Tom
An Old Friend
Society's Assumption of Forfeiture of Personal Privacy
This year (2020), I have noticed an uptick in society's need to know my personal business.
Its not really a new thing because the internet has been collecting information on my browsing habits for years .
Supposedly to give ME a better internet browsing experience but mainly to spam me with ads and trackers.
My Windoze 7 computer recently had a catastrophic hardware failure. I used it daily, flawlessly, since 2012.
Since my entire entertainment system is based on my computer and internet high speed connection, I was forced to make a fast replacement. This means instead of taking my time and building a system as I want it, I was forced to buy an out of box system locally.
I made the purchase based on the hardware specs so I bought a gaming system. Its lightning fast but it comes with Windoze 10. Windoze 10 is the most ambitious violation of privacy I've ever experienced. I've had this system for nearly 2 weeks and there hasn't been a day yet where I haven't had to tweak something. I even had to open a Microsoft account to start the set up process.
I have it pretty well tweaked now but it still wants me to go to Microsoft daily (in one way or another).
My thoughts on this are purely personal.
1. I bought this computer. I'm not renting or leasing it from Microsoft (or Nvidia, Intel or any other company).
Its MINE.
- I don't care about improving other user's experiences.
- I don't want Microsoft to save me time or help me do anything.
- When I install a program, I expect it to be there when I boot up again.
- I don't want to or need to save power.
- When I tweak my internet connection I expect it to stay tweaked.
- I don't want advertisements in my programs (I'm not going to buy anything anyway, especially if ya pester me to do so).
2. I pay for my internet connection. I expect it to be there even if I watch a movie, play some music or spend time doing data entry.
3. I don't want to share my computer with anyone. If I choose to have networking with my gaming system or my other computers, I will set it that way.
- Windoze 7 had the option to enable remote connections with the internet if you chose to enable it. Why must I disable that feature in Windoze 10? Why must I disable it after every update? WHY...Is it activated by default?
Windoze 10 is a personal privacy violation.
Nuff Said / Moving on...
In my mail WITH my water bill, the city sent me a form which "Must Be Filled Out".
The paper asked a series of questions as follows. I added my answers exactly as I responded.
Account Number__________________ (Already on my bill, so you already have it)
Name On Account_________________(Obviously, already on the bill you sent to me)
Billing Contact_____________________(Same person who signed the check you cashed)
Service Address____________________(Same address as it has been for the last 8 years)
Mailing Address____________________(Obviously you already have it since I know what to pay by when)
Email Address______________________(You Don't Need It)
Phone Number_____________________(You Don't Need It)
Cell Phone__________________________(You Don't Need It)
Secondary Contact________________(You Don't Need It)
Secondary Phone__________________(You Don't Need It)
The address, account name & number and the billing address are already on the bill. This information is readily available to them and has been since I had the service turned on when I moved in.
My bill is always paid on time, in full and I pay in person, face to face. I have proof of every payment in my records including a copy of their register receipt. The office where I pay has cameras so they even have my likeness they can match to my paid reciept timestamp.
There is absolutely no reason why they need my email information. I don't need city generated advertisements. I'm not interested in special deals or services. Its a freakin water bill. I'm not interested in getting offers from their 'partners'.
I don't want them calling me. I don't want my number available to their partners to offer me special deals during dinner or when I first wake in the morning. I don't want them at all.
There is absolutely no reason they need a secondary contact. Its not a medical system or life insurance. Its the water company. I don't need to be notified there isn't water service, I can figure that out on my own when I turn on the taps.
What this is...This and Windoze 10, is a pavilion response generated privacy intrusion. Most people will fill out and submit this information without question. Most people will buy the "Better User Experience" lie without thinking.
Get This: Last week I received a letter from the VA billing dept. They said they suspended billing during the spring to help people with the pandemic because they care about the veterans. I never got a single bill but in that letter they say they are resuming billing on the first of the year. They also noted any late charges and penalties will also resume. That I can get a jump on the billing if I want to pay my balance in full now. They then listed the total charges since the spring that I am responsible for.
