Save Energy with Blackle?
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
A website, dubbed "Blackle" is currently generating a lot of Internet discussion. Blackle features a Google search box on a black background with light text. The site is intended to allow environmentally conscious Internet users to save a little electricity while they surf. The concept is based on findings that suggest that some computer monitors use more energy to display a white or light coloured screen than they do to display a black or dark coloured screen.
The idea certainly has merit, but it should be noted that the energy savings are significantly less for those using LCD monitors as opposed to CRT monitors. In a Wall Street Journal blog post, Carl Bialik discusses the possible energy savings in depth. In reality, the energy savings are likely to be fairly small.
That said, even small savings can accrue and, over time, make a significant contribution. And as Blackle's About page notes, even just using Blackle may serve as a repeated reminder of the importance of saving as much energy as possible. Performing a search in Blackle might help to bring environmental issues to the fore and prompt us to take simple energy saving steps such as switching off unused computer monitors, lights and other appliances.
Click the image to visit Blackle:
posted by Brett Christensen @ 5:53 PM,
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Emergency Caller No Response Feature - 55
Monday, July 23, 2007
One Australian version of a factually dubious email forward featuring "Lauren" and the fake unmarked police car has the following advice tacked onto the message.
If you are unable to speak when you dial 000 just press 55 and they will ring back to check it is a genuine call if you haven't spoken after they have asked you 3 times. They may also send out a police car to the address with that phone number.
Although the full "Laren" message is potentially misleading and inaccurate, the information about "55" is basically factual. When you call 000 (the Australian emergency number), the operator will ask which service you require, Police, Fire or Ambulance. The "Caller No Response" feature allows callers who cannot speak to key in "55" to gain further help:
Information on the ACMA website explains:
A Caller No Response (CNR) initiative designed to help genuine callers to the 000 emergency service receive a faster response has been introduced. All calls where the caller does not respond to the operator's question: "Emergency. Police? Fire? Ambulance?" are directed to an interactive voice response (IVR) unit. The caller will be asked this question three times. All callers directed to the IVR unit are asked to press 55 if they cannot speak and require emergency assistance.
Those who press 55 are connected quickly to the police by the emergency call service operator. As a safety mechanism, the police will attempt to call back all such callers who press 55. If appropriate, the police may also dispatch a patrol car to the caller's address. If a caller does not press 55 after three requests from the operator, the call is disconnected.
The CNR process limits the number of non-genuine calls that would otherwise be forwarded to police and divert police resources from responding to genuine emergencies.
Thus, so long as you are calling from within Australia and are able to press 55, the police will attempt to provide assistance even if you cannot speak to the operator.
posted by Brett Christensen @ 1:41 PM,
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Money Laundering Job Scams
Friday, July 20, 2007
Over the last few months, I've seen an increasing number of emails that supposedly offer part time work.
The emails typically claim that a person is needed to receive and process payments for an overseas based company. The person is promised a percentage of all payments processed. He or she is instructed to deduct a specified percentage as payment and then forward the remainder to the "company" via an international wire transfer.
However, these supposed jobs are generally just money laundering scams designed to fool victims into processing stolen funds. For more information on these scams, see:
A typical example:
Subject:
REPRESENT US! (MITSUBISHI CORPORATION PLC UK)
MITSUBISHI CORPORATION
General Importers & Exporters
Mid City Place, 71 High Holborn,
London WC1V 6BA,
UNITED KINGDOM.
Mitsubishi Corporation (UK) Plc, is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Japanese trading and
investment company, Our company import and export Petroleum Products, Carbon, Crude Oil, Power & Electrical Systems, Plants, General Merchandise.
We are looking for representative that will be serving as a payment representative\link between us and our numerous customers because most of our customers pay with checks and bank transfer.
As our representative you will receive 10% of any money you clear or receive for the company.
You will be required to send the underlisted information
via email: mitsubishicorporation_uka64@yahoo.co.uk
for onward procedures.
1. Full Name..........
2. Contact Address/City/State/Zipcode/Country..........
3. Contact Telephone Number..........
4. Fax Number (if any)...........
5. Age..........
6. Occupation............
7. Communication Language..........
Regards,
Mr. Anderson Spencer
HR Department,
Mitsubishi Corporation (UK) Plc.
posted by Brett Christensen @ 11:52 AM,
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Do Not Support Spammers
Friday, July 13, 2007
Spam is a massive problem that continues to erode the effectiveness of the Internet. Of course, there are a lot of very smart people out there doing their best to combat the problem in various ways.
