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6276

Living Room / Re: SOPA: Alt view - You need to be Shakespeare or Picasso to Avoid Content Scraping

« Last post by 40hz on January 27, 2012, 03:15 PM »

Oh don't be so practical, I'm trying to have fun (there's always lower profile alternatives).

-Stoic Joker (January 27, 2012, 03:01 PM)

Sorry man. Can't help it. I'm a BOFH.

P.S. - where's the "fun" in lower profile? Cows may come, and cows may go - but when the cobras begin to strike you want to firing magnum double-loads. Remember: you can only be punished if there are survivors left to do the punishing.
 

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Living Room / Re: Looking for password "scheme" suggestions

« Last post by 40hz on January 27, 2012, 03:09 PM »

Seen similar stupidity here. I had a client's server compromised because the owner of the company insisted on using Administrator as his login name coupled with a password so obvious it was laughable.

When I asked the local admin why she didn't follow the recommended practice of disabling or renaming that account, she said she did. But the owner insisted she put it back - and give it to him.

He seemed to think having Administrator (as an ID) conferred some über-Ninja powers not held by any other domain admin account. He figured if he had that, he could never get locked out of HIS server by someone else.

He had done some "reading up" on Windows 2003 Server don't you know?

Amazing! In this day and age...a guy running a successful multimillion dollar marketing operation, who's that technically clueless.

And he's younger than me!

I didn't think there were any of those left.

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Living Room / Re: SOPA: Alt view - You need to be Shakespeare or Picasso to Avoid Content Scraping

« Last post by 40hz on January 27, 2012, 02:44 PM »

Search the server logs to find out what IP the scraper is coming from. Then setup a redirector that will send that IP/them something they will never forget (like 90GB of garbage files) the next time they come by for a scraping.

-Stoic Joker (January 27, 2012, 11:45 AM)

Not worth it. All it does is start a pissing match and chew up bandwidth you're paying for.

It can also provoke something really nasty (like a DoS attack) if whoever is doing the scraping just so happens to speak Russian or Chinese, and is having a particularly bad day. (Not that I'm naming names or pointing fingers. )

That's a major headache that can cost an ISP or web host hassles, downtime, and money.

If your host has to deal with one of those, and their admins (who are all closet BOFHs) spotted you were playing amateur cyber-vigilante games with some jackass before it happened, you're very likely to get your account closed.

And I wouldn't blame them.  



 

6279

Living Room / Re: SOPA: Alt view - You need to be Shakespeare or Picasso to Avoid Content Scraping

« Last post by 40hz on January 27, 2012, 02:19 PM »

@40hz, problem is that the images and content clearly shows that it is her property. I mean it's obvious that your pic is YOUR pic which is hosted on your blog, right? If any scraper is copying that content and asking you to prove that if it's your property (even after getting an email from the same scraped domain email) then it is offensive. Hostgator removed that content from above site and is taking further action on webmaster. Problem with giving proofs to such scraper is that, if you look at their scraped sites content, there is no need for giving any proof to thieves. It's like giving proof to murderer who is standing next to the corpse with blood on his clothes and knife.

-mahesh2k (January 27, 2012, 10:56 AM)

I feel her pain and understand where you're coming from.

But as Oliver Wendell Holmes observed, US courts are courts of law - not courts of justice.

And like it or not, the accused has the benefit of the doubt - and the accuser the burden of proof.

In this particular case, I'll agree it leaves a lot to be desired. But doing it the opposite way (like DMCA takedowns do) is even worse in the long run.

As for ownership clearly being proven by the fact it's on your own site...I'll have to disagree.

I once had something (an infographic) taken down from a friend's site by someone who filed a DMCA on my buddy because he had supposedly 'swiped' it. As proof, they claimed it was clearly hosted on their site for over a year - and further, they claimed they held a copyright for it.

Fortunately, I had a fully registered copyright on it. Signed, sealed, and delivered by the Library of Congress no less! Yowza.

I got in touch with the people who were hassling my friend, explained that I was the legal owner of the graphic in question, and asked them what was up with that. I explained I didn't want to file a DMCA on them - or suggest my friend take legal action against them for knowingly filing a false DMCA takedown (which you can btw) - but I would appreciate knowing why they felt the need to harass my friend over something that wasn't theirs to begin with.

After a few emails with some rambling talk about how infographics weren't copyrightable (wrong) - and a vague threat about suing me for "tens of thousands" (not millions? they apparently think small) because I was engaged in "a clear case of defamation" against them (wrong again) - and a complaint to my friend's ISP about being harassed (I think they thought my friend and me were the same person) - it all stopped just as quickly as it started.

My friend went through the necessary actions needed to get the takedown removed. And my infographic disappeared from the other site in the meantime.

