I hate countdowns.

From the very first time I heard my grade-1 teacher said, “Finish or not finish, pass your paper,” I started having this aversion to time pressure. Of course, like everybody else, I also work (or at least, I think I do) faster and better whenever a deadline is upon me. I was one of the epitomes of cramming when I was in college, in fact.

Still, I must admit, I will always hate countdowns; even if it had to do with Christmas.

Anyway, it’s only three more days before Christmas.

Online Cloak-and-Dagger

Sometimes anonymity makes us do things that are either brave or stupid, or sometimes both.

Take the case of the Internet. Some hackers have this mistaken notion that the Low Orbit Ion Cannon (LOIC) denial-of-service attack program can protect their online and real-world identities from the prying eyes of law enforcers. However, a recent study by researchers from the University of Twente in the Netherlands revealed that the LOIC does not camouflage the Internet Protocol address of its users.

This means that those who are taking part in the attacks against some high-profile Web sites as part of WikiLeaks supporters’ “Operation Payback” cyberwarfare campaign are not totally immune from some future legal actions.
 
Keep Off Assange

Lawyer Mark Stephens has alleged that the U.S. Attorney General has organized a secret grand jury in the federal court in Alexandria, Virginia, to investigate WikiLeaks’ publications of thousands of secret U.S. diplomatic messages.

Stephens also claims that the U.S. government is intent on filing a case against his client, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.

Well, what do you expect the U.S. government to do? Obviously, somebody committed a very serious case of espionage here. Any sane government would do everything it can to protect its country and citizens.

Whatever your political persuasions might be, you cannot do otherwise but agree that what Assange has done is quite dangerous for the United States, its citizens, and its diplomatic relations.
 
Yahoo Sheds More Fat

Yahoo is shifting its cost-cutting attention to its Web sites that are not performing as well as the struggling online company wants them to. After the mass layoffs the company implemented last week, Yahoo is reportedly closing down Delicious, Yahoo Buzz, MyBlogLog, and Alta Vista.

Ironically, the layoffs happened after Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz had said her company was “hiring every day” sometime in the middle of November.

Aside from having a negative impact on employee morale, these layoffs and reorganizations (Yahoo seems to have too many for the past couple of years.) are creating a not so positive image among the company’s customers and the general Internet user population.

That’s all for the meantime, folks. Join me again next time as we keep on watching IT.