Re: Newt's phone calls
At 10:45 PM 1/15/97 -0500, Rabid Wombat wrote:
On Mon, 13 Jan 1997, Declan McCullagh wrote:
Don't be too sure that crypto is that far beneath the radar. I spent Thursday through Saturday at an annual privacy conference for activists from around the country, and they understood the principles. Their voicemails were filling up with calls from reporters last Friday about the Gingrich incident, and I know they were talking crypto.
...
"Call Privacy and Security" are listed in bold, with "Say goodbye to eavesdropping" right below. Don't sell the public short; even me mum knows her cordless phone is insecure. ;)
I had to tell my sister not to use the cordless phone to use the automated banking services that our bank has available on grounds that transfers are also available through the same service. Our father is a math teacher, computer hobbyists since 1979. Both of my parents have college educations. My sister pegged the scales on the state distributed proficiency tests. Yet she knows practically nothing outside of her field. I will probably have to show her the values of cryptography before she actually has any patient records to deal with, (she's a pharmacy major.)
Sean Roach wrote:
I had to tell my sister not to use the cordless phone to use the automated banking services that our bank has available on grounds that transfers are also available through the same service.
It is my understanding that an ordinary banking consumer that uses "pay bills by phone" service cannot transfer $$ to any arbitrary account. There is a limited list of permitted accounts, such as utility companies. Therefore, the risk of unauthorized transfer is very limited. I would not be worried about this issue at all. The world at large is insecure in very many respects: it is easy to find out credit card numbers, overhear conversations, install hidden microphones, hack into computers, etc etc. It does not mean that we should stop all activity simply because there is "some" risk of losses.
Our father is a math teacher, computer hobbyists since 1979. Both of my parents have college educations. My sister pegged the scales on the state distributed proficiency tests. Yet she knows practically nothing outside of her field. I will probably have to show her the values of cryptography before she actually has any patient records to deal with, (she's a pharmacy major.)
- Igor.
Igor Chudov @ home wrote:
I would not be worried about this issue at all. The world at large is insecure in very many respects: it is easy to find out credit card numbers, overhear conversations, install hidden microphones, hack into computers, etc etc. It does not mean that we should stop all activity simply because there is "some" risk of losses.
I agree. Security in terms of theft really doesn't concern me most of the time. If someone steals your credit card or bank number, chances are you'll get everything back without too much trouble (exceptional "identity theft" cases notwithstanding). My life is structured such that even if someone stole my car and burned down my house, I'd hardly mind. I've got friends to stay with, I can bike to work, and I've got enough insurance. Money is just money; I've got an average amount, which is more than I need. What does concern me is personal privacy. I don't want people tracking my movements or purchasing patterns, so I prefer to use cash or pseudonymous debit cards. -rich
participants (3)
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ichudov＠algebra.com -
Rich Graves -
Sean Roach