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It’s a sick world, after all. Hours after the space shuttle Columbia’s mysterious disintegration over Texas, pieces of the shuttle went up for auction on eBay. Although the San Francisco-based site quickly yanked the listings, similar ones continued to pop up periodically throughout the day. The same thing happened on Sept. 11, when World Trade Center debris was offered for sale. A spokesman for eBay told Reuters that company monitors are prepared to search for such tragedy-mongering when a national event occurs. The company says that the listings are often hoaxes, purported by people who want to feel like part of the event. NASA warned the public not to handle the debris that rained into parts of three states Saturday, saying it could be toxically contaminated.
Security experts: Microsoft really blew this one
Ratings for Microsoft’s security efforts have been downgraded right along with warnings for the recent Windows-enabled worm. While the internet had returned to normal by the end of last week, security experts were in a snit over Microsoft’s insufficient security upgrades, which led to the worst web attack in 18 months. The worm, which exploited a vulnerability in the company’s SQL Server, came almost exactly one year after Microsoft honcho Bill Gates announced a concerted software security boost. The company had posted a downloadable patch for the SQL Server last June. But experts say that Microsoft didn’t do a good enough job. Counterpane Internet Security claims, as evidence, that the Microsoft itself was slammed by the worm, incapacitating the Redmond, Wash., headquarters for two days. Further, experts say, a second SQL Server patch released in October made previously patched systems once again vulnerable to last week’s Slammer. A survey last year by Consumer Reports found that Macs have half the virus infection rate of Windows-based PCs. Microsoft has promised to reorganize what it admits is a confusing patch process.
Laid off CNET employees: Bid on us, please
A group of former CNET Networks employees may have to take their business to Monster.com after all. A dozen of the laid-off workers posted an offer for their collective services Friday before eBay canceled the auction. Bidding went to $610 dollars Thursday, with worldwide press coverage goosing more than 1,600 users to visit the listing and 24 to post bids. The workers were laid off from the San Francisco and Cambridge offices of ZDNet Tech Update, owned by CNET, during July and January. The eBay ad characterized them as a “turnkey editorial/production staff,” although eBay earlier forced the satirically optimistic group to remove a provision calling for “a total annual commitment for salary and benefits in the high six figures.” The auction company apparently did not get the joke. “Members cannot legally sell human beings,” eBay notified group leader Lee Schlesinger in an email. “If you are selling a copy of resumes, please be more clear in the auction title and description.”
Papers snookered by GOP dirty tricks letters
Perhaps this should have been the first tipoff: The letters praised President Bush for his handling of the economy. The Boston Globe, Sacramento Bee and 70 other newspapers printed the seemingly innocent yet identical letters to the editor last week that was actually mass-generated by Republican Party slicksters. A web tool offered by the party’s GOPTeamLeader.com sent the letters, all signed with different names. Although the approach is nothing new, the Astroturf, or fake grass roots, campaign achieved more success than most. The papers were further embarrassed when British newspapers reported the story, picking up on a weblogger report from the States.
February 3, 2003© 2003 Media Life
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