Firefox Catches Up With IE
Firefox has been adding new features in an effort to match IE; now, the browser
is catching up in a more unfortunate way -- with vulnerabilities. Our own security
guru Russ Cooper
recently
reported in his weekly Security Watch newsletter (sign up
here)
that the Web is awash with code that can attack Firefox and its Mozilla brethren.
There are two fixes: patches and disabling International Domain Name (IDN) support.
Has your company adopted Firefox or another alternative to improve Web browsing
security? Let me know at [email protected]
Microsoft Opening Up?
For the two decades I’ve covered them, Microsoft has taken its public
relations (PR) very seriously. It now has a veritable PR factory in the form
of Waggener Edstrom, which has 600 employees, most of whom I’d guess are
devoted to Microsoft.
But that doesn’t mean Microsoft is entirely open. PR people can block
the press just as much as they can open doors. Lately, in the name of message
discipline, there has been a whole lot of blocking going on. But that could
be changing, Microsoft may be returning somewhat to its old free-wheeling days
when execs were more accessible and said what they thought. According
to one journalist who covers marketing and B2B publishing, Redmond is making
a concerted effort to open up. I, for one, hope they stick with it.
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Web Fiend Found
I’ve long been shocked at what I see on the Web. My first eye-opener was
hate mongers using it to recruit impressionable young members (read my story
about this here.
More recently it has been the extremists (some call them terrorists, but I don’t
want to give them that much credit) proudly posting their hideous executions
on the ‘Net.
Because the Web offers so much anonymity, these clowns can post killing after
killing, with no repercussions. Now there has been a minor breakthrough as an
al-Qaida Web master was recently
captured.
This raises some fundamental questions. Just as hackers can cloak themselves
in Web secrecy, so can killers. Should we be willing to give up some of our
privacy to catch murderers and computer criminals? Let me know at [email protected]
About the Author
Doug Barney is editor in chief of Redmond magazine and the VP, editorial director of Redmond Media Group.