Probably the most bum-clusterfcuked "blog" on my reading list maps to the domain blogs.adobe.com.
I shudder. Shudder! When I associate the 'b' word with corporate sites.
Now, chidren, let us talk about 'corporate !blogs'. Any one of them that says it's NOT and ends in a corp domain is shitting you. Plain & simple. They have 'blogging guidelines' so that you don't rock the boat and all that. I mean, Johnnys Nack and Dowdell, what would your BPOverlord say? And so, we have these fluffy unicorns on the 'net, mostly content free, and as timely as the treaty of Potsdam.
Even so, some guys like Bynkii would like to believe that there's a human being on the other side and not a droid, when I read tripe like this I tend to have my doubts [quotes from jd/adobe: A commenting concern]:
But then I noticed the site said "You need to Login or Register to comment," which implies realworld identification.
Ooooh noooo, Johnny has to 'log in' just like Facebook, MySpace, WSJ, Business Week or any other site that uses web APIs!
And then I noticed that this particular webpage also requested third-party content from a dozen other domains, few of which I recognized. Third-party content on a webpage can set a cookie or log an IP address, subsequently recognizing the surfer across varied webpage domains.
Oh no, Johnny is, once again, running into dreaded web APIs! Now why would they log your IP Address? From dubious domains? I thought that was an Adobe trick? The difference being that you can read the code of a web page to see calls while you can't easily decompile a Flash object that does the same thing?
If the site happened to pass a commenter's realworld identity along to any of these third-parties, then the commenters could be known by realworld name as they subsequently visit other pages, on other domains, which happen to host the same third-party content.
I'm sure that ITPRO.co.uk has the best of intentions and is tracking you & your flunkies over at ip range 67.222.96.0/20 or 192.150.18.0/24 or wherever else you have your, um, 'offshore data centers' so that you don't sock puppet flood their site with your PR tripe.
Or, maybe they have the same intentions Adobe has with that 'Open Government' thing -- using web APIs embedded in PDF & Flash to do what poor little Johnny is whining about. Shoe.Other.Foot. Did I mention how glad I am there is no Flash in a GPS-enabled iPhone?
Gee, Johnny, this sounds a lot like Facebook Beacon, crap that the former Omniture and other analytic companies pull, like, every freaking day. Run a... what's the word I'm looking for? A 'proxy'. You're a Windoze shop, I'm sure one of your offshore '20 years of experience in a 10 year industry' IT dweebs can recommend one.
Isn't Adobe in the privacy violation biz now? I mean, you guys just bought Omniture for $1.8Billion with a 'B' and then laid off 9% of your workforce, to be slumdogged at a later date as is the practice these days.
Seriously Johnny. First you have to understand client, server, local storage, and other basic concepts before you can move up to the concept of 'blog'.. and like, how to handle comments. Privacy? I think your overseers and you have a long way to go.
If anything 'must stop' it should be your overlords' willful ignorance of how the 'net really works.
Johnny's best advice so far: "Use a Flash Blocker." [1] and [2]
Mentok out.
1 comment:
Mentok has this precisely correct. ANY 'blog' that resolves to a corporate address IS NOT INDEPENDENT. And if they are using third-party data-miners, they should be even more asiduously avoided. Not that most 'journalists' are much better - they are drinking the same Kool-Aid for the most part. However, non-coroporate (and most especially non-governmental) blogs are probably a little more honest than those corporate or governmental-run 'blogs'. the latter are simply press releases. My experience is that there are indeed real folks behind it, but they are mostly suits wring marketing BS. Believe it at your own peril.
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