I think it's even worse than just plain old garden-variety theft of our personal information. There has also been for some time now a systematic indoctrination of the general public, the younger generation in particular, that the desire for 'privacy' is either a symptom of some sort of mental illness, or evidence of criminal intent, and that 'sharing' of everything with everyone (even if you've never met them in person, only ever online) via so-called 'social media' is what's normal and natural. Then there's the fact that ubiquitos mobile devices (smartphones, tablets, etc) lack what I'd consider even a basic level of data security, as well as 'apps' intentionally harvesting data (GPS coordinates, browsing habits, etc) without the knowledge of the end-user. Add to all this the harvesting of all Internet traffic of individual users by ISPs and wireless companies, plus actual criminals and criminal organizations actively exploiting security holes and weaknesses to outright steal people's identity and banking data, both over the Internet, and in real life via hardware devices like card skimmers (both activities are, relatively speaking, rampant). No one is particularly interested in fixing any of these situations, either, because actually giving people the means by which to secure their digital devices and their personal data to a reasonable degree would mean the end of the monetization of end-user data by so-called 'people farmers'. Of course none of this even begins to touch on what 'law enforcement' agencies and 'government intelligence' agencies are getting out of this Wild West of Internet data rustling; they all have every reason, in their natural mode of over-reaching and obsessive need to control everything and everyone, to allow it all to continue, because it makes it that much easier for them to grab any and all data on any and all persons they care to. Meanwhile it's only the ever-thinner patina of actual rule of law and basic human and civil rights that keep all of this in check to any extent -- and those aspects of our society are weakening, especially in the most recent major change in our socio-political landscape here in the United States. At this point in time, the only way to protect yourself at all from further intrusions is to leave the Internet behind entirely and go back to the old ways of doing things: write paper checks for your bills, pay cash for everything, use a landline phone, stay off the Internet entirely, or just stop having Internet access altogether. Of course the situation has degenerated to the point already where if you 'go off the grid' like that, you raise all sorts of red flags, sparking even more intrusions of your privacy, as our so-called 'law enforcement' investigates you for suspected terrorism. All in all it's a dark time we're currently living in, and I'm afraid it's going to get darker before it gets better. The only advice I can give anyone is to hold on; these things tend to go in cycles. Eventually, there will be a revolution of sorts, and reforms to roll back all the intrusions into people's lives. The younger generation may, for the moment, believe that 'privacy' is some sort of sickness, but as they get older, they'll understand what it is they gave away -- and they might well fight to get it back, if not for themselves, then for the next generation.
Get rid of the time change and make it light an hour longer in the evening. Who really gives a damn if dawn is an hour later every day? Most people work. So you're going to work in the dark, so what? Wouldn't most people prefer having it be light outside for a while after they leave work, even in mid-December?
Am I not remembering correctly, or am I correct in that when a packet is routed past it's original logical subnet, the MAC address is no longer part of the packet header, in which case the ability to track individual users is only possible within the logical subnet, and therefore only the ISP or wireless provider can track you?
That's up to you. If your memory is poor, or you can't be bothered to record them somewhere safe (or use some other system to remember them), then that's the end-users' problem.
None of that has a single thing to do with Trump. Hell, there's things that Obama did in his first term that we'll just start seeing the effects of now. It's always been that way, the wheels turn slowly enough that it takes years for effects to become evident.
See, here's the obvious thing that people don't seem to understand: Banks do use those 'security questions', but there's no compulsion to use answers consistent with the question being asked. You could even use totally random strings for those, too, if you wanted to.
Somehow I don't think 'piracy' is impacting their bottom line so much as outdated advertising models, and the general publics' rejection of it are affecting it.
Stopped reading at 'president', you mook; the word is PRECEDENT.
Oh, and by the way, I forgot to mention: We (the U.S.) has already been there, repeatedly, and we left our flag planted there. We could lay claim to the Moon if we really wanted to, but we wanted to play nice with everyone else.
Now, get your crap out of the South China Sea already; NOT YOURS, EITHER.
Anyone want to take a bet the Chinese will try to claim they 'own' part of the moon (if not the whole thing), just because they landed on it and planted a flag, regardless of any international agreements to the contrary? South China Sea, the Moon, what's the difference, right? Just 'build' something on it, and stand there with a rifle claiming it's yours now, right?
