Safe surfing on the Information Superhighway - mixed metaphors much?
Last updated 2024.12.23
"AI"
In late 2023, we saw the arrival of the "AI" tools for consumer use. I put that in quotes because
I don't see the generative text and graphics tools based on large language models (LLM) as being
artificial intelligence (AI). I studied AI pretty intensely a few decades ago (so no, it's not
really new despite the current hype-wave). I'm investing these keystrokes to encourage you to
be very careful about how you use these apps (e.g. ChatGPT, EinsteinGPT, Bard, Claude, Synthesia,
QuillBot, Jasper, Avatar AI, OpenAI ...), and understand what they are, and the consequences.
(Running LLMs and chatbots on top of them is expensive. If you don't see how you are paying the
bill for that, YOU are the product.)
In yet another form of cybercrime, we now have malicious generative LLM entities. I'm not going
to try to keep track, the perpetrators move too fast for me. But, I'll just share this item.
ChatGPT impersonators reveal security vulnerability
In short, malign human intelligence is harnessing compute power and generative LLM tech to
harm you. Be careful out there. As the Internet is now how we reach out for government and
corporate services, we really don't have the choice of avoiding it anymore. The government of
Canada (CRA specifically) will no longer send me physical mail, but REQUIRES me to use their
cumbersome online portal to find out information about my tax and credits status.
You should also be aware of what LLM-based tools can do and can't do, and how they developed
their 'knowledge base'. Some of this is based on some experimentation I did with a couple of such
tools back in 2023 on a couple of topic areas where I have some expertise. The LLM tools digest a
whole lot of what they could find in digital form on the Internet, including a lot of copyrighted
material (and encapsulating that into their models is probably copyright infringement, but the
laws can't keep up, and we can't 'read' how the LLMs have encoded that information for their
internal use). However, one key weakness of this approach is that it becomes a 'voting' system
based on historical information to determine what is 'right' or 'factual'. That means that in
fields where big corporate players have a big presence on the web and in scientific documents
dating back decades, highly repeated old information will dominate new knowledge not yet
in the mainstream of 'established' knowledge or fact. In summary, if you're in a dynamic
field, LLM tools will likely give you old information, and not the current areas of discussion.
If you need history (at least since digital social media proliferated), LLM is likely fine for you.
If you need to know what's changing and at the forefront of new frontiers,
that's probably still for human intelligence with the relevant background, awareness of the
state of the art, and capable of thinking. It's unclear how the LLM tools update their
'knowledge base' as new information is discovered in the real world, and if they even have
the ability to throw away 'knowledge' which is subsequently disproved.
Sadly, the tools don't have sufficient guardrails to ensure they actually provide correct
information. It seems the LLM tools are meant to spin a narrative (or in old-day language,
tell a story), and at times they don't let the facts get in the way of a good story.
That can have real consequences if you put out an LLM story-line under your name, and
then the recipient realizes the content is wrong or misleading. But hey, it's just your
livelihood that is at risk and reputation, so go for it if you want (maybe anonymously
or under a pseudonym, which seems to be popular in the disinformation channels).
B.C. lawyer who used fake, AI-generated cases faces law society probe, possible costs
I find this one particularly irksome, as legal cases and decisions are really well
documented in online repositories like LexisNexis, so getting the basic information
wrong (like 'inventing' cases) should be easily avoided by these content aggregation tools.
If the tools are messing that up, how much trust should you put into their interpretation
of things that are actually murky or not completely resolved?
A key issue for the LLM generative tools is that we don't know how they work internally.
Having written a lot of software, I understand how statements in source code work, and how
compilers and interpreters take that logic and instructions to make machine code which
is executed by the computer. If a result seems suspect, I know how to go back into
the source code, diagnose and correct the issue. As a user of LLM generative tools,
I don't know how the result was generated, or how to fix it if there's a problem in the
produced content.
If harm is done as a result of using an LLM generative tool, who is liable? To be
blunt, if you used the tool, and distributed the result, is it you? And if you fell
for what was produced by a malicious LLM tool, how big could the consquences be?
Not just to your reputation, but financially?
In this example, a Canadian Member of Parliament distributed incorrect and prejudical
information on hot-button issue based on information allegedly provided by an AI LLM tool.
Conservative MP shares inaccurate, ChatGPT-generated stats on capital gains tax rate
We used to have fact checkers and rational thought (human intelligence). Now we have
proprietary, defective information tools and a human population which has no rational framework to
discern fact from weaponized fiction. This is bolstered by tribal partisanship which justifies all means to obtain power.
A week after being called out on this error, the MP has not issued a correction or apology.
The question for voters is, do you want to be governed by liars lacking a moral and ethical base?
If so, bring on the AI; the machines have already won. This MP can be cast as Baltar.
If you need a tool to generate acceptable text on a topic because writing isn't one of
your strengths, and you don't need to be hyper-correct, then perhaps these can fill in
the number of words required to fill whatever metric you're trying to meet. If it needs
to be moderately correct, use an intelligent human instead and some basic spelling and
grammar checking tools (already integrated in some word processing and other software
tools). Don't underestimate the real value of having another literate human read your
text to spot possible errors before you send out your content.
I understand that there is a growing use of generative LLM tools to write résumés for
job applications in order to cluster-bomb the digital postings and cyber-hirewalls used
by many employers - inhouse or contracted - to screen out the less qualified candidates.
Does anyone else see a degree of irony in a transaction that is nominally about humans
hiring other humans now being largely subsumed by escalation of the use of machines to
try to beat the machines the other side is employing? It's like the escalation of
military drone technology in the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
If you think GenAI is going to build you a better résumé, consider this take from
leyla mamedova:
"GenAI doesn’t actually “think” or “process” in the way that people believe it does.
This is a pretty vast oversimplification, but it is basically just beefed-up predictive text.
You are generating the statistical average of text, based on an extremely large dataset.
If everything becomes the average, how is your generated resume supposed to stand out among
all the other generated resumes?"
GenAI based on LLM is essentially a voting machine based on industrial scale plariarism.
If you want to be part of the crowd, right or wrong, GenAI is your jam. If your objective
is to be correct or stand out from the crowd, not so much.
Turns out, the LLM tools are massive power pigs.
ChatGPT uses 17,000 times the amount of electricity than the average US household does daily: report (Business Insider)
In a time where we need to reduce our
use of fossil-fuel generated electricity to reduce GHG emissions, using all these computer
cycles to generate text of questionable quality and veracity seems like a poor decision. But then,
I feel the same way about crypto-currency - the ultimate example of using a valuable
resource (electricity) to generate a 'product' with absolutely zero intrinsic value.