But, sometimes, the most basic spam strategy of all can get a little lost in the heat of the battle.
DO NOT BUY FROM SPAMMERS!
If you buy any sort of product or service from a spammer whatsoever, you are contributing to the problem. In fact, those who buy from spammers are the root cause of the problem. I consider those who buy from spammers to be as equally culpable as the spammers themselves.
Of course, it would be hopelessly naive to believe that, somehow, everyone will suddenly get the message and stop buying from spammers. Unfortunately, that's not going to happen anytime soon!
That said, we can at least ensure that no slimy, guttersnipe spammer ever gets a single cent from us. We can also promote the simple message that buying from spammers is simply unacceptable. Such grassroots action might be more effective than you think.
One website whose purpose is to promote this message is SpamDon'tBuy.org. The name says it all! The site provides more in depth information about the Don't Buy It strategy and, if you run a website, you can promote the message by including a "Spam. Don't Buy It." icon like the one below.
posted by Brett Christensen @ 6:49 PM,
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The Tale of The Killer Biscuits
The following email forward tells the tale of a woman who thought that she had been shot in the head after a biscuit canister exploded and catapulted a wad of dough onto the back of her neck. According to the message, the hapless victim, believing that the dough was in fact her brains, sat in her car desperately holding in her escaping grey matter for over an hour until help arrived.
The message is written to look like a genuine news article and many recipients apparently take it as such. However, the story is in fact an enduring urban legend that has been told and retold for a number of years. About.com notes that variants of the same story "first began showing up in newspaper columns, stand-up comedy routines, and Internet discussions during the mid-1990s".
Did such an incident ever actually take place? Probably not. In all probability, some wag in search of humorous material, simply invented the tale. And the email version shown below is, of course, not a real news article although, like its predecessors, it is certainly amusing.
An example of the email:
KILLER BISCUITS WANTED FOR ATTEMPTED MURDER (the actual AP headline)
Linda Burnett, 23, a resident of San Diego, was visiting her in-laws and while there went to a nearby supermarket to pick up some groceries.
Several people noticed her sitting in her car with the windows rolled up and with her eyes closed, with both hands behind the back of her head.
One customer who had been at the store for a while became concerned and walked over to the car. He noticed that Linda's eyes were now open, and she looked very strange. He asked her if she was okay, and Linda replied that she'd been shot in the back of the head, and had been holding her brains in for over an hour.
The man called the paramedics, who broke into the car because the doors were locked and Linda refused to remove her hands from her head.
When they finally got in, they found that Linda had a wad of bread dough on the back of her head.
A Pillsbury biscuit canister had exploded from the heat, making a loud noise that sounded like a gunshot, and the wad of dough hit her in the back of her head.
When she reached back to find out what it was, she felt the dough and thought it was her brains.
She initially passed out, but quickly recovered and tried to hold her brains in for over an hour until someone noticed and came to her aid.
Linda is a blonde and a Democrat, but I'm certain that's irrelevant.
posted by Brett Christensen @ 1:09 PM,
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Malicious eCard emails continue
Thursday, July 12, 2007
Over the past fortnight, Internet users have been hit by a spate of fake eCard notification emails. Some claim to be notifications about a postcard from a family member. Earlier in July, other emails claimed to be a 4th July celebration eCard notification from a colleague or friend.
Another version, received today, claims that a classmate has sent you an eCard. An example of this version is included below:
Hi. Class mate has sent you an ecard.
See your card as often as you wish during the next 15 days.
SEEING YOUR CARD
If your email software creates links to Web pages, click on your card's direct www address below while you are connected to the Internet:
[URL REMOVED]
Or copy and paste it into your browser's "Location" box (where Internet addresses go).
We hope you enjoy your awesome card.
Wishing you the best,
Administrator,
[URL REMOVED]
Clicking on links in these emails opens a website that will download a trojan to the user's computer. The trojan will then attempt to download and install other malware.
Be very cautious of any eCard notification emails. Do not click links in these emails until you have checked that the message is from a genuine eCard service. Links in the message may be disguised using HTML to make them appear more legitimate. Genuine eCard notification messages will identify you by name and will clearly state who sent you the eCard.
posted by Brett Christensen @ 11:42 AM,
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Orkut Closing Down Hoax
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
There have been a number of hoaxes that claim a particular online service will close unless the recipient sends the message on to a specified number of others.
