OK, so we're not actually talking Apple doing the doc dropping, it just fitted in the title better.
What we are talking about is Apple asking for a combination of documents, either a drivers license or passport, coupled with a recent bank/credit card statement showing the name, address and card number.
Not only that, but if you've agreed to their terms and conditions then you've accepted that they're going to ask for this at some point and you're going to give it to them.
Now, let me recount an experience with Valve when someone nicked my Half LIfe registration codes. They made me post my codes physically, to America, for them to confirm that they were mine.
Valve wouldn't accept a picture, not even a high resolution picture. The reason they gave was that pictures can be faked. So, I did it, and eventually the licenses were transfered to my Steam accountand my licenses returned to me by post some time later. What happened to the account of the fraudulent user, I don't know. I'll tell you one thing, though, I was scared as heck in case the post offices lost them. I mean, risking the UK or the US post offices can be scary enough ... risking BOTH of them in the one transaction! Yikes!
Images of passports and drivers licenses are easily available on an image search. A bit of photoshopping, sling it out a colour printer and bobs your unkle. Same thing with a credit card statement and even a credit card. Get an old credit card, cut out the hologram and put it on the card and take a picture. Bingo.
If you want to guard against resolution queries, just tell them you took it with your old, low res iPhone !!!
It probably won't be long before the criminal underground are distributing ready-set forms so that other criminals won't even have to go to the extent of finding the correct font for the fake licenses and bank statements.
So the question becomes, what can Apple actually DO with this information? I'm fairly certain that any bank or the UK DVLA will tell Apple where to get stuffed; I'm not sure about the passport side of things. So it doesn't immediately seem that they can do any actual verification with this information anyway.
So this just seems to be a data slurp which dangerously looks like a phishing attempt, for no good reason. Yeh, right, I really want images of my personal documents flying around the ether. I'm squirmish enough with giving my credit card numbers over a secure web connection, for crying out loud. Unencrypted e-mail? EEEK! The day that we get in to the habit of sending information like this over e-mail without a second thought ... we might as well record a video of our bank details and sling it up on YouTube ... a'la Jeremy Clarkson.
If Apple want to actually keep information that is useful, they how about keeping a record of the bloody MAC addresses of the equipment it sells so if the bloody wi-fi hacker is dumb enough not to change their MAC address, then they can be easily tracked by the cops.
Grrrr.....
Android's latest sales pitch - Apple
This report about Apple asking for very sensitive documents from people, before they are willing to process orders for goods, marks a considerable shift in what companies think they are entitled to ask of customers.
This is possibly the most chilling damnation of any company that I've head of yet.
This is possibly the most chilling damnation of any company that I've head of yet.
You can't trust Google for search
Back in the day, when you wanted to search for me on the internet, good old, "Michelle Knight," I would be top entry on all the search engines.
Then, along came Michele Knight and paid for a listing. Lo and behold she knocked me off the number one spot, which is to be expected when someone pays to jump the queue even when they only have one "l" in their name.
Now, the situation is laughable. I got as far as page 8 on Google.co.uk before I came across an actual "Michelle Knight" and even that wasn't me!
Net result is that Google's "Do No Evil" will become an albatross around their neck. All it will take is another service which works, with enough cash behind it and a lack of historical, psychological baggage, and Google will find themselves bereft of users and advertisers.
The clock is ticking, Google. It is now only a matter of time.
Then, along came Michele Knight and paid for a listing. Lo and behold she knocked me off the number one spot, which is to be expected when someone pays to jump the queue even when they only have one "l" in their name.
Now, the situation is laughable. I got as far as page 8 on Google.co.uk before I came across an actual "Michelle Knight" and even that wasn't me!
Net result is that Google's "Do No Evil" will become an albatross around their neck. All it will take is another service which works, with enough cash behind it and a lack of historical, psychological baggage, and Google will find themselves bereft of users and advertisers.
The clock is ticking, Google. It is now only a matter of time.
Doing the Glipho Shuffle.
I've spent a few weeks blogging on the Glipho platform and I thought I'd offer up my experiences.
To be fair to Glipho, the platform is in beta and has been progressing apace. Number of users are increasing.
