Saturday 19th January 2008
Here we go again. A new year, and another major security breach by our
dear incompetent government. 600,000 names of current and wannabe armed
services personnel, including passport numbers, names and addresses, and bank
details. A perfect DIY kit for the budding identity thief, or anyone who
fancies causing harm to our brave boys.
Which makes me think. The Data Protection Act says that companies need to
take reasonable precautions to ensure the safety of their confidential
information, which presumably includes not sending it to organisations which
simply can't be trusted with it. So, next time you get a letter from HMRC
or indeed any other Government department, asking for confidential data such as
your tax return, explain apologetically that the Data Protection Act prohibits
you from handing over such information.
Sunday 9th December 2007
I recently needed to set up a web server for training purposes, for a class
I was teaching at the local university. Despite trawling the web for some
considerable time I couldn't find the sort of how-to document that I really
needed. So I put together something for myself. If you have an old
PC and you fancy turning it into a Web server with Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP,
Webmin, Webalizer and ftp, here's
a step-by-step guide with
everything you need to do.
Saturday 8th December 2007
You have to wonder how PC World, the UK's best-known chain of computer
stores, manages to stay in business. Because frankly, they don't deserve to.
I remember watching Theo Paphites, Dragons' Den member and retailing guru,
saying that he can walk into any retail premises and quickly spot at least 20
things that they're doing wrong. I'd never assumed that I'd have the same
ability. But I'd never bought from PC World before.
I have a business account with them, which I opened a few weeks ago when I
needed something in a hurry and my car was off the road. So I opened the account
via their web site, and it duly got approved and I was given a credit limit. I
could now, I was told, buy things off their web site by clicking the Buy button
next to the product description. Except there was no such button. So I called
their help desk and spoke to no fewer than 11 people before someone managed to
fix it for me.
Anyway, back in October I urgently needed to get hold of a laptop so I popped
down to my local branch. I'm wise enough and experienced enough to avoid their
own-brand machines, after a bad experience a few years ago. I'd bought an
own-brand desktop machine, specifically so I could use its built-in MIDI
interface with my electronic keyboard. Only the MIDI interface didn't
work, even if I disabled the on-board one and added a separate one on a card.
I requested a refund on the machine, owing to the fact that a key component was
faulty. The store's reason for refusing the refund? The component on
my particular PC wasn't actually faulty - it was merely a design fault on the
machine as a whole. I kid you not. I did, of course, get a refund in
the end, though it took the personal intervention of a well-known IT journalist
and of PC World's managing director. And I should have known better that
to ever darken their doors again, but there you go.
Anyway, back to October and the laptop that I needed. I settled on a bog-standard Compaq Presario and, would you believe it, they actually had some in stock. Sorted. Time to pay.
The first thing you notice about the desk area that processes business sales in my local PC World is the smart ceiling-mounted projector which I guess was showing promotional stuff. Only I couldn't see anything on the screen because it was just inches from a massive fluorescent light unit and the projector wasn't bright enough. The projector itself was attached to a proper mounting pole that was fixed to the ceiling. Only it was the wrong mounting plate for that particular projector, so it had been attached with half a dozen large, ugly, black, cable ties instead. A health and safety nightmare, and a horrible impression for anyone who might be wanting to buy one.
I'd brought along the company cheque book and a note of my business account
number. In the end, all they needed was my business account number, which I duly
recited. "Did you know that there's a credit limit on the account", said the
sales guy, "and so you don't even need to pay anything today?". So that was
that. I wasn't asked for any ID, and could simply walk out with a laptop on the
basis of knowing my (or indeed any, I presume) account number. I didn't
even have to confirm the company name - the sales guy did that for me, by
telling me what company was registered under that account number on his
system and asking me whether that was correct.
As if I hadn't already realised just how dreadful their sales efforts are, I was
in for one more surprise. Turns out that this laptop can also be bought as part
of a package which includes a free bag and a month's free support, which works
out £50 cheaper than the laptop on its own. The support is £9 a month, the sales
guy told me, but I could simply telephone and cancel within 14 days and owe
nothing (the first month is free). Needless to say, I signed up on the spot.
So, having already decided that I was willing to pay the advertised price for a
laptop, the sales guy was happy for me to pay £50 less for the privilege of
taking away a bag.
The next morning I called to cancel the support contract. Well, except for the
fact that my reference number that was printed on the sales receipt didn't exist
on the support contract system but they soon managed to find it by other means.
If I thought for one moment that anyone at PC World's headquarters would give a
flying toss, I'd write to them and offer some further thoughts from a customer's
point of view. But frankly, it's not worth the bother. They clearly have no idea
how to run a business or how to manage their brand.
Have you seen their TV adverts recently? The ones that talk about "internet
prices to take away today" and "the best of both worlds"? The ones that imply
that their branches will beat the prices of the internet retailers? Load of
arse. They can't even beat their own web site prices! The pcworld.co.uk web site
is choc full of laptops at web-only prices, often more than 10% lower than the
in-store price.
But perhaps the most irritating part of the whole PC World experience is that
they seem to operate via lots of different trading names and you're never quite
sure who you're dealing with. There's PC World and there's PC World Business,
and they each have their own separate web site. And if you open a business
account via PC World Business, which arm of the organisation are you dealing
with? Nope, wrong. Neither. Actually it's something called Equanet, and that's
apparently whose web site you have to order through. Although the confirmation
emails actually come from dsgibusiness.com.
Still, the laptop works just fine (especially once I'd wiped Vista and all the
trialware junk off it and replaced it with a bog standard XP installation) so I
guess I shouldn't complain. It just annoys me immensely that PC World gives its
customers such a bad impression of an industry that I've been in for 25 years
and of which I want to be proud.
It's now December and I still haven't paid for the laptop. The invoice
never arrived. A statement did, last week, but I can't pay statements
because they don't include the VAT detail. And it also contained an entry
for the ongoing service agreement which I'd long since cancelled. I
telephoned, and they've promised to send a real invoice for the correct amount.
I'm not holding my breath.
Tuesday 20th November 2007
So, the Inland Revenue as-was has mislaid a couple of CD-R disks with the
details of 25 million potential voters' bank account details and other personal
information. Who on earth designs a system that allows junior staff, or
indeed anyone, to dump the entire contents of such a confidential database to a
CD? End up talking about the debacle on Newsnight, Working Lunch, Look
North, Radio Newcastle, Radio Scotland and Radio Five Live.
Friday 10th August 2007
The House of Lords has published its long-awaited report into personal
internet security, and what the Government needs to do to ensure that consumers
don't suffer at the hands of cyber-criminals. The phone starts ringing at
8am and I'm immediately on a train into the BBC in Brighton to do some media
interviews. End up talking to the Today programme on Radio 4, BBC Radio
Northampton, News 24 (twice!), the World Service, BBC World TV, Radio Scotland,
Radio Cornwall, Radio Oxford, not to mention radios Kent, Hereford & Worcester,
York, Surrey, Ulster, Lancashire, Bristol, Lincs, WM, Northampton (again) and
Wales. A total of 20. By the end of the day I've no idea what I said
to whom.