Bitcoin Miners Are Devouring Energy at a Record Pace During the Crypto Runup (news24 Business)
Energy-hungry AI models could strain water and power grids. Can the sector handle the demand?
Short answer: No. LLM isn't thinking, it's putting together what others have documented and accessible
on the Internet, and it's probably biased to favour old (human) thinking that did not foresee this issue.
So 'AI' (LLM generative text) won't devise a new solution.
One solution to the power-suck issue is to require the new electricity vampires to build their own
power generation facilities so that critical infrastructure is not put at risk (e.g., municipal
water supplies, residential heating and air cooling). Given the need for more clean energy, we
could go further and require that this additional electricity demand be provided by zero-emissions
sources (e.g., solar, wind, geothermal - preferably with integrated battery storage). Given the
renewables generation is now cheaper on a life-cycle kWhs throughput basis than fossil fuels or
nuclear, and can be installed more quickly than any of those, the adoption of renewables for this
additional power supply should be an economic no-brainer - even for an AI engine. On the contingency
planning side, if the AI bubble bursts, the electric generation built will still have solid
economic value.
Couple of articles on the current state of AI (April 2024)
From boom to burst, the AI bubble is only heading in one direction
Currently at stage 4 (of 5): Profit-taking. Read the article find out about the stages, and what comes next.
More 'AI' reality - don't look behind the curtain.
Amazon Abandons Grocery Stores Where You Just Walk Out With Stuff
After It Turns Out Its "AI" Was Powered by 1,000 Human Contractors
It was all smoke and mirrors. (The Byte)
The only real 'AI' in this scam is the deepfake videos and tools to infect your computer with malware
and take your money
Don’t Fall for the Viral Quantum AI Scam – What You Need To Know
Based on who is really pumping AI so far, this story had to surface eventually. I mean, somebody is
paying the extra servers and bandwidth and electricity for the 'free' AI tools you can access. If it's not you,
who is it, and why are they doing it? Google provides free web searches so they can sell your purchasing
power to vendors. So, what are the free AI providers selling? Again, you. Based on what you are asking about,
they can figure out what to try to sell to you. So, how can AI hook you and reel you in? (YOU are the product.)
Research shows AI is learning to deceive humans, issues warning
Human rights lawyer Susie Alegre: ‘If AI is so complex it can’t be explained, there are areas where it shouldn’t be used’
If a product design relied on AI, and someone is harmed by the use of that product due to a fault in the design, who is liable?
The builder of the AI engine? The company that relied on the AI-enable design? A human that signed off the design without
understanding the 'thinking' of the AI engine? The creator of the AI knowledge base?
Just sharing this item because I think it's important.
The Death of Critical Thinking Will Kill Us Long Before AI. Joan Westenbberg
The genie is out of the pretend-AI (LLM generative text) bottle; this is the kind of thing it will really be used for.
Experts seeing ‘more and more’ hate content created by artificial intelligence Globe and Mail
Real AI could solve a lot of society's problems (LLM generative text cannot). What if AI decides humans ARE the problem?
Big tech has distracted world from existential risk of AI, says top scientist (The Guardian)
But at what risk? This is a conversation that doesn't seem to have surfaced yet, but it needs to be discussed.
Humans ARE going to weaponize AI and use it to maximize wealth and control mainstream thought. So long as
human society generally values wealth and power over the value of humans, this is inevitable.
Will AI end humanity? The p(doom) scales of an OpenAI insider and AI researcher are alarmingly high, peaking at a 99.9% probability (Windows Central)
OpenAI breach is a reminder that AI companies are treasure troves for hackers
Perhaps the folks (or bots) at OpenAI should have asked another AI tool about how to defend their service
from being hacked to protect their users. Sigh. YOU are the product, apparently for hackers as well as
LLM bot promoters.
AI is effectively ‘useless’—and it’s created a ‘fake it till you make it’ bubble that could end in disaster, veteran market watcher warns (Fortune 2024.07.08)
More truth leaking out of the 'AI' bubble.
Building on the 'fake-it-til-you-make-it' meme, it was triggered again recently for me by a
LinkedIn post by
Paul Martin tangential to the hydrogen-as-fuel-disinformation-farce. For those of you who
don't do that social media platform, the issue was getting an AI image generator to draw a car
with square wheels. For a human, this is a simple enough idea. For today's AI, it is inconceivable.
My thanks to Paul for calling this tool out (and AI broadly) as 'basically high tech plagiarism'.
Because AI LLM has not seen an image of a car with square wheels to copy from, it cannot 'imagine'
the concept, and therefore cannot generate the desired image. That is the essence of human 'genius';
imagining something novel that has not existed before in the consciousness of that person.
Given the state of our species, civiliation, societies and the technology it has created, embraced
and spawned across the planet and the consequences of those actions - the world today needs more
geniuses to develop the novel solutions we need now, and not more forgers, counterfeiters and
plagiarists retreading variants of the things that have caused the problems we face now. Not specifically
an AI issue, but we will rue the results of having spent decades dumbing down the population and using
mass consumerism to allow the majority to avoid daily problems to be solved, as that is the training
ground for proficient problem-solvers. Parents, don't give your children more tech toys; give them science fairs.
AI systems could be on the verge of collapsing into nonsense, scientists warn (The Independent 2024.07.25)
So, AI hoovered up the Internet because it was 'free', used non-verified 'facts' as its knowledge base, then
got used (generative AI) to start populating media articles published on the Internet. So, now, the
LLM AI generative models are feeding on themselves to create their own echo chamber. Because they
can generate quantiy content (quality doesn't matter) faster than humans, the bots will eventually drive
out all the human-produced content. Problem is, generative AI has a serious problem with divining truth
from trash, so the veracity of even 'credible' sources will eventually succumb to the onslaught of garbage
in making more garbage out.
I have not had time to read Harari's newest book Nexus: A Brief History of Information Networks from the Stone Age to AI,
but it's generating buzz and I would be remiss if I didn't at least flag it here. This is a related article
from the Conversation:
Has AI hacked the operating system of human civilisation? Yuval Noah Harari sounds a warning (The Conversation Sept. 9, 2024)
At this point, humans are still creating the "AI" tools. So, the extent to which they are good or bad
for humans is still in our hands. However, if we let profit for the few be the key driver for how "AI"
tools are build and deployed, I doubt it will end well for our species.