I did find some technical issues and the response was quick and polite. THe staff seem to have a balanced approach to life and a genuine feeling about their philosophy.
Given the fracas surrounding Facebook's banning pictures of breastfeeding women but refusing to ban decapitation videos; Google's tax avoidance and a general choking on their "do no evil" mantra and all the rest of the stuff going on in the worldwide blogging environment, then it is possible that Glipho could find itself with an increasing number of users in short order, despite still being in beta.
Feedly picked up 500,000 new users in the space of two days when Google announced the axe was to fall on "Reader." I have to ask myself the question of whether Glipho could cope with that much migration ... or more appropriately, whether the people behind Glipho have evaluated the possibility of that kind of migration happening, and whether they had done anything to prepare for it.
In terms of usability, in general it is quite manageable. However, as someone who prefers my browser to occupy a small amount of my screen estate, I have problems with the writing, "desk." The auto sizing on the desk has no minimum height set, so if you shrink the window too far down, the input area for the post body, dissapears completley.
If you don't mind your browser taking up most of your screen in order to do any writing, then you won't have a problem. If you're like me, however, who prefers to work on something piece at a time, while multi-tasking, then I suggest the trick of using a small text editor, cutting and pasting in when you're done. That does lose you the flexibility of putting in formatting while you go, but that's jsut one of those things.
I put up a number of posts on a range of subjects. I also ported in the small amount of content from my recently revived Techni-Life blogger account. After a while, I did the numbers and it wasn't encouraging.
The best read and liked posts were, in effect, posts about posting. ie. the current community is a community of bloggers among whos interests are increasing their readerships, likes, etc.
One of the things that I have found in many spaces is that it is the already successful who are pushed. It leads to stagnation and mass-feeding while there are some real diamonds in the rough; the people who really connect with the few people who read them ... that don't get exposed to the rest of us.
While I think this is an issue that is badly in need of addressing, I'm not one hundred percent certain whether the Glipho Team feel the same way.
I did, however, put forward a potential technical/logical solution so we'll see what happens. Or, rather, other people will see what happens. I don't have enough free time to blog, v-log and keep track of all the platforms myself.
I do, however, wish them luck. Time could potentially bring a lot to their doorstep in short order, and I really hope that they can keep hold of their moral stance and not do a "google" on the community.
To be fair to Glipho, the platform is in beta and has been progressing apace. Number of users are increasing.
I did find some technical issues and the response was quick and polite. THe staff seem to have a balanced approach to life and a genuine feeling about their philosophy.
Given the fracas surrounding Facebook's banning pictures of breastfeeding women but refusing to ban decapitation videos; Google's tax avoidance and a general choking on their "do no evil" mantra and all the rest of the stuff going on in the worldwide blogging environment, then it is possible that Glipho could find itself with an increasing number of users in short order, despite still being in beta.
Feedly picked up 500,000 new users in the space of two days when Google announced the axe was to fall on "Reader." I have to ask myself the question of whether Glipho could cope with that much migration ... or more appropriately, whether the people behind Glipho have evaluated the possibility of that kind of migration happening, and whether they had done anything to prepare for it.
In terms of usability, in general it is quite manageable. However, as someone who prefers my browser to occupy a small amount of my screen estate, I have problems with the writing, "desk." The auto sizing on the desk has no minimum height set, so if you shrink the window too far down, the input area for the post body, dissapears completley.
If you don't mind your browser taking up most of your screen in order to do any writing, then you won't have a problem. If you're like me, however, who prefers to work on something piece at a time, while multi-tasking, then I suggest the trick of using a small text editor, cutting and pasting in when you're done. That does lose you the flexibility of putting in formatting while you go, but that's jsut one of those things.
I put up a number of posts on a range of subjects. I also ported in the small amount of content from my recently revived Techni-Life blogger account. After a while, I did the numbers and it wasn't encouraging.
The best read and liked posts were, in effect, posts about posting. ie. the current community is a community of bloggers among whos interests are increasing their readerships, likes, etc.
One of the things that I have found in many spaces is that it is the already successful who are pushed. It leads to stagnation and mass-feeding while there are some real diamonds in the rough; the people who really connect with the few people who read them ... that don't get exposed to the rest of us.