Old and busted: The Middle East, Ukraine, ISIS New hotness: Moonwars
You, too, like another commenter, seem to have been living in a bomb shelter or something for the last several decades, or for some other reason just don't see the problem (or don't want to see the problem, or are PART of the problem).
Did you come here from an alternate Earth or have you been living in a bomb shelter for the last 50 or 60 years or so, and just came out now? Racism is not 'ended', not by a long shot, it's alive and well and still quite virulent; go read the news a little more than just headlines. The racists just went underground when they got shouted down too often. Lately they're coming out of the woodwork again (gee I wonder why?). There won't be an end to racism until humans, as an entire species, doesn't think that way anymore. We're not even close to that goal.
What's at the core of the gender pay gap is sexism, and the way to remove that problem is the same way you remove racism: change hearts and minds so discrimination is no longer part of human nature. Of course easier said than done, I don't believe this is the sort of change that can be educated into people, negotiated, legislated, or forced, I believe it's something that the human race will have to evolve out of -- if they ever do at all.
I already wrote a reply to this but somehow it disappeared.
I'm not talking about someone 'preferring' solitude to crowds -- FFS, *I* prefer solitude to crowds -- but I don't have panic attacks because I'm around people, and I don't avoid social gatherings because I just can't handle it, either. You've failed to answer my primary question, so I'll have to ask it again: How is it a GOOD THING that someone has to go through life dealing with such crippling social anxiety that they can't handle being around people, going to social gatherings, or even having a telephone conversation? Don't you think that would be a disability? Again: I am NOT TALKING ABOUT A 'PERSONAL PREFERENCE', I am talking about an IRRATIONAL FEAR OF SOCIAL SITUATIONS. For cryin' out loud, I used to be that way but I managed to develop myself out of it, and have benefitted thereby, don't tell me I don't understand it!
I disagree. Being someone who, when growing up, was introverted, I have perspective. I got over it, and I benefitted thereby. Seriously, are you advocating a life where you get walked on, overlooked, and disregarded, simply because you can't bring yourself to speak up, or step forward, or take a risk? it isn't always easy, and there are times when I backslide and just can't deal with a situation (and feel like I'm a kid again) but those are few and far between and serve to remind me how far I've come -- and that I've enjoyed my life much more for developing the extroverted side of my personality.
Here's the thing, though: Being avoidant isn't going to encourage you to get better at social interactions. You have to get out of your comfort zone in order for that to happen. In that context, so-called 'social media' and the internet in general are just enabling your introverted tendencies.
I've been saying what they're saying about so-called 'social media' for years now; it gives people a reason to stay apart, not so much 'bringing people together'. Sure, if you're separated by thousands of miles, it can help you keep in touch with what's going on with people you know. But so do phone calls and, to a lesser extent, emails. Too many people use so-called 'social media' as more of a 'social substitute'. The problem is anything on a computer screen is not a substitute for real, live interaction with other people. If you're young, I can see 'social media' being devastating to your development of social skills: people can say and do all sorts of things on the internet that you'd never dare do in a real-life situation, because the consequences are so much less, or non-existent. And, of course, so-called 'social media' really exists to monetize people and their personal lives, not to provide any great service to humanity. All in all so-called 'social media', in my opinion, is rather destructive and we'd be better off with less of it and more live interaction.
That's what I'd say if I were still repairing arcade games (gladly, that era of my life is well behind me now). CRT monitors that were used in arcade games were typically not the greatest quality and were constantly having problems. Electrolytic caps blowing out, flyback transformers (and the transistor driving them) blowing out, other miscellaneous problems.. then there's the cheapskate operators, who would insist on trying to patch back together 20 year old monitors with CRTs that had severely burned phospors (the worst being a Pac Man monitor so burned you could see the entire first maze, and the default high score, with the power off) because they were too cheap to replace them. While modern LCD monitors aren't terribly repairable (other than things like backlight inverters), they're also more reliable.
Of course there are fewer and fewer actual coin-op arcade games of any sort anymore. The home game console market and computer gaming have more or less killed it off.
I don't want someone else picking out my groceries for me (especially produce, meat, cheese, and bulk food items), and I don't want a robot delivering them either.
Ignore the idiot children and garden-variety trolls (who, likely, can't cut it on 4chan, so they come here instead) and the Millennials, who were raised by the internets and don't even have the social skills to interact with waitstaff at a sit-down restaurant without having a panic attack.
