loose wire blog

A Happy Ending To The Saga Of Katie.com?

The whole Katie.com imbroglio seems to have ended happily, or at least, is close to doing so.

Katie Jones, the British owner of the website katie.com since 1996, has had a miserable four years since the publication of a book of the same name, about the true ordeal of a teenager sexually molested by a man she met in an Internet chatroom. After receiving hundreds of emails from people believing they are writing to the author of the book, Jones says recently she has come under pressure to donate the domain to a website being set up to help victims of similar abuse. Jones has declined, despite what she says was an "unpleasant phone call" from a lawyer, Parry Aftab, acting on behalf of the author, Katie Tarbox.

After several news reports and a steady campaign by Jones to publicise Aftab's alleged efforts to obtain the name, the books publishers are backing off, saying they were never part of the move. A press release (PDF only) issued yesterday by Plume, an imprint of PenguinPuttnam,  says: "In an effort to avoid an association between the book originally titled Katie.com and the website Katie.com, Plume and the author decide to make this title change."

The release also says: "In addition, it was erroneously reported recently that Plume had asked its attorney to attempt to buy the web site Katie.com from domain owner Katie Jones. This is absolutely not true." Plume makes clear it's not part of that attempt: “We are not working in association with author Katie Tarbox or any other individual in an attempt to assume ownership of the domain name address www.katie.com."

This is a belated but welcome move by the publishers, who must have calculated the negative publicity was outweighing the good. After all, what's the point of publishing a book about online abuse if you just engage in another form of it against someone whose only mistake was to register a darn good domain name years ago?

There is a loose end yet to be tied, of course. The lawyer and author will also have to back off , abandoning any plans for a website "where children who have been victimized by Internet sexual predators can go for help and support" around the name katie.com. Aftab, a prominent cybercime and Internet privacy lawyer, may also have some damage control to do. She has declined to comment on previous developments in the case, accusing Jones of having "an agenda", but as things stand the public perception is that it has been the other way around.

Directory of MindMapping Software

Update, Feb 15 2007. An online mapping tool that's cute but questionable in its mindmapping credentials: bubbl.us. In fairness, it talks more about brainstorming than mindmapping, but I'm surprised that it's not easy to add branches to all four sides of each little box. You can, apparently, share your work with others, which makes sense, but it's still a little too rough around the edges for me.

Here's some mind mapping software for Windows or the Mac. Additions welcome.

• Visual Mind
• MapIt!
• NovaMind (mac)
• bubbl.us online tool:
• MindManager
• MindChart
• SmartDraw
• 3D Topicscape 3D mindmapping and concept mapping
• Inspiration
• ConceptDraw MINDMAP
• PersonalBrain
• Creative Thinker
• FreeMind
• Mind Pad
• BrainMine
• IdeaGraph (currently 'on pause')
• HeadCASE
• SoftNeuron Mindmap
• OpenMind
• MindMapper
• Visual Concept
• IdeaFisher
• MindGenius
• NovaMind
• Inspiration

Some resources:

• InnovationTools (which includes a bigger directory of programs)
• Google directory on mind mapping
• MindManager for Dummies: the book

Acrobat Converting Software

Here's a list of services and products that create documents in Adobe's  "Portable Document Format" (PDF). (Much of this is drawn from Merle's article on WebProNews)

Software that creates PDF files from other files

• PDFMoto: A Web publishing system that converts documents you create in any Windows application into PDF. They offer several different versions, so pricing varies, but they do offer a free version that is limited to 50 documents.
• PDF995 : Free software that allows you to create PDF documents as easily as hitting the "print" key from within any application. The free version has an advertising splash page that comes up everytime you run the program but you can purchase "keys" for $9.95 each to remove them if they bother you.
• Txt2PDF: a Perl 5 program that converts your old text docs to PDF format. Runs on any platform that supports Perl. From $40.
• Gymnast: freeware text to PDF creator for Windows.
• CutePDF Printer: totally free. This software has no annoying ads or banners. Choose print from within any application to create a PDF instantly.
• Win2PDF: Windows NT, Win 2000 or XP. From $35 to $70.
• PDFCreator: an open-source project on SourceForge.net, installing as a printer driver. (Thanks cmswire for this one, and pointing to the original story.)
• pdfFactory: quite advanced PDF creator, including multiple documents into one PDF, preview and font embedding.