1. I didn't ask them to do this. If they wanted to do something for Vets, bill them but give them a choice to pay or defer. Suspend late charges and penalties. At least send them a running tally.
2. Its funny that they did this for us vets to help with the pandemic but its the end of the year and they want to balance their books so I guess the pandemic is over? Guess what, other people would also like to balance their books by the end of the year but a lot of people are still out of work!
3. I'm on fixed income. I pay my bills every month. Most of the time there is little left over for other things but since I always pay my bills first, I know exactly how much cashflow is available. Without a bill not only do I not have a list of the charges, I have no idea the charges or running total. I paid their lump sum because I had some savings set aside for a car. Many vets do not have that cushion. Many live week to week or month to month.
Get This: Disability notified me of the largest cost of living increases ever. I checked, I will get $20 more per month. That's LESS THAN a dollar a day? Um....From my calculations, the cost of living went up significantly more than a dollar a day. Funny how my Medicare premium went up $30 per month for the exact same coverage?
Get This: My Auto insurance company sent me emails telling me how with fewer people on the roads during the pandemic they saved a total of 560 million dollars then again an addition 390 million dollars. They passed that savings back to the customers... I receive a check for $15 and some change. Oh wow. I'm just rolling in the cash now! I've not had an accident ever with this insurance company. I'm driving the same vehicle and driving fewer miles and less duration yet, my insurance bill goes up every single billing cycle (I pay every six months).
According to what they wrote, that's pretty close to a BILLION dollars they saved! WHO IS GETTING ALL THE LEFTOVER MONEY? Plus, This insurance company is for American service members, vets and relatives.
If they can SAVE almost a billion dollars in a few months from the pandemic, they are Obviously charging too much to its account holders.
So, there's My Rant.
I welcome anyone else who has observations of a similar sort to add to it.
The Pavlovian response to privacy intrusion is a common society trend lately.
You probably do and don't realize you do it.
I hope people Wake Up!
This year (2020), I have noticed an uptick in society's need to know my personal business.
Its not really a new thing because the internet has been collecting information on my browsing habits for years .
Supposedly to give ME a better internet browsing experience but mainly to spam me with ads and trackers.
My Windoze 7 computer recently had a catastrophic hardware failure. I used it daily, flawlessly, since 2012.
Since my entire entertainment system is based on my computer and internet high speed connection, I was forced to make a fast replacement. This means instead of taking my time and building a system as I want it, I was forced to buy an out of box system locally.
I made the purchase based on the hardware specs so I bought a gaming system. Its lightning fast but it comes with Windoze 10. Windoze 10 is the most ambitious violation of privacy I've ever experienced. I've had this system for nearly 2 weeks and there hasn't been a day yet where I haven't had to tweak something. I even had to open a Microsoft account to start the set up process.
I have it pretty well tweaked now but it still wants me to go to Microsoft daily (in one way or another).
My thoughts on this are purely personal.
1. I bought this computer. I'm not renting or leasing it from Microsoft (or Nvidia, Intel or any other company).
Its MINE.
- I don't care about improving other user's experiences.
- I don't want Microsoft to save me time or help me do anything.
- When I install a program, I expect it to be there when I boot up again.
- I don't want to or need to save power.
- When I tweak my internet connection I expect it to stay tweaked.
- I don't want advertisements in my programs (I'm not going to buy anything anyway, especially if ya pester me to do so).
2. I pay for my internet connection. I expect it to be there even if I watch a movie, play some music or spend time doing data entry.
3. I don't want to share my computer with anyone. If I choose to have networking with my gaming system or my other computers, I will set it that way.
- Windoze 7 had the option to enable remote connections with the internet if you chose to enable it. Why must I disable that feature in Windoze 10? Why must I disable it after every update? WHY...Is it activated by default?
Windoze 10 is a personal privacy violation.
Nuff Said / Moving on...
