Qantas are looking seriously at the possibility that a passenger using a laptop on their flight may have been responsible for the recent airborne incident that resulted in the aircraft experiencing a "sudden loss of altitude". Several passengers were seriously injured in the process.

Something I hadn't earlier spotted was reported in one of the above links:

In July, a passenger clicking on a wireless mouse mid-flight was blamed for causing a Qantas jet to be thrown off course, according to the Australian Transport Safety Bureau's monthly report.

This is interesting. Ive observed before that proof of actual in-flight interference from onboard electronics seemed to be lacking - but this seems to be much firmer proof...

It will be interesting to see the outcome of this latest problem - and how airlines around the world react.

This is important: The New Zealand Copyright Amendments due to come into law very shortly. These should be scaring any and all Internet users in NZ.. hands down.

At the recent Software Freedom Day Barcamp and then the New Zealand Open Source Awards the issue of NZ's participation in ACTA, as well as the revisions to Copyright law, were mentioned. It also came up during the ICT Ministers debate. Enough attention was drawn, that Hon David Cunliffe, Minister for ICT, volunteered to set up a meeting with interested parties and the relevant minister, to discuss.

Colin Jackson blogged post his attendance at said meeting, as NZOSS's representative. There is also Colin's slot on National Radio (with Kim Hill) where he was able to make his views known. (Audio (.ogg) and Transcript available). Don Christie then documented the situation on the NZOSS Site.

In short:
- If you are accused 3 times of copyright infringement, your ISP will be obligated by LAW to cut you off.
- That's an accusation. No proof required.
- The scope of this really needs some thought for a minute.

ZM were definately compromised - whether deliberate or accidental.

Sad. Very sad.

especially those alleged of molesting young boys..

David Chord. Wow. Fidonetters may remember that name.

He always struck me as nice enough, if a bit odd. I'm slightly stunned. I guess the 'oddness' has really come out...

Oh yes they are:

Subject: Internet Banking Security Upgrade
From: "Westpac" <spoof@westpac.com.au>
Date: Wed, August 20, 2008 2:56 pm

Yes. I definately intend to pay attention to this important email... for sure...

(Ommiting the fact I don't bank with Westpac...)

As Computerworld reports 'pattern-matching' is heading for its use-by date.

By extension this means that the major means of detecting virus code may in itself be inneffective.

Scary? You betcha.

Be warned.. if you enter the United States with anything electronic, it's not private.

Go the Department of Homeland Security..

WTF? Talk about invasion-of-privacy. People carry all sorts of stuff on their Laptops.

C'mon. If someone wants to move documents without them being viewed by customers they'll simply put them on a server somewhere and leech them down via encrypted means afterward.

Instead, you're inconveniencing all those legitimate people carrying their laptops, PDAs and PEDs with them as part of their routine. Even your iPhone isn't safe.

Very sad.
I on the whole tend to support moves aimed at protecting the public (if you have nothing to hide....) but this goes too far. All sorts of personal privacy boundaries are likely to be crossed with this one.

If you have ever registered at ZMOnline - be warned. If you havn't already, you're going to be a spam target.

Being the owner of my domain name I've had the privilege of setting up context-sensitive email addresses. Specifically it means I can have one-address-per-website, for example.

Of late I have been receiving spam - unsolicited commercial email - destined for email addresses that have only ever had one purpose; the ZM website.

Years ago I listened to ZM most of the time, and I registered on their site to let me interact with their site, register for contests, etc etc. Nothing much ever came of it and after repeatedly becoming irritated with their tendency to play edits of popular tracks fractionally faster (and at a resultantly higher pitch) than otherwise normal, I migrated elsewhere.

So the addresses remained idle - until very recently. Now i'm getting junk such as this:

Dear Sir/Lady: We are the TaiPingYang company . We sell electronic product mainly =2Csuch as digital camera=2Cmobile phone =2CLCD TV=2C xbox=2C Laptops=2C DV=2C Mp4=2C GPS=2C and so on.All items come with 12month international warranty . If you want to buy something =2Cplease contact us freely 2Cour company would like to offer more discounts and best service for business cooperation with you/your company.Any other concern you are welcome to visit our website: www.[removed] please feel free to contact us at: MSN : service@[removed] E-mail: service@[removed]

ZM: Thus begins my boycott and public shaming. You guys either cocked up your security big time or you sold out to a spammer, either way, your name is now mud with me! (And I hope you'll agree.)

If you use .mac - beware crappy procedures!

How Apple compromised a user's account on a whim.

Thanks to Snooker for the headsup on the URL. WTF indeed. Scary scary stuff....

Checked my Hotmail account today, as I do every month or so, just to maintain it as a test account.
I don't use it for email purposes but inevitably, people ignore the 'please don't email me at this address' statement and send me stuff...

Anyway I got an invitation to 'Windows Live Spaces' from someone...

The email, with most of its active content blocked by Hotmail themselves.. gives me a 'yes' button and a 'no' link.

So I click 'no'.

It asks me if I want to download the content of the email. Initially I reject this and of course, nothing happens. So I figure what the hell and click yes.

It sends me off to a site where it starts asking me to make Windows Live profile configuration changes... !

I close that window and look at my Hotmail inbox...
"Welcome to Windows Live Spaces" email has appeared.

I didn't join Spaces. I clicked NO. How the hell do they figure I want to opt into their crapp excuse for a social networking environment tied to what was once known as MSN Messenger???

Eyeroll. Glad I keep my MSN and the rest of my live very seperate...