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A useful site and cops spreading porn 26 November 2004 Edition
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What a morning -- my phone hasn't stopped ringing since about 7am but unfortunately this doesn't mean there's been any major event or revelations, just lots of small issues, and that describes the content of today's column too.

Here's something I came across the other day, Mailinator, a really useful website that lets you use throw-away email addresses when signing up for stuff such as registering for access to websites or other stuff.

Most of us have a free email address from Hotmail or YahooMail that we use for such things but the problem is that they often become so filled with spam and junk that they become a real chore to keep working. Mailinator solves the problem in a rather elegant way and doesn't require you to provide *any* personal information or spend minutes setting up a mailbox.

What a great idea!

Meanwhile, the Australian constabulary have just shown how easy it is to make a really big flock-up when using computers and the internet.

Their goal: send out warnings to schools about the evils of nasty things on the internet.

Their method: email.

Now have your say
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The result: thousands of schools received the emails, complete with child-porn images as attachments.

Police have urged those receiving the emails to delete them without opening the attachments and to destroy any printed copies.

A spokesperson for the police attributed the horrendous gaffe to "faulty software".

Oh yeah -- and I bet they just read Playboy for the articles eh?

Well at least all those schools will now know what child porn really looks like eh?

But what on earth were the police doing with child porn on the same computers they use to send their correspondence? Could it be that the images were being sent around the office by email as a bit of a joke and someone got confused as to what was porn and what was a bit of anti-porn PR?

I see also that some entrepreneurial students at Exeter University in the UK decided to sell the institution after becoming fed up with proposed funding cuts. How long before some clever Kiwi politician decides to sell the current government on eBay as a way of seizing power?

Lighten Up
It's time for some long-overdue levity from the furthest reaches of the Net.

Here's the real George W Bush showing his Christian upbringing and integrity as a politician.

And here's a doorbell with a real Christmas flavour don't you think? Is that you Rudolph?

Have your say on today's column

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