I want to apologize to all my family and friends (and assorted random contacts) for spamming them this week. My email was hacked. More specifically, my AOL email was hacked.
Yes, I can hear you laughing. AOL email??? What is this, 1998?
I moved onto Gmail a lifetime ago, but I still kept my AOL account around for the purposes of signing up for things. Everyone these days asks for your email address, and I didn't want my Gmail inbox stuffed with "Special Offers" and "Membership Information." My AOL account, therefore, became a haven for junk.
It was also very vulnerable.
Back when I created the account, sometime around 1996, people's awareness of internet security wasn't high. In 1996, celebrities accounts hadn't yet been hacked for nude photos and spam emails were still written using complete English sentences. When AOL prompted me to create a password, it didn't insist it be 8 characters long, including a capital letter, a number and a special character. It just asked for a password.
So I typed one in. Benf. Short for Ben Folds Five, a band I liked a lot in 1996.
According to mathematics, 456,976 guesses is all it would take to crack my password. From 1996-2011, it had gone uncracked. 15 years. But apparently, someone did it. I'm very careful not to click spam links, so I'm pretty sure I didn't give a spammer that way in. It was just a matter of time before my pathetic password fell victim to someone who undoubtedly looks nothing like Angelina Jolie from the movie "Hackers."
So R.I.P., last unsecured password in the world. You were a relic of a bygone era, when the internet was a much more innocent place. I'll miss how quick and easy it was to type you in, and how easy you were to remember. I'll remember you always.
Benf. 1996-2011
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
The Internet Will Not Let You Get Away With It
First, watch this:
Disgusted by that evil witch of a woman? So were the cat's owners when they saw the security camera footage.
"Within days, the video had racked up hundreds of thousands of hits as well as tens of thousands of "likes" on Facebook. The woman was eventually identified, and, fearing for her safety, the police have had to put her in protective custody."
How many people have to be shamed on the internet before everyone realizes that nobody can get away with anything anymore?
If you do something bad, the internet will find you out. This would make the world honest, if it weren't for another primary function of the internet, which is to spread lies told by crazy people (i.e. politicians).
Friday, July 24, 2009
Unbreakable
Creating a super password--easy to remember and much more secure than your mother's maiden name-- is a piece of cake. Just read this article on Slate.
Basically, Farhad Manjoo suggests coming up with an easy to remember phrase, like "My Mother Says To Pick The Very Best One And You Are I T It," and then making it into an acronym: MMSTPTVB1&YAITI. No one's going to guess that.
Why haven't I thought of this before? I'm going to stop using my cat's name immediately. Thanks Manjoo, you're the man.
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Esquire Web Site Seeks Perverts
I'm all for search engine optimization, but titling a web page this way feels a bit dishonest:
It feels cheap, like a trick a softcore porn site would try to pull off. You go to click on "Nude Photos of Connie Chung" and there's one photo of Connie Chung fully dressed in a suit, surrounded by ads for "Extenz."
Not that I've ever done anything like that online...
Are magazines really getting that desperate that they're resorting to Porn website tactics to draw pageviews?? What's next? CNN titling their web pages "Hillary Clinton Bikini Pics"?
Neil Campbell, president at Tropicana North America in Chicago said the company was responding to complaints from a loyal group of customers. "We underestimated the deep emotional bond" they had with the original packaging, he told the New York Times. "Those consumers are very important to us, so we responded."
As The New York Times pointed out:
Among those who underestimated that bond was Mr. Campbell himself. In an interview last month to discuss the new packaging, he said, “The straw and orange have been there for a long time, but people have not necessarily had a huge connection to them.”
Ooh, someone's got egg on their face!
You be the judge. Which screams "fresh squeezed orange juice not from concentrate?" A straw sticking into a whole, ripe, juicy orange? Or a glass filled with a pale yellowish liquid?
"Hey, I've Got A Great Idea! Let's Change An Iconic, Beloved Product!!!!"
Fortunately, Tropicana had the wisdom to recognize their horrendous error and fix it before much damage was done. But the whole gaffe raises an issue I've been thinking a lot about recently. The utter uselessness of focus groups and traditional "market testing" for new products in this Internet age.
The thinking behind Tropicana's "need for change" was boneheaded from the start. I wasn't there at the PepsiCo offices that day, but I can imagine the conversation went something like this:
Clueless CEO: In these tough times, we need to set ourselves apart from the other orange juice manufacturers out there. How do we do it?
Stooge #1: We need an O.J. spokesperson. Too bad there's no celebrity with the initials, O.J.
Stooge #2: When people hear "juice," they think "sticky and weird." What if we called it, "Orange Essence?"
Stooge #3: A new ad campaign! How about, "Orange you glad it's Tropicana?"
Clueless CEO: Good ideas, but I was thinking about making our juice stand out in the supermarket.
Stooge #4: Well, every orange juice out there has an orange on the front of the carton. What if we didn't have an orange on the front. What if we had a naked chick with oranges for boobs?
Clueless CEO: I love it, but our research shows more women than men buy orange juice.
Stooge #4: So put oranges instead of a guy's...
Stooge #1: How about just a glass of orange juice.
