Big Blue Huddle

Quote from: Jolly Blue Giant on September 11, 2022, 10:27:53 AMHmmm...and we thought Big Brother was going to come from a swamp inside the DC beltway 

Well, the swap certainly has its integral role in this. Big Brother is the enabler for surveillance capitalism on one hand, pretty much refuses to create regulations to protect our privacy. Whatever they have created has so much hole it , that you could drive through an 18-wheeler. On the other hand, the government is also a user of the surveillance, most of the times for free. If you'd say that it is not really free, since they had sold out our privacy, I wouldn't argue much with you...

Quote from: Ed Vette on September 11, 2022, 09:07:40 AMIf Siri is disabled, then I assume that Apple Car Play for navigation won't work for voice commands. Correct?

It is correct, albeit sometimes the car play doesn't even work with Siri enabled... 

Quote from: DaveBrown74 on September 11, 2022, 09:17:54 AMI'll be perfectly honest - I have certainly read/heard stories about this sort of thing but for some naive reason I never fully believed or really worried about them. This thread has really woken me up to all of this.

I recommend you this book for further reading:

The Age of Surveillance Capitalism

This quote is pretty much an accurate description of the current status for our the digital world:

"Surveillance capitalism transfers the digital infrastructure from what we have to a thing that has us"

Off or online doesn't matter anymore, they really got us...

Quote from: MightyGiants on September 10, 2022, 01:59:11 PMMore specifically, my Facebook app.  I am very familiar with cookies, and how after I research tires for my car, there will be ads for tires on various websites I visit.

On the other hand, this was a bit more unsettling.  I wasn't researching home blood pressure cuffs, but I was talking to someone who was researching them.  A little while later, I go on to Facebook to acknowledge B-day wishes, and the first ad just happens to be "top 5 blood pressure monitors".  I am having a hard time accepting that was just an amazing coincidence

Rich, Facebook spying on you is a given, among other social network apps. For that matter any other apps are doing the same, that's their main source of income. Yes, I just beat up on apps for smartphone, but should do the same to the Android and iOS based smartphone as well. Google pays $8-10B/year to Apple to be the default search engine for Siri. Maybe Apple isn't spying on you, doubtful, but certainly allows Google to do just that for the yearly fee.

One way for cutting them off is only have apps installed that you actually need. In my case, that's 3-4 apps aside from the standard iOS apps that are left on my iPhone. The other way is to use NextDNS and block certain sites; I block google.com (shuts off Siri in addition to being disabled in iOS) among others and even some Apple domains, especially the one with telemetry reporting.

You could also disable WiFi, Bluetooth and GPS, if you don't use them. These are the services that define your exact location, valuable for advertisers. If the apps work without cell connections, disable their access to cell service. For example,I use the "MapmyRide" app, when going out biking. the app can have access to GPS, but not to cell and/or WiFi connections. It works just fine, records my route, speed, time etc., but no connection to the internet and as such, no uploading my data.

I am the first one to admit, that despite all of my trying to limit collecting my data, it's an uphill battle that I am loosing. When tracking is an integral part of the operating systems, the only thing one can do is not using any of them. That's really not an option in year 2022, is it?

If you want to see the domains that your iPhone has contacted to, go to:

"Settings\Privacy\App Privacy Report"

Tap on "Show All" under "MOST CONTACTED DOMAINS" to view the domains your iPhone had connected to. The chances are that you didn't initiate connection to roughly 30-40% of these domains, but your iPhone/apps did anyway...

I had three Covid shots and pretty much will stop there. I've seen people in really bad shape after getting the second booster, including my neighbor. They go from doctor-to-doctor, but they don't find anything to fix them. There's no reason for me for getting the 2nd and possibly subsequent bosters. I still wear mask, wash my hands, avoid large gathering, etc., for protection. I find it ironic that back in the days, when Covid infection rates were ~5%, CDC required us to wear mask. Nowadays, when the infection rate is ~10%, the CDC says, nah, you ok...

I haven't had Covid infection as of yet, but the long Covid looks scary. The CDC data shows, that 1-in-13 adults have long Covid. That's lot of people already suffering from it and this number will increase as the infection continuous to spread. And spread it will, since the Covid shot will not prevent getting infected, mildly infected is still an infection...

Kids are smart... 

Little by having a discussion with her mommy in the morning...

Boy: Mom, why were you bouncing last night on daddy naked?
Mom: Son, your daddy has a big belly and tried pushing it back...

Sounds reasonable explanation, but not for the little boy...

Boy: It's no use mom, our neighbors wife keeps blowing it up during the day....

Look folks, you don't fire anyone who's just won the SB; got that?

Denver Broncos -
Carolina Panthers -
Cincinnati Bengals -

Tampa Bay Buccaneers- 24
Washington Redskins- 9
Chicago Bears- 10.5

Quote from: andrew_nyg on October 15, 2009, 09:51:29 AM
...
Buffalo (YES, I picked buffalo!)

I was contemplating picking Buffalo as well, but that would've been more of a wish to shut up the NYC media about the Jets by now. Good luck Andrew...

Kansas City Chiefs
NY Giants  (GO GIANTS!!!)
Tennessee Titans

Quote from: worf49 on April 17, 2009, 06:18:20 PM
I'm originally from Stamford, CT and played high school football with Andy Robustelli's oldest son. 

I am certain that there are other Giants fans in Stamford on this board, like me 

GO GIANTS

Spending my whole fricken week in NYC, but I guess it still counts as Connecticut since I sleep there most of the times

Cr00zng

1)  What part of the Country do you live in?

Connecticut

2)  How long have you been a Giants fan?

20+ years

3)  What do you do for a living?

Director of IT Security

4) Anything else you would like to mention about yourself?

Volunteer firefighter at the local firehouse
Married for 28 years to the same woman; yes, she is a saint