JDPFu.com 2010

In a prior article here, I outlined some important things to ensure when you’re looking for a new laptop. With the release of Windows7, some of those things aren’t necessarily as important as they were under Vista and I’ve learned some new things in my shopping for a new laptop myself.

If you work in media or IT, you’ve probably already heard about ACTA, Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement.

If not, here’s a summary to get you up to speed on it. Hopefully, you’ll contact your Senator, Congress-person and President and let them know you don’t like attempts to bypass your existing methods to pass laws.

I read lots of news every day. This morning, this story was found and after reading the headline, my first thought was …

If you use a portable device, like a smart phone or if you use a computer at all, then you’ve come across the URL shorteners like bit.ly, goo.gl, etc. The title of this entry is URL Shorteners are Dangerous, but why?

The main reason I consider them dangerous is when you click on a shortened URL, you have no idea where it will really take you. None whatsoever. It could be a simple redirector or to download a file or embed javascript or download anything. Javascript is still dangerous.

We’ve all heard not to click on any links in an email, yet most of us still do. I know some people who won’t click on any link from anyone in an email, period. There’s a trade off.

I’m not suggesting there isn’t any place where a shortened URL isn’t more convenient or easier to type. I am just saying that without more information about the final link location, I’ll not be clicking on any of those … ever.

There are tools to preview the final location of the shortened URL. I’ve never used any, but suspect they make money just like free DNS services and URL shorteners make money – that is by selling our use data .

Call me paranoid, but also call me unhacked and aware of internet privacy. I surf without javascript enabled, BTW.

I don’t claim to understand how US government agencies determine what a reasonable fine is for companies found of wrong doing or impeding solutions, but is $53 per incident enough? Serious? I’ve never been impressed with fines from the government. They aren’t even enough to remove profits from the infraction, IMHO.

According to this BBC article, Toyota is fined $16.4M for something that impacted at least 2.3 million vehicles. So, $16.4/2.3 = $53. Nice. I don’t think that is much of a deterrent to prevent the behavior for Toyota OR any other manufacturer in the future. Is my math wrong?

I’d think somewhere between $500 and $1500 per vehicle would be a more appropriate penalty to correct future behavior. It needs to hurt a little. I’ve worked in large corporations and know that while $16M is a bunch of money, it isn’t really that much. Heck, I’ve worked a laptop replacement project that was $25M.

I also understand that Toyota is an excellent automobile company and we don’t want to unjustly penalize them, their workers, or future customers. Like many of us, the managers involved didn’t know how serious the problem was and down played it for as long as they could. Being completely open concerning any issue with a consumer product isn’t part of any corporate culture that I’m aware. I’m reasonably certain if more than a few actual incidents happened and anyone were hurt, then Toyota would have been up front. When I worked on public impacting systems, I always pictured how my family would be impacted if there were any issue with the work. I believe the Toyota engineers do the same with their issues and fixes. Doing the right thing is easiest when you are close to the issue. The spin team is what concerns me – both the government AND the company spinners.

We all know that companies don’t pay any taxes OR fines with internal money, right? The fine paid will probably become part of the cost of every vehicle going forward when pricing is determined. I would add that to my checklist if I were on the accounting team and marketing team setting prices.

Another way to choose the fine amount may be to base it off the CEO + President complete annual pay packages including bonuses. Just a thought, I dunno. I read that the Toyota CEO earns less than $1M annually, while the GM CEO earned over $14M, so perhaps that isn’t a good idea for underpaid CEOs. Of course, my data was just found with a google search, so it could be wrong.