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Patch reliability is unclear. Unless you have an immediate, pressing need to install a specific patch, don't do it. |
I apologize in advance if I’m a bit controversial tonight. In the last several days we’ve had horrific things occur in the United States and I think
[See the full post at: Patch Lady – 31 days of Paranoia – Day 27]
Susan Bradley Patch Lady/Prudent patcher
Cyberbullying around the World – which country has the most victims?
By Sam Cook | October 22, 2018
A 2007 Pew Research study found 32 percent of teens have been victims of some type of cyberbullying. Nearly a decade later, a 2016 study by the Cyberbullying Research Center found those numbers were almost unchanged. By 2016, just under 34 percent of teens reported they were victims of cyberbullying. Meanwhile, the National Crime Prevention Council puts that number much higher, at 43 percent.
Cyberbullying: Estimating costs
October 9, 2018
New Zealand’s first-ever report into the economic effect of online harm estimates the cost to individuals, communities and interventions to be $444m every year.
The new report commissioned by Netsafe and undertaken by leading economist Shamubeel Eaqub provides an important new assessment of the damage from online bullying and harassment. To date, cyberbullying has been primarily understood in terms of social cost and personal harm.
“New Zealand’s first-ever report into the economic effect of online harm estimates the cost to individuals, communities and interventions to be $444m every year.”
I’m always highly suspicious of “estimated costs” in these kind of reports. They frequently seem to be designed to show a headline-grabbing number and almost always deserve greater scrutiny. In this case $347m out of the $444m cost (78%) is the time of friends and family in prevention and mitigation of cyberbullying, calculated at average earning rate. So if a parent talks to their children about cyberbullying then this is a cost? How so? If a parent makes a meal for their child and it takes one hour, does this mean the meal costs $40 ($30 for the parent’s time at average earning rate + $10 for ingredients)?
Windows 10 Home 22H2, Acer Aspire TC-1660 desktop + LibreOffice, non-techie
From an Economists’ perspective, yes the time spent is an opportunity cost. That’s time that can’t be used productively, i.e. working. It’s a fairly common economic theory.
The biggest financial impact would be where people have to take unpaid leave to attend to the consequences mentioned. It’s not hard to imagine financial hardship in some cases…
Which is, of course, why we’re tightly moderated here.
Those of us who live in free countries may not think twice about posting under our own names. (I do it, as here.) But consider if we lived in less free societies where the consequences of even innocent posts could alter (or end) our lives or those of our loved ones. We would want the anonymity which the current Internet allows on most platforms.
So let’s not throw out the baby with the bath water.
-- rc primak
lol all removing anonymity does is give the trolls more ammo to attack YOU under your real persona.
You think you’re going to get theirs? As if. These people know how to cover themselves, they’ll NEVER be as open as you are.
Regarding “bullying” and trolls online, anonymity is the only real protection you have from them. Remove it at your peril.
Hate is ramped up because even our leaders cannot find common ground anymore. Its the us against them mentality. This only feeds into mentally ill individuals who see this as a reason to act out. When leaders start talking about stalking and disrupting others who disagree as a reasonable means to a end. Then our leaders have to expect some to become unhinged. We can blame many things for bullies, haters, and shooters. Much of it goes back to a upbringing that never dealt with their child’s behavior properly or got help before they became violent. The fabric of society is seriously becoming unraveled.
You don’t have to create a new account in FF 63. That was just an invitation to create one if you wanted to do so, not a mandatory thing. If you want to sync your browsers across multiple PCs or use a synced password manager, you need an account. Otherwise you do not need one.
@PKCano: Thank you so much for the very detailed information. I was completely baffled by all of this, and sincerely appreciate you taking the time to explain it to me. I hope I can proceed with an update without the other information I felt was necessary to set up a separate account etc. You are truly a “genius” with your outstanding abilities using your computer “ultra” expertise. Thank you once again, for all of the wonderful assistance you provide. 
Yes, I’m running Quantum 63 right now. It updated the other day. I was not asked to open a “New Account”, or give acceptance to anything – it installed just like any other Firefox update. And I haven’t had any problems; in fact, I can’t say I’ve noticed much difference: just like any other day on Firefox.