The demand for additional resources (servers, network devices, security, bandwidth, energy) isn't just
being sucked out of the AI providers. It's also victimizing the owners of copyrighted information put on
the web by intellectual property owners as the AI tools thrash those servers in the course of their
vampire 'learning' approach.
iFixit CEO takes shots at Anthropic for 'hitting our servers a million times in 24 hours' and even the AI company's own chatbot disapproves (PC Gamer)
Nearly Half of Businesses Weaken Sustainability Goals Due to Generative AI Demands, Capgemini Report Reveals (TechRepublic 2025.01.14)
"AI" isn't just about replacing human workers and destroying their income, with increased use of fossil fuels
Goldman Sachs Calls BS on the AI Bubble (Trading Floor Whispers 2024.07.16)
Hacker plants false memories in ChatGPT to steal user data in perpetuity (Ars Technica 2024.09.24)
But people are relying on these 'tools' to do important research and make decisions. Remember, if it's free, YOU are the product.
Large language models hallucinating non-existent developer packages could fuel supply chain attacks (InfoWorld 2024.09.30)
OpenAI Confirms Hackers Using ChatGPT to Create Sophisticated Malware (Cyber Security News 2024.10.13)
Clearly, one of the great contributions of AI is the creation of more effective malware. /s
X changed its terms of service to let its AI train on everyone’s posts. (CNN Business 2024.10.21)
It's well past time to eXit X. While pretending to be a platform for free speech, it effectively censors voices its owner doesn't like.
This has led to an exodus of academic contributors since the transition.
The article indicates the academics reduced their usage. They should not have ruled out 'shadow-banning' of those academics or specifie viewpoints on topics. There is no doubt that
the algorithms used by X-Twitter could perform that selection.
Now, it has unilaterally changed the terms of service to harvest user-generated content, presumably for sale via an 'AI' tool, without compensation.
Further,
apparently X still isn't paying it's bills.
X was the perfect rename for Twitter under the new ownership. X denotes toxic (chemicals, environment) in labelling; do not enter in road signs
and restricted areas; deleted, as in X'ed out or Ctrl-X; danger and death (crossbones); end; restricted content (X-rated); and rejection, negative or wrong (grading on papers).
Scammers are stealing homes from under their owners' noses. AI is making it scarily easy. (Business Insider 2024.10.22)
Great, another fraudulent use for AI to cheat people.
Does AI increase productivity? Or reduce it? (Tortoise Media 2024.12.05)
From the article:
Workers using AI services are less productive than those who don’t, according to a study by Intel. The AI chipmaker followed
6,000 employees in Germany, France, and the UK and found that AI PC-owners were “spending longer on digital chores than those
using a traditional PC”.
I use it all the time, but I don’t trust it [AI}. My job now includes fact-checking. Each AI needs to be designed specifically
for each job, and even then it will make mistakes.
Crypto-currency - be careful out there
Crypto-currency is NOT an asset. It has NO intrinsic value.
In reality, a 'mined' crypto-coin is just a receipt for primary energy that was
wasted to fund a colossal scam instead of producing something of actual value.
2024.09.17 - fun thought. Somebody figures I'm trying to scam you with this page. If you can
figure out how that would work,
please let me know .
The information I offer here is free to anyone that chooses to read it. I offer some advice on
how to protect your data, identity and money.
I'm not selling anything here (not backup solutions;
not computer set-up and support; not anti-virus, anti-malware or system security tools; not alternative investments)
and I'm not asking for donations to support the site or compensate my time.
But, I'm especially asking you not to trust me.
Stay skeptical, do your own research, make your own
decisions on how to protect your computing devices, data, identity and money from criminals.
To be clear, 'crypto-currency' is not currency (money). Money is a nominally stable store
of value which can be used to acquire goods and services, and conversely obtain by selling
goods and services. It facilitates real-world economic activity. I cannot buy groceries
with crypto-currency; that requires exchanging the crypto-currency for real money so I can
use the real money for the real-world purchase transaction. So, crypto is not currency.
It is also not a stable store of value. In fact, the majority of 'crypto-coins' minted
so far have disappeared or have zero value now.
Charting the Number of Failed Crypto Coins, by Year (2013-2022) (Visual Capitalist)
So, based on the data, it appears that crypto-currency is primarily a means of separating
regular people from their real money.
In short, crypto is a casino, not currency.
In another story of crypto-currency being use to separate people from their real money,
consider this article related to the 2024 Bitcoin 'halving'.
Economist says Bitcoin pump is to ‘sucker ETF investors’ to buy before dump
There's one other primary value of crypto-currency: to enable and monetize criminal
activity. Scammers love crypto-currency, and especially bitcoin, as there are ATMs for it,
and they know once they have your money, you're not going to get it back.
A bitcoin story. This is happening everyday to people who aren't computer security experts.
Ottawa man intercepts bitcoin scam targeting elderly woman (CTV News)
Ransomware really wouldn't work without a means of moving funds which are
very difficult to trace by legal authorities. So, just be aware that when you purchase
crypto-currency, you are tacitly legitimizing illegal activities by hiding those transactions
in with a volume of transactions like yours. And it's big business - illegal but big - that you
are financing with legitimizing crypto-currency.
Another bitcoin story (2024.03.20):
How Chinese takeaway worker led police to Bitcoin worth £3bn in Britain's biggest ever cryptocurrency seizure
Again, when you buy or use cryto-currency - and especially Bitcoin - you are enabling crime or
providing cover for it. In this case, a nice haul for the UK Treasury: 61,000 BTC.
Ransomware Payments Hit a Record $1.1 Billion in 2023 (Wired)
When victims do pay the ransoms, that success for the criminals leads to them launching
more attacks.
Paying ransom for data stolen in cyberattack bankrolls further crime, experts caution (CBC)
Cybereason: Paying ransoms leads to more ransomware attacks (TechTarget)
Finally, remember the people who cracked your databases or personal information and are now
demanding ransom are criminals hiding behind a veil of anonymity. Why would you expect them
to honour an agreement once you pay the ransom? Spoiler alert: they often don't. What will you do about it?
Ransomware Reality Shock: 92% Who Pay Don’t Get Their Data Back (Forbes)
But what can you do about it?
