From Pine View Farm

Give Me a Break category archive

You’ve Been Zoomed 0

If you have been using the Zoom app to work or school from home, or even just to talk with friends, you should know that El Reg reports that it’s even less secure than previously reported. Here’s a snippet from the latest (emphasis added):

Zoom in its documentation, and in an in-app display message, has claimed its conferencing service is “end-to-end encrypted,” meaning that an intermediary, include Zoom itself, cannot intercept and decrypt users’ communications as it moves between the sender and receiver.

When reports emerged that Zoom Meetings are not actually end-to-end encrypted encrypted, Zoom responded that it wasn’t using the commonly accepted definition of the term.

“While we never intended to deceive any of our customers, we recognize that there is a discrepancy between the commonly accepted definition of end-to-end encryption and how we were using it,” the company said in a blog post.

If you have been Zooming, you owe it to yourself to read the rest. Then pick up a landline.

Aside:

Zoom’s mealy-mouthing is positively staggering.

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The Credibility Crap 0

I saw it on the internet, so it must be true.

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“Social” Me Me Me Me Media 0

Everyone’s a brand, amd everyone else is a prop.

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If One Standard Is Good, Two Must Be Better 0

What Noz said.

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It’s All about the Algorithm 0

Ed from Gin and Tacos follows the tale of a Facebook Frolicker’s descent into the wingnut rabid hole.

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Facebook Frolics 0

Yet more fake frolics at the Fakebook.

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Facebook Frolics 0

One more time, the internet is a public place. Comport yourself accordingly.

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Good Old Golden Rule Days, NRA Style 0

The New Principle of Supply and Demand.  Image:  Truck labeled

Click for the original image.

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Family Mediation 0

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“President Rambo,” Reprise 0

Via C&L.

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Facebook Frolics 0

Clone me, Doctor Memory!

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The Assimilated 0

Man:  My new iPhoneX unlocks when I look at it.  Woman:  So it's always unlocked?

Click for the original image.

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The Snaring Economy, Gypsy Cabs with an App Dept. 0

Owen Davis reports that Uber has achieved another milestone.

It has gotten itself sued for stock fraud, even thought it has not yet issued any stock. An excerpt:

The plaintiffs, the Irving (Texas) Firemen’s Relief & Retirement Fund, invested $2 million in Uber back in 2016 through a fund operated by Morgan Stanley. Since then, the lawsuit claims, Uber’s private valuation has dropped $18 billion. So they’re suing.

If Uber had recently gone public in a massively overhyped IPO, only to shed double-digits as the true depths of its mediocrity came to light, a lawsuit would not be unusual. Just ask Blue Apron. But it’s rare for a startup to face investor suits in any situation short of complete and utter fabrication on the part of the founders. It basically signals that the highly illiquid startup stake you’ve got – and for which you’d like good money – is worthless.

Read the whole thing. It will give you a lyft.

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Phoning It In 0

Goat:  Why do we all take so many selfies on our phones?  Rat:  Because we don't have any friends around to take photos.  Goat:  Why don't we have any friends around?  Rat: Because we spend all of our time on our phones.  Goat:  It makes sense.  Rat (looking at his phone):  What'd you say?


Click for the original image.

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Facebook Frolics 0

All the news that isn’t.

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Facebook Frolics 0

Blaming the Facebook Messenger.

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Marvels of History 0

Meet history, the Marvelous way:

Moved below the fold because it autoplays.

Read more »

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How Stuff Works, Raptor Dept. 0

Yes, folks, nature is red in tooth and claw.

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Stop the Presses! Please, Just Stop 0

This is journanimalism today:

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Facebook Frolics 0

A Parisian protests the petty puritanism of prissy poseurs. A precis:

A court has ruled that Facebook can be sued in France over its decision to remove the account of a French user who posted a photo of a famous 19th-century nude painting.

The ruling by the Paris appeal court could set a legal precedent in the country, where Facebook has more than 30 million regular users.

A court will now be entitled to hear the case of the 57-year-old Parisian teacher and art lover whose Facebook account was suspended five years ago without notice. It was closed on the day he posted a photo of Gustave Courbet’s 1866 painting The Origin of the World, . . . .

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