Google’s mailing list problem is far worse than its blog problem.

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If Google owned Pyra, it would have known that the news that Google had bought out Pyra was breaking on the Internet much before it in fact found out, via major newspapers, that Google was buying out Pyra. Neat, eh?

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In October 2002 I wrote about non-existent security for Indiatimes email users (about which ’til date exactly zilch has been done). While browsing around, I discovered that things are even worse than they appear if you use any Indiatimes password-protected feature with the “Remember Me” feature checked: this includes their Cricket site, PhotoGallery and Filmfare. The same password is used for (ouch) their shopping and classifieds-submission sites. If you are
one of these users, anyone with access to your desktop (common in shared environments) can grab your Indiatimes login and password, no network sniffer required! All they have to do is fire up a browser (IE will do nicely), browse over to this very helpful URL and grab the username and password off the source of the XML page that results.

Okay, so at least it’s not remotely exploitable. I think. (Probably not until someone writes a worm/virus that exploits this particular flaw.) Still, somebody ought to tell these guys that passwords for portals with pan-India ambitions should be managed slightly better. Yahoo would have their heads bitten off if they did something like this.

(Note: in the interest of responsible disclosure, Indiatimes was notified before posting this.)

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Keith Dawson confirmed this in an email to TBTF subscribers — there will be no further updates to TBTF^?.

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TheNewspaperToday closes its doors. When they turned pay-only one year ago, I asked: Is the India Today brandname worth paying the (admittedly affordable) Rs500/$10.50 per year? I guess the answer was no. Existing TNT subscribers can use their subscriptions to access India Today’s web edition (normally available only to India Today subscribers). The end of free is more complicated than it appears to be, because it is not clear that all the content on the ‘Net — even the ones I read regularly — is worth paying for. It may also just be worth living without. Hey, back in the days when I didn’t have a IP connection bolted to my cranium, my favorite source of instant news was a pocket radio tuned to BBC World Service Radio.

In other news, Time-Warner content, such as CNN and Time, may soon only be available over AOL (or for pay over the Netscape Network). Let’s see how that does. At least, given the current web ad market, it can’t cause them to lose any (more) money.

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Ravikiran on really stupid security policies. I’ll add another: Indiatimes email. This site is popular in India because it’s hosted there and is fast, with a low latency connect. If we’re behind the same HTTP proxy, I can read your email (provided I know your sign-in name and you are not logged out). Considering how many people use this site for personal email at offices (where proxies are common), I don’t think is a good thing.

Update: Actually, if there are any BOFH types at office, they can probably read personal mail already - a well placed packet sniffer can do wonders, thanks to most web sites transmitting passwords essentially in the clear. (If not passwords (Hotmail and Yahoo have https secured logins), then the mail is sent in the clear anyway.) Very few mail services offer POPS, IMAPS or HTTPS access to email — MyRealbox being one, which is why I’m such a big Realbox fan.

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A rumor I’ve been hearing persistently for the last couple of days has surfaced in that cesspool towards which all IT rumors are irresistibly drawn (and on /. too). Apparently the ISPAI, a consortium of Indian ISPs, wants web biggies to pony up if they wish to reach Indian audiences. I’ve been searching (in vain so far) for a online source to this, because the Hindustani [sic] Times El Reg quotes does not seem to have a website, and I was unable to find any mention of this on hindustantimes.com.

If true, this would have been a cretinous move. On the other hand, Udhay Shankar points to a post on a silklist thread which purports to come from a ISPAI office bearer:

The ISPAI is not split on the issue. On this issue, the ISPAI speaks with one voice: there is absolutely no intention of blocking Yahoo, Hotmail, eBay or any other popular site. The article is pure bullshit.

Good to see common sense is alive and well in the country. And to all El Reg readers: have you taken your pinch of salt today?

Update: this ISPAI press release may have been the cause of the problem — this is a spat between ISPs licensed to provide VoIP services and services that provide voice chat on their own — MSN, Yahoo, etc. Cretinous anyway. Voice chat != VoIP.

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Mangle. I’ve been looking for this feature for quite some time. www.google.com/random would have been much cooler, though.

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If you don’t want Search Engines to find you, maybe you shouldn’t put up a family web page.

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How long before this page turns into search.amazon.com?

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