• (cs)

    So did Jack H. try to click the headings? He could have fixed this mistake quite easily...

  • (cs)

    That Epson window only serves to re-enforce why printer drivers are sins. Certain HP printers have secret drivers that don't do any of the crap, I don't know about other manufacturers though.

  • THRID (unregistered)

    How does one even do unethical research in computing? Force mice to work as turing machines?

    This comment powered by FATIGUE. FORTIFY YOUR WORLD.

  • TK (unregistered)

    TRWTF is inkjet printers. Color laser printers are cheap and awesome. Stop wasting your time on crap.

  • hombre (unregistered)

    Oh, but they do unethical research in computing all the time. They're called auditors and we are their lab rats.

  • (cs)

    Of course the iMac is unethical. Given its enormous potential power, it might well cause people with Windows experience to become unnecessary, leading to a massive loss in jobs.

  • moz (unregistered)

    The Chrome thing is sorely missing an "I don't know" box.

  • Pero perić (unregistered)

    When somebody unknown is in your backyard and doesn't respond to your hails, you should consider stopping them. Chrome is using that analogy.

  • (cs) in reply to TK
    TK:
    TRWTF is inkjet printers. Color laser printers are cheap and awesome. Stop wasting your time on crap.
    It's claimed that a lot of (?all) colour laser printers print their serial numbers and other identifying information somewhere on each page, usually in small thin yellow text so it's hard to notice, but not impossible to read if you are an alphabet-souper looking to find the scheming pinko terrorist[1] who printed the page of seditious libel[2].

    [1] Or whatever the witch hunt target of the month is. [2] aka Shopping list, letter to Grandma, printed Amazon receipt, etc.

  • (cs)

    And what's with this "FORTIFIED WITH FATIGUE" nonsense, anyway?

    I'd prefer it to fortify me AGAINST fatigue.

  • TK (unregistered) in reply to Steve The Cynic
    Steve The Cynic:
    TK:
    TRWTF is inkjet printers. Color laser printers are cheap and awesome. Stop wasting your time on crap.
    It's claimed that a lot of (?all) colour laser printers print their serial numbers and other identifying information somewhere on each page, usually in small thin yellow text so it's hard to notice, but not impossible to read if you are an alphabet-souper looking to find the scheming pinko terrorist[1] who printed the page of seditious libel[2].

    [1] Or whatever the witch hunt target of the month is. [2] aka Shopping list, letter to Grandma, printed Amazon receipt, etc.

    True. I confirmed my printer does do this for color printing. That's really the only complaint I have with it.

    However, if you select black and white output, it does not.

    That's still no excuse for this ridiculous "feature." WTF Xerox?

  • Pock Suppet (unregistered) in reply to THRID
    THRID:
    How does one even do unethical research in computing? Force mice to work as turing machines?
    Obviously you've never seen any of the Dwarf Fortress computing machines.
  • Anon (unregistered)

    No comments yet about the wood table in the RAM picture? For shame.

    Captcha: immitto Will you take out the trash? Immitto.

  • (cs) in reply to THRID
    THRID:
    How does one even do unethical research in computing? Force mice to work as turing machines?

    Deep-packet inspection and session-theft attacks on unsuspecting users in order to probe their emails and social networks and browsing habits without permission? In the name of establishing useful trend information, naturally.

  • megalize larijuana (unregistered)

    LEGALIZE 45:30:25!!

    CALL YOUR CONGRESSMAN/PM/DA/ AND/OR REPRESENTATIVE AND TELL THEM TO SUPPORT THE BILL TO MAKE 45:30:25 LEGAL!!

    MEDICINAL 45:30:25 IS NOT A CRIME!!

    45:30:25 4 EVA!!

  • Anon (unregistered) in reply to THRID
    THRID:
    How does one even do unethical research in computing? Force mice to work as turing machines?

    This comment powered by FATIGUE. FORTIFY YOUR WORLD.

    Creating a sentient AI and then pulling the power cord?

  • (cs) in reply to megalize larijuana
    megalize larijuana :
    LEGALIZE 45:30:25!!

    CALL YOUR CONGRESSMAN/PM/DA/ AND/OR REPRESENTATIVE AND TELL THEM TO SUPPORT THE BILL TO MAKE 45:30:25 LEGAL!!

    MEDICINAL 45:30:25 IS NOT A CRIME!!

    45:30:25 4 EVA!!