Clueless CEO: Just a glass?
Stooge #1: Like, who sticks a straw into an orange and takes a drink? I drink my orange juice from a glass.
Stooge #2: Me too!!
Stooge #4: I drink my orange juice from an Indian skull I dug up... but I like the idea.
Clueless CEO: It's settled then. Instead of our iconic, universally recognized orange and straw symbol, we'll go with a generic looking glass filled with a vague yellow-orange liquid.
All: Huzzah!!!! Huzzah!!!
Bad ideas start in corporate groupthink meetings, and they often get worse in focus groups, compiled of people who have the time to attend focus groups, who need the $20 or so stipend these focus groups pay, and who like the sound of their own voices.
Focus Group Leader: So, what do you think of the new carton?
Focus Group Guy: This is so awesome!
Focus Group Leader: The new package?
Focus Group Guy: No, the fact that I don't have a job that requires me to work during the day, and I can earn $20 making a bunch of corporate suits who hang on my every word do exactly what I say, even though I'm a complete idiot!
Focus Group Leader: So the carton?
Focus Group Guy: Can they make it a curvy glass, like a wine glass? That's classy!
Clueless CEO (behind one-way mirror): Brilliant!!!
In this Internet age, there's no reason for a focus group. If Coca-Cola had announced on the internet that it was considering dropping Coke and instead, making "New Coke," the internet would have put them in their place. All Tropicana needed to do was send a press release, or survey, out to the web (via bloggers or their own website), and they would have had instant feedback in minutes from people who cared enough to voice their opinions without being paid. They would have known that a glass of a vague yellow liquid is about the lamest brand symbol anyone's come up with since the logo design for the New York Mets CitiField:
Were They Even Trying?
The Internet provides instant access to millions of consumers, something that just about everybody has figured out by now. Why not use that medium as a testing ground for new ideas, BEFORE you waste time and money on an idea dreamed up by some guy who wouldn't know what creativity was even if they were roommates with Picasso, Woody Allen and Beck?
With that in mind, I've come up with a new logo for Adam's Life. I present it to you now for your opinion. If you guys like it, consider it this blog's new avatar:
I worked reeeeaaally hard on it.
Thursday, November 15, 2007
From MySpace To Murder - Part II
Almost exactly two years ago, I wrote one of the first articles to note the phenomenon of "personal" social networking profiles and blogs suddenly becoming very public due to their author's notoriety after a newsworthy event: a piece about 14-year-old Kara Borden and her 18-year-old paramour, David Ludwig. David was convicted of killing Kara's parents when they refused to allow her to date him. Their online profiles provided reporters and the public a small window into a relationship that led to tragedy.
Since then, we've seen countless examples of news organizations using information from the Facebook, MySpace and YouTube accounts of individuals who become newsworthy due to crime and scandal. The latest involves a University of Washington student, Amanda Knox, age 20, who allegedly aided and abetted the murder of her roommate, Meredith Kercher, 21, a British exchange student, while the two were studying abroad in Italy.
The sordid details of the murder drew international attention. At first, the police were baffled. They looked through the victims Facebook pictures for clues.
After a friend of the victim mentioned strange men that had visited the apartment with Amanda, the victims roommate was questioned. Amanda's story didn't seem to add up. She acted odd and changed her story when confronted by police. Then Amanda's online profiles were uncovered.
Amanda had a MySpace and Facebook profile, and even was featured in a short YouTube video. In the context of the grisly murder, Amanda's online persona takes on a chilling tone.
On her MySpace page, Amanda goes by the handle "Foxy Knoxy" The British press has already adopted this nickname to refer to Amanda in their sensational headlines. Schoolmates allege Amanda was constantly bringing strange men to her apartment for sex.
Her profile states that she doesn't drink or smoke, but her YouTube video seems to indicate otherwise:
"A thing you have to know about chicks is that they don't know what they want," one of her characters says.
Her MySpace account links her to one of the other suspects involved. A man she allegedly carried out the crime with is referred to on the MySpace page:
"I've been working every night (except for Monday night) from 10pm to 2.30am at a bar called Le Chic. It's a really small place owned by this man from the Congo. His name is Patrick."
How foolish we reporters are, thinking that something somebody puts up on the Internet is - gasp! - public information. The Internet is "a place to share and be open." ...Amanda Knox was open, and the media is sharing. Shocking, I know.
As I said two years ago, an online profile will never give an exact picture of a person, infamous or not. But in the case of sudden noteriety, everything on an online profile becomes open to interpretation. Reporters and the public seek out an online profile so they can attempt to sort out who a person is. Amanda is vehemently defended by friends back home, but pretty much vilified in this news article. What side of the story does the online profile, the only thing actually written by the defendant, seem to support? On one hand, Amanda liked Disney's The Lion King and listed her mom as her hero. On the other hand, she wrote stories about rape and refered to herself with a sexual nickname. How wholesome was she?
Amanda's (Now Public) MySpace Pictures
It's an answer the courts will decide for sure, but for now, Amanda's online persona invites the world to speculate. Amanda, like Kara and David before her, serve as reminders that online profiles are very public indeed, and users would be wise to be concious of what they reveal. Amanda is just the latest MySpacer to find that, in times of trouble, your "My Space" can become everyone's.
