Help Has Arrived For Australians Worried About 'Spams & Scams' Coming Through The Portal
from the filter-this dept
We recently wrote about how Australian Minister for Broadband, Stephen Conroy, lover of government censorship and surveillance over the internet, had his "series of tubes" moment when he declared that 20,000 people were "getting infected by these spams, or scams, that come through, the portal." Not one to miss out on an opportunity, it appears that an Australian consumer electronics firm, Kogan, has decided to help out Conroy and all those other "victims." Reader cofiem points us to a new product listing specifically for making Australians safe from "spams and scams that come through the portal":Update: As pointed out in the comments, they've also put together this fantastic video commercial for it:
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Filed Under: spams and scams, stephen conroy
Reader Comments
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G'day
This is a wonderful invention and I would recommend this prodct to everyone, not just Aussies.
Have to run, got shrimp on the barbie ...
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Re: G'day
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Reading this in an Australian accent leaves me wondering if your prawn ended the game or if the prawn is just threatening your mate's king
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Re: G'day
I'll wait for the next version with smaller holes.
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Unexplored Issues
If companies/individuals are not ethical enough to control their avarice and the product clearly appears phony, regulatory action would then be justified. We pay taxes for a reason. Under the mantra of "less regulation" why should we be "forced" to pay a protection tax to a company (your local mob affiliate) for protection.
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Re: Unexplored Issues
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No, no one is "forcing" you to buy anything, the point you are missing is that companies believe they can intrude into your personal space, call you during dinner, use your valuable time in the name of selling you garbage. Note that I am not using the word "fraud". Do you believe that everyone has a right to interrupt you at their whim to sell you stuff? If you don't like it, that you have to pay for "protection".
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Physical junk mail goes in the recycling, but I think that's outside the scope of this discussion. I get few telemarketing calls (surveys and charitable organizations only) and very little spam. But I don't pay anything for antivirus or spam protection, and yes I'm talking about Windows. It can be done for free.
Do you believe that everyone has a right to interrupt you at their whim to sell you stuff? If you don't like it, that you have to pay for "protection".
If you're talking about phone calls, then I'm happy to say there's a government program in the US that actually works. Seriously! It's called the Do Not Call Registry. You sign your phone number up and telemarketers aren't allowed to call you. Skeptical? I was too, but the calls dropped to zero after I signed up. I hope every country with this problem considers this if they haven't done it already.
Where do you live? What's the situation there regarding telemarketers?
If you're talking about the internet, then A) that doesn't interrupt me B) no, I don't have to pay and I also don't have to put up with it and C) I have not heard of any way the government would be able to solve this problem.
Now I went back and looked at the post again and saw that C may not be relevant either. Is Conroy talking up some plan to filter or censor the internet to protect against this stuff, or just urging citizens to protect themselves? You know, from the spams and scams. Coming through the portal.
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Re: Re: Re: Re: Unexplored Issues
Junk mail is not outside the scope of this discussion, since the discussion concerns preventing unwanted intrusions. The video clearly demonstrates that throwing a physical object, such as a can of spam easily bounces off the Kogan Protector. Why not place it on your mail box?
Yes, there will always be situations were government will not be able to solve an "intrusion" problem. In fact your ability to view a lot of stuff on the internet is dependent on accepting the advertising being thrown at yet you. In fact there are even programs that can disable some advertising.
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Yes, but I think we're talking about the internet. I don't think any such program is going to work there.
Junk mail is not outside the scope of this discussion, since the discussion concerns preventing unwanted intrusions.
The original post is specifically about internet concerns. You've raised other questions, but I just don't think they're particularly relevant.
The video clearly demonstrates that throwing a physical object, such as a can of spam easily bounces off the Kogan Protector. Why not place it on your mail box?
You know that's a joke, right?
Yes, there will always be situations were government will not be able to solve an "intrusion" problem.
I agree. In fact, I haven't ever heard of a government solving any of these problems on the internet. Phone calls, yes. Physical mail - I've never heard of one even trying. Internet, no. The CAN-SPAM act, for example, definitely did not stop the spam. If anything, it made it clear what companies need to do to keep spamming legally.
In fact your ability to view a lot of stuff on the internet is dependent on accepting the advertising being thrown at yet you.
Not in my experience. It's pretty unusual that I have to have ads on my screen to get the content I want. Or at least they aren't ads I notice.
In fact there are even programs that can disable some advertising.
Yeah, and they're free. ;-)
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I can't believe you're really telling me that though. You can't really be that clueless, right? So what are you really saying? I've pondered, but it's not coming to me.
why would anyone waste time preparing an ad that costs time and money if they did not have a real product to sell?
There are plenty of reasons, but I never said they don't have a product to sell. Only that this isn't it.
I hope that you are not implying that those who developed the Kogan Protector are clueless idiots.
Not at all, I found their video quite entertaining.
After all patents and copyright promote innovation.
Do you have any evidence of that?
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As for the physical stuff - "No Junk Mail" sticker on the post box, and that takes care of it, and if something does get through, I drop it in the bin on my way from postbox to house door...
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Re: Unexplored Issues
I agree. I shouldn't have to buy a bike chain, car alarm, burglar alarm, or any type of locking mechanism for my house or my car!
Again I agree.
I hate having to pay protection to lock manufacturers and locksmiths.
Maybe the government should introduce regulation making it illegal to enter someone's property and take stuff. Or climb into my car and drive off with it. That'd be great! And they should also employ people to enforce those laws!
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That's all fine Steve, but what do you propose should be done about it? Or are you just wishing it weren't so?
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Unfortunately in this country many people seem to think that it is perfectly acceptable to intrude to the point of irritation to make a sale. Furthermore, when the word "regulation" is uttered everyone dumps on you for advocating intrusive government regulation and whining that "regulations" don't work.
We need to have an acknowledgment that people do not have a right to accost you for purposes of making a sale. We live in an imperfect world. We need to balance civility and regulation to assure that people are not imposed upon by salespeople. After all, if they can impose on you shouldn't you have a right to impose on them?
To throw in an "extreme" position, if the government is not allowed to protect us through regulation and the the salesperson won't stop pestering me, then I should have the right to shoot him!!!
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A do not email registry? Telemarketers have to have offices with people and phone lines. They can be tracked down and subjected to penalties for breaking laws. Spammers have demonstrated that they have none of these vulnerabilities. What they do is already in many cases illegal, with no repercussions generally. A do not email registry would just be a source of active email addresses to spam.
Furthermore, when the word "regulation" is uttered everyone dumps on you for advocating intrusive government regulation and whining that "regulations" don't work.
Whining that all regulations never work is dumb. Recognizing that some regulations don't have much chance of working, and that much other regulation will be co-opted by the regulated industries, is just realistic.
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http://gallery.hd.org/_exhibits/bizarre/how-to-stop-computer-viruses-with-a-condom-on-the-mo dem-lead-ANON.jpg
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v-enBtKjgcU
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Funeeeee!
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