    The real WTF is calling it by the name beginning with "m" and not by its proper name beginning with "c". The "m" word is derogatory. Shows what a state a nation has got into where the mainstream name for a medicinal and recreational plant of great efficacy and beneficence perpetuates the myth that it turns you homosexual.

  • (cs) in reply to TK
    TK:
    True. I confirmed my printer does do this for color printing. That's really the only complaint I have with it.

    However, if you select black and white output, it does not.

    That's still no excuse for this ridiculous "feature." WTF Xerox?

    There's also the concept of printing fake money, and this serial number would allow the relevant authorities to track down the perpetrator. Of course getting hold of paper that would have the right feel would be hard. It's worth noting in passing the following:

    1. Colour photocopiers are required by law in various countries to be unable to accurately reproduce all the colours found in banknotes. This is more of a challenge in the US because of the very simple colour scheme. FFS dudes! Two colours of ink, and all the notes the same size? (Yes, yes, I know about the red and blue fibres, and the watermarks, and the metal strip.)
    2. Banknote paper is often not conventional wood-pulp paper. In some countries it is just an exotic plant-fibre based paper, while others go the whole hog and use semi-plastic "paper". Normal wood-pulp paper lacks the durability of banknote paper.

    For an interesting variation on this, track down a copy of The Killing Machine by Jack Vance. The protagonist of this novel pulls off an audacious grand stunt of counterfeiting - in the universe of the book's series, banknotes are protected by a very very secret scheme that allows the central bank to issue cheap "fakemeters" to anyone who wants to be able to detect counterfeit money. The protagonist by chance intercepts (and blocks) a message that ultimately reveals the secret of the fakemeters, and he is able to produce a blank piece of paper that passes the test...

  • Dansor (unregistered) in reply to THRID
    THRID:
    How does one even do unethical research in computing? Force mice to work as turing machines?

    Ummm... just off the top of my head?

    1 - Creating Killbots to kill all humans 2 - Research in to nanobots that crawl inside humans, liquefy their brains, and take over control by building a neural net in the now empty space. 3 - Contacting extra terrestrial life and sending them a list of our vulnerable spots. 4 - Pretty much anything written in PHP (I kid :) kinda)

    The list goes on...

  • college student (unregistered)

    The Epson one actually isn't much of a WTF. A computer can be hooked up to multiple printers.

  • Jazz (unregistered) in reply to SeySayux
    SeySayux:
    Of course the iMac is unethical. Given its enormous potential power, it might well cause people with Windows experience to become unnecessary, leading to a massive loss in jobs.

    But Apple already had a massive loss in Jobs...

    (...too soon?)

  • RuBen (unregistered) in reply to THRID
    THRID:
    How does one even do unethical research in computing? Force mice to work as turing machines?

    Unethical research is mostly done by the president's daughter

  • Craig (unregistered)

    That's really not the most egregious problem with UHC's web site. You could do a whole week of WTF articles just from browsing their site.

  • (cs) in reply to Jazz
    Jazz:
    SeySayux:
    Of course the iMac is unethical. Given its enormous potential power, it might well cause people with Windows experience to become unnecessary, leading to a massive loss in jobs.

    But Apple already had a massive loss in Jobs...

    (...too soon?)

    Even in this tough economy, pancreatic cancer cells can get Jobs.

  • (cs) in reply to Steve The Cynic
    Steve The Cynic:
    TK:
    TRWTF is inkjet printers. Color laser printers are cheap and awesome. Stop wasting your time on crap.
    It's claimed that a lot of (?all) colour laser printers print their serial numbers and other identifying information somewhere on each page, usually in small thin yellow text so it's hard to notice, but not impossible to read if you are an alphabet-souper looking to find the scheming pinko terrorist[1] who printed the page of seditious libel[2].

    [1] Or whatever the witch hunt target of the month is. [2] aka Shopping list, letter to Grandma, printed Amazon receipt, etc.

    Wikipedia calls it printer steganography: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Printer_steganography
  • (cs) in reply to TK
    TK:
    TRWTF is inkjet printers. Color laser printers are cheap and awesome. Stop wasting your time on crap.

    Actually print-out is no longer required after great inventions like Ipad / Galaxy tab.

    Just take it and you have portable paper. Also we should go toward paperless world soon, otherwise all trees will loss their life.

  • (cs) in reply to THRID
    THRID:
    How does one even do unethical research in computing? Force mice to work as turing machines?

    This comment powered by FATIGUE. FORTIFY YOUR WORLD.

