ETD: 772 The (other) Red Hats are coming!;Online Bill Paying/Keylogging; US Must Allow Gambling Says WTO

[E-Tailer's Digest]

  E-Tailer's Digest --- Everything for the  Retailer
  Issue #0772                    March 30, 2004
  George Matyjewicz, Moderator         mailto:georgem at gapent.com
  Published by:  GAP Enterprises, Ltd.  http://www.etailersdigest.com
==================================================================
   CONTENTS

  [1]  Greetings
  [2]  The (other) Red Hats are coming!
  [3]  Online Bill Paying/Keylogging
  [4]  US Must Allow Gambling Says WTO

==================================================================
  [1]  Greetings.
==================================================================
Hi All:

Today's issue is quite humorous.  Seems we sometimes think of certain 
things when hearing other things.  Red Hat has multiple meanings.

We have some more information on online bill paying and related keylogging 
and fraud issues from our list members

The Wall Street Journal had an interesting article about gambling 
sites.  Seems a Caribbean country won a case that says the rules of WTO 
prevent a country from banning gambling online.  This means the US needs to 
open its doors to gambling.  If this holds up, this will be  the next gold 
mine of e-commerce.  It will be interesting to see how it progresses.

Tell us about your business which will remain  for posterity at 
our  "Members: Who Are You?" site. 
http://etailersdigest.com/resources/members/index.htm And we have a form 
there for you to tell us about you.  As I said when I first proposed this 
idea, we have "known" each other for a long time, yet we often don't know 
anything about each other.   So, tell us who you are and what you do.

Now, let's get to everything for the retailer.

Sincerely


George Matyjewicz, PhD
Chief Global Strategist, GAP Enterprises, Ltd.
mailto:georgem at gapent.com
http://www.etailersdigest.com

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  [2]  The (other)  Red Hats are coming!
==================================================================
Coming??? The red hats have been here for a decade, and are about to go on 
a world tour.  I've had a red hat since the mid 90's. Don't have a purple 
dress, but I suppose I could spiff up my home page with some more purple. 
(Seeing I'd look a little funny wearing a dress, purple or otherwise.)  The 
Real Red Hat is at http://www.RedHat.com/ and more people are using it 
every day, including IBM and Intel.  Even HP has a Red Hat version. Check 
it out and try one on for size.  You'll love it!  P. S. It is Melissa proof!

-javilk-
    Today's Photo:  http://www.mall-net.com/today/
------------------- IMAGINEERING --------------------
--------------- Every click, a vote. ----------------
----- Do people vote for, or against your pages? ----
-- What people want: http://www.SitePsych.com/free --
-----------------------------------------------------

+++ [Moderator's Comments] +++

Folks, I sent John a note telling him he's been on the mountain too 
long.  We were talking about the Red Hat Ladies, not Red hat Linux!  Time 
to get a life John <g>.  Interesting to note how folks can get focused and 
lose site of other things.  It's like the old Saturday Night Live skit with 
Rosanna Anna Danna who always mixed things up (like the "preservation of 
the feces" rather than "preservation of species.".

Red Hat Linux is pretty good also.  It is a powerful operation system, and 
could be something to consider.  Anybody writing POS or retail software for 
Linux?

George

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  [3]  Online Bill Paying/Keylogging
==================================================================
Interesting comments about online bill payments and I feel that, as so 
often in life, we have to take responsibility for our actions. If I leave 
my credit card, cheque book or cash in plain sight, I should not be 
surprised if somebody lifts it. By the same token, I must exercise care and 
caution when giving important information online.

To the best of my knowledge, neither McAfee nor Norton have a product to 
prevent keystroke logging. I have been using a programme called AdAware 
from LavaSoft for many years but have recently discovered SpyBot Search & 
Destroy which really seems to take care of the logging problem as well as 
other spyware. One of the beauties of this product is that it is fr*e. If 
you like the programme you can make a 'donation'.

You can download it from
http://www.safer-networking.org/index.php?page=spybotsd

If your readers have any doubt about the security or otherwise of this 
product, there are many reviews available online if you try googling 
"SpyBot Search & Destroy".

I run the programme every week and am surprised at what junk I can get 
downloaded - even with pop-up blockers, firewalls and Norton installed.

Best regards from chilly Bermuda (it is only 63 today!)

Richard Woolnough


Bespoke Solutions Ltd
www.BespokeSolutionsLtd.com
+1(441)295 0951
We can tailor your business

+++ [Next Post] +++

 > of financial information passed online. (There's also a relatively new,
 > very nasty way for hackers to grab your financial information FROM YOUR OWN
 > KEYBOARD (called "key logging") - at the very moment that you're entering
 > it into a supposedly-secure https web form - but that can be the subject of

Your chances of getting keylogged are a lot less if your computer wears a 
red hat.  http://www.RedHat.com/

What I found interesting, is that after I used my credit card to purchase 
something on line, it was suspended.  I had to call the issuer and explain 
that those were legitimate transactions (with Netsol / VeriSign yet!) and 
that I really needed to have it reinstated.  After VeriSign and I put in a 
three way call to explain there was going to be a series of transactions 
with VeriSign, the rather large bank issuing my credit card reinstated the 
card.

As a result of several experiences like that, I don't buy anything over the 
Internet via credit card anymore!  I figure if they have to crack down that 
hard, E-Fraud must be Really, Really Bad!