I understand that other site did eventually get shut down by their own ISP following numerous DMCA complaints filed against it. Guess my piece wasn't the only thing they borrowed. But I just can't help but wonder why they were so stupid as to draw attention to themselves by filing bogus takedowns if that was the case. Everybody knows somebody on the web. And it doesn't usually take too long for word to get around.

 

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Living Room / Re: Looking for password "scheme" suggestions

« Last post by 40hz on January 27, 2012, 10:18 AM »

Like I've said before, a password is only as secure as the server it's stored on.
If somebody gets in, it doesn't matter if your password is d1O@n3A$t or mickey mouse.
$0.02

-Edvard (January 26, 2012, 06:47 AM)

Excellent point, and very true.

Also don't leave out "as secure as the device it's entered on" (and the network it's connect to) since keyloggers and network sniffers also have their place in a blackhat's toolkit.

Not so much an issue for home users. But it's definitely a very real concern in business IT environments.
 

 

6281

Living Room / Re: Looking for password "scheme" suggestions

« Last post by 40hz on January 27, 2012, 09:47 AM »

For anything <20 characters, I use Password Card as mentioned here, kudos to joby_toss btw.
I have a pair of these laminated back to back, after using a password, (selected off them), a few times, I no longer need the card to look it up but it is there if I need it.

-4wd (January 26, 2012, 06:20 PM)

The card idea is a good one. We used to do a variant of that by creating a card using data generated using tools over at www.random.org  

We'd then post it in the locked server room and pass out smaller pocket cards for the local server admins to use. All they neede to remember was a letter and two numbers for row, start position, and # of characters (ex: M-20-22).

It worked great until some idiots started highlighting their sequences so they'd be "easier to find."

And like a dummy, I always wondered why they'd ask us for fresh copies every other month when password changes were mandatory. Call me DUH!  

Which further goes to show any security system is only as good as dumbest moron using it.

6282

Living Room / Re: SOPA: Alt view - You need to be Shakespeare or Picasso to Avoid Content Scraping

« Last post by 40hz on January 27, 2012, 09:19 AM »

She could make a complaint to the domain registrar, which is a US company. They won't do anything. But it gives them a heads-up about it. If enough people complain they sometimes stop accepting domain requests from the party named. Also the webhost if it is a US or Euro operation. Most have policies about acceptable use and practices. Content scraping is usually forbidden. As is openly defying DMCA notices. Unfortunately, most heavy-duty scrapers host their own servers for exactly that reason.

But to the point, there's nothing which makes you have to accept a DMCA at face value since there are so many bogus ones filed. Asking for proof of copyright is something I'm surprised more sites and hosts don't request. I guess they just feel it's easier to do a CYA and act immediately on receiving notice.

I've had content I've created scraped.  

It's annoying.

You get over it eventually.

In your friend's case it might be beneficial to try to get a link plus her name added to the article. At least that way she'll get some exposure value out of it. Maybe people who see the scraped article will then discover her website.

Hardly ideal, or even fair, but it's still better than nothing. Especially since the scrapers realize (correctly) that there's little most people can do about it.
 

6283

Living Room / Re: SOPA: Alt view - You need to be Shakespeare or Picasso to Avoid Content Scraping

« Last post by 40hz on January 27, 2012, 09:05 AM »

There are other blackhat ways to deal with blackhats.

-Renegade (January 27, 2012, 05:53 AM)

Don't you mean 'asshats' rather than 'blackhats' when referring to scrapers?

6284

Living Room / Re: Is our perception of worth/value affected by venue?

« Last post by 40hz on January 26, 2012, 04:29 PM »

But my point is that the anchor wasn't set by the article, as I found that in research after the fact, rather than before.

-wraith808 (January 26, 2012, 04:16 PM)

Ah...sorry. Missed a bit of that. Next time I'll read a little more carefully before going off an a semi-tangent.

6285

Living Room / Re: I came to a conclusion this morning...

« Last post by 40hz on January 26, 2012, 03:59 PM »

Just ask the doctors who treated me for suicidality/depression.

-Deozaan (January 26, 2012, 01:00 AM)

Amazing the number of people in the technical & coding professions (or who are computer enthusiasts) who suffer from clinical levels of depression.

I wonder why that is.  

6286

Living Room / Re: I came to a conclusion this morning...

« Last post by 40hz on January 26, 2012, 03:56 PM »

So... I waited another year ... When they decided to repeat the same friggin stunt, again...and raised the drinking age to 21. Needless to say, I was pissed.

-Stoic Joker (January 25, 2012, 07:45 PM)

So, you really hadn't waited at all 

-cranioscopical (January 25, 2012, 09:21 PM)

I've always had a tendency to bend the rules...till they snap.

-Stoic Joker (January 25, 2012, 09:33 PM)

Funny...I have a tendency to try to follow them - until I snap. 

6287

Living Room / Re: All-In-One Multi-Touch Computers - Thoughts?

