Happy New Year! Most of the major bloggers that I follow have been creating lists and discussing resolutions for the upcoming year. Reading news from liberal media like HuffPost and conservative sites like Fox prove to me that there is profit to be made from fear. It has finally gotten to the point that I had to learn how to hide posts from my Facebook page lest I offend a family member or friend with the loud guffaws at their latest share of silly technology fear-mongering.
Technology is here to stay. Stop worrying about it and get educated!
My New Years Resolution is not to be scared of technology! If you are posting, sharing, or avoiding using technology because of any number of scare tactics Take A Hike!
My examples from the last few weeks include NSA monitoring my iPhone, aluminum lined wallets to prevent RFID theft, and not using a debit card because people are scared the information is going to get stolen. Now I realize this is not the happy go lucky type fluff I usually write but lets take a look at these topics.
NSA monitoring- Really? In what world do you live in where you didn't believe the government wasn't going to build a backdoor into any system they could? Since 9/11 they have been monitoring every new technology that comes out. I have seen an episode of NCIS. I don't need Abby to explain to me about chips tracking me and triangulating my conversations to understand that this is all basic science. Turn on CBS. All of those procedural crime dramas beat you over the head with how easy it is to hack a phone. A kid with a bubble gum wrapper and piece of lint can figure out how to find your super-secret pass-code on your iPhone. I mean no one ever guesses 1234 or the year you were born to unlock the silly thing.
So of course the alphabet soups of the government and many large corporations are listening. My question is why would you care? Assuming you aren't a terrorist or a communist the feds don't care about you. They aren't going to take the time to dig through all of your cute kid pictures with their instagrammed filters to find out if you bought a tank recently. Imagine the scary data you have hidden in your latest cat video. The CIA probably has a whole department sitting around snorting coffee watching all the boring cat videos that get posted everyday. My advice is take your pictures, video away and share it with ONLY those people who want to see it. President Obama doesn't need to worry about all of the cuteness your phone contains.
Example 2- RFID protected wallets
The premise is that all of the new credit cards and drivers licenses have RFID tags in them. (If you don't know what an RFID tag is then don't worry about it. Unless you have a pet, then ask your vet.) The wallets I found for sale at a Bergners recently advertised aluminum lining to prevent your RFID information being stolen by scanners as you walk by.
Basically teenagers on skateboards (its always a kid on a skateboard isn't it) roll by with a little custom built device that picks up the weak signal your credit card gives off taking your numbers so they can go online and buy more skateboards. The reality is that an aluminum lined wallet on your butt isn't going to do any good. They aren't scanning your card when you are sitting around with your half caf latte and cake pop. RFID theft happens when you swipe your card purchasing something. They place a scanning device over the legitimate device making a copy when you swipe to pay.
Now lets think about this. How often do we scan cards these days? Constantly right? Have you been in a High School recently? Do you think the kids have a secret cabal of ID theft going in your little neighborhood? I doubt it. Why would you think an ugly aluminum wallet is going to save you from theft? If you still don't believe me we can get together and talk about proper design of aluminum foil hats. After all the NSA is listening in on your brain waves too.
Example 3 Information getting stolen in a hack
Ummm yeah this happens. No way around it. Your info will get stolen and a company as big and powerful as Target will get hacked. Mine was. Kinda sucks. Did I stop living? Have I crawled back into bed afraid to face the harsh blue winter light? Nope, I went back to Target and bought some discount toys for my daughter.
At this point we have to realize we live in an electronic society. If I lose my phone I will have to dial 411 to find out my parent's phone number. Tech has replaced a lot of mundane memorization tasks for a lot of us. I think it is wonderful. I have a hard time remembering numbers. I would rather use my brain to think of a witty comeback or scare up a great pop culture reference. It is simply a fact of life.
My examples from the last few weeks include NSA monitoring my iPhone, aluminum lined wallets to prevent RFID theft, and not using a debit card because people are scared the information is going to get stolen. Now I realize this is not the happy go lucky type fluff I usually write but lets take a look at these topics.
NSA monitoring- Really? In what world do you live in where you didn't believe the government wasn't going to build a backdoor into any system they could? Since 9/11 they have been monitoring every new technology that comes out. I have seen an episode of NCIS. I don't need Abby to explain to me about chips tracking me and triangulating my conversations to understand that this is all basic science. Turn on CBS. All of those procedural crime dramas beat you over the head with how easy it is to hack a phone. A kid with a bubble gum wrapper and piece of lint can figure out how to find your super-secret pass-code on your iPhone. I mean no one ever guesses 1234 or the year you were born to unlock the silly thing.
So of course the alphabet soups of the government and many large corporations are listening. My question is why would you care? Assuming you aren't a terrorist or a communist the feds don't care about you. They aren't going to take the time to dig through all of your cute kid pictures with their instagrammed filters to find out if you bought a tank recently. Imagine the scary data you have hidden in your latest cat video. The CIA probably has a whole department sitting around snorting coffee watching all the boring cat videos that get posted everyday. My advice is take your pictures, video away and share it with ONLY those people who want to see it. President Obama doesn't need to worry about all of the cuteness your phone contains.
Example 2- RFID protected wallets
The premise is that all of the new credit cards and drivers licenses have RFID tags in them. (If you don't know what an RFID tag is then don't worry about it. Unless you have a pet, then ask your vet.) The wallets I found for sale at a Bergners recently advertised aluminum lining to prevent your RFID information being stolen by scanners as you walk by.
Basically teenagers on skateboards (its always a kid on a skateboard isn't it) roll by with a little custom built device that picks up the weak signal your credit card gives off taking your numbers so they can go online and buy more skateboards. The reality is that an aluminum lined wallet on your butt isn't going to do any good. They aren't scanning your card when you are sitting around with your half caf latte and cake pop. RFID theft happens when you swipe your card purchasing something. They place a scanning device over the legitimate device making a copy when you swipe to pay.
Now lets think about this. How often do we scan cards these days? Constantly right? Have you been in a High School recently? Do you think the kids have a secret cabal of ID theft going in your little neighborhood? I doubt it. Why would you think an ugly aluminum wallet is going to save you from theft? If you still don't believe me we can get together and talk about proper design of aluminum foil hats. After all the NSA is listening in on your brain waves too.
Example 3 Information getting stolen in a hack
Ummm yeah this happens. No way around it. Your info will get stolen and a company as big and powerful as Target will get hacked. Mine was. Kinda sucks. Did I stop living? Have I crawled back into bed afraid to face the harsh blue winter light? Nope, I went back to Target and bought some discount toys for my daughter.
At this point we have to realize we live in an electronic society. If I lose my phone I will have to dial 411 to find out my parent's phone number. Tech has replaced a lot of mundane memorization tasks for a lot of us. I think it is wonderful. I have a hard time remembering numbers. I would rather use my brain to think of a witty comeback or scare up a great pop culture reference. It is simply a fact of life.
That being said I can't be afraid my information has been stolen. It will be. I have to be vigilant. Keep track of credit reports, watch for unusual bank activity and sniff out unusual emails. This is the modern way of preventing disaster.
If you aren't sure how to protect yourself look on Youtube. There are plenty of experts who will help you. Just please, please refrain from hitting that Share button.
Until next time Nerds. I will see you later, I have to go get my foil hat resized it was chafing.
If you aren't sure how to protect yourself look on Youtube. There are plenty of experts who will help you. Just please, please refrain from hitting that Share button.
Until next time Nerds. I will see you later, I have to go get my foil hat resized it was chafing.