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Re: [LUG] Archlinux on the RPI and the PI camera

 

On 02/08/13 11:17, Brad Rogers wrote:
> On Thu, 1 Aug 2013 22:27:50 +0100
> bad apple <mr.meowski@xxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
> Hello bad,
>
>> Maybe you were being sarcastic, and I just missed it. Or maybe you just
>> wrote something a bit silly?
> Neither.  It was an over-simplification.  When I referred to "their
> unwillingness to acquire it", what I meant was that, when I (or
> anyone else for that matter) point out weaknesses such as UPnP being on
> by default, and how easy it is to overcome, most people's eyes glaze
> over.  They stop listening, and don't make any changes.  They use the
> same attitude regarding this as they do everything else. That is to say,
> an "It'll never happen to me" attitude.

Ok, thanks for clearing that up - despite my fearsome BOFH reputation,
I'm still sympathising with the users a little bit. I know, I know, I
shouldn't really care about them but I'll try and be empathic for once,
and will try a slashdot-style car analogy.

I've never learnt to drive (spent most of my adult life in South London,
where cars are a bit of a liability) but the missus has a car which of
course sometimes need work done on it. I'm pretty technically minded, to
put it lightly, but nonetheless, when the car mechanic starts speaking
about tracking, alignment, engine timings and the like my eyes cross
over and I start to feel sleepy. I hand over the bank card, and she
takes care of everything. And here we're talking about a ton and a half
of metal and plastic that our lives literally depend on when whizzing
down the dual carriageway at the princely speed of 65mph but I just
don't care about it - any of it. Spark plugs, ECUs, etc: it all sounds
like it could be interesting but try as I might, I just can't bring
myself to give a monkeys about the technical details. Cars bore me,
they're just a functional thing that gets me from A to B (hopefully),
with bonus points awarded for ash trays and a nice stereo.

I imagine that there are technical car experts out there, maybe even on
this list, that are thinking I'm out of my mind and how could I possibly
not take an interest in the inner workings of something that could
easily kill me if I don't stay on top of it's technical issues? It's a
good point. But,  by extension, I guess that this is very similar to
'ordinary' people not caring about the inner, deeply complicated and
extremely confusing microcosm of computing. And although it could
trivially leak your email passwords, private pictures and bank
information, a computer or an IP cam isn't going to kill you by spinning
off the road on a tight corner.

I have no idea why I'm making an effort to stand up for the 'normal'
users here because generally speaking I detest them - however, I can't
help but feel that when it comes to IT security the poor sods are
getting a rough deal. Any idiot (except me, apparently) can learn enough
about cars to get by, but firmware flashing, IP filtering, disabling
UPnP services... this stuff is genuinely voodoo. I feel your pain: I've
seen countless people's "eyes glaze over" when I start up on the state
of their computers but for once, I find it kind of hard to blame them
for it. We can't all be sysadmins or hackers after all.

Right, after that uncommon bit of empathy for the plight of my fellow
mortals, I'm going to a BBQ to get properly "it's the weekend" drunk and
shake off this feeling of solidarity. Back to my usual schedule of
hating everyone shortly.

Regards

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