Wednesday, December 17, 2014

HackySac Pee Pee Whack...

It’s the holiday season again. Everyone is out spending tons of money they can’t afford on presents that no one want’s or needs.

I love it! I really do!

My new favorite items are the ultra cheap laptop computers that are showing up on line and in the big box moron traps like Sprawl-Mart, Breast Buy and Target.

It seems like only yesterday when Sony, one of the worlds largest and most powerful technology companies, was hacked by cyber terrorists. Wait a minute, it WAS yesterday! Their email systems, payroll and super secure corporate secrets were all compromised by computer hackers. The Home Depot was hit this year. So was Target. All of a sudden your credit cards and banking information may be out there for sale to the highest bidder. The IRS was hacked last year also. That ought to make you feel warm and fuzzy as well.

Just imagine that the huge and all powerful unregulated IRS who handles your taxes, and now your medical records thanks to Obamacare, was hacked and who knows where that information has gone. There are even companies springing up with million dollar guarantees that they can protect you from credit card fraud and identity theft.

Bullshit.

Their fine print says they will spend up to a million dollars to attempt to help you get your funds back. The truth is, NO BODY can protect you from the threat of hackers getting your vital and private information. Unless of course you live in the woods and eat roots and berries and never interact with modern civilization again.

Which leads me to today’s rant.

The new rage this Christmas is the ultra cheap laptops. For under 200 bucks you can pick up one of these pseudo computers and be on line computing in minutes. Why so cheap? It’s pretty simple really. They have very little RAM and they don’t have a hard drive. All of your programs and data are stored on the “Cloud”. The “Cloud” is a large computer storage server sitting somewhere out in cyberspace and it makes your shit available to you wherever and whenever you need it. You don’t even need a telephone line or cable connection. They work off of a cellular signal that is built into the computer’s terminal.  You pay for this monthly, on line of course.

So think about this for a minute. You now have a device that can do all your computing and store all of your personal data, bank accounts, email addresses, electronic shopping and bill paying and also your tax and health records, somewhere that is not in your control.

My financial information is on a second drive on this computer that sometimes I can’t even get into because I forget the password or even to plug it in. When it’s unplugged no one on the planet can get into my data. Do you really want to save a couple hundred bucks on a laptop that almost guarantees you will become a victim of identity theft or worse? Is this a great country or what?

Happy Holidays Everyone!