Spam using my email address

Lately I've gotten two spams returned to me as 'undeliverable'. They are abusing my email address. The headers show the original spammers 'from' location as being persons names not associated with prying1. My apologies if you have received spam this way.

"Julia Chase" and "Joseph Francis" are two names used. I suspect there will be more. "Buy quality and safe medications here." and "Same quality of meds for lower prices." are two of the subject lines. Both had links to livejournal.com pages that have been suspended. Kudos to Live Journal for staying on top of their website.

Forged headers are nothing new and years ago I've gotten nasty emails from people that said I gave them a virus. Clicking on links and attachments in emails from people you do not know is not the way to do it.

Even if an email does come addressed from someone you know if it seems fishy it is a simple matter to call or email your friend and ask them if they sent it. So a day passes before you get to see whatever it is they sent. More than once I've done this and found that a spammer was abusing a friends email address.

Be careful out there. The Internet can be a mean and nasty place.
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Does Portions of Our Government Have Our Best Interest at Heart?

Jim Kouri has posted on American Daily Review an article titled, Cyber Threats and Vulnerabilities Continue

In his commentary/post Jim Kouri states:

Cyber threats to federal computer systems and cyber-based critical infrastructures are evolving and growing. These threats can be unintentional and intentional, targeted or non-targeted, and can come from a variety of sources, such as foreign nations engaged in espionage and information warfare, criminals, hackers, virus writers, and disgruntled employees and contractors working within a targeted organization.

Moreover, these groups and individuals have a variety of attack techniques at their disposal, and cyber exploitation activity has grown more sophisticated, more targeted, and more serious. As government, private sector, and personal activities continue to move to networked operations, as digital systems add ever more capabilities, as wireless systems become more ubiquitous, and as the design, manufacture, and service of information technology have moved overseas, the threat will continue to grow.

I had to comment and since I type my diatribes slowly I thought to bring my comment here to get more bang for my buck...

I'm a cynic and as a result when I read government names such as "Comprehensive National Cybersecurity Initiative" I instantly ask, "How much graft and corruption is going on there?" So I Googled, Comprehensive National Cybersecurity Initiative (no quotes) and the first hit took me to the NIST.gov website for it... Comprehensive National Cyber Security Initiative: Leap-Ahead Security Technologies
(+$5 million) ...

After reading about it from their website I could see that such a wing of our government could, if run by ethical people, have a benefit to the security of our nation and be in line with the Constitution. You know. The part that says government's purpose is to protect U.S. citizens.

Looks to me like the NIST program could do it's job and do it well IF politicians stay out of it's way. According to this Wired story ... What’s Up with the Secret Cybersecurity Plans, Senators Ask DHS Sens. Joe Lieberman (I-Connecticut) and Susan Collins (R-Maine) asked questions that I think, if answered, might give cyber terrorists and criminals new directions for hacking that they otherwise may have been ignorant of or ignored.

There does need to be oversight but not at the expense of security.

Pryinng1 sez: If the politicians try to micromanage this department all bets are off regarding it's effectiveness.

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Technorati Tags -
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Cyberterrorism -

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Criminals on the RunWon't Be Fooled Again - - - Or will We???

Years ago, in my freshman year of high school there was one other freshman that brought pride to our entire class. I didn't hang out with him. Barely spoke to him because he ran with a different crowd. I never was sports minded (I'm still not) but still I took pride that there was ONE FRESHMAN, someone in my class that was on the VARSITY FOOTBALL TEAM.

That freshman was John Goldenberg. Quite a guy! Very popular (amongst the jocks anyway) Pretty good looking. Reasonably good student. Teachers liked him and, as said before, the freshman took pride in him.

My high school even won the CIF (CA state H.S. championship) if I remember correctly for two years running. If not for two years we did at least win it once. As said before I'm not real sports minded. The fog of time is lifting some. I think we played for it twice and the second time we won.