    Just google “Carna botnet“, it's not that hard apparently ;)

  • Ben Jammin (unregistered) in reply to megalize larijuana
    megalize larijuana :
    LEGALIZE 45:30:25!!

    CALL YOUR CONGRESSMAN/PM/DA/ AND/OR REPRESENTATIVE AND TELL THEM TO SUPPORT THE BILL TO MAKE 45:30:25 LEGAL!!

    MEDICINAL 45:30:25 IS NOT A CRIME!!

    45:30:25 4 EVA!!

    8,180 mg is way above the recommended daily dosage of 45:30:15. I deem that product unsafe.

  • I Forget (unregistered) in reply to Nagesh

    A paperless world has as much chance at succeeding as a paperless bathroom. The Great Cornholio is not pleased!

    BTW, trees are a renewable resource. Or perhaps we should stop eating corn because we might run out of corn plants after we eat it all. This whole tree hugging stuff is just a conspiracy to divert your attention form the use of non-renewable oil.

    The real WTF is that the unethical research in computing is performed by making people view advertisements in their printer drivers. People are so conditioned to it these days that they don't complain, and actually buy more of the abusive products.

  • Jim (unregistered) in reply to Steve The Cynic

    Our paper in the US is produced by exactly one small company, Crane Paper, in Dalton Mass. It only sells our particular cotton based paper to the Treasury. No other nations no other business. If you happen to stop by they have a nice museum to paper making in the eastern USA. They make other paper products as well; and will give you a little tour of some of the facility where those products are made.

    You get to watch a video about currency paper and the security features in ours; they also allude to the fact there is lots they are not telling you.

  • shepd (unregistered) in reply to THRID
    THRID:
    How does one even do unethical research in computing? Force mice to work as turing machines?

    That's easy. Just decide you'd like to see for yourself how the Therac-25 operates and get some test subjects to help you out.

  • (cs) in reply to I Forget
    I Forget:
    A paperless world has as much chance at succeeding as a paperless bathroom. The Great Cornholio is not pleased!

    BTW, trees are a renewable resource. Or perhaps we should stop eating corn because we might run out of corn plants after we eat it all. This whole tree hugging stuff is just a conspiracy to divert your attention form the use of non-renewable oil.

    The real WTF is that the unethical research in computing is performed by making people view advertisements in their printer drivers. People are so conditioned to it these days that they don't complain, and actually buy more of the abusive products.

    Welcome to Third World. All bathroom is paperless only. Use water. that is what everyone in my country do.

  • moz (unregistered) in reply to I Forget
    I Forget:
    A paperless world has as much chance at succeeding as a paperless bathroom. The Great Cornholio is not pleased!

    BTW, trees are a renewable resource.

    Paper isn't trees, though. It's so much more than that.

  • jay (unregistered) in reply to Steve The Cynic
    Steve The Cynic:
    TK:
    TRWTF is inkjet printers. Color laser printers are cheap and awesome. Stop wasting your time on crap.
    It's claimed that a lot of (?all) colour laser printers print their serial numbers and other identifying information somewhere on each page, usually in small thin yellow text so it's hard to notice, but not impossible to read if you are an alphabet-souper looking to find the scheming pinko terrorist[1] who printed the page of seditious libel[2].

    [1] Or whatever the witch hunt target of the month is. [2] aka Shopping list, letter to Grandma, printed Amazon receipt, etc.

    As a way to track down the person who wrote the ransom note or the terrorist threat or whatever, this only works as long as the criminals don't know that you're doing it. Once they know, criminals will be sure to print their ransom notes or whatever on a printer that they buy with cash or steal or otherwise acquire in a way that cannot be easily traced, and then dispose of after the crime. I suppose particularly sophisticated criminals will figure out how to disable it or fake it out. Like, hmm, can I find out the serial number of the Attorney General's printer -- like write some innocuous letter to his office and study the paper of the reply -- and then put that code on my terrorist threat? That would be funny watching the FBI track that down.

  • jay (unregistered) in reply to Anon
    Anon:
    THRID:
    How does one even do unethical research in computing? Force mice to work as turing machines?

    This comment powered by FATIGUE. FORTIFY YOUR WORLD.

    Creating a sentient AI and then pulling the power cord?

    Or creating a sentient AI and then NOT pulling the power cord.

  • jay (unregistered) in reply to THRID
    THRID:
    How does one even do unethical research in computing? Force mice to work as turing machines?

    Where to begin?