You go to a sit-down restaurant, paying a premium for the privilege, to get a dining experience that is different from eating in your kitchen at home: You have pleasant waitstaff explaining what the daily specials are, and interacting with you on a human-to-human level, someone else is doing all the preparing, cooking, and setting the presentation, you have waitstaff brining you the meal you selected, and you don't have to worry about the dishes afterwards. Reducing that down to the level of ordering a pizza online cheapens the experience for the diner. You'll never find high-end restaurants doing things this way, ever, and for good reason: they'd go out of business.
I think Ubers' 'Terms of Service' including 'circumventing laws' and 'evading law enforcement' tells you all anyone needs to know about Uber, even without all the legitimate news stories about Uber drivers committing acts of violence against passengers. Uber acts like something run by the Mob and should probably be shut down, permanently.
You're not reading everything. If the government goes the route of 'protect the wealthy' and throws the average citizen under the bus, they're pretty much guaranteeing Civil War will happen. The U.S. going down that route would more or less ensure that the Free World comes to an end, and with countries like Russia, run by Putin (who clearly wants to resurrect the Soviet Union) and China with it's obvious expansionism, we'd soon have World War 3. With all the nukes in so many countries, someone is bound to launch (at least) one. Bye bye, human race. Now, do you really think politicians here in the U.S., and their advisors, aren't also thinking about these things? They won't allow it to happen. I've said it before and I'll say it again: Humans cannot, by definition, become OBSOLETE. These so-called 'AIs', (which, I point out for the 1E+6th time, are not REALLY AIs at all) are just tools and are not ever going to 'take over'. That's complete and total science fantasy worthy of only a made-for-TV movie on SyFy, and governments are not going to let huge swaths of their populations go jobless, hungry, and homeless, either, because they know damned well what will happen if they do. Really, honestly, seriously, some of you need to stop taking stuff you see on TV and in movies so damned seriously.
Slashdot Mirror
I think it's even worse than just plain old garden-variety theft of our personal information. There has also been for some time now a systematic indoctrination of the general public, the younger generation in particular, that the desire for 'privacy' is either a symptom of some sort of mental illness, or evidence of criminal intent, and that 'sharing' of everything with everyone (even if you've never met them in person, only ever online) via so-called 'social media' is what's normal and natural. Then there's the fact that ubiquitos mobile devices (smartphones, tablets, etc) lack what I'd consider even a basic level of data security, as well as 'apps' intentionally harvesting data (GPS coordinates, browsing habits, etc) without the knowledge of the end-user. Add to all this the harvesting of all Internet traffic of individual users by ISPs and wireless companies, plus actual criminals and criminal organizations actively exploiting security holes and weaknesses to outright steal people's identity and banking data, both over the Internet, and in real life via hardware devices like card skimmers (both activities are, relatively speaking, rampant). No one is particularly interested in fixing any of these situations, either, because actually giving people the means by which to secure their digital devices and their personal data to a reasonable degree would mean the end of the monetization of end-user data by so-called 'people farmers'. Of course none of this even begins to touch on what 'law enforcement' agencies and 'government intelligence' agencies are getting out of this Wild West of Internet data rustling; they all have every reason, in their natural mode of over-reaching and obsessive need to control everything and everyone, to allow it all to continue, because it makes it that much easier for them to grab any and all data on any and all persons they care to. Meanwhile it's only the ever-thinner patina of actual rule of law and basic human and civil rights that keep all of this in check to any extent -- and those aspects of our society are weakening, especially in the most recent major change in our socio-political landscape here in the United States. At this point in time, the only way to protect yourself at all from further intrusions is to leave the Internet behind entirely and go back to the old ways of doing things: write paper checks for your bills, pay cash for everything, use a landline phone, stay off the Internet entirely, or just stop having Internet access altogether. Of course the situation has degenerated to the point already where if you 'go off the grid' like that, you raise all sorts of red flags, sparking even more intrusions of your privacy, as our so-called 'law enforcement' investigates you for suspected terrorism. All in all it's a dark time we're currently living in, and I'm afraid it's going to get darker before it gets better. The only advice I can give anyone is to hold on; these things tend to go in cycles. Eventually, there will be a revolution of sorts, and reforms to roll back all the intrusions into people's lives. The younger generation may, for the moment, believe that 'privacy' is some sort of sickness, but as they get older, they'll understand what it is they gave away -- and they might well fight to get it back, if not for themselves, then for the next generation.
