This article, which came in the wake of an experiment by Ars, blocking content from those who run ad blocking software, essentially said “If you’re blocking our ads, whitelist us, subscribe, or don’t come here”.

The anti-user stance continued in the comments, which at this time number more than 1700. Some users did in fact whitelist Ars. Some attempted to explain why they block ads, and were summarily dismissed by Ars staff, regardless of their reasons.

Techdirt posted a rebuttal Monday, entitled “Don’t Blame Your Community. Ad Blocking Is Not Killing Any Sites“. Their take is that if your community is blocking your ads, and you can’t handle it, find another business model that isn’t based on annoying your users.

I generally have to take Techdirt’s side on this one.

Ars isn’t unique in its news offerings. There are plenty of sites out there more that cover the same topics. If Ars disappeared tomorrow, the news would still be covered, and opinions would still be shared.

Ars needs to find another way, if they want to succeed. Blocking users who value their privacy and security, and aren’t willing to sell out for Ars’ benefit is going to cost them dearly. Without users, after all, there’s noone to sell out to advertisers (and that’s essentially what ad-supported sites do, after all). Being confrontational with their users isn’t going to get them anywhere. They need to listen to the concerns of their users and address them – with more than just a snide dismissal.

Apparently this keylogger watches for you to log in to WoW or the World of Warcraft website, and rather than passing your credentials to Blizzard, instead passes them to a third party. They then log in to your account within the 30 seconds the Authenticator code is valid, and commence the usual account strippage.

Quote from Blizzard’s Kropacius:

“After looking into this, it has been escalated, but it is a Man in the Middle attack.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man-in-the-middle_attack

This is still perpetrated by key loggers, and no method is always 100% secure.”

For now, Mac users are unaffected. From WoW.com’s article:

“This is a PC only attack, at the moment. Mac users are immune to this particular virus, however they are not immune in general. Mac users must practice the same security methods as PC users.”

Always good advice to follow basic safe-browsing procedures, no matter what platform you’re on. Strong passwords, ad/script blocking software, a good hardware firewall, and common sense are your best defense against all these sorts of threats.

Google did the right thing – right? Wrong, says an Italian court, which charged and convicted three Google employees (four were charged) of “failure to comply with Italian privacy code”, with six-month suspended jail sentences.

This is completely stupid and ridiculous, particularly considering, as Google’s blog entry points out:

“To be clear, none of the four Googlers charged had anything to do with this video. They did not appear in it, film it, upload it or review it. None of them know the people involved or were even aware of the video’s existence until after it was removed.”

Google plans on appealing the convictions, but the fact this even came up is chilling. It sets a precedent that hosting providers are criminally liable for user-generated content. Taken to the most onerous conclusion, it would effectively ban user-generated content altogether, as no company would take the risk of being taken to court over content they had no control over.

This would mean the death of sites like YouTube, Facebook, Flickr, WordPress, Tumblr, Twitter, and countless others. Effectively the death of the web as we know it, which was built on, and continues to thrive on, user-generated content.

Would someone in Italy please smack some sense into your laywers and judges? Please? Thanks.

Yesterday, Apple announced the iPhone 3GS – essentially a hardware speed-boost to last year’s iPhone 3G. More memory, faster processor, better battery life, better camera, video, digital compass, etc… Overall a damn nice looking piece of kit, and a decent, if incremental, upgrade to the existing iPhone 3G.

Also announced was iPhone OS 3.0 – with such features as tethering (IE: using your phone’s ‘net connection to give your computer ‘net access via USB or bluetooth), MMS messaging (multimedia), and more.

AT&T won’t be supporting MMS at launch. Why not? Because they need to manually remove a *block* they put in place to prevent folks who got early copies of 3.0 from using it. That’s right – they intentionally crippled MMS for beta users, and now *all* users have to wait until they get around to re-enabling it.

AT&T was also not amongst the list of carriers supporting tethering (a feature I would get a bit of use out of). It’s been rumored that they will eventually support tethering, but may charge $70/month for it. That’s of course on top of the normal data plan, and the SMS plan, and nearly doubles the monthly price for folks who want to use it. Can you say “gouge”? I knew you could.

