Random thoughts: computers, Internet, security and privacy

[jim hardy]

Honest Sophia

i think the "Law of Diminishing Returns" is as natural as F=MA and that's the theme of Tower of Babel myth in our Bible.

The platform has reached something pretty robust and usable, as did the automobile around 1960 . I expect future changes to center on frills and software. Like pocket calculators - there's one for every level of sophistication. We'll see "Internet Cruisers" from Ford Pinto to Bentley Flying Spur.

I wonder more about the societal effects. We are soooo influenced by our early experience.
The Sesame Street generation is coming into middle years now and moving into positions of influence.
They seem by and large less encumbered by prejudices and more moderate in their politics than my generation.
Behind them is the Nintendo Generation ,
and behind them the Cellphone Babies...

Internet is history's second Gutenberg Moment.
Are we riding it in the direction of McArthur Foundation's

more just, verdant, and peaceful world ?

Or toward "idiocracy" ?

Here's a blogger who speculates on such ideas
http://www.futuretimeline.net/blog.htm
check his 'timeline' and his 'computers and internet' buttons.

old jim

 

[Psinter]

I think Apple knows how to sell anything. Good or not good. For a little humorous answer, I do believe someone posted this one here before, but I don't remember who:

 

[Pepper Mint]

I feel really bad when hearing people moaning or crying (even when they do so in happiness). Just annoying and horrible!

 

[Sophia]

Honest Sophia

i think the "Law of Diminishing Returns" is as natural as F=MA and that's the theme of Tower of Babel myth in our Bible.

The platform has reached something pretty robust and usable, as did the automobile around 1960 . I expect future changes to center on frills and software. Like pocket calculators - there's one for every level of sophistication. We'll see "Internet Cruisers" from Ford Pinto to Bentley Flying Spur.

I wonder more about the societal effects. We are soooo influenced by our early experience.
The Sesame Street generation is coming into middle years now and moving into positions of influence.
They seem by and large less encumbered by prejudices and more moderate in their politics than my generation.
Behind them is the Nintendo Generation ,
and behind them the Cellphone Babies...

Internet is history's second Gutenberg Moment.
Are we riding it in the direction of McArthur Foundation's Or toward "idiocracy" ?

Here's a blogger who speculates on such ideas
http://www.futuretimeline.net/blog.htm
check his 'timeline' and his 'computers and internet' buttons.

old jim

That's an interesting site. Though I would be careful with predictions for far future because the world is changing so rapidly.
I totally agree that today's kids will think differently than we do (even my Nintendo generation is accused of being different than previous). What I've noticed is that somehow there are vast differences between the children. There are those who are far worse than my generation used to be and there are (few) of those who are much more educated and responsible. It's like the technology and abundance of everything makes some personal characteristics more prominent at young age. At the age of 13, you can both watch porn (let's be honest, they do) and spend all day on facebook and cyber bully your classmates, or you can read about world affairs and science.
These kids take everything material for granted. On the other hand, I've seen many children who greatly suffer because of divorce or because one or both of their parents work abroad, leaving kids to grandparents, aunts, uncles if they are lucky, or to the neighbours to look after them (It broke my heart when a 2nd grade girl cried when her mother went to Austria to work there for a month or so. I didn't know how to comfort her) When I was at that age, we had 3 or 4 kids in the class whose parents were divorced compared to 40% divorce rate today. So, many kids are basically emotionally abandoned for one reason or another and are left to take care of themselves. It's become an epidemic here. I once taught in a class where only 3 kids out of 18 lived in a normal home with both parents present and functional.
I have no idea what kind of personalities will these people become and when we take into consideration "clash of cultures" that is currently happening... I'm just watching and observing not daring to predict anything.

 

[jim hardy]

That's an interesting site. Though I would be careful with predictions for far future because the world is changing so rapidly.

Agreed it's all speculation. I just like to see what creative people are up to. I guess that's why i like PF, hoping some of the smart will rub off on me. I'm a bit slow...

I share your sadness over the decline of the family.
My parents' generation made great progress in mechanizing our everyday life. My Mom remembered her family's first Model T Ford. I remember when only rich people had air-conditioning, indeed i was about five when my Grandparents got electricity.

Zbigniew Brzezinski's phrase "Permissive Cornucopia" in a search engine returns thoughtful essays on the subject of your last paragraph.

If my generation has any accomplishment to brag on i would say it was the explosion of psychology into the mainstream. Self help and 12 step programs abound and if you think there's not a need look at that section in any bookstore.
There's no longer a stigma attached to seeing a "shrink" and US employers over a certain size are required to have one available - see "Employee Assistance program". We're realizing mental health needs nurturing too.
A pair of US comedians Homer and Jethro(sometimes called"Thinking man's hillbilly singers" ), presciently quipped around 1960 "Soon they'll have psychaiatrists in every Sears and Roebuck store."