While I think this is an issue that is badly in need of addressing, I'm not one hundred percent certain whether the Glipho Team feel the same way.
I did, however, put forward a potential technical/logical solution so we'll see what happens. Or, rather, other people will see what happens. I don't have enough free time to blog, v-log and keep track of all the platforms myself.
I do, however, wish them luck. Time could potentially bring a lot to their doorstep in short order, and I really hope that they can keep hold of their moral stance and not do a "google" on the community.
How many people actually read things?
I wrote a blog article on Glipho, "Arrivederci, So long, Fare Thee well."
It began with the paragraph, "After a few attempts to understand my audience, it appears I have failed."
Hands up those that would logically conclude that this would be my last post on Glipho? Yes? Good.
Then explain to me why the Glipho team actually "liked" the article? Haven't they realised what I've just said?
On top of that, Jasveena Prabhagaran commented, "Good post!! I believe good articles with great insights should be highlighted for its message and this would encourage writers to give more powerful articles!"
I feel like tapping the screen and saying, "Hello? Hello! I'm am leaving, you know. I'm buggering off now. Toodle pip."
The article itself is here - http://glipho.com/msknight/arrivederci-so-long-fare-thee-well - and within it is my analysis; that people are reading the junk posts and not bothering with the posts that actually mean something to me.
*sigh* I really do wonder where all this social media malarky is going. Whenever I think I've got a grip on it, I realise that I never really had a handle on it in the first place.
What has this got to do with technology? Well, it's like London really. So crowded that, "See you around!" is London for, "Goodbye." It is something which we have become used to with electronic media without fully realising it. How many people have we shared correspondence with, but it all suddenly stops and neither party seems to remember anything about the other, because, as it happens, virtual reality isn't really, real life.
I might post another post on Glipho, on the pretense of ensuring that people do know that I'm not posting there any more ... but with the same title as before ... just to see what happens, because there doesn't seem to be a date/time deliniation and if the same person makes two posts with the same title, say, "Life update," then what would happen?
Ah well, it was good while it lasted.
It began with the paragraph, "After a few attempts to understand my audience, it appears I have failed."
Hands up those that would logically conclude that this would be my last post on Glipho? Yes? Good.
Then explain to me why the Glipho team actually "liked" the article? Haven't they realised what I've just said?
On top of that, Jasveena Prabhagaran commented, "Good post!! I believe good articles with great insights should be highlighted for its message and this would encourage writers to give more powerful articles!"
I feel like tapping the screen and saying, "Hello? Hello! I'm am leaving, you know. I'm buggering off now. Toodle pip."
The article itself is here - http://glipho.com/msknight/arrivederci-so-long-fare-thee-well - and within it is my analysis; that people are reading the junk posts and not bothering with the posts that actually mean something to me.
*sigh* I really do wonder where all this social media malarky is going. Whenever I think I've got a grip on it, I realise that I never really had a handle on it in the first place.
What has this got to do with technology? Well, it's like London really. So crowded that, "See you around!" is London for, "Goodbye." It is something which we have become used to with electronic media without fully realising it. How many people have we shared correspondence with, but it all suddenly stops and neither party seems to remember anything about the other, because, as it happens, virtual reality isn't really, real life.
I might post another post on Glipho, on the pretense of ensuring that people do know that I'm not posting there any more ... but with the same title as before ... just to see what happens, because there doesn't seem to be a date/time deliniation and if the same person makes two posts with the same title, say, "Life update," then what would happen?
Ah well, it was good while it lasted.
Driving with video
As a result of some of my recent videos, one of the things I've been
asked is what it is like driving with a video camera on-board.
I used to think I was the bees knees as a driver way back when. Working in Europe I'd drive the E40 with a hands free kit for my private phone in one ear, (they weren't blue tooth back then) smoking a cigarette, a cup of coffee in one hand and the works mobile phone jammed up against my ear while driving at more than a hundred miles per hour.
(and I was going with the flow in the slow lane. You should have seen what the BMW's and Merc's were doing!)