Suites that include PDF conversion

The following office suites include PDF printing as part of the standard package:

• OpenOffice
• StarOffice
• WordPerfect Office 11

Other products, such as PaperPort ($100 to $200) and PaperMaster Pro ($200) will allow you to scan or convert a file to PDF as part of the program's overall document management system.

Online Services

• Adobe Look in the left hand column for the button that says "create PDF online." You can create up to five documents free; after that you'll need to pay $10 a month or $100 per year for unlimited usage.
• GoBlc Free online conversion service that will email you the results.

Software to convert PDF files

Software that turns an Acrobat file into something you can edit in another program:

• PDFConverter: converts PDF to Microsoft Word (this won't work with scanned image PDF files) ($50)
• OmniPage: converts any kind of PDF file into an Office document; will also scan or convert an existing document into PDF ($600).

A Directory Of Firewalls

Hardware firewalls are not included in this list. For an excellent comparison of some of these programs see PCPro's article.

• Kerio Blurb:  Kerio Personal Firewall (KPF) helps users control how their computers exchange data with other computers on the Internet or local network. Kerio Personal Firewall is a necessity for all desktop computers connected to broadband Internet, using DSL, cable, ISDN, WiFi or satellite modems. Within an organization, Kerio Personal Firewall prevents a single computer from attacks initiated by internal users. Remote workstations and laptops running KPF are protected from Internet born attacks. Price: Free to $45
• Tiny Personal Firewall Blurb: Tiny Personal Firewall 5.0 (TPF5) represents the next generation security solution which integrates several protection layers for the ultimate safety of the desktop and server computer running Microsoft Windows operating system. Price: $50
• Agnitum Outpost Blurb:  With hacker attacks, data theft and privacy violations rampant on the Internet you need a comprehensive solution to safeguard your PC. With Outpost Firewall Pro, you get award-winning firewall software that takes care of your online security needs. Price: $40
• Intego Netbarrier (Mac version also available) Blurb:  NetBarrier 2003 was designed to protect PC users from the perils of the Internet. Its four-level line of defense provides optimal security so that you can use the Internet without leaving yourself vulnerable to its dangers. Price: $50
• ISS BlackICE PC Protection Blurb:  This BlackICE PC Protection scans all inbound Internet traffic for suspicious activity on home or small business systems. Price: $40
• Kaspersky Anti-Hacker Blurb:  Kaspersky Anti-Hacker blocks the most common hacker network attacks by continuously filtering incoming and outgoing traffic. The program detects most types of DoS attacks, as well as Ping of Death attacks, Land, Helkern, Lovesan and SMBDie. In addition, Anti-Hacker detects attempted port scans that often precede mass attacks. When an attack occurs a notification is immediately sent to the user. Price: $40
• TheGreenBow Personal Firewall Blurb:  TheGreenBow Personal Firewall is the first Personal Firewall made in Europe, addressing equally home/private users and professional users and corporations. Price:  E35
• McAfee Personal Firewall Blurb:  What makes our firewall special? Enhanced Intrusion Detection, a fast Setup Assistant that enables your protection in minutes and Smart Recommendations that take the guesswork out of responding to attacks. Advanced Trojan Detection helps prevent rogue desktop spyware from "phoning home" personal data. And Visual Tracing tracks hacker attacks back to the source, helping you to notify the proper authorities. Price: $40 (annual licence)
• Norton Personal Firewall Blurb:  Symantec's Norton? Personal Firewall 2004 keeps hackers out and personal data in. It makes robust firewall protection easy by automatically hiding your PC on the Internet and blocking suspicious connections. Norton Personal Firewall also protects your privacy by preventing confidential information from being sent out without your knowledge. Price: not available
• TrendMicro PC-cillin Internet Security (comes as part of anti-virus package) Blurb:  Trend Micro PC-cillin Internet Security helps make the detection and removal of viruses more precise and powerful. The enhanced Personal Firewall helps prevent intrusion from hackers and the new breed of Network Viruses. Trend Micro? Damage Cleanup Services can now be triggered as soon as a virus is caught to keep your system functioning properly. Price: $40 per year
• Sygate Personal Firewall Pro Blurb:  Small-Medium Businesses and Consumers need leading edge protection for their computers and workstations to protect their valuable information and keep unwanted hackers out. Our Award-winning Sygate Personal Firewall Pro includes a comprehensive Intrusion Protection System (IPS) which includes IDS, DoS protection, and Trojan protection which sets this program high above other personal firewall solutions. Price: $40
• ZoneAlarm Blurb:  Easy-to-use firewall blocks hackers and other unknown threats. Stealth mode automatically makes your PC invisible to anyone on the Internet. Price: free to $50

Let me know of any I've missed or any errors.

