The Internet Patrol

A survey of nearly 2,000 people by the Chubb Group of Insurance Agencies has found that one in five Americans believe that they have been the victim of identity fraud. According to a press release by Chubb, other findings include: “Twenty-seven percent of respondents reported that their or a family…

Here’s an interesting new service! Imagine that you are driving along, listening to the radio (you guys do remember that classic antique, the car radio, right?) And a song comes on that you really like. Or that really annoys your spouse. Or something. For whatever reason, you decide that you’d…

This just in: Google wins rights to typos. Seriously. According to their recent press release, the National Arbitration Forum (NAF) has issued a ruling giving to Google the rights to the Internet domain names “googkle.com”, “ghoogle.com”, “gfoogle.com” and “gooigle.com”. Google had filed a complaint “asserting legal rights to the Web…

Now, would you really want to go on a date with someone who advertised themselves as “Plenty Offish”? I mean, really, come on, being stand-offish is hardly something of which to be proud. What’s next, “Snobs R’ Us Singles”? But no, Plentyoffish.com bills itself as the largest free online dating…

Matt Clarkson was going to end poverty by willing the leaders at the G8 summit to do so. According to his recent press release, Clarkson planned to ask visitors to his website to “take part in a meditation to psychically influence leaders of the G-8 summit to make poverty history.”…

Have you ever wondered who is watching you when you are on AOL Instant Messenger (AIM)? Who is reading your profile, and checking you out? Well, wonder no more, because Justin Nolan, the body behind the relatively new ConnectedMobiles.com, has written Aimtrac, just for you! Says Justin, an apparently bored…

Have you heard about “Dog Poop Girl”? No, she’s not some new style superhero, although I do believe that her partner, Dog Poop Man, has made an appearance on “Whose Line Is It Anyways?” (couldn’t you just watch Ryan Stiles and Colin Mochrie for hours?) No, Dog Poop Girl is…

Sven Jaschan, the German teenager who created the Sasser worm, has now been convicted of creating Sasser, and has received a suspended sentence for his deeds, along with an order to perform community service. The twenty-one month suspended sentence is due in large part to the fact that Jaschan was…

As if people don’t have enough to worry about what with social security number and credit card information being compromised and brokered right and left, it turns out that there is a thriving business in selling cell phone records. Your cell phone records. And it turns out that it’s dead…

There’s a funny phenomena we’ve noticed since getting a ReplayTV, and which we’ve since confirmed with all of our friends and colleagues who own Tivo or ReplayTV recorders – contrary to what one might expect, you actually end up watching less television rather than more once you have one.

In a twist of irony, perhaps dichotomy (or perhaps both), the widespread usage of cell phones has turned out to be both a boon and a bane in the hours immediately following the terrorist attacks and explosions in London earlier today. As might be expected in this wireless age, cell…

Sprint and Disney have announced today that Sprint will provide the underlying service for Disney’s newest offering: Disney Mobile. Disney Mobile is a cellular communication service designed to meet the “unique communications needs of families.” What, they’ve figured out a way to actually get the kids to listen when the…

Florida, the state known for not being able to keep pants on their spammers, has become what is believed to be the first state in the nation to prosecute someone for using someone else’s open wifi.

The University of California at San Diego announced this week that hackers have again broken into their computer system, compromising the personal data of thousands of UCSD students, staff, and faculty. The UCSD machines which the hackers accessed contained the trifecta payload of social security numbers, drivers license numbers, and…

Sven Jaschan looks like, and by most accounts is, a typical teenager. That is, except for that small matter of bringing hundreds of thousands of computer systems around the world to a screeching halt – or at least a snail’s paced crawl – with his unleashing of the Sasser worm….