@The Surfing Pensioner: Thank you for posting your “experience” with FF 63. Strange how it appears to not have consistency when referencing “new accounts”. Hmmmm. More fodder for my “Wait and See” position which I shall return to. Thank you again for posting your comments.
@ Walker
Patch Lady: I was very upset when I noted that there was ANOTHER “new” Firefox update, and that this one requires a “NEW ACCOUNT”, acceptance carte blanche, etc. I avoided accepting this so am hoping that I can remain with the current version that I have been using.
How is a Firefox update related to Social Media? Can we please stay on topic here?
As noted by *rc primak*, starting a discussion about Firefox Updating is a fair bit off topic here.
Previously, I have talked with you about Settings for Firefox, and I offered to help you go through some of those settings to help you match your *preferences* with the actual Firefox Settings. But, you stated at that time that everything with Firefox was working just fine, and you did not want to look further into it.
For the record, there are settings to control *if and how* Firefox Updates itself:
(Click on the attached file above to get an enlarged view that’s easier to read.)
As you can see, I’m currently on Firefox version 62.0, and I’m being offered version 63.0 for the last week or so. But, to date, I have respectfully *declined*. (I like to let the dust settle for awhile, just as we do here with Windows Update, before updating.)
So, if you want to start a separate topic, in an appropriate forum, to discuss Firefox updating options–let’s do so. You don’t have to leave Firefox in its *default* settings if they are not to your liking.
@NightOwl: My error on bringing that issue into this topic. I found that FF appears to have separate options which I was not familiar with. I shall return to my “WAIT” stance, as I once did, as it was less cumbersome, and anything which appeared to be amiss was addressed in the end. Thank you for your “reminder”.
Susan,
Excellent post! As far as what can be done, I think one of the most important things is to teach our youth critical thinking skills. In this day and age the ability to separate the wheat from the chaff is more important than ever. We are constantly bombarded with skewed messages that require good critical thinking to parse them correctly. Just my two cents worth.
I post as anonymous on this platform and with a handle on other technology platforms in which I participate. I never use my real name or post personal information. I opt for anonymity not because I start flame wars, engage in bullying or spew vitriolic hate speech. In today’s day and age anonymity is also a way to minimize or eliminate my digital footprint as a means of self-defense. Remaining anonymous is a prophylactic measure intended to protect me from anyone who might, for whatever irrational reason, choose to pursue a digital vendetta against me.
They don’t even need to have their own computers. A phone will do the trick. So will a public computer, and those leave a far less traceable trail.
-- rc primak
Fast forward twenty years to where twitter, facebook, Instagram and other platforms are deemed “mainstream” and I think the same issues we saw twenty years ago in the newsgroups – that where communication is broken down – is now in our daily lives. And now what used to be a small small group of folks that you could easily ignore is now a much larger problem in society.
As in the real, face to face world, the ability to disengage, even for a short time,makes a critical difference in people’s behaviors, no matter what our ages or genders.
We may not all be able to take a whole day away from our tech and social sites, but even an hour or two, combined with a brisk walk outdoors away from other people, or a get-together with real-world friends or family can make a big difference. Even a few minutes away from the screens may defuse an impending online (or offline) blowup. We all need to be mindful of when we are getting caught up in our feeds and losing our perspective.
(The exact same thing, getting caught up in an online dispute which later turned out to be pretty trivial, happened to me this week. Time away would certainly have helped me to deal with the underlying disagreement more rationally.)
-- rc primak
Hijacked profiles and pictures are a real problem on Facebook, and to a lesser extent, on Twitter. Some folks have committed criminal acts by posting fake profiles using real users’ data. It’s almost impossible to swat down all the flies when someone does this to you. Proving you are the Real John Smith is nearly unachievable due to the quantity of information which can be gleaned even about the least Social of us.
