The Mean People Always Ruin it for Everybody...

At BBC - My Favorite on-line News source:

"Cyber criminals are starting to use fake blogs to snare new victims.
The bogus web journals are being used as traps that infect visitor's machines with keylogging software or viruses.
Filtering firm Websense said it had found hundreds of bogus blogs baited with all kinds of malicious software to snare the unwary. "

This is worse, to me, than unsolicited advertising Blogs - at least with the Advertising Blogs they're just annoying. If I link to a blog and it's an advertisment, I can surf on by.

This new development has me pissed off because now when I'm checking out other blogs, one misstep while clicking and suddenly I've landed myself a Virus that's going to eat up my computer and steal all my personal information.

I guess it had to happen sometime, and these News stories are often sensationalized way out of proportion in order to scare us and thus keep a loyal audience for the news program. I also know that even if there are hundreds of bad blogs out there, that's a small percentage of the millions of total blogs in the world, so my chances of becoming infected at this point are pretty small. That doesn't mean that I don't get upset, when I see someone rain on my parade. Essentially what this situation will likely end up doing is only: Convincing the Powers that Be that blogs need to be regulated for our safety. And I do disagree with the potential of losing my voice and the voices I care about through regulation because a few bad apples ruined the barrel.

Ok - so maybe I'm going a little overboard in my rant there - and please - feel free to disagree with me (comments are below- ha ha) At the same time, we've seen patterns like this before. Whenever there is an open door, criminals tend to exploit it. Invaiably when criminals exploit a situation, poeple push for regulation.


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Enough doom and gloom,

Check out Seth Godin's great post today. Here's a taste to wet your whistle:

"I'm in Minnesota today, and I'm so delighted by what I'm experiencing.
In addition to extremely nice people, inspiring architecture, a vibrant arts community and surprisingly good food, there's a vibe in the air about the work people are doing. This placed is filled with organizations that are working hard to create stuff that's worth doing."

He goes on to talk about the fundamental difference between the companies described above and the companies that only work hard to cut corners at ever turn. I think his post is brilliant! You can tell me what you think if you are so inclined.