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HACKERS, I hate them

Mick said:
Well, some of those social networking sites, when you join, their software goes through your e-mail program and sends invitations in your name to everyone in your address book - just like a virus does! I don't know if Facebook does it that way, but I wouldn't be surprised, since I'm constantly getting invites from there. I've trained my e-mail program to recognize anything from Facebook and all of those other sites as spam, and to delete it at the server level without downloading it, but I see the invites when I check my e-mail on my service's web mail page.

It seems that hardly a week goes by when there isn't something in the news about some new privacy or security issue at one of those sites, and it seems that Facebook is the one most often mentioned.

I read an article last week about how many employers, when interviewing prospective new hires, demand the applicant's Facebook user name AND Password, so they can not only check out your public information, but also access your private stuff.

I guess I'm another dinosaur. I have no account on Facebook or any other social networking site, no Twitter, no cell phone, none of that stuff. And I don't miss it. I can think of exactly twice in my life when it would've been handy to have a cell phone, and never when I've thought it would be handy to have any of that other stuff.

Aside from the privacy and security issues, the thing I wonder about is how people have time for that stuff. If I had accounts on any of those sites, I wouldn't have any time to use them. And I'm retired! How do people who work do that stuff? Do they do it all at work, on their emploter's time? Or do they come home from work, get on the computer, and not get off of it until they go to bed?
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Amen, Mick! And yes, it is a constant thing with those under 50 or so. Look about as you go to a mall or some other place with lots of young people and the iphone android whatever is always up to their ear and their mouths are going a mile a minute. They are also utterly unaware of their surroundings, so it's up to you to avoid collisions. I like to play "chicken" with them occasionally, except in chicken, both parties are aware of what's going on.

Alas, I was born too late. Back to steam locomotives and the telegram! And DC-3's, 4's and 6's and Connies. And rare steaks and smokes, too, while I'm at it.
 
Hi,

I resisted joining FB until a US friend was very ill and the only way to keep up with what was going on was from what his wife posted there.

Can't say I've had any problems in the 6 months to date, but then everything is nailed down to "Friends only" (and I only have 16 "friends" rather than the 100s of "pseudo-friends" that our "younger" members seem to have !)

One thing - it seems a useful medium to share my photos from Duxford !

Alastair
 
Sascha66 said:
As soon as somebody says you get everything for free you just KNOW its going to cost you!

In this case you pay with your private data.

I decided to never join Facebook when I got mails from them asking we to join because these people whom I know were already in! Amazingly 3 of 4 they cited had a connection to me.

One was my brother, 2 through conferences and a 4th I didn't know.

How could they know? With 4 the connection was really weak, so they must have searched the web randomly for cross connections or something!

Really freaked me out.:pop4:
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FB has a service they call "Friend Finder." You provide them with your web-based email password, which they swear they don't keep, and then they use that to help you connect with anyone in your address book that's willing. It would be just about useless on my webmail, since most of the contacts are either corporate, or are already on FB.

FB can actually be somewhat safe if you tweak your privacy settings to where you're not sharing every little detail of your life with the entire planet. :isadizzy:
 
I don't have any social media accounts (except my SOH membership).

Back when I was working I was amazed at the extent to which some young (and not so young) people lived thru their smartphones and Facebook pages.

People would be texting constantly, I couldn't imagine having that much to say. Others were updating their Facebook every five minutes (on the company's computers).

I guess I'm too old to want to have my every thought and action put on public display for all time. I don't even do email any more than absolutely necessary.
 
pfflyers said:
... I was amazed at the extent to which some young (and not so young) people lived thru their smartphones and Facebook pages ...I couldn't imagine having that much to say... I guess I'm too old to want to have my every thought and action put on public display for all time...
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Something that surprises me is that they think everyone's interested in reading it all! 99% of it must be self-indulgent dreck. If they bother to read other people's stuff, they must know it's mostly dreck, and you'd think they'd tumble to the idea that their own stuff can't be much better. And if they don't read other people's dreck, why would they think anyone reads theirs?

I participate in this forum and in a support group for folks whose cats are afflicted with vaccine Associated Sarcoma, where I made numerous friends when a kitty of mine was battling that nasty cancer, and where I hang out to offer assistance to those newly stricken. Both here and there I seldom begin a new thread; I mostly join conversations that others started, and only a very small percentage of those. Even at that, I often wonder if I'm arrogant to think anyone might read my posts.

I don't know what surprises me more - that people post so much personal stuff on so many sites, or that they think anyone cares about it.
 
C'mon, Mick! Surely you know what all the social media is about.

It's what afflicts all those born since 1970.

It's ALL ABOUT ME!:jump:

- H52
 
Hi,

I think its a sign of the times we live in, and the changing nature of communications. Go back a couple of centuries, and (so I understand) it was two weeks before news that the British had won the Battle of Waterloo filtered back here. For most of last century people were quite happy to send letters by post, where it might be a week between sending a letter, having it read and the recipient sending a reply.

In recent years Email appeared, and people got used to getting a response within hours or even minutes. Now with Instant Messaging people are beginning to expect near-instant responses. Check other Forums where posters start to complain if they haven't had a response within an hour or two (regardless of the realities of Time Zones.)

I attend the theatre regularly, and these days it seems difficult for audience members to actually get through half a play without flipping on their phone to text/email/twitter etc. Given the advent of Smartphones with nice bright screens, this can be extremely annoying ! Obviously the youngsters now use their phones for just about everything BUT making phone calls !

Alastair
 
alastairmonk said:
... Go back a couple of centuries, and (so I understand) it was two weeks before news that the British had won the Battle of Waterloo filtered back here...Alastair
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Now you've got me going. I recently read a great book ("Iron Tears: America's Battle for Freedom, Britain's Quagmire" by Stanley Weintraub) about the British experience of the American Revolution. One of the many interesting points it made was how George III and his ministers attempted to micro-manage the war, very much the way Lyndon Johnson and Robert McNamara tried to micro-manage the Vietnam War - in a time when it took anywhere from two to four months for information to cross the Atlantic, and the same time for a response to go the other way!

I mention this in response to the point you made about how communications have evolved, but if you're interested in history, I'll add a strong recommendation for that book.
 
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