Security is getting worse.

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ChrisGreaves
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Security is getting worse.

Post by ChrisGreaves »

This thread ("WiFi Vulnerabilities") links to a web page that issues a preview of an animation. (What follows is not a criticism of the poster, but an observation of a more general philosophy of web designers)

Unlike the web of yesteryear, today's web pages are by design more and more likely to take control of my computer.

By now we are familiar with movies that automatically pop-up with audio, causing us to scramble for the mute button, and (in the case of at least one member of Eileen's Lounge) on arrival at the local public library, forming the habit of plugging the audio jack with the earbuds by default.

The web/internet is no longer as safe a place to obtain readable data as it was.

Back in the day we loaded a web page, read it with our eyes, and then by our decision processed that data to obtain information, including "I should cause this action to take place", where the action might be to play the movie, advance to another page ("Please take a minute to respond to our questionnaire") or even "Upgrade to Build 123.4567.890" with or without first creating a restore point.

Perhaps on balance the world is a safer place for some automated security measures, but I doubt it.

I have spent four days in St John's, my plans to ride public transit thwarted by Metrobus, and I have been watching TV for a few hours each night. I am appalled at the quantity (and low quality) of commercial breaks. For thirty years I have thought of commercial, and even non-commercial TV as "taking control of my mind". I am a luddite and do not subscribe to TV at home.

I worry that as year succeeds each year we relinquish control of our critical thought processes to a diminishing population of decision makers.

I suspect that already we are not the sentient beings we once were.

Present Company Excepted, of course.

Chris
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stuck
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Re: Security is getting worse.

Post by stuck »

ChrisGreaves wrote:...I worry that as year succeeds each year we relinquish control of our critical thought processes to a diminishing population of decision makers...
Along the same lines, there was an item on the BBC Radio 4 Today programme this morning (http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b098bsv2%20at%207:40) that discussed this book:
https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/1110592 ... hout-mind/

Ken

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ChrisGreaves
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Re: Security is getting worse.

Post by ChrisGreaves »

stuck wrote:... BBC Radio 4 Today programme this morning (http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b098bsv2%20at%207:40) that discussed this book:
https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/1110592 ... hout-mind/
Hi Ken.
I've read a couple of books along these lines lately, not so much the fear-mongering as the awareness.
I conceded that my post was fear-mongering.
I take issue with the reviewer (I haven't yet read Foer's book) at the confusion sowed by using the word "information" where "data" should be used.
As Ian Sharpe used to say "We Process Data to get Information", and I suspect it is those who take data and treat it as information without first processing it (analyzing, testing, reviewing etc) who are most likely drugged into being zombies.

Cheers
Chris
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BobH
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Re: Security is getting worse.

Post by BobH »

You brought in entertainment in the form of TV and TV commercials. I will extend the criticism to movies.

In 1965 I started working nights - in a bank's computer operations department - and returned to university during days. Demands on my time were so great that there were weeks when I got a total of 6 hours sleep from Monday through Thursday. TV and movies left the sphere of my activities. For decades I attended no movie screenings and watched very little entertainment TV other than some of the PBS programming available on Sunday evenings. Between '65 and 2015 I can recall seeing only 5 or 6 movies and 3 of those were doing daddy-duty entertaining my daughter and friends with kid movies. We kept a subscription to cable programming which I watched very little. Recently, I started streaming entertainment and other content with the Amazon Prime FireTV Stick then I dropped cable service and picked up DirecTVNow packaged with our cell phone services.

The thing that has been most blatant for me is the amount of foul language in almost every program. Words that I rarely heard outside the locker room are now so common that they come from the mouths of attractive women of all ages . . . and worse yet from the mouths of children. I've mulled over what happened in my mind during the years of my absence from such programming and have come to the conclusion that the change is not accidental but inserted to appeal to a certain audience demographic - one that I would associate with the lack of intellectual depth of teenagers. The other audience that I think is targeted is that of the socially disaffected due to economic or IQ limitations.

I find the language issue is worse than using nudity of the female form to appeal to prurient interests in men. That trend seems to have peaked in the '70s and tapered out somewhat. Perhaps modern social norms of acceptable dress for women which has turned to a great deal more baring of flesh even in environments where it was virtually unknown for most of my life has somewhat diminished the prurient appeal. Now depictions of sexual coupling seem to have replaced other nudity. I'm reluctant to view such programming in the company of my wife and cringe if our daughter and son-in-law choose a movie with such content. Perhaps I've become a dinosaur without realizing it.

If anyone has other insight on this shift as to when, why and how it occurred, I'd value a discussion of views here or in PMs.
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ChrisGreaves
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Re: Security is getting worse.

Post by ChrisGreaves »

ChrisGreaves wrote:... Unlike the web of yesteryear, today's web pages are by design more and more likely to take control of my computer. ...
And then, while my back was turned, Steve Paiking interviewed Franklin Foer in a presentation titles "Beware the Tech Titans?"

Chris
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