Slashdot Mirror
'Geek Speak' Confuses Net Users
jonney02 writes "BBC News is running the following story 'The average home computer user is bamboozled by technology jargon which is used to warn people about the most serious security threats online.' "
← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)
These people have to take responsibility for their online actions just like in real life
If they go giving away their CC details because they didn't understand the security warning about phishing (rubbish name by the way), then they really shouldn't expect to not get taken to the cleaners.
Would you give me your CC details in the street if I asked nicely? No? You Sure?
How about your National Security Number (Social Security Number for you yanks)? Why? Because its sensitive data and you don't want to get ripped off?
Then don't do it online without being aware of your actions.
Rant Of The Angry Brit Over
"medical speak confuses patients" and "mechanic speak confuses car owners"..
Some professions require profession specific language. Deal.
And yet many users respond to long 419 scams and 30-word emails about enlarging penises. As the saying goes, "size doesn't matter; it's what you do with it that does."
I think the difference is that after 'misunderstanding' what "check oil" means, there is generally a fairly hefty bill to pay to fix the problem.
After 'misunderstanding' the consequences of "Do you wish to open this attatchment? It may contain viruses", or whatever, the only consequence is a slightly slower computer, with possibly 'interesting' new features.
This is not the greatest conditioning tool.
If the virus/worm/whatever, actually killed the computer stone dead, and the user was then charged a fee to get it working again, I would imagine they would quickly learn.
Damnit Jim. I'm a driver, not a mechanic.
I know SFA about cars. But if a mechanic tells me my car needs to be fixed, I'll ask for clarification. Typically the mechanic pops the hook, points at things and says stuff like "well as you can see this elbow has worn through and is leaking oil; some of that go onto engine which is what caused the smoke, but it also burned through some electrics over there". He could be bullshitting me blind, but the approach and the fact that he can show me something that doesn't look right (I know what a pipe with a hole in it looks like) gives me confidence.
Switch to Joe Average Computer Support. He comes in, screws with the system for four hours, then says its fixed, and bills me. So what was wrong? "Well I downloaded an anti-virus update, new patches for your operating system, upgraded your anti-spyware, cleaned the computer, changed some configurations in Internet Explorer, emptied the recycle bin, shut down and restarted, installed a new graphics driver, changed the network adapter, and then it worked." Okay ... so I'm paying you how much for the diagnostics because you're incompetent, and how much to actually fix my problem?
Forget computer irregulars -- I know plenty of "geeks" that get nailed by every type of malware out there.
Here's the "test yourself" bit: You get an e-mail purportedly from a reputable magazine publisher; they're doing a pre-launch offer on their new IT magazine and invite you to get a free 12 month subscription if you complete an IT profile questionnaire (you know, general stuff about you and your industry). There are links to the publisher's site and to the subscription / questionnaire. The questionnaire needs some personal information like name, postal address and telephone number, plus you need to create a password for an account and give some password recovery info (mother's maiden name, etc).
So is it a scam? Note that this is pre-launch, so there's nothing on the publisher's site about this new magazine. The publisher does make this sort of offer (subscription in exchange for IT profile information) quite often though. The subscription link is on a different domain to the publisher's site, although the domain home points to the publisher's site.
How far will you go in investigating the validity of this offer? Will you ignore the offer of a years' free subscription? Did you notice that you're giving away enough information to be subject to identify theft?
i-name =twylite [http://public.xdi.org/=twylite], see idcommons.net
AOL UK provides a fairly decent no-limits, straight up PPPoA ADSL broadband connection, which you can use with any DSL router or modem -- you don't need their software anymore.
They also provide access to their email via IMAP4.
I wouldn't choose them, but they are extremely well priced in the UK broadband market and have a very good network (in terms of peering, latency and speeds) -- at least on the DSL side of things.
Nearly every other major UK ISP caps users. British Telecom for example has a 512k connection with a 1GB cap for hte same price that AOL does a unlimited one.
Also on the subject of UK Broadband news, UK Online have dropped the price of their 8mbit service to £29.99/month.. which isn't bad at all when you consider it's free activiation and a free 802.11g wireless DSL router.
IntechHosting - Free domain, 2GB, PHP, £4.95/$8.95
Just an example: I was at a friends house, watching TV. On his computer, 4 feet away, a dialog box pops up, from his firewall, warning of an attempt to connect on a port of a known trojan horse (subseven). Its bright red, with warning in big letters. Looks it belongs on star trek computers during red alert. So he clicks allow?!? i ask him why, and he says its been doing that all day and if he clicks deny it just comes up again in 10 minutes. Just to show how little people care about what things say on their computer. (he did actually have the trojan, he got it from a crack he downloaded. He had also set his antivirus to ignore it....)
Waffles rock.