ericatty
@ericatty@infosec.pub
- Comment on How are you really doing? 23 hours ago:
Some people work together well. My husband and I have been married over 25 years, the last 20 years we’ve worked closely together.
It’s hasn’t been perfect 100% of the time, but I wouldn’t change a thing.
You just have to figure out conflict resolution AND how to respect when one of you needs downtime (we are both mostly introverts that need to recharge sometimes)
- Comment on Done with being the one in charge of maintaining friendships 1 week ago:
I definitely have friends like this. I have some family like this. We are good no matter how much time between communications.
I also have some family that put zero effort in and maybe they’d show up if I needed them. But given that after one text, they haven’t checked in at all after my Dad died unexpectedly 7 months ago…
They still have each other and both parents. I’m not going to be the one comforting them.
So I’m not actually sure they’d show up even if I asked.
Luckily, I have people who have checked in on me without me having to reach out first.
- Comment on PSA on privuhcy 1 week ago:
As someone who has link tracking in our business, yes, some of the stuff after the ? isn’t nefarious tracking, like the utm mentioned above.
All the “list-unsubscribe” options you may have noticed starting about a year ago, are actually required to be there for any company that sends out any kind of email newsletter over a certain threshold. (Lists around 5k or more)
If the unsubscribe links aren’t there, with the required url-encoded parameters (along with some other requirements with DNS) the email will not be delivered to any of the majors (google, yahoo/aol, hotmail, big ISPs) and we get blocked.
The unsubscribe parameters are being tracked, yes, but we have to have them so we can unsubscribe you “in one click” We are not allowed to require you to sign in to unsubscribe you. (Not that we ever did that, but now there must be a one-click option.)
(We used to just be two clicks to unsubscribe off an encoded link. Click -> this you? If yes, click -> you are now unsubscribed. Or sign-in and manage subscriptions without an encoded link.)
Again, the point is that not all url encoded tracking is nefarious. Some of it is now required to try and minimize spam and nefarious emails.
- Comment on I'm doing my part! 2 weeks ago:
I don’t see it as a way to justify inaction. I see it as a way to be forgiving of myself if I mess up sometimes.
Example: in the worst of my grief, I threw away some recyclables because I just couldn’t wash them out properly. It took everything just to eat.
I didn’t pile guilt on myself over it. I recycle 99% of the time, I never litter. I have to check my pockets for random trash before doing laundry.
Utility companies, corporations, and rich people are not cleaning up after themselves and their inaction almost negates everything me and everyone I personally know can possibly do.
Knowing they are dumping faster than I can shovel doesn’t mean I stop shoveling. I still want and actively work to leave this place better than I found it.
Those 91 jets just mean I don’t feel overwhelming guilt when I fail. I just try to do better next time.
- Comment on [deleted] 2 months ago:
It’s not the same (obviously) but it depends.
If I buy a bag of jelly belly candy, I will eat the whole bag until I have a stomach ache, and then eat until the bag is empty. So I buy smaller amounts.
But other sugary snacks? I went cold turkey and cut out all sugar and it was all I could focus on, I craved sugar to the point of being miserable. I bought a bag of chocolates, told myself I could have one a day (like a mini snickers) - what happened will shock!
I ate one a day, and sometimes not even that. Just knowing it was there as an option took away the obsession and I ate overall a lot healthier.
So, yeah, I could do sugar in moderation with chocolate, but not with those tiny jelly beans.
Whatever your addiction is, only you know if you can really do moderation or not.
I know of other people that kept a pack of smokes or a pint of whiskey in the back of a cabinet. Knowing it’s there is enough, and they just keep putting off partaking until suddenly they realize it’s been a year or more and they haven’t thought about it in ages.
- Comment on i broke 2 months ago:
Someone, not a therapist, told me pain isn’t a competition. I don’t have to wait for my pain to be worse than the pain of the people around me before I go get help for myself.
In this case, I had physical pain I put off getting checked because it wasn’t worse than what why partner deals with daily. Turned out I needed antibiotics for a bad infection.
- Comment on 6* months away now. If you're on 10, do you plan to upgrade? Make the jump to Linux? 3 months ago:
I’m pretty sure all personal data leaks to me and my friends and family have nothing to do with personal EOL OS on personal PCs/laptops.
My Dad, ran Windows 7 (yes, 7) until he passed last year, almost 80. We had his credit locked down, we had antivirus running, we kept the browsers up to date, and he was very good about not clicking weird links or calling fake support numbers.
His biggest data breach (and ours too)? Was from myChart a couple years ago, he got a letter that his data was part of the big hack, yada yada yada free credit reporting - so sorry. If you don’t know, myChart is like The Main medical everything portal in the US at least for most doctors and hospital systems. So all your test results, making appointments, sending messages, requesting Rx refills, all through myChart’s website. The hospitals and doctors using MyChart can see pretty much everything in your myChart health record (some exceptions)
So using super secure OS on your personal computer means nothing when you are part of a hundreds of millions data dump from someone hacking into that. Not having an account just means you don’t have access to your own records, they are still part of the system.
But Yes, I was in the process of getting Dad an upgrade to a flavor of Linux that would be the closest to what he was used to. And the only reason was because browser support was coming to EOL for Windows 7. He really didn’t want to change or lose his solitaire games and he deserved a stress-free life to play his damn games like he wanted.
THAT SAID - if businesses are using EOL OS and getting hacked - they definitely need to do whatever they need to do and protect their customer data. But EOL OS for an average person checking email, making doctor’s appointments, checking headlines, and playing solitaire while streaming music certainly doesn’t call for a need to panic.
IF you are a power user doing sometimes sketch things (according to Apple/MS anyway) probably switch to Linux sooner than later.
We have computers running Linux, Windows 10 (one of which was on 8.1 until a year ago), and Windows 11 in our house. The one on 11 is being tested basically, and will probably be reinstalled with Linux. But we are trying to give it a shot.
- Comment on We are so cooked 3 months ago:
The actual city sends a fine. If you don’t clean it, they send a crew. If you don’t pay for the crew, the