Eric Hoffer is being translated into Arabic. Saudi Arabia's king was on Charlie Rose a couple years back advocating his International University . Little things like that give me hope for civilization.

Hope this didn't sound "down" . At my age it's easy to find fault but it's healthier to "Accentuate the Positive" .


On that note,

[End Hijack] icon

old jim

 

[Sophia]

Agreed it's all speculation. I just like to see what creative people are up to. I guess that's why i like PF, hoping some of the smart will rub off on me. I'm a bit slow...

I share your sadness over the decline of the family.
My parents' generation made great progress in mechanizing our everyday life. My Mom remembered her family's first Model T Ford. I remember when only rich people had air-conditioning, indeed i was about five when my Grandparents got electricity.

Zbigniew Brzezinski's phrase "Permissive Cornucopia" in a search engine returns thoughtful essays on the subject of your last paragraph.

If my generation has any accomplishment to brag on i would say it was the explosion of psychology into the mainstream. Self help and 12 step programs abound and if you think there's not a need look at that section in any bookstore.
There's no longer a stigma attached to seeing a "shrink" and US employers over a certain size are required to have one available - see "Employee Assistance program". We're realizing mental health needs nurturing too.
A pair of US comedians Homer and Jethro(sometimes called"Thinking man's hillbilly singers" ), presciently quipped around 1960 "Soon the'll have psychaiatrists in every Sears and Roebuck store."


Eric Hoffer is being translated into Arabic. Saudi Arabia's king was on Charlie Rose a couple years back advocating his International University . Little things like that give me hope for civilization.

Hope this didn't sound "down" . At my age it's easy to find fault but it's healthier to "Accentuate the Positive" .


On that note,

[End Hijack] icon

old jim

I could copy this whole post to Today I Learned thread because I had to google 5 terms/names I was not familiar with: shrink, Model T Ford- I knew it was a car, didn't know what it looks like, Permissive Cornucopia, Eric Hoffer, Charlie Rose + there were Homer and Jethro that you explained :)
I fully agree with the ending- let's be positive!

 

[jim hardy]

...because I had to google 5 terms/names...

Sorry , i didnt mean to be obscure.
I feel really honored you took the trouble to check into them.
Thank you for the kind words !

And for your thoughtful posts .

old jim

 

[Sophia]

Sorry , i didnt mean to be obscure.
I feel really honored you took the trouble to check into them.
Thank you for the kind words !

And for your thoughtful posts .

old jim

I'm glad that I learned something, no need to apologize! :)

 

[DevilsAvocado]

Everything I hate about computers has a logical explanation

It sure does!

Since this thread is about internet and privacy, let's quickly go through the basics:

1) There's a (good) reason for (almost) every technique used on internet (few will be successful in proposing a new standard to the IETF that "would make life miserable for every internet user" ;).

2) Things that initially are designed to be good/useful, has over time a slight tendency to 'degenerate' (if not supervised), into something not so nice (second law of thermodynamics ;).

3) No matter what you do, when browsing the web, there must/will be an IP address, so that web server knows where to answer the request (though it must not necessarily be your 'private' IP ;).

4) When requesting a web page, your browser will always expose the User Agent String to the web server, that can look something like this "Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; Intel Mac OS X 10_10_5) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/45.0.2454.101 Safari/537.36" (though it must not necessarily be your true User Agent String ;). Why!? Well, if the web server doesn't know what type of browser the web page should be adjusted for, there's a chance the page will be rendered wrong (beyond that, there's whole bunch of 'personal' information in the array $_SERVER, after your request is received).

5) If JavaScript is enabled, there's more goodies to grab, like: Cookies Enabled, Device Pixel Ratio, Screen Resolution, Browser Window, etc, and there's not much you can do about it (note, everything this far is completely independent of Cookies on/off).

6) If Cookies are enabled, the website will have en option to store a small text file on your computer, that is (primary) used for 'identification', i.e. last time you visited the site you made this or that setting, that now will be remembered by the site. Please note; there is still nothing personal about this, the site does not know your real name, just because you enabled Cookies (howere if you do something really really bad, your IP address will in most cases assist in sending you to jail ;).

7) If you do enter personal information on a site, this info is normally stored in a database, and not in Cookies.

8) The problem with Cookies (IMHO), comes with Third-party Cookies. What's that!? Well, if you visit a_very_nice_site.org and then go to this_site_is_even_nicer.org, and both sites have an 'embedded' banner (i.e. the request goes to a third-party site) from we_are_going_to_steal_your_life.com, the "bad guys" will know (and have the option to store) what you did on internet this day.

9) Now imagine some super smart prodigy came up with the brilliant idea to put a 'prefabricated third-party thumb', on almost every website on the internet... Man, that kid could gather some serious information... and make some serious money... (why didn't I think of this before!? )

10) And we haven't even touched search engines yet ...​

So, the brutal truth is — you are being watched and tracked, and this is BIG business.

