11 Nov
2020
11 Nov
'20
9:10 a.m.
It occurs to me that this thread is starting to go off-topic, but I am also
curious to know what might happen. Thus the new thread ...
On Wednesday 11 November 2020 08:50:33 Michael via tde-users wrote:
What went wrong? Do you remember the time when
computers
Funny story (not),
I was working at Dell at the time when Windows 95 was beta released (mid
‘94 ish). The network group (being real IT geeks) did some ‘testing’
(using the pre-cursor to wireshark) and found that if the Win95 install had
network access then Win95 1) did a full disk scan, 2) packaged that up and
sent it to a Microsoft server, and 3) deleted all traces of the disk scan.
Why I remember it, is it amused me that they were in their lab yanking the
plug out of the wall half way through an install then sticking the drive
into another PC (Unix!) to see what Win95 was doing.
So, probably, the last time Windows didn’t ‘spy on you’ was probably Win
3.1. Only because it couldn't.
Best,
Michael
As soon as they could be connected, either through a network, or
through "sneaker-net", or sharing information between them, that is about
when they because surveillance tools. About the only way to escape them is to
go back to the Stone Age and make our own tools.
I got into a conversation awhile ago when somebody described Orwell as a
futurist. No, I said, he was very bad at guessing about the technological
side of the future; but what he did guess was that those new "computing
machines" that were used in the "war effort" would soon be used for
controlling citizens rather than fighting an external enemy.
Orwell worked writing and broadcasting for the BBC during the war years (which
he called propaganda), and had an insider's glimpse of what was in store for
us in the future; the future which is now.
Bill
were a
tool to help you, not to spy on you?
Nik
Yes, one can read about such a computer here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abacus