4 ms·

This is Vice, everything is hard for them. Hey cover interesting stories with glorious incompetence, the Dunning-Kruger daily...

sohkamyung 9y ago
Curious, but did you see who was the author of the piece?
- chopin 9y ago
  One could argue that neither the reputation of Vice nor the reputation of the author has anything to do with the quality of the article. You're both appealing to authority (or non-authority for the GP).
  - sohkamyung 9y ago
    True. But the author's reputation in the security area makes me more inclined to listen to what he has to say. An article with the same title, but written by, say, a marketing specialist would probably get a more sceptical reading.
  - TheSpiceIsLife 9y ago
    It's worth nothing that Appeal to Authority is a logical fallacy only when the authority is not an authority on the facts relevant to the argument. Deferring to a subject matter expert is logical.
    - QAPereo 9y ago
      There’s something to be said, especially when this site is so full of subject matter experts (although I am not one), for the notion that a discussion of somebody’s authority without including a discussion of the subject at hand is by definition, an appeal.
- QAPereo 9y ago
  I did, but I also saw this: They could also do things like send paper mail to the last long-term address, to confirm it. Why don't they do that for credit card requests? At a guess, it's because these stronger schemes are too inconvenient, and will drive away consumers who are trying to apply for credit. If that guess is correct, it suggests that the real solution is regulatory: make credit providers liable for the full damages, including ongoing inconvenience, suffered by victims of identity theft. SSNs are not the problem; authentication commensurate with the risk to all parties, including especially individuals, is. That’s a loooooot of guesses for my taste.

4 ms·

This is Vice, everything is hard for them. Hey cover interesting stories with glorious incompetence, the Dunning-Kruger daily...

by QAPereo 9y ago

sohkamyung 9y ago
Curious, but did you see who was the author of the piece?
- chopin 9y ago
  One could argue that neither the reputation of Vice nor the reputation of the author has anything to do with the quality of the article. You're both appealing to authority (or non-authority for the GP).
  - sohkamyung 9y ago
    True. But the author's reputation in the security area makes me more inclined to listen to what he has to say. An article with the same title, but written by, say, a marketing specialist would probably get a more sceptical reading.
  - TheSpiceIsLife 9y ago
    It's worth nothing that Appeal to Authority is a logical fallacy only when the authority is not an authority on the facts relevant to the argument. Deferring to a subject matter expert is logical.
    - QAPereo 9y ago
      There’s something to be said, especially when this site is so full of subject matter experts (although I am not one), for the notion that a discussion of somebody’s authority without including a discussion of the subject at hand is by definition, an appeal.
- QAPereo 9y ago
  I did, but I also saw this: They could also do things like send paper mail to the last long-term address, to confirm it. Why don't they do that for credit card requests? At a guess, it's because these stronger schemes are too inconvenient, and will drive away consumers who are trying to apply for credit. If that guess is correct, it suggests that the real solution is regulatory: make credit providers liable for the full damages, including ongoing inconvenience, suffered by victims of identity theft. SSNs are not the problem; authentication commensurate with the risk to all parties, including especially individuals, is. That’s a loooooot of guesses for my taste.