Get rid of the time change and make it light an hour longer in the evening. Who really gives a damn if dawn is an hour later every day? Most people work. So you're going to work in the dark, so what? Wouldn't most people prefer having it be light outside for a while after they leave work, even in mid-December?
Am I not remembering correctly, or am I correct in that when a packet is routed past it's original logical subnet, the MAC address is no longer part of the packet header, in which case the ability to track individual users is only possible within the logical subnet, and therefore only the ISP or wireless provider can track you?
That's up to you. If your memory is poor, or you can't be bothered to record them somewhere safe (or use some other system to remember them), then that's the end-users' problem.
None of that has a single thing to do with Trump. Hell, there's things that Obama did in his first term that we'll just start seeing the effects of now. It's always been that way, the wheels turn slowly enough that it takes years for effects to become evident.
See, here's the obvious thing that people don't seem to understand: Banks do use those 'security questions', but there's no compulsion to use answers consistent with the question being asked. You could even use totally random strings for those, too, if you wanted to.
Somehow I don't think 'piracy' is impacting their bottom line so much as outdated advertising models, and the general publics' rejection of it are affecting it.
Stopped reading at 'president', you mook; the word is PRECEDENT.
Oh, and by the way, I forgot to mention: We (the U.S.) has already been there, repeatedly, and we left our flag planted there. We could lay claim to the Moon if we really wanted to, but we wanted to play nice with everyone else.
Now, get your crap out of the South China Sea already; NOT YOURS, EITHER.
Anyone want to take a bet the Chinese will try to claim they 'own' part of the moon (if not the whole thing), just because they landed on it and planted a flag, regardless of any international agreements to the contrary? South China Sea, the Moon, what's the difference, right? Just 'build' something on it, and stand there with a rifle claiming it's yours now, right?
Old and busted: The Middle East, Ukraine, ISIS
New hotness: Moonwars
Fine. Show me your 'evidence', ALL of your 'evidence', and don't waste my time with non-credible, non-verifiable sources.
You, too, like another commenter, seem to have been living in a bomb shelter or something for the last several decades, or for some other reason just don't see the problem (or don't want to see the problem, or are PART of the problem).
Did you come here from an alternate Earth or have you been living in a bomb shelter for the last 50 or 60 years or so, and just came out now? Racism is not 'ended', not by a long shot, it's alive and well and still quite virulent; go read the news a little more than just headlines. The racists just went underground when they got shouted down too often. Lately they're coming out of the woodwork again (gee I wonder why?). There won't be an end to racism until humans, as an entire species, doesn't think that way anymore. We're not even close to that goal.
What's at the core of the gender pay gap is sexism, and the way to remove that problem is the same way you remove racism: change hearts and minds so discrimination is no longer part of human nature. Of course easier said than done, I don't believe this is the sort of change that can be educated into people, negotiated, legislated, or forced, I believe it's something that the human race will have to evolve out of -- if they ever do at all.
I already wrote a reply to this but somehow it disappeared.
I'm not talking about someone 'preferring' solitude to crowds -- FFS, *I* prefer solitude to crowds -- but I don't have panic attacks because I'm around people, and I don't avoid social gatherings because I just can't handle it, either. You've failed to answer my primary question, so I'll have to ask it again: How is it a GOOD THING that someone has to go through life dealing with such crippling social anxiety that they can't handle being around people, going to social gatherings, or even having a telephone conversation? Don't you think that would be a disability? Again: I am NOT TALKING ABOUT A 'PERSONAL PREFERENCE', I am talking about an IRRATIONAL FEAR OF SOCIAL SITUATIONS. For cryin' out loud, I used to be that way but I managed to develop myself out of it, and have benefitted thereby, don't tell me I don't understand it!
Okay.. but you haven't yet explained how that's a wonderful way to go through life, and why someone should just endure living like that?
Being introverted, however, is perfectly fine.
I disagree. Being someone who, when growing up, was introverted, I have perspective. I got over it, and I benefitted thereby. Seriously, are you advocating a life where you get walked on, overlooked, and disregarded, simply because you can't bring yourself to speak up, or step forward, or take a risk? it isn't always easy, and there are times when I backslide and just can't deal with a situation (and feel like I'm a kid again) but those are few and far between and serve to remind me how far I've come -- and that I've enjoyed my life much more for developing the extroverted side of my personality.
