Post from: PlanetMike's Technology Journal

URLFan.com The Latest Content Thieves

There aren’t any plugin hooks to the cookie setting functions of WordPress 2.5. But you can edit line number 547 of pluggable.php (which is under wp-includes of your WordPress installation) to lengthen the amount of time a cookie is stored for. Simply change the number at the end of the line
$expiration = $expire = time() + 1209600;
to ever how many seconds you want the cookie to be good for.

Two Weeks: 1209600
One Month (30 days): 2592000
One Year (365 days): 31536000
Ten Years (3650 days): 315360000

Once you’ve made that change, log out (in the top right of the administrative area) and then log in again to create the new cookie with the longer login time. Or simply wait two weeks for your cookie to expire, and then the next time you login, you’ll be all set.

Yes, I can see how this might be a security issue, since an attacker may stay logged in for a long time, and get past any system upgrades. (A system upgrade though should wipe any stored logins. Which doesn’t appear to be possible currently, since the cookie doesn’t store which version of WordPress the cookie is good for.) Or if your machine is compromised, your blog can be compromised. But generally, if that happens, you’re screwed anyways. So in this instance, ease of use is trumping security for me.

Post from: PlanetMike's Technology Journal

How to Make the WordPress Login Cookie Last Longer Than Two Weeks

And here’s the daily rate, with a peak since May 8th (the end of the last storm) at 160 on June 6th, and a low of one on May 19th.

Post from: PlanetMike's Technology Journal

Akismet 40,000th Spam Comment

HELO {bot_hostname}

Luckily Postfix rejected the conversation immediately.

Post from: PlanetMike's Technology Journal

HELO {bot_hostname}

To edit the date and time that are displayed, simply edit line #74 in wp-admin/edit-post-rows.php (line 74 in WordPress 2.51, the line number may be different in other versions of WordPress). Change the portion that says “Y/m/d” to “Y/m/d H:i” and you’ll then see the time listed on the edit.php page. You can use any of the date/time formats defined by php.

Post from: PlanetMike's Technology Journal

Showing the Post’s Time on the WordPress Edit Posts Page

Also, i wonder if item #4 below means they could block bit torrent traffic?

And if you do go to the URL they provide for seeing more information (www2.verizon.net/policies) you have to give your area code and exchange to see the info. Hmmm, trying to keep researchers and other interested people out perhaps? Is anyone interested in a research project to see how the policies are different in different areas?

Effective June 9, 2008 - Important Information Regarding Changes to Your Verizon Online Terms Of Service

The following is an outline of important changes to the Verizon Online Terms of Service which are effective as of June 9, 2008. We have described these changes in general terms below and recommend that you review the complete Terms of Service to determine how these changes, and other routine changes being made simultaneously, apply to you or your use of the Service. The Terms of Service can be accessed by clicking on the “Policies and Terms of Service” link (www2.verizon.net/policies) at the bottom of any page of our Website. The Terms of Service, as revised, will govern your rights and obligations, and ours, with respect to your use of the Services we offer. As set forth in Paragraph 3 of the Terms of Service, your continued use of the Service after the effective date of these changes will constitute your agreement to the changes.

1. Reporting of Actual or Potential Violations of Child Pornography Laws. We have added language to our Acceptable Use Policy (AUP) making clear that the Service cannot be used in any fashion for the transmission or dissemination of images containing child pornography. In addition, in Section 5, Privacy Policy; Legal Compliance, we have added language making clear that (a) we are required by law to report any facts or circumstances reported to us or which we discover from which it appears there may be a violation of the child pornography laws; and (b) that we reserve the right to report any such information, including the identity of users, account information, images and other facts to law enforcement personnel.

2. Billing Start Date for Additional Services. In Section 8.1, Prices and Fees; Billing, we have added language stating that, unless otherwise noted at the time of purchase, billing for the Additional Services set forth on Exhibit B will begin either on your Service Ready Date if you are also ordering new Broadband Service or upon submission of your order if you are ordering only an Additional Service.

3. Refundable Deposits. We have added a new Section 8.8, Refundable Deposits, which permits us, in certain instances, to require a refundable deposit either prior or subsequent to activation of Service.

4. Modifications to AUP. We have added language to our AUP making clear (a) that we may monitor our subscribers??? compliance with our Terms of Service and AUP; and (b) that we have the right, but not the obligation, to pre-screen, refuse, move or remove any content available on the Service including, but not limited to, content that violates the law, our Terms of Service or our AUP.

5. Verizon Premium Technical Support (PTS). We have added a new Section 6 to Exhibit B, Additional Terms, which sets forth the terms and conditions governing our provision, and your use, of the PTS service.

Please take time to review the complete Verizon Online Terms of Service. Thank you for being a Verizon Online customer.

Post from: PlanetMike's Technology Journal

Verizon Updating Their TOS Again

I originally signed up with them on October 9th, 2007, unsubscribed on March 24, 2008 (after they emailed me five months after my last contact with them), and then again today (June 2, 2008) two months after opting out.

Post from: PlanetMike's Technology Journal

eHealthInsurance.com Spam

This chart shows the change, from 61 messages in January 2002, to more than 85,000 in January 2007. It took until May 2002 to break 100; 11 months later to break 1,000; then until October 2004 to shatter the 10K barrier with 12,428.

If I get a few minutes free (ha!) I’ll re-enable to catchall to see how much garbage comes through.

Post from: PlanetMike's Technology Journal

Spammers Killed My Catchall Address

This chart shows the daily rate of how many spam comments have been received. The peak before today was December 14-19, when I was getting 143 spam messages per day. Since yesterday the rate has been 1,154 per day.

Post from: PlanetMike's Technology Journal

Comment Spam Rate

(Addendum 9:32pm: The count is now up to 30,447. That comes to one new spam comment every 63 seconds.)

Post from: PlanetMike's Technology Journal

Akismet 30,000th Spam Comment