Collusion has changed name to Lightbeam
​

In the light of all this, one don't know if the following 1989 policy statement from the IAB committee (charged with oversight of the development of internet by ISOC), should bring laughter or cry:

[emphasis mine]
RFC 1087 - Ethics and the Internet

Network Working Group Internet Activities Board
Request for Comments: 1087 January 1989

Ethics and the Internet

Status of this Memo

This memo is a statement of policy by the Internet Activities Board
(IAB) concerning the proper use of the resources of the Internet.
Distribution of this memo is unlimited

[...]

The IAB strongly endorses the view of the Division Advisory Panel of
the National Science Foundation Division of Network, Communications
Research and Infrastructure which, in paraphrase, characterized as
unethical and unacceptable any activity which purposely:

(a) seeks to gain unauthorized access to the resources of the Internet,

(b) disrupts the intended use of the Internet,

(c) wastes resources (people, capacity, computer) through such actions,

(d) destroys the integrity of computer-based information,

and/or

(e) compromises the privacy of users.​

P.S: (please forgive me Greg) I did a Livescan on physicsforums.com, and it shows that not even in 'heaven' can we expect the trackers to leave us alone (even if this is very tiny/innocent compared to other monsters out there) ...

 

[ProfuselyQuarky]

Wow @devil, that was so very thorouogh! Thanks :)

8) The problem with Cookies (IMHO), comes with Third-party Cookies. What's that!? Well, if you visit a_very_nice_site.org and then go to this_site_is_even_nicer.org, and both sites have an 'embedded' banner (i.e. the request goes to a third-party site) from we_are_going_to_steal_your_life.com, the "bad guys" will know (and have the option to store) what you did on internet this day.

I just want to turn this into a poster for my bedroom

 

[DevilsAvocado]

I just want to turn this into a poster for my bedroom

Send me a copy when it's done!

 

[DevilsAvocado]

​

Lol, if it wasn't for NSA 10 Windows 10, one would actually think MS is on the right path.

 

[DevilsAvocado]

Disclaimer: I guess most on this forum gets it — There ain't no such thing as a free lunch.

But to be sure, a short comment on paragraph 8 and "we_are_going_to_steal_your_life.com".

If you're a user on this forum (and have not contributed directly, i.e. Gold member), using Ad blocking/filtering (to avoid third-party tracking) — You are actually stealing Greg's life!

Greg has invested a big chunk of his life on this site, and expecting him to work as your private slave, for free, must be considered at least as immoral, as third-party trackers making money on your surfing habits ...

This Catch-22 is tricky to find a good answer/solution for. In the business world, it would be considered immoral/stupid not to make easy money (that's available in front of your nose), and the natural assumption must therefore be that 99.9% of the advertisers do take advantage of this additional revenue.

Of course, the obvious solution on PF — Become a Gold Member!
[and I think Greg then could live with you blocking DoubleClick...]

Beside this, there are other Easy ways you can support Physics Forums.

 

[ProfuselyQuarky]

If you're a user on this forum (and have not contributed directly, i.e. Gold member), using Ad blocking/filtering (to avoid third-party tracking) — You are actually stealing Greg's life!

Greg has invested a big chunk of his life on this site, and expecting him to work as your private slave, for free, must be considered at least as immoral, as third-party trackers making money on your surfing habits ...

Ah . . . I'm fully aware of this

Which is why I tell everybody who even utters a word that has to do with science about PF. I share PF with my classmates (whether they want it or not) all the time.

Actually, ever since I posted the link to PF on my blog, I received a couple messages from people saying thanks for linking (even though one person mentioned that it was extremely weird to link a physics forum on an digital art blog, but whatever).

I'd put flyers in my campus, too, but I lack flyers

 

[Sophia]

Disclaimer: I guess most on this forum gets it — There ain't no such thing as a free lunch.

But to be sure, a short comment on paragraph 8 and "we_are_going_to_steal_your_life.com".

If you're a user on this forum (and have not contributed directly, i.e. Gold member), using Ad blocking/filtering (to avoid third-party tracking) — You are actually stealing Greg's life!

Greg has invested a big chunk of his life on this site, and expecting him to work as your private slave, for free, must be considered at least as immoral, as third-party trackers making money on your surfing habits ...

This Catch-22 is tricky to find a good answer/solution for. In the business world, it would be considered immoral/stupid not to make easy money (that's available in front of your nose), and the natural assumption must therefore be that 99.9% of the advertisers do take advantage of this additional revenue.

Of course, the obvious solution on PF — Become a Gold Member!
[and I think Greg then could live with you blocking DoubleClick...]

Beside this, there are other Easy ways you can support Physics Forums.

