The even randomer thread

[shrader]

I wouldn't even give Radio Shack my phone number 25 years ago.  

 

I'm at the point where I don't care anymore who has my phone number.  I still have a Buffalo area code but haven't lived there for ages now.  Anyone from that area who would call me, I already have their number.  The vast majority of spam calls spoof the line to say it is coming from 716.  I see that area code pop up from an otherwise unknown number, I know not to answer it.  Anything else is usually from an obvious area code that I would never be getting calls from.  Now I know this doesn't work so well for people who actually live within their area code, but it's great for me.

 

But yeah, I still don't hand out the number recklessly.  But then again, why should I think that Verizon hasn't done so already?

[ubkev]

I'm at the point where I don't care anymore who has my phone number. I still have a Buffalo area code but haven't lived there for ages now. Anyone from that area who would call me, I already have their number. The vast majority of spam calls spoof the line to say it is coming from 716. I see that area code pop up from an otherwise unknown number, I know not to answer it. Anything else is usually from an obvious area code that I would never be getting calls from. Now I know this doesn't work so well for people who actually live within their area code, but it's great for me.

 

But yeah, I still don't hand out the number recklessly. But then again, why should I think that Verizon hasn't done so already?

That's what THEY want, maaaan!

[darksabre]

I'm a millennial so I just assume everyone everywhere already has all of my personal information. 

[shrader]

That's what THEY want, maaaan!

 

If Roddy Piper starts telling me to put on a pair of sunglasses, I'm out of here.

[Drunkard]

What are they doing with that data? Well sharing it, of course. They sell it to everyone who wants it. Then they use it to tailor what advertising you see, what mail you get and that's just the easy stuff. People giving their finger prints to Samsung and Apple?! Are you fcuking nuts? People voluntarily sending their DNA to companies for heritage research? Yeah, sure.

 

We already self report everything that we're doing on social media, so government agencies don't even need to use the location data in our cell phones to track us. Not to mention the fact that we all tattle on everyone who ever said something bad, ever, so the government doesn't even need the wiretaps...sorry, I mean Alexa that everyone is voluntarily putting in their living rooms. Seriously, who bugs their own house?

 

The girl at the register at FYE asked for my phone number the other day. Get fcuked, sweetie.

 

They're gonna be chipping us like they do dogs in another 3 years. And we're going to volunteer for it.

 

 

Ok, too far down the rabbit hole. I'm going back to drinking.

Bill Burr did a funny bit about this on one of his stand up specials.

 

Did you hear about Dave, man?

No, what happened?

They turned his chip off. He was spouting off about the government and they just turned his chip off. Now his bank cards don't work and he's off the grid.

No wonder he's out there shaking his fist and screaming at the satellites in the sky begging them to turn it back on.

 

It's coming.

[North Buffalo]

Some would say both.

You call those burgers.

[ubkev]

I'm a millennial so I just assume everyone everywhere already has all of my personal information.

Of course they do. We gave it to them.

[Stoner]

More to the point: I contacted (calls + texts, I assume) someone x times according to the data they mined from my phone. What's it to Facebook? What are they going to do with that knowledge?

 

Aren't you guys on the no-call list? It's worked very well for me. And if someone does call you, you can turn 'em in.

[Taro T]

You call those burgers.

Didn't say they were good burgers.

[North Buffalo]

More to the point: I contacted (calls + texts, I assume) someone x times according to the data they mined from my phone. What's it to Facebook? What are they going to do with that knowledge?

 

Aren't you guys on the no-call list? It's worked very well for me. And if someone does call you, you can turn 'em in.

I just block them on my iphone. Rings partially once then cuts out! 1984 who cares... Facebook makes a gazillion $ selling data to other companies. Same as banks, grocery stores, and any of those places that have their own discount cards. All BS they should pay us for our info. I smell a Union developing where someone could join and recieve residual checks for sharing their info!

Didn't say they were good burgers.

Or actual meat! Edited April 11, 2018 by North Buffalo

[Taro T]

I just block them on my iphone. Rings partially once then cuts out! 1984 who cares... Facebook makes a gazillion $ selling data to other companies. Same as banks, grocery stores, and any of those places that have their own discount cards. All BS they should pay us for our info. I smell a Union developing where someone could join and recieve residual checks for sharing their info!Or actual meat!

Pretty sure that after the soy burger rumors of the 70's they have been pretty consistent on not technically committing false advertising and have actually been grinding up cows to make them.