Will You Marry Me? Type Your Comment And Press Enter.
Note: This is a random picture. NOT the happy couple
As you may know, I like LOST. The TV show. A lot. The idea of no Lost until January frightens and confuses me. But that's not what this post is about. This post is about LOVE.
One of the blogs I read after every Lost episode is "Lost And Gone Forever." The blogger, Brian, is pretty insightful, many times wrong, but always entertaining. He always gives me a few new Lost theories to think about. Of course, I haven't checked his blog since Lost went on hiatus.
I did today, and I think I just discovered history in the making.
Yes, Brian proposed to his "super-hot girlfriend" on his blog. Complete with a photo of the ring he bought her. They met because of Lost. No, not on the island. They watched it together. A romance blossomed. And she read his blog all the time. A few comments after one anonymous prankster replied "No," Brian's girlfriend finally typed "Yes!" I admit, my eyes got a bit misty.
Congrats to Brian and his fiancee. Just don't go fly to Sydney for the honeymoon!
Facebook Photos Threaten Miss New Jersey Crown
There she is, Miss A... hey, are those mini pumpkins?
Poor Amy Polumbo. She acheived every girl's dream, to become a sex obj... er.. I mean, role model for millions when she was chosen as the next Miss New Jersey. But now her crown is being threatened by pictures she posted on the popular social networking site, Facebook.
Polumbo made the mistake of thinking that pictures of a hot girl posted on the internet somehow won't become public. Even girls who didn't post the pictures themselves can become an internet phenomenon, as Allison Stokke found out. While Polumbo's pictures are tame, she never gave a thought to how they might look in someone else's eyes. In the Facebook era, can we afford to make her mistake?
I thought about myself. What pictures have I posted on Facebook that could come back to bite me when I become a famous astronaut/actor/President? I decided to do a thourough search through my albums, to see if any of my pictures could be interpreted as less than innocent:
Exhibit #1:
Con: Dancing Badly
Pro: I look pretty good.
Con: Cans of beer everywhere, one in my hand, implies drinking.
Pro: I was 21-plus.
Con: This picture was taken at my parents house while they were away.
Conclusion: All in all, I don't think this hurts my aspirations. Except for my dream to be on So You Think You Can Dance. Reputation fairly intact.
Exhibit #2:
Con: I appear to be sneaking a peek.
Pro: The girl doesn't seem to mind.
Con: I've just lost the evangelical vote.
Pro: They wouldn't vote for a Jewish guy anyway.
Conclusion: Men in our society are granted a lot more leeway than women. A fortunate double-standard for me. George W. Bush had his youthful hijinx, and so did I. His involved cocaine though. Reputation with the ladies mildly damaged.
Exhibit #3:
Con: Are you looking at the picture???
Pro: This may help me win the gay vote.
Con: NASA doesn't allow ninjas in space.
Con: Readership of this blog just dropped to zero.
Conclusion: Halloween is a holiday when most people dress (and act) like a completely different person. Polumbo had her share of scandalous Halloween photos. Still, the ridiculousness of this photo is alarming. Reputation: Destroyed.
Well, there you have it. Turned out, pictures I thought were harmless took on a sinister and an alarming tone when viewed through analytical eyes. Let this serve as a warning to you, dear reader. Think before you post.
And keep your ninja sword safely sheathed.
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
McCain Learns Internet Manners
McCain Was No Doubt Surprised By His MySpace Page
Presidential nominee Sen. John McCain is 70 years old. When he was young, the only way to get "online" was to stand in one. So he can be excused for not knowing some of the basic rules of the internet world. But his web team should know better.
Unfortunately for McCain, the people who set up his MySpace page broke one of the cardinal rules of the internet--by committing a sin called "hotlinking." And the victim got revenge. Just see the picture above.
For those of you not up on the internet lingo. "Hotlinking" is when someone copies the location of a picture or video on someone else's site (for example: http://sokpuppet.blogspot.com/PICTURE.JPG) and then inserts that location into the html code of their own site. Lost? Well, its as simple as this: The image appears on that person's page, but it's being loaded from someone else's. Anyone visiting the hotlinker's page sees the image and has no idea its from another site.
People usually do this because they're too stupid and lazy to download the image, then reupload it onto their own web server.
But it isn't a victimless crime. Every time an image is loaded, it uses up bandwidth (space) on the host's server. Web site owners pay good money for a limited amount of bandwidth, and when someone hotlinks to an image on their page, then their bandwidth gets eaten up without anybody actually going to their page. You can see how this could be frustrating. It's even worse when that image is original and/or copyrighted.
In this case, McCain's MySpace page "hotlinked" to this image:
The Result: McCain suddenly supported hot lesbian marriage.
McCain should consider himself lucky. Other "hotlinkers" have suffered far worse retribution. Think about all the images someone less mature could have replaced that image with. We could have seen McCain's smiling face right above some farm animal in a compromising position...
I use Photobucket or TinyPic to host my images. McCain should look into it.
