First Blog

Politics imitates Hollywood.  First, we had the Mueller investigation.  (You know about whether the President colluded with the Russians.) Now we have the sequel .  (You know about Congressional Democrats investigating the same thing again.)  But, at the same time, we have the prequel . (You know about how the Russia collusion thing originated.)  Box-office battle now engaged.   May the force be with you. 😊 ----------------------- When I was young, folks on the far left were usually well read, articulate, and interesting.   Only a few actually believed what they said, but they carried themselves well and made good arguments.   Nowadays, they are free to act and sound as dumb as the rednecks of old. I guess that’s progress. ----------------------- The luxury of the future will be privacy.

On the Google engine for snooping on Chinese citizens linking Internet use to cell phone numbers.   Perhaps now, per the Google CEO on December 11, 2018, this engine may or may not be delivered to the Chinese government.  So what! Do we not realize this engine, now apparently created, can be marketed to anyone, any country, any company, any agency, any party, any billionaire, with only few simple tweeks (aka adjustments)?   Its very existence is not unlike a nuclear bomb.   If deployed, it could destroy millions of lives, level groups and companies, ruin governments, and decimate universities.   China may have been a mere foil for Google to develop such a tool it could itself use – or sell. Do they not already sell customized versions of their search engine to private companies? Yes.   Do they not already sell search data to private merchants or politicians?   Yes. Forget China.   For the power players of the world, let the bidding begin... Logic .   Nonsense you

Check Your New Privacy Settings. Face it. Keeping your privacy these days is not automatic. You must be an activist even to keep your buying transactions personal. You know your credit rating is easily determined by almost anyone. You accept Amazon knows what you’re buying.   But did you know that another site, VENMO.COM, knows this as well and sells the info.   Cash may make a comeback. Check Your New Political Settings.   Democrat? Republican?   No, no, no.   You must decide whether you are a tea-party Republican, establishment Republican, Trump Republican, moderate Democrat, socialist Democrat, leftist Democrat, Pelosi loyalist, and on and on – and on.   Even if you claim the mantel of “independent,” you must decide your type, moderate, left leaning, right leaning, and more. I’m sure we may find out there a few thousand Marxist independents, i.e. Marxists who revile the Democrats.   What to do?   Check Your Toast Settings. It is almost certain that attorney Michael C

Facebook problems are nothing compare to the impending revelations about cloud computing, whereby the server owners (e.g. Microsoft, Google) are seriously mining  corporate and personal information.  Uploading to the cloud is considered to be private and even privacy conscious users override their concerns.  It is not! Payment of a storage fee does not guarantee privacy. Perhaps you use a cloud with your cell phone.  It may contain passwords, banking information, and personal data.  It has been mined.   When the story breaks, it will be really, really big.  And one other thing, data never dies.  You may erase it, but archival copies remain.

Everyone these days is flying up to the cloud, for storage of files (dropbox, onedrive, etc). for transmission of information, for communication.  Yet, I am suspicious.  When posting information to one of these free or even private clouds, there is an organization behind the service, often a free service.  No service is in business to simply "give" to the client a valuable portal toward information transmission of any kind. Once a file is up there on the cloud, someone has access, someone wants to know what you are doing, someone wishes to mine the information for advantage.  Someone wants to and needs to pay their electric bill.  Information must be exchanged for cash, influence, or other value. There is a consequence of payment, whether it be so benign as to determine products that may be of interest, to understand confidential aspects of your life, your family, your company, or your government. Private servers are subject to hacking. Public servers are the same but wit