Remember that RTS game called Z? I tried searching for that back in the BBS days, and the search results included literally every zip file available. Good times…

Ideally, you need to be a girl under the age of 12 to understand this. However, if you are a parent of at least one such child you might gain this superpower through reverse inheritance.

They can stick that mirror where the sun don’t shine.

I wonder if they also have anti-tank weapons available.

It depends on the kind of risks you have in mind.

Are you worried about someone hacking an account, stealing passwords and committing identity theft? If so, the stakes are pretty high, but the probability is low as long as your brother takes care of updates and passwords. Also, avoiding shady software and sites helps too. I prefer to call this category security, but it certainly has privacy aspects too. IMO online security should be a high priority.

However, if you’re mainly concerned about Amazon, Meta, Microsoft, Google and other companies collecting data about you, the situation is very different. I call this thing privacy, and the risks are smaller, but the probability is very high.

When it comes to security, you just need to show what has happened to other people who screwed up and made themselves an easy target. However, privacy is a bit trickier. Appreciation of privacy is a more philosophical matter, since the practical side of it isn’t as tangible. If your brother doesn’t have certain values, principles or philosophy, it’s going to be difficult to convince him that privacy matters.

If your brother already takes good care of online security, but ignores privacy, you could talk about the way companies use your data. Focus on the ethical side of these practices. If not, forget about privacy and focus on security instead, since that should always be the higher priority.

You could also make the scissors so big nobody will be able to smuggle them.

When I moved, I just didn’t plug the TV in at the new place. Instead, I started using it exclusively as a monitor for my HTPC. Watching online videos on a bigger screen is just so much nicer. Besides, ublock origin is doing a good job blocking all the nonsense a smart TV is designed to show you. When visiting friends and family, I end up watching normal TV a little bit, and I can’t say I miss any of that.

I’ve also heard stories of a Mercedes giving you 1 000 000 km (or 1 Gm) as long as you take good care of it.

Any observations on Mercedes and Audi?

Oh, wait. Turns out, this thing I’ve been using as monitor for my HTPC actually has some of this ancient TV stuff people keep talking about. Who would have known.

So do I have a TV now? Technically…

”Facebook’s AI spam problem is one that is powered and funded primarily by Facebook itself”

Now that you have created a problem, it’s time to start selling the solution. Make a spam detector AI, and put it behind a monthly subscription. People will pay good money to filter out the trash. Also, better include some lootboxes and micro transactions too, while you’re at it.

There are people who buy a new phone every years, even though they don’t really need to. Why wouldn’t the same philosophy apply to some people who are enthusiastic about computer hardware? Actually, when it comes to CPUs and video cards, it already does.

But anyway, even though the customer could get some perceived benefit from this arrangement, the company would still benefit more from the perpetually rising stock value. You know the usual capitalist mentality that would drive this sort of innovation and product development.

Not a surprise. That’s how subscription companies operate these days. Basically like the heated seats BMW tried a few years ago.

Source: https://www.theverge.com/2022/7/12/23204950/bmw-subscriptions-microtransactions-heated-seats-feature

If I made a service like that, I would require the customer to send the old one back every year. Then the company could sell the refurbished mice instead of throwing them away.

Yeah it’s a horrible idea in all the usual ways, but hear me out. What if Logitech figures out a way to provide actual value to the customer? What if you get a new mouse every year if you send the old one back? That way, you would be paying a subscription for always having the latest mouse. Probably not something I would do, but someone who has more money might appreciate a service like that.

And then someone will create a new AI capable of defeating the old one. It’s just AIs all the way.

Interingly, a somewhat similar idea already exists in movie form.

Source: https://m.imdb.com/title/tt14209916/

A few months ago, I did a similar assessment where I categorized potential threats in the following manner.

Category 1 - financial impact

A criminal might gain access to my account, steal my money or make online purchases in my name. The impact is potentially great, but the probability is low. Overall risk is medium. Using good online practices helps mitigate the risk.

Category 2 - social impact

I may carelessly share personal information online and coworkers, friends or family may find out something they aren’t supposed to. The impact is medium to high, but the probability is very low. Overall risk is low. Not sharing personal information online helps mitigate the risk. Besides, I don’t even use Facebook, Xitter and other modern online trash. I do share stuff on Lemmy, but I try to keep my personal details out of it. Also, I don’t use my real name here, so a random family members probably aren’t going to stumble upon this account without first putting in some serious snooping effort.

Category 3 - matters of principle

Meta, Microsoft, Amazon and all the other large companies are constantly trying to learn as much as possible. The potential harm is low, but the probability is very high. Overall risk is still low. I’m using many techniques to limit the amount of information professional snoopers might get their hands on.

So, category 1 is obviously the highest priority, and that’s where I put most of my effort. Category 3 is nice to have, but screwing up here isn’t going the be the end of the world. If you want to know more about the actual mitigation methods, don’t be afraid to ask.

Here’s my prediction of what that speech might look like:

“Ladies and Gentlemen, I’ve got a little secret to share with you. The Taliban, they’re not just some group out there. They’re my friends, good friends. We go way back, way back. Now, I know what you’re thinking. Trump, are you crazy? But let me tell you, it’s not crazy, it’s genius. Absolute genius. Because the Taliban, they’re not just any friends. They’re the best friends you could have in that part of the world. They’re tough, they’re strong, they’re resilient. And they’re not afraid to fight. They’ve been fighting for a long time, a very long time. And they’ve been fighting against some very bad people, some very bad terrorists.

And that’s why they’re not just my friends, they’re America’s friends. They’re our allies in the fight against terror. They’re on our side, folks. They’re helping us, helping America. And that’s why I’m a genius. Because I saw this, I saw this potential, this opportunity, when nobody else did. I saw that we could turn enemies into friends, turn bad into good. And that’s what I did, folks. That’s what I did. You know, people don’t understand, they don’t get it. But I do, I get it. I’ve always gotten it. And that’s why I’m the best, the very best. And the Taliban, they’re the best too. They’re the best at what they do. And together, we’re unstoppable.”

The real version might have the incoherence cranked all the way to 11, but I just can’t write like that without getting a headache.

Sounds interesting. Care to elaborate?

Is it because one terrorist group has been slaughtering all the other terrorists? Maybe that makes them ok in Putin’s eyes?