An Index Of Blogging Tools

Feb 2007 Update: Including some from the comments and quite a few new arrivals since I wrote this piece more than two years ago... There must be a lot more out there, but this is a start.

Blogging tools allow you to prepare posts and then upload them directly. Here's a list of the ones I know of. Any additions welcome.

• Qumana include easy text formatting and image insertion, simple Technorati tagging, and advertising insertion with Q Ads. Make money from your blog content by inserting the ads of your choice with the built-in Q Ads tool. (free: XP/Mac)
• ecto a feature-rich desktop blogging client for MacOSX and Windows, supporting a wide range of weblog systems, such as Blogger, Blojsom, Drupal, MovableType, Nucleus, TypePad, WordPress, and more. (free; thanks Joost)
• w.bloggar  The tireless Marcelo Cabral who runs it constantly updates the software to work with new blogging sites. It's free, but he welcomes donations.
• Post2Blog handy blog editor with live spell-checking support for pro-bloggers. ($40, Windows only)
• SharpMT good for MovableType and TypePad. Windows only; free.
• Windows Live Writer "makes it easier to compose compelling blog posts using Windows Live Spaces or your current blog service." Free, XP only
• Zempt Offers a lot of useful features, including assigning more than one category to a post. Zempt is also free but would be happy to get donations. Works with all Movable Type compatible sites. (Windows, Linux, Mac.)
  
• BlogJet a new version, 2.0, is out that supports YouTube and Flickr. I used to use this all the time, and plan to try this one. $40, though, is still $40. Windows only
• BlogWizard allows you to create, edit and publish your blog entries to the server where your weBlog is located. BlogWizard works with all major weBlog services that support the Blogger xml-rpc engine. BlogWizard has an easy to use WysiWyg interface, in which you can manipulate the text anyway you want, make it bold, bigger, smaller, insert images and hyperlinks. Costs: $23
• Blogger for Word Blogger toolbar will be added to Word allowing you to publish to your blog, save drafts and edit posts (Free; XP and Word required)
• MacJournal lets you publish your work as a blog to any of the popular blogging services, including your .mac account. Also possible to keep your journal at your fingertips, even when you're on the road. (Macs only; $35)

Also note that Microsoft Office 2007 lets you post to a blog, and include some pretty cool features.  So does Flock. There are also some Firefox extensions:

• Performancing Heavy duty extension with all the bells and whistles
• Deepest Sender instead of having to go to the Update page on LiveJournal/WordPress/Blogger/whatever, or loading up a separate client program, all you have to do is hit Ctrl+\, or click the button in your toolbar, and you can start posting.

How To Cut A Long URL Short

(This post was originally made a few months ago at the loose wire blog. As part of efforts to streamline Loose Wire's online activities, the material at loose wire cache is being moved to the blog. A list of the resources can be under either the Resources list in the sidebar or the Resources category, also in the sidebar.)

A way to turn long URLs into short ones, so you can paste links into emails without them wrapping (and therefore becoming unusable) etc etc. In most cases you just visit the site, enter the URL you want to abbreviate, and hey presto! you get a new short URL that should last forever. (A lot of them can be added to your browser toolbar via Javascript which makes the whole thing even easier.)

• TinyURL
• snipURL
• Metamark
• shortlink
• v3.net
• shorl.com
• makeashorterlink.com
• ek.dk
• minilien.com
• tinylink.com
• qurl.net
• urljr.com
• babyurl.com
• tinyclick.com
• lin.kz
• EvilURL (thanks Jim Hughes)

This is not yet exhaustive; much of this list is from notlong.com, which compares their features.

Pocket PC's Backdoor

Symantec say they've found the first Windows CE (PocketPC) backdoor Trojan, which they're calling Backdoor.Bardor.A: "Once installed, the backdoor allows full control of the handheld system when it is restarted. When the infected handheld is connected to the Internet, the backdoor sends the attacker the IP address of the handheld device. It then opens port 44299 and waits for further instructions from the attacker."