Cyber Bullying can get very personal, and to younger folks who spend a lot of their time attached to their Social Accounts, the effects can be truly overwhelming for those who are already having self-esteem issues and trouble being accepted or making real-world friends. And since anonymous or fake accounts can so easily be put up, getting rid of the bullies has proven very daunting indeed. With Snap-Chat and similar apps, the evidence itself can even disappear very quickly, unless there is police involvement.
It’s bad enough to be bullied all day at school — even worse when the bullying follows you into your private life.
-- rc primak
In simple terms: I do not use any social media, unless one counts a few forums on technical topics and moderated.
So: no Twitter, Facebook, Whatsapp, Instagram and the like for me. Don’t need them for professional or business reasons (e.g., not a media, technology, etc. journalist). I keep in touch with real friends the old-school way, and am also comfortable in solitude, where I like to do much of my work and my thinking. And do not feel a strong need to have plenty of electronic ghostly “friends” or “followers” to make sure that I matter.
I know that, as non-user, I am in a minority in the world at large and also know that mine is not a viable approach for everybody regarding social media. But I wonder: am I in a minority of one here at Woody’s?
Ex-Windows user (Win. 98, XP, 7); since mid-2017 using also macOS. Presently on Monterey 12.15 & sometimes running also Linux (Mint).
MacBook Pro circa mid-2015, 15" display, with 16GB 1600 GHz DDR3 RAM, 1 TB SSD, a Haswell architecture Intel CPU with 4 Cores and 8 Threads model i7-4870HQ @ 2.50GHz.
Intel Iris Pro GPU with Built-in Bus, VRAM 1.5 GB, Display 2880 x 1800 Retina, 24-Bit color.
macOS Monterey; browsers: Waterfox "Current", Vivaldi and (now and then) Chrome; security apps. Intego AV
No, there are at least two of us. I don’t use any of big social media, either. I see them as far more downside than up.
Not having a Facebook account is somewhat annoying with many small businesses using it as a free web host: you can’t read (much of) their page without logging in. Accounts without real data in them get quickly purged, so that doesn’t work either. Therefore if you’re using Facebook to post your online business information, you’ve lost me as a customer.
No, you aren’t. I’m not on any social media sites, nor am I on LinkedIn.
I value my privacy; I google my name occasionally and never find anything on the internet, just the way I like it.
Windows 10 Home 22H2, Acer Aspire TC-1660 desktop + LibreOffice, non-techie
rc primak, @OscarCP was using a business style salutation with colon to address Nibbled to Death by Ducks ( @nibbled-to-death-by-ducks ) as an abbreviation. More handle fun.
See books by Ben Sasse, most especially the new one.
Susan wrote:
So I challenge all of us.. .including me, to do something tomorrow. Instead of using technology tomorrow, glance up at another human being and say Hi to them.
Umm… what’s a human being?? 
I have lost count of the number of times when we’ve dined out and everyone at the table next to us is looking down at their own phone, with no conversation taking place across the table.
That’s because those people at the table next to yours are all texting to each other.
Ex-Windows user (Win. 98, XP, 7); since mid-2017 using also macOS. Presently on Monterey 12.15 & sometimes running also Linux (Mint).
MacBook Pro circa mid-2015, 15" display, with 16GB 1600 GHz DDR3 RAM, 1 TB SSD, a Haswell architecture Intel CPU with 4 Cores and 8 Threads model i7-4870HQ @ 2.50GHz.
Intel Iris Pro GPU with Built-in Bus, VRAM 1.5 GB, Display 2880 x 1800 Retina, 24-Bit color.
macOS Monterey; browsers: Waterfox "Current", Vivaldi and (now and then) Chrome; security apps. Intego AV
Some cafes are banning wi-fi to encourage conversation
As the gig economy grows, many cafes have become filled with people silently working on laptops. Some owners are trying to buck this trend.
By Elle Metz | 27 February 2017
“Deprived of these places,” Oldenburg writes, “people remain lonely within their crowds. The only predictable social consequence of technological advancement is that they will grow ever more apart from one another.”
…
Spots where people can unplug are a public necessity, Excell says. “There’s something sacred about genuine conversation.”
Read the full article here
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