http://fantomaster.com/fantomNews/archives/2005/05/04/google-the-coming-out-of-a-datascraper-spook/ has a piece that suggests that Google’s accelerator is going well over the top in the information it collects.

According to fantom, the Web Accelerator is “arguably the most audacious and blatant piece of spyware ever visited upon the global Web.”  Setting aside the point that “arguably” anything can be considered anything, it’s worth a read.

No surprises there. It’s already amazing how many organisations can make free with our telecoms. Also, how open they are to intrusions by anyone.

I woke up yesterday to find that MSN messenger had been receiving and sending messages to other people on my contact list without me having any input into it at all. Nor at least one of the other people on my contact list. Receiving is bad enough, but to see that I had apparently written MSN messages when my mouse wasn’t even in the USB port………

Does this mean that people can spoof MSN Messenger accounts now?

I did some investigating on two of the PCS involved and, using SpyBot Search and Destroy (very useful tool), I found a hidden redirect on one of them. I would post the redirect IP here except I suspect the owner of that PC has no more relation to the process than I have.I will investigate and post results on sci-tech, to follow on from what I wrote as a Newb’s guide to malware. http://www.sci-tech.co.uk/mtv1.php

 

Impressed that another admin managed to phone in a post (putting me in mind of the phrase about half-hearted actors phoning in a performance).

And even add a picture.

After constantly boring everyone (i.e. people who haven’t got the obscure Sky channel that the Wire is on in England) about how great the Wire is, I was gratified to see the Guardian’s TV guide item “Call the Cops” by Jim Shelley (4 Feb 2006).

Shelley describes the Wire as “the greatest show in the history of television.” This might seem a bit excessive but I cannot think of any tv series, let alone a tv cop series, that has ever come close to it. As far as I am concerned, the point cannot be disputed.

Shelley talks about the way that the series swings wildly from one focus to another, killing off major characters, demolishing the central location, and so on. He says “It’s a sign of the Wire’s genius that all of this has only made it better. For a start you have no idea what’s going to happen next. The characters are always adapting, developing. Mostly though, the Wire’s greatest attributes are the characterisation, the acting and the dialogue.”

In his Wire eulogies, Jim Shelley always prints snatches of the dialogue. This sometimes looks a bit lame out of context and sometimes I’d quarrel with his choices, but, the Wire has so much in it, at so many levels, that anyone can find something that seems totally brilliant to them.

Advice for watching The Wire:

1. don’t start in the middle of a series. You have to watch from the beginning of Series One to watch the situations and characters develop so that you are aware when characters and plot suddenly overturn your expectations.
2. try to get a whole series at once – dvd – so you can follow a few episodes at a time rather than watching in bits
3. resist the temptation to repeat dialogue and storylines to everybody you know. They aren’t interested. Form a support group and share with your fellow devotees instead.