We live in interesting times indeed when avoiding the products of a company that intentionally and aggressively attacks you is considered "harming yourself".
Such as whether or not she's home at a given time, or whether or not she has company, for two obvious examples. But examples aren't needed. Even if the data really is meaningless and harmless (which it is not), it is still a fact that it's nobody's damned business.
There are plenty of reasons, such as monitoring the temperature in your refrigerator to make sure things haven't gotten too warm, keeping track of inventory and expiration dates, starting dinner a few hours before getting home, monitoring the health and maintenance status of appliances.
Well, there's no need for a toaster to be able to do internet, but look at other things that actually can benefit from it - like ventilation systems and you have a completely different case. Thermostats that can detect not only presence of people but also power consumption in a room and predict the ventilation level needed.
How are those cases different? I'm not seeing how the internet has to be involved for any of them.
What content do you want, and how do you want to pay for it? Cash, have your eyeballs assaulted with untargeted ads, or have a few, relevant targeted ads? Or no content. Those are your choices. Choose well.
I don't think those are the only choices, but I'll pretend: out of that set, my choice would be cash. If I can't have that, then untargeted ads.
I consider targeted ads to be not just annoying. They're actively evil and the worst choice of the three.
My employer owns my work machine and supplies the network it's connected to. I accept that the employer's right to monitor his own equipment and network.
However, that's a FAR cry from accepting internet surveillance. In fact, I never attach any of my personal devices to my employer's network precisely because I do not accept the surveillance of my own equipment.
I'm in my fifties and prefer embedded work myself. I find that jobs are plentiful -- but it completely depends on what part of the country you're looking in. The hot spots move over time, and only rarely are they anywhere near San Diego.
They expect you to remember WXY Corp when you're about to buy a widget or service they offer.
And it works! On the rare occasions that I see ads, I definitely remember the company the ad is for. And I avoid buying anything from that company as much as possible.
I am a bit surprised that anyone in the online ad industry recognizes that they act like scumbags, but this is too little, too late. They've already burnt their bridges with me.
Also, I notice that not a single mention was made of doing something about the primary reason I block ads: the spying. Which makes me believe that regardless of their crocodile tears now, they fully intend on continuing with what I consider to be their most objectionable practice.
Open source is certainly no panacea. The advantage of it to people who aren't into examining the source code themselves is that there are more skeptical eyes that do examine it than there are with closed-source software (the number of such eyes on closed-source is zero).
So, on this point, open source is more trustworthy than closed, but saying that is not to say that open source is entirely trustworthy.
I don't see where anybody said developers do have such an obligation.
However, the point about closed source is correct. I support the right of developers to develop according to their own tastes, and I equally engage in my own right to avoid closed source software to the greatest degree that I can.
it's not there because Yahoo or whoever wants your phone number. It's there to stop abuse.
If that's the purpose, it is a complete and total failure. Getting a new working phone number for one-time use is only slightly more difficult than getting a new email address.
Cookies are only retrievable from the originating website.
This depends on your browser. Most browsers have an option to only return cookies to the site that set them, but unless you turn it on, then the browser will serve cookies up to any site that asks, regardless of who created them.
He recommends paying cash for things that could come back to haunt you later: the drink, cigarettes, a night at the pub with mates, a habit of large triple-meat pizzas weekly, you get the point.
I recommend using cash for all purchases as far as possible. Even completely innocent and innocuous purchases reveal far more about you than you think, when they are collected and analyzed as a whole.
Slashdot Mirror
Windows 10 is incredibly easy to avoid. I'm doing it right now.
You're only harming yourself, really.
We live in interesting times indeed when avoiding the products of a company that intentionally and aggressively attacks you is considered "harming yourself".
Lastly, 99% of all home invasions are done by drugged out violent criminals, not highly educated and skilled hackers.
Most malicious hackers are not highly educated or skilled. They're script kiddies running tools made by someone else.
Such as whether or not she's home at a given time, or whether or not she has company, for two obvious examples. But examples aren't needed. Even if the data really is meaningless and harmless (which it is not), it is still a fact that it's nobody's damned business.