« Last post by 40hz on January 26, 2012, 03:48 PM »

Can't you just use generic display drivers for those monitors?

- Oshyan

-JavaJones (January 26, 2012, 03:23 PM)

In my case, you can. But half of the nifty color features I bought them for aren't supported under Win7.

Something weird also happens with text at higher resolutions that you can't seem to fix no matter what. The minute you bump the display adapter up to 1280x1024@60hz, the monitor goes nuts...and tells you it's not at the optimal settings and suggest you switch to...wait for it...1280x1024@60hz!
 
Samsung has confirmed it's a known issue and that no fix is available. I'm inclined to agree since I've tried every monitor driver I could find and nothing works.

It also does it using two different vid cards that had no problems at all under XP - so there's some weird interaction going on between Windows and the monitors. I'm excusing the vid cards because it's the same problem with two different (make and model) adaptors.

Something in those monitors is telling Win7 something it doesn't want to hear.

And it's really not worth putting any more time or thought into it since they're 5-year old 19-inchers.

And they work just fine under Linux Mint.

6288

Living Room / Re: Is our perception of worth/value affected by venue?

« Last post by 40hz on January 26, 2012, 03:30 PM »

Anchoring, on the other hand, can do much more than just allow us to indulge in bad thinking.

NLP makes extensive use of anchoring for self improvement and performance enhancement. What you basically do is become consciously aware of the effect of anchoring on your thinking, get yourself into the mental state you want, and then set a physical trigger to invoke the anchor you've just created. Then, whenever you need to get into that state, invoke the trigger, and you're there.

It's very similar to those rituals you see athletes going through before a match to psyche themselves up. Just a lot more streamlined.

It takes practice to make it work effectively and predictably.

But what doesn't?

Here's a link if you want a very quick intro and step-by-step. NLP has a lot more to say about anchoring, which is used in conjunction with other thinkertoys they've come up with. So if you're really interested, check out Wikipedia for Neuro-Linguistic Programming.

If you don't want to get into the heavy duty clinical stuff, motivational guru Anthony Robbins has put together his own riff on NLP which he calls "neuro-associative conditioning." In addition to his term being a better descriptor for what NLP is actually about, some people have also had better success with Tony's variant. Either approach (NLP or NAC) works. Or does as long as you don't let yourself be too put off by Robbin's rah-rah style and delivery and quit.

I can tell you that, based on my experiences with it, NLP works amazingly well. But don't take my word for it. If it sounds cool to you - go check it out.

My GF (who holds a Masters in cognitive psyche) calls it "Gestalt for Geeks."

If true, that alone should make it accessible for most of the people here, right?

6289

Living Room / Re: SOPA Shelved - ACTA is Worse

« Last post by 40hz on January 26, 2012, 12:21 PM »

Done.

Also got my GF to do it - and follow kryathaba's idea to share it with her FB cronies.

6290

Coding Snacks / Re: Controlling Windows w/ gamepad like a PS3 or XBOX

« Last post by 40hz on January 26, 2012, 12:17 PM »

Question: why are they trying to do this since you can already control PCs with a smartphone?

I'm rocking TeamViewer on my phone. Last week I used it to ok and install a critical update and remotely reboot a client's server while I was on the road. I pulled over and was done about ten minutes later once I was sure everything came back up correctly.

It was a little clunky. But it worked. And it got easier once I got used to working with a tiny screen.

I'm seeing a lot of this done with other devices too. My GF controls her Roku set-top box with her iPhone whenever she can't remember where she put the perfectly good remote that came with it.

6291

Coding Snacks / Re: Controlling Windows w/ gamepad like a PS3 or XBOX

« Last post by 40hz on January 26, 2012, 11:52 AM »

A million years or so ago, I worked with a company that developed applications for music composition and performance; one of them was a fairly simple thing called "Midi Mouse" where the act of drawing would serve as input to generate music.

-CWuestefeld (January 26, 2012, 10:32 AM)

I remember that. (Wasn't it called Music Mouse though? Or was that a different app entirely? The Midi Mouse program I'm familiar with is more of a 4-channel X/Y joystick emulator that provides 4 mappable midi data streams using your mouse. Music Mouse was more like the Atari based MidiDraw program which took whatever you drew and tried to make music out of it.) Awesome program! I owned a copy. (Probably still have it packed away in a box somewhere too!)

Has it really been a million years? My, how time flies!  

6292

Living Room / Re: Can U Say Crap-O-Riffic??

« Last post by 40hz on January 26, 2012, 08:28 AM »

Oh well. Better to find out upfront rather than the hard way three months down the road.

(If it's any consolation I should have spotted that earlier too.)

6293

Living Room / Re: All-In-One Multi-Touch Computers - Thoughts?

