Just How Safe Are We? The Demise of the Web? Part Five/FINAL

People are sick and tired, and downright furious, about the scamming emails, the ringing of their telephone from telemarketers and scammers, the hacking of information and the fear that they will become a victim too, if they haven't already. This all makes people VERY angry and prepared for drastic measures, as frustration has now overwhelmed many folks, as much as the avalanche of emails and phone calls. About 8 years ago, I received a call from my bank; more specifically, from the fraud department. The lady asked if I had bought an airline ticket, which I hadn't. She said someone had my credit card number and had charged the ticket and something else to my card; I just forget what the other item was. When I asked how they got my card number, she said the bank thought it had been gotten in the hack of a store account, or that possibly an employee had gotten my number and others from store records. They issued me a new card, but we all pay towards such fraud and theft. Well about a year ago, the bank called again, they wanted to know if had bought a television from a popular electronics and appliance store website. Well, I hadn't. The person told me the bank had approved the charge, and while they were attempting to put a hold on it, it may have gone through and the funds would be taken from my account, but the bank would reimburse me. Then they said the person had tried to buy something from a popular department store website, but the charge had been denied. The bank must have been able to stop the charge on the television, because it never went through to my account. They told me the same thing as years before; that is,  store employees had access to my info, or a place with my credit card number on file got hacked, giving the criminals my card number and info. And we've all heard the horror stories about seniors or veterans being scammed out of money by crooks impersonating FBI agents, IRS agents or police officials in telephone calls. They claim the person owes taxes or they owe a fine or their grandson is in trouble and needs money wired to him immediately. Then too, the crooks can place a small device on a credit card scanner, like even at an ATM, or at your local gas station, and when you insert the card and enter your pin, it reads all of your info and, well, they have all they need.

Remember, the people involved in the launch of the Web didn't do it so that you could send birthday wishes to your mother. They did it to make money. Now, don't scoff, that's all part of life, but the idea that everything has to be turned over to business people, without regulation, so they can make money is a bunch of nonsense. There have to be rules and regulations to protect the public. Both governments and private businesses have allowed these bastards to do so much damage, and neither has been able to curtail it for long, because the very system is broken, exposing people from all walks of life to scams that can take their life savings. This is about MONEY, and it will take SEVERE punishment to make them give up on it, because they want MONEY and they are willing to do anything for it. Forget about any naive notions that these greedy bastards will feel sorry for Mrs. Jones, who just lost her husband, even as she battles cancer. They are absolutely RUTHLESS! Quit worrying about what will happen to the criminals, and the stories about the criminal who had his sand castle kicked over when he was four, and he never got over it; after all, that's why he's a criminal, or so the story might go. I'm telling you, THE MALARKEY! Protect the public!

Technology changed lives tremendously, but the bad guys were also watching as to how to exploit that technology. Attempts at thwarting criminals work only for so long, and maybe that's just how it will be, I don't know. Just like with locks: "Buy this new lock and the criminals can't get through it." And for awhile, it's true, but then the criminals figure out how to get through the lock, or somehow circumvent it; after all, they have great "research and development departments" (R & D), too. Now there may have to be a serious scaling back of technology in our lives, if they can't protect us from the bad guys, which is what all of this looks to be, but those heavily involved (financially) in the Web don't want to admit it, and it could bring major economic disruption, if we have to go back to some of our old ways. Banks had to show they were generally safe places for the public's money, with only occasional dangers, to get people to stop hiding money in their wall safes or under their mattresses. Deposit insurance to secure your money against loss made banks attractive places to keep our money. This was implemented during the New Deal era, as government sought to save business from itself. Whatever is done about securing the telephone system and the Web, it will take involvement by government, likely at many levels, and from governments of the world.

