The Virus - Are You Affected?

[crazyfingers]

What does she think will happen with Zoom?

She read that early versions had flaws that on a Mac people could activate the camera. Also early privacy policies allowed sending data to 3rd parties far more than other such apps. Regardless she's convinced that it's not safe to use.

The links I provided do spell out some early and serious issues. I don't know to what extent they have been addressed but it will be a long time before she feels safe allowing the kids to use it.

And I have noticed that emails my kids get for school zoom meetings don't have passwords and don't have alternative dial-in's to do audio only so I don't think that these schools are using them safely.

 

[ruby sparks]

What does she think will happen with Zoom?

She read that early versions had flaws that on a Mac people could activate the camera. Also early privacy policies allowed sending data to 3rd parties far more than other such apps. Regardless she's convinced that it's not safe to use.

The links I provided do spell out some early and serious issues. I don't know to what extent they have been addressed but it will be a long time before she feels safe allowing the kids to use it.

And I have noticed that emails my kids get for school zoom meetings don't have passwords and don't have alternative dial-in's to do audio only so I don't think that these schools are using them safely.

I have very recently started to use zoom (on my mac) for tutoring secondary school maths online. It works great, specially the shared whiteboard. I am aware of the reports of hacking and uninvited users that you mention but so far have not encountered them (that said I have only used it once so far).

I will say this, last week, when my daughter was helping me set it up and I was using her as a 'guinea pig' tutee, I could still see her on my screen, via her laptop camera, even after she had exited the (password protected) meeting and closed both zoom and her browser. Spooky. And I wasn't even hacking.

I went ahead with my first student yesterday in any case, with his and his parent's permission to use zoom. After he exited, I could not see him, so it's possible my daughter had not exited properly.

Both my daughters use zoom regularly for group meeting with their friends during lockdown, and neither has ever experienced a problem or issue (that they know of).

I imagine school teachers (I am not one of those, for me it's a sideline) have in some cases shied away from it because of their greater responsibilities to students in general and their fear of being held responsible if something adverse occurs.

 

[crazyfingers]

I will say this, last week, when my daughter was helping me set it up and I was using her as a 'guinea pig' tutee, I could still see her on my screen, via her laptop camera, even after she had exited the (password protected) meeting and closed both zoom and her browser. Spooky. And I wasn't even hacking.

That's the kind of stuff that keeps my wife spooked on Zoom. Does your daughter have a Mac or Windows Notebook or something else?

 

[ruby sparks]

I will say this, last week, when my daughter was helping me set it up and I was using her as a 'guinea pig' tutee, I could still see her on my screen, via her laptop camera, even after she had exited the (password protected) meeting and closed both zoom and her browser. Spooky. And I wasn't even hacking.

That's the kind of stuff that keeps my wife spooked on Zoom. Does your daughter have a Mac or Windows Notebook or something else?

I was on a mac, she was on a windows laptop. I think my student was also on a windows laptop.

ps I added to my post while you were writing yours.

 

[Loren Pechtel]

ZOOM

Everyone, especially the schools, wants to do stuff on Zoom these days but my wife is adamant that Zoom, the free version, is not safe. For sure there have been a lot of problems and I guess some are fixed and some are not. But way back the beginning of April the school wanted Zoom meeting for our kids and we kept responding we will not let Zoom in our house.

Everyone wants Zoom when there are lots of alternatives out there.

It's going to become a bigger and bigger problem unless they fix all these issues and until my wife is convinced it's safe.

Zoom stories
https://www.boston.com/news/crime/2020/05/01/medway-school-orientation-zoombombed
https://www.cnet.com/news/zoom-secu...le-to-foreign-surveillance-intel-report-says/
https://www.cnet.com/news/using-zoo...-here-are-the-privacy-risks-to-watch-out-for/
https://dfw.cbslocal.com/2020/04/08...m-privacy-and-security-issues-under-scrutiny/
https://www.cnet.com/news/zoom-every-security-issue-uncovered-in-the-video-chat-app/
https://www.nytimes.com/article/zoom-privacy-lessons.html
https://www.coindesk.com/zoom-has-privacy-issues-here-are-some-alternatives
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/zoom-privacy-security-alternatives-170602965.html
https://www.tomsguide.com/news/zoom-security-privacy-woes
https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2020/04/zoom-privacy-concerns-ftc-investigation
https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/02/us/fbi-warning-zoombombing-trnd/index.html
https://www.tomsguide.com/news/zoom-security-privacy-woes
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/29/...=Article®ion=Footer&contentCollection=Opinion

Safe from what? Just use a password on your Zoom meetings.