There are some limits: The backdoor only affects Pocket PC devices with ARM CPUs.

This follows the discovery of the first PocketPC virus, Duts, last month.

 

Welcome To Long Distance Bluesnarfing

Long distance Bluesnarfing is here.

Austrian researcher and Bluetooth expert Martin Herfurt tells me that he and some friends -- Mike Outmesguine, John Hering, James Burgess and Kevin Mahaffey -- were able to Bluesnarf a cellphone more than 1 mile away in Santa Monica Bay early on Wednesday. This follows a similar experiment late last month in which some of the same guys successfully connected to a Bluetooth phone 1 km away.

(Bluesnarfing is the practice of using a vulnerability in cellphones' implementation of Bluetooth to steal data or to hijack a cellphone to make calls or send text messages without the user's permission or knowledge.)

Martin says the distance was exactly 1.08 miles, or 1.78 km, which is in itself something of a feat, given they were using pretty basic stuff -- a 19db antenna with a modified class 1 dongle on one side and on the other the victim's unmodified phone. But it wasn't just that: He says they were able to not only snarf the entire address book but also send an SMS from the victim's phone.

Here's Martin the victim in the foreground, the pier in the background near where the attacker is located:

I hope this kind of experiment lays to rest those folk who don't see how this kind of thing would be a problem. Most of the naysayers claim that Bluesnarfing only works close by, but this shows that's not true. What's more, it shows how Bluesnarfing can be a sniper or a vacuum cleaner: Martin says they spotted dozens of Bluetooth phones in their experiment but just focused on the target phone. But if they'd wanted they could have sucked up the address books and data in most of those phones -- information that might have proved very valuable.

Beyond OneNote

Further to my column about OneNote, I've heard from one or two people suggesting somewhat similar programs. Here's a selection:

• Anju Visen-Singh writes Calgary, Canada, about his company SMART Technologies Inc. Its SMART Board software drives special whiteboards that "connect to a computer and projector to display the computer image on a large touch-sensitive screen for group collaboration". Users can draw with a special pen or use their finger to write or draw. Words will be converted to text and saved. Anju says a new version of SMART Board software is out in January 2005 "which will have scores of new features requested by our customers".
• One reader points to Writer's Blocks as a possible alternative to those creative types looking to organise information for a book, play or whatever.
• Then there's Agilix's GoBinder which looks vaguely like OneNote and presents itself as "the digital replacement for your old-fashioned three-ring binder that you've used to organize all your most important information. GoBinder provides a mobile solution to organize everything in one place--including calendar, tasks, contacts, notes, documents, etc."

Oh, and for those of you checking out OneNote, don't forget the powertoys that recently have been released (thanks, Jim, for pointing this out). Read more on the blog of Chris Pratley, one of the key players behind OneNote.

This week's column - Get a Grip On Your Inbox

This week's Loose Wire column looks at email and offers some tips on blowing off the cobwebs on your inbox and getting organized.

GIVEN THE AMOUNT of time we spend handling our e-mail--checking it, reading it, writing it, occasionally clicking on attachments we suspect we probably shouldn't--you'd think we would do a better job of organizing it.

If you're anything like the rest of the world, nearly every e-mail you've ever received sits in your inbox, gathering dust, cobwebs and the digital equivalent of bedsores. Some of them appear to date back to the Magna Carta. Your basic attitude towards e-mail is to read it when it comes in, and then, if you work for the government or any company with more than 10 employees, forward it to as many colleagues as possible in the hope that you won't actually have to do anything more about it. The same applies to outgoing e-mail: You write it, usually with a revealing and helpful subject title like "Meeting" or "Proposal" and then send it, retaining only the haziest idea of whether you still have a copy of it and, if so, where it might be.

Full text at the Far Eastern Economic Review (subscription required, trial available) or at WSJ.com (subscription required). Old columns at feer.com here.

For the column I took a look at some newish products on the market, including a new version of Bloomba, a new email/organizer from Poco Systems called Barca and Thunderbird, the free email sister of browser Firefox.

A Directory Of Indexing Programs

The software here may do more, but the reason it's listed is because it can index your hard drive and let you find stuff really quickly. Oh, and they work on Windows. Here they are in no particular order (some more to come on this: see my earlier posting.)

