ciphergoth: (Default)
Paul Crowley ([personal profile] ciphergoth) wrote2007-10-28 04:21 pm

FEMA fake a press conference

Just when you thought this administration couldn't get any more craven:

FEMA fake a press conference about the California fires. All present are FEMA employess and the whole thing is scripted, but MSNBC and Fox had already carried it live before they found out.

Unbe-fucking-lievable.

Edit: WARNING! If you get a pop-up telling you your machine is infected, ignore it - the "scan" is a fake to make you pay for their stupid product. Thanks for the warning, [livejournal.com profile] wechsler. More details from Pharyngula. If you use Firefox I recommend Ad Block Plus which is why I didn't know about this before...

[identity profile] wechsler.livejournal.com 2007-10-28 04:52 pm (UTC)(link)
The spyware on that page has to be the most aggressive I've ever seen. Gets past a popup blocker, simulates a window loading from the system tray (or where it would be on a PC), tries to block you from leaving or closing the page by JS ok/cancel with "Your computer is still infected" scare messages, simulates a scanning task, and genuinely tries to force a download.

I think the domain was newbieadguide.com. Definitely one for null-routing, or fiery death.

[identity profile] ciphergoth.livejournal.com 2007-10-28 05:03 pm (UTC)(link)
Fuckers!

Have edited post accordingly.

[identity profile] pengshui-master.livejournal.com 2007-10-28 06:05 pm (UTC)(link)
alternatively if I read it right you can just not install the flash plugin.

Given that that about the only thing I ever want flash for is movies, that's not a hardship.
(For viewing movies, 'wget -O- $URL | grep flv | extracturl.pl | xargs mplayer ' seems to do the trick instead.

[identity profile] nikolasco.livejournal.com 2007-10-28 07:46 pm (UTC)(link)
I find Flashblock (http://flashblock.mozdev.org/) more convenient, especially since the pages often don't contain "flv" (e.g. YouTube).

[identity profile] pengshui-master.livejournal.com 2007-10-28 09:11 pm (UTC)(link)
Yeah, more convenient.

Unfortunately I don't trust others enough to run binary only lumps in security critical (which I currently define as being browser,X, and kernel) contexts.

[identity profile] pengshui-master.livejournal.com 2007-10-28 09:13 pm (UTC)(link)
oh, and I actually grep for m4v|flv|avi and other common extensions.

For youtube there is the youtube-dl package.

[identity profile] wechsler.livejournal.com 2007-10-28 05:11 pm (UTC)(link)
My mistake was obviously in using Adblock, rather than New! Adblock Plus with the minty-fresh smell!

[identity profile] wechsler.livejournal.com 2007-10-28 05:21 pm (UTC)(link)
Getting back to the point, who the hell at FEMA thought that was a good idea?

I mean, I've no problem with assuming that much of the US administration is fundamentally evil and stupid, but moves like this go beyond stupidity and out the other side, straining my capacity for belief.

[identity profile] purplerabbits.livejournal.com 2007-10-28 08:42 pm (UTC)(link)
Hurrah! I have installed super plus adblock and it works like a charm :-)

Fema boggle the mind, also...
ext_58972: Mad! (Default)

[identity profile] autopope.livejournal.com 2007-10-28 11:25 pm (UTC)(link)
I may be perverse here, but I prefer classic AdBlock (in combination with NoScript and FlashBlock) to AdBlock Plus. Plus is obscure/hard to configure, whereas AdBlock does just what I want it to do: lets me decide which servers can or cannot send images to my screen.

[identity profile] webcowgirl.livejournal.com 2007-10-29 07:43 am (UTC)(link)
This was really a hoot.

The whole thing, I don't know what to say. 1984, who would have thought it was a mere 20 years too early?

[identity profile] adq.livejournal.com 2007-10-30 06:51 pm (UTC)(link)
On a related impending-1984 note, have you tried going to http://www.nationalenquirer.com/ recently? Its not the sort of website I have ever ever been interested in until now.

The block you will observe is geographically based on your IP. The reason? the story on the latest royal scandal they had up...