How to tell when the cold caller is a robot

Could you tell the difference between a robot and a telemarketer?

Some in the US have become suspicious that a machine is calling them and, with a combination of voice recognition, recorded messages and some form of artificial intelligence, is sustaining basic conversation. The caller seems to follow a set pattern of questions and fails to understand unexpected answers. That doesn’t entirely rule out the telemarketer option. gearlog.com800notes.com

Cops and robbers

Internet criminals have initiated a concerted attack against websites that help people to defend their PCs against viruses, spyware, spam and all the other undesirables.

CastleCops said that it had been targeted by 10,000 computers attempting a denial-of-service attack. “We’re still under attack, so if the site is a bit slower, you know why,” the website stated. “Odd month really,” it added, philosophically. castlecops.com

Losing IT

Anyone who has battled with a corporate IT department will read with interest comments from technology researchers in The New York Times. Mike Masnick sums it up on the Techdirt blog: “The complexity of many computing systems has reached such a level that pinpointing problems is a lot more like forecasting the weather than anything else. You have some general idea of where the problems might occur, but there’s a lot of guesswork involved.” nytimes.comtechdirt.com

Nationalise the web

China says that it, too, is the victim of cyber-espionage after it was accused of attacking government networks in Britain and the US. China’s proposed solution? Tightened government control of the web. china.org.cnwww.pentagon.mil

Online most read

1 Nude Vanessa Hudgens and Disney
2 Madeleine McCann: the key questions
3 Britney Spears returns to the stage
4 Madeleine McCann’s hair found in car
5 Police push to charge Kate McCann
6 Madeleine: one fact, many lies
7 DNA sample in McCanns’ car
8 Young Muslims’ right to abandon faith
9 Judge to decide on McCann charges
10 Worst crisis for 20 years, say banks

Source: Times Online September 7-13, worldwide users of site

Times recommends

• Sony Reader could kill off the book
• Make 3D images with your own camera
• Lifelike animation heralds new era for computer games