• diskMETA The blurb: The question Where is that document? does not exist any longer. Ask diskMETA-computer document search this question and you will get an answer in a fraction of a second. The price: free to $100
• Archivarius 3000 The blurb: a full-featured application to search documents and e-mail on computer, local network and removable drives (CD, DVD). Documents can be searched by keyword or using query language, the same as in Internet search engines. The price: $20 and $45
• X1 The blurb:  X1 is PC software that uses an advanced indexing process that lets you find any word in any email message or file on your computer with breathtaking speed. Download your free trial version now! The price: $78 (a free version of this is available as Yahoo! Desktop Search beta edition)
• Enfish Find The blurb: The toolbar/taskbar solution for users needing quick access to information. Enfish Find allows users to find any information quickly from the Start Taskbar or Toolbar in Microsoft Outlook applications. Find instantly pops-up a window with a list of items meeting your search criteria. The price: $50
• dtSearch Desktop The blurb: dtSearch Desktop provides instant searching of desktop-accessible files. The price: $200
• Scopeware Vision The blurb: It's awfully hard to retrace your steps to locate every file and email you've ever created, but there's no need to. Scopeware Vision is the ultimate finder. It searches your PC or network and shows you the results as a stream of docs, emails, PDFs, web pages, photos, songs, or whatever you seek. The price: $30 up
• SearchWithin (thanks Blog.org) The blurb: SearchWithin is a free full text index search engine that allows you to quickly search inside the files on your drive or network. It looks beyond the titles and inside PDF, HTML, Text, Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, Word Perfect and Microsoft PowerPoint documents. SearchWithin works just like major search engines, using advanced querying and full-text search technologies to help you find the information you need fast. Results are automatically displayed in your browser. The price: free
• 80-20 Retriever The blurb: Retriever Enterprise is a robust search tool that executes fast, accurate searching of all email folders and local/network file systems, to give users one access point to information stored on their personal systems. The award winning software acts as an all-encompassing "retriever" of information on individual workstations, providing users with a quick, comprehensive view of buried material. The price: $300 (thanks to David Brake of Blog.org)
• Tukaroo The blurb:  Tukaroo desktop software provides the fastest search of desktop and LAN, categorizes and displays search results [and] correlates desktop searches with Internet content. The price: free (not yet past beta; recently bought out by Ask Jeeves. I noticed that by early January the Tukaroo website is down.)
• HotBot Desktop The blurb: The HotBot Desktop allows you to easily search the web while not losing the context of where you are in the results. Quickly visit all 10 results with half the clicks! Easily adjust the language, number of results as well as other preferences through web settings. The price: free
• Grokker (thanks to David Brake of Blog.org who points out that Grokker includes a plug-in that uses Microsoft's built in indexer) The blurb:   The "My Files" plug-in lets you access the contents of your hard drive in two different ways. Using the keyword search, you can locate any file that contains a specific word in its name or content. Also, Grokker lets you graphically map and explore your hard drive, or any shared drive, over a local network. The price: $50
• Wilbur The blurb: Once Wilbur has indexed your files, he can display all of the files containing a specific word or set of words almost instantly. It is able to do this while keeping its index file much smaller than that the alternatives we have looked at. Wilbur can optionally track information on all files on your disk, not just the ones whose content is indexed. The price: free (thanks, Henry Finn)
• blinkx The blurb: blinkx changes the way you find and access all kinds of information, from anywhere in the world, without having to search endlessly. blinkx rapidly links you with the information you need from the web, from online news sources and files on your own PC. The price: free
• Copernic Desktop Search    The  blurb: CDS brings the power of a sophisticated, yet easy-to-use search engine right to your PC and allows you instantly to search files, e-mails, and email attachments stored anywhere on your PC hard drive. It executes sub-second searching of Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint files, Acrobat PDFs, and all popular music, picture and video formats. CDS also searches your browser history, favorites, and contacts. Price: free
• Google Desktop Search    The blurb: Google Desktop Search is how our brains would work if we had photographic memories. It's a desktop search application that provides full text search over your email, computer files, chats, and the web pages you've viewed. By making your computer searchable, Google Desktop Search puts your information easily within your reach and frees you from having to manually organize your files, emails, and bookmarks. Price: free
• MSN Toolbar Suite  The blurb: Warning! Your browser does not meet the minimum system requirements. You are recommended to use the MSN Toolbar Suite with Internet Explorer 5.01 or later. (no really) Price: free

Hoodwinked By Another Plaxo

Another embarrassing morning. Last night I tried out a new contacts/social networks program called ZeroDegrees, which promises to 'connect you with the people you really need to reach through the people you already know' etc etc. A sort of cross between Plaxo and LinkedIn.

