Thoughts 06 Mar 2007 07:04 pm
Everything’s normal
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. said Monday it fired a systems technician who allegedly recorded phone conversations between the company’s public relations office and a newspaper reporter. The case is now being investigated by federal authorities.
Wal-Mart said the technician, whom it did not identify, also intercepted text messages using his own personal equipment. The retailer said he was acting alone, but declined to say what his motive may have been.
The company said that any and all equipment that could be used for such purposes has been removed.
Only the legal department can order the use of such equipment.
Wow, lawyers in charge of recording equipment because other departments cna’t be trusted. ROTFLMAO
Compusa is closing 50% of their stores and having clearance sales.
The minor stuff like cables seem to be 20% off, but the computers are 5% off and the nicer laptops all seemed to be locked up in those rolling cages.
In other words, the good stuff is going to the local superstore, and the stuff they don’t want to move is discounted, although, I think that with a little effort I could find the cables online, more than 20% cheaper than Compusa’s normal prices.
Best Buy is under investigation by Connecticut’s attorney general after consumers complained they were denied deals found at the electronic retailer’s Web site by store employees who pulled up a lookalike site that listed higher prices on some merchandise.
Dawn Bryant, spokeswoman for the Richfield-headquartered retailer, confirmed that store employees have access to an internal Web site that looks nearly identical to the public BestBuy.com site. But she said company policy is to always offer customers the lowest quoted price, unless it’s specifically identified as a deal available only to online shoppers.
“It’s unfortunate, some of the situations being described,” Bryant said. “What we’ve learned very quickly is we have not been clear enough in communicating to our employees the policy, and how to execute it in our stores.”
If it’s not a scam. why do they need two almost identical websites? Perhaps, it’s because Bestbuy can’t afford a fast internet connection.
M$ has their new onecare built into Vista, and surprise, surprise, it fails every test.
They should build vacuum cleaners, then they could say they make a product that doesn’t suck.
(I know, it’s an old joke, but it remains true, even after all these years.)
From Eweek:
The auction behemoth is being skewered by Vladuz, the Romanian impaler, and the e-villagers are whispering that he’s sucking customer and service rep account lifeblood directly from eBay’s internal databases. Is he that spookily talented, or is he just another, albeit talented and lucky, phisher who also stumbled on an e-mail with internal accounts?
I’m certain that Ebay, being the fine upstanding company they are would admit to being hacked, without hesitation, in spite of the hit to their profits, just like they admit there are Paypal issues.
Would I lie?
In their defense, there is the other minor problem encountered when chasing bad guys in eastern Europe:
Back in 2002 when eBay was dealing with a separate hacker issue in Romania, the police knew where the criminal was. Unfortunately, he was some 30 to 40 miles away from the station, and they couldn’t afford the gas to go get him.
EBay was more than happy to lend a helping hand.
For sale: One former soviet bloc country, a place of great scenic beauty and cheap labor. Best known for it’s vampires and hackers. $5.00 down and $5.00 per month for 10 months.