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China
Sweet, Sour on Spam
Delegates at the annual meeting of China's National People's
Congress roundly criticized Western systems administrators that are
blocking all e-mail from China as a means to stop spam, but they also
called for new laws to make sending spam illegal in China.
The National People's Congress is considered the primary political
power in China. Its 2,989 delegates meet every March to debate legislation,
policy and politics. This year spam had a central place on the agenda,
according to reports from China's official news service Xinhua.
Last
week, many Chinese newspapers ran articles and editorials calling
for the National People's Congress to ban spam, some quoting a Wired
News story warning that a cyber version of The Great Wall was being
built to choke off the flood of spam from Asia.
But despite the calls to action, some anti-spam activists were skeptical
that any real changes would be made.
"I do not see China taking any lead here," said Steve Atkins from
SamSpade, an anti-spam service. "I see some delegates annoyed that
their e-mail is blocked because their ISPs are spam-friendly. They're
blaming Western network administrators for protecting their users
from the torrent of spam originating in or relayed through Chinese
servers, rather than blaming those Chinese system administrators who
are corrupt or incompetent."
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Microsoft:
Can we check your software license?
Microsoft is trying to get to know its pirates a little better.
The software maker has launched a pilot program
in which some visitors to the
main Windows download page are being asked to let the software
maker check to see whether their copy of the operating system is licensed.
Visitors do not have to participate in the
program to get their downloads. They'll also get their downloads if
they do participate and their copy of Windows turns out to be unlicensed.
But Microsoft said the program is a first step in trying to provide
a better experience for customers using legitimate copies of Windows.
Since the program is optional at this stage,
Microsoft expects that most of those who know their software is bogus
will not take part.
"I would expect that people who know they
are running pirated Windows are going to be very interested to know
what we are doing, but they could easily choose to not opt in," said
David Lazar, a director in the Windows client unit.
Those whose copies are found not to be genuine
will be encouraged to go back to the company from whom they bought
the PC or software upgrade. They'll also be given other information
on obtaining genuine software before being allowed to download whatever
software they were seeking. In its current form, the program offers
no particular benefit for those who are running licensed software.
Eventually, Microsoft could make the program
mandatory. The company could also prevent those that have unlicensed
copies of Windows from downloading software updates on Microsoft's
site.
Still, Lazar said, it is a sensitive group
of customers Microsoft is targeting with the program--namely, people
who bought a computer that they thought had a legitimate copy of Windows,
but are somewhat unsure. Microsoft wants those people as customers,
so it wants to be sure to treat them kindly, even as the company seeks
to encourage legitimate Windows use.
"We've got to pilot the infrastructure," Lazar
said. "We're kind of making a value judgment (on whether a copy of
Windows is genuine). We want to make sure we get that correct and
the experience for everyone is a positive one."
Lazar said Microsoft's goal is to have 20,000
users go through the procedure before deciding how to expand or modify
the program, an effort that he estimates could take anywhere from
six weeks to three months.
Dubbed the Windows Genuine Advantage, the
program is part of Microsoft's overall anti-piracy campaign, Lazar
said, noting that the company's efforts fall into three categories:
education, enforcement and engineering. The new program is part of
the company's effort to engineer its software to encourage legitimate
use, Lazar said.
The Business Software Alliance, of which Microsoft
is a key member, estimates that piracy costs software makers $29 billion
annually, although some have taken issue with the means by which the
group calculates those figures.
Lazar stressed that Microsoft is not blocking
access to any updates, in particular to Windows XP Service Pack 2,
which the company is encouraging all customers to upgrade to. The
company is not requiring customers to have a genuine copy of Windows
to get SP2, though it has blocked a few registration codes that have
been known for several years as pirated.
March 20, 2007
Our condolences to the family of the
QUADRA ISLAND woman who was killed by spammers. (poisoned phony
drugs).
Feb 20, 2007
April 19, 2006
New Website launched. Tweaking is now
ongoing.
Feb 17, 2006
New Website progressing well. expected
launch in late Spring 2006.
Jan 1, 2006
AllOver.ca
Nov 1, 2005
AllOver.ca hosting plans updated. More
disk space and data transfer added. Extra email accounts also added.
October 14, 2005
AllOver.ca blocking 98% of all spam
and 100% of viruses & worms.
August 4, 2005
AllOver.ca blocking 96% of all spam
and 100% of viruses & worms.
