Do you agree that Technology is going too far?

[Aspergers_Aspie]

In the UK, citizens paying taxes and opening a bank account, could soon be coerced into using a digital ID to verify your identity for essential functions. I am not a fan of this here is a link

 

[Judge]

In the UK, citizens paying taxes and opening a bank account, could soon be coerced into using a digital ID to verify your identity for essential functions. I am not a fan of this here is a link

In the states it's referred to as "Real ID". Terms citizens will be forced to meet if they want physical access to federal buildings or fly on commercial airline flights. With ultimately further implications in having to prove one's own identity.

Requiring us to provide a number of documents validating our identity while obtaining an official driver's license or similar state identification method. At the very least I find the process one big PITA. Another casualty of 9/11 in our case. At least next year when I must renew my license I'll finally have all the documentation needed to prove I am who I say I am!

DHS Announces Extension of REAL ID Full Enforcement Deadline | Homeland Security

 

[Boogs]

In the UK, citizens paying taxes and opening a bank account, could soon be coerced into using a digital ID to verify your identity for essential functions. I am not a fan of this here is a link

I wouldn't get over paranoid about this particular link. It's totally unqualified beyond a link to a oligarch owned right wing newspaper behind a paywall. Not the most compelling of arguments and poorly defined comments (no mention of the actual changes and a little incongruous regards Labours position and governments intentions).

Besides, we already have a situation of digital discrimination in the UK, it's just been introduced by stealth, and often without that intent. Some government departments are so under resourced it's nigh on impossible to communicate with a human directly. Councils have introduced policies like digital only access to parking permits and other services in an attempt to save money having been defunded centrally. In a way these routes of change can be worse than government passing laws because only minorities directly effected are aware of the changes and those changes subsequently become normalised among many of the population, even preferred for the convenience without understanding the issues.

 

[Aspergers_Aspie]

Here is a link to a story where experts from edinburgh university look at drawbacks of using AI link

 

[Aspergers_Aspie]

Citizens of the USA are uncomfortable with Automated Decision-Making. If you applied to work for a company, and this company was to use an artificial intelligence program to analyse your application to help expedite the review process. Does that creep you out? Link

 

[Judge]

Citizens of the USA are uncomfortable with Automated Decision-Making. If you applied to work for a company, and this company was to use an artificial intelligence program to analyse your application to help expedite the review process. Does that creep you out? Link

Actually that process has taken place for a number of years relative to basic computerization, without more sophisticated artificial intelligence required or applied.

With employers simply becoming specific about what they want and expect from prospective employees, using simple conditionals where applicants either have what they know and are looking for or not. Worse still when such types of automation do not allow for explanations or additions to what is being asked. Leaving little chance for an applicant to tell about themselves beyond the context of what a prospective employer is asking.

I wouldn't say at this point in time it creeps people out, but rather that it is annoying because such a process often allows no room for subjective input about one's self. With everything reduced to conditionals of yes/no, and/or, this or that....etc..

All processes similar to how personal lines insurance underwriting once a very manual, human process evolved many years ago into what is known as "slot underwriting". Where groups of simple, but precise questions determine whether one is eligible for various types of personal lines insurance. All done from a computer instead of a very human underwriter. Which personally broke my heart as I loved working as a senior underwriter in personal lines. An entire job, "gone with the wind" because of relatively simple automation back in the late 80s.

Simple automation that put people out of a job, and some not having any employment options . I was lucky, (or so I thought) having been promoted to commercial lines underwriting which still requires a human mind to make some very complex and often subjective decisions in comparison.

 

[RemyZee]

"The last thing I want is a toilet I can talk to or a smart mirror that shows me my schedule, but... companies are making them anyway...“Your bathroom can be anything you want it to be.”
OK, but what if I want all bathrooms to remain dumb?"

People Are Talking to “Voice Activated” Paper Towel Dispensers

I went to a house once where they had a voice activated heated toilet seat. Now that is just...wrong.

 

[Boogs]

I went to a house once where they had a voice activated heated toilet seat. Now that is just...wrong.

Quite right! It should be bum activated!

 

[Aspergers_Aspie]

I just watched a tv programme on the bbc called 'nightsleeper' about a train being driven by technology/hackers and I know it's fiction but if trains in real life couldn't be stopped manually and had to rely on technology that is asking for trouble if you ask me

 

[Judge]

What isn't fiction is to do a little reading about an entity called "Jerico Pictures" (National Public Data) and discover how many (2.9 billion) people/entities globally have had their most sensitive data stolen in a hacking discovered only last April, and formally announced last month.