Listen to Google. You need a password and you need to use only the browser based option, do not install the client.

 

[ZiprHead]

Evangelical fundamentalists who openly defied social distancing guidelines are dying of COVID-19

Countless non-fundamentalist churches in the United States, from Catholic to Lutheran and Episcopalian, have embraced social distancing during the coronavirus pandemic and temporarily moved their activities online. But many Christian fundamentalists and evangelicals have been irresponsibly downplaying the dangers of COVID-19 and doing so with deadly results: journalist Alex Woodward, in the U.K.-based Independent, reports that the pandemic has claimed the lives of more than 30 pastors in the Bible Belt.

"Dozens of pastors across the Bible Belt have succumbed to coronavirus after churches and televangelists played down the pandemic and actively encouraged churchgoers to flout self-distancing guidelines," Woodward reports. "As many as 30 church leaders from the nation's largest African-American Pentecostal denomination have now been confirmed to have died in the outbreak, as members defied public health warnings to avoid large gatherings to prevent transmitting the virus."

 

[Loren Pechtel]

Evangelical fundamentalists who openly defied social distancing guidelines are dying of COVID-19

Countless non-fundamentalist churches in the United States, from Catholic to Lutheran and Episcopalian, have embraced social distancing during the coronavirus pandemic and temporarily moved their activities online. But many Christian fundamentalists and evangelicals have been irresponsibly downplaying the dangers of COVID-19 and doing so with deadly results: journalist Alex Woodward, in the U.K.-based Independent, reports that the pandemic has claimed the lives of more than 30 pastors in the Bible Belt.

"Dozens of pastors across the Bible Belt have succumbed to coronavirus after churches and televangelists played down the pandemic and actively encouraged churchgoers to flout self-distancing guidelines," Woodward reports. "As many as 30 church leaders from the nation's largest African-American Pentecostal denomination have now been confirmed to have died in the outbreak, as members defied public health warnings to avoid large gatherings to prevent transmitting the virus."

What I wonder is if there's enough for it to show up statistically. Finding 30 dead pastors doesn't prove anything if you don't now how many died in other denominations.

 

[lpetrich]

Evangelical fundamentalists who openly defied social distancing guidelines are dying of COVID-19

Countless non-fundamentalist churches in the United States, from Catholic to Lutheran and Episcopalian, have embraced social distancing during the coronavirus pandemic and temporarily moved their activities online. But many Christian fundamentalists and evangelicals have been irresponsibly downplaying the dangers of COVID-19 and doing so with deadly results: journalist Alex Woodward, in the U.K.-based Independent, reports that the pandemic has claimed the lives of more than 30 pastors in the Bible Belt.

"Dozens of pastors across the Bible Belt have succumbed to coronavirus after churches and televangelists played down the pandemic and actively encouraged churchgoers to flout self-distancing guidelines," Woodward reports. "As many as 30 church leaders from the nation's largest African-American Pentecostal denomination have now been confirmed to have died in the outbreak, as members defied public health warnings to avoid large gatherings to prevent transmitting the virus."

I can't help but think of some very snarky comments about this.

 

[crazyfingers]

My daughter has done her isolation in the tent and is in the house again. Now I don't have to wait on her all the time.

 

[marc]

[YOUTUBE] https://youtu.be/lYs0tux1rIY[/YOUTUBE]

 

[DrZoidberg]

What does she think will happen with Zoom?

I work in IT security. Zoom is insecure as fuck. Super easy to hack. Don't use it to discuss trade secrets, an on-line date with your secret lover, or anything sensitive. If you do... you are an idiot. Zoom is designed for ease of use. It is not designed to be safe. If you want something safe, then pay for it. You get what you pay for. If you're using a conference service that's free and expect it to be secure... you are an idiot.

 

[ZiprHead]

[YOUTUBE] https://youtu.be/lYs0tux1rIY[/YOUTUBE]

Love Rocky Mountain Mike. Had a couple conversations with him in the past on FB. Nice guy.

And now I've got that damned song stuck in my head AGAIN!

 

[atrib]

People like you are exactly the reason why rules like this are necessary. Because you think fucking around and doing whatever you want is more important than preventing the spread of pandemic, none of us get to go to the beach and you're suggesting that I play place myself under home arrest simply to protect myself from people like you.

