Yeah, right, het is allemaal de schuld van de pompstations langs de snelweg. De werkelijkheid:

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De Bovag heeft dat op verzoek van het ANP becijferd op basis van eigen gegevens en informatie van het ministerie van Financiën. De accijnzen, heffingen en btw op diesel liggen iets lager. Op dit moment gaat 50,7 procent van de dieselprijs naar het Rijk. Per 1 januari 2009 ligt dit percentage op 53,6. De belastingplannen van het kabinet voorzien in een aantal nieuwe lastenverzwaringen. De btw gaat omhoog van 19 naar 20 procent, per 1 juli volgend jaar gaat de accijns op diesel met drie eurocent per liter omhoog en dan is er nog de jaarlijkse prijsindexatie.

[..]

Bij elkaar opgeteld haalt het Rijk dit jaar 17,2 miljard euro binnen aan verkeersbelastingen.

Daar staat 5,8 miljard aan investeringen in asfalt en spoor tegenover. “De prijs-kwaliteitverhouding is al jaren zoek”, aldus Bovag-directeur Koos Burgman.

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De Nijmegenaar had in september zijn eerste werkdag aan de Beestenmarkt in Deventer. Hij parkeerde zijn auto aan de Hoge Rij, haalde een kaartje, legde het achter de ruit en wandelde naar zijn nieuwe werkplek. Brugeman snapte dan ook absoluut niet waarom hij een paar uur later een bon vond.

Pas deze week kwam de betrokken verbalisant hoogstpersoonlijk uitleg geven. En sindsdien is Brugeman pas echt boos. De Nijmegenaar haalde zijn kaartje uit de – vanaf zijn geparkeerde auto bezien – dichtstbijzijnde automaat op de Beestenmarkt en ging volgens de controleur in de fout. Verderop aan de Hoge Rij staat óók een automaat. Dáár had Brugeman zijn kaartje moeten halen. “Hij zei: ‘U bent niet crimineel, maar wel fout’. Zijn collega knikte instemmend.”

“Ik dacht eerst dat de beste man mijn kaartje niet had zien liggen, maar deze uitleg maakt het belachelijk. Hij meldde ook nog dat ik niet de eerste was die voor dit vergrijp een bon kreeg”, foetert Brugeman. “Waar staat uitgelegd uit welk automaat je hier een kaartje moet halen?”

Dat staat inderdaad absoluut nergens aangegeven, daarin heeft Brugeman gelijk. Ook het uurtarief van beide automaten verschilt niet. Vanaf de bewuste parkeerplaats is het 25 stappen naar de ‘verkeerde’ automaat op de Beestenmarkt en 33 naar de ‘juiste’ aan de Hoge Rij. Brugeman heeft inderdaad gekozen voor de meest dichtstbijzijnde kaartjesautomaat. “Ik stap de auto uit, zie direct het blauwe bord dat aangeeft dat er een parkeerautomaat staat en haal daar ‘n kaartje. Logisch toch?”

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This system, the Electronic Travel Authorization (ETA, there’s a weird coincidence) will effectively be a pre-authorisation system for US entry, or, as Chertoff puts it, “a passenger will, in effect, make a reservation with the United States.” It will apply to all travellers, with those passing being clear to board, while the rest can be flagged for more detailed investigation or simply refused. So although it will not be a visa system as such, the kind of information and checks involved will be similar to those used in a visa application. As and when it’s operational it will be a visa-like system, operating on-the-fly (as it were).

There’s no actual visa involved, so it can still be claimed that the visa is waived, but the extent of the information required, the checking involved and the pre-authorisation means that it can also be viewed as a ‘visas for all’ programme. Chertoff himself makes this a little clearer: “We can no longer afford to assume that all citizens of VWP countries represent lesser security threats, and that all citizens of non-VWP countries represent greater threats. Instead, we need a program that screens for risks on a passenger-by-passenger.” So really, it’s the VWP ‘whitelist’ of countries that’s toast.

What’s Frattini’s stance on this? He lobbies strongly for the new EU States to be included in the VWP, and quibbles some aspects of the new US rules. Visa reciprocity and readmission, where the new rules require that VWP members accept all their national for readmission “soon after they are issued a final order of removal”, are he stresses matters of “EU competence”, which is code for ‘please stop trying to negotiate separate deals with EU Member States. Chertoff responds with: “DHS is pleased to have already begun discussions of these new security measures with some of the Roadmap countries that will be eligible for admission under the modified program. We also look forward to discussions over the next two years with existing VWP members, many of which have already implemented security measures similar to the new VWP requirements which may ultimately be deemed to satisfy these obligation.”

This is code for ‘go screw yourself, Franco.’

Frattini is however an unconvincing defender of the status quo anyway, because he really wants to build the EU an ETA of its own, so that the EU and US can happily engage in mutual invasive biographical data sharing. Frattini is already deploying an EU Passenger Name Record (PNR) system in response to the personal data grab the US prepared earlier, and now: “In particular we would be interested in being informed and consulted on the planned Electronic Travel Authorization system (ETA) for all travellers coming to the US. The EU may consider the introduction of a similar reciprocal system at the EU level. Close cooperation and consultation with the US on characteristics, compatibilities and other aspects of both systems would therefore be very useful.”

