Search form

Back to Blog

Internet Doomsday is Here

DoomsdayIf you’re reading this, odds are you are not one of the 570,000 people in the U.S. infected with the DNS Malware Virus. Congratulations. Yet, while you can still surf around to your heart’s content, ISPs are working overtime to help those less fortunate users find their way back to the information superhighway.

This morning at 12:01 the FBI shut down its DNS servers, which were acting as the only path to the Internet for hundreds of thousands of computers. s reported by CNet, the whole problem goes back to an online criminal ring from 2007 that was tinkering with computers' settings and then directing users to rogue servers that the criminals had set up. These servers then re-directed users to malicious Web sites. Late last year, the FBI arrested the ring and seized the rogue servers. But since so many infected computers relied on the servers to reach the Internet, the agency opted not to shut them down and instead converted them to legitimate DNS machines. Due to the high cost associated with operating these servers, the FBI has decided to shut them down.

ISP are taking a proactive approach to the problem with Comcast has contacting users with infected computers, according to the Wall Street Journal. Verizon has lined up technicians who can help customers remove the virus and AT&T plans to redirect infected PCs to the correct Web sites.

People who are unable to get online should call their ISP to see if their computers are infected. CNET has also posted a how-to guide to help people detect whether their PCs are pointing to the DNSChanger network.

More

The Global Search For Education: A...

“In places like Malawi where we have a large number of learners, while inadequate teachers and resources, it helps a lot to let some children be taken care of by a digital teacher.”  – Saili Mwale

How can poor children in developing countries acquire reading, writing, and counting skills when there are...

The Global Search for Education: Are We...

“If we are talking primary school, AI is probably moving too fast currently for it to make sense to try to integrate specific hot new ideas into the curriculum.  But providing a broader base of computer science education and some opportunity to try programming sounds like a good idea.” — Nick Bostrom 

In nearly...

Gifted Student Identification: The...

I think some parallels can be drawn between identifying gifted students in the classroom and scouting for talents in sports.

For instance, baseball scouts operate on various levels (e.g. high school, college, minor league) when looking to recruit.  Baseball scouts also spend ample lengths of time observing players in their natural environment; they don’t base decisions generally on one occurrence but base their selections on repeated observations and gathering much data. Also,...

The Global Search for Education:...

What is tolerance? Voltaire describes it as “the consequence of humanity. We are all formed of frailty and error; let us pardon reciprocally each other’s folly – that is the first law of nature.”

As the world becomes increasingly global, solutions to fighting bias because of an individual’s race, religion, sexual...

The Global Search for Education:...

“Is it possible to study martial arts every day and know how to play the piano by adapting the data and skills we learned in martial arts to the piano? Or what about adapting the skills learned from ballet to cooking?  The answer is yes we can.” — Opher Brayer

We’ve seen the big data. The future of work is all about imagination, given that...

A New School Year Is Starting: A...

With the new year about to begin, I’d like to share my A-Z Teaching List.

A-Always...

Tales of a Gifted Ed Resource Teacher -...

Author's Note: This is the final installment of a three-part series on my experiences working as a gifted education resource teacher. I included the references used in all three blogs at the end of this blog.

Part 3: Discussion

During this autoethnography, I explored my progression from a frustrated resource teacher, who second-guessed my decision to accept the position, to a functioning co-teacher, who, in at least in some cases, able to influence my colleagues to better...

The Global Search for Education:...

“The more we standardize school, the less our kids have the time and support to develop the ability to learn how to learn, think independently, and create initiatives that make their world better.”  – Ted Dintersmith

“Our kids will be adults in a world where automated solutions absorb all routine...

Pages