1) stop doing stupid stuff that lets cyber-criminals into your computer or internal network
2) educate your family or staff on how to avoid letting criminals in to vandalize your gear or steal your confidential data
3) buy a local backup device (they're cheap), and set up automated backups, and store off-site if at all practical (e.g. boss's home)
4) occasionally, test your backups to ensure they are doing what you set them up to do
5) Pro-tip: buying ransomware insurance is worthless if you don't have backup material to use for recovery
If that seems like a lot of unnecessary bother, you don't understand the value of your data, so why not just delete it now yourself?
If that seems like a bad idea, why aren't you backing up your data and software routinely and reliably now?
Another story from a reputable technology publication on how crypto currency facilitates crime on
a massive, internatonal scale. If you're a human, you might find this repugnant. Wall Street has no
such qualms about people, which is why they are all in on profiteering from misery enabled by crypto currency.
The $11 Billion Marketplace Enabling the Crypto Scam Economy
Many people are surprised to learn that in reality, the block-chain does not make
a financial transaction untraceable. It just requires more effort (which is funded by your
tax dollars back in the real world).
How a 27-Year-Old Codebreaker Busted the Myth of Bitcoin's Anonymity (Wired)
If a single person with skills and persistance can defeat the anonymity of the blockchain,
be assured that governments and law enforcement agencies can as well, and the less
reputable characters already benefitting from the difficult-to-trace transactions (so far).
Still, crypto-currencies do provide one obvious advantage for law-enforcement; those that use
it are basically self-identifying as being involved in illegal activities, be it as perpetrators
or victims.
All it takes is a little thinking, research and analysis, and others are also figuring out the downside.
“It’s bad for everything”: Citizens group from Arkansas County ready to fight back against crypto mines
Lots of other issues with crypto-currency, but the electricity suck could be addressed by requiring these
operations to produce their own clean electricity, and not overwhelm the capacity of the existing grid and generation.
The alleged perpetrator used crypto-currency as the base for a fraud stealing from a cryptocurrency exchange.
Crypto trader searched web for 'fraud' before $110 million haul
More crypto-scams and vulnerabilities.
Retirement ruined: 63-year-old man loses it all after one web click
'SIM swap' that enabled theft of $63K in bitcoin at centre of B.C. court case
Clearly, I'm not going to keep up, and a lot of people aren't going to go public with their losses.
Another cautionary crypto-currency tale.
Ontario's 'Crypto King' arrested, charged with fraud
Skimming 98% and investing 2% of 'investor' (I think that's spelled 'mark') funds. What could go wrong?
Crypto trader turns nearly $1M into $18,000 in 4 hours
Where only the market manipulators are winners.
In case you thought that crypto was a way to 'stick it to the man'. It's not.
It's another way Wall Street big players stick it to retail investors.
Bitcoin plunged 28%. Institutional investors bought the dip
TL;DR: Crypto-currencies: not money; not secure; not stable; most crypto-coins go to zero value; enables, legitimizes
and funds criminal activity; blockchain is not really anonymous; makes your electrical bill higher;
makes the Internet a more expensive and dangerous place for regular users.
Funny thought. Some crypto-fans think crypto-currency is a way to hide their assets and dealings
from the 'government'. And the fraudsters LOVE that you're trying to hide your financial activity
from the 'government', because that means you are less likely to call the cops when the bad guys burn you.
But it turns out there's another currency that can also evade a digital trail: cash.
You know - actual legal tender you can use to pay for things. No transaction fees. No need to convert
from crypto to real money via a questionable on-line 'exchange' to actually spend it. Doesn't disappear
from bank accounts due to fraud or vary in value due to speculation compared to actual money,
because it is actual money.
Sounds about right for a crypto-currency fan. Steal the electricity, and you can make money at crypto-mining.
Sounds like the crypto market business model in microcosm.
Cryptominers made $100,000 from mining at an Airbnb for three weeks — the guests ran up a $1,500 electricity bill (Tom's Hardware 2024.08.15)
I doubt they made that much, or they could afford their own electricity bill.
Crypto firm diverted $13M in assets, securities commission finds (CBC 2024.08.12)
Crypto mixer founder argues 30-year prison sentence is ‘unwarranted’ (CoinTelegraph 2024.08.16)
But the point of the operation was money laundering via 'fogging' Bitcoin and altcoins, and money laundering is a crime.
Another threat to the value of crypto-currency: quantum computing
So the intrinsic value of crypto-currency is zero, possibly actually negative (transaction fees, exchange computers,
computers holding copies of the blockchains).
It's fully based on the
cost of burning electricity to generate nothing but blockchain ledger entries. You can't turn a crypto-currency
unit back into electricity, or anything else with intrinsic value (e.g. food, metals, heating fuel ...) Only
exchange it for real currency (typically sovereign fiat currency), in order to extract any real value from it.
So, in simple terms, owning crypto-currency is the equivalent of getting a certificate for burning a real asset,
and continues to hold value because people continue gambling computer hardware and electricity to create more
such units (which is kind of a Ponzi scheme at heart). But so long as it takes real resources, time and some
effort to make additional units, existing units have some claim to equivalent unit value.
But, what happens if somebody can start generating new units essentially instantly and at near-zero cost?
That's the actual promise of quantum computing in terms of solving the creation of crypto units. Yes, the
entry cost of getting to this threshold is high (so far), but it seems inevitable someone (country, corporation or
criminal organization) will get there before long. Within minutes, they will have a virtual monopoly on
whichever crypto-currencies they target. Eventually, that will be all of them. At that point, they alone
will determine the value of crypto-currencies and your investment in them. When the second player with that
capacity arrives on the scene, they will compete for selling future crypto units, and unless they collaborate,
the competition will inevitably mean the the value of new crypto units will dive to near zero.
TL;DR: quantum computing means crypto currencies will all go to zero value, wiping out investors'
cryto-gamblers holdings.
Chinese researchers break RSA encryption with a quantum computer
RSA is encryption. Crypto-currency is encryption. These researchers broke RSA encryption. What comes next?
Breaking crypto-currency encryption.
US achieves superconductor breakthrough, can benefit quantum computing (Interesting Engineering 2024.08.25)
Is this the end of Bitcoin? Google unveils quantum chip ‘Willow’ — Is Bitcoin’s security at risk? (AMB Crypto 2024.12.10)
The bitcoin ATM has emerged as one of cryptocurrency’s biggest threats (CNBC 2024.09.08)
Imagine that, the criminals have found another way to rip off people gullible enough to hold crypto-currency.
"In the U.S, losses from scams via crypto ATMs exceeded $120 million in 2023."
