Home > Technobuddy > Archives > 2007 > May > 02
Wednesday, May 2, 2007
Safe computing is a hassle
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Keeping safe while using the Internet is an increasing burden for those who (1) know the dangers and (2) fear them. Taking all possible precautions means that what once was fun (remember the notion of surfing the Web, just hopping with no purpose from one link to the other?) is more like a business these days.
That was underlined for me when I read this story. This fellow uses two browsers - Firefox and Safari in his case. One is used for trusted sites, the other for general browsing. The notion is that the odds of running into hacked up code increase when you are doing general browsing. But if you stick to trusted sites, you are unlikely to run into a hacker program. So his “clean” browser stays clean and he doesn’t worry about the one he uses for other sites.
Wow. That’s a lot of trouble. But it seems that the more you know about the dangers, the more likely you are to go to so much trouble. I know my uncle - retired now, but he has is master’s in electrical engineering and designed operating systems - keeps his financial records and important stuff on a computer that isn’t connected to the Net. The computer he uses to connect to the Internet is kept free of sensitive information.
Some day some smart company will offer a clean and safe pipeline to the Net. That company will - for a premium price - take care of filtering out viruses and hack attacks before they have a chance to reach your machine. Most of that is technically possible and what isn’t could be done with some work.
Would you pay twice as much for Internet service if the provider took care of all your security worries? At first glance it sounds like a business that wouldn’t fly since most people want things done as cheaply as possible. But - on days when I’m tired of all the hassle - it seems like heaven to me.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment | Categories: General