But government can't do it alone either, it will take cooperation with business and the public. The telephone call assault has been so bad, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) had a contest to see if the PUBLIC could come up with a solution. The thing is, all of the attempts to stop the calls, as well as emails and scams, is based on keeping the same system, a system they can't control. My landline provider gives a user space to block 30 numbers. This is how out of touch these folks are, as many people can block 30 numbers in like 4 to 6 weeks, and some in far less than that. Meanwhile they keep issuing more telephone numbers to the bad guys, as well as more domain names and email addresses. It's like infinite folks! Years ago I saw a cute little joke, where someone had written on a dollar bill, "How do you keep a dumb ass busy? Turn to other side." When you turned the dollar over, the same message was written there. Damned! I thought they were going to tell me the answer, but after an hour and a half, I got tired of turning that goddamned dollar from one side to the other, so I gave up. Well actually, it was 30 minutes, but I still was tired. So this is what all involved are doing with the Internet and the telephone system, turning that dollar over and over with no solution, because it's the very system that is flawed.

 The fact of the matter is, neither the government nor private business can protect you from being hacked, protect you from scam emails, protect you from scam telephone calls. The thing is though, they are not likely to tell you this, because of the millions... hell... billions or trillions of dollars invested in online business and even telephone service, so much of which is now cellphone service. Ebay, Amazon, etc must be absolutely TERRIFIED because of what's been happening to online security. Your account, including financial information, is NOT safe, and they know it. Russia and China, two "Cold War" foes of the United States and "the West," are winning this war, and the consequences are likely to be devastating; something they also know. The world economy is at their mercy, or will be, barring a major change in how the Web is run and operates; and, don't forget, the Web is now closely linked with telephone service! Remember too, just recently, one Internet infrastructure company was "attacked" (flooded with access requests), bringing the Web in some places to a virtual standstill. With all kinds of free marketer talk about the internet years ago, and little or no government control, it has left the system vulnerable to the "bad guys." The free marketers saw dollar signs, but so did the scammers, and the scammers are winning the overall war. Social media sites always asking for you to give them MORE personal info, "Give us your phone number to secure your account." Secure? And further, "You only have one phone number listed with us, give us a second number so you'll always be secure." How in the hell does my giving these bastards my phone number and other personal info make me more secure from anything? NOT GIVING these bastards that info makes me more secure.

I hope I have given you some things to think about in these articles, because with such reliance upon the Web and phone service, it is a VERY IMPORTANT issue. Also, once again, WATCH OUT FOR THE YAHOO GESTAPOO!

WORD HISTORY:
Gush-This word, closely related to both "geyser" and "gust," goes back to Indo European "gheud," which meant, "to pour, to let flow." This gave its Old Germanic offspring, "geutanan," with that same general meaning. This then gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "geotan," which meant, "to pour, to let flow mightily;" and by extension, "to cast molten metal." Now comes the tricky part. Did the English word, or a form thereof, then get influenced by the related Old Norse word "geysa," ^ meaning "to rush out, gush," and itself from the same Old Germanic word, which then kept the meaning to only "flow mightily," and altered the spelling to "gush," where it has remained for about a thousand years. (Also see note ^ below) Other forms in the Germanic languages: German has "gießen" ("to pour," but also, "to water plants," and further, "to cast liquid metal." Also the noun, "Guss," meaning, "the casting of metal," and the culinary, "icing or glaze"), Low German Saxon "geten" ("have or let liquid flow"), West Frisian "jitte" ("to pour'), Dutch "gieten" (to pour"), Swedish "gjuta" (to pour, to cast metal"), Icelandic "geysa" ("to gush"). I did not find modern form in Danish or Norwegian, but I also did not spend a lot of time looking. Sometimes variations in meanings over centuries can make finding modern forms of words difficult.

^ Old Norse was a Germanic language from the North Germanic branch of the Germanic languages, and its major modern descendants are Danish, Norwegian, Icelandic, Faroese and Swedish. Old Norse also had an influence on, and was influenced by, some of the West Germanic languages, including English, as Old Norse speakers invaded northeastern and eastern England, with many Old Norse speakers, collectively called "Danes" by the English, then settling in England. Over time, English borrowed some Norse words or had the related English words heavily influenced by Norse words, like English "sceo," which meant "cloud," and Old Norse "sky," which also meant "cloud," and the two are really the same word and from the same source, but from what had come to be different Germanic dialects back then. Of course, "sky" broadened in meaning from "cloud," to what we have today, "the area and atmosphere above the Earth's surface, often containing clouds."