The FBI secretly created a coin to investigate crypto pump-and-dump schemes (The Verge 2024.10.10)
“What the FBI uncovered in this case is essentially a new twist to old-school financial crime,” Jodi Cohen,
the special agent in charge of the FBI’s Boston division, said in a statement. “What we uncovered has resulted
in charges against the leadership of four cryptocurrency companies, and four crypto ‘market makers’ and their
employees who are accused of spearheading a sophisticated trading scheme that allegedly bilked honest investors
out of millions of dollars.”
Crypto: designed to shelter criminal financial transactions; now used to bilk honest investors. Win-win for the bad guys.
Deepfakes Can Fool Facial Recognition on Crypto Exchanges (Tech Republic 2024.10.11)
Here we have an AI-crypto crime cross-over. Perhaps you should not put up really good images of yourself on Facecrook,
and definitely not tag them with your name. However, you can't control what your 'friends' do.
Bitcoin Is Going to Be the Nail in Our Climate Coffin
As I have written elsewhere, crypto-currency units are just receipts for wasted electricity. Basically, it has about the
same intrinsic value as the receipt for the non-tax-deductible meal you bought for your family. A scrap of possibly recyclable paper.
Unsurprisingly, wasting electricity isn't good for the environment, or the long-term survival of our species on this planet.
One possible mitigaton measure: require all declared crypto-miners to demonstrate they have installed enough green energy
capacity to at least power their crypto-mining operations, be it wind-power, micro-hydro, solar or whatever, or shut them down.
Upsides, the miners can keep operating when there is a grid outage. Crypto-miners won't be a burden on existing grid users and power
generators, which are often subsidized by taxpayers. Crypto-miner purchases of renewable energy equipment will help lower costs via economies of scale for future buyers,
and presumably their future expansions. We'll know that crypto-miners aren't stealing power from others.
And when there ventures fail, that additional non-polluting generation capacity
can be picked up at the auctions to improve overall sustainability of electricity generation.
Don't Put Your Banking or Other Financial Information on Your Android or IOS device
From the outset, the mobile devices were about convenience, getting fast to market, getting sticker price down, and never security.
Now, those vendors are trying to bolt on security features and layers, but they're predestined to fail
because security was never part of the core product (hardware, OS or bundled software).
Yes, I still miss Blackberrys; at least RIM / BB could spell security.
As the economy tanks and people become less financially secure, the scamsters and thieves are getting more
greedy and sophisticated - far more capable than regular folks who just use their smartphones and tablets
to get through the day. Banks have pretty good cybersecurity staff. Banks don't put their data on smartphones
or tablets.
If you are going to put your banking information on your devices or in an 'app', make sure you
keep it secure. The digital ecosystem is not designed to do that for you, it's designed to make your
devices more vulnerable.
Data-stealing malware infections increased sevenfold since 2020, Kaspersky experts say
New 'Brokewell' Android malware can steal user data and access banking apps
And we have mounting evidence that when your device is compromised, the banks will not help you,
but will instead blame you for allowing your device to be infected and give the bad guys the
access to take your money. Banks' cyber-security staff are employed to keep the bank's money
safe, not your money.
A HREF="https://www.techrepublic.com/article/cybercriminals-stealing-nfc-data/">
Cybercriminals Deploy New Malware to Steal Data via Android’s Near Field Communication (NFC) (CoinTelegraph 2024.08.16)
For mortals, that's 'tap' technology.
Speaking of tap technology, turns out RFID cards also have security issues, at the hardware level.
RFID cards could turn into a global security mess after discovery of hardware backdoor (TechSpot 2024.08.26)/P>
A HREF="https://www.tomsguide.com/computing/malware-adware/this-android-banking-trojan-just-got-a-serious-upgrade-to-take-over-your-phone-and-it-now-hides-in-legitimate-apps">
Octo2 banking trojan is taking over Android phones and stealing cash — how to stay safe (Tom's Guide 2024.09.24)
Short form, don't put your banking or other confidential credentials on your Android device.
Even your bank card could be vulnerable to cracking to empty your accounts
Android malware steals payment card data using previously unseen technique (Ars Technica 2024.08.23)
As I have said before, banks and their cybersecurity people and systems are there to protect the bank,
not customers.
RBC customers outraged over partial refund after unauthorized withdrawals (Global News 2024.09.09)
If you aren't happy with a bank, move to another institution. Credit unions have a reputation for caring about members (customers).
1.7 million people hit in massive credit card data breach — what to do now Tom's Guide 2024.09.09
Names, addresses, card numbers and other sensitive data exposed
Android malware "FakeCall" now reroutes bank calls to attackers Bleeping Computer 2024.10.30
Don't call your bank from your Android phone. Vendors of personal electronic devices have to start taking personal information
and general operating security seriously. So far, they don't, so you're on your own. The bad guys are well funded.
Telephone Scams
If you don't recognize the incoming number, why are you answering the phone? Due to phone number (Caller ID)
spoofing and the proliferation of telephone scam criminals, your phone is not safe. It boggles me that governments,
law enforcement agencies and telcos are not actively combatting this activity. The telcos should value the montly
revenue from legitimate customers over the revenue they get from the criminals. They should be aware of the 'DO-NOT-CALL'
registries for telemarketers and have a pretty good idea from calling volume and patterns as to who are telemarketers.
Just as they can display Caller-ID, the telcos could also display a warning symbol of possible scammer making the call.
For security, stop picking up the phone TechCrunch (2024.09.07)
By the way, the Canada Revenue Agency, a bank or a credit card company will NEVER (repeat NEVER) ask you to
pay for anything using gift cards or BitCoin. In case I wasn't clear: NEVER!!
Gone Phishing
The front-door for malware and cyber-criminals into your computer / tablet / smartphone and EVERYTHING your
devices know about (e.g. your banking information) is clicking on links in your email and social media feeds.
90% of Data Breaches are From Phishing
If you think you're being careful, ask yourself, are you paranoid enough to beat the bad guys EVERY time?
YAAM - Yet Another Android Malware
Android banking Trojan evolves to evade detection and strike globally
The convenience of using your smartphone to manage your finances and pretend to be a tap credit or
debit card seems to have a lot of appeal. Just remember what you are putting at risk if you do that.
You don't know what permissions an app will really take when you load it, and updates for previously
safe apps can bring malware to your device. I miss BlackBerry Shield for Android, which actually analyzed apps
before you installed them and told you what permissions they were taking.
Banks have big teams of cybersecurity experts looking for such issues. Two things about that.
a) they're playing defence, and they don't have a perfect record on detecting and defending, and,
b) their job is to protect the bank, not you.
