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Oct. 28th, 2012
Verified by visa
Oct. 28th, 2012 12:37 pmAAAAAAAAAAAAAUGH!
How can the banking industry know less about security than me?
A while ago, "Verified by Visa" became compulsory when buying things online. In order to buy anything, you have to know your verified by visa password.
Except, SURPRISE! You don't have to. You can either know your verified by visa password "passcode", OR know your card details, postcode and date of birth.
Seriously, that's strictly less secure than asking for card details, postcode, and date of birth only. I don't think I could devise a system less secure than that if I tried. For instance, it still provides absolutely zero protection against someone you know "borrowing" your credit card: shouldn't that be something passwords protect against?
I mean, I understand -- they don't want to be inundated with phone calls from people saying "I tried to buy something and I couldn't, what's wrong". But after all the brouhaha about verified by visa I thought maybe you needed to speak to someone in person, or at least need the right dongle to reset it. But no, I was insufficiently cynical. Again.
There's probably some other good reason I should know about but don't? I hope?
I do not think that if people were asked to predict my major flaw they would guess "insufficiently cynical about human stupidity". But apparently, I am. Can I rebrand it as "optimism" or "faith in mankind"..? :)
How can the banking industry know less about security than me?
A while ago, "Verified by Visa" became compulsory when buying things online. In order to buy anything, you have to know your verified by visa password.
Except, SURPRISE! You don't have to. You can either know your verified by visa password "passcode", OR know your card details, postcode and date of birth.
Seriously, that's strictly less secure than asking for card details, postcode, and date of birth only. I don't think I could devise a system less secure than that if I tried. For instance, it still provides absolutely zero protection against someone you know "borrowing" your credit card: shouldn't that be something passwords protect against?
I mean, I understand -- they don't want to be inundated with phone calls from people saying "I tried to buy something and I couldn't, what's wrong". But after all the brouhaha about verified by visa I thought maybe you needed to speak to someone in person, or at least need the right dongle to reset it. But no, I was insufficiently cynical. Again.
There's probably some other good reason I should know about but don't? I hope?
I do not think that if people were asked to predict my major flaw they would guess "insufficiently cynical about human stupidity". But apparently, I am. Can I rebrand it as "optimism" or "faith in mankind"..? :)
Skyfall and Windows 8
Oct. 28th, 2012 01:45 pmI've recently seen several people saying that Skyfall and Windows 8 were surprisingly good. I am shocked, I just assumed that both were a necessary transition period, but if there was something good there, it would only come out in a follow-up. It seems practically a law of nature that new versions of windows need an edition to get the teething troubles out of the way.
Onion counterexample
Oct. 28th, 2012 09:00 pmBetteridge's_law_of_headlines says that you can save time by assuming that any news headline that ends in a question can be answered "no". As he put it, "The reason why journalists use that style of headline is that they know the story is probably bollocks, and don’t actually have the sources and facts to back it up, but still want to run it."
Obviously there are some exceptions. But it occurs to me that a probable corollary is that, in a satrical newspaper, the intended answer can probaby be taken as "yes":
"Could The Use Of Flying Death Robots Be Hurting America's Reputation Worldwide?" Onion video
Obviously there are some exceptions. But it occurs to me that a probable corollary is that, in a satrical newspaper, the intended answer can probaby be taken as "yes":
"Could The Use Of Flying Death Robots Be Hurting America's Reputation Worldwide?" Onion video