If you don't want to go to the beach because you think you are going to contract covid19 and possibly die, then you should absolutely stay home. And you should stay home until a vaccine is found that will protect you from every existing virus out there and future ones too.

Whether I was one of the 500,000 to 3,000,000 million to die really doesn’t impact my thoughts on this. I don’t want 500,000 to 3,000,000 people to needlessly die, period.

And we are already passed annual flu deaths in a month or two. You know that. You are farting away here.

The highlighted bit is the part he doesn't get. Or doesn't care about. These lives have little or no value to him, as he appears to believe that everyone dying from the virus is an old person with terminal health problems with weeks or months to live anyway.

 

[Worldtraveller]

People like you are exactly the reason why rules like this are necessary. Because you think fucking around and doing whatever you want is more important than preventing the spread of pandemic, none of us get to go to the beach and you're suggesting that I play place myself under home arrest simply to protect myself from people like you. No, thanks. I shouldn't have to give up important rights on my part to protect superficial and unimportant rights on your part. Grow up and be a goddamn adult.

Like 4th grade. He's the reason we all stay inside with our heads on our desks fir recess.

The right wing american definition of freedom seems to largely track with the thought process of a toddler imagining what he could get away with if he were in charge instead of mom and dad.

 

[Treedbear]

As someone once said, the Constitution isn't a suicide pact. Opening everything up would seriously increase the risk that me and a large percentage of our citizens will be exposed to and possibly die from COVID-19. I didn't sign up for that. If that's what the Constitution is supposed to guarantee then screw it.

 

[marc]

As someone once said, the Constitution isn't a suicide pact. Opening everything up would seriously increase the risk that me and a large percentage of our citizens will be exposed to and possibly die from COVID-19. I didn't sign up for that. If that's what the Constitution is supposed to guarantee then screw it.

It does have that "promote the general welfare" line which would be applicable, at least as establishing the intent of the document. But a lot of these people's understanding of the Constitution seems limited to half of one sentence, ignoring the other half that undermines their interpretation.

 

[TSwizzle]

Whether I was one of the 500,000 to 3,000,000 million to die really doesn’t impact my thoughts on this. I don’t want 500,000 to 3,000,000 people to needlessly die, period.

And we are already passed annual flu deaths in a month or two. You know that. You are farting away here.

The highlighted bit is the part he doesn't get. Or doesn't care about. These lives have little or no value to him, as he appears to believe that everyone dying from the virus is an old person with terminal health problems with weeks or months to live anyway.

So what's the plan, stay home until immortality has been achieved, a war on death ? Stay home until a vaccine is found for every killer virus out there or just the ones that may, possibly, perhaps effect you ?

The elderly are and infirm are the most vulnerable, in LA county almost 50% of deaths have occurred in care homes or nursing homes. Needless deaths that are still occurring. 70% of deaths in the city of Long Beach were in care homes. There's a huge and obvious problem that Newsom won't address but would rather stop families in Orange County from enjoying the beach.

You stay home fella.

 

[DrZoidberg]

Today's big news in Sweden is that government officials manipulated numbers of the dead in old people's homes, to hide how incompetent they've been to protect the elderly. Protective equipment was (and is still mostly) non-existent. Zero preparation or training to deal with something like this. Processes were a disaster.

A bit stupid because the official statistics (reported to WHO of numbers of dead) were accurate. It would have taken minimal effort for a journalist to work it out. Which is what happened. Officials get caught in record ordering staff to lie to the press.

As conspiracies go, this is the dumbest.

Still very serious. Very serious. The Swedish people have high trust in government. Because stuff like this is rare

 

[Rhea]

As I have said numerous times, the lockdown has done its job.

Doctor: Great news, no cancer!
Tswizzle: Then why the fuck did I do all this chemotherapy?!

Or perhaps more accurately, (added after Mark's below)
Doctor: Great news, cancer is way down. I am optimistic we're going to beat this thing.
Tswizzle: Great, I'm stopping the chemo now.
Doctor: No! Not a good idea - it's down, but it's not out. You need to finish the course.
Tswizzle: You're not the boss of me. It's sunny out.

 

[marc]

As I have said numerous times, the lockdown has done its job.

Doctor: Great news, no cancer!
Tswizzle: Then why the fuck did I do all this chemotherapy?!

slight adjustment:

Doctor: Great news, the cancer is in remission! We keep up the treatments for another month or two and it will be gone!
Tswizzle: Well if it is going away then why do I need to keep up treatments? I'm not taking that stuff anymore!