Month: November 2018

The hack of Marriott’s customer credit card information is worrying.

But it could be avoided. Using a secure payment system, Apple Pay is the best one I know of, but others may offer similar protection, you would not need to worry.

As the article at the end of this post explains, Apple Pay effectively generates a single use card number, which means no one else can reuse it. With the device using biometrics, or in the case of the Apple Watch, being attached to you, significantly reduces any risk of using a card.

I find it amazing that people I know with the iPhone or even the Watch as well don’t use this amazingly secure mechanism. And if the same exists outside of Apple’s ecosystem, using that as well.

Be safe, be sensible and use your technology to protect yourselves.

Comment: Marriott guest system hack shows the need for wider rollout of Apple Pay on the web

But personally, I think the UK has made a disastrous decision to vote for Brexit, to allow May to continue regardless of the ongoing feeling and clear challenges.

This article by the Independent highlights that the upcoming vote could lead right in to the hands of the Remainers:

https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/brexit-deal-vote-no-theresa-may-jeremy-corbyn-queen-remain-mps-new-coalition-government-a8655586.html

And then we have the economic forecast, by the Government’s own advisors which highlights a potential negative impact of £1000 per year per person:

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/brexit-wages-theresa-may-gdp-deal-eu-latest-analysis-a8655746.html

Net, this whole exercise will cost a lot of money, negatively impact all of us and all for a possible gain in the long term future.

I’ve made risky decisions in the past but never with such consequences or short term impact to my pocket.

Britain is mad.

Trusting sources is getting harder and harder.

Learning that someone like Steve Bannon wants to persuade Europeans to vote in Trump-like politicians is worrying.

For a start when has any American truly understood Europe? So many countries with subtle – and not so subtle – differences that has, usually, found a way to work with the others.

A Trump-like politician would alienate and break up the harmony that exists.

Would that lead to wars? Possibly, possibly not, but it would lead to greater and more harmful breakdowns of the various societies.

i don’t want someone like that influcencing a destabilising way of working.

Do you?

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/nov/21/steve-bannons-rightwing-europe-operation-undermined-by-election-laws

It is horrific that a country is vilified by the UN. Worse so when it is your own.

I would argue it is not entirely the truth that “UK austerity has inflicted ‘great misery’ on citizens, UN says”. It is the Tory government and those who gave them the mandate.

Not all of us believe that it is a political choice to be poor.

People fall into poverty via many routes – and some I am sure come from much better circumstances originally – possibly even such that they would have voted Tory.

As a nation we should be ashamed that we have let this happen.

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2018/nov/16/uk-austerity-has-inflicted-great-misery-on-citizens-un-says

This announcement by Canopy might be the thing to change social media.

I’m making no judgements, yet. Along with Solid by Tim Berners-Lee-Lee, the tide might be turning against wide open and non-private social media.

Fingers crossed.

https://canopy.cr/blog/

The UK government has pinned its hopes on a nice app to help EU citizens when Brexit happens.

On Android it works fine, because Android does pretty much whatever you want.

On Apple devices it doesn’t work in one key aspect – the NFC scanning of a passport.

Why? Because passports don’t use a standard format.

So the government is pressing Apple to change.

But why should Apple change? They pride themselves on security and privacy – which themselves rely on following standard processes.

Passports are clearly not using a standard NFC process.

Instead, let’s fix passports, though that is clearly a long term and more complex process.

That would be the right thing to do.

UK government wants Apple to open up iPhone NFC chip to let EU citizens scan passports electronically for Brexit app