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Monday links

9 Comments

  1. MamaLiberty
    MamaLiberty December 29, 2014 1:35 pm

    No spies in my christmas present… the sewing machine is as dumb as a spoon. I was amazed to see all the offerings of sewing machines with computer components in them, however. I can’t imagine why I’d want a sewing machine as maddeningly vulnerable to computer gremlins as even the average microwave oven… All I want is for the needle to go up and down when I press the pedal. An electronic brain is not required – or wanted – with or without spyware.

    I did look at cell phones for a little while, mostly wanting the portable camera and recorder, but finally gave up. I just don’t trust them…

  2. jed
    jed December 29, 2014 3:40 pm

    Well, I rarely turn on the TV. But the computer is just as bad, if not worse. I do spend too much time in my office chair.

    And I hope it’s OK to substitute beer and whisky for the wine. No, I’m not going to inhale bath gel. I don’t even own any bath gel. In fact, I’m not sure I even know what bath gel is. Is it like Dippity-Do or Brylcream? Geez, now I’m thinking of bad 70’s commercials. Am I soaking in it?

  3. LarryA
    LarryA December 29, 2014 8:12 pm

    Life was a lot simpler before gadgets were intelligent.

    Our main Christmas was a much-needed washer and dryer. They don’t talk to anyone, even each other, but the dryer sings when the load is finished.

  4. Matt, another
    Matt, another December 30, 2014 7:52 am

    The best thing about cell phones that can/will be tracked? If you want to basically disappear, just set your cell phone on the ground and walk away. Same with computers and other smart gadgets. Turn them off, unplug them, take them to a different location, put them in a metal box, etc.

  5. MamaLiberty
    MamaLiberty December 30, 2014 9:59 am

    Sure, Matt… but they are a lot harder to actually USE that way. 🙂

  6. Matt, another
    Matt, another December 30, 2014 1:20 pm

    I hear that ML, there is always a fly in the ointment.

  7. jed
    jed December 30, 2014 4:35 pm

    The problem with just setting on the ground an walking away is that somebody will pick it up. And if that person is a criminal, well, now your number has become a convenient throwaway phone, and you’re going to be tagged with being in a location where that person did something bad. Don’t think that your unlock code is going to stop someone determined to use your phone for nefarious purposes.

    Or, someone will find it and take it to the police or phone store.

    If I were determined to monkey wrench the phone tracking deal, I’d be looking for a way to attach my phone to something going someplace. Freight train? Mail it to a bogus address halfway across the country? At least until the battery goes dead, there’s some misdirection there. At least with the US Mail, it’ll eventually end up at a mail recovery center. Don’t know how long that process takes before it gets opened, but it won’t get stolen and misused during that time.

  8. Paul Bonneau
    Paul Bonneau December 30, 2014 6:12 pm

    Living with people who are not security-conscious, I have to compromise. I just figure that new comcast router has a direct link to NSA. It’s part of the wild and wooly Internet. I will set up another pfsense router off that, and everything behind that will be (more) secure. At least that is my plan. If I can get a VPN setup going too, all the better. Then that comcast router and all the other little sneaky devices can transmit that encrypted data back to their masters to their heart’s content.

    Also it helps that I am old and don’t give a shit what they think of me.

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