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I miss having a world where the threat model of having your computer compromised wasn't "your entire life ends". Where a device wasn't assumed to be online all

I miss having a world where the threat model of having your computer compromised wasn't "your entire life ends". Where a device wasn't assumed to be online all the time, and where every device didn't contain the keys to your bank account.

compiler-devel 2y ago
You can meaningfully recreate this world today for a personal, non-work environment. For a PC, what do you really need a persistent internet connection for? If you have a Mac, create a couple of network locations, one "Offline" (all internet-connected network adaptors disabled) and another "Online." Keep a habit of leaving it at the "Offline" unless you really need to go online for something. This is what we did thirty years ago with dial-up.
- theresistor 2y ago
  You can, but what does it help? Modern OSes are architected assuming an always-online, the-world-ends threat model. Thus causes them to be heavily locked down, eliminating a lot of the customizability and hackability that older systems had. And that’s not to mention applications. It used to be common for GUI applications to be scriptable and to support plugins!
  - regularfry 2y ago
    It's worth experimenting with. Some things won't work at all, others will break in Fun And Interesting Ways. Some things will get much slicker though because they suddenly don't have network I/O anywhere near the UI, or because ads aren't sucking CPU any more. It's worth at least understanding where your common workflows are on that spectrum.
  - compiler-devel 2y ago
    It might help your focus, if you're the type who is easily distracted with the web or by notifications. That extra bit of friction to switch locations to enable the network might be enough to get you to second guess whether or not you really need to look at that thing online.
donatj 2y ago
I remember in the early 2000's getting a virus that made multiple long distance calls to Japan with my dial up modem and having to try to explain the charges to my parents.
- RCitronsBroker 2y ago
  that’s called a "dialer", haven’t used that word for a long time
  - donatj 2y ago
    I'm still curious some 24 years later what it was up to.
    - nohup2 2y ago
      Many of those dialers were programs that offered access to porn. Had a friend that used one extensively for a month, until his parents received a fat invoice from the phone company!
ChrisMarshallNY 2y ago
With the old System Seven, though, you could write an app that could register to receive events through OS hooks. Made keyboard loggers especially easy.
- JKCalhoun 2y ago
  And fun extensions that would make clicky clacky sounds when you typed, a bell when you hit return. No one was worried about key logging.
- mistrial9 2y ago
  if you wanted a system-wide behavior you had to write an INIT ; extra credit to show it at MacHack Ann Arbor later
  - ChrisMarshallNY 2y ago
    Kill Dean's Inits!
deleted 2y ago
[deleted]

compiler-devel 2y ago

You can meaningfully recreate this world today for a personal, non-work environment. For a PC, what do you really need a persistent internet connection for? If you have a Mac, create a couple of network locations, one "Offline" (all internet-connected network adaptors disabled) and another "Online." Keep a habit of leaving it at the "Offline" unless you really need to go online for something. This is what we did thirty years ago with dial-up.

theresistor 2y ago
You can, but what does it help? Modern OSes are architected assuming an always-online, the-world-ends threat model. Thus causes them to be heavily locked down, eliminating a lot of the customizability and hackability that older systems had. And that’s not to mention applications. It used to be common for GUI applications to be scriptable and to support plugins!
- regularfry 2y ago
  It's worth experimenting with. Some things won't work at all, others will break in Fun And Interesting Ways. Some things will get much slicker though because they suddenly don't have network I/O anywhere near the UI, or because ads aren't sucking CPU any more. It's worth at least understanding where your common workflows are on that spectrum.
- compiler-devel 2y ago
  It might help your focus, if you're the type who is easily distracted with the web or by notifications. That extra bit of friction to switch locations to enable the network might be enough to get you to second guess whether or not you really need to look at that thing online.

donatj 2y ago

I remember in the early 2000's getting a virus that made multiple long distance calls to Japan with my dial up modem and having to try to explain the charges to my parents.

RCitronsBroker 2y ago
that’s called a "dialer", haven’t used that word for a long time
- donatj 2y ago
  I'm still curious some 24 years later what it was up to.
  - nohup2 2y ago
    Many of those dialers were programs that offered access to porn. Had a friend that used one extensively for a month, until his parents received a fat invoice from the phone company!

ChrisMarshallNY 2y ago

With the old System Seven, though, you could write an app that could register to receive events through OS hooks. Made keyboard loggers especially easy.

JKCalhoun 2y ago
And fun extensions that would make clicky clacky sounds when you typed, a bell when you hit return. No one was worried about key logging.
mistrial9 2y ago
if you wanted a system-wide behavior you had to write an INIT ; extra credit to show it at MacHack Ann Arbor later
- ChrisMarshallNY 2y ago
  Kill Dean's Inits!

deleted 2y ago

[deleted]