I’m not a FBer, so I have no idea whether there’s any reason for Ryan Tate at Valleywag to continue the Denton crusade against Zuckerberg:
Facebook’s new “One Time Password” feature, announced this afternoon, is actually pretty cool, at least in concept. The idea is to allow people to use shared internet kiosks more securely by texting them a password that expires after 20 minutes. That way, even if the kiosk is infected with software recording the passwords you enter, nothing useful can be harvested from it. The trouble is, anyone who finds your cell phone, say in a bar, has an easy way to get access to your Facebook account. The solution is to unlink your cell phone from your account as soon as it’s lost, but you’ll only do that if you know this new password-to-phone feature exists in the first place. Which is why Facebook should probably being spreading the word more aggressively than with a single blog post.
Of course, the Gawker empire has some experience with taking advantage of hapless techies who leave their phones at the bar…
tim serbo
good to hear i’m not the only non-Facebook person out there. why anyone would entrust their personal information to a callow, misogynistic, sociopathic little shit like Mark Zuckerberg is beyond my understanding.
arguingwithsignposts
If you don’t put all your personal shit on there, nothing useful could be harvested anyway. FB is useful for some things, but I am continually mystified by some of the stuff people put up there – home phone #s, addresses, embarrassing photos, etc.
True, some of that stuff could be found via other Internet methods, but still.
tim serbo
@arguingwithsignposts: yeah, supposedly FB confers some vague benefits on those who use it, though i have yet to hear what those benefits supposedly are. i just have an aversion to doing business with people who have open (or covert, for that matter) contempt for their customers.
arguingwithsignposts
@tim serbo:
Your circle of business acquaintances must be very small, then.
I have found benefit for some of my vocational pursuits from using facebook, but I am an infrequent user of most of the features enjoyed by those who spend way too much time on the site.
tim serbo
@arguingwithsignposts: i’m just very selective, and i’m fortunate to live in a community where merchants and customers deal respectfully with one another, if only out of self-interest. of course, i have to bend my principles a bit when necessity compels me to deal with banks, Microsoft, Apple, etc.
El Cid
First rescuer is now down with the 33 trapped Chilean miners, and they’re more or less chatting (there’s a live color video feed from the mine) like pretty normal. Live BBC News video coverage here.
The guy who’s down there now is not going to bring anyone up yet, but is the technical expert checking out every aspect of the working of the rescue capsule etc. He will return up, and then a medic will be sent down. If all’s okay, he’ll return and then a rescuer will be sent down to begin bringing up trapped miners one at a time, probably one an hour.
tim serbo
@El Cid: ah, a much more interesting subject of discussion. damn, i admire the Chileans for the care they’ve taken, measuring twice and cutting once, all down the line (i borrowed that figure from one of Atrios’ commenters). and good on NASA for their contributions.
El Cid
Correction — they said ‘fuck it’ to the plan and the first miner is on his way up. There are many cheers. His family is right at the capsule exit. They have a very fixed order in who will come up when. With the mine foreman (or technician) remaining last.
CaseyL
Oh, here’s where we’re watching. I posted in the newer thread.
I hope the rescue goes well. Some unalloyed good news, heroism, can-do spirit, and government doing what it’s supposed to do, would be a wonderful thing for a change.
El Cid
First miner’s up, and family’s there!
CaseyL
He is in good shape, and they’re sure not hurrying him off to the hospital tent. I like the sunglasses.
SiubhanDuinne
The first Chilean miner is safely above ground. BBC is doing amazing non-stop coverage.
El Cid
The BBC is repeating the story about how one of the miners has been in a similar situation before. He and a brother or someone decided to go to the Gulf during the war to get work, and they chose to sneak there by hiding in a cargo container. But they were trapped and there was some sort of delay, and they survived by trapping rainwater in a shoe and rationing chocolate.
Originally the plan was supposed to be to have 1 miner come up per hour, but it seems that they’re ready to send the capsule back down.
El Cid
@tim serbo: Not just NASA. An American drilling company led the program to get the tunnel to the miners.
Sentient Puddle
…which is not a problem if your phone has a passcode lock feature, which I know iOS and Android have, right off the top of my head.
Actually, depending on how they format the texts, it could still be a problem. I know on my Droid, the first line or so of texts show up momentarily on the task bar even when the phone is locked. But short of flaws like this that seem easy enough to work around, this security feature looks pretty solid on the technical end. The worst you can say is that users are morons and won’t use tools available to secure their shit (which is probably the biggest problem in computer security, unfortunately).
El Cid
Paramedic down now, 2nd miner getting ready to be sent up. The next miner scheduled to go up is the guy who has been the miners’ spokesperson. (If I recall correctly, he was the union rep and had helped lead negotiations before.)
trollhattan
I can’t give two shats about FB, but wife.gov must…Face for her bidnez. It’s what the kidz expect these days. Me? Meh.
Also, too, Megs kicks in another twenty mil today.
http://blogs.sacbee.com/capitolalertlatest/2010/10/whitman-contributes-another-20.html
She says she has to, to keep herself free of the clutches of the EEEvil unions and stay all fresh and independent. Although at tonight’s debate she noted a cop’s union had endorsed her because of “her record” of being tough on crime. Jerry missed a fine opportunity to ask what the fuck record might that be?
jerr0d
Facebook has absolutely changed the way in which I do business, and all businesses as a result of social factor, this keeps it much more accountable, and tends to make business a lot more trustworthy.