Write your journal by hand, with a pen or pencil on paper. You'll know you wrote it because it's your handwriting.
Hypothetically, if you have memory problems and need to write down events, is there a system which you can verify that its not tampered with? (Like a digital checksum, but for a journal)
Submitted 3 weeks ago by DeathByBigSad@sh.itjust.works to nostupidquestions@lemmy.world
Comments
Infrapink@thebrainbin.org 3 weeks ago
Zwuzelmaus@feddit.org 3 weeks ago
You still can’t know if it’s complete.
SlartyBartFast@sh.itjust.works 3 weeks ago
Unless you can’t remember what your own handwriting looks like
Greg@lemmy.ca 3 weeks ago
Or the excerpts haven’t been removed or moved which changes the meaning of the journal.
some_kind_of_guy@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
Great idea! That way you’ll know it hasn’t been tampered with because of the way it is.
Tja@programming.dev 3 weeks ago
If you have memory problems, how would you remember the system?
DeathByBigSad@sh.itjust.works 3 weeks ago
Idk, maybe get a tattoo lol
tate@lemmy.sdf.org 3 weeks ago
Wow, hopefully that doesn’t get tampered!
Dr_Nik@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
This is actually a problem in scientific note taking and the very simple rule is you write all notes in pen and if you are needing to remove text you only use a single line to cross it out. That way if someone scribbles out the words/data you know it was tampered with as opposed to modified by the original writer. It also helps to put your initials on every edit and sign the end of the page, as well as have a witness sign the end of the page (but that may be excessive in your case). Also use only bound notebooks with numbered pages that are obvious if a page has been removed.
Nibodhika@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
It all depends on your threat model, what is your fear? I personally would be very comfortable noting stuff down on a notebook, or even having a random text file on my PC, neither of those is likely to get compromised/tampered. Let’s assume you have someone living with you that you can’t trust, and you don’t want them to either be able to alter or read your entries, notebook and text files are not enough, but you can encrypt the notebook using any multitude of ways (including inventing your own language and symbols) and you can password encrypt the file in your PC. They could still destroy entries or the entire thing, if that is more of your concern then having backups might be more important. If you’re worried about altering past entries you can use something similar to a Blockchain, where the hash of your previous message is used in the new one so it’s obvious if someone erased a message, in the notebook you can do something like starting each message with the 5th to last word from the previous one or in some other way reference it.
At the end of the day it all depends on what is it you’re afraid could happen to your entries, so we’ll need more information on that.
Jimbabwe@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
You could invent your own. It wouldn’t stop someone who was really determined to trick you, because the tradeoff between convenience and perfect security would likely leave you vulnerable to reverse engineering. But that being said, you can take your message, reverse it, Caesar cypher it, replace letters with numbers, drop vowels or spaces, etc etc until you’ve mangled it into a “hash” that only you know how to produce.
Gradually_Adjusting@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
Easier to have a cryptic rule, such as “third sentence in every entry must have exactly three words, and the last word in the entry must rhyme with the very first word.” That would validate the entry with far less work, and people would need massive sample sizes to have any chance at finding the pattern.
LifeInMultipleChoice@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
I remember in college one of my teachers told the class if we were going to be late with our submissions that were do by midnight to submit a corrupted document before midnight. Then when you finished your document to change your bios/system clock to before that time, paste it into a fresh document and save it with the same name. That way when he told you the document was corrupted it wouldn’t be obvious the document was created after the due date.
Can’t remember if I ever ended up having to do that. (You can do it using the touch command in Linux I believe, instead of having to change your clock.). I just remember thinking it was comical that the professor told us to do it.
Kolanaki@pawb.social 3 weeks ago
I write things down by hand and it doesn’t matter if they are tampered with because it’s just the act of writing the thing down that makes it stick in my memory; I never actually need the note after.
Zwuzelmaus@feddit.org 3 weeks ago
system which you can verify that its not tampered with?
Blockchain technology is one possibility to store data in a way that it cannot be changed later.
Skullgrid@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
A seal of some kind. that’s what they were used for in the past.
slazer2au@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
Sounds like a use for the environmentally destructive technology known as blockchain.
DeathByBigSad@sh.itjust.works 3 weeks ago
But how do you know that you entered an entry into the blockchain, and not someone else?
kata1yst@sh.itjust.works 3 weeks ago
Use of a private key.
Similarly, why not put your journals into a lockbox? Very old school, but exactly what your grandparents did with their checkbooks and ledgers for the same reason.
TheLeadenSea@sh.itjust.works 3 weeks ago
Set up a code to yourself, easily remembered, and don’t share it with anyone. Then include it secretly in communications to yourself. If you don’t remember sending it, but it has your code, you can trust it.
chicken@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 weeks ago
Pull an eyelash or similar, keep it between a specific page and check every time that it’s still there. If someone tampers with the journal it will fall out and they won’t realize it matters.
shittydwarf@piefed.social 3 weeks ago
Learn one of the old shorthands
nimble@lemmy.blahaj.zone 3 weeks ago
Joplin - free encrypted and password protected notetaking app.
There’s also standard notes, though i haven’t used that one. Free and paid versions
awrreny@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
if you are able to remember the method to create the signatures then you can do many things e.g a simplified digital signature. but if you can’t remember a method then you can’t ensure that someone else has forged a signature, because if you forget everything then you have the same information as anyone else and anything you can do, they can also do
apology for word salad
dukeofdummies@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
You, should really watch memento. A movie that dances with this exact topic.
KIKILOVE@piefed.social 3 weeks ago
I really need to quit smoking weed
etchinghillside@reddthat.com 3 weeks ago
Does an immutable password protected journal suffice? Or do you need the ability to edit past entries? Or do others need the ability to read entries without the password?
solrize@lemmy.ml 3 weeks ago
Maybe there’s a technical solution but what if you forget to check it?
Anyway watch the movie “Memento” if you haven’t.
Zagam@piefed.social 3 weeks ago
I can't remember if I've seen it or not.
neidu3@sh.itjust.works 3 weeks ago
Lol, took me embarrassingly long. I was about to tell you that you probably hadn’t, otherwise you’d be sure.
neidu3@sh.itjust.works 3 weeks ago
Test this, you fucking quack!