>From: Cari Machet
>i wondered what happened - i tried to send you a note about getting ur pgp key validated in san fran - will send again
>why are you using them as an email provider again?
About my email crash: I am merely temporarily going to 'jamesdbell9@yahoo.com', to allow me to communicate with yahoo, hopefully to restore my past emails and address
book. Once things are back in place, I will probably migrate to a Gmail account, or something else if people recommend it.
(Raising the question: Is there a reasonably straightforward mechanism to allow a disgusted user to (easily and automatically) transfer all of his emails from one system to another? Obviously, email service providers are motivated to try to lock in users, but maybe there's a way to fight this.)
When I think that the hard drive on my computer has probably 300 gigabytes of freespace left, and I doubt whether the space necessary to store ALL of my inbox emails (and a large folder as well)
probably wouldn't require 1 gigabyte! One of the major problems with dealing with the 'cloud' computing is that we become dependent on the incompetence of third parties, for storing and maintaining services. In principle, such people might be _more_ competent and capable, but at this point I very much long for the possibility of maintaining a 'personal backup' of email on my own computer, in parallel with anything stored elsewhere.
So far, Yahoo has reflexively claimed that the account was
terminated for 'abuse', but I think I understand what happened., It gave me a request to re-login since it had
been a long time since I'd done that (maybe 2 weeks?); cautious about 'phishing', I opened a new window and pointed to 'Yahoo.com' and tried to log in. I think that the system was confused, because (presumably) I was still logged onto Yahoo, the window requesting that I re-log-in. (It is possible that this is what the computer interpreted as 'abuse'; in any case the first-level staffers have, so far, merely repeated what their software claimed.)
In hindsight, what I suspect I SHOULD have done was to
completely log off Yahoo, and THEN open up a new window and log back on.
As for a PGP key: I have not made a PGP key yet. I will do so before I come down to the SF area to get it signed. However,
understand that I don't really view any PGP key I generate as being 'safe': I am virtually assuming that my computer is, inherently, a major honey-pot (simply because it is owned by "Jim Bell"), which means that there are probably a few dozen instances of national-level malware in it, transmitting my every keystroke to NSA, GCHQ, and just about
everyone else who cares. Including, of course, my passphrases. <sigh> One thing I will want to have happen in San Francisco is to allow the meeting to exercise their anti-cracker skills to find out just how many nations have compromised my computer. Might as well.
I renew my offer to engage in Skype video calls with anyone, as a reasonably good proof of my identity. It occurred to me that I could disconnect my computer from power and wired (ethernet) Internet service, maintaining WiFi, and walk out the front door of my house, all the while during said Skype call, and show (behind me) my house and car (1995 Suzuki Sidekick JLX), at the address 7214 Corregidor, Vancouver WA 98664 USA. Anyone who installs Google Earth should be able to 'Streetview', verifying what the house looks like, etc.
Jim
Bell
A picture of me from the web: (I still wear this sweater: I didn't have access to it, and thus didn't wear it out, during my vacation(s) at the Federal "gated communities" during most of 1997-2012. I probably still have the shirt, too!)
On Thursday, January 30, 2014 10:34 AM, Cari Machet <carimachet@gmail.com> wrote:
i wondered what happened - i tried to send you a note about getting ur pgp key validated in san fran - will send again
why are you using them as an email provider again?