Your lifelong browsing history is suddenly available online. How are you affected? (suspected, how much)
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I have been getting these calls for a few years now. This has nothing to do with the new policy. These people have no idea have kind of computer you have or even if you have one. I mess with them.
You know these guys are scammers just like I do. I was just having a little fun.
As far as how we are affected by this new law? Our online history, be it from our own PCs, our phones both hardline and cell, our credit/debit checking purchases, our homes via utility bills etc. have all been up for grabs by the NSA as well as any and every government department or agency that asks for them for at least 30 years now. My ISP collecting selling my information to anyone who wants it will be no different than the government having my information.
If I ever felt I needed to be anonymous I would toss the computers, phones, credit/debit cards, and pay cash or money order paid for with cash for everything including utilities which wouldn't be in my name. If I was that paranoid, I would go off grid. This is possible, and depending on how remote the location, one could even avoid surveillance cameras BUT... who wants to live like this? Who wants the inconvenience of not having someone, somewhere monitoring them? It can be done but is it really worth it? Do any of us really have that much to hide to go through that kind of hassle?
At times I think it would be nice to live in the 1700s or 1800s, but I like modern conveniences too much. Things like air conditioning, phones, modern medicine, having a wealth of information at my fingertips via the internet, etc. I wouldn't give any of that up for a little anonymity and privacy.
We could all lie to ourselves, sitting here crying about this new bill, thinking it will somehow compromise our privacy but the truth is our privacy is nonexistent right now anyway, so what's a few more people having access to our lives really going to accomplish? I don't see it as a very big deal.
Now if you asked my opinion on whether the government should have access to all my information and data, THAT answer would be filled with all kinds of the government has no right nor authority, but it's too late to complain about or stop THAT nonsense, so a little more... Pfft! No biggie.
Let's say it all gets shown in gory detail, the IP address sources, every website, every download, all of it, for anyone to see.
Apart from some mild embarrassment, would you be in any trouble?
I've never looked at anything I personally would find embarrassing on my computer.
At the end of the day I've always assumed that big brother is watching and that my browser history is accessible or will be accessible to someone else beyond my willful request.
You know these guys are scammers just like I do. I was just having a little fun.
As far as how we are affected by this new law? Our online history, be it from our own PCs, our phones both hardline and cell, our credit/debit checking purchases, our homes via utility bills etc. have all been up for grabs by the NSA as well as any and every government department or agency that asks for them for at least 30 years now. My ISP collecting selling my information to anyone who wants it will be no different than the government having my information.
If I ever felt I needed to be anonymous I would toss the computers, phones, credit/debit cards, and pay cash or money order paid for with cash for everything including utilities which wouldn't be in my name. If I was that paranoid, I would go off grid. This is possible, and depending on how remote the location, one could even avoid surveillance cameras BUT... who wants to live like this? Who wants the inconvenience of not having someone, somewhere monitoring them? It can be done but is it really worth it? Do any of us really have that much to hide to go through that kind of hassle?
At times I think it would be nice to live in the 1700s or 1800s, but I like modern conveniences too much. Things like air conditioning, phones, modern medicine, having a wealth of information at my fingertips via the internet, etc. I wouldn't give any of that up for a little anonymity and privacy.
We could all lie to ourselves, sitting here crying about this new bill, thinking it will somehow compromise our privacy but the truth is our privacy is nonexistent right now anyway, so what's a few more people having access to our lives really going to accomplish? I don't see it as a very big deal.
Now if you asked my opinion on whether the government should have access to all my information and data, THAT answer would be filled with all kinds of the government has no right nor authority, but it's too late to complain about or stop THAT nonsense, so a little more... Pfft! No biggie.
Gotcha. I didn't catch your tone.
I don't see it as a very big deal either because I have always assumed it was happening anyways. I agree with your last paragraph.
Well let's see. A guy is interviewing for a job. Maybe a corporate job. The corporation subscribes to "browsinghistoryisyours" and looks up the guy. He finds out the guy wears XXL underwear, shops at Walmart, subscribes to men's magazines, has a wife who likes to shop - a lot. She wears a size 20, size 11 shoes and shops at Lane Bryant. They are looking at debt consolidation offers. The company decides this guy is a potential problem and they pass on him.
Exactly. It's not always as extreme as "this guy did something illegal, I don't do illegal things so I have nothing to worry about." Abuse is often far more mundane. Any data can be used to hurt you, no matter how innocuous.
I love getting those calls. I let them go on for about 15 minutes to eat up their phone bill trying unsuccessfully to gain access to my computer (all the while pretending to be cooperative), before I finally tell them: "Oh gee, do you think it's because I'm using Linux?" I then get the royal cussing out from them. It's oh so sweet. Fun times. I would imagine Mac users probably have fun with this too.
Lots of funny youtubes on scamming the microsoft scammers. Here's a cute one that's short.
Yea... I just typically ask them, "What computer?" Then lie to them telling them I've never owned a computer. They always hang up on me when I do that.
I DID get a call yesterday, right after my wife got the same call, same person & all, claiming to be from Publisher's Clearinghouse. He told my wife she won $1.2 million and a Mercedes, then proceeded to tell me I won $925K and a new Mercedes. His call to me was within seconds of him hanging up on my wife after she wouldn't give him her address. When he asked me exactly where I was right now I told him I was at home. I could hear the tension raise in his voice but I still offered no personal information. Then he asked my age and I told him Publisher's Clearinghouse already knows my age. That's when that scammer hung up on me.
If these dolts who try to scam people out of money and their identities would just get a regular honest job, they wouldn't have to work so hard just to risk getting locked up over a scam.
How would they know it's you? Even IP addresses aren't always unique.
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