Posted on 11/03/2001 3:25:22 AM PST by 11th Earl of Mar
Edited on 09/03/2002 4:49:30 AM PDT by Jim Robinson. [history]
WASHINGTON -- Microsoft Corp. is making repairs after acknowledging that its "Passport" technology for safeguarding purchases on the Internet has a serious design flaw that might have allowed hackers to steal credit card numbers and personal information.
Microsoft said 2 million customers use the vulnerable "e-wallet" feature of Passport, and there was no evidence of actual theft. The company temporarily shut down access to virtual wallets Wednesday, inconveniencing buyers at roughly 70 e-commerce Web sites that support the technology, called "Express Purchase."
(Excerpt) Read more at newsday.com ...
OK Mr. Microsoft, what is the official Microsloth Marketing Department Response??
You may have to check your fax machine, to make sure you have the latest prevarication message.
Is anyone really surprised by this?
LOL. I was avoiding signing up for passport, but did so yesterday to get into MSDN. They only have my email address..
No, not me.
Unless there is some ironclad guarantee of no liability, why would anyone in their right mind use this "service" considering the risk it imposes and the minor convenience ir promises? And then there's MS's recent slew of security snafus.
At least with a credit card (unlike a debit card) there's a $50 maximum on liability. It was deemed worthwhile by the credit card companies and the government to set this up because it furthers commerce. The users get convenience with limited risk, while merchants get more sales, and the credit card companies rack up fees and interest.
Without a similar protection, there's no incentive to upload all of your info. In a way, your risk is even greater, because you don't even know when its been stolen until the bills show up. At least with plastic, when you lose your wallet, you might notice.
.....Microsoft responded that its Passport technology allows consumers to store their sensitive records with other organizations they trust, not just Microsoft.
I'm sorry, but anyone who follows this premise is a complete fool..
Case in point Microsoft Office. Is there one person on the face of this earth that likes that stupid
paperclip guy? Every one I know hates and despises it. You can't turn it off quick enough. At the
same time, Word and Excel are great products. A testament to that is how little they have
changed over time.
This E-Wallet idea has great merit but now that the cat is out of the bag about this flaw who
is going to trust it?
Microsoft needs to slow down, do a better job of finding out what the public wants, and make
its implementation rock solid.
They are starting to be distrusted in the consumer market and that will soon trickle in to
the enterprise market.
They can't shut out every single competitor simultaneously anymore. Even they don't have the
resources for that.
Instead they need to just concentrate on making good products and let the costumer decide what to buy.
they can also let the customer decide what to buy too.
Not that I have anything against costumers.
Do you have any doubts??
After wiping the MS flavored Kool-aid off their chins, they will commence to letting out a vociferous, indignant scream, lead by our friend, the Head Syncophant.
That will surely be followed immediately with ad hominem attacks against the Mac OS, and Linux.
Last but not least they will then reach around and pat each other on the backs for having 'put us in our place.'
Yawn...
CheneyChick, I am sorry. I left out part of the second step above.
Instead of:
"That will surely be followed immediately with ad hominem attacks against the Mac OS, and Linux."
It SHOULD read:
"That will surely be followed immediately with ad hominem attacks against the Mac OS, and Linux, AND ANYBODY THAT USES THEM."
Will they let people using Netscape access their web-site???
Oh wait a minute, it was only MSN that wouldn't let non-IE browsers access their content. Now I remember.
Yes. What would theater and Halloween be without them? Yikes...
Really?? Great news!
I will just have to click the 'home' button here in the Netscape browser on my PowerCenter Pro 180(That is right folks a VERY useable 6 year old 180 mhz machine running OS 9), and send a few packets out through my Linux based IP Chains/NAT server via DSL, and download it.
Thanks for the heads up.
You know, the only thing missing from the set-up I described above, is ANY faulty MS code. OS or otherwise. Hmmmm.
How is that possble??? You mean it IS possible to completely do away with MS?? I hope the world doesn't find out about this, it could change everything.
:-)
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