On Newspapers & Paywalls

There are some basic requirements that must be met before I'll consider paying for online news. In my case it's [specifically] the Concord Monitor.

First let me preface this by explaining that I survive solely on my disability check from Social Security each month (which hasn't increased for a year or two, and isn't likely to next year either). So every expense I incur comes out of a fixed amount. I have to consider the value of every cent spent and also weigh it against every other expenditure. And despite what the CPI* indicates, the cost of many of these are going up.

So for me to take a portion of this [shrinking] pie and spend it on the local newspaper there has to be:

1. Exclusive content that I value and is well written, informative, complete & accurate.

2. A well laid out & easy to navigate website.

3. A website that is secure and well maintained (best security practices incl. 3rd-party audits/pen testing).

4. Also a secure payment system utilizing the best security available to protect customers including full encryption of transactions and storage of customer data. Also requiring the same of 3rd-party payment processors (or *other*) are used.

5. Plenty of local content.

6. Lots of compelling photography.

7. Blogs (but EXCLUDING political** blogs!)

I'd also like to see a local 'Technology' section, possibly getting local experts to contribute regularly with advice & tips (that could even be done/sold? [tastefully] as 'Adver-Tips') and regular 'cybersecurity' information (similar to my [former] BlogsNH blog*** "TechAlert"), because caring about computer & Internet safety needs to be force-fed (subtly) to the public at every opportunity.

Finally, even though it's expensive and time consuming (and takes a certain amount of institutional intestinal fortitude), some investigative journalism would be nice to see. Frankly I see too much ...... (trying to think of the right word[s]) .. quick, superficial, non-confrontational articles, and I'm trying to recall the last time I read anything that exposed some serious wrongdoing or corruption concerning local public officials, organizations or businesses. To be fair, my memory is awful and I'm sure there have been some, but we both know the larger percentage goes unreported (and/or undiscovered).

I'm going to give the Monitor a shot and see how it goes, although I hope that I can pay 'in person' instead of online. I've been victim of numerous database breaches over the years including Concord Hospital, the VA, Student Loans, and most recently the Sony PlayStation Network (where thankfully I chose to use their prepaid cards instead of a credit/debit card). I hope they consider this option and develop a way of implementing it.

- BTW, I hope that it's only the AP [text] content the Monitor's opting not to use and not Jim Cole's outstanding photography!

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* Consumer Price Index

** Too divisive & (many of) the regular 'article' comments are *more* than enough negativity/fringe (especially for the moderators).

*** This is the page you see if you look today.. Hey Clay, I must have missed your alert to save our blogs before they weren't available anymore? (I'm glad that I saved most of mine and didn't leave it to chance..).

Why?

I'm talking about computer security and why some people are responsible and others not. I've written about this before, mostly in a BlogsNH/Concord Monitor Online blog called TechAlert. The reasons vary from person to person, but the two at the top of my list are laziness and apathy.

- Laziness because it takes some effort to learn how your computer works and what you need to do to protect it, and also the basic maintenance necessary to keep things like your security programs up to date. I should also add being attentive, both to how your system runs 'normally' so that you'll be alerted to events that might signal a malware infection, and also online where every web page or email could be compromised.  That's why I ended every blog post with a variation of "THINK -- BEFORE you click!"

Admittedly, nothing short of pulling the plug can guarantee you won't be hacked/infected, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't protect yourself by being informed & aware (and vigilant with a healthy dose of skepticism when it comes to unsolicited email). 

Videos or photos with "This is unbelievable!" or "You gotta see this!", and the ones about some celebrity caught naked, are typical bait to lure victims into a scammer's trap. This now includes any big celebrity (or other) news event including the recent earthquake in Haiti. If people are likely to be in a hurry to get information about a breaking event you can be sure that scammers will take advantage of the situation and use it as bait in spam email and in search engine results.

