The General Technology Thread

[ArcadiaGP]

First company to do so.


Apple hit a $1 trillion market cap on Thursday, making the iPhone maker the first publicly traded U.S. company to reach the record valuation.

 

[ArcadiaGP]

Sneak peak of the new Intel i9 heatsink

 

[wtburnette]

Sneak peak of the new Intel i9 heatsink

 

[T.Lex]

I heard they'll need 2 to run full speed.

 

[IndyTom]

Looks like full size towers will be making a comeback and I'll save on my gas utilities this winter.

 

[ArcadiaGP]

LGR plugs a USB hub into an android phone with a USB-A to USB-C adapter.

Then plugs a USB floppy drive and PS2 keyboard (using PS2-to-USB) into it... runs dosbox, and plays a game from the floppy drive.

Why? Because you can!

[video=youtube;iT1l8Dcjb1Y]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iT1l8Dcjb1Y[/video]

 

[ArcadiaGP]

Big Tech the biggest threat to society?

 

[KLB]

I don't see how the banks could do that without the express consent of the customers.

Big Corps period are our threat at this point. The too big to fail banks are no better. We have more and more consolidation and less and less competition.

 

[T.Lex]

I don't see how the banks could do that without the express consent of the customers.

Depends on the bank's privacy policies.

You get into definitions of 'affiliates' or 'vendors.' Facebook could enter into a contractual relationship, either directly or through subsidiaries, that become an affiliate of the banks.

The data could be even anonymized, sorta, in the sense of people in certain area codes have certain balances, or on certain streets. Facebook can take that anonymized data and put it into their algorithms to hone their marketing messages.

I'm sure they'd love to get the details, but with the algos, they almost don't need it.

 

[foszoe]

Glad I don't use FB. Started weaning myself from all things Google but not there yet....

 

[ArcadiaGP]

Glad I don't use FB. Started weaning myself from all things Google but not there yet....

And that's the problem with monopolies.

Get so ingrained into everyday culture and society... built-in to peoples homes, cars, pockets, jobs, lives... then become evil. Most will just stick with it and shrug off the invasions of privacy and harm to themselves because they neeeeed it.

 

[foszoe]

Switched to Proton Mail from Google mail

The tough thing is AT&T probably has it buried in my agreement that they can read every piece of data that goes through their network.

And that's the problem with monopolies.

Get so ingrained into everyday culture and society... built-in to peoples homes, cars, pockets, jobs, lives... then become evil. Most will just stick with it and shrug off the invasions of privacy and harm to themselves because they neeeeed it.

 

[Phase2]

The tough thing is AT&T probably has it buried in my agreement that they can read every piece of data that goes through their network.

That is true for every ISP. They can view all unencrypted traffic and see every site you visit, even if the specific content is encrypted. Any good VPN avoids both of those issues.

 

[BugI02]

Watch you device security, too. I am aware of several incidences where alphabet agencies hacked the device to share screenshots of the traffic after decryption, so it didn't matter how good the encryption was

An old joke about a Gmail account was you shouldn't worry much about others reading your email because Google already was

 

[jkaetz]

Switched to Proton Mail from Google mail

The tough thing is AT&T probably has it buried in my agreement that they can read every piece of data that goes through their network.

This is where "know your enemy" comes into play. Of course they could read it, but most people aren't important enough to go through the trouble. Everyone envisions this world where all your data is just a click away and it simply isn't the case. As someone who works in data analysis I can tell you that most data is a jumbled mess.

 

[BugI02]

Once again being the Grey Man is a winning strategy

Privacy today is largely assured by being uninteresting, not by somehow being able to block all intrusion attempts

 

[foszoe]

Proton offers a VPN service that I have been considering.

That is true for every ISP. They can view all unencrypted traffic and see every site you visit, even if the specific content is encrypted. Any good VPN avoids both of those issues.

 

[ArcadiaGP]

Motive also comes into play. Just because they can, doesn't mean they have incentive to do so. Unless, of course, they wish to be evil... or get paid by someone... or compelled by someone...

Just because I can read all my user's mail and files... doesn't mean I do or want to. I barely read my own mail.

Would be surprised how many of them think I have a spreadsheet I can just open to find what their current passwords are, though.

 

[Phase2]

This is where "know your enemy" comes into play. Of course they could read it, but most people aren't important enough to go through the trouble. Everyone envisions this world where all your data is just a click away and it simply isn't the case. As someone who works in data analysis I can tell you that most data is a jumbled mess.

I never thought that was much of an argument. Deciding you are "important enough" is a single decision away. Problem is that decision doesn't have to come from a human. Any system scanning data and finding matching keywords or meta-data can elevate you to a person of interest and eligible for much closer scrutiny. Much of our data is now being captured for long-term analysis and decryption. That analysis ability will only get better with time, so even something that doesn't raise a red flag now, might later due to improving analysis or re-analysis based on new criteria.

 

[ArcadiaGP]

Google Glass[STRIKE]es[/STRIKE] sniping