3 ms·

Hm, I kind of enjoyed this. It makes a good point, but at the same time, what's the point of the point? There's nothing much anyone can do, except for maybe edu

by creep 9y ago

Hm, I kind of enjoyed this. It makes a good point, but at the same time, what's the point of the point? There's nothing much anyone can do, except for maybe education in schools, starting in elementary. But on that note, kids aren't even taught about the adult world in school. I think all we can do is just continue making our for-dummies bullet points.

parliament32 9y ago
Would this have played out the same way if she wasn't running Windows? What if she was using a Chromebook or an Android tablet? For all the tasks she needs her laptop for, would one of these not have been sufficient? Perhaps we shouldn't be equipping users like Jessica with full-fledged workstations. This will be unpopular, but: maybe there is something to walled gardens after all.
- dragonwriter 9y ago
  > Would this have played out the same way if she wasn't running Windows? What if she was using a Chromebook or an Android tablet? Yes. Well, at least, a fictional narrative with a similar outcome could plausibly be constructed, because "She can't afford a new X so she's using one she got from her mom's ex-boyfriend" is one of the many points at which a low-level exploit could have been introduced (the point where the actual exploit occurs in the story isn't the only one where it could have occurred), and exploits that could have been introduced there with physical access certainly abound for Android, and I would imagine for ChromeOS machines as well.
- netsharc 9y ago
  As terrible the walled garden of iOS is (seems like Android is still PC-like in its customisation abilities), it's a good feature to protect agains malware. Well, iOS now has custom keyboards which is basically "Emojis! GIFs! But also keylogging!" (Hah, remember all those Windows apps offering icons, etc?). Also, where is the webcam LED on phones?
acct1771 9y ago
Very glad this is the first comment here. The solution to tech security, (which, eventually, as we're seeing, is ALL security), is education. Early and often. Jessica's story isn't one that falls neatly in the lines, but there's plenty of easily observable instances where people don't bother to become familiar with the tech they need to literally function on a day to day basis - and because "they're not good with computers", that's just okay. 12 year olds are building successful apps in Scandinavia. Meanwhile, I explain how to attach a picture to an email to 14 year old Americans, and ponder exactly how many times you have to see a paperclip and not recognize what it means before you're allowed to be called willfully ignorant.
- creep 9y ago
  It is willful ignorance in a way, in these cases. But that's just because there's no impetus to learn. Everything works fine, looking into it is just a hassle. I see analogies to politics, science, etc. We need to create a culture where it's highly valuable to be aware of what's going on with the tools we use, not just in tech. Most people don't even know how to argue a point effectively and correctly, because they don't understand that there are tools for that. Our culture is situated around how loud any one person can be. Security is quiet-- unless you can build status around being security-minded.

by creep 9y ago

parliament32 9y ago

Would this have played out the same way if she wasn't running Windows? What if she was using a Chromebook or an Android tablet? For all the tasks she needs her laptop for, would one of these not have been sufficient? Perhaps we shouldn't be equipping users like Jessica with full-fledged workstations. This will be unpopular, but: maybe there is something to walled gardens after all.

dragonwriter 9y ago
> Would this have played out the same way if she wasn't running Windows? What if she was using a Chromebook or an Android tablet? Yes. Well, at least, a fictional narrative with a similar outcome could plausibly be constructed, because "She can't afford a new X so she's using one she got from her mom's ex-boyfriend" is one of the many points at which a low-level exploit could have been introduced (the point where the actual exploit occurs in the story isn't the only one where it could have occurred), and exploits that could have been introduced there with physical access certainly abound for Android, and I would imagine for ChromeOS machines as well.
netsharc 9y ago
As terrible the walled garden of iOS is (seems like Android is still PC-like in its customisation abilities), it's a good feature to protect agains malware. Well, iOS now has custom keyboards which is basically "Emojis! GIFs! But also keylogging!" (Hah, remember all those Windows apps offering icons, etc?). Also, where is the webcam LED on phones?

acct1771 9y ago

Very glad this is the first comment here. The solution to tech security, (which, eventually, as we're seeing, is ALL security), is education. Early and often. Jessica's story isn't one that falls neatly in the lines, but there's plenty of easily observable instances where people don't bother to become familiar with the tech they need to literally function on a day to day basis - and because "they're not good with computers", that's just okay. 12 year olds are building successful apps in Scandinavia. Meanwhile, I explain how to attach a picture to an email to 14 year old Americans, and ponder exactly how many times you have to see a paperclip and not recognize what it means before you're allowed to be called willfully ignorant.

creep 9y ago
It is willful ignorance in a way, in these cases. But that's just because there's no impetus to learn. Everything works fine, looking into it is just a hassle. I see analogies to politics, science, etc. We need to create a culture where it's highly valuable to be aware of what's going on with the tools we use, not just in tech. Most people don't even know how to argue a point effectively and correctly, because they don't understand that there are tools for that. Our culture is situated around how loud any one person can be. Security is quiet-- unless you can build status around being security-minded.