    1. Find ways to collect large numbers of email addresses, and then send them advertising messages or scam solicitations.

    2. Investigate ways to obtain private information about people without their knowledge.

    3. Develop software for tax collection agencies.

    4. Use computers to help develop weapons for use by terrorists.

    Etc etc etc. Surely computers have been used in many unethical activities.

    "Computers don't spam people. People spam people."

  • (cs) in reply to THRID
    THRID:
    How does one even do unethical research in computing?

    PHP

    [/thread]

  • (cs)

    Unethical research in computing - This part confuses me: Are we talking about unethical computer science research? Or tools to assist other unethical research, that use a computer?

    Void the warranty - This is not a WTF; AFAIK, the warranty for every product these days is voided by using it normally.

    Print the error window - Better print it quick, before the printer notices you're out of ink.

    Our phone service is down - This makes sense; after all the headings are edited by phone...

    Medical descriptions - The "pfsname..." part isn't nearly as interesting to me as the combination in the first part of the message: "Colonoscopy [okay...], Mammogram [okay...], Pap Smear [okay...], and Well Child [Wait...what? What kind of perverts are these guys!?]".

    fortified with fatigue - This makes perfect sense, too. You exercise to stimulate muscle growth, but exercise makes you fatigued...wait, does this stuff actually do anything?

    "Apparently, Chrome doesn't know everything then" - Well, duh!!! Chrome asked the plugin what it was, but the plugin didn't respond!

  • Harrow (unregistered)

    Imagine you are a low ranking tech or an intern at Capitol Corridor Rail. Suddenly all the phones just stop working. Your supervisor tells you, "Post a message on the CC Rail web site announcing the outage."

    You quite naturally add it to the "Service Alerts" page. That's where any sensible person would look, right? And that page is well constructed just for that purpose -- quick posting of real-time info.

    Then The Idiot Boss Whom Everyone Avoids On Pain Of, well, Pain grabs you and yells, "Be sure to add it to the CC Rail Mail too." and runs off to add his bit to the chaos attendant on the no phones thing.

    So you open up the CC Rail Mail edit form, and discover that to add a message, you need to fill in the issue date field, the issue contents field, the article count, the article heading field, and the article text field. You cannot call your mentor or supervisor to ask what to do because, du-uh, the phones are not working.

    And you cannot find anyone to talk to because they are all trying to solve the phone emergency. And if you take any longer to try to figure it out, the phone emergency will be over. And you know if TIBWEAOPOP ever asks you, "Did you add the emergency message to the CC Mail Page like I told you?" you had better be able to say "Yes, I did."

    Would you just enter the emergency message into the article text field, with a link to the Service Alerts page, and press "Enter"? I would.

    -Harrow.

  • (cs) in reply to Steve The Cynic
    Steve The Cynic:
    TK:
    True. I confirmed my printer does do this for color printing. That's really the only complaint I have with it.

    However, if you select black and white output, it does not.

    That's still no excuse for this ridiculous "feature." WTF Xerox?

    There's also the concept of printing fake money, and this serial number would allow the relevant authorities to track down the perpetrator. Of course getting hold of paper that would have the right feel would be hard. It's worth noting in passing the following:

    1. Colour photocopiers are required by law in various countries to be unable to accurately reproduce all the colours found in banknotes. This is more of a challenge in the US because of the very simple colour scheme. FFS dudes! Two colours of ink, and all the notes the same size? (Yes, yes, I know about the red and blue fibres, and the watermarks, and the metal strip.)
    2. Banknote paper is often not conventional wood-pulp paper. In some countries it is just an exotic plant-fibre based paper, while others go the whole hog and use semi-plastic "paper". Normal wood-pulp paper lacks the durability of banknote paper.

    For an interesting variation on this, track down a copy of The Killing Machine by Jack Vance. The protagonist of this novel pulls off an audacious grand stunt of counterfeiting - in the universe of the book's series, banknotes are protected by a very very secret scheme that allows the central bank to issue cheap "fakemeters" to anyone who wants to be able to detect counterfeit money. The protagonist by chance intercepts (and blocks) a message that ultimately reveals the secret of the fakemeters, and he is able to produce a blank piece of paper that passes the test...

    +1 Classic book. Worth re-reading. Think I'll do just that this weekend.

  • Darkhog (unregistered)

    I've once got error "I expected stripped strings, but got null instead". Pretty fun outside context - but it was for one database handling libraries for Unity3d engine and happened only when someone tried to fiddle with query (anti-sqli safety nullified string then).

    validus - meaning that all law written by us is valid (don't by any chance mistake it for "all law written by U.S.").