Additionally, unlike last year’s iPhone 3G launch, owners of last year’s model won’t be getting the announced price. Instead, an “early upgrade” (which includes a 2-year contract extension) will cost iPhone 3G users $399 for the 16GB model – double the price for new subscribers. If you’re unlucky enough not to qualify for an “early upgrade”, AT&T will charge you $599 for the same phone.

All of this is due to subsidies. The original iPhone wasn’t subsidized at all. The 3G was. So, AT&T’s subsidized phone policy comes into play, which only allows the full discount after 18 months. For example, based on my AT&T account’s page, they will declare me “eligible” for full upgrade pricing ($199) in December. That’s 6 months into the 3GS’ release – or in terms of a yearly hardware cycle, half it’s lifespan. And, were I to upgrade then, I would need to completely miss next year’s hardware upgrade, as I wouldn’t “qualify” for another full year.

What’s even more telling is that cancelling your account and eating the early termination fee ($130), then purchasing an iPhone 3GS as a now-new-customer is *cheaper* by about $70 for existing iPhone 3G owners.

This. Is. Stupid.

AT&T’s 18-month “upgrade” eligibility terms simply don’t mesh with Apple’s yearly hardware refreshes. It’s the flagship phone in AT&T’s fleet, and they’re treating customers like dirt. They’re costing Apple money, in the form of folks like me, who would have considered an upgrade, but now won’t due to AT&T’s terms.

It’s also been rumored that AT&T is right now in negotiations to extend its exclusivity agreement on the iPhone, which ends next year. I can’t imagine that making their existing customers upset is helping their position much.

Apple’s put out the goods. AT&T is failing them. It’s time for Apple to jump ship and find a new partner. In all actuality, finding 2-3 partners would be better. Competition tends to keep companies honest, and puts providing *service* to *customers* at the forefront. That’s likely what needs to happen to pull AT&Ts head out of its behind.

In short – why I won’t be upgrading:

• AT&T won’t support tethering, and may charge outrageous fees for it once they do get around to it
• AT&T won’t support MMS (until they get around to it)
• AT&T treats existing customers like dirt, makes it more affordable to stop being a customer, eat an early termination fee, then re-sign than to simply re-sign.
• Current experience with AT&T’s coverage, particularly 3G, is spotty at best, fails at worst.
• AT&T still charges me double to text my wife, who is on the same family plan. Calling her is free, texting costs 2 texts per message – one for me sending, the other for her receiving.

You’ll note nothing in there deals with Apple’s hardware. While there are things I’d like to have seen (forward-facing camera for video-calling, 4MP or better camera, etc…), it’s a solid upgrade all around, and one I’d likely have been willing to pay for, had AT&T not killed my interest by choosing not to support features I’d use, crippling others, and punishing me because I chose to buy their upgrade last year.

At this point, I’ll wait out this next year (as well as my contract), and perhaps jump ship to a competitor when the exclusivity runs out. I hear Verizon’s coverage around here is pretty good, and their 3G works well. I bet they’ll be willing to cut me a deal too.

Stayed up very late last night to watch the speeches. Both were excellent.

McCain seemed…relieved? It was like a weight had been lifted from his shoulders. Gone was angry, sarcastic, slightly goofy McCain, and here was a gracious, eloquent, likable man. Given how negative his campaign was, this speech seemed delivered by an entirely different person.

Jeffrey Zeldman via Twitter perhaps said it best:

McCain’s concession speech was eloquent, noble, patriotic. In short, the real John McCain. Gandalf has cast out Wormtongue. Hail, Theoden!

Obama has one hell of a presence. I’d wager he’s probably the best speaker we’ve had since JFK. Clinton had the charisma, and was an excellent speaker, but wasn’t at that level. Obama simply owned that stage. It was inspiring, positive, and uplifting. I don’t think it’ll go down as one of the great speeches of history – however, I believe Obama will make an entry on that list at some point. He’s that good.

So we’ve done our part. Now it’s up to Obama to do his. He can certainly talk the talk. Now (well…next year when he’s sworn in…) it’s time for him to walk the walk.

The guy was hilarious.

Studios Columbia and Sony have scooped the film rights to the original 1958 Belgian comic book series – which later became a TV show.

The as-yet-untitled film will combine live action and animation.

This fills me with utter horror and dread.