monline

Today Google decided to force Google Search users into enabling cookies for *.google.com domains. Previously you could prevent Google from tracking your search results (and still use Google's services) if you blocked cookies for google.com and allowed cookies for various Google services (accounts.google.com, plus.google.com, mail.google.com, etc.). But today Google search click tracking does not work anymore with google.com cookies blocked.

There's an episode on National Geographic's Explorer show titled "Science of Surveillance". They said that there're no implantable GPS devices yet. Do they really think we'd believe that? There're already a large number of implantable devices (eg. pacemakers) that can work for years with a lithium battery. Why not a GPS device as well?

[Wired News] A tough California bill that would have prohibited companies and individuals from using deceptive "pretexting" ruses to steal private information about consumers was killed after determined lobbying by the motion picture industry, Wired News has learned.

MPAA is now "buying" laws ... or in this case: it buys the right to erase them. Previously I only heard that companies buy out other companies (the competition) just to shut them down. Now the can even do this to laws and bills. I doubt that this is legal, but hey: you're in the 21st century! _Everything_ is for sale, isn't it? :->

According to this article the security of the new UK passports is more or less a joke. How could this happen in the 21st century? And what makes me most angry about this is that such "news" cast a false shadow over the IT industry and IT professionals. It makes "cutting edge" technology look like waste of money, but actually technology alone cannot solve any problems in itself. Everything can be used inproperly ... as with RFID chips in case of the new passports.

Actually it's quite trivial, but I never used this method before ... so here it is.