One man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter.

What good does it do in the war against terrorism to kidnap innocent people outside your own jurisdiction, against local, international, and US laws? How does it help to transport them across the globe to torture then in secret prisons, in a supposedly “liberated” third country?

I was kind of hoping that the US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice would have at least some answers, but unfortunately, her European PR tour has given preciously few answers so far. See, some of us stupid, backwards Europeans think that people, even suspected terrorists, are innocent until proven guilty. Many of our laws build on that assumption. We think it’s important, a cornerstone of what we think is fair and just.

I guess what I’d really like to say is f*** you, Ms Rice (and Mr Bush, now that I think of it), but this is a family-oriented blog, thank you very much, so I won’t.

A nice lady who called herself Ashley rang me today. Ashley, who claimed to work for a Florida company called Best US Promotions (please have a look at our web site at www.bestusvacations.com, sir), informed me that I’d just won a free Bahamas cruise!

She talked fast and the phone line was pretty bad, but basically I was the lucky winner of not only a free Bahamas cruise (3 days), but also a week at Disney World, 2 days in Daytona, and another 2 in Fort Laudardale. With all, or at least most, expenses paid (the exact terms of my dream vacation escape me for the moment; like I said, the phone line was bad and she talked fast). The whole thing really sounded too good to be true.

And it was. After a description of my up-and-coming vacation (with my family, of course), I was switched to another nice lady who wanted my name, address, phone number, and… VISA card number.

I told her that this I didn’t like, but she assured me that it was OK. I was protected, they’d tape the conversation (sic), and she fully understood my scepticism. She would react in the same way. Oh good, I said. Would she send me a detailed agreement with all the necessary information through snail mail? No sir, that is not possible. We only have three cruises left and there are others who will surely accept the terms without this kind of complication. And anyway, I’m insured through VISA, don’t I know that?

That’s funny, I told her. VISA’s quite explicit about this kind of thing. You must never reveal your credit card number through a phone line. Never. And so I won’t do it, free cruise or not.

She became upset. If you don’t know the terms of your international credit card, sir, she said, you shouldn’t be allowed to use one. Again, I said thanks but no thanks, so she hung up on me.

After telling my wife that I just said no to a free Bahamas cruise, I checked Ahley & Co’s phone number (I have one of those thingies that log incoming phone numbers), and sure enough, the call was from Israel, not Florida:

(00) 9724900000

If you get a call from them, hang up.

The web site, I found out, was registered by Domains by Proxy, Inc., a Scottsdale, Arizona company that helps domain owners conceal their identities from the public by registering their domains in the name of Domains by Proxy. They’ve helped quite a few, from fake talent hunters to, well, fake travel lotteries.

A Google search (scam+travel+US+Promotions) also explained how this kind of scam works. It’s a shame, though; I could have used a vacation.

Sony, the well-known manufacturer of consumer electronics products, likes to plant rootkits in your (Windows-based) computer without asking for permission first. You see, they assume that you are a crook, they assume that you live for stealing other people’s intellectual property whenever given the opportunity. They assume that you need to be controlled, and they think it’s their duty to do so.

Groklaw’s put up a page gathering all Sony-related information to one place so please, don’t take my word for it, read for yourself.

If you really are like that, if you agree with Sony, then by all means, continue buying their products. But if not, boycott everything Sony. Start now!

Sometimes it helps to complain, apparently. A day or two after my somewhat annoyed comment on FOP, the FOP team released an alpha from the development branch. Most of the properties I’ve missed in 0.20.5 are there, and seem to work. Ain’t life grand?

Debian Unstable, a k a Sid, has been, well, a little unstable lately. First, grep broke during one of my wildly optimistic dist-upgrades and I had some trouble booting and starting X, then xscreensaver and nvidia couldn’t agree so X crashed. Cost me half a day, all in all.

Lesson: When working anywhere near a deadline, do not dist-upgrade. And above all, do not reboot.

Oh please let there be a new (stable) version of FOP while XSL is still a viable technology. I’ve been busy writing stylesheets for a system running FOP the last few weeks, see, and I’m not too happy with some of the bugs. I’d contribute to the project if I knew enough Java but I don’t, so all I can do is to whine.

(For those of you who don’t know what I’m talking about, please feel free to ignore me.)

I got another one of those fake Ebay “check-your-account” emails the other day. The technique’s called phishing and, in short, it’s basically an email with a link to a fake website made to look like Ebay, Paypal, or whatever. You’re supposed to believe that your Ebay, Paypal (etc) account needs to be renewed so if you’ll just be kind enough to follow the link and fill in your bank account details, you’ll be up and running again in no time. Phishing is quite common, in my inbox at least, and a real pain.

For years, I’ve deleted these things without a second thought, but this time, I followed the link, entered a fake name, a fake bank account number, a fake PIN (as if Ebay would need it), a fake address, a fake city… you get the idea. The thing is, I went to some lengths to ensure that the information wasn’t obviously made up, hoping that the fraud at the other end wouldn’t immediately see what I was doing. And prayed to the net ghods that he would actually use the information to create a credit card, and attempt to use that card in an actual store.

Why not do the same the next time somebody sends you an email asking you to update your Ebay account? Make some trouble. See to it that these people are kept busy. I’m sure that sooner or later, somebody will try to use the information to make that fake credit card, and to try to use it. Just think of the fun you’ve created. It’s not going to stop them all, but it’s a start.

My friend Deck (read his blog, it’s good) got a gift from his wife Alma (another good friend), a clock that counts the hours left of George W Bush’s presidency. I’m definitely going to order one; have a look at http://www.backwardsbush.com/. However, if the FAQ is right, the battery must be replaced at least once before it’s time. The battery life is only two years.

I’m sure that’s more than enough for at least one more war.

Just dusted my living room loudspeakers with my brand-new Star Wars III DVD, and I’ve got to tell you, the sound is excellent. A lot better than in that pathetic excuse of a cinema, the Palladium in Göteborg, where I last saw the film. Why is it that an eight year-old Dolby processor for home use can run circles around a state-of-the-art Dolby Digital thingie?

I’m going to fully enjoy watching the whole film tomorrow. Don’t even think about calling me.