Note: This column represents the opinions
of the writer and as such, is not purported as fact
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I notice that most of my peers already have their bags packed and have begun
liberally applying large dollops of sunscreen -- while I sit here building
the callouses on my typing fingers.
Yes, it's the time of year when most IT journos take a big long break,
safe in the knowledge that the rest of the industry is also far from
their desks and the worries of day to day work.
However, there'll be no NZ-Post-like extravagance here! I expect that
Aardvark Daily will be published on all but the the statutory
holidays so it might just pay to check in now and then if you're at a loss
for something to do.
Check Out The Aardvark PC-Based Digital
Entertainment Centre Project
Updated 2-Dec-2002
Perhaps now is a good time to do a bit of a follow-up on recent events.
Firstly, I received a response from Sony late yesterday -- but it was
marked "Not For Publication" -- go figure!
Turns out it was simply an acknowledgement of the email I sent them. It
contained little more than some boasting about how Sony is one of the
country's leading consumer electronic companies.
A rough translation -- "we don't really care what anyone thinks because
we're Sony".
It took over a week for Sony's Communications & Promotions division
(aka "the spin department") to come up with an arrogant eight line advertisement? Good grief!
So what happened in the wake of the Lymree.co.nz spamming last weekend?
Well TelstraClear, to their credit, did yank the spammers DSL connection
(or at least that's what they're telling me) -- but what about 123.co.nz
and MaxNet, the hosting companies seemingly providing services to this little spamhaus?
A quick traceroute to the lymree site this morning shows that they're still
happy to take a spammer's money and to host a site that offers to send
bulk unsolicited email for a $500 setup fee, $75 per hour email design fee
and $0.25 per spam delivery fee.
If you're shopping for a new ISP or hosting service, you might want to
think long and hard about the company you'll be in if you're considering
123.co.nz or
MaxNet. Sorry guys,
it's been nearly a week, how hard can it be to kick pond-scum like this
off your network?
If this is the way our ISPs and hosting companies are going to respond
to the presence of a blatant spamhaus on their networks then things do not
look good for the level of local junk email we're going to see in 2003.
And what have Domainz or InternetNZ done about what appears to be yet
another unauthorised use of information raped from the registry database?
You guessed it -- not a sausage.
Perhaps the warning on the Domainz website ought to be changed to:
Users are advised that the folloing activities are forbidden and will
be severely punished by a total lack of action on our part...
I fear, based on recent events, that the local industry has lost all its
good old Net-spirit and simply become yet another "forget the ethics,
just chase the money" sector of the business community.
Now I can already hear many of you asking "where's the lighten up section today?"
Well when I checked the lighten up folder this morning, it was bare!
It seems that most of you are too busy shopping for that last-minute gift
to waste time surfing the web right now. Quite frankly, I think you're
very sensible and if I had any money, I'd be buying gifts too. Instead,
I'm giving everyone I know a lovely origami bird, skillfully crafted from old
newspaper :-)
Yes, I'm afraid it's a rather lean Christmas here this year -- which is one
of the reasons I'll be stuck behind this keyboard, working my little bottom
off trying to get my book finished.
You can expect a couple of editions of Aardvark next week but the news-links
may be a bit sparse as the world winds down for Christmas.
Hey, don't forget to drop some food in the charity bin at your local supermarket,
and why not donate something to the numerous charities that bust a gut each
Christmas taking care of those who are less fortunate than us?
Contacting Aardvark
As always, readers are invited to submit their comments on material covered
in this column. If you'd like your comments published here then please
be sure to use this form and select For Publication.
Other media organisations seeking more information or republication rights
are also invited to contact me.
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