Murdoch/Disney

[Seanm]

Am I the only person who wonders what is going on behind things like 'Alexa'? IIUC that sends info about what you are saying off to the 'cloud' so you can switch off Clarkeson when he appears on TV. I appreciate the desire to do that, but wonder how we know that no other use is made of listening to what people say by those who have suitable access to the real systems beyond your home and probably outside the UK.

What’s going on is that Alexa is 1) extracting data from every moment of our lived reality, the better to shape that reality around purchasing opportunities and 2) Using us to train Amazon's AI, the better to shape our reality around purchasing opportunities. I don’t know what happens to he data but obviously it’s of some interest to political parties to know what people talk about in their homes. It’s really weird that Alexa is legal and I don’t expect her to be legal for much longer.

 

[martin clark]

 

[Jim Audiomisc]

I’m an Apple user, I love their hardware and OS X is a really nice balance of UNIX power and a lovely GUI so I’d not really want to use anything else, but Siri is a step too far for me. I just don’t like the whole idea of talking to computers, and I certainly don’t like the idea of them listening, so Siri is turned off on all my devices. I’m sure some of this is just my age; I started my computer journey in 1981 on a friend’s BBC B so I expect a proper keyboard and command line somewhere!

My intro was ICL1900s, but a few years later I decided I preferred a BBC B. Much less 'powerful' but not diluted by timesharing, etc. No more punched cards or paper tape. (This ages me!) And excellent for hooking up to DIY lab instruments for control and data purposes. I can understand the attractions of Apple. But if I want *nix I use Linux. The GUIs these days offer some fine choices, and still a doddle to program or pop up a terminal. Although my real affection remains with RISC OS. (Using a RO system as I type this.)

 

[Jim Audiomisc]

What’s going on is that Alexa is 1) extracting data from every moment of our lived reality, the better to shape that reality around purchasing opportunities and 2) Using us to train Amazon's AI, the better to shape our reality around purchasing opportunities. I don’t know what happens to he data but obviously it’s of some interest to political parties to know what people talk about in their homes. It’s really weird that Alexa is legal and I don’t expect her to be legal for much longer.

The problem is, of course, what uses it gets put to that those involved *don't* talk about. Be it Amazon, etc, or hackers, crooks, etc, who may hijack or exploit it.

I fear that politicians will only ban or regulate it after there is a serious problem. Money talks, and once a system is 'international' can be slippery for an individual country to control.

Sadly, people are fed bollocks... erm I mean 'shiney' visions of such matters. Witness also that a bank is running TV ads telling people they can 'trust' *any* web address that starts with https. No sign of distinguishing between the connection and whoever is at the other end. Setup for future problems as people are given a false sense of security. Don't bother your pretty heads about it, folks, everything is fine...

Usual bank SOP. "We are perfect. If you have any problems, they will be your fault. We've arranged things so you can't show otherwise."

 

[Guest432]

My intro was ICL1900s,)

My old man worked at ICL for 47 years and helped develop VME with Brian Warboys, he still bleats on about how it was a much better OS than IBM's

He also installed and programmed the system that controlled the hydration for the Mary Rose when it was raised and took me there as a nipper, I was one of the first people to see it in the hanger. Although my over riding memory was seeing a nudey calender on the office wall

 

[Jim Audiomisc]

I don't think I ever saw the actual ICL1900 mainframes. All my uses was via a TTY, cards, and paper tapes, or when I got back lineprinted results or graphics from the graph plotter - eventually all improved by Tectronix graphics terminals. The real snag was the timesharing and/or waits for jobs. By comparison, the BBC B was piddle-power, but it was 'mine' to use directly, so far more convenient for the things I wanted to do.