Wednesday, April 25, 2007
Symantec Redux
If you scroll down and read the comments for the post entitled "Bollocks" (I would include a link but its not very easy from this terminal) you will find a very respectful dialogue between myself and Ron Bowes, who is the editor in charge of the bloggers at Symantec who wrote the original post that the CBC article is based on. I really respect him for responding and appreciate his perspective on the issue. Go read it!
Tuesday, April 17, 2007
Oslo-bound
I received an e-mail this morning from the University of Oslo in Norway stating that I had been nominated for the M.Phil in Intercontextual Theology and that my letter of acceptance was in the mail, so it looks like I'll be headed to Norway mid-August sometime!
I'm not entirely sure when orientation week is or when classes start yet, but I will definitely try for a stopover in England, and, if I can swing it, a trip to Greenbelt ;)
As well, 24 hours from now I will be in San Francisco. Woo hoo!
I'm not entirely sure when orientation week is or when classes start yet, but I will definitely try for a stopover in England, and, if I can swing it, a trip to Greenbelt ;)
As well, 24 hours from now I will be in San Francisco. Woo hoo!
Monday, April 16, 2007
Bollocks
I hate articles like this one.
"This illusion of privacy leads people to be a little freer in their disclosure," Symantec Corp. security researcher Nick Sullivan wrote in a post to the company's security response weblog on Friday.
Of course, no where in the article does it mention that Symantec is arguably the largest purveyor of computer security software (a little program you may have heard of called Norton AntiVirus), and that it is in their best interest, financially, to spread FUD about identity theft and computer crime. It's like writing an article about a study some guy did complaining how long it takes to walk between places, and then you find out he works for a car company.
The concerns he lists about Facebook are blown out of proportion -- he says the danger comes from Facebook sending e-mails including links for users to click on. His argument is that identity thieves could send e-mails with fake links and try to steal information from people. Well then the problem isn't with Facebook, it's with idiots who don't pay attention to what links they're following. This isn't a danger specifically with Facebook, but rather with the ENTIRE INTERNET. People should know by now that just blindly clicking the 'Yes' button and not paying attention to what you're doing on the Internet can lead to spyware and fraud. He only brings up Facebook because it's a popular site and will get people's attention.
This frustrates me on another level because it panders to the consumerist mindset. People feel like they shouldn't actually have to think for themselves, and that everything should be safe and easy from the get go. And while I agree with making laws to curb illegal schemes and the dangers of using the Internet, I also think people who don't exercise caution on the Internet deserve what they get. After all, just because we have lanes painted on our roads and light signals hanging above them doesn't mean I should expect to be able to cross the street with my eyes closed and end up still in one piece. We still need to take basic precautions to protect our own well-being. It almost seems to me as if people today, more and more, feel the 'entitlement' to ignorance. Like they have the right to not be bothered with details. Well, if one can't traverse a regular highway blind, then I don't see why the information highway should be any different. But I think that the general populace would rather have an easy, cookie-cutter solution (like, oh say, I don't know, purchasing & installing a computer security software program) than actually taking the time to pay attention to what they're doing. This doesn't just go for computers and the Internet, but many aspects of Western living. Like rather than hanging out with the poor and getting to the bottom of the problem of poverty, people would rather just write a cheque and then walk away and think about something nicer, but I digress...
At any rate, back to the original point, I would expect shill articles like this from American media companies, but I have a higher standard for the CBC....disappointing.
"This illusion of privacy leads people to be a little freer in their disclosure," Symantec Corp. security researcher Nick Sullivan wrote in a post to the company's security response weblog on Friday.
Of course, no where in the article does it mention that Symantec is arguably the largest purveyor of computer security software (a little program you may have heard of called Norton AntiVirus), and that it is in their best interest, financially, to spread FUD about identity theft and computer crime. It's like writing an article about a study some guy did complaining how long it takes to walk between places, and then you find out he works for a car company.
The concerns he lists about Facebook are blown out of proportion -- he says the danger comes from Facebook sending e-mails including links for users to click on. His argument is that identity thieves could send e-mails with fake links and try to steal information from people. Well then the problem isn't with Facebook, it's with idiots who don't pay attention to what links they're following. This isn't a danger specifically with Facebook, but rather with the ENTIRE INTERNET. People should know by now that just blindly clicking the 'Yes' button and not paying attention to what you're doing on the Internet can lead to spyware and fraud. He only brings up Facebook because it's a popular site and will get people's attention.
This frustrates me on another level because it panders to the consumerist mindset. People feel like they shouldn't actually have to think for themselves, and that everything should be safe and easy from the get go. And while I agree with making laws to curb illegal schemes and the dangers of using the Internet, I also think people who don't exercise caution on the Internet deserve what they get. After all, just because we have lanes painted on our roads and light signals hanging above them doesn't mean I should expect to be able to cross the street with my eyes closed and end up still in one piece. We still need to take basic precautions to protect our own well-being. It almost seems to me as if people today, more and more, feel the 'entitlement' to ignorance. Like they have the right to not be bothered with details. Well, if one can't traverse a regular highway blind, then I don't see why the information highway should be any different. But I think that the general populace would rather have an easy, cookie-cutter solution (like, oh say, I don't know, purchasing & installing a computer security software program) than actually taking the time to pay attention to what they're doing. This doesn't just go for computers and the Internet, but many aspects of Western living. Like rather than hanging out with the poor and getting to the bottom of the problem of poverty, people would rather just write a cheque and then walk away and think about something nicer, but I digress...
At any rate, back to the original point, I would expect shill articles like this from American media companies, but I have a higher standard for the CBC....disappointing.
Thursday, April 12, 2007
Update
Wow, has it really been 3 weeks since my last post? How about that...
Well, my blog has always served mainly two purposes:
Next Wednesday I will be arriving in San Francisco for the first time in my life and spending a few days there, followed by renting a car, heading down the coast, hanging around LA and then off to Coachella. The day after I return, two of my Scottish friends that I met in Russia are coming to visit and I'm going to show them around this great country. After they leave, my mom is talking about heading to florida or north carolina or somewhere warm for a week or two and taking me with her. Following all of that business, I will be moving to Guelph and living in a home with some kinda-old-but-actually-new friends and their two young boys. Somewhere in there I should find out whether I'm going to school in Norway in the fall or not.
So, comparatively, you can see why I haven't really been posting anything exciting lately...all the exciting stuff is just around the corner, and I'll make sure to share all of THAT when it happens...
Well, my blog has always served mainly two purposes:
- To keep my friends overseas up to date with my daily life
- To share my thoughts on stuff with people
Next Wednesday I will be arriving in San Francisco for the first time in my life and spending a few days there, followed by renting a car, heading down the coast, hanging around LA and then off to Coachella. The day after I return, two of my Scottish friends that I met in Russia are coming to visit and I'm going to show them around this great country. After they leave, my mom is talking about heading to florida or north carolina or somewhere warm for a week or two and taking me with her. Following all of that business, I will be moving to Guelph and living in a home with some kinda-old-but-actually-new friends and their two young boys. Somewhere in there I should find out whether I'm going to school in Norway in the fall or not.
So, comparatively, you can see why I haven't really been posting anything exciting lately...all the exciting stuff is just around the corner, and I'll make sure to share all of THAT when it happens...
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