MSN, Hotmail, AOL, Bebo, and several others have been targeted by these prank emails.
Social networking website, Orkut has now also joined the ranks of targeted services. The following email forward is almost identical to an earlier version except that it names Orkut instead of MSN.
HEY ITS DIANNA, FROM THE DIRECTOR OF ORKUT,EVERYBODY SORRY FOR THE INTERRUPTION BUT ORKUT IS CLOSING THE SYSTEM DOWN BECAUSE TOO MANY BOTTERS ARE TAKING UP ALL THE NAMES, WE ONLY HAVE 57 NAMES LEFT, IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO CLOSE YOUR ACCOUNT, DONT SEND THIS MESSAGE, IF YOU WANT TO KEEP YOUR ACCOUNT ,SEND THIS MESSAGE TO EVERYONE ON YOUR LIST. THIS IS NOT A JOKE, YOU'LL BE SORRY IF YOU DONT SEND IT. THANKS DIRECTOR OF ORKUT, TIM BUISKI. WHOEVER DOESNT SEND THIS MESSAGE, YOUR ACCOUNT WILL BE DEACTIVATED AND IT WILL COST YOU $ 10.00 A MONTH TO USE IT
All such messages are likely to be hoaxes and should not be forwarded. If a company was intending to start charging for a previously free service, it would inform customers directly rather than rely on the random forwarding of a vague and amateurish email.
posted by Brett Christensen @ 1:46 PM,
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Spamhaus Joe Job Spam
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
Anti-spam group, Spamhaus has again become the victim of a spammer revenge attack.
Spammers have recently sent out messages that advertise the services of Spamhaus, apparently in a rather lame attempt to discredit the organization. Obviously, Spamhaus, is NOT sending the messages. The spammers apparently think that they may be able to sully the good reputation of Spamhaus by making some recipients believe that the organization is itself guilty of spamming.
This is not the first time that Spamhaus has been targeted. According to information on the Spamhaus website:
A common practice of spammers is to send out spam which fraudulently pretends to be sent 'by' anti-spam organizations such as Spamhaus. Spammers hope that some internet users may fall for the ruse and complain to the anti-spam organization. Nobody ever does, as Internet users see the paradox of an anti-spam organization 'spamming' them and realize the obvious: only spammers send spam, therefore this spam was obviously sent by a spammer angry at Spamhaus.
These attacks are not likely to fool many people. In fact, such incidents prove that groups like Spamhaus are actually making headway in the endless fight against spammers. If the spammers are trying to launch counter-attacks against Spamhause, the organization must be kicking them where it hurts.
An example of the Joe Job message:
WORKING TO PROTECT INTERNET NETWORKS WORLDWIDE
xxx realtime anti-spam protection for Internet networks, and works with Law Enforcement to identify and pursue spammers worldwide.
The SBL database is maintained by a dedicated international Spamhaus team based in 9 countries, working 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to list new confirmed spam issues and - just as importantly - to delist resolved issues.
The Spamhaus Exploits Block List (XBL) is a realtime database of IP addresses of illegal 3rd party exploits, including open proxies (HTTP, socks, AnalogX, wingate, etc), worms/viruses with built-in spam engines, and other types of trojan-horse exploits.
The Exploits Block List can be used by all modern mail servers, by setting your mail server's anti-spam DNSBL feature (sometimes called "Blacklist DNS Servers" or "RBL servers") to query xbl.spamhaus.org.
Use of the XBL is free for users with normal mail servers (but networks with high email traffic should see DataFeed).
You can get MUCH MORE if you contact us:
The Spamhaus Project Ltd. 50 Churchill Square, Suite 6, Kings Hill, West Malling ME19 4YU United Kingdom, Tel (+44) 0845 226 0208
posted by Brett Christensen @ 12:35 PM,
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PDF Stock Spam
Monday, July 9, 2007
Over the last week or so, I have been receiving spam in the somewhat unusual form of PDF email attachments. The spam emails generally have no text and use random subject lines such as "Re: Magazine.40031374.pdf".
Opening the .pdf attachment reveals a Pump and Dump message like the one shown below:
Scammers are apparently using PDF rather than the more typical image files as a new means of avoiding spam filters. Filters are becoming more sophisticated and are now better able to detect image spam, so the spammers are looking to new methods.
posted by Brett Christensen @ 7:56 PM,
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