Friday filings

DUBLIN -- Three things caught my eye in a quick glance at The Irish Times "Business This Week" today.

1. The cost to neuter RateMyTeachers. Barrister Fergal Crehan mulls over the libel issues related to Rate My Teachers and says "the cost of such enforcement (of a court order against the American owners) would seem to be prohibitive."¹ Knowingly, Crehan says "In the long term it may be that the technology will outstrip any legal attempts to regulate it."
2. Behind the Tor. Danny O'Brien explains how Tor works. "Tor is a voluntary network of computers which acts as an anonymising intermediary for its users."² But from personal experience, gained while working behind a Novell Border Manager on one occasion and a Checkpoint Firewall on another occasion, Tor will not work everywhere.
3. Stupidity runs in e-mail. Sheila O'Flanagan says responding immediately to e-mail has made her more stupid.³ She cites evidence from King's College in the UK. Good! I knew there was a reason I have kept 3442 e-mails unopened in my Yahoo mailbox.

---

¹Fergal Crehan -- "Libel may become issue for website hosts" in The Irish Times Technology section, April 29, 2005.
²Danny O'Brien -- "Anonymous network is internet's best-kep secret" also in The Irish Times Technology section.
³Sheila O'Flanagan -- "How e-mail and mobiles smashed our concentration" also in TIT.

x_ref26121