[Sabres Fan in NS]

On my Android phones in the past, pop up adds could always be traced to some questionable app I installed in the past. Where did you hear about Google Auto Ads? A quick Google turns up nothing, and frankly I don't think Google would alienate their users quite that forceably. :)

 

On the ad there is a very small Google thingie in the corner.  If I click on it it takes me to a 'Google' ad app that doesn't do anything.

 

As far as I know I did not download, or give permissions to, any suspect app.

[Eleven]

I just block them on my iphone. Rings partially once then cuts out! 1984 who cares... Facebook makes a gazillion $ selling data to other companies. Same as banks, grocery stores, and any of those places that have their own discount cards. All BS they should pay us for our info. I smell a Union developing where someone could join and recieve residual checks for sharing their info!

Or actual meat!

 

Let's break this down into two ideas:

 

1.  You are compensated for that personal information, either in the form of in-store discounts, or free communication / social networking services, or whatever.  Whether that's worth the value of your information to you is another question, but you are compensated for it.

 

2.  The unionization idea is interesting, but I think we have demonstrated time and time again that consumers are weak and will not bond together to do what is right for ourselves.  Sure, I could bug off of facebook (and often do for a week or more), but the moment I want to see a clip of my niece playing soccer, I'm back on.  Because I don't expect my sister to send that clip to 200 friends and family members when she can just click "share."  Same goes for a variety of facebook groups.  We're lucky to have SabreSpace for hockey, but there are a dozen other interests/needs in my life where a facebook group is the best option.  So I'm too willing to "pay the price" with my data and too weak to join the union.  Sadly, I'll bet there are more like me (by a factor of 100 or 1000) than there are who would "unionize."

Edited April 11, 2018 by Eleven

[darksabre]

On the ad there is a very small Google thingie in the corner. If I click on it it takes me to a 'Google' ad app that doesn't do anything.

 

As far as I know I did not download, or give permissions to, any suspect app.

 

Don't click like that!

[Sabres Fan in NS]

Don't click ###### like that!

 

Now you tell me ...  :P

 

I am afraid to turn on my phone now.

 

On my Android phones in the past, pop up adds could always be traced to some questionable app I installed in the past. Where did you hear about Google Auto Ads? A quick Google turns up nothing, and frankly I don't think Google would alienate their users quite that forceably. :)

 

 

Matt,

 

While I have your attention ...

 

I posted yesterday about my Windows 7 laptop issues ... when it rains it pours.

 

The same funky thing happened this morning when I logged in.  

 

All was normal up until I keyed in my log in password.  Instead of the usual 'Welcome' and spinning wheel a message popped up saying 'preparing your desktop'.  When it does that it logs in as a unknown user and there is no access to my files and stuff.

 

I get a bunch of error messages and I know that I need to log off, which is allowed.  When I restart it starts up normally and all is good.

 

Is this just some glitch that is one of those annoying things, or should I be more concerned?  This laptop is my primary work PC.  I have others, but it would be a pain to set up the email ... on one of them and I just don't have time now.

[Sabres Fan in NS]

Don't click ###### like that!

 

I was cleaning up my phone and getting rid of all the junk apps that I had installed when it was new and I got real excited and I found one that I just installed the other day.  A file exchange app that the phone said I needed when I was trying to share a file.  Anyway the problems started after that install.  It is now uninstalled and a scan produced an issue (small) that has been rectified.

 

So far, so good.

 

I hate dealing with this crap, especially at this time of year.

[shrader]

More to the point: I contacted (calls + texts, I assume) someone x times according to the data they mined from my phone. What's it to Facebook? What are they going to do with that knowledge?

 

Aren't you guys on the no-call list? It's worked very well for me. And if someone does call you, you can turn 'em in.

 

What good to no-call lists do for out of country auto-dialer numbers?  The number I see isn't the real number anyway, so there's nothing to turn in.

[Sabres Fan in NS]

What good to no-call lists do for out of country auto-dialer numbers?  The number I see isn't the real number anyway, so there's nothing to turn in.

 

As I was heading into Prayers last Friday I got one of those on my cell phone ... from Yemen.  Found out after Prayers that 3, or 4, others did as well, right before Prayers.  Weird stuff.  One of the guys even answered and they wanted to keep him on hold for ever.

[drnkirishone]

More to the point: I contacted (calls + texts, I assume) someone x times according to the data they mined from my phone. What's it to Facebook? What are they going to do with that knowledge?