WhooHoo! We won the CIF!

THEN!!!

The world came crashing down on the (by then Junior) class.

John Goldenberg was arrested and extradited to Mississippi. The CIF win was rescinded and all the H.S. football records had to be looked over and corrected.

It seems his real name was Jay Dennis Gould, was in his early 20's, was on the lam, wanted for bank embezzlement and finally caught. He was such a great football player because he was a good 4-5 years older than anyone else in the school.

Sure had me fooled along with everybody else. Except for the father of the girl that was concerned for his daughter's welfare. It was one man's questioning of history that revealed the past of Jay Dennis Gould (alias John Goldenberg).

John/Jay had come to town, was befriended by some people who believed his story of parents deceased, mean uncle who beat him regularly, his running away, school records destroyed when the little Mississippi school house burnt down. They took him in and helped him get into high school as a sixteen year old.

Quite the con artist. Guess that was why he was able to pull off the embezzlement and the falsification of his identity.

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Which brings us closer to the present. It seems that Athens, Georgia and many in the blogging community were taken in by a man who rolled into town about a year back and established himself as an opinionated retiree who often wrote letters to the local paper, the Athens Banner-Herald.

"Norm Weatherby" also had a blog called Quantum Thought - A Palette for Thinking which had many links to other blogs. Mine included. The Blog was deleted after one final posting which said:

"Norm Weatherby is unable to Blog at this time and is asking for
everyone's prayers. He will log on again when able. Thanks for your
support."

The blog is back up at this time and has been taken over by a person only identifed as Mcdanial

Well, back to "Norm Weatherby". It seems his real name is Larry Ray Bess (66) and a fugitive who fled child rape charges in Ohio 18 years ago.

The Athens Banner-Herald story (free registration required) stated:

Bess was indicted in November 1989 on charges of rape and gross sexual imposition of a minor - a crime similar to aggravated sexual battery in Georgia - according to Wilson.

Bess also was wanted on a 1999 federal warrant charging him with unlawful flight to avoid prosecution.

Ohio prosecutors allege Bess raped his stepdaughter over a six-year period, 1983 to 1989, beginning when she was 6 years old. The assaults happened in North Royalton, a suburb of Cleveland, officials said.

Bess never was arrested, but a grand jury indicted him after the stepdaughter took her allegations to prosecutors, according to Wendy Clawson, spokeswoman for the Cuyahoga County Prosecuting Attorney's Office.

"After he was indicted, he just took off," Clawson said.

I certainly hope that the stepdaughter finds some relief and comfort through his arrest and that his case is quickly settled with justice served to Bess in the way that he deserves.

One thing this posting shows is that running from justice is not new. Catching those running is not new either. I think that justice continuing the search for those running is a good use of tax dollars.

Our world is a safer place as a result.

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Hat tip to JMAC of Safe As Houses blog for the heads up on this one.

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Write in Cary Cartter for President in 2008
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Hmmm. It Stopped Being Funny!!!

Quite a while ago I posted some Retirement Jokes. Every so often I get hits on the posting through Google. I checked the Google page and saw some other Retirement Joke Pages and thought I'd check it out. Perhaps 'borrow' some items to update my collection.

The first one I hit was a gentleman selling books. Nice if you need 'em. The second I clicked on took me to RetirementSayings.com - A bunch of adverts. No Jokes. - Wait! - Here it is! Related Links/Retirement Jokes. - CLICK - Ok. Another advert page. Oh! Here's one. Retirement Jokes - 10,000's of fresh jokes, free! Quick search. Every joke category. - CLICK -

WHAT???

Download free JOKE TOOLBAR???

Toolbars are not a JOKE!!!

What is this outfit? try.starware.com huh! OK! Google Search.
- Dum, de dum dum. - Stopbadware.org Report - That's the one - CLICK -

We find that the Starware News Toolbar is not badware, although it does engage in behaviors that users should be aware of.