I won't tell you what country that was in because someone might still want to come after me for being a dangerous, suicidal moron in the 90's; fortunately for me the E40 spans a few borders.
It was an accident near Aachen that nearly claimed my life. It was pure fluke that I wasn't in any of the cars that were transformed to sardine tins by a car, coming the other way, that flipped the armco and came in to our lane, totalling a number of cars. And given what armco is and does, the mess it was left in was testament to the speed and forces that were involved.
That resulted in my foot becoming a bit lighter on the throttle and my attitude changed from then on. As the years progress, it continues to change.
Now, I have a small video camera in the car that I use to record every journey. It is an 808 #16 and the prices have been going up in recent months, so if you're thinking of getting one, shop around. (actually, the #20 version is now out.)
It takes a bit of practice to get used to the simple button press and LED light message combination, but once you're over that it is a matter of seconds to turn it on and off.
A 32 gig Micro SD card can record 8 hours of journey but because the internal battery can only last for half an hour-ish, I have to leave it hooked up to my cigarette lighter to USB cable. I also have a piece of black electrical insulating tape over the SD card slot to ensure that the card doesn't get lost (because I lost one already; fortunately it turned up but when I thought about some of the in-car conversations that had been recorded on it, I did get goose bumps.)
To an extent, it serves a double purpose. Sussex have Operation Crackdown, where you can report idiots on the road, and having video to prove what they had done should hopefully result in people getting caught for doing really stupid stunts that they thought they had gotten away with.
The odd stuff I don't report because we're all human, including me. You'd have to be really dangerous for me to file a report.
The other purpose is that it keeps me in check. If I do something stupid then I know it is on camera and I'm just as liable for being a pillock as anybody else is, so it does serve to stop me taking risks and to keep myself obeying the rules and being courious to other road users.
The main purpose, though, is that in case there is an accident (and as I've stated on other blog posts, in some countries there is no such thing as an accident; an incident happened because someone broke the rules.) and I know of cases where innocent parties have wound up taking fines and points because at the end of the day, the courts have believed the other party.
That, of course, is just plain wrong but without some form of evidence, you're barking at a brick wall. I just don't want to get caught like that.
I really do look forward to the day when all round video systems come as standard in cars. Even if it takes a European law to make it happen. As long as the memory card is in the control of the vehicle owner, then I can't see any objection and, even with the heightened cost of the 808 #16, that goes to show just how cheap this technology actually is. In my book, there is no excuse for it not being done.
I see two benefits...
*) Insurance and court procedures would be cut because video evidence would save a lot of this blame, counter blame and the innocent being made guity.
*) If drivers know that other vehicles have video systems, then they are more likely to drive responsibly.
I can't see any down sides. Can you?
I used to think I was the bees knees as a driver way back when. Working in Europe I'd drive the E40 with a hands free kit for my private phone in one ear, (they weren't blue tooth back then) smoking a cigarette, a cup of coffee in one hand and the works mobile phone jammed up against my ear while driving at more than a hundred miles per hour.
(and I was going with the flow in the slow lane. You should have seen what the BMW's and Merc's were doing!)
I won't tell you what country that was in because someone might still want to come after me for being a dangerous, suicidal moron in the 90's; fortunately for me the E40 spans a few borders.
It was an accident near Aachen that nearly claimed my life. It was pure fluke that I wasn't in any of the cars that were transformed to sardine tins by a car, coming the other way, that flipped the armco and came in to our lane, totalling a number of cars. And given what armco is and does, the mess it was left in was testament to the speed and forces that were involved.
That resulted in my foot becoming a bit lighter on the throttle and my attitude changed from then on. As the years progress, it continues to change.
Now, I have a small video camera in the car that I use to record every journey. It is an 808 #16 and the prices have been going up in recent months, so if you're thinking of getting one, shop around. (actually, the #20 version is now out.)
It takes a bit of practice to get used to the simple button press and LED light message combination, but once you're over that it is a matter of seconds to turn it on and off.
A 32 gig Micro SD card can record 8 hours of journey but because the internal battery can only last for half an hour-ish, I have to leave it hooked up to my cigarette lighter to USB cable. I also have a piece of black electrical insulating tape over the SD card slot to ensure that the card doesn't get lost (because I lost one already; fortunately it turned up but when I thought about some of the in-car conversations that had been recorded on it, I did get goose bumps.)
