The Red Herring discusses the growing absurdity of Internet IPOs. It seems the only thing left to disagree about was when they started becoming absurd. I fall into the “right at the beginning” camp.

InfoWorld has an absolutely pathetic story about the recent security risk involved with commerce sites. Basically, the problem is that many Web sites place their Web log files or access reports within their publicly accessible Web root. These files are getting indexed by search engines, and people are finding the files and all of the information located within them. Depending on how the commerce software is set up, things like credit card information and other sensitive data can be captured within these log files, and if those log files are publicly accessible, exposed to the general public. If the shopping cart software doesn’t use the GET method, or the site administrator is smart enough to protect his access logs, then this risk is eliminated. Unfortunately, the idiots at InfoWorld fail to provide the basic information that I included in this paragraph, and instead spent a few hundred words yammering about security risks without discussing the specifics at all. It’s no surprise few people really know what’s going on; the trade press doesn’t tell them.

The CIH virus: Michaelangelo redux.

Microsoft has designed a fancy new mouse, but despite their claims of innovation, the appearance and features appear to be completely derivative. If only that were surprising …

Here’s a link to a well thought out response to the wide ranging Neal Stephenson essay that I linked to here some time ago.

The webzine Impression is being auctioned off at eBay starting at 3 million bucks. If you’re interested, but you’re a little bit short on cash, I can arrange to sell you this very fine Web site for a substantially lower sum. Of course, the current high bidder for Impression uses the login ID billgat$s, so I question the legitimacy of the bidding. Right now the bidding is up over 8 million dollars, I wonder if the reserve has been met?

In the wake of a tragedy, the most cynical bastards around tend to make their identities known through their actions. Time and time again, the filter-mongers at Cybersitter have shamelessly proven that they’re willing to indulge in the most callous use of awful circumstances to market their products.

Apple’s release of its Quicktime servers as open source software is a gutsy and surprising move. I hope it works out.

According to News.com, “trenchcoat mafia” domain names are going like hotcakes. You can always count on the least common denominator …

As we all know, Network Solutions has done a pathetic job of managing the domain name registry, so in order to fix things, ICANN has turned to … AOL? AOL, and four other companies will be allowed to register domain names, but they’ll still pay NSI for every domain name they register, and responsibility for the registry itself will still lie with the incompetent greedheads at NSI. What in the Hell is going on?