From Bad to Qworst
There's yet another investigation into Qwest, the company that seems to make WorldCom and Global Crossing seem like they were run by altar boys.
The Colorado Public Utilities Commission (PUC) launched an official investigation into Qwest Communications and allegations that it made a practice of hiding business deals from the state regulatory authority. The Denver Post reported [1] that the PUC had been conducting an informal probe into Qwest over the past eight months. Now comes the revelation that the PUC commissioners unanimously voted to formalize the investigation after discovering that Qwest made secret deals with some of its competitors so they would not stand in the way of Qwest's bid to re-enter the long distance market within the US WEST region.
Word has it that there are four other states also looking into similar allegations against Qwest.
Also from The Denver Post, Qworst's former top honcho Joe Nacchio is pitted against Phil Anschutz the gazillionaire who founded the company (and hired Nacchio) in a fierce battle of "Liar! Liar! Pants on fire!" Check out that story [2], and see if this doesn't sound like a grammar schoolyard fight among the little tale-tellers!?!?!
Caring, Thoughtful SPAM
Oh, those caring, thoughtful spammers. So considerate are they, what with the new and improved time-limited special offering for just you. Yes, it is a pop-up and pop-under ad prevention device. How kind of the spammers to send it to me (and a trillion other lucky e-mail addresses on lists they've bought, mined, culled, developed, lifted, etc.).
And check out that great Unique Selling Point. Surf The Net on your Own Terms. What an offer! Why can't they extend that to reading one's e-mail on one's own terms????
SPAM, SPAM, & more SPAM
When one has a blog, or otherwise has a very public net identity, the listed e-mail address becomes an easily harvested target for spammers. Bloggers get their fair share of spam, as do authors and others who list an e-mail address in their public net personae.
A good while back, during what seems like more than a few "net generation" lifetimes ago, there was an argument as to Spam, its worthiness, intrusiveness, the very manner of it, and the general feeling of disgust with it. Back then, my feeling was that Spam was like junk mail. You get it, you throw it away. In the case of e-mail spam, one would simply hit the delete button. Seemed to me, back then, that all the hue and cry was just whining on a grand scale. To me, the feeling was this: ignore it, delete it, stop moaning about it. That such ardor and concern was being expressed over it astonished me.
Now I have joined the ranks of those opposed to it. My inbox gets dozens of pieces of spam a day. I spend what seems like way too much time engaged in the act of disposing it to the trash bin. Now it seems an intrusive bother, a time waster, an assault on the senses.
Why is there such a proliferation of Spam? Simply put: it works.
Much as it may be hated, ignored, insulted, and so forth, there are people who receive it, read it, and respond to it, proving the commercial value. The wastage is at virtually no cost to the sender. No cost of postage, no printing, no insert fees. FREE! Except possibly the cost of the mailing lists or the electricity expended to send the spam, there are no costs associated with this distributive method of advertising or offering the sale of products or services.
To get rid of pop-up and pop-under ads (pop-under refers to the pages that open "beneath" the page one is viewing, and then pop up "under" the page one closes when the original is closed), I use Panicware's [3] Pop-Up Stopper. It was worth every penny of the $19.95 charge. Since it works in the background, and removes so much junk, it was well worth going from Shareware to paid-for software.
The Real Deal on Pop-Ups and Pop-Under ads
For information on getting rid of those annoyances, check out Joe Jenet's page [4] on this topic.
When you've finished reading that, there's a bunch more good stuff to be found via joe's homepage, Jenett Webthings [5]. Highly recommended.
Hired Assassin - File under "Tainted?"
Before a crash of the beloved and main PC (which prompted an off-premise visit of the box to Bob The Computer Guy, who, thank goodness, repaired it back to normal. Phew!) I had been using Spam Assassin [6]. Some concerns that Spam Assassin might have been part of a root cause of some MS Office problems have kept me from reinstalling that one.
Anyone have any anti-spam suggestions? Please send them to me. Oops, there I go being public with my e-mail address. All the more reason I need a Spam-killer!