New Android Warning As Hackers Install Backdoor On 1.3 Million TV Boxes (Forbes 2024.09.13)
Android is free software from the very-much-for-profit Google enterprise. It is not intended to provide you
with a secure operating system. It is intended to harvest your personal online behaviour information and sell
it to advertisers and others interested in 'data analytics' based on your personal information.
Skill-testing question for today? When is the last time you updated the operating system on your TV set-top box?
(Do you even know how that is done?)
Hackers hijack over 16,000 TP-Link network devices, creating a big ol' botnet that's absolutely slamming Microsoft Azure accounts
When was the last time you turned it off and on again? In this case, it's probably enough to shut down the attack vector.
However, in general, the 'set-and-forget' devices on the IoT are designed to be cheap, moderately reliable, but security is low on
the design requirements list. At a minimum, please reset the password from the factory default to something else to at least
slow down the badbots.
Ransomware and Buying Your Data / System Access Back
Of course you can trust the criminals that trespassed onto your computer and data in order to steal from you.
Clearly these are trustworthy, honourable people who would not lie to you or cheat you. Only, NOT! That's why
you're in this mess in the first place.
So you paid a ransom demand … and now the decryptor doesn't work The Register (2024.09.11)
But suppose you pay the ransom and the lock-out decryption does work.
Happy day for the criminals because: a) they know you'll pay to get your access back; and b) they
already know how to compromise your system, so they can just do it again UNLESS the first thing you do
is figure out how they attacked you the first time and fix that problem permanently. You probably need
external help with that, because if you let the vulnerability happen in the first place, you probably
aren't the one to figure it out, and the bad guys could have inserted new back-door access points as part
of cracking your system.
Calling it Agile Did Not Make it So
What is this strange feeling? Is it vindication? After a couple of decades of ranting about 'Agile' and
another rote system of building software applications (which we used to call 'waterfall'), it seems that real system
designers have finally realized that the Agile emperor has no clothes.
Agile has failed. Officially.
But not to worry, it's just in time for the snake-oil sales folks to claim AI will do all the systems design
and development we will need. Just don't worry about that fact that you don't know what your application is
actually doing, or how to fix it when it goes wrong. Eventually, this will lead to something like a
'right-to-repair' movement for software.
Or we could try something really novel; using real human intelligence to understand the problems, figure out
how to fix them in a consistent, rational (not capitalized) structure, build with tools that can be fixed when
issues arise, and hang onto skilled practitioners because they are valued and needed because things change,
and systems have to adapt. Worked for me.
In days where we bemoan lost productivity and desperately seek 'competitive advantage', it is ironic that
our C-suites have gone all-in on using me-too ERP systems which are frightening inflexible and increasingly
developed outside our borders in countries that are not considered overly friendly. E.g., if the government of
India can sanction the murder of Canadian citizens in Canada, why would they hesitate to cripple software
used by Canadian companies?
Data Breaches (your personal information)
TL;DR If your personal data is on a device which is connected to the Internet, it is NOT safe.
Take whatever precautions you can, and use available safeguards.
The Slow-Burn Nightmare of the National Public Data Breach (Wired 2024.08.16)
March 2024: I'm tired of trying to save people from crackers, blackhats, malware, ransomware and other
cyber vandals and perpetrators. Fortunately, my tax dollars now apparently support the information you
should need for safe-surfing at Get Cybersafe
https://www.getcybersafe.gc.ca/en (at least until the GoC shuffles all their websites again).
(Dead links are the constant bane of my trying to provide connections to useful online information.)
The rest of this page is provided for historical reference.
Last updated 2009.11.23
The World Wide Web, cyberspace and personal computing in
general are wonderful things, but they are also big and nebulous
and carry some risks. It pays to take some precautions to protect
your time and your information investments. We have worked
intensively with computers for over twenty years, from
microcomputers to mainframes. We have learned a few things along
the way, which can be of benefit to you.
Startup Media | Backups
| Housekeeping | Viruses
| Hoaxes | Netiquette
| Broken Links | Web Ads
Startup/Recovery Media
Go find your startup diskette (or CD-ROM or Zip disk or
whatever media it is on). Now!
Got it? Good. Make a point of starting your system from this
media in the next while. Make sure it behaves as expected. If not,
make or get a new one, and test the new one. Once you have a known
good startup media, put it away again in a safe, easily accessible
place. Test it occasionally.
Couldn't find it or don't have one? Go, make one as soon as you
possibly can and test it to ensure it works correctly. In the
event of a system failure or a severe virus attack, this may be
your lifeline to recovering your computer and your data.
Backups
Thou shalt make copies of valued data.
If you are one of the few that actually make regular backups of
your computer system, and test them, no need to spend your time
reading the rest of this section. Unfortunately, those that need
to read this the most will probably not do so.
Hardware fails. Viruses attack. Power fluctuates or fails.
Files are deleted unintentionally, and occasionally, deliberately.
Upgrades have unintended consequences. Those files you knew you
would never need again, well, surprise, now you need them again.
Spilled coffee does not enhance system performance. Whatever the
cause, it is not a matter of "IF", it is a matter of
"WHEN". Eventually, you will need to retrieve a file
that is no longer on your system. And after many years of
experience, the only reliable means I have found to accomplish a
resurrection from the electronic hereafter is a backup. Simply
put, it is a copy of the files on your system as of a specific
point in time.
Computers have an annoying tendency to fail when you can least
afford it. However, they will fail. Most learn this the hard way,
just after they really needed to know. Occasionally you will get
lucky. Perhaps there is a fix for the virus that attacked your
system that will repair most or even all of the damage, and you
will know enough to be find it and administer it in time. Perhaps
someone you know has a copy of the file you need and can provide
it to you in a timely manner. Perhaps you have an IT support group
at your disposal with enough resources to respond to your crisis
right when you need them, even at 2:00 a.m. on Saturday morning as
you are working the weekend to meet a Monday morning submission
deadline. Perhaps you have friends that just love to drop the rest
of their life to come and rescue you from your "File not
found" error. (If you have just found yourself in one of
these situations, I am not your friend.) If you are the
beneficiary of such good fortune, good for you. However, in my
experience, depending on good luck is a poor long-term strategy.