There are plenty of reasons, such as monitoring the temperature in your refrigerator to make sure things haven't gotten too warm, keeping track of inventory and expiration dates, starting dinner a few hours before getting home, monitoring the health and maintenance status of appliances.
None of which require an internet connection.
Well, there's no need for a toaster to be able to do internet, but look at other things that actually can benefit from it - like ventilation systems and you have a completely different case. Thermostats that can detect not only presence of people but also power consumption in a room and predict the ventilation level needed.
How are those cases different? I'm not seeing how the internet has to be involved for any of them.
Wha?? Putting bread in the fridge guarantees that the bread will become stale in under 10 hours. Freezing is even worse.
You can do all of these things right now without involving the internet at all.
The last thing in the world I want is more of my devices sending data about me and my belongings to servers that I do not control.
For what I hope are obvious reasons.
Like I'm going to do business with a company that is even more obnoxious and evil than Amazon.
What content do you want, and how do you want to pay for it? Cash, have your eyeballs assaulted with untargeted ads, or have a few, relevant targeted ads? Or no content. Those are your choices. Choose well.
I don't think those are the only choices, but I'll pretend: out of that set, my choice would be cash. If I can't have that, then untargeted ads.
I consider targeted ads to be not just annoying. They're actively evil and the worst choice of the three.
My employer owns my work machine and supplies the network it's connected to. I accept that the employer's right to monitor his own equipment and network.
However, that's a FAR cry from accepting internet surveillance. In fact, I never attach any of my personal devices to my employer's network precisely because I do not accept the surveillance of my own equipment.
Making something like ad blocking ubiquitous naturally kills it, but does that stop nerds from showing everybody how to block ads?
Huh? What's been killed? Blocking ads still works just fine.
Maybe the older guys are wise enough not to go and work at Facebook.
Some, probably. Personally, you couldn't pay me enough to work at a place like Facebook, Google, Microsoft, etc.
I'm in my fifties and prefer embedded work myself. I find that jobs are plentiful -- but it completely depends on what part of the country you're looking in. The hot spots move over time, and only rarely are they anywhere near San Diego.
They expect you to remember WXY Corp when you're about to buy a widget or service they offer.
And it works! On the rare occasions that I see ads, I definitely remember the company the ad is for. And I avoid buying anything from that company as much as possible.
I am a bit surprised that anyone in the online ad industry recognizes that they act like scumbags, but this is too little, too late. They've already burnt their bridges with me.
Also, I notice that not a single mention was made of doing something about the primary reason I block ads: the spying. Which makes me believe that regardless of their crocodile tears now, they fully intend on continuing with what I consider to be their most objectionable practice.
Open source is certainly no panacea. The advantage of it to people who aren't into examining the source code themselves is that there are more skeptical eyes that do examine it than there are with closed-source software (the number of such eyes on closed-source is zero).
So, on this point, open source is more trustworthy than closed, but saying that is not to say that open source is entirely trustworthy.
I don't see where anybody said developers do have such an obligation.
However, the point about closed source is correct. I support the right of developers to develop according to their own tastes, and I equally engage in my own right to avoid closed source software to the greatest degree that I can.
it's not there because Yahoo or whoever wants your phone number. It's there to stop abuse.
If that's the purpose, it is a complete and total failure. Getting a new working phone number for one-time use is only slightly more difficult than getting a new email address.
People appear to hate the idea of the original internet: open standards with communications that were not monitized or centrally controlled.
Companies, not people. The commercialization of the internet has successfully destroyed a huge part of what made the internet great.
But one solid thing the internet has taught me: "teen" usually means someone aged 20-30.
Cookies are only retrievable from the originating website.
This depends on your browser. Most browsers have an option to only return cookies to the site that set them, but unless you turn it on, then the browser will serve cookies up to any site that asks, regardless of who created them.
He recommends paying cash for things that could come back to haunt you later: the drink, cigarettes, a night at the pub with mates, a habit of large triple-meat pizzas weekly, you get the point.
I recommend using cash for all purchases as far as possible. Even completely innocent and innocuous purchases reveal far more about you than you think, when they are collected and analyzed as a whole.
Hell, I still laugh at people who use their real names online.