worked perfectly and seamlessly. I just double clicked and everything worked. Try that with a PC and a game that old on a wireless network using 4 different types of computers running 2 such different OS.
This got me to thinking about some of my other favorites. So, tonight I loaded Marathon Infinity on my son's iBook and my Powerbook. This game came out in 1996 and was one of the best shooters ever. It ran flawlessly also. We spent the whole evening playing. Amazing. Just a demonstration of how Apple remembers the past while moving towards the future. 10:42:15 PM
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Ganging Up on Dean... (Ruth Conniff). Ganging Up on Dean... (Ruth Conniff) [Common Dreams]
Dean went up in my mid simply because of this from the article: He doesn't seem to like journalists, and the feeling is mutual He hates it when they ask stupid questions and will not deal them any special favors simply because they are The Media. In previous elections you had to treat these guys with kids gloves because they were the gatekeepers between the politicians and the people. But with the Internet, there are no gatekeepers, or at least the press no longer holds full sway. It is starting to change. Maybe not fully for this elelction but I believe that by the next one we will see a very different style of running. Much as TV changed the landscape for elections, what Dean is pioneering will change the paradigm again. 10:27:53 PM
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A former envoy is sent to Africa last year to check on the possible sale of uranium to Iraq. His work finds nothing. He reports this to high level officials in the administration. When they then claim that they never heard his report, he goes public. So it appears someone in the government retaliated by blowing his wife's cover as a CIA operative. What a nice bunch of guys! I guess shock and awe is not just for Third world countries. Intimidation of US citizens seems to be an increaisng aspect of this government. 10:19:45 PM
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