Comments on: Backpack: yet another cool feature. http://www.eleanorholmes.com/blog/archives/2005/05/30/99/ The finest blog without a tagline. Tue, 18 Nov 2008 21:44:02 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=1.5.2 Comment on Backpack: yet another cool feature. by: Alec http://www.eleanorholmes.com/blog/archives/2005/05/30/99/#comment-238 Wed, 01 Jun 2005 12:47:20 +0000 http://www.eleanorholmes.com/blog/archives/2005/05/30/99/#comment-238 Some people used the the Google web accelerator when accessing their Basecamp accounts. The AJAX code reacted terribly to being prefetched. Sections were deleted, to-do's were checked off. Basically havoc. Moreover, much of the content from those people's sites went into Google. Whether any of it showed up in search results, I don't think has been verfied (the GWA wasn't supposed to be a spider). In principle, the fault was with Google's code and they withdrew the web accelerator but this is the kind of thing that you expose your data to when it's on a page on the open internet. Just going back and forth between your computer and the server your data can be read at any point in between. One should be careful about putting important passwords in emails. Passion-filled love letters should also probably be sent long-hand. Electronic data that is exposed to the internet has a tendency to live a life of its own. But to return to forum signups and other low risk items, it sounds like a good use of the technology. Some people used the the Google web accelerator when accessing their Basecamp accounts. The AJAX code reacted terribly to being prefetched. Sections were deleted, to-do’s were checked off. Basically havoc. Moreover, much of the content from those people’s sites went into Google. Whether any of it showed up in search results, I don’t think has been verfied (the GWA wasn’t supposed to be a spider).

In principle, the fault was with Google’s code and they withdrew the web accelerator but this is the kind of thing that you expose your data to when it’s on a page on the open internet. Just going back and forth between your computer and the server your data can be read at any point in between.

One should be careful about putting important passwords in emails. Passion-filled love letters should also probably be sent long-hand. Electronic data that is exposed to the internet has a tendency to live a life of its own.

But to return to forum signups and other low risk items, it sounds like a good use of the technology.

]]> Comment on Backpack: yet another cool feature. by: Elle http://www.eleanorholmes.com/blog/archives/2005/05/30/99/#comment-235 Wed, 01 Jun 2005 04:51:18 +0000 http://www.eleanorholmes.com/blog/archives/2005/05/30/99/#comment-235 The advantage of having it online is that it's computer-independent and can be accessed wherever I am. I was envisaging using it for non-essential signups, generally - forum passwords and the like. Certainly I wouldn't want to use it for anything really vital - no internet-banking passwords or anything like that. :) Your points are very well-taken, though, and I'll reconsider how I'm using Backpack for those sorts of things. I hadn't heard about the situation with Google, though - what happened? The advantage of having it online is that it’s computer-independent and can be accessed wherever I am. I was envisaging using it for non-essential signups, generally – forum passwords and the like. Certainly I wouldn’t want to use it for anything really vital – no internet-banking passwords or anything like that. :)

Your points are very well-taken, though, and I’ll reconsider how I’m using Backpack for those sorts of things. I hadn’t heard about the situation with Google, though – what happened?

]]> Comment on Backpack: yet another cool feature. by: Alec http://www.eleanorholmes.com/blog/archives/2005/05/30/99/#comment-231 Tue, 31 May 2005 16:21:20 +0000 http://www.eleanorholmes.com/blog/archives/2005/05/30/99/#comment-231 I'm not really sure that I would want all of my registrations and passwords on a public server, even my own. Keep in mind 37signal's recent disaster with the Google Web Accelerator. In that particular case, you could either lose the page or you could see it indexed in Google. I think copy and paste into a text file somewhere on your own computer is a lot safer. If other people have access to that computer or you think it might be lost/stolen (laptop), it might even be a good idea to have that file encyrpted. Be careful out there! I’m not really sure that I would want all of my registrations and passwords on a public server, even my own. Keep in mind 37signal’s recent disaster with the Google Web Accelerator. In that particular case, you could either lose the page or you could see it indexed in Google.

I think copy and paste into a text file somewhere on your own computer is a lot safer. If other people have access to that computer or you think it might be lost/stolen (laptop), it might even be a good idea to have that file encyrpted.

Be careful out there!

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