In my mail WITH my water bill, the city sent me a form which "Must Be Filled Out".
The paper asked a series of questions as follows. I added my answers exactly as I responded.
Account Number__________________ (Already on my bill, so you already have it)
Name On Account_________________(Obviously, already on the bill you sent to me)
Billing Contact_____________________(Same person who signed the check you cashed)
Service Address____________________(Same address as it has been for the last 8 years)
Mailing Address____________________(Obviously you already have it since I know what to pay by when)
Email Address______________________(You Don't Need It)
Phone Number_____________________(You Don't Need It)
Cell Phone__________________________(You Don't Need It)
Secondary Contact________________(You Don't Need It)
Secondary Phone__________________(You Don't Need It)
The address, account name & number and the billing address are already on the bill. This information is readily available to them and has been since I had the service turned on when I moved in.
My bill is always paid on time, in full and I pay in person, face to face. I have proof of every payment in my records including a copy of their register receipt. The office where I pay has cameras so they even have my likeness they can match to my paid reciept timestamp.
There is absolutely no reason why they need my email information. I don't need city generated advertisements. I'm not interested in special deals or services. Its a freakin water bill. I'm not interested in getting offers from their 'partners'.
I don't want them calling me. I don't want my number available to their partners to offer me special deals during dinner or when I first wake in the morning. I don't want them at all.
There is absolutely no reason they need a secondary contact. Its not a medical system or life insurance. Its the water company. I don't need to be notified there isn't water service, I can figure that out on my own when I turn on the taps.
What this is...This and Windoze 10, is a pavilion response generated privacy intrusion. Most people will fill out and submit this information without question. Most people will buy the "Better User Experience" lie without thinking.
Get This: Last week I received a letter from the VA billing dept. They said they suspended billing during the spring to help people with the pandemic because they care about the veterans. I never got a single bill but in that letter they say they are resuming billing on the first of the year. They also noted any late charges and penalties will also resume. That I can get a jump on the billing if I want to pay my balance in full now. They then listed the total charges since the spring that I am responsible for.
1. I didn't ask them to do this. If they wanted to do something for Vets, bill them but give them a choice to pay or defer. Suspend late charges and penalties. At least send them a running tally.
2. Its funny that they did this for us vets to help with the pandemic but its the end of the year and they want to balance their books so I guess the pandemic is over? Guess what, other people would also like to balance their books by the end of the year but a lot of people are still out of work!
3. I'm on fixed income. I pay my bills every month. Most of the time there is little left over for other things but since I always pay my bills first, I know exactly how much cashflow is available. Without a bill not only do I not have a list of the charges, I have no idea the charges or running total. I paid their lump sum because I had some savings set aside for a car. Many vets do not have that cushion. Many live week to week or month to month.
Get This: Disability notified me of the largest cost of living increases ever. I checked, I will get $20 more per month. That's LESS THAN a dollar a day? Um....From my calculations, the cost of living went up significantly more than a dollar a day. Funny how my Medicare premium went up $30 per month for the exact same coverage?
Get This: My Auto insurance company sent me emails telling me how with fewer people on the roads during the pandemic they saved a total of 560 million dollars then again an addition 390 million dollars. They passed that savings back to the customers... I receive a check for $15 and some change. Oh wow. I'm just rolling in the cash now! I've not had an accident ever with this insurance company. I'm driving the same vehicle and driving fewer miles and less duration yet, my insurance bill goes up every single billing cycle (I pay every six months).
According to what they wrote, that's pretty close to a BILLION dollars they saved! WHO IS GETTING ALL THE LEFTOVER MONEY? Plus, This insurance company is for American service members, vets and relatives.
If they can SAVE almost a billion dollars in a few months from the pandemic, they are Obviously charging too much to its account holders.
So, there's My Rant.
I welcome anyone else who has observations of a similar sort to add to it.
The Pavlovian response to privacy intrusion is a common society trend lately.
You probably do and don't realize you do it.
I hope people Wake Up!
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