Notices by C++ Guy (cppguy@infosec.exchange)

We recently had to recover several hacked accounts for an elderly relative (let's call him Bert) after he reused the same password in dozens of places.

One was interesting. We found that someone had taken over his Paypal account years ago and was using it for occasional small purchases amounting to about £100 a year. The means of payment attached to the account was owned by a third party, Connie, so it wasn't costing Bert anything.

I wondered why someone would do this. I speculate that someone (Alice) is running lots of stolen PayPal accounts attached to lots of stolen credit card details. Alice makes few enough purchases through each one to make it unlikely that anyone notices the theft. If Connie does notice it, she blames Bert, whose full name is on the PayPal account; she doesn't blame Alice, whose name doesn't appear anywhere. If Alice loses access to one PayPal account, she doesn't really mind, because she has 99 others she can keep using. I'm guessing Alice does very nicely out of this scam.

Can anyone recommend a robot vacuum cleaner that doesn't need WiFi connection or a mobile app, please?

I can't believe that a vacuum cleaner now needs registration, personal information and a privacy policy, and we think this is acceptable.

@stupidjim
Mrs Wife is specifically asking for a robot vacuum. She's more keyed into modern conveniences and less into privacy risks than I am. I'm trying to meet her halfway.

@evan

Strong no:

• It would encourage giant instances that would be run as cheaply as possible, i.e. slow and poorly moderated

• It would discourage people from finding an instance that fitted their needs better

• It would tie people's Fedi presences to their telcos, making it harder for them to move to a better phone deal

@clacke

Sting has such a distinctive voice that I can't believe I hadn't noticed that!

He also sang on Phil Collins's song Long Long Way to Go.