Sheraton free-overnight-stay promotion excludes observant Jews

From October 6 to October 9, Sheraton will be giving customers the opportunity to win a free overnight stay at one of 86 recently renovated Sheraton hotels across the United States and Canada.  The free overnight stays will be on a single night, Friday, October 23.  By only allowing the free overnight stays on a… Read More: Sheraton free-overnight-stay promotion excludes observant Jews »

Password security hall of shame

As I wrote earlier today, I just changed my password on over 300 Web sites. In the process, I encountered a large number of sites which simply don’t know how to do password security properly. Some of these sites are operated by major corporations which are entrusted by their users with confidential and sensitive personal… Read More: Password security hall of shame »

Why I just spent three days changing my passwords on over 300 Web sites

“Hi, my name is jik, and I’m a password reuser.” “Hi, jik!” If there isn’t a “Password Reusers Anonymous”, there probably should be. By “password reuse,” I mean using the same password over and over on multiple Web sites.  It’s a really bad idea, and I should know that better than most, since I’ve worked… Read More: Why I just spent three days changing my passwords on… »

King Richard’s Faire in the news

Well, she made it sound like I’m the only King Richard’s Faire patron who ever complained about it, said nothing about the fact that more importantly than the Kosher thing, the Faire’s policies discriminate painfully (literally) against people with medical conditions, let stand unchallenged a statement from the owner of the Faire that her policies… Read More: King Richard’s Faire in the news »

DMA’s Mail Preference Service: Once a fraud, always a fraud

Since 1971, the Direct Marketing Association (DMA) has offered a service called the Mail Preference Service (MPS).  The alleged purpose of the MPS is to allow consumers to register which kinds of direct marketing mail they want, or to opt out completely.  DMA members are then supposed to scrub their mailing lists against the MPS… Read More: DMA’s Mail Preference Service: Once a fraud, always a fraud »

Where all those Boston real-estate agents get your name and address

(Simulblogged on universalhub.com.) Long-time readers of my blog know that I have been trying, for almost two years, to eliminate junk mail — the paper kind — from my mailbox.  I’ve registered everyone in my family with the DMA’s MPS, tried out various Web sites that purport to help you stop junk mail, and most… Read More: Where all those Boston real-estate agents get your name and… »