« Last post by 40hz on January 26, 2012, 07:59 AM »

OT note: After getting my nice new monster 'puter delivered last week I found my 24" Acer monitor wouldn’t come out of sleep mode.  Looked into it and found, unfortunately, that the driver is not compatible with 64-bit and Acer is not going to release one! Well, that sucks!

-J-Mac (January 25, 2012, 11:11 PM)

I ran into a similar problem with a few older but very nice Samsung flat displays I still wanted to use. I was able to get them working mostly ok under W7-32bit, but not 64. And because there's no W7 drivers I'm stuck with 1024X768 if I want to be able to read what's on them. A email from Samsung confirmed that's the way it's going to be for these monitors under Win7. No new drivers.

If plugged into a Linux box however, I can run them at their native 1280x1024, tweak the color and calibrate them to my heart's content, and have the power features work properly.



Draw what conclusions you will.

6294

Living Room / Re: Is our perception of worth/value affected by venue?

« Last post by 40hz on January 26, 2012, 07:01 AM »

It was a set-up.

-Deozaan (January 26, 2012, 01:44 AM)

Sometimes, all it takes is four well-chosen words.



Deozaan just nailed it.

6295

Living Room / Re: It's a great day :-D

« Last post by 40hz on January 25, 2012, 08:34 PM »

@Rover - you're absolutely right. Thanks for making me smile.

6296

Living Room / Re: Is our perception of worth/value affected by venue?

« Last post by 40hz on January 25, 2012, 08:30 PM »

BTW...anybody care to hazard a guess as to who my "bad example" band was up above?

Participants are strongly cautioned that a correct answer will undoubtedly give away your true age.

6297

Living Room / Re: I came to a conclusion this morning...

« Last post by 40hz on January 25, 2012, 07:17 PM »

  - when you can drink (legally)

-mwb1100 (January 25, 2012, 06:36 PM)

That one's highly overrated.

6298

Living Room / Re: I came to a conclusion this morning...

« Last post by 40hz on January 25, 2012, 06:05 PM »

Have you started getting annoyed by people asking you how you stay so calm yet? 

-Stoic Joker (January 25, 2012, 04:42 PM)

Yes. But they're buried in the basement. And that sort is never missed...

6299

Living Room / Re: Is our perception of worth/value affected by venue?

« Last post by 40hz on January 25, 2012, 06:01 PM »

In Josh Bell's case, I don't think it's so much the venue as the the structure of the "audience." And the difference between "audiences" and "attendees." And their differing degrees of "engagement."

People who are paying $100 are "in the market" to listen to Mr. Bell. They know who he is, what to expect, and have made a decision to pay the asking price in order to hear him. And because of the expense involved (ticket price + dinner + travel time and expense + etc.) they arrive very "motivated" to hear him and get their money's worth. And that opportunity to be "fully engaged" with the performer and the music is also a big part of what they're paying for.

For example...



     ... ok...bad example. Let's move on, shall we?.

The people on the subway are NOT in the market. They're paying to get where they're going - and preferably as quickly and painlessly as possible. Josh Bell is an "unsought for" product in that context. Some people enjoyed his music enough that they kicked some money into his hat. But since many people in attendance weren't interested in what he was doing (since musical styles appeal to different audiences) and possibly lacked the time and patience to check it out, he was just as likely to be taken as an annoying busker as he was an internationally recognized performer. Likely because he wasn't recognized. But possibly even if he were.

If venue (which I'm taking to mean location) had any bearing, I think it has more to do with physical appropriateness rather than a social highbrow/lowbrow perception of the place. Violins are acoustic instruments. Subways are crowded and noisy - and (if located under NYC) also smell...um...rather piquant. None of these are conducive to the environment needed (i.e. quiet, distraction free, peaceful) to really appreciate the subtitles and nuances of a violin, or a player like Mr. Bell.

The subway was a bad choice. It has too many physical negatives going against a violin performance to really be valid in this context. I have a similar opinion about outdoor and sports arena rock concerts. The sound quality is usually bad enough that I'm not interested in attending even if I like the groups that are playing and have tickets.

It's an interesting question. But I don't think this experiment had sufficient controls or identification of variables to be anything other than "interesting." And possibly point the way towards a more scientifically valid experiment.

6300

Living Room / Re: Looking for password "scheme" suggestions

« Last post by 40hz on January 25, 2012, 03:10 PM »

Unless you're using a true random and complex password for each different site (i.e. impossible to memorize) it's all pretty much moot according to one security specialist I asked. I showed her this (which has been posted on DC before):



She said it was at least as secure as 90% of what else is out there. And a lot easier to use.

I've since switched over to this, and added a little additional complexity by adding a few arbitrary number/punctuation mark strings to the above using a simple scheme I've come up with. It's not worth sharing since the internal logic only means something to me.

If somebody succeeds in guessing my passwords after that, all I can say is, "Oh well."