 

If an individual's security apathy just affected them it would be one thing, but it doesn't, and at some point in the future this widespread apathy will lead to something like an interruption of the power grid or air traffic control. As history has shown, often serious issues aren't addressed until after a disaster occurs. In this case I doubt anything short of prolonged widespread suffering through power/Internet outages (and intense peer pressure) will change people's behavior, and that might not be enough.. Legislation might be needed, but that will never come to pass because big business and their army of lobbyists control Congress, and requiring a license to connect a computer to the Internet would be good for overall security but bad for business. As we've seen, if Congress has a choice between what's good for the public vs what's good for big business (and the bottom line), money and influence wins most of the time.

You have to treat going online (which starts as soon as your computer connects to the Internet) like you're a spy walking through a dangerous city carrying a briefcase full of secret papers. Assume that you're being watched by people just waiting for you to make a mistake and let your guard down. Lazy or apathetic spies don't last long..

- Apathy is another shortcut to trouble. 'All I want to do is get online as fast as I can, download/watch that video, get through all this email, see that sexy pic, install this software..... All this 'security' stuff just gets in the way.'.

These two are related, and much of the time ignorance is in the mix right alongside. If you don't take the time to learn how to protect yourself, and you don't stay apprised of they daily warnings (that are freely available from people and organizations who work hard to gather and publish it) about vulnerabilities in software, hoaxes, compromised sites and other dangers, you're like a 'babe in the woods'.

The side effect of people ignoring security and getting their computers infected is that the rest of us suffer because of them. They get infected with malware that makes their computer(s) part of a huge group of computers controlled by one group of bad guys (and there are lots of these groups), who then 'rent' this powerful group of combined computers to other bad guys who can then attack banks, power companies, web sites, government computers, and the list goes on.. Sometimes they block a giant corporation's computer systems and hold it for ransom until they're paid millions of dollars. Oil companies to grocery chains secretly pay these ransoms adding millions/billions to their bottom lines, and who do you think ends up paying for it?

It's the equivalent of leaving all of your doors unlocked and your car unlocked in a parking lot with the keys on the seat, only worse.

These three traits are so prevalent that companies like Microsoft design their operating systems to cater to them and many security software companies do the same. It seems that so many people are so lazy that bothering them with anything that takes a second or two out of their precious time, or is 'too complicated', affects sales..

Think of the USA as a computer and these lazy/apathetic/ignorant people as the ones in charge of operating the government and taking care of our security, health, and safety.... 'nuff said. So to those I'm describing, wake up, grow up, get off your arses, do your part to help keep us all safer!

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Now a personal note..

Researching and writing a weekly security blog is (or was) a lot of work. When you dedicate your time and effort for the good of others you'd like to think you're making a positive difference. [I'd] like to think some people are heeding my calls for taking security more seriously and putting more effort into personal computer security awareness. Otherwise why should *I* make the effort? The responsible folks who give security the appropriate attention aren't the ones I write for (for the most part), although I did hope the security alerts I posted added some value to the readers of the Concord Monitor Online.

During the time I was actively writing the TechAlert blog I told my family (my brother and his wife & child in Florida) about it and told them to check it out. I never got any feedback good/bad about it. When asked they said they'd 'get around to it but things were hectic..'.

That was over a year (or three?) ago. Last week my niece asked me if I'd heard of something called "Internet Security 2010" and said that her mother possibly got scammed by it. I immediately recognized the typical 'generic'-type name that all the rogue (read Fake & Infected) security software programs use to fool the unaware. I did some research and found a computer help forum with specific instructions on how to remove it (and additional helpful information) then sent my niece the URL link with an offer to assist if needed. Two days later after hearing nothing I asked how it was going. My niece said the credit card company voided the transaction but the computer 'was a real mess'. To date I haven't had any request for help or advice.

A couple of things are bothersome about this.. The first thing that comes to mind is that if my sister-in-law had bothered to visit (and learn from) my blog she would have been aware of things like 'rogue security software' and hopefully not fallen for whatever scam technique she fell for. The second thing is that it doesn't appear that anything has changed despite this incident. If you don't learn how you got infected you're bound to get infected again.

Similar to STDs, if your computer habits are promiscuous and you don't know how to protect yourself you can expect trouble, and that includes infecting others. That's just plain irresponsible behavior.

So if my own family (who are otherwise highly intelligent people) don't bother to take my advice...........

Am I just wasting my time?