 

Aren't you guys on the no-call list? It's worked very well for me. And if someone does call you, you can turn 'em in.

the don't call list was weakened a few years back.

[Sabres Fan in NS]

So, my laptop did the same thing when I started it up this morning.

 

It really looks like there is some kind of glitch in the start up process that fouls up on the first start up.  The screw up has happened often these last few days, but only on the first start up each day.  The second start up attempt has always worked properly.

 

So, do I never shut this puppy down again?  Ever?

[shrader]

As I was heading into Prayers last Friday I got one of those on my cell phone ... from Yemen.  Found out after Prayers that 3, or 4, others did as well, right before Prayers.  Weird stuff.  One of the guys even answered and they wanted to keep him on hold for ever.

 

I've never seen anything come in from a different country.  I mean, I assume most come from a different country, but they always wind up being displayed as a "local" number.

[Sabres Fan in NS]

I've never seen anything come in from a different country.  I mean, I assume most come from a different country, but they always wind up being displayed as a "local" number.

 

Yup.  I have never seen a number displayed that was not a North American number until this time.

 

My wife told me about another scam where the scammers somehow take over your phone contact list and then actually place the calls so that it displays your number.  Friends of ours had this happen, but she had actually answered the first time.  The call looks as if it is from FedEx and she orders a lot of online, so a call from FedEx is not that unusual.  Once they had her on the line she said it was just weird.  The asked for an alternate cell and she gave her husbands.  For a few days she would get calls on her cell that displayed her husbands cell number as the caller, but he was sitting right beside her and not calling her from his cell.  The supposed FedEx callers have a package that has duty to be paid on, or it will be sent back.  Of course, no package exists.

[MattPie]

More to the point: I contacted (calls + texts, I assume) someone x times according to the data they mined from my phone. What's it to Facebook? What are they going to do with that knowledge?

 

Aren't you guys on the no-call list? It's worked very well for me. And if someone does call you, you can turn 'em in.

 

People you contact a lot you probably like. People you like probably share common interests. When your friend likes/buys something that Facebook thinks is a common interest of yours, you'll see ads for that thing. Advertisers are happy because they feel like they're reaching people that are more likely to buy their product.

 

No call: from what I understand, those "same area code and exchange" spam calls largely come from overseas. They don't exactly abide by the Do Not Call like.

 

 

Now you tell me ...  :P

 

I am afraid to turn on my phone now.

 

 

 

Matt,

 

While I have your attention ...

 

I posted yesterday about my Windows 7 laptop issues ... when it rains it pours.

 

The same funky thing happened this morning when I logged in.  

 

All was normal up until I keyed in my log in password.  Instead of the usual 'Welcome' and spinning wheel a message popped up saying 'preparing your desktop'.  When it does that it logs in as a unknown user and there is no access to my files and stuff.

 

I get a bunch of error messages and I know that I need to log off, which is allowed.  When I restart it starts up normally and all is good.

 

Is this just some glitch that is one of those annoying things, or should I be more concerned?  This laptop is my primary work PC.  I have others, but it would be a pain to set up the email ... on one of them and I just don't have time now.

 

 

I saw that, and I don't know if I have a good answer. My best guess is something in your profile got corrupted and it either started a new profile for you. It's possible a disk is going back, what's you backup solution in case the system dies?

 

Yup.  I have never seen a number displayed that was not a North American number until this time.

 

My wife told me about another scam where the scammers somehow take over your phone contact list and then actually place the calls so that it displays your number.  Friends of ours had this happen, but she had actually answered the first time.  The call looks as if it is from FedEx and she orders a lot of online, so a call from FedEx is not that unusual.  Once they had her on the line she said it was just weird.  The asked for an alternate cell and she gave her husbands.  For a few days she would get calls on her cell that displayed her husbands cell number as the caller, but he was sitting right beside her and not calling her from his cell.  The supposed FedEx callers have a package that has duty to be paid on, or it will be sent back.  Of course, no package exists.

 

That's impossible; it's not like the scammers can just use an app to slurp contacts or buy people's contact lists from Facebook. :)

[Sabres Fan in NS]

MATT!!

 

YIKES!!

[Wyldnwoody44]

I decided to hop on a random train in Vienna and I am now currently a lot of kilometers outside of any city, I got off at a random stop and am walking through a field to a mountain..... Still trying to find a restaurant outside of population, and it's getting dark, should be fun ☺️