Fair point. Of course the internet is the best means of population monitoring yet devised. The only way to real peace of mind is to get rid of your computer.

Dear Hobo & Edward54

Whereas in most circumstances I agree wholeheartedly with Hobo's postings there is one little bit I have a problem with:
You must have miss my recent posting, containing a URL link to the BBC news website, about a server harvesting PC user's IDs and financial details. You see, it's not just hackers you have to worry about but booby traps hidden in web pages set by criminals that want your information.

Here is the latest on the story:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/4186972.stm

So, don't worry but be careful.

Edward, sorry you got scammed but that's the price you pay for rushing in without first looking, i.e. doing a little research.

However, you said: I strongly disagree with that statement, you forget that in the recent past, when our newspapers were in bed with our politicians, we were told lies upon lies because as simple people (the population of this country) it was felt that we couldn't handle the truth.

However, since the advent of the internet it has been much harder for our politicians and the government to lie to us and get away with it.

Having real information is enpowering and I feel that we have become enpowered and freer since the popularity of computers and the internet has taken off. We are much more able, in the history of this country, to fully take part in the democratic process because we now can find out what is really going on.

So, all in all, getting rid of our computers would be like getting rid of all motorised transport, i.e. stepping back into the bad old days.

Anyway, I feel that computers have done more good for mankind than it has done harm, without it the majority of us would still be in the information dark ages.



UK Bob

I harboured similar reservations about Hobo's advice, but chose not to air them since others know more than me about these things. He is to a large degree correct in what he says however. There are pluses and minuses to all technological advances Bob. So far as our masters are concerned the major drawback is the free flow of information, which they've had little success in staunching so far. Soon, however, they will compel ISPs to install black boxes as standard (national security of course).

You know in spite of all I've said I do wonder if the wonders of the internet are not greatly exaggerated. Politically unacceptable opinion is easily suffocated. All the controlled media have to do is ignore it, pretend it doesn't exist, deny it the publicity it seeks. After all people get their information about what is going on in the world from television, not the internet. Control terrestrial and satellite outlets and you control how people think. I agree about newspapers being in bed with politicans, but I doubt the world wide web has done anything to alter that particular arrangement.

Look before you leap is good advice. That's the problem. I DID look. I looked and found nothing untoward, nothing to indicate that installing the software meant agreeing to file-sharing. I'd have stepped back at once had I done so. So would most others, which is probably why they don't draw attention to it until your money is safely in their bank account.

Edward

I have no problem agreeing with your first two paragraphs, we have touched on a complex subject for which there is no definitive answer, i.e. the role computers and the internet play in modern society. Personally, I think that the use computers are put to is dependent on how much the person running the keyboard wants to know. If all he wants to do is play games then that is what he will do. But if he seeks knowledge then he will find that too.

However, Edward, you were the victim of a scam site, that is you paid for something that is free. You said that you did your research but I guess, as an inexperienced internet user, you looked in the wrong place for your information.

For example, never buy any software via the internet unless you can try it for 15 - 30 days free of charge, if you're asked for fanancial information you abandon the transaction.

I do all my shopping via the internet including software, furniture, kitchen appliances and most things that I own. Using the internet can be safe if you take the necessary precautions and keep your PC clean of all the spyware, keyloggers and diallers that your PC picks up while surfing.

So, in other words, I think that your inexperience got the better of you this time but if you gain the knowledge you need using the internet will become like crossing the road.

Until next time.



UK Bob

Thanks for this Bob. Ultimately I must chalk it up to experience, as you all but say yourself. Is http://www.mymusicinc.com really a scam site then? Crickey. Of course it's typical of me that I go for the life package instead of the I-year deal, a difference of around $40 all told, or about £25. I'll probably wear a jackass costume next time I leave the house.

However something has changed even at this early stage. Complacency is setting in. Panic, that natural accompaniment to vulnerability, has subsided to the extent that I'm actually beginning to enjoy myself now, downloading tunes I haven't heard in ages (everything from Ronnie Hilton to Vera Lynn and, of a more recent vintage, even James Blunt) and thought more or less unobtainable. It's as if I have access to whatever I want, when I want it, which is delusional but nice. If I could just muster the confidence to know for certain that the only information leaving my computer will be from the LimeWire user files and nowhere else, as I am led to believe, that would be so much the better.

Many don't care about online security of course. One American journalist, for example, dismisses it as shutting the door after the horse has bolted. As far as he's concerned they all ready have your details, an accumulation of data that continues to grow every time you use your credit card or write a cheque or draw money from a cashpoint. They know what you read, what food you like, what pornography you watch, which football team you support, even your medical history (patient confidentiality? You're having a larf...). There is nothing they don't know or can't find out about you in pretty short order - so stop worrying. It's true for me I have to admit. Like you I shop online all the time (I'd be lost without Tesco to deliver my groceries, and as for the temptations of Amazon and e-Bay....). Maybe the fellow has a point.

sharing is the default setting because thats what the hippies would do.


you can edit the types of files shared, change them to c;cpp;xml;xyz etc because its less likely for you to have those files on your system i was amazed at the amount of files that limewire wants you to share by default.. no wonder i saw people's contents of their c:\windows\system32 being shared on limewire because i thought that was very odd.

This has been a good thread .. thanks to you both for the read. Perhaps it is that, with me too, complacency is setting in. Using a Mac helps, as we Mac owners know that nothing will invade our machines ...... until probably the day after tomorrow. ...... Bobs link had not escaped my notice. It was just very much at the back of my mind since I use neither Windows nor Internet Explorer . It would be wise to re-phrase my remark to " I would like to think that the hackers are more likely to go after the Banking and Govenment sites than you or I but that might be being a little optimistic but I think it is fair to say that I have nothing on this machine that could give them much joy!. I use Opera for making payments and my accounts and so on are on another ancient computer never connected to the net.

The great wealth of information available on the web can only be a good thing even if it is largely rubbish. At least it is not the 99% rubbish in the newspapers. In certain countries, I know, there is a lot of internet censorship, but in the western world I think it is too big now for any one to try to put brakes on it.

Enjoy the music Edward, that's what I came here for

__________________
To get Phex Click on the Fox

http://edition.cnn.com/2005/LAW/08/2...ct.records.ap/

So they prosecute you now simply for telling people they've been checking up. I always thought that in a democracy the state had to justify its existence to the people, not the other way round. You live and learn.

what if someone accidently posts a file where a password could be decrypted? like a ftp client or ftp server? FlashFXP.ini and Serv-U.ini are both examples.

Well Guys

My solution to the sharing problem is to set my LW shared folder on an external HD, not my "C" drive.

As for file extensions, I just realised that all the extensions I set up in my LW filter have been wiped out with the latest upgrade (4.9.28) now I have to type them back in, one at a time (bah!).

Hobo, you said:I too use Opera from time to time and I have noticed that this browser is also subject to picking up spyware when surfing. However, unlike IE which can be sorted out with Ad-Aware and Spybot, only Spybot can clean out Opera's cache. However, I speak of the PC version of Opera, not the mac's.

But it would be wise to check and make sure your Opera's cache is free of spyware.

Later.




UK Bob