From: "Manuel Arostegui Ramirez" <manuel@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
El Martes, 29 de Mayo de 2007 07:30, David G. Miller escribió:
Unfortunately, I know quite a few idiots who own computers. They don't
want to spend the money or take the time to learn how not to get
infected by malware of whatever type. I set them up with Spybot or
something similar and the next thing I know, they've turned it off
because it interferes with the latest free toolbar or dancing gerbils
they want. I tell them why they need it and they don't want to hear it;
they just want their dancing gerbils. SIGH.
The thing here, from my point of view, is the fact that your hobbies do
not
have to be the same ones as the rest of your friends or whoever.
I do understand people who only use the computer for basic things such as
MSN
Messenger, Word and to check their emails.
Do you really think they should know about security? IMHO, No.
I drive a car, yes, but I'm not interested in more than that, actually.
I guess lot of people would blame me because I don't look after my engine
when
changing gears, for instance. What I wanna mean is that me, you and most
of
the human beings do not take care or pay attention to things they're not
really interested in. Don't mind whether you agree or not, this is the way
it > has been and this is the way it's gonna be.
So if you still think a 70-year-old woman with white hair who wants to
send
and email to her niece living in another city is resposible of not-knowing
about viruses and malware...good for you.
Being who I am I err consistently on the side of personal responsibility
for your own fsckups, knowing or unknowing. Security basics for a computer
are akin to knowing what to do if a tire shreds on a freeway down to the
particulars of what to do for each of the four possible tire failures.
For a front failure you DO NOT break hard. For a rear failure breaking
helps protect the wheel rim. Emergency situations happen and you should
know how to handle them. Ideally you should know how to handle a quick
tire exam while filling your car with gas. If you go for the cheaper
gasoline approach of pump your own you also need to take on some of the
other safety duties that used to be done by the pump jockeys when you
bought your gas when I was a kid.
It is the manufacturer's responsibility to build a safe car. A really
safe car would never experience a tire failure just like a really
safe computer would never experience a security failure. In a real
world you must train yourself to use your tools safely be they an
automobile or a computer. Our highway death toll is a prime example of
how FEW people meet their responsibilities in this regard. "It's always
somebody ELSE'S fault." "'Tain't so McGee."
{^_^}