He likes it and wants one, doesn’t he? And: “In this context EU citizens already provide information to the US through embarkation cards and API [Advance Passenger Information] and PNR data. We would open to further consideration of bilateral arrangements on data exchange at the European level, as suggested by the draft Visa Waiver Programme legislation.”

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Was downloading drivers for my TV card from NEC Computers website, and noticed the URL looked rather odd.  Specifically, “http://202.188.160.140/user/user_nec_download.asp?driver_location=D:\Drivers\TV Tuner\Asus7134V2.3.0.4.exe” odd.  I thought to myself, “how about if I replaced that file location apparently on D: of the server, and took a shot at some system files?”  The results… may surprise you.

http://202.188.160.140/user/user_nec_download.asp?driver_location=C:\boot.ini 

More worrying though, is that the results probably wont surprise you.

From the comments, about trying to get pagefile.sys:

I got an HTML page with “Persits.Upload.1 (0x800A001A) The process cannot access the file because it is being used by another process.”

I always thought that windows’s inability to share files between processes was just a bug that unix had figured out decades ago but microsoft couldn’t fix. Maybe it’s intentional, to make web applications more secure.

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In an exclusive interview with Wired News, gun-for-hire hacker Robert Anderson tells for the first time how the Motion Picture Association of America promised him money and power if he provided confidential information on TorrentSpy, a popular BitTorrent search site.

According to Anderson, the MPAA told him: “We would need somebody like you. We would give you a nice paying job, a house, a car, anything you needed…. if you save Hollywood for us you can become rich and powerful.”

In 2005, the MPAA paid Anderson $15,000 for inside information about TorrentSpy — information at the heart of a copyright-infringement lawsuit brought by the MPAA against TorrentSpy of Los Angeles. The material is also the subject of a wiretapping countersuit against the MPAA brought by TorrentSpy’s founder, Justin Bunnell, who alleges the information was obtained illegally.

The MPAA does not dispute it paid Anderson for the sensitive information, but insists that it had no idea that Anderson stole the data. “The MPAA obtains information from third parties only if it believes the evidence has been collected legally,” says MPAA spokeswoman Elizabeth Kaltman.

[..]

But according to documents filed in support of TorrentSpy’s wiretapping countersuit: “Dean Garfield expressly told the informant (Anderson), on behalf of the MPAA, regarding the information that he requested, ‘We don’t care how you get it.’”

It continues: “(T)he MPAA knew, or had reason to know, that such information was obtained from plaintiffs unlawfully and without authorization.”

[..]

But once Anderson turned over the data and cashed the MPAA’s check, he quickly realized that Garfield had no further use for him. “He lost interest in me,” he says. Anderson felt abandoned: During negotiations with Garfield, the hacker had become convinced he was starting a long-term, lucrative relationship with the motion picture industry. “He was stringing me along personally.”

Hollywood’s cold shoulder put Anderson’s allegiance back up for grabs, and about a year later he came clean with TorrentSpy’s Bunnell in an online chat. “‘I sold you out to the MPAA,’” Anderson says he told Bunnell. “I felt guilty (for) what happened and I kinda also thought at that point the MPAA wasn’t going to do anything.”

“He was kinda blown away,” recalls Anderson.

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Several angry emails have entered my inbox because people installing the newly released Hellgate: London demo have noticed that the game includes adware, advertising that is integrated into software. Here’s the pertinent section of the license you have to agree to abide by once Hellgate is installed onto your system:

The Software incorporates technology of Massive Incorporated (“Massive”) that enables in-game advertising, and the display of other similar in-game objects, which are uploaded temporarily to your personal computer or game console and replaced during online game play. As part of this process, Massive may collect your Internet protocol address and other basic anonymous information, and will use this information for the general purposes of transmitting and measuring in-game advertising. Massive does not store or use any of this information for the purpose of discovering your personal identity. For additional details regarding Massive’s in-game advertising practices, and to understand your options with respect to in-game advertising and data collection, please see Massive’s privacy policy. The trademarks and copyrighted material contained in all in-game advertising are the property of the respective owners. Portions of this product are © 2007 Massive Incorporated. All rights reserved.

Consent to Use of Data. You agree that EA, its affiliates, and each Related Party may collect, use, store and transmit technical and related information that identifies your computer, including without limitation your Internet Protocol address, operating system, application software and peripheral hardware, that may be gathered periodically to facilitate the provision of software updates, dynamically served content, product support and other services to you, including online play. EA and/or the Related Parties may also use this information in the aggregate and, in a form which does not personally identify you, to improve our products and services and we may share that aggregate data with our third party service providers.

For the time being the only adverts are posters on walls in certain areas, though with the adware fully integrated into the game you could soon be beating back Zombie Summoners with the Sword of Soft Drinks, 6-15 Coke splash damage per successful hit. Or perhaps the Gun of Crashing, Vista Edition, as Massive are owned by Microsoft.

Usually the purpose of a demo version of a game is to get you to buy the full retail package. Somehow this concept has eluded the makers of Hellgate…