Malware and my blog

It seems that sometime last week my blog was hacked and a discreet little <iframe> linking to a malware hosting site was added to the 30boxes widget you can see on the right. It wasn’t 30boxes fault – the widget code hadn’t changed, so I assume that something managed to inject the relevant line of code into my database by exploiting a flaw in WordPress.

I’ve just upgraded to WordPress 2.3 and have checked what I can, but am still investigating as I’d like to know what the hole was so I can be sure it is patched.  And I apologise to anyone who got a nasty alert message when they visited when using IE.

Special thanks go to John Warlow, who was trying to figure out how to fix the RSS feed coming from the del.icio.us entries (something that bugs me too!) and took the time to email me about the site’s attempt to download VBS.Phelp onto his PC.  And no thanks to Google/Stopbadware who flagged the site as infected but didn’t bother to tell me they had done so, or offer any indication as to what the problem actually might have been.

The banality of censorship

[As ever, this is also on the BBC News website]

The military regime in Burma has controlled access to the internet for many years, but when information about the recent protests appeared all over the web, from YouTube videos to personal testimony on blogs, the generals showed that there were other options available to them and effectively cut the country off from the worldwide network.

This drastic action worked, up to a point, forcing those who wanted to communicate with the rest of the world to take significant risks by using satellite phones and other links and limiting the world’s awareness of the severity of the current clampdown.

Continue reading “The banality of censorship”

Amazon and the record industry

[As ever, you can read this on the BBC News website]

The restrictions placed on downloaded music files using one of the various digital rights managements (DRM) systems have always annoyed me, to the point where I’ll generally buy a CD and rip it as a high-quality AAC file rather than pay out for a song I can only play on selected devices or copy a few times.

Existing DRM-free services like eMusic, or those with some non-DRM inventory like MusicNet and of course Apple, are out there but don’t cover a lot of the artists I like and have nothing like the inventory you’d find in a decent record shop.

And I know that you can take the songs you buy from the iTunes Music Store and burn them to CD and then re-import them, but doing so further reduces the quality of the music you’re listening, especially when compared to a CD.  It also takes time.

Continue reading “Amazon and the record industry”

My del.icio.us bookmarks for September 29th through September 30th

Here’s what I tagged on del.icio.us between September 29th and September 30th:

mixer
kitchenaid mixer
sunbeam mixer
univex mixer
doyon equipment mixer
hobart mixer
cuisinart mixer
varimixer mixer
anvil mixer
robot coupe mixer
black and decker mixer
betty croker mixer
farberware mixer
oster mixer
toastmaster mixer
waring mixer
kitchen mixer
bosch mixer
braun mixer
delonghi mixer
pasta maker
villaware pasta maker
all clad pasta maker
cucinapro pasta maker
escali pasta maker
peavey pasta maker
kitchenaid pasta maker
electric pasta maker
atlas pasta maker
ronco pasta maker
delonghi pasta maker
popeils pasta maker
marcato pasta maker
simac pasta maker
cuisinart pasta maker
italian pasta maker
imperia pasta maker
pasta machine
villaware pasta machine
all clad pasta machine
cucinapro pasta machine
escali pasta machine
peavey pasta machine
kitchenaid pasta machine
electric pasta machine
atlas pasta machine
ronco pasta machine
delonghi pasta machine
popeils pasta machine
marcato pasta machine
simac pasta machine
cuisinart pasta machine
italian pasta machine
imperia pasta machine
popcorn maker
gold medal popcorn maker
paragon popcorn maker
nostalgia electronics popcorn maker
star manufacturing popcorn maker
toastmaster popcorn maker
blackanddecker popcorn maker
cuisinart popcorn maker
nostalgia popcorn maker
hot air popcorn maker
west bend popcorn maker
antique popcorn maker
back to basics popcorn maker
commercial popcorn maker