July 5, 2012

There were 4 posts published on July 5, 2012 (this is page 1 of 1).

Malware may knock thousands off Internet on Monday

Looks like malware has been found to change a computer’s DNS settings. This could pose a problem for thousands of computer users when the FBI shuts down their “safety net” systems on Monday morning.

Folks in the US can go to this site to check whether their computer is infected or not. It takes just a seconds to test your PC. More info below from the AP.

WASHINGTON — The warnings about the Internet problem have been splashed across Facebook and Google. Internet service providers have sent notices, and the FBI set up a special website.

But tens of thousands of Americans may still lose their Internet service Monday unless they do a quick check of their computers for malware that could have taken over their machines more than a year ago.

Despite repeated alerts, the number of computers that probably are infected is more than 277,000 worldwide, down from about 360,000 in April. Of those still infected, the FBI believes that about 64,000 are in the United States.

Users whose computers are still infected Monday will lose their ability to go online, and they will have to call their service providers for help deleting the malware and reconnecting to the Internet.

via Malware may knock thousands off Internet on Monday :: WRAL.com.

The Downside of Liberty

Interesting.

THIS spring I was on a panel at the Woodstock Writers Festival. An audience member asked a question: Why had the revolution dreamed up in the late 1960s mostly been won on the social and cultural fronts — women’s rights, gay rights, black president, ecology, sex, drugs, rock ’n’ roll — but lost in the economic realm, with old-school free-market ideas gaining traction all the time? What has happened politically, economically, culturally and socially since the sea change of the late ’60s isn’t contradictory or incongruous. It’s all of a piece. For hippies and bohemians as for businesspeople and investors, extreme individualism has been triumphant. Selfishness won.

via The Downside of Liberty – NYTimes.com.