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Fake Reviews: Amazon's Rotten Core
Curt:
... the New York Times revealed that the use of fake reviews is widespread. ...-Jibz (August 28, 2012, 03:00 PM)
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Try to search Slate.com for jacob silverman against enthusiasm
-his original post is about the very same problem on facebook.
40hz:
... the New York Times revealed that the use of fake reviews is widespread. ...-Jibz (August 28, 2012, 03:00 PM)
--- End quote ---
Try to search Slate.com for jacob silverman against enthusiasm
-his original post is about the very same problem on facebook.
-Curt (August 29, 2012, 08:44 AM)
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Link to article here.
:)
TaoPhoenix:
I think the whole issue needs to be resolved at ISP level. Just like we have certificates for websites ISPs should issue certificates for users and websites and email should only allow certified users to use the service. The ISP has to know who you are and where you are to bill you so when you sign up for an account your details could be fixed by the certificate issuing authority. It would also save having to fill in name and address details all the time.
Websites could then refuse access to someone who doesn't come with a verified certificate. Could potentially reduce the amount of spam if mail servers only accepted mail from genuine certificated users.
Would also stop fake accounts because the certified user would have to be registered at an address with credit card or bank details to get the certificate.
-Carol Haynes (August 29, 2012, 06:06 AM)
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Sounds very, very dangerous. It basically eliminates privacy entirely. Besides, it wouldn't stop spammers. e.g. http://pwnieexpress.com/products/wireless-plug
-Renegade (August 29, 2012, 06:12 AM)
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I'll add a new wrinkle and say that the whole certificate thing leads to all internet activities tied to permanent histories, which will eventually become so juicy to the feds in our age of "automated law enforcement", and then coupled with the rise of "hackers release X records to protest ____". I've remarked that one version of the "Mayan Doomsday" which is almost on schedule is the global leak of the internet history of everyone on the planet through some stunning security breach of some kind. That's like a Blackmail Engine running on nuclear power to send the world into chaos.
Carol Haynes:
I think the whole issue needs to be resolved at ISP level. Just like we have certificates for websites ISPs should issue certificates for users and websites and email should only allow certified users to use the service. The ISP has to know who you are and where you are to bill you so when you sign up for an account your details could be fixed by the certificate issuing authority. It would also save having to fill in name and address details all the time.
Websites could then refuse access to someone who doesn't come with a verified certificate. Could potentially reduce the amount of spam if mail servers only accepted mail from genuine certificated users.
Would also stop fake accounts because the certified user would have to be registered at an address with credit card or bank details to get the certificate.
-Carol Haynes (August 29, 2012, 06:06 AM)
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Sounds very, very dangerous. It basically eliminates privacy entirely. Besides, it wouldn't stop spammers. e.g. http://pwnieexpress.com/products/wireless-plug
-Renegade (August 29, 2012, 06:12 AM)
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Don't really understand the last comment - if ISPs only actually accept email from certified users then spam would be seriously reduced and prosecutions more effective. If you want to use your own domain name you already have to register it and are legally required to provide accurate contact details - if certificates could be attached to your account and/or hosting server it would make it far harder for spammers to spoof your email address - and you wouldn't have to divulge any information that isn't already required.
As for privacy on the internet - in this day and age privacy is a total myth - on the internet doubly so.
I don't see why certification, per se, should impact on privacy - I am not suggesting that they should collect all user activity as part of that (beyond what they do now) and they wouldn't have to collect any more personal data - but they would be required to verify that the data provided is accurate before issuing a certificate. Given that ISPs have to know who you are, where you live, and a payment method it shouldn't take much more for them to issue a secure certificate which you can then use to verofy your genuine user status when you register at a webshop (which again needs the same information). It would also stop fraud because they shop would know your real name and address for shipping goods and so no one else could hijack the account to send stuff to alternative addresses.
The UK government are already (and repeatedly) pushing for legislation to force ISPs to log website visits, internet traffic and even email content for all users (of course if we don't want it we are all terrorists). The US already does this sort of thing as a matter of course.
Don't know about other countries but I am pretty sure the last UK Labour government made it illegal to use encrypted content email because they want to be able to read it. God knows how they plan to enforce that but then it is illegal in the UK to own software or hardware that even has the potential to commit illegal acts (and especially DVD/BD ripping) - presumably everybody with a computer is a potential prosecution target!
40hz:
The UK government are already (and repeatedly) pushing for legislation to force ISPs to log website visits, internet traffic and even email content for all users (of course if we don't want it we are all terrorists). The US already does this sort of thing as a matter of course.
-Carol Haynes (August 29, 2012, 11:18 AM)
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Pretty much, except the US government doesn't feel there's a need for specific legislation as such. They just make it known they'd appreciate "cooperation" , remind ISPs that the government has the power to make their lives a living hell of regulation and subpoenas if they don't "help out", and then let the imagination of ISP management to take it from there...
"Blackmail is such an unpleasant word. We prefer to think of it as moral suasion."
Like the old song said:
What will it take
To whip you into line?
A broken heart?
A broken head?
Because it can be arranged,
Quite easily arranged,
Mr. Blue.
:tellme:
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