We currently recommend that users who want to download Starware News Toolbar be aware of the behaviors outlined in this report.
Redirects invalid web addresses
Replaces legitimate error pages with its own
Displays inline ads and pop-under ads

To their defense a note on the sidebar says:
08/15/2006 - Starware.com contacted StopBadware.org regarding our report on Starware News Toolbar. They have expressed a desire to work with us to bring Starware News Toolbar into conformance with our recommendations.

and

09/19/2006 - We have confirmed that the toggling off of the SiteAdvisor button by Starware News Toolbar is due to idiosyncracies in Internet Explorer's handling of toolbars, not malicious intent on the part of Starware. Since Starware News Toolbar has now been found to be in compliance with our recommendations, we find it to no longer be badware.

Well that is cool that the Starware Toolbar folks work to clean up their reputation. I wonder how the uninstall works? Gotta be better than Zango!

Well, I'm not going to be the one to find out.

Any volunteers?


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Technorati Tags -
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Toolbars -
Internet -
Starware.com -
Caution -

Zango - 180Solutions - Scams, Problems and Headaches!

Since I posted on Zango on Sept 30, 06 I've been getting a lot of visitors typing in "Daniel and the Bus" with or without "Zango" tagged on. I can only surmise that people get to the point I wrote about in my posting (Zango wants to download an .EXE file) and they back off to check it out first. Good for them!

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UPDATE! - Some people coming by only want to see the video, Daniel and the Bus, and could care less about Zango. They know it is bad stuff. - So! here is a link to go see the video free for nothing! Without mucking up your computer. -

Some of the other stuff on this webpage is tawdry at best. Surf there at your own risk. Especially since Zango owns the site!

- http://"target="_blank">http://www.tacobomb.com/html/Guy-Jumps-Under-Bus.html -

For those wishing to know more about Zango continue reading...
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I can only feel sorry for those who click to download and then install the program. It comes from a company that can only be described as disreputable at best.

Benjamin Edelman has a webpage entitled, The Effect of 180solutions on Affiliate Commissions and Merchants which says this:

Software from 180solutions (also known as MetricsDirect) redirects many affiliate commissions to 180. As a result, merchants pay commissions to 180 (and its advertiser partners) even when no commissions are payable under the terms and conditions of merchants' affiliate programs, and even when commissions are properly payable to other affiliates. 180 causes these commissions to be paid via at least 84 different affiliate accounts, using multiple intermediary domain names that redirect affiliate tracking HTTP traffic, making 180's activities particularly difficult to track and to prevent.

prying1 sez:
I'm not a brilliant person but that sounds disreputable to me. Some people think that 180solutions and Zango are trying to clean up their act but until they do and get a proven track record it is best to avoid them.

Quotes from Spywareinfo.com's Forums re: Zango

Zango.com is related to 180solutions, Inc. - a well known Adware supplier - we help plenty of people get 180solutions infections off their computers. Beware of installing anything from them - you may get more than you bargained for.

Like maybe the Zango Search Assistant? From Zango: "While the Software is installed on your computer, Zango may collect information about you and the websites you visit."

I had Zango on my PC, and at first thought it was a game site that my daughter had downloaded. For a couple days, I didn't bother looking into it, but then IE kept getting redirected to Zango.com at startup.

My firewall was screaming that a couple of .exe programs were attempting to send info out. I did not recognize the dns they were going to, so I ran SB S&D, Ad-Aware, and HiJack this and they discovered quite a few problems: Browser hijacker, adware, spyware, and the toolbar was loaded with ads which were always different.

I cleaned up all remnants of Zango, and the PC was fine again.

I would suggest re-thinking using Zango.

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Technorati Tags -
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adware spybots -

Zango? Questionable Practices? You Decide!

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UPDATE! - Some people coming by only want to see the video, Daniel and the Bus, and could care less about Zango. They know it is bad stuff. - So! here is a link to go see the video free for nothing! Without mucking up your computer. -

Some of the other stuff on this webpage is tawdry at best. Surf there at your own risk. Especially since Zango owns the site!

