DON'T USE PROCRASTINATR

"The person who posted...should be fired". Gee, easy for you to say. Imagine though it was your job, your mistake, which happened despite you doing what you thought was a test that investigated whether this was useless or malicious or what.

"TUAW readers don't subscribe to this site's content for a lesson in "taking internet security a little more seriously now."

Guess they should now, hmm? Are you saying that someone forced your hand to press the button? By remote control?

Please. Your machine, your decision. You might be more circumspect in future about what software you download; ask yourself if it's really useful. And hesitate just that little longer before clicking "OK".

But calling for peoples' jobs when they did theirs is too much. Else you'll be waiting a long time for those software links. "Yeah, we're just testing it on G4s now.. and on 10.2... yeah, and also if we have a different graphics card.. yup, seems OK! Wow, is that the time?"

Since the wrong doings of the program have been reversed, I believe many of us should sit back, relax, and ponder as to why such an event has happened. Is it because some person was trying to our jeopardize data? No. Is it because a person who wrote the entry is at fault? No. Its simply because we are far too naive to believe that something could happen. Take this event in stride as it is an eye opener, and should hopefully keep us Mac users alert and on our toes.

Pablo, go back and read my posts. Boy for somebody that professes personal responsibility you sure don't practice it. I wish you the best Pablo, in your version of the world you need it. Take Care Mike

To the completely unrealistic MikeK.

MikeK wrote: "If you create evil and dupe somebody into using it you did evil."

I never mentioned that the creator was not at fault. I merely pointed out (which you seem not be able to grasp) that the blame also falls on those who choose to make themselves victims too. People are held responsible for misdeeds upon themselves. Evil doers? Reading too many comic books, eh?


MikeK wrote: "If Grandma looses her life savings to fraud because she didn't know any better or if a trojan is installed because the user didn't know any better they are victims."

Per your example, being a "victim" doesn't excuse one from blame. If you are riding in a friend's new car which turns out to be stolen you are a dumbass. If you purchase stolen goods you are a dumbass. If you leave your front door wide open while you go on vacation you are dumbass. If you install a program you know nothing about you are dumbass.

In conclusion, take a little responsibility for yourself for being a complete tard. Learn for this lesson that your personal security measures are poor and stop passing the buck. A lot of people weren't infected because they choose to think before acting. This will happen again, MikeK, hopefully you'll be prepared and more attentive by this insignificant slap to your so so fragile ego.

This is so stupid... "Oh, you ruined my life! Oh, My calendars!" Come on... nobody forced anyone to install this on their machines, you did it because you wanted to. And if you trust your "life" to a Weblog (yes, that's what the W in TUAW stands for), than you yourself is the only one to blame.

Grow up a little bit, will you...

lol u guys are so funny
so wheres the good old apple humor
i remind you that this is an APPLE weblog
"macs only has one known virus"
ya and 3 f***ing billion unknon ones
wow i hink this might be the first blog ive ever read that doesnt have apple fanboys always bragging about there stuff
there pretty silent
ah this is great


PS apple s***is overpriced

You can't hold Brian responsible unless you can prove he tried to get the app picked up on a wider scale. People should be responsible to check up on a random web site before downloading / installing software. The problem is not created by his website/application, but by his website/application being in the context of TUAW.

However, most people that read TUAW read it because they think it is a filter, a reliable source for good information.

To all of the people crying "security", please note that none of us have absolutely secure systems. Unless you personally write (or audit) all of the source code on your system, and you personally design the hardware that your system runs on, you have no certainty of what it will do. And that doesn't even begin to touch on DNS poisoning and other network related issues (the internet is, by its current design, impossible to secure in any real manner).

Security is NOT precisely based on the user. The user is only a small part of a large complex system.

Absolute certainty is thus intractable, so we rely on TRUST to actually get something done. We don't trust random websites. We obviously do trust Apple to some degree, as we run our entire computer on their software, a good deal of which is closed source. A good many of us formerly trusted TUAW. Trust provides us with a degree of security.

I find that many shareware/freeware apps have terrible documentation, so I don't waste my time on the docs. I figure the developer just spent their time on the app, so I give it a try and usually learn much faster from the app itself. Of course, I don't try random software, only software that is recommended by a trusted source.

Secondly, and perhaps most importantly, I don't expect a malware author to offer a readme which explains to me the damage that the app will do to my system. Reading a readme offers no protection against malevolence, so again, I simply rely on a network of trust to determine what is good and what is not.

I do have backups (and actually I force quit the app right after I saw the hourglass, so 10 or so ⌘-Zs was enough to bring my calendars back to normal). But for others, it isn't feasible to make a backup every 5 minutes. I only backup once a day, and that is way more than most people. So all recent data could be lost, and even if no data is lost, restoring from a backup is pain (yes 5 minutes wasted on something completely avoidable qualifies as a pain).

There is a lot of noise in these comments (the legal system has no place being mentioned), but the real issue at hand is that an application, which David knew to at best to do nothing, was posted as something useful, with absolutely no indication it was a prank or joke or any of the like.

TUAW is of course free to post whatever they please, but I think a good many of it's readers would cease to read if the blog were to post random useless crap labeled as useful as a matter of course. This is not dogmatic; I am not saying TUAW should act in any certain way. I just choose to read blogs that save me time by only posting quality information and apps (or at least labeling pranks as pranks).

Thus far, David (and I can only assume his stance represents that of TUAW) has only offered the excuse that he thought it was harmless and did nothing.

What I would like to know is David's (and TUAW's) attitude toward posting junk without some sort of warning label:

If you intend to post jokes without that label, then please say so, and I will stop reading.

If you don't intend to post jokes as serious entries, then David please stop making excuses about your Google Calendars and flat out apologize for writing this post at all, and we can all move on.

I recommended TUAW to dozens of people looking for cool Mac links and app's. Looks like the site lost alot of credibility. And I won't be doing that anymore.

Yes, people need to back up valuable information. But there are alot of people who look toward a TUAW as a safe resource for "recomended" information. People's trust shouldn't be taken lightly.

Sorry it happened to one of my favorite sites.

jw-

Pablo and Mike R. Your wrong. If you create evil and dupe somebody into using it you did evil. If Grandma looses her life savings to fraud because she didn't know any better or if a trojan is installed because the user didn't know any better they are victims. If you want to live in a world were it is OK to prey upon others that don't know any better then that is anarchy. BTW you should really look up the definition of anarchy because you don't know what you are talking about. Should people know better, absolutely. Is Brian off the hook because people should have known better, no effing way. Take Care Mike

What the fuck? What were you thinking? Have you no sense of responsibility whatsoever?

I'm dropping you from my RSS feeds. You guys suck.