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Internet choices to improve soon

Internet
Internet

A few days ago Amazon got permission to launch thousands of satellites to help with their bid to ultimately become an Internet Service Provider (ISP). While Amazon already dominates large parts of the Internet with AWS, providing hosting and support for many large players. This move marks the start of them targeting regular users with Internet service that could work anywhere on the planet.

This new satellite network along with others already in testing from SpaceX and a handful of other companies, promises to take away the monopoly ATT and cable providers now have. And with it would bring back real competition and lower prices for consumers.

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Got WhatsApp? Get new update ASAP

Another breach, brought to you by the good folk’s over at Facebook’s messaging app, WhatsApp seems to let hackers install malware by just calling a users phone. First reports suggest that the user does not even need to answer their phone to become infected.

The vulnerability affects both iPhone and Android platforms and WhatsApp is asking users to update their app as soon as possible. WhatsApp, used by billion plus people, has confirmed the reports about this breach but as is par for the course, the Facebook subsidiary was short on details in a statement…

“WhatsApp encourages people to upgrade to the latest version of our app, as well as keep their mobile operating system up to date, to protect against potential targeted exploits designed to compromise information stored on mobile devices.” and then went on…

“We are constantly working alongside industry partners to provide the latest security enhancements to help protect our users.”

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Facebook hires people to snoop at your posts to train AI to snoop better

Reuters is reporting that over the past year, a team of 250+ contract workers in India, have been going through the posts of millions of Facebook users. Including photos, status updates and other content posted since 2014.

Include are the subjects of the post and trying to ascertain the author’s intention of said posts. The work, according to Facebook is aimed at understanding users posts to its services and help the company develop new features, with the final aim of increasing usage and ad revenue.

The work along with other “content labeling” projects that Facebook has at the moment, employ thousands of people. Many of these projects are aimed at “training” the underling software that determines what users see ion their news feeds and which ads are show at a particular time.

This program along with previous miss-steps add fuel to the fire, surrounding the rise of privacy issues at Facebook. The company is already facing worldwide investigations over other privacy abuses involving the sharing of user data with business partners. And an almost constant stream of news about the lack of overall security of the platform in general. Such as the recent news Facebook kept user passwords and other data in plain text. Making it much easier to steal users information.

A Facebook spokeswoman said: “We make it clear in our data policy that we use the information people provide to Facebook to improve their experience and that we might work with service providers to help in this process.”

Facebook launched the project in April of 2018. The Indian firm is being paid $4 million and employs 250+ “labelers” , according to the company. The contracted work consisted of analyzing posts from the past five years.

After completing this initial work the team was cut down to 30 workers who now concentrate on “labeling” posts from the previous month. Work is expected to continue through the end of 2019, at least.

Other Facebook’s “labeling” include looking for sensitive topics or offensive language in videos posted to the platform. The reason seems to be more training of automated Facebook tools that help advertisers avoid sponsoring videos that are adult or political in nature.

Other uses could also be to better target users using their marketplace feature, where AI automated recommendations for new listings will be targeted to users based on their past posts.

From the report there seems to be no way for Facebook users to stop this data collection even with their private posts between friends and family..

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The new Microsoft tech support scam

By now many have caught on to the Microsoft tech support scam. This is the scam where you get a phone call from “Microsoft” and they claim they have detected a “problem” that has to be fix ASAP, such as a virus.

Now that many know about this scam they have switched it up a bit and the phone call now says your IP address is about to expire. It is designed to play on the fact that most computer users have no idea what an IP address is or how networks assign your IP address.

Simply put, when you get a modem from your ISP it has to connect to its servers so that you can than be directed to the larger Internet. The fact that most people don’t know is your modem is assigned an IP address (sort of like a phone number) as soon as it connects to the company you get your service from.

This IP address is different every-time the modem reconnects to the company’s servers and is assigned dynamically and is included with the service package you buy from your provider. If an IP does expire they automatically assign you a new one. This is part of what your modem does and needs not help on your part.

So in short your IP address never really expires and you don’t need to do anything to keep it going as it is all part of the service you already pay for. If you should get this call just hang up and don’t worry.

Stay safe!

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Reno computer Repair by RenoGeek talks about the fake IP renewal scam.

Reno computer repair by RenoGeek - Beware of IP Scams
Beware of IP Scams

As people start to become more aware of the old Microsoft tech support and virus scams, crooks have had to up their game and find a new way to scam uninformed computer users.

The new scam involves another cold calling technique to trick people into giving up their hard earned money. This new scam starts with somebody from “Tech support” or “Microsoft” calling, who says that you are soon going to loose your “IP address” unless you pay them to renew it.

And like the MS and virus support scams of the past this new scam plays yet again into the lack of knowledge most computer users have about their own systems and how the basics of the Internet work.

Your “IP” address is nothing more than a string of numbers that your ISP assigns to your router or computer to talk with it’s network and the Internet at large. This address is assigned automatically each time your router or computer reboots. And is included in the cost of your Internet bill. So there is no recurring bill you have to pay to keep this IP address. Your ISP gives you a new one each time you reconnect to them. Today, unlike in the past this is all handled automatically and you don’t have to do anything to get or keep your IP address.

So yet again my advice is the same as it has been for years. If somebody calls and says that ANYTHING is wrong with your computer or the Internet, hang up. Don’t talk with them at all. No legit company is ever going to call you about your computer unless you have bought a service contract ahead of time.

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Google to try new NeverSlowMode

Google testing NeverSlowMode
Google – now testing NeverSlowMode

Google is working on the next update to the chrome web browser and it seems that they are shooting for a much faster user experience.

The new code won’t really speed the rate your data downloads from the internet. But instead, it speeds up the user experience by blocking the biggest data hogs, namely – images, videos, and code such as javascript.

This new mode would (if it works) make the internet a more enjoyable experience by budgeting system resources and render a “quick view” that would limit things from load such as…

Images over 1MB
Stylesheets over 100KB
Scripts over 50KB

The main idea is that page execution beyond these limits would stop processing until a user interacts with the webpage. (Thus a faster load time) Only time will tell if this works in the real world and if such a major change would be long lasting. As most google product seem to suffer from “Code creep” that may add too many exceptions or options to make it useful in the long run.

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Scam alert for Reno, NV

eno computer repair. Phone scam warning.
Reno computer repair – phone scam warning

I have got a number of phone calls today asking if Microsoft is calling people about infected home computers. I have already covered this in depth for years and it is ALWAYS a scam. I have also seen today on Facebook a bunch of people asking if others are getting calls from the IRS and the Washoe County Sheriff’s office. It seems that these scammers choose an area code block and try and run every scam they got before hitting the next are code block on their lists.

So to be clear Microsoft will not call you about your computer. And the government and sheriffs office will not call saying they are coming to arrest you. (Why would they tip you off?)

My advice is still the same, hang up the phone. Do not talk to these people because they will save what you tell them and then use that information for a future attempt to con you or a family member.

Stay safe!