- http://"target="_blank">http://www.tacobomb.com/html/Guy-Jumps-Under-Bus.html -

For those wishing to know more about Zango continue reading...
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I was planning on posting a bit on the Military Commissions Act - The U.S. Senate and the House of Representatives have passed this new legislation proposed by President Bush on the treatment and trials of terror suspects in U.S. custody. It is expected the President will sign it into law soon (If he hasn't already).

But as I was surfing for more information I came across a Guardian Unlimited (UK) webpage that had a short Macromedia Flash shot. "YOU WON'T BELIEVE YOUR EYES" it says. Then it shows a kid running in front of a bus and laying down in front of it. Looks lke his plan is to be lying between the bus wheels as it passes over him. "SEE WHAT HAPPENS NEXT! NOT FOR THE SQUEAMISH." in the middle of the advert is a forward arrow (>) for you to see what happens next.

Not being squeamish I clicked on it and a new window opened for ZANGO.com whose slogan is, "With Zango – You’re Good to Go(TM)" - They also give this blurb - Zango offers a vast network of free ad-supported games, videos and downloads powered by proprietary and revolutionary time-shifted advertising technology. Zango allows users, publishers, content providers and advertisers to connect within one unique online community. - Also on the page was a lot of screenshots of various videos you can watch.

Hey, there is the not too smart kid labeled, "Daniel and the bus". OK click on it and...

Another page pops up.

Big button says WATCH - OK. Click on that and...

Another window pops up for me to download some software called "Setup.exe".

It must be safe right? I mean the Guardian Unlimited (UK) would not send me to a website that would download bad software on my computer would they? - But! Maybe I should be digging a little deeper before I click on this one. (Didja notice how I got my slogan in that last sentence? Pretty spiffy huh?)

Ok, The quick version. On the page where the word WATCH is most prominent is a lot of info in smaller type. At this point Zango is looking to download, free for nothing, a TOOLBAR and SEARCH ASSISTANT.

- quotes -
Zango Toolbar, accessible whenever you browse the Internet, may display ads within the Toolbar itself based upon keywords from your Internet browsing. Buttons in the Toolbar let you access relevant offers.

- Zango Search Assistant (Zango SA) provides free access to Daniel and the Bus and all Zango-supported content across the Internet and, in exchange, may display to you several ads per day based upon keywords from your Internet browsing. These ads will pop up on your computer screen in a separate browser window.
- end quotes -

On this page is a box PRECHECKED to say "By clicking watch, I represent that I (1) am at least 18, (2) agree to the terms of the EULA above and (3) consent to access Daniel and the Bus."

Digging a little deeper (Hey! My slogan fit in this post again! This time with a cap!) I found one complaint of difficulty in removing the installed program (Could have looked harder and expect I would have found more) and I've found that a lot of Myspace users have been putting some cool little video clips on their websites. Pasting the code for the moviefile into the Myspace profile and having it autoplay when someone visits the page, is enough to have the licence prompt appear.


vitalsecurity.org has a piece on this outfit that questions the prechecked box.
- Quote - Myspace is (or was) all about the kids, right? Minimum age is now 14, their "safety tips" page links to a bunch of sites called Safeteens, Webwisekids and Netsmartz. Browse around randomly and it's confirmed. Kids, kids, kids.

Which just makes the pre-ticked checkbox for the Zango installer (18 or over) even more ironic and useless than it already is when applied to a landscape like this. Of course, videofiles that launch Adware aren't a new thing - though creating a distribution method like this is pretty inventive. - End Quote -

I guess this posting is just a reminder to be careful out there. If you don't mind Adware and search redirects then go for it. I'm not putting any links to Zango on this posting. - You will have to go digging a little deeper to find it yourself...

Hey! Three times on one posting!

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