Oh, by the way, did you know that if you sign a Fed-Ex or UPS receipt, that 
signature will end up on the world wide web?  Yep!  It's so the shipper can 
see you got it.  I write "received", add the date and my initials.  It's 
not a signature that anyone can appropriate and mis-use; but it fills the 
bill as an adequate acknowledgement.

In stores, I refuse to use the signature pads, insisting on a paper 
signature.  All stores comply.

Others write the date over their signature on everything they sign so as to 
prevent (or hinder) similar mis-use.  I am starting to do that too.

A friend uses a different method available from some credit card 
issuers.  They create a one-transaction credit card good for $X.  When that 
transaction is completed, the unused portion is transferred back into your 
account.  Or, the card is bound to the first merchant using it, and is good 
for some number of transactions over a period of time.

The Internet has become a sewer. Despite vigorous spam blocking, I still 
get more spam than legitimate mail.  A large portion falsely claims to be 
from various support ID's on my own domains, telling me to install my 
company's virus cleaner.  Bull Detritus!!!  _I_ am the support organization 
at my domain names!

Other spam falsely appears to come from people whom I routinely correspond 
with, now claiming to use, "advertising" this or that, or asking I inspect 
this or that image which I know to be a virus, etc.

How can we trust e-mail anymore?  How can we trust anything on the web 
anymore?  Unless major effort is made in the next few months to clean up 
this fraud, the Internet is finished!

It is the failure of the service providers, in their greed for cash, to do 
anything about spam and fraud, which will bring the Internet down.  It is 
they who are crucially responsible for the LACK of adoption of the Internet 
for wholesale bill paying and other automate-able transactions!

The other responsible party is MicroSoft, who ignored all the twenty to 
thirty years of Internet experience when they put auto-executable macros 
into their e-mail handler and word processor. As a result, many spams come 
from suborned third party machines all over the world.  You can buy lists 
of those machines, ready to act as your proxies for spamming and hacking, 
with an ignorant innocent machine owner paying for the electricity, 
connectivity, and utterly bewildered  as he drowns in a flood of bounces 
and hate mail.

I am surprised that industry in general has not started a class action suit 
against Microsoft for gross negligence in that respect.

As for you, get a firewall box, and look into getting a red hat for your 
computer.  Red Hat Linux, and a number of other brands of Linux, are a lot 
more immune to viruses and hacking attacks.  (More, not entirely.  I did 
get knocked over in 1999, I think it was. There were major changes in Linux 
security configurations after that!  And so far, they have been quite 
successful.)


-javilk-
    Today's Photo:  http://www.mall-net.com/today/
------------------- IMAGINEERING --------------------
--------------- Every click, a vote. ----------------
----- Do people vote for, or against your pages? ----
-- What people want: http://www.SitePsych.com/free --
-----------------------------------------------------

+++ [Next Post] +++
Am I the only one who thinks it's absolutely ridiculous to be charged a 
'convenience fee' for paying my bills?  I do pay one credit card bill 
online, because they make it easy for me to do so.  I get an e-mail 
reminder, a link to the log in center, transaction detail, as well as my 
'cash-back' status readily available.  I have another credit card that 
would charge me for the privilege of paying them online, so not only do I 
mail in my payment, but I probably will cancel the card.  Some utility 
companies also charge 'convenience fees' so forget it.  Many of my other 
recurring bills are paid through an ACH debit program.  Yes, I want 
something secure; yes, I want something easy; I just don't want to have to 
pay for it. :)

Freda
Quixnet.net


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  [4]  US Must Allow Gambling Says WTO
==================================================================
The World Trade Organization ruled that U.S. laws restricting gambling on 
the Internet violate global trade pacts, setting the stage for offshore 
Web-based gambling companies to freely operate in the U.S.

In a decision on a case brought against the U.S. by the Caribbean nation of 
Antigua and Barbuda, the WTO ruled that gambling was covered under global 
service-sector agreements and that the U.S. must stop trying to thwart 
gambling companies' business. Though the scope of the decision is limited 
to companies based in Antigua, U.S. gambling-industry officials said it 
could open the door for other nations to seek similar access for their 
Internet gambling businesses.

Each U.S. state sets its own gambling laws, but the Justice Department 
maintains that gambling on the Internet is illegal. Few individuals have 
been prosecuted for gambling on the Internet, but people who run Web sites 
have been, and several banks that issue credit cards have agreed not to 
handle transactions involving offshore Web-gambling companies.

U.S. casinos, caught off guard by the WTO ruling, said it raised perplexing 
questions. If Americans can place bets at offshore casinos, would U.S-based 
Internet casinos continue to be illegal? "This has been a very murky area 
of the law," said Robert Stewart, a spokesman for Caesars Entertainment. 
"And it would be unfortunate if this decision led to a situation where 
American citizens could legally place Internet wagers with offshore 
interests, but not with major American casinos."

Officials from Antigua hailed the decision. "This is an important decision 
for our country," said Sir Ronald Sanders, Antigua's chief foreign-affairs 
representative in London. "It shows that the WTO process works, even for a 
small country against a large one."

It could be years before the U.S. would actually have to comply with the 
WTO judgment, because of the appeals process and the time granted to comply 
with rulings.

The case was brought by Antigua and Barbuda last year. In the mid-1990s the 
country, hoping to diversify its economy, promoted itself as a home to 
offshore Web-gambling sites and attracted several major companies in the 
industry. But U.S. efforts to restrict Web-based gambling have crippled 
their efforts and hurt the economy.

Details at...
http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB108015214586864294,00.html

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