Someone hacked the planet, and yet few people seem to be talking about it.

 

[Boogs]

if trains in real life couldn't be stopped manually and had to rely on technology that is asking for trouble if you ask me

You mean like the UK's 'smart' motorways? The one's that reply on the technology to prevent accidents? The one's that are now so poorly maintained they are often dysfunctional? Can't think what anyone would be worried about???

Someone hacked the planet, and yet few people seem to be talking about it.

And not the only case.
e.g. early this year a hacked backdoor in the majority of linux boxes (routers, web servers, etc etc etc), was discovered that would have allowed the hacker to snoop on the networked data passing around the majority of the internet. This was buried deep in the internets infrastructure, and only spotted by luck.

And since the best hacks are the one's that are not discovered, who knows what else of our data is out in the wild instead of locked up safely in cages?

 

[Judge]

And since the best hacks are the one's that are not discovered, who knows what else of our data is out in the wild instead of locked up safely in cages?

Which sadly seems to be the norm as opposed to the exception. It's one thing not to trust those doing the hacking, but what about the hosts who either take their time discovering such a breach, and/or choosing when to announce when it actually happened?

In this case some four months went by before the story went public...

 

[Boogs]

I have concerns over the prevalence of cloud tenancies these days. I can understand the temptation to shed the onprem data centres, and rely on the likes of MS and Amazon et al to worry about availability, performance and security. Because when hackers crack these enormous multi-customer warehouses, the outages will be world wide and effect so many things, it won't be just the one's attacked that suffer. And I bet this is a weapon being developed on all sides. Imagine if you could bring down most of the primary computing infrastructure of a whole country in one go? Even many third party apps still rely on these cloud services for things like authentication, so would also be brought down even if not directly effected.
We are going to pay a price for our incompetence and arrogance with this stuff. Let's hope we can recover from that when it happens.

 

[Judge]

I have concerns over the prevalence of cloud tenancies these days.

I have had reservations about any cloud operations since their inception.

 

[Boogs]

I don't ever use them, and have avoided any kind of software requiring as such.

Or at least you've tried to?

 

[Judge]

Or at least you've tried to?

Nope. Not even that. I still cringe at the time long long ago when Oracle Mogul Larry Ellison bragged that eventually everything would be on HIS servers. Including all basic applications.

Sounded scary then, still does now.

And look at what Adobe contractually demands just to use their software? That they have a right to use their customer's creative content as they see fit. And of course now they are at odds with the US Dept. of Justice over such things, along with contracts that their customers have great difficulty getting out of.

Condemned man looking up at the sky: "Ours or theirs?"
His executioner: "Enemy planes, sir."
Condemned man: "But who is the enemy?"

Technology may constantly change, but human avarice is always around to taint it. Whether it involves complete strangers or those you are supposed to trust given the confines of a contract.

 

[Crossbreed]

My main credit card company, Capital One, lets me use "masked" credit card nos.
Each are only valid for a specific seller.
My real nos. stay off-line and those that are hacked will not work anywhere else.

 

[Judge]

My main credit card company, Capital One, lets me use "masked" credit card nos.
Each are only valid for a specific seller.
My real nos. stay off-line and those that are hacked will not work anywhere else.

That's probably the least of your concerns with the NPD hack. You might want to investigate it to take further action.

 

[Boogs]

Nope. Not even that.

What I meant was many apps have cloud type links to send and receive data from, run http rest api's, access soap servers, etc etc etc. It can be hard to determine what's really going on under the bonnet without pulling out socket scanners and the like to see what connections are being made in the background.

Even worse, there's rarely much oversight into what personal data may end up on remote devices through these connections, or even how safely they are implemented. And you may be much more aware of how to avoid the majority of this, but that's an exception. How many people think about things like this when downloading the latest cool app to their phone? And some of the quality of coding itself is bloody atrocious! We seem to take a step forward, then two steps back.

And yeah, Adobe really stitched their customers up like a kipper!

 

[Shamar]

And some of the quality of coding itself is bloody atrocious! We seem to take a step forward, then two steps back.

I remember when RAM was 32 k (not megs), and 64 k was huge. 128 k was almost entering fantasy land. Now they have 1,000,000 times that and still don't have room. Sloppy, sloppy,sloppy.