Author Archives: Michael Froomkin

Hot Downloads

Posted on October 15, 2003 by Michael Froomkin

Mozilla.org released Mozilla 1.5 and the faster, newer, not-quite-yet-better Mozilla Firebird 0.7 today. I've been using Moz 1.5 betas and I like them enormously, except that they are a little slow in closing down windows. Firebird's earlier versions show enormous promise, but so far I'm not ready to make the switch. Although, since Moz 1.5 is said to be the last version of the integrated suite, I expect I'll be switching to Firebird as it gets close to 1.0.

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Today’s Overbroad Patent Story

Posted on October 15, 2003 by Michael Froomkin

Because my weather report in the left column is not customized for every user, I feel pretty confident that it's not covered by the latest over-the-top Microsoft patent. So, the scare headline over at Slashdot: Microsoft patents your local weather report, is slightly exaggerated—but only slighlty. This does seem like a radically over-broad patent. There must surely be tons of prior art on per-user customization using state information

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New Name, Same Old New World Charm

Posted on October 15, 2003 by Michael Froomkin

On March 1, 2003, the Immigration and Naturalization Service became part of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and its functions were divided into various bureaus of that department. There's the Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services. Services mind you. And there's the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). But underneath the new coat of paint, it's still the same loathsome and arbitrary bureaucracy. Read those two links and gnash your teeth.

Or maybe (here's a horrible thought), now that it's got that Homeland Security vibe, it's getting worse.

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Anatomy of a Scam

Posted on October 15, 2003 by Michael Froomkin

Here's a particularly nice, illustrated, explanation of how a typical identity theft scam works. It starts with a fairly convincing looking email “from” e-bay, that directs you to a website that looks legit…but isn't. It harvests your data, and your life is never the same again.

I'm adding disLEXia: cybercrime/-security sightings to my monitoring list.

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Good Plugin; Great Legal Summary

Posted on October 14, 2003 by Michael Froomkin

I'll probably be installing the SimpleComments MT plugin soon. Merging Trackbacks & comments seems sensible to me, although I'm slightly concerned about whether it plays nice with the MT-Blacklist plugin.

But I have to admit that what I really love most about Simple Comments is the authors' summary of the MIT License which goes like this:

Like our other freeware, this plugin is released under the open-source MIT License. In plain English, that means you can do whatever you want with the software, including modifying it, selling it, or eating it, but we’re not responsible for anything that goes wrong.

Posted in Movable Type | Comments Off on Good Plugin; Great Legal Summary

It’s When, Where AND How You Say It

Posted on October 14, 2003 by Michael Froomkin

Thanks to rc3, I found Danny O'Brien's Oblomovka, and its observations on “registers of conversations”. Which explains why rc3 is a good thing to read — it taps into pools I don't. Except that now I guess I'll be reading Danny O'Brien too…

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