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Please don't be part of the problem. Help be part of the solution.

And remember....

Always THINK before you click!

I just re-read my "About Me" (then looked at the date of my last post..)

Well.... it was accurate when I wrote it!

As far as my blog for "blogsNH" (Concord Monitor Online) goes I should tell you that I stopped for personal/health reasons, and since then I've hesitated resuming for multiple reasons.

I have less energy because of some of the medications I'm taking.

Preaching responsible security can seem like an exercise in futility much of the time. I was spending a great deal of time and energy providing what could be a valuable service for readers and getting little to no feedback from either readers or the paper in return. A few fellow bloggers showed support but at the end of the day I can't justify the effort vs. energy spent.

The Monitor wasn't nearly as progressive as they could be. At that time they didn't even allow comments, and they still don't have live links to contact the reporter.

Too many of the articles (online) are poorly written. So many are brief blurbs leaving out most of the pertinent facts. It's like posting a headline and lead without any details, or showing a photograph without the cutline..

The blog software is clunky and all too often the communication with the Monitor personnel took too long. In addition to that, the contact person seemed to have some kind of relationship with a conservative right-wing group/podcast.

Finally, I simply don't like being associated with some of the more frequent bloggers there.
Nothing 'personal' towards them as people, and maybe it's me, but as a volunteer service as opposed to the responsibility of a professional position it's a choice I've made.

I do feel that the Concord Monitor Online is getting better and I hope that trend continues, albeit at a much more rapid pace. Perhaps loading up the blogsNH section with in-house sports blogs isn't fair to the citizen bloggers (despite my personal tastes/feelings). Having a separate section for Monitor employee blogs would be more appropriate, or maybe just expanding the space for blog headlines so that the sports blogs aren't all that readers see. That has frequently been the case lately.

I also feel that not having a dedicated contact person/supervisor for the blogs was an issue I noticed. My contact was splitting his time between various duties and that resulted in a lack of timely communication and probably less dedication towards improvements and innovation.

There are so many examples on the web of engaging site design and progressive staff enlisting reader and citizen participation in blogs, citizen journalism and reader commentary. But without management behind the scenes willing and able to let go of outdated thinking and bringing in some of the outstanding progressive professionals to replace those who perhaps aren't able to migrate into the new paradigm.

I'm certainly no expert but I think any unbiased assessment of Concord Monitor Online would conclude that there's a great deal of room for improvement.

This is one of those big historical shifts in technology and lifestyle affecting a wide range of industries. If those industries don't adapt, or are too slow to adapt, they will be left behind and die off.

As for me? I will keep going forward and see what each day brings. When I have the energy and motivation to write I will write.

I don't want to leave this existence not having made a positive difference. Unfortunately I have a great many negative actions in my past that I need to make up for, so since then I've tried to learn and grow as a human being, progressing on the road towards enlightenment.

I've isolated myself since then and need to change that now. Fighting the self-loathing and embarrassment I wallowed in for the last twenty years and learning to forgive myself is a challenge but essential. The prospect of living alone until I die is untenable. Finding a woman who has the intelligence, understanding, patience, and humor to share my life with is a similar challenge but also essential.

Wish me luck and positive thoughts OK? I'll be posting here and over at my other blog The Endicott Dispatch more frequently [again].

Something's Different

Yes, I finally changed over to the new template. I decided to mirror my other blog's appearance. As I find the time I'll add more links and some different page elements.

I've been trying to concentrate on my BlogsNH blog "TechAlert", and I've got a new post there called "Parents And Kids 'Growing Up Online'". If you haven't seen the PBS - Frontline program "Growing Up Online" you should, especially if you have kids still in school.

I've been concentrating on computer security and other tech-related stuff lately and avoiding politics as much as I can, so that's one of the main reasons the posts here have been sparse.
One of the other reasons is the topic of my latest post over at The Endicott Dispatch.

The nature of campaign politics and the way it being covered by most of the media turns me off.
I'm counting the days until this group of criminals is out of the White House and we can start to repair the damage they've done.

As that time gets closer I'll have more to say. In the mean time, my posts here might change from the political rants to other topics...Inside Tom's Brain.