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Steve, just being a ‘statistic’ is one thing, but as you point out being a member of a ‘group’ is something that could be far more worrying Abdul Hamid II, Pol Pot, Stalin and the Third Reich would have loved to have had more refined tools during the mass cullings they oversaw.
The use of such techniques by any extremist leadership (left or right) would obviously be a cause for great concern, but the potential for mass manipulation of the populace (a more sophisticated variation on the Russian’s alleged ‘Trump’ or Brexit manipulation) is actually of more concern to me as I could see UK politicians from either side liking the idea of being able to stay in power simply by shading public opinion.
Links are once again not displaying very well on a PC. Since the New Look they just show as a slightly darker font, they lack either the underline or colour that tends to be the norm usage.
Richard any code in an attached drive is just code. Although it is possible to use illegal op-codes and self modifying code to do weird things you still need something to set them going. A simple byte read as performed by an external scanner will not do this. I would also dispute the effectiveness of using a Linux A/V scanner. Clam A/V is alright, but certainly not the best A/V scanner and not up to the standard of Malwarebytes etc.
If the OP still has a problem it could well be a simple (benign) PUP. Zap the profiles in Firefox and reset IE.
Richard, as you point out, cluster analysis has been used for years, The real difference is in the size of data sets that are now available to analysts, and the power of distributed cloud computers such as Google Cloud (I’m not getting at Google with this link as anyone can buy time).
Although buzz words such as Big Data, or Machine Learning are used many of the techniques come back to multivalent regression analysis and other terms with which you are well acquainted. In simple terms 80% of humans behave like a herd and if you can identify the key factors (the clusters or vectors) that influence the directions taken by the herd then you have a powerful tool to influence outcomes.
The tool is also finding its place in criminology to identify what areas should be targetted – this does of course carry risks of offending groups (for example targetting certain ethnic groups for knife crime stop & search, carries the risk of accusations of prejudice).
As you point out it is not perfect, and the old adage of carp in=carp out applies especially at the individual level. If you filter the information you provide and from time to time deliberately lie (as I do about my Mothers Maiden Name) then perfect individual predictions are simply not possible.
Bob, the inferences are based on the technique known as ‘cluster analysis’ of metadata. The inferences are based not so much on your individual actions/inactions but what the ‘herd’ belonging to a cluster does. They may for example analyse responses to a variety of responses and then examine the clusters that individuals with a set of responses fell into. Cambridge Analytica supposedly used some 620 data points gathered from a variety of sources including personality tests such as the Asperger s one that a number of Forumites filled in. According to your set of responses you as an individual will be assigned to a specific cluster.
Supposedly this will reveal traits that are otherwise not public knowledge for example religion, credit rating, education level. Although the results are not absolute, there are claims of a 90%+ accuracy. (I have no idea of the validity of such claims).
Knowing your interest in history you may find this example use of cluster analysis and metadata interesting. In this case it is used to identify an 18th century American enemy of the British Crown. link
If possible remove her hdd and scan it as an attached drive on your own machine. It could well have a root-kit preventing meaningful scans.
Steve, the problem with ‘Google Stuff’ is knowing where the data goes and what is done with it. Large data crunchers do not just spit out the same data that they were fed, they also make inferences. It was the inferences (e.g. floating voter) that were sold by Cambridge Analytica. Unlike actual data you have no right to see what has been inferred about yourself, and no say on how long such data is held or used.
We should not ORDER support workers to hang back but ask for volunteers to go forward. ( I would assume everyone has been pre-briefed on the issues referred to by Richard)
If your headphones are completely Bluetooth compatible any decent dongle should connect to them. link
The passkey is often 0000, but the destructions for your headphone should tell you what it is.
Thankfully Dave pointed me towards the BT Truecall some while ago and I completely agree with his comment on its value.
You can if you wish block all calls from people not on the trusted list. (this setting gives real peace of mind value to anyone who has any relatives who have lost a few marbles: a so-called ‘dementia setting‘). They also have a special ‘I’m from Microsoft’ setting that makes it far more difficult for India call centres to get through. link
The new cable did not surprise me BL. I also had to have a new cable with Sky Q. The fitter explained that the old cable really only ‘just’ did HDTV as it was bandwidth restricted.
If you look inside a micro usb port there isn’t much there except simple connections, but he could have broken it away from the mobo. Btw I am guilty of an error SMD reflowing is at 275F (not C as I mistakenly posted).
While looking for a pic of usb internals (I did not find one), I came across this YouTube – the man is a bodger after my own heart, and his fix would also make most charging ports teenager-proof, but totally ugly!
If Ethernet speed worries you, then you may want to splash out on a new Pi3+ that brings near gigabit speed to the Pi. As Dave points out most people will not even notice that it is a cobbled-up gigabit.
A Pi Zero WH is even cheaper. Add in a USB Stick (more reliable than a SD card) and a ClassD Amplifier+3 inch speaker. OK there is a smidgen of soldering but not really very much and you finish with a good little media centre.
We (as a Nation) should send a message of condolence. The women & children who died were apolitical. It also brings a measure of humanity into a fraught political environment.
Sorry, that is two steps beyond my capabilities. Micro usb ports are a pain as the wires are so small/flimsy. Is it worth trying the old solder reflow tricks with a hot-air gun? I have one of these the fine nozzles are PROBABLY capable of just directing the required heat ~300C to the limited area of the usb port to reflow the required connections. If I had to do it for myself that is what I’d use in the full knowledge that I’d have only a 20% chance of success and 80% chance of totally nadgering it!
A more practical suggestion would be to see if there is a local Men’s SHED in your area, some SHEDS have retired old pharts with the required skills who like a challenge in return for a small donation to the SHED for equipment, running costs etc. My local SHED has a couple of retirees who used to work with prototype MOD electronics stuff and are dab hands in using the necessary equipment. They spend most of their time now making up stuff for disabled folk (young and old) e.g. door alarms, and nfc kit for those supporting dementia sufferers etc.
Sorry, as I said I am 20 years out of date. When I was last there getting a taxi was easy. Try Tripadvisor for that info. Google Malaysia ‘handphone’ and you will get all you need to know on SIMs. AFAIK most UK providers will have a roaming contract with Malaysia.
I just remembered, even 20 years ago Malaysia was the home base for card skimmers, I would guess that they are now even more sophisticated and have cracked the chip (there are known vulnerabilities in the Bank chips that Chaos Computer Club revealed but Banks maintain the calumny that they are secure). This link has some advice, but add to that a Faraday cage-type wallet for your cards as Bonk & Pay is even insecure in the UK, and proving your contactless card has been electronically skimmed could be a real challenge. European Banks have their heads in the sand and rely on monitoring vendors for suspicious transactions rather than improving their naff card security.
The Pi uses standard Broadcom kit so I’d anticipate no problems in rustling up a driver if required.
While not condoning it, I do not think Atherton was too dumb in using dirt, but using highly visible fluorescent yellow tape takes a special degree of stupidity!
You have obviously been bitten!
Just wait until you delve into what can be done by connecting a few things to the gpio pins. That can get to be a huge time waster, especially if someone from the local school cons you into helping them implementing STEAM demos. I spend every other day fiddling with Lego, plastic gears and small stepper motors to make an autonomous tank that likes ‘blue’ things and fires its gun at ‘red’ things! The Python programming bit is easy, but trying to shoe-horn everything into a restricted space is not!
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