To an extent, it serves a double purpose. Sussex have Operation Crackdown, where you can report idiots on the road, and having video to prove what they had done should hopefully result in people getting caught for doing really stupid stunts that they thought they had gotten away with.
The odd stuff I don't report because we're all human, including me. You'd have to be really dangerous for me to file a report.
The other purpose is that it keeps me in check. If I do something stupid then I know it is on camera and I'm just as liable for being a pillock as anybody else is, so it does serve to stop me taking risks and to keep myself obeying the rules and being courious to other road users.
The main purpose, though, is that in case there is an accident (and as I've stated on other blog posts, in some countries there is no such thing as an accident; an incident happened because someone broke the rules.) and I know of cases where innocent parties have wound up taking fines and points because at the end of the day, the courts have believed the other party.
That, of course, is just plain wrong but without some form of evidence, you're barking at a brick wall. I just don't want to get caught like that.
I really do look forward to the day when all round video systems come as standard in cars. Even if it takes a European law to make it happen. As long as the memory card is in the control of the vehicle owner, then I can't see any objection and, even with the heightened cost of the 808 #16, that goes to show just how cheap this technology actually is. In my book, there is no excuse for it not being done.
I see two benefits...
*) Insurance and court procedures would be cut because video evidence would save a lot of this blame, counter blame and the innocent being made guity.
*) If drivers know that other vehicles have video systems, then they are more likely to drive responsibly.
I can't see any down sides. Can you?
A new trend in tech shareholding?
A few months after Michael Dell announced to buy back his company from shareholders, it seems like Apple are at the same game.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-22361840
The question is ... are we now looking at a new trend of companies wanting to operate outside the greedy grasp of cash-hungry shareholders?
One of the most interesting things to read in that BBC report is, "However, most of that money is sitting in accounts outside the US and would be liable for US taxes if repatriated."
If that little bit of news generates traction, then the UK cry against companies not paying their taxes, might be something that does the reverse-atlantic migration.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-22361840
The question is ... are we now looking at a new trend of companies wanting to operate outside the greedy grasp of cash-hungry shareholders?
One of the most interesting things to read in that BBC report is, "However, most of that money is sitting in accounts outside the US and would be liable for US taxes if repatriated."
If that little bit of news generates traction, then the UK cry against companies not paying their taxes, might be something that does the reverse-atlantic migration.
Sussex police couldn't catch a cold.
Some might think I'm being harsh. But let me tell you a few things. My respect for the police is near damn at rock bottom.
Now I'll be honest, a chunk of that is down to how violence against my home in Folkestone was handled; (yes, I know that was Kent, but it has coloured my opinion of the police as a whole) when they eventually gave in and installed a temporary surveilance camera, they pointed the camera at the front door instead of the street to identify the vandals, and while the camera was installed the violence stopped; the very night that the eqipment went away, it all started up again. The whole incident smelt of rotting fish.
For those who watch my video channel, you'll know that there have been a number of incidents lately and the police have been not very helpful. Indeed, as I wrote in an article on police and firearms some time ago, you'll see that the reputation of the police in the UK is at a considerable low. - http://life-of-a-stranger.blogspot.co.uk/2011/12/uk-police-routine-firearms-not-yet.html
Is it all their fault? No.
We're facing a changing society and criminals are changing both what they do and how they go about it. The government response to this is to cut police resources. Like that's going to help? Duh.
In this case we have a criminal in the neighbourhood who is comitting the crime of stealing their neighbours bandwidth by hacking their wireless connections. And, yes, it is a crime.
The problem here is that it is a crime that the police can do nothing about. They are not equipped to go after these criminals.
Thanks to privacy campaigners, the ISPs don't retain the kind of information that would help; ie. the traffic history from my connection.
Thanks to lax, greedy manufacturers, the equipment that I can buy does not adequately protect me from being hacked.
Thanks to the ISP, I am held responsible for criminal activity on my line even though they haven't given me the equipment to stop it.