I buy eBooks from Amazon about once a month or two on average. So should I click the link provided in that thread, search for a book and PF will get 7% from the purchase? Is it that simple?

 

[ProfuselyQuarky]

I buy eBooks from Amazon about once a month or two on average. So should I click the link provided in that thread, search for a book and PF will get 7% from the purchase? Is it that simple?

I believe that that's it :)

It hurts, but I got everything that I needed for school this year right before I learned about that link

 

[Sophia]

I believe that that's it :)

It hurts, but I got everything that I needed for school this year right before I learned about that link

That's cool :-)
That's probably the most convenient way to donate.
There could be a banner or a large button on the home page with the link.
Something to remind us all the time that would not be burried in the depths of the site.

 

[DevilsAvocado]

Which is why I tell everybody [...]

Keep up the good work!

 

[DevilsAvocado]

There could be a banner or a large button on the home page with the link.

Yup, if I was Greg, I would put up a BIG banner on login, saying:

Ask not what PF can do for you — ask what you can do for PF!
Be smart; buy ALL your books from here!

[but I guess Greg is a little bit too 'moderate' for this kind of steve-ballmer-ish messages... and maybe we should all be grateful...]

​

 

[ProfuselyQuarky]

Yup, if I was Greg, I would put up a BIG banner on login, saying:

lol . . . that does look kinda gaudy

Perhaps someone could make a PDF flyer with the PF logo and whatnot and then put up the link somewhere so anyone can just print and share?

 

[DevilsAvocado]

lol . . . that does look kinda gaudy

Yup, it's a dirty work, but someone has to do it.

Nonetheless, you can always relax, knowing that Steve Ballmer is (was) always (much) louder:

​

OMG, no wonder Win10 looks like it does ...

Perhaps someone could make a PDF [...]

Great idea! Tell Greg!

 

[DrGreg]

Perhaps someone could make a PDF flyer with the PF logo and whatnot and then put up the link somewhere so anyone can just print and share?

Somebody has done -- Greg (no relation)

See https://www.physicsforums.com/threads/project-pf-proliferation-free-gold-membership.338366/

 

[ProfuselyQuarky]

Somebody has done -- Greg (no relation)

See https://www.physicsforums.com/threads/project-pf-proliferation-free-gold-membership.338366/

How about that! Very nice, I'll be able to put that into use :)

Thanks DrGreg! I never saw that before!

(then again, 2009 is way past my time ...)

 

[Tom.G]

They set up an electrolysis cell using heavy water and a palladium electrode...
They were pretty thoroughly discredited

HIJACK ALERT

Referencing post #10.

As I recall, some of the other researchers that tried it also got positive results. A few years ago I ran across a report that all of the occassional positive results used the same lot number of one of the reagents. Turns out that particular lot was contaminated with something radioactive.

So, bad results: Yes
Intentional: Not Necessarily

 

[DevilsAvocado]

www.youtube.com/watch?v=CKnMNjh9Z6I

​

 

[Greg Bernhardt]

In an effort to respect the privacy of PF members I have disabled Google Analytics for logged in members. That is one less tracker.

 

[Sophia]

So I am thinking of buying new glasses. I talked about it with a couple of people in a few days while having my phone in the bag or pocket. I am 100% sure I didn't search for anything about glasses on the internet and i haven't written any email, facebook post, chat or forum message about it. Suddenly I see youtube videos about "best glasses for your face shape" and similar and an ad for glasses.
I googled about android listening to people's conversations and it seems that many people have similar stories and it is technically possible.
Am I paranoid?
What do you think about that?

 

[Psinter]

Here is something about it (and a math professor has something to say about it): http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-35639549

I googled and found various people talking about the same thing. It is clear beyond reasonable doubt that it can happen. Programmers know it can happen and it is a reproducible event to the extent of recognizing the words that has been spoken. Just sit down, open Android Studio and write a program to make it do what is being described. But as to it actually happening, I don't know. So in resume: It can happen, but Google rejects the idea of it happening when it responded.

Reproducibility[/PLAIN] is the ability of an entire experiment or study to be duplicated, either by the same researcher or by someone else working independently.

...
You are not paranoid. Your worry is legitimate.

 

[jim hardy]

I googled about android listening to people's conversations and it seems that many people have similar stories and it is technically possible.

There's a blogger named Denninger i follow who's been ranting about this for a year.
Smart TV's, Smart Phones are all capable of that. So is a smart voice command automobile entertainment system..
Are they doing it ? I don't know , i own none of the above and won't .
Big Advertising is more annoying than Big Brother.

The walls DO have ears nowadays. Electronic ones.

 

[Sophia]

I did a small experiment. I took the phone and talked for a long time about something with high commercial value that I normally never talk about and I have never googled it. I will repeat those words a couple of times and see if it works. It probably won't do anything, but I was bored and curious :-)

I'll also have a look at Denningers blog.