UUUGH!!!!

[444 Magnum]

This is a rant. If you don't want to read it, turn away now.

I manage the finances of my wife and I as well as my estranged mother and father. Mostly online.

Yesterday, I changed out the modem on my computer as the wifi signal had gotten very weak. Now, no one recognizes me?!?

Who are you? We don't recognize you? Someone's trying to log into your account, is it you?

I couldn't even open gmail because Google didn't recognize the IP address anymore. They assume everyone has a smart phone (which I do) and I had to affirm my identity multiple times via the smart phone. I had to do this for all four of us. Not just google- brokerage accounts, etc.

What would someone do if they didn't have a smart phone?

This stuff is getting far too carried away. Now my smart phone is my identity? Everything is tied together, linked and watching.

I know what's next--digital currency, no cash, and then the chip under the skin all in the name of security and ID protection for my own well being. "We're the government, we're here to help..."

It's coming. The question is how long it will take.

Over and out.

 

[twodog max]

We are slowly being herded into a digital prison.

 

[326MOD10]

Sad truth is all that frustrating stuff is needed because someone figured out a way around the old way.

It is aggravating for sure.

 

[Kinman]

Welcome to the Digital Dark Ages

 

[Rustyt1953]

 

[LVSteve]

Sounds more like all your cookies got wiped or you started using a different browser after installing the modem.

I very much doubt all those services cannot see the ID of the modem board unless they are using some kind of configuration snoop software. If they are doing such things it might explain why so many things get cranky when I try to use them. I run my computers pretty tight against such rubbish. Also, if your ISP is anything like mine, then your IP address gets reassigned quite a lot to balance their network. I cannot imagine that would upset gmail or anyone else.

 

[444 Magnum]

Google (gmail) has implemented numerous security procedures. Every time I log into something (same browser), I go back to gmail and there's a message asking if I logged into that...if not, Google highly recommends that I change my password.

It's getting ridiculous. The fact that I manage accounts for four people made it even worse today.

 

[Chuck24]

Thought this was going to be about those ugly boots

 

[xsexcess]

ughhhh

Katherine Austin Fitts recommends using cash whenever possible, printing / handing out little notes to clerks WHY you are using cash. Creating local currencies / barter when possible. She advises we are handing to them with our cooperation the tools to enslave us.

 

[Bekeart]

What would someone do if they didn't have a smart phone?

Call the customer Service number and wait on Hold/Ignore for 30 - 45 minutes.

BTDT with Fidelity - No Shirt

Bekeart

 

[rockquarry]

A definite step backward.

 

[jeffrefrig]

Wow, this conversation is WAYYYY over my brain cell limit!! How did we make it through the stone age of hard-wired phones and pagers? We are now living what Dick Tracy & Star Trek have been doing for decades. Pretty cool!

 

[ameridaddy]

....

What would someone do if they didn't have a smart phone?

This stuff is getting too far carried away. Now my smart phone is my identity? Everything is tied together, linked and watching.
...
Over and out.

I took five Swedes to DC precovid,, which was my college town and I worked there for a couple years, so I thought I knew the city.
The Swedes wanted to do the National Mall tourist stuff, and I thought I knew where to park so I could go with them, and I expected restrictions and parking meters, and took lots of coin change with me..
BUT.
The furschlugginer meters are no longer coin capable, and the only way to use them is to pay with a smart phone with a credit card capability. I had a new phone, only a few days old, and had not loaded a credit card, so while my friends toured, I had to drive around and around and around until they called me to pick them up. In DC traffic, with five people to climb in and out, that was a real Chinese fire drill!
Add to my rant the brain dead idiots, mostly young folks, who wander around oblivious of their surroundings with the phone held in their outstretched palm, reading and talking as they meander in parking lots and crosswalks, and I want to go berserk with a hammer.
Whew../rant

 

[oldbrownhat]

...We are now living what Dick Tracy & Star Trek have been doing for decades. Pretty cool!

Except that in Dick Tracy and Star Trek, everything worked. No one had to go spend an hour and a half amusing themselves on the holodeck waiting for a tech support droid to fail to explain why their tetrahedral absquatulator's update locked it up.

This stiff drives me nuts as well. I use a VPN and I have to disable it when logging in to Amazon or I get a security warning email.... in German, from amazon.de! And when I'm at my gf's place in WA, the same thing happens even with the VPN disabled. Both are somewhat recent developments (6 mos.) I will not give them my cell # for confirmation, although there may be some way to use a third-party app like Authy, which I use for access to Govt. of Canada website services access. Authy also works on my laptop, as I hate having to rely on my phone for everything. I have to use it for my bank 2FA and for Last Pass.

We are now having to be so secure that the security procedures are becoming a nuisance.

 

[Maddog 521]

Wow
I still walk into my local bank and get several Benjamin's to do my monthly restaurant trips.

 

[Bekeart]

Too Secure Security Prediction Has Came True.

We are now having to be so secure that the security procedures are becoming a nuisance.

"I'm sorry Dave, I'm afraid I can't do that."


Bekeart

 

[Golddollar]

Wow
I still walk into my local bank and get several Benjamin's to do my monthly restaurant trips.

I walk into a bank and get Golden Dollars and $2 bills for the same purpose.

 

[SMSgt]

I tried to make a VA appointment online--unsuccessfully. Tried to call and gave up when my 4-miniute wait time exceeded 45 minutes. Listening to the 45-minute VA PTSD sales pitch almost drove me insane. Received an email "survey" from the VA, so I told them their nonstop PTSD ad made me want to call the suicide hotline. Fifteen minutes after "Send" I received a call from the National Suicide Hotline asking me if I was okay. I laughed and told them I was until I listened to them for 45 minutes telling me to seek help. Now I get a monthly "How are you" card from the VA. At the VA appointment, the poor PA asked if I felt depressed. I told her I was never answering those questions again for anyone--period--and she could put that in my file. Rant over.

 

[llowry61]

After working in banking for 31 years I can tell you one thing, these headaches are nothing compared to a severe breach / hacking of your financial accounts.

I feel the frustration myself when something changes and I have to answer all the security challenges two factor authentications etc, but when I get steamed, I think back on the horror stories I have seen, and I calm down.

The thieves are out there all the time, and they are good at what they do. It is a constant cat and mouse game with them. They break a security function; the banks plug it, and they find another way in, and the beat goes on.

Security is one area where all banks collaborate against the common enemy. These hackers aren't just your ordinary Joe, they are sophisticated and very dangerous.

 

[Igiveup]

Digital money is already in the works for replacing our currenty. Probably before Biden gets out of office. Then we are under complete control of the govt.