4chan hacker discusses the manipulation of the Time poll

Best answer is probably just to use Facebook Connect- they're already pouring money into CS reps whose job it is to take down fake accounts. Blocks out people who aren't on Facebook, but it's a simple solution to something that can otherwise be a huge timesink.

Indeed Switzerland seems to seem think that fair internet voting is possible - http://www.geneve.ch/evoting/english/presentation_projet.asp and http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/09/25/world/main645615.s... describe how they've experimented with it in national elections.

Several (flawed)things, limit voting to ip, mail confirmation, but I think a captcha would be the best trade-off between inconvenience for the user and blocking bots.

Choosing a new salt that isn't easily obtainable in a flash applet would certainly help :)

This seems far simpler than SQL Injection of Buffer Overlow attacks. Why doesn't Time require some kind of registration? They could use registered users as a basis for, dare I say, "Web 2.0" features.

they were in mine. in fact, had a whole class and (private, disconnected, secure) lab devoted to them. covered everything from your basics (buffer overflow, sql injection) to more interesting stuff (analyzing/creating/decompiling viruses). it was my favorite class. good times.

i was thoroughly surprised when i started working in the "real world" and no one had any clue about what i thought was basic security practices.

So...where do you work?

:)

4chan, overall, might be silly, but /b/ is trolling elevated to an art form. absolutely, the most depraved and nihilistic of all the internet, so much so that it becomes something beautiful. /b/ is the works of Marquis De Sade, John Waters, Roger Corman, Banksy, Cortney Love and Dead Kennedys all rolled into one. (also, throw in Kant and Hegel for good measure, because /b/ operates under its own dialectic.)

It's the low points of humanity pursued with ecclesiastical rigor. /b/ will fuck you over in every possible way, for no reason, and you will get up whipping your bloody nose knowing you have made someone else's lulz possible. And what pleasure!