What a cheap stunt on the part of Mozilla. It's things like this that help keep Firefox from being adopted in corporate settings. Anyway, I look at this as yet another reminder that you shouldn't give anyone any resource or information that isn't absolutely mandatory for your use of the service. Do you think I'm wearing a tinfoil hat or something? No, here's why. Even if the recipient doesn't actively abuse your information, they can't protect it anyway. Whoever steals your data absolutely will misuse it, so in my mind there's very little if any difference. So what should you do?
* turn off all the telemetry, crash reports, and sharing of diagnostic information that you can, everywhere you can (apps, OS, browsers, etc.). If you run Windows 10, good luck
* whenever a field says "optional", don't fill it in. This goes for paper as well as virtual. Never share full SSNs, no matter what the form says.
* opt out of all the data sharing you can do and get off all the lists you can - whether Internet-based, phone call, or even letters. Budget time to periodically do this
* get free email addresses and give those out if you have to register. Give out your crappy VoIP number that you don't need and give that out if you have to. It's better than a fake number because it's actually yours (and some losers out there actually use a phone number like a unique identifier)
There's a lot more that can be done, but this is the absolute minimum and you don't have to be technically savvy to do these things. You may still lose the information that you had no choice in sharing, but at least they can't lose what they never had. Regardless of what you do, privacy is dead and has been for a long time. If you want any chance at that, you're going to have to do things like use Tor/Tails (and keep in mind that there are significant functionality trade offs when you go down that road). Ironically, this starts to get into Mr. Robot territory.
And speaking of irony, yes I do realize that in posting this I violated my own rule. But I guess it's worth taking the hit if anyone is inspired.
As Bob once said, you gotta serve somebody. But it's probably not a bad idea to take stock of your techsploitators every now and then, if for no other reason than you might need to jump ship when they do something that isn't advantageous to you.
However, this is an amazingly naive article at best. There's absolutely no mention of cloud services! Seriously, how can this dude think driving to Target somehow counts as "giving up" Amazon when AWS powers so much of the world's online presence? He forgot about iCloud, he forgot about all the other Google services he most certainly uses, etc etc. And guess what, there's at least one more multi-conglomerate you forgot about: your ISP which you probably pay more to over the long term than any of the Five. Call it the scary six (or more likely seven since he probably pays for both wired and wireless like many of us do).
So I'm going to assume for a second that these people "really" think this is a possibility, and that it's not just stupid PR crap. Seems to me the reason they believe this is that their lives really do feel like a simulation, because they are that disconnected from the typical Everyman/Everywoman existence that mere mortals have to live. That, and the fact that the whole line of thought is just an exercise in who can be the most self-aggrandizing. Trust me, if they do break out of the simulation, they'll wish they took the blue pill.
Damn, this post is total gibberish. But I guess the OP's point is that the CD is 26 years old and we still use it? In other news...the CD is the new floppy and people will keep using it until they stop.
For years I've felt that Steve Jobs is kind of like Willy Wonka. You remember what happens when you cross Willy Wonka? Next thing you know, you're a freakin' snozzberry.
Everyone loves you and thinks you'd be a good match for each other. So please get together, if for no other reason than quelling these "will-they-or-won't-they" rumors that keep cropping up.
Slashdot Mirror
* turn off all the telemetry, crash reports, and sharing of diagnostic information that you can, everywhere you can (apps, OS, browsers, etc.). If you run Windows 10, good luck
* whenever a field says "optional", don't fill it in. This goes for paper as well as virtual. Never share full SSNs, no matter what the form says.
* opt out of all the data sharing you can do and get off all the lists you can - whether Internet-based, phone call, or even letters. Budget time to periodically do this
* get free email addresses and give those out if you have to register. Give out your crappy VoIP number that you don't need and give that out if you have to. It's better than a fake number because it's actually yours (and some losers out there actually use a phone number like a unique identifier)
There's a lot more that can be done, but this is the absolute minimum and you don't have to be technically savvy to do these things. You may still lose the information that you had no choice in sharing, but at least they can't lose what they never had. Regardless of what you do, privacy is dead and has been for a long time. If you want any chance at that, you're going to have to do things like use Tor/Tails (and keep in mind that there are significant functionality trade offs when you go down that road). Ironically, this starts to get into Mr. Robot territory.
And speaking of irony, yes I do realize that in posting this I violated my own rule. But I guess it's worth taking the hit if anyone is inspired.
As Bob once said, you gotta serve somebody. But it's probably not a bad idea to take stock of your techsploitators every now and then, if for no other reason than you might need to jump ship when they do something that isn't advantageous to you. However, this is an amazingly naive article at best. There's absolutely no mention of cloud services! Seriously, how can this dude think driving to Target somehow counts as "giving up" Amazon when AWS powers so much of the world's online presence? He forgot about iCloud, he forgot about all the other Google services he most certainly uses, etc etc. And guess what, there's at least one more multi-conglomerate you forgot about: your ISP which you probably pay more to over the long term than any of the Five. Call it the scary six (or more likely seven since he probably pays for both wired and wireless like many of us do).
So I'm going to assume for a second that these people "really" think this is a possibility, and that it's not just stupid PR crap. Seems to me the reason they believe this is that their lives really do feel like a simulation, because they are that disconnected from the typical Everyman/Everywoman existence that mere mortals have to live. That, and the fact that the whole line of thought is just an exercise in who can be the most self-aggrandizing. Trust me, if they do break out of the simulation, they'll wish they took the blue pill.
Oh no, it's difficult to do the right thing! In many organizations, they would respond by saying "You're fired!" Good thing this guy works for Adobe.
Damn, this post is total gibberish. But I guess the OP's point is that the CD is 26 years old and we still use it? In other news...the CD is the new floppy and people will keep using it until they stop.
Isn't Moore's Law from the mid-60s, not 2005 as cited in the summary?
For years I've felt that Steve Jobs is kind of like Willy Wonka. You remember what happens when you cross Willy Wonka? Next thing you know, you're a freakin' snozzberry.
I powered my Mac off yesterday and forgot to turn it back on. Try it again now...
Here's what happens when you give those guys "freedom to innovate"
Next thing you know they'll be coquettishly batting eyelashes at each other and accidently eating the same strand of spaghetti.
but I wish my life could have one.
but I also happen to be far too lazy to do any of that shit.
an answer to the question "Who watches the watchmen"
Dear Apple and Google,
Everyone loves you and thinks you'd be a good match for each other. So please get together, if for no other reason than quelling these "will-they-or-won't-they" rumors that keep cropping up.
Stay safe,
VJ
It's huge!
n/t
n/t
It was inevitable...they couldn't resist each other.
Yes, but I hear that in this edition Diahann Carroll shoots first...