The software installs into Outlook and one or two other email clients. It then mines your contact list, uploads it to ZeroDegrees' server, while offering all sorts of reassurances that nothing will be sent out without your sayso ('Your contacts are secure. They are always your private information and in your control. ZeroDegrees will never send email to your contacts (unless you invite them).') Sounds like these guys have learned the three Plaxo Lessons: Privacy, security and privacy.

Er, no they haven't. And neither have I. Click on the Outlook toolbar button called ZeroDegrees and you get one button 'Build Your Network.' Nothing more. Click on that and you get a synchronisation page. It's not really clear what's being synchronised but you're told that still nothing is being sent out, so you should relax and watch the sliding bar.

Well, actually, don't. You should be thinking of aborting, if you can. Next you get two buttons: 'Email invitations' and 'Not now'. The first time around I tried 'Not now', thinking I might explore the program a bit more. But there's really nothing else to explore so I went back and clicked 'Email invitations', thinking, like latter versions of Plaxo, you would get a chance to select who you invited. You don't: Click that button and every contact in your address book will get spammed, sorry invited.

Of course, I only realised this after it had started doing so -- and even then all you see is a bit of traffic in your firewall icon, nothing more. When my suspicions were aroused, I force-closed Outlook (no cancel button on ZeroDegrees) in the hope I had stopped the deluge of 2000 emails before it had started. No such luck.

This morning I wake up to dozens of automated responses, 'do I know you?' emails and quizzical missives from old contacts, flames, friends and assorted contacts politely asking me if I'm mad. Of course, it's lovely to hear from these folk, but mortifying to have spammed them, tried to get them to sign up for something I didn't really sign up for myself, and to have basically done all the things I've been preaching against. Sorry, everyone.

The lesson here: No one seems to have learned The Plaxo Lessons:

• Tell the user what is happening;
• Let the user choose who they spam, sorry invite;
• Let the user stop what is happening if they don't like it;
• Don't mislead the user.

Amen. Now I have to write apologies to dozens of people upset by the spamming (maybe that's what they mean by ZeroDegrees, as in very, very frosty response from friends and contacts?) On the plus side, I can spend the rest of the morning swapping updates with some old chums I haven't been in touch with for a while.

My advice: Don't get ZeroDegreed.

The New Search Wars

Search is getting big again. Will it work this time around?

Programs that search your hard drive have been around for a while, but few of them seem to last. There was Magellan, askSam (OK, still around, sort of), Altavista's Desktop Search, dtSearch (still going strong) and Enfish (still around, barely breathing). That was in the 1990s. But it's only recently we've seen folk get really excited about the space again: There's X1, Tukaroo (bought out pre-launch by Ask Jeeves), HotBot Search, and now something called blinkx (thanks, Marjolein, for pointing it out.)

Blinkx was officially launched last month as "a free new search tool that thinks and links for you, eliminates the need for keywords or complex search methods, easily finding the information you seek whether it is on the Web, in the news or buried deep within files on your PC." In other words, pretty much what the other guys do. I haven't looked too closely at it, but the main idea, as co-founder Kathy Rittweger puts it, is easy search without the logistics: "By eliminating the mechanics of search, such as keywords or sorting through dozens of unqualified results, we drive users more quickly to their goal: finding something, even if they didn't know it was there!"

That's good, and I would have said before that that was the way to go, but nowadays I'm not so sure. I think that as disk space grows and people's hard drives become more complex, different users need different grades of configurability. With most of these new search engines pitching to the 'lite user' there's a danger the more serious document hunter gets left behind. It's actually a simple calculation: Are you aiming at the casual user who is happy to stumble across a few documents they didn't know they still had, or are you aiming at the user that needs to find all the documents relevant to their search?

Anyway, it's good to see folk finally seeing this space for what it is: Horribly underserviced, full of missed opportunities and millions of folk lost on their own hard drives. With Google, Microsoft and others about to enter the fray, here's hoping that we get something really good out of it.

