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Mozilla man wades into Google Microsoft browser row

Posted in browser, Firefox, Google, Microsoft on September 30, 2009 at 4:24 pm

I previously reported on how Microsoft got angry with Google over the creation of the Google Chrome Frame plug-in, which it accused of being a security risk.

At the time Microsoft called the plug-in a ‘a risk that it would not recommend our friends and families take’, while Google hit back saying it was a way to bring Google Chrome’s security features into the Internet Explorer browser.

Now Mozilla vice president Mike Shaver has put his two cents in, by claiming the plug in doesn’t really help in the aim of Internet Explorer developers having the capabilities that they have in the other browsers.

He said: “Running Chrome Frame within IE makes many of the browser application’s features non-functional, or less effective. These include private browsing mode or their other security controls, features like accelerators or add-ons that operate on the content area, or even accessibility support.”

Shaver said that the user’s understanding of the web security model and their browser behaviour is seriously hindered by “delegating the choice of software to the developers of individual sites they visit.”

He’s seen the problem with plug-ins like Flash, Silverlight and Java and did not want it to be repeated under the “HTML 5 banner”.

He says: “It would be better for the web developers who want to use the Chrome Frame snippet simply told users that their site worked better in Chrome, and instructed them on how to install it.”

“The user would be educated about the benefits of an alternate browser, would understand better the choice they were making, and the kudos for Chrome’s performance would accrue to Google rather than Microsoft,” he added.

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Microsoft sues firm for instant messaging spam

By Asavin Wattanajantra in Editorial

Posted in instant messaging, passwords, phishing, Microsoft on July 17, 2009 at 4:39 pm

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Many people who use Windows Messenger are familiar with those instant messages that prompt you to click on a link to spam, or someone taking control of their account to spam everybody on their friend’s list.

Given the name “SPIM”, Microsoft is now making efforts to deal with this, taking legal action which alleges a company called Funmobile conduced a campaign to spim Microsoft customer contacts, and undermine their privacy.

Microsoft is asking the court to grant an injunction to stop the activity as well as get monetary damages - hoping to send a message that this isn’t tolerated.

Microsoft alleged that the Hong-Kong based company came up with a scheme targeting customers that appeared to come from the email address of a known friend, and invite the recipient to click.

Customers who clicked on the link were then ‘phished’ - asked for their IM username and password to login, and redirected to a porn site or a social networking community.

Microsoft then allege that Funmobile collected the usernames and passwords to access Microsoft’s systems and customer accounts. Scraping or harvesting the contacts from each of the users, they sent unsolicited bulk emails.

The enterprise view

Michael Remond, chief executive of IM firm ProcessOne, said that Microsoft was right to raise the fight against SPIM, and that it highlighted the dangers of businesses using IM platforms.

He said: “As enterprises increasingly use IM and chat applications for internal and customer communications, security is more important than ever.

“Microsoft and other public IM platforms have a long way to go to be suitable and safe for the enterprise.”

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How Pirate Bay sticks two fingers up at the industry

By Asavin Wattanajantra in Editorial

Posted in Sweden, trial, Pirate Bay, pirate, Microsoft, IT PRO, Apple on February 17, 2009 at 2:36 pm

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The Swedish owners of Pirate Bay, one of the most notorious file sharing websites in the world, seem to be bulletproof.

It was today revealed that on the second day of their highly-publicised trial for copyright infringement, the prosecution has already had to abandon half of all the charges.

They are completely open about what they’ve been doing - hence the name, symbol and much of what they say on the website.

Their main defence is that none of the files shared are saved on their server - only torrent files, which technically means that the owners of the site don’t hold any of the copyrighted files.

Many of the companies whose property is being downloaded are pretty unhappy with what the Pirate Bay does, and how the owners stick two fingers up and laugh, as they feel they are protected under Swedish law.

Here are some of the cease-and-desist notices that companies have sent to Pirate Bay, together with some of the rather cheeky replies that its owners have given.

Microsoft

The big daddy of tech has already sent what Pirate Bay owners describe as a ‘ton’ of cease and desist letters like this one.

Pirates Bay contains a number of Microsoft files which users have uploaded and shared, including different versions of Microsoft Windows, Microsoft Office and many more.

Apple

Like Microsoft, Apple sounds very serious in how it intends to “take further actions to stop the sites illegal activities.”

However the Pirate Bay sent a rather mocking reply, together with the insult: “Instead of simply recommending that you sodomise yourself with a retractable baton, let me recommend a specific model- the ASP 21 inch, the previous lawyers tried to use a cheaper brand, but it broke during the action.”

The MPAA and the Swedish government

The Motion Picture Association of America and Swedish authorities thought they scored a victory against the Pirate Bay by ’shutting down’ the website in 2006.

However, the Pirate Bay returned.

They said: “Just some stats… here are some reasons why The Pirate Bay is down sometimes, and how long it usually take to fix.

Tiamo gets “very” drunk and then something crashes - 4 days

Anakata gets a really bad cold and no-one is around - 7 days

The US and Swedish government forces the police to steal our servers - 3 days…. yawn