There are those that believe in mirrored and RAID disk drive
systems to protect their data. I have used both and think highly
of them. But they are not backups. They simply provide some
redundancy to protect you from a minor hardware failure. They
cannot help you to retrieve a file that was intentionally deleted
a couple of weeks ago, or damaged by a virus or lost in fire or
flood. I have worked for many years as a computer systems
professional, and I can assure you that every large system I ever
worked on, including those with mirrored drives and RAID arrays,
had a regular schedule of independent backups to a separate media,
and those media were taken off-site for safe storage. It isn't
just a matter of habit, it's simply good business. In any system I
have ever worked with, the data stored on the system is far more
valuable than the hardware, software or facilities housing them.
If the computer room burns up, that is a major headache, and it
will typically take days to get an equivalent facility back into
operation. However, if you lose the company's data (customer
contacts, customer history, inventory records, employee records,
accounts receivable, accounts payable, taxes collected and
remitted), well, then you're out of business. Count on it. You may
think you can recover, but the first irate customer or lawyer that
finds out your data is toast will finish you off. Guaranteed. And
that applies to a one-person operation using a single small
computer (even as small as a Blackberry or a Palm Pilot or other
PDA or a laptop) just as surely as a Fortune 500 company with
multiple mainframes. Don't just take my word for it.
[Link has bitrotted: http://www.soho.org/Technology_Articles/data_disaster.htm] SOHO
on Data Disaster!! Consequences And Avoidance
[Link has bitrotted: http://www.bizjournals.com/extraedge/consultants/savvy_business_shopper/2002/09/09/column304.html]
BizJournals.com on Backups
and there are lots of companies selling various
products to help you protect your data with their own messages.
(Which should tell you that there are not any one-size-fits-all
solutions.)
The need for backups applies to personal computers as well as
business machines. Perhaps your livelihood is not at stake, but
consider how much effort it would take to recover the information
on your computer if it were unexpectedly wiped clean. Are you
prepared to pay a couple of hundred dollars to avoid that effort?
If so, then you should be doing backups on your system. By way of
illustration, we are familiar with the case of a gentleman that
was doing research for a book using a personal computer. He had
collected a couple of years worth of research notes, including
interviews and transcriptions from rare documents while
travelling. He had written about half the book as well. Then his
hard drive failed. No backups - never saw the need. A disaster
recovery firm attempted to recover some data from the hard drive,
but with little success for significant expense. He recovered some
material from handwritten notes, memory and renewed
correspondence, but most of the material was gone forever. It's
your computer and your information, so it's your decision. Take
the risk, or take precautions?
Backups are not an expense. They are insurance. They need to be
done regularly and consistently, just like paying premiums. You
cannot recover what you have not backed up.
If you are a business in the Ottawa area, and you're currently
playing computer roulette with your electronic data (not doing
regular backups), please see a computer dealer or service centre
about how to backup your system(s), or contact
us so we can help you to protect your business. We'd rather
see you as a client than as another bankruptcy statistic. If you
have a personal or home-based system in the Ottawa area with more
data to be backed up than fits comfortably onto a few diskettes,
we are prepared to assist you as well. E-mail
us with your contact information, and we will discuss how to
protect your data. In general, we will recommend a backup strategy
and installation of hardware and media that your or your staff
will use that are appropriate to your needs. If appropriate, we
can also provide a mobile backup service at your site on a
scheduled basis, but this is usually not as cost-effective.
Once you have established a reliable means of backing up your
files, test the backup on occasion. A backup you can't read is
worse than useless. A quick and simple test involves renaming a
file that resides on your hard drive, then restoring the file from
the backup. Then compare the two versions of the file, either
manually or using a utility program for this purpose (if your
system has one). If the restore succeeds, you can delete the
renamed version. If the restore fails, you can always rename the
test file back to its original name. Then, find out why, and
correct the problem, then do your backup again, and test it again
(until it works).
There are several kinds of backup devices and procedures. Do
yourself a favour, and get a backup facility that allows you to
recover individual files, groups of files by directory name or
wildcard, or the entire system. We also recommend the use of full
backups where time and backup media make this practical, and
keeping at least three generations of backups on various media.
Finally, if it is convenient, keep your most recent backup in a
place remote from your computer (preferably a different building)
but accessible if you need to get it in a hurry. For a small
business, this may be at the owner's or an employee's home. For a
major business, another location in the same city may be
appropriate, or there are companies that provide this service with
periodic pick-up and drop-off services. For home users, perhaps
the home of a relative or friend would work. Consider the
potential of doing this on a reciprocal basis - you keep one of
their backups on your premises, and they keep one of yours on
theirs. Of course, don't do this with anyone who you don't want
having access to your information.
Backups. Don't compute without them!
Housekeeping
Computers work based on logic. They work better if you use them
logically. That applies to how you organize your files. Most
operating systems support folders or directories. This is simply a
way to divide up your files into logical (to you) groups. For most
people, it makes sense to keep their personal letters (e-mails)
separately from their financial records. It also makes sense to
keep program files (that will probably not change much over time)
from data files (that may appear, disappear and be modified
frequently). If you have files that pertain to chronological
periods, it may make sense to organize them into folders by time
periods, say a main folder for each year and sub-folders for each
month (and sub-sub-folders for weeks or days if appropriate).
Give your files names that are meaningful to you. It is
frustrating and time consuming to spend time looking for a file
you know is on your computer, but you can't find because it was
named "xz7ty4wv" and is lost amongst other files named
in alphabet-soup mode.
Disk space is relatively cheap today compared to the past, so
there is a tendency to keep files forever. However, the cost
associated with this practice is not the additional disks, it is
the time spent doing backups of that data and the time spent
wading through endless lists of files when your want to open an
existing file. Also, while you are required to keep up to seven
years of financial records for tax purposes in many jurisdictions,
if you keep more, they can also be used by tax auditors. Even if
you have absolutely nothing to hide, why invite them to stay
longer by giving them more to look at?
Viruses
I am using the term "virus" here to cover a whole
range of nasties which may be more properly called worms, trojans,
viruses, etc.
If you have ever been up all night with a sick computer, you
know the novelty wears off fast. You're tired, you're desperate,
you're frustrated and angry, and clutching at straws, and that
last time you just hit Enter or clicked on the mouse just did even
more damage. Save yourself from this fate. Go and buy a known
anti-virus package from a reputable computer dealer, in a sealed
package. Then install it, and keep it up to date. Then, use your
computer as if you did not have an anti-virus package on it.
Remain vigilant. There are viruses that target anti-virus software
first, so that the defence is rendered blind to the invader.
Periodically, surf to the website for the vendor for your
anti-virus product. If you cannot reach it, that could be a
symptom of a virus attack.