IntelliTXT, Forbes And The Rise Of The Misleading Link

Where is the line between editorial independence and the advertisers who make a media publication viable?

Forbes, DMNews reports (thanks Online Journalism.com), has started included 'embedded ads' in its news stories via Vibrant Media, a specialist in contextual advertising. These ads are links matching related words -- car, house, music, that sort of thing. With nearly 5 million visitors in June, Forbes is Vibrant Media's biggest client for IntelliTXT. As DMNews says, "IntelliTxt links are double underlined in blue to set them off from non-paid hyperlinks, which are in blue but not underlined. When a user hovers over an IntelliTxt link, the listings display a pop-up box with a 'sponsored link' heading and site description."

I've written before about how I believe this is the wrong way to go. (Here's a post I did on Vibrant Media last December, where I concluded that the whole thing was misleading.) At least with Forbes' ads, the pop-up box informs the user where they would go should they click on the link. I have to confess I wasn't able to find a single ad on Forbes' site yet.

But there's still plenty of things wrong with this. First off, context is everything. While the genre calls itself contextual, it is actually merely grabbing related words and turning them into links: The perils of this are legion. For example, 'car' may make a good for Ford ad in a piece on what kind of SUV to buy, but isn't going to look so hot in a story about a major accident.

The bigger problem here is, as DMNews points out, online journalism is still trying to establish itself. As a journalist, to find one's words mined for possible commercial links would smack of cheapness, and might lead to pressure from marketing departments to include more marketable words in their story. Or to edit them to make it so? Or to include references to specific companies so the link can be IntelliTXTed? How will journalists react to see their copy fiddled with in this way?

Then there's the reader. How useful -- read relevant -- are these ads going to be? Watching IntelliTXT in action elsewhere I would say not very much. By contrast I've found Google's AdSense listings, which appear to the right of search results, to be relevant, certainly less intrusive, and I actually launch searches some times just to see whether there are related or rival products out there I'm missing. Now that's useful advertising.

What Katie.com Did Next

Can someone be turfed off their domain by someone bigger?

The experience of Katie Jones, recent mother and owner of an online chat site in the UK, has been well documented elsewhere. (Katie.com is the name of a book about the ordeal of a teenager sexually molested by a man she met in an Internet chatroom. Katie Jones is nothing to do with the book, but has been the owner of the address katie.com since 1996.) Jones' latest report on her website suggests that she is being unfairly pressured by the publishers of the book that carries her website's name to donate the website to them. (It is not entirely clear in the posting as to whether the lawyer who contacted her was working on behalf of the author or the publisher, or both.) Anyway, if true, this does seem to take things too far.

I'm no lawyer, but one can't help wondered how things would look were the roles reversed. If a big player owned the website address, would there not be large amounts of money changing hands by now? Or at least, would not the publishers have changed the name of the book, and not been trying to browbeat her into handing over the domain name?

For Jones herself, I can well imagine the discomfort caused by receiving hundreds of emails, either from individuals detailing their traumas in the mistaken belief they are talking to a fellow victim, or from folks abusing her. It's nothing compared to what the Katie of the book endured, but that is not the point. It's easy enough to say, 'why don't you just change your email address and drop the domain name?' but why should she? Why should an individual be hounded from her sentimental slice of online real estate if she doesn't want to?

I sought a comment from the lawyer linked to in Ms Jones' latest posting, Parry Aftab, who is described in her online bio as 'is one of the leading experts, worldwide, on cybercrime, Internet privacy and cyber-abuse issues' as well as 'being called "The Angel of the Internet" for her extensive work in Internet safety and cybercrime and abuse prevention around the world'.

Aftab had posted a message to her blog on Thursday saying she was working with Katie Tarbox, the author of the original book, and an organisation called WiredSafety to "help create a place where children who have been victimized by Internet sexual predators can go for help and support". The program will be called Katie's Place. A logo of the new, as yet unlaunched site, is prominently displayed at the top of the WiredSafety homepage. Aftab is executive director of WiredSafety, 'the world's largest Internet safety, help & education organization'.

Aftab declined to respond in detail to Jones' account of the telephone conversation or the case, writing: "Katie Jones' statements are either false or misleading. She obviously has an agenda. And I frankly don't have the time or energy to be part of it."