Here's the thing, though: Being avoidant isn't going to encourage you to get better at social interactions. You have to get out of your comfort zone in order for that to happen. In that context, so-called 'social media' and the internet in general are just enabling your introverted tendencies.
I've been saying what they're saying about so-called 'social media' for years now; it gives people a reason to stay apart, not so much 'bringing people together'. Sure, if you're separated by thousands of miles, it can help you keep in touch with what's going on with people you know. But so do phone calls and, to a lesser extent, emails. Too many people use so-called 'social media' as more of a 'social substitute'. The problem is anything on a computer screen is not a substitute for real, live interaction with other people. If you're young, I can see 'social media' being devastating to your development of social skills: people can say and do all sorts of things on the internet that you'd never dare do in a real-life situation, because the consequences are so much less, or non-existent. And, of course, so-called 'social media' really exists to monetize people and their personal lives, not to provide any great service to humanity. All in all so-called 'social media', in my opinion, is rather destructive and we'd be better off with less of it and more live interaction.
That's what I'd say if I were still repairing arcade games (gladly, that era of my life is well behind me now). CRT monitors that were used in arcade games were typically not the greatest quality and were constantly having problems. Electrolytic caps blowing out, flyback transformers (and the transistor driving them) blowing out, other miscellaneous problems.. then there's the cheapskate operators, who would insist on trying to patch back together 20 year old monitors with CRTs that had severely burned phospors (the worst being a Pac Man monitor so burned you could see the entire first maze, and the default high score, with the power off) because they were too cheap to replace them. While modern LCD monitors aren't terribly repairable (other than things like backlight inverters), they're also more reliable.
Of course there are fewer and fewer actual coin-op arcade games of any sort anymore. The home game console market and computer gaming have more or less killed it off.
I don't want someone else picking out my groceries for me (especially produce, meat, cheese, and bulk food items), and I don't want a robot delivering them either.
Ignore the idiot children and garden-variety trolls (who, likely, can't cut it on 4chan, so they come here instead) and the Millennials, who were raised by the internets and don't even have the social skills to interact with waitstaff at a sit-down restaurant without having a panic attack.
You go to a sit-down restaurant, paying a premium for the privilege, to get a dining experience that is different from eating in your kitchen at home: You have pleasant waitstaff explaining what the daily specials are, and interacting with you on a human-to-human level, someone else is doing all the preparing, cooking, and setting the presentation, you have waitstaff brining you the meal you selected, and you don't have to worry about the dishes afterwards. Reducing that down to the level of ordering a pizza online cheapens the experience for the diner. You'll never find high-end restaurants doing things this way, ever, and for good reason: they'd go out of business.
Exactly, precisely what you're saying; this sounds like a recipe for 'distracted driving', and we have laws on the books prohibiting that.
I think Ubers' 'Terms of Service' including 'circumventing laws' and 'evading law enforcement' tells you all anyone needs to know about Uber, even without all the legitimate news stories about Uber drivers committing acts of violence against passengers. Uber acts like something run by the Mob and should probably be shut down, permanently.
You're not reading everything. If the government goes the route of 'protect the wealthy' and throws the average citizen under the bus, they're pretty much guaranteeing Civil War will happen. The U.S. going down that route would more or less ensure that the Free World comes to an end, and with countries like Russia, run by Putin (who clearly wants to resurrect the Soviet Union) and China with it's obvious expansionism, we'd soon have World War 3. With all the nukes in so many countries, someone is bound to launch (at least) one. Bye bye, human race. Now, do you really think politicians here in the U.S., and their advisors, aren't also thinking about these things? They won't allow it to happen. I've said it before and I'll say it again: Humans cannot, by definition, become OBSOLETE. These so-called 'AIs', (which, I point out for the 1E+6th time, are not REALLY AIs at all) are just tools and are not ever going to 'take over'. That's complete and total science fantasy worthy of only a made-for-TV movie on SyFy, and governments are not going to let huge swaths of their populations go jobless, hungry, and homeless, either, because they know damned well what will happen if they do. Really, honestly, seriously, some of you need to stop taking stuff you see on TV and in movies so damned seriously.
Ah, I see: a few people can't be bothered to be competent drivers, so everyone, eventually, gets their driving privlege taken away? Bullshit.