As the author of the WWW FAQ, I regularly answer questions about the workings of the Web. If a question is frequently asked, I simply add an article to the FAQ. But sometimes a question is more detailed, more in-depth— not really a FAQ, but still of interest to others. You'll find those questions, with my answers, here in Innards along with commentary on other web-technology-related topics.

Phishing attacks, in which Lying Bastards send law-abiding citizens email messages that claim to be from ebay or paypal or some other legitimate site, can be made much less effective. Here's how to do it: Microsoft needs to alter Outlook Express so that whenever a link is followed from an email message, the name of the site linked to (the rest of the URL would be both confusing and irrelevant here) is displayed in a big ol' font first in a warning dialog box. The user can add the site to an "always okay in email" list if they wish. Phishing becomes 98% less effective and no longer worth the trouble. The crowd goes wild. stripe-whores