We do not sell anti-virus software, or hold stock in companies
that sell anti-virus software, or recommend one package over
another. So, please believe that this plea is for your protection
from software viruses, and not for our benefit. (Actually, we
might be financially better off if people needed to hire us to try
to salvage their computers after virus damage, but we'd prefer you
not have to make that call.)
However, even having current anti-virus protection and
practicing safe computing may not provide you with 100%
protection, so you should still do your backups.
The sad fact is that there are malicious people out there
continuing to develop new types of destructive "bugs"
and variants on existing ones to wreak havoc with your computer,
your data and your life. And they are always searching for new
ways to infiltrate your computer. They can arrive via e-mail
attachments, in pirated software, in word-processing documents,
and very occasionally, even in shrink-wrapped commercial software.
Occasionally, the viruses proliferate faster than the anti-virus
forces can develop and propagate protection against the bad stuff.
By all means, learn more about these horrible chunks of
misbegotten code. The more you know, the better you will be able
to protect yourself and slow their spread to others. Here are some
sites worth checking (even before you think you have a virus on
your system).
The Virus Bulletin Website
For the more technically oriented.
[dead link: http://www.wildlist.org/">The Wildlist.Org Virus Site]
Hoaxes
The real damage done by viruses has engendered another
annoyance, the virus hoax. The hoax will not damage your system.
Instead, it creates a level of anxiety in computer users that
serves no purpose, and it clutters up the Internet with useless
e-mail messages. So, the next time you get a well-meaning message
about another virus that has not made the news yet but is
destroying every computer on the planet, instead of forwarding it
to everyone you know, please check to see if it is a hoax. If it
is, just send an e-mail reply to the person that notified you,
calmly explaining that the message is a hoax, and they too can
check on such things in the future before forwarding such
messages. How can you check? By searching the Interweeb and surfing to one or more of the
websites that keep track of such hoaxes.
Netiquette
In the wilds of cyberspace, where many surf behind the supposed
veil of anonymity provided by aliases, avatars, remailers,
nicknames and handles, civility is often an early victim. It is a
sad commentary on us as a species, and provides ample
justification for criminal punishment systems in our societies.
The catch is, over time, most of our veils are ripped away if
someone wants to work hard enough to uncover who is flaming or
spamming them. ("Flaming" is the use of abusive or
inflammatory language, primarily via e-mail and on discussion
lists and forums. "Spamming" is the practice of using
Internet tools for inappropriate commercial purposes.) Why take
the risk?
Emoticons
Also known as "smilies", these are the cute little
symbols built from standard characters to denote feelings or
emotions like these: :-) happy / joke / grin / smile :-(
unhappy ;-) wink :-o surprised :-/ . perplexed (there are
many more) There are times when humour and sarcasm are not
obvious to all reading an e-mail. While they are intended to be
fun, they can backfire if read the wrong way. If you won't avoid
them, some times emoticons can help convey the meaning that might
otherwise be lost. A simple "<grin>" can often
prevent a lot of damage. And note that not all emoticons come
across well in all fonts.
E-mail
A marvelous innovation, e-mail has allowed business to move
faster. Even more than on-line shopping websites, e-mail has been
the tool that has allowed business to speed up its operations,
both in-house and business-to-business. E-mail is the real
underpinning for electronic workflow processing and distance
collaboration and has freed business correspondence from the
shackles of paper-handling, manual sorting and physical transport
to lightspeed.
On the downside, e-mail has also shed the culture, formality
and checks and balances of paper mail. As a result, things are
said in e-mails that would never have been committed to paper.
Part of that is the informality, part of it the psychological
sense that e-mail is somehow not as "real" as paper
correspondence, and part of that is the speed of e-mail that
removes the opportunity for reflection that occurs in the paper
world as a letter awaits transport to the mailbox.
In reality, e-mail is just as "real" as paper mail,
and worse, the ease of "carbon-copying" an e-mail means
that it will reach a wider distribution than its paper equivalent.
Every time you write an e-mail, pause and consider the potential
consequences of sending it. Assume that it will surface at the
worst possible time in the hands of the worst possible person. If
you are libeling someone, assume your e-mail will end up in their
hands.
When replying to an e-mail, it is often helpful to intersperse
your responses into the original text. When you do this, make sure
there is a way to distinguish between the original text and your
additions. In some packages, this can be done with different fonts
or colours. However, the lowest common denominator (and safest)
method, is to mark pre-existing text with a prefix character on
each line. The ">" (right chevron) character is
commonly used for this purpose. Multiple chevrons can be used to
denote multiple generations of comments.
If you are replying to a long e-mail, but your response
pertains to only a tiny portion of the original, it is good
practice to "snip out" those portions of the original
e-mail that are not relevant. This saves those reading your e-mail
a lot of time.
Another hazard of e-mail is that it is the delivery mechanism
of choice for many computer viruses. Several of the more common
e-mail client products (that's the part that resides on your
personal computer, and probably is "e-mail" to you),
have known deficiencies related to security against viruses. Spend
a few minutes surfing the web. If you have the choice of which
e-mail client to use, look for a lesser known product that will be
less attractive to virus-makers, and probably has a better
security record. If you cannot choose your e-mail client
(corporate decision), then find out what the security weaknesses
of your e-mail client product are. Then, find any patches
available for it to correct those issues, or learn to work around
those security holes.
Finally, remember your last line of defence will usually be a
known, good backup. Keep several versions of your backups. Some
viruses take their time making their presence known. So if you
only have one recent backup available when you find out about a
virus on your computer, there is a reasonable chance that virus
has also been stored on your backup.
But for the majority of Internet users, the greatest
contribution of e-mail has to be that a good joke can now circle
the globe in a matter of minutes.
Broken Links
You are happily surfing along the information superhighway,
bouncing around from link to link discovering new information and
delights, when you hit one of the potholes - a link that does not
work. Such an annoyance. However, the reality is that websites
disappear, move and get re-organized. If you discover a broken
link, and there is a convenient way to contact the Webmaster for
the site that has posted the link to the webpage that is now
missing, please take a moment and send the e-mail. It is hard to
keep up with all the moving webpages. Typically, the information
needed by the Webmaster is the address of the page where the
problem occurred, and the address of the link that is no longer
working. On the other side of the coin, Webmasters, please make it
easy for surfers to reach you with this kind of information (ours
is at the bottom of the page). Working together, surfers and
Webmasters can patch up the potholes, and make surfing better for
all of us.
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