Have the Interwebs become more secure? To bring everybody up to speed, my wife and I have been the victims of identity theft twice. For those who don't know, it costs quite a bit of money, requires a great deal of paperwork, and causes manifold legal repercussions. And did I mention it costs quite a bit of money? Anyway. Conducting business online has become much more convenient, the service seems better too. So I'm wondering, has it become any safer? Thoughts and advice welcome!
Sure has become more boring. It's almost where politicians and the corporations want it: being the largest shopping mall in the world, neatly divided up into kingdoms. Just give it another 20 years...
There was a study done several months ago. (Not sure if it were done several months ago or if I had just heard about it several months ago.) It said due to tablets, people were now creating less content and consuming more content. Tablets don't lend themselves well to typing out a blog post, programming, or photo editing. So as a result, less new stuff is coming out than there was previously.
No, Clyde isn't so foolish as that. He tried to help a Nigerian dauphin wire his funds to a US bank, and something went wrong somewhere.
My tablet and smartphone have actually allowed me to interact more. I simply don't have a lot of time to sit at a computer for leisure and when I'm taking a break, I'd rather do something besides sit at a computer. The last thing I want to do at home is sequester myself away in my office. So, rather than quitting places like WF altogether, technology has allowed me to carry you into the family room with me. Five minutes here and there is better than quitting, right? You just have to learn how to use the subscribe thread tool. And, finally, yes. This was typed on an iPhone while I'm taking a massive, taco truck for lunch, dump.
It is less secure and getting more so by the minute. Institutions are old and fighting the last hack while hackers are embracing the latest software and getting way ahead. Microsoft started the idea of rolling things out and fixing the bugs later, and now that has spread through about everything. Things that should have been tested for problems for months or even years get rolled out in weeks now. It is a madhouse.
Facebook etc. is also to blame. Not only does it suck up time you, it also has simplified things to the point where...I can't quite put my finger on why that is bad, but where you used to have to create a Webpage to talk about your life or join a BBS like this to have discussions with people with shared interests, now you just get on Facebook or Twitter to share each thought that pops into your head. And while Facebook has allowed longer posts, they used to be very limited and Twitter explicitly requires you to make ADD friendly observations.
I know it's getting more secure all the time! I keep getting e-mails from various kind people who are taking steps to make sure everything is all right for me. The typical one looks like this: I really am happy to have all these people who are making my life more secure. Between them and all the nice, rich people in Africa who have saved up millions of dollars and desperately want to send it to me, I just know that life is going to be wonderful.
We refinanced our house some years back, imagine our surprise of learning that not only did we have a home in Florida but we forgot to pay the utility bills.
That's when I would have gotten a lawyer in Florida and sued for eviction for squatting along with a law suit for back rent. How could they fight it? Then after they bail out to save their skins from going to jail for fraud, you've got a house you can fix up and sell. Since the market was better back then you could have made some cash.