ObsessiveMathsFreak's Journal: I feel Ill

I just read this slashdot story about how users across the globe are simply accepting spyware on their computers. As one poster puts it this kind of "clueless luserdom" is rampant on the net. I've got at least one friend who thinks like this. He just doesn't care if bearshare is spyware or not. He just wants to use it.

I used to think he was an exception, but after reading the story and reflecting on expierience, I realise that we are the exceptions. Most people will willingly, nay, gladly sell their privacy for a simple malware music sharer or cd ripper. Maybe we're all just paranoid? Maybe people should just accept eWallet, Download.com, spyware, adware, malware and of course Jay Patel and his legions of data mining spiderbots.

This thought depresses me more than any recent story I can think of. I mean, is the human race just destined to live in blissful ignorence. Are we just preprogrammed to fall for the pretty smilies of that small cunning few. Are most people really just sheep that blindly follow orders. I want to believe that people are otherwise. I want to know that people are individuals, capable of drawing their own conclusions and seeing past rosy curtains to the truth behind. Stories like this put a dent in my faith.

I don't believe all this acceptance of spyware will be without consequence. I believe people who knowingly accept spyware will come to regret their decision. They already suffer financially by having to buy a new PC every two years. But I feel that a larger problem lies in store for them. I don't mean this in a patronising way. I mean that I think a lot of bad things are going to happen to people who don't deserve it beacause of an uninformed choice they made. Global dictatorship, or just more junk mail? I don't know. But I refuse to belive that their are no consequences for so much personal data in the hands of private companies.

People are sheep

[nizo]

Are most people really just sheep that blindly follow orders.

Yes. I realized this after taking a few psychology classes (take a look at this [wikipedia.org] as a good example). There were other things I learned too, like people not taking action in the case of Kitty Genovese:

Kitty Genovese was a woman viciously murdered outside her apartment in Queens, New York City. Although the victim screamed for help, not one of the thirty-eight neighbors who watched the attack from their windows came to her assistance or even calle

Re:People are sheep

[ObsessiveMathsFreak]

Yes, I've heard of those. It really makes you think. Do people view spyware as a kind of authority. If a popup window appears declaring your computer is unsafe and you MUST click on it, will people blindly follow orders?
I think people prefer not to rock the boat and so obey rather than upset someone else(or in this case the computer).

P.S.
How the hell did you find this blog?

Re:People are sheep

[nizo]

Hehe, every once in awhile I search through all the recent entries to slashdot journals [slashdot.org]. It is a great way to find interesting new journal writers :-)

I think people don't realize just how easy it is to make something bad look legit on the computer. Eventually education will catch up with the rapid pace of computers coming into the house, but until then people will continue to get scammed. I mean how many people still fall for scams where people call on the phone saying they are from the bank and they need y

Four More Wars!

[orthogonal]

This thought depresses me more than any recent story I can think of. I mean, is the human race just destined to live in blissful ignorence[?] Are we just preprogrammed to fall for the pretty smilies of that small cunning few[?]

Well, you know, we Americans did re-elect Bush.