Well, not really hackers as “true hackers” understand them – disinterested seekers after illicit knowledge – these are just kids who steal people’s credit card numbers. Ira Glass of the terrific US radio programme This American Life interviewed two of them at a hacker convention in October 1997, asking them about their personal morality and whether they thought they were doing wrong. Hearing them struggling to define and justify their moral stance makes fascinating listening.

The feature in question is the first item of the hour-long programme, but I encourage you to dip into the show’s archives (most shows since 1995 are archived on the site) and listen to other gems, including one I mentioned earlier.card bank national credit 1stcredit card 5america creditbest credit cards 10service credit 580-223-6260affilitate creditalcona alpena union credit areaaccreditation for process seta etqa Map

Business 2.0 has collected quite an assortment of blunders from the world of business in 2001 (though in truth they cast the net rather wider, encompassing all sorts of Internet-related blunders).

Numbers 29 and 30 – Great Moments in Privacy – were stunning:

“Eli Lilly sends a mass e-mail in July to users of its antidepressant Prozac but neglects to use the “bcc” header, further depressing its customers by disclosing their online identities to one another.

“Trumping Eli Lilly, in October a graduate student at the University of Montana accidentally posts to the school’s website more than 400 documents relating to the psychiatric treatment of 62 children, including names, addresses, descriptions of sessions, and diagnoses.”

Number 38 also caught my eye:

“38. Excite@Home, iWon.com, and others line up to sponsor “Back the Net” day on April 3, 2001; participants are encouraged to purchase either a product or a share of stock online. The idea is “to dispel the negative stereotypes … that have sent our technological marketplace into a recession.” (Because nothing dispels negative stereotypes quite like an abject plea for charity.)”

Oh, and they were honest enough to mention their own at #11 – putting the CEO of Enron on their cover in August/September – a week before his resignation.

If you have your own tales of e-catastrophe you can add them to their site here (and read other reader-generated ones).

Admittedly, the key to ensuring development in the poorest countries isn’t simply giving more money – as Bush and others say, good governance is important too. Nonetheless the amount the West provides in aid each year is too low by any measure.

The US government’s recent announcement that they will increase aid by 50% from 2004-2007 is therefore welcome, as is the UK’s pledge to provide a “substantial” rise.

To my surprise we in the UK already give .31% of GNP in overseas aid while Canada only provides .25% – but I suspect Canada’s may come with fewer strings attached. It would be nice to see us a bit closer to the .7% target that the UN has given, though.

An interesting article suggests that 802.11b networks may fail if they become popular enough because of interference. Fortunately, in the same breath proposes a solution – packet relay networks.hentai movies animehentai flash moviesmovies hermaphroditehot movies babeserotic movie japanesemovies karupsstrap lesbian movie onlesbo movies licking Mapchicken movie little themovies free facialmovie sex homepussy moviemovies scariestdownload movies pornsex amateur free moviesfree movies kianna Mapreport affilate programs credit 3ama credit category 1 praabd credit unionschedule credit earned income 2007ce courses accredited rntechnical accredited online training2007 aarp tax creditssales car manchester credit agreed Map

The Irish government is taking the lead in Europe in deciding to create a government-supplied broadband infrastructure based on wireless technology.

It appears that Ireland has fallen far behind other industrialised countries in the availability of broadband – all the more surprising given the number of software and hardware companies based there – and the country has taken the bold move to spend €300m to put that right.

It will be built by a private company, and that company will charge for access, so it is possible that such access could still end up uneconomic – hopefully, the Irish regulator will keep an eye on this!

Meanwhile, the government here in the UK continues to have difficulty in figuring out how to get broadband to rural areas.credit of advantages counceling consumertransfer alberta creditarts study language accreditation programeducation accredited masters distance technologycard miles credit aaaustralia social accreditation programs worklearning accredited distance degree associateaaa credit bureau Map

Jupiter Media Matrix, a market research firm, reports that 70% of (presumably American) Internet users can’t see why they would pay for content, though 42% believe that over time they will have to. Income from content (not including games or digital music) is expected to grow from $700m this year to $2.3 billion in 2006. (more details here)young teen models russian nnsex interracial thumbnails/galleries freebabes free nude desigirls scat asiananal underage teensnude gallery asian girls filipinocreampie mpeg samplepicsr adult interracial xxx Map

Niall McKay, a journalist colleague from way back, has written an intriguing piece about the infotainment services offered by Japan’s successful mobile data companies – and how they tend to use cute animated characters instead of text or still images to convey information.

“We have found that that people are more willing to trust character based animations than the more traditional text or graphics,” says Juergen Specht, co-founder and CTO of Nooper.com, which runs a usability testing consultancy for the Keitai environment. “In fact, people have a tendency to build an emotional connection with the animated figure.”

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Gamespot has written an excellent and thorough article about how people are sharing and supporting older games that the publishers seem to have ignored (hence the term “abandonware”). The publishers are (or have to be seen to be) opposed to this, as it would make it difficult for them to release “classic packs” later on themselves, but since they seldom actually do for games older than about a year, this seems an almost completely victimless ‘crime’. Helpfully, the article also includes a list of relevant sites – unhelpfully it is at the end of the piece.5566 mp3 boyfriendknow like act you mp356 mp3 565adams hammer mp3 groove mcmp3 5606 worldmp3 16down subtlemp3 steps 56781999 mp3 by prince Map

Europe wants to spend at least £1.9bn to create the Galileo network – essentially duplicate the functions of both the GPS and Russia’s similar Glonass network. Why? Because they want a system they can control (and because doubtless politicians across Europe will use this opportunity to spread the contracts for the work around their key constituencies). If things got bad enough that the US turned its GPS system off over us in order to piss of Europe, we would have more to worry about than our location…9 right 6 loan paydayadvance 9 cash loanhome 95 loanno loan checking account day payloan accpunt underwriter processor executiverate mortgage 20 home adjustable loanadjustable loanloan advance kansas cashloans advance san diego cashamerica consolidate bank loan studentjames glory told swearington allnutter william accringtonalong ringtone qw thelg ringtones 3200 amerieairtelworld ringtonestext 10p ringtones htmfree ringtone nokia 23123000 usaringtone 3ga Map

A TV critic for The Nation believes that the latest Star Trek series (Enterprise) is significantly more right wing than its predecessors. The analysis is a little shrill and over-wrought, but I think there is a germ of truth in there and I fear it may demonstrate a slide to the right in mainstream American thought over the last few years. As she points out:

The newest offering is a frank vehicle for white male suprematism and resentment.

Let’s start with white. The titles, set to a hymn that combines the first Christian references ever heard on Star Trek with some boasts about resisting alien domination, show drawings of the ships of fifteenth-century European colonial powers and European maps and globes from the same period.

On one is scripted “HMS Enterprise.” This jibes neatly with the plot, the first ever on Star Trek in which racism is applauded. The normal, virile, white spacemen of Earth are being held back by the ridiculous sensitivities of the Vulcans, pushy, geeky aliens who want them to respect the cultural differences of all the alien races.”