Thanks to our legal system, as a hard working individual it would probably cost me my house in order to defend myself against accusations of illegal activity which were actually performed by a hacker. ... and I'd probably lose.
Our only natural defence so far is that the range of wireless communication has been restricted. New techonolgies, however, have boosted the range and more neighbours than ever before, are now able to communicate with our domestic equipment.
The risk of being hacked is increasing; and the hacker can do this from the comfort of their own living room ... and time is on their side.
The only thing that keeps most of us safe is that we've got reasonable neighbours. But it only takes one bad apple to potentially screw up a complete neighbourhood. Be it someone who can't afford the internet any more and needs to be connected, or a whiz kid screwing around, it is just a matter of luck that many of us are carrying on in complete ignorance of the potential upset that awaits us.
And the police can't catch them.
I'm not sitting on my arse. I'm pushing the police on this. I've tried pushing my MP. I've also made suggestions to some manufacturers to try and increse the security of the next generation of wireless communication devices.
Society is carrying on at break neck speed. Everything has gone wireless. Power and flexibility is increasing; but the proper tools to control and police it are not in place.
I'm screaming at the top of my lungs for somebody to do something.
And at the moment, no one is listening.
Now I'll be honest, a chunk of that is down to how violence against my home in Folkestone was handled; (yes, I know that was Kent, but it has coloured my opinion of the police as a whole) when they eventually gave in and installed a temporary surveilance camera, they pointed the camera at the front door instead of the street to identify the vandals, and while the camera was installed the violence stopped; the very night that the eqipment went away, it all started up again. The whole incident smelt of rotting fish.
For those who watch my video channel, you'll know that there have been a number of incidents lately and the police have been not very helpful. Indeed, as I wrote in an article on police and firearms some time ago, you'll see that the reputation of the police in the UK is at a considerable low. - http://life-of-a-stranger.blogspot.co.uk/2011/12/uk-police-routine-firearms-not-yet.html
Is it all their fault? No.
We're facing a changing society and criminals are changing both what they do and how they go about it. The government response to this is to cut police resources. Like that's going to help? Duh.
In this case we have a criminal in the neighbourhood who is comitting the crime of stealing their neighbours bandwidth by hacking their wireless connections. And, yes, it is a crime.
The problem here is that it is a crime that the police can do nothing about. They are not equipped to go after these criminals.
Thanks to privacy campaigners, the ISPs don't retain the kind of information that would help; ie. the traffic history from my connection.
Thanks to lax, greedy manufacturers, the equipment that I can buy does not adequately protect me from being hacked.
Thanks to the ISP, I am held responsible for criminal activity on my line even though they haven't given me the equipment to stop it.
Thanks to our legal system, as a hard working individual it would probably cost me my house in order to defend myself against accusations of illegal activity which were actually performed by a hacker. ... and I'd probably lose.
Our only natural defence so far is that the range of wireless communication has been restricted. New techonolgies, however, have boosted the range and more neighbours than ever before, are now able to communicate with our domestic equipment.
The risk of being hacked is increasing; and the hacker can do this from the comfort of their own living room ... and time is on their side.
The only thing that keeps most of us safe is that we've got reasonable neighbours. But it only takes one bad apple to potentially screw up a complete neighbourhood. Be it someone who can't afford the internet any more and needs to be connected, or a whiz kid screwing around, it is just a matter of luck that many of us are carrying on in complete ignorance of the potential upset that awaits us.
And the police can't catch them.
I'm not sitting on my arse. I'm pushing the police on this. I've tried pushing my MP. I've also made suggestions to some manufacturers to try and increse the security of the next generation of wireless communication devices.
Society is carrying on at break neck speed. Everything has gone wireless. Power and flexibility is increasing; but the proper tools to control and police it are not in place.
I'm screaming at the top of my lungs for somebody to do something.
And at the moment, no one is listening.
Wireless Routers - another warning
In case you haven't heard, there are repeated issues with security on the wireless routers we use in our homes.
Here is a link to a slightly more readable article - http://securityevaluators.com//content/case-studies/routers/soho_router_hacks.jsp
Here is a link to a slightly more readable article - http://securityevaluators.com//content/case-studies/routers/soho_router_hacks.jsp
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