  • Norman Diamond (unregistered) in reply to Steve The Cynic
    Steve The Cynic:
    1. Colour photocopiers are required by law in various countries to be unable to accurately reproduce all the colours found in banknotes. This is more of a challenge in the US because of the very simple colour scheme. FFS dudes! Two colours of ink, and all the notes the same size?
    Actually even in the days when they were mostly just gray and green, there were two different shades of green and I think at least two shades of black. The green on the back was super secure and not counterfeitable by anybody because it came from Canada.
    Steve The Cynic:
    For an interesting variation on this, track down a copy of _The Killing Machine_ by Jack Vance. The protagonist of this novel pulls off an audacious grand stunt of counterfeiting - in the universe of the book's series, banknotes are protected by a very very secret scheme that allows the central bank to issue cheap "fakemeters" to anyone who wants to be able to detect counterfeit money. The protagonist by chance intercepts (and blocks) a message that ultimately reveals the secret of the fakemeters, and he is able to produce a blank piece of paper that passes the test...
    That's an impressive feat of counterfeiting. The protagonist produced a blank piece of paper that looked just like printed paper money? He didn't even need a laser printer or inkjet printer? Hey, now I can finish that Ph.D. thesis.
  • Norman Diamond (unregistered) in reply to THRID
    THRID:
    How does one even do unethical research in computing? Force mice to work as turing machines?
    When side 19 studies vulnerabilities in side 84's software, it's ethical. When side 84 studies vulnerabilities in side 19's software, it's unethical.
  • Prof. Foop (unregistered)

    Well Child is a child that has fallen down a well. Some aspects of that are covered by insurance.

    TRWTF is giving a play station screen name to each medical condition.

  • Philosopherististist (unregistered) in reply to Anon
    Anon:
    THRID:
    How does one even do unethical research in computing? Force mice to work as turing machines?

    Creating a sentient AI and then pulling the power cord?

    Hmm.. there's got to be an easier way...
  • notme (unregistered) in reply to THRID
    THRID:
    How does one even do unethical research in computing? Force mice to work as turing machines?

    Research into unmanned, (semi-)autonomous, armed vehicles (aka killer drones).

    Research into spying on and intercepting internet traffic for a large number of people, i.e. whatever China uses to run their great firewall.

    Using computers to spy on and build massive databases on a large number of people.

    On the flipside: Running your research in a way that exploits your researchers, for example by overworking them in hostile environments to the point where they become burnt-out and depressed shells of their former selves before they turn 35, then firing them and replacing them with younger workers.

  • notme (unregistered) in reply to Coyne
    Coyne:
    Void the warranty - This is not a WTF; AFAIK, the warranty for every product these days is voided by using it normally.

    How does that make it any less of a WTF? If anything, that makes it worse.

  • Brendan (unregistered) in reply to Nagesh
    Nagesh:
    TK:
    TRWTF is inkjet printers. Color laser printers are cheap and awesome. Stop wasting your time on crap.

    Actually print-out is no longer required after great inventions like Ipad / Galaxy tab.

    Just take it and you have portable paper. Also we should go toward paperless world soon, otherwise all trees will loss their life.

    I've tried this, and I think there's still a lot of research needed - it's expensive, the shiny screens just smear the poo around, and they sink to the bottom of the bowl and don't flush right.

  • (cs) in reply to notme
    notme:
    On the flipside: Running your research in a way that exploits your researchers, for example by overworking them in hostile environments to the point where they become burnt-out and depressed shells of their former selves before they turn 35, then firing them and replacing them with younger workers.

    That's not unethical.

    That's standard procedure.

  • (cs) in reply to Steve The Cynic
    SeySayux:
    Of course the iMac is unethical. Given its enormous potential power, it might well cause people with Windows experience to become unnecessary, leading to a massive loss in jobs.
    [image]
    Steve The Cynic:
    2. Banknote paper is often not conventional wood-pulp paper. In some countries it is just an exotic plant-fibre based paper, while others go the whole hog and use semi-plastic "paper".

    Semi-plastic? I think some countries go an extra hog than that and use actual plastic... Australia for example. We got rid of silly paper money way back in the 90s. According to Wikipedia, "Countries that have since [Australia in 1988] switched completely to polymer banknotes include Bermuda, Brunei, Canada, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Romania and Vietnam."

Leave a comment on “Unethical Research in Computing”

Log In or post as a guest

Replying to comment #:

Log Out

« Return to Article