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My bank no longer allows logon without a texted verification code. They won't email it anymore.
Ah. Now that you mention it, B of A credit card is the same way. We can't get texts here so I can't update my info on their site. Oh well. At least the CC still works.
But that is awful for you. They should realize not everyone has text capabilities.
The Alexa, Echo, Cortana, and similar technologies scare me.
Every time I see a commercial for this kind of technology, scenes from Orwell's 1984 run through my mind, and I hear the phrase, "Big Brother is watching."
Is this new "helpfulness" the beginning of watching? Am I the only senior who feels this way?
No I don't, primarily because most of that stuff is still voluntary to own/use or not own/use. Choosing " "helpfulness" is still an act of free will.
LE getting my DNA from a door handle at a crime scene is one thing; linking me to a crime scene I was nowhere near because of my DNA in a genealogy database is quite another. The Michael Usry, Jr. case (profiled in a 20/20 episode) was one in which a database owned by Ancestry.com provided DNA info to LE. It should be a cautionary tale to everyone, not just those with things to hide: https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2015/0...nnocent-man-20
Things can change and data can be breached, accidentally or otherwise. Assuming I'm not near any crime scenes, LE won't ever have access to my DNA and neither will any other government agencies. It's one less thing of mine for Big Brother to have. Maybe it's me being paranoid. I don't wear tinfoil hats and I live in a subdivision where I interact with neighbors and as far as I know, no one considers me weirder than anyone else. I shop, I attend social events, all without wearing rubber gloves or a gas mask. So I consider myself a fairly mainstream member of society. I love technology but like using anything, whether it be a car, a lawn mower, a gun, medications, or Tide pods, I try to be informed and responsible. Measure the risks and benefits, and come up with your own personal comfort level. Life is all about trade-offs.
The Alexa, Echo, Cortana, and similar technologies scare me.
Every time I see a commercial for this kind of technology, scenes from Orwell's 1984 run through my mind, and I hear the phrase, "Big Brother is watching."
Is this new "helpfulness" the beginning of watching? Am I the only senior who feels this way?
Scary? Well, I DISLIKE how the targeted ads functionality on Facebook and Instagram scan the texts you enter in your Messages app, and listens to background conversation even when your phone is locked / screen off. There's no setting under Privacy to turn THAT off. I even have microphone and camera permissions off (there's not one for keyboard/input) and it still occurs.
I'm waiting for the social credit score to come out where I get dinged and can't find a job because my phone overheard me venting to my friend about something over the phone.
I find Alexa creepy. My friend says she asked hers a question about something and when she went in to her computer later, there was an ad for that same thing. No big brother in my house.
But I gotta say, I'm grateful to read I'm not alone. My kids are all glued to their electronics and I frequently get remarks about how bad it is that I'm not. Recently one relative told me I should update my phone because I could not get some multi-media text she had gotten. Who cares? But the criticism was hurtful. Though I had to laugh because this relative is pretty broke and wouldn't have her smart phone if her son hadn't put her on their plan and paid for the phone.
I can sew and nobody else in my family does. I don't criticize them when they come to me with projects to sew. Why can't we all just live our lives the way we want and not be judged when we're different?
This is an interesting thread- and not to knock anyone specifically, but some on here are criticizing people's math illiteracy and bringing up their own technology illiteracy.
Both are vital in 2018 and will continue to be vital to our society.
I limit the apps on my smartphone because I find their behavior annoying - particularly the app version of Facebook and, the worst offender, Messenger. I don't use either of those on my phone. My only social platform is Facebook, and that I use for keeping track of a limited number of distant family and friends plus a second account that I use for my beading/crochet/knitting groups and keeping up with patterns. I don't use Twitter or Instagram or any of the others.
I do have 3 older games (that have survived 3 phone updates), two solitaire type games and then a hearts game. They are old enough that they were done back when the developers hadn't figured out how to monetize the games by showing you ads between every hand/round or by having in-app purchases.
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It sounds like you responded to a fake iPhone update message that was really a phishing email or text. So many out there. I got a text to update my American Express Card. Looked very real. Only problem is that I don’t have an American Express card.
I got my $75 charge taken off and a new card issued so I guess I won this battle but probably not the war.
A recent update to my Kindle, added Alexa. I wasn't asked if I wanted the app, it just downloaded and installed it. Not happy that Kindle did this without my consent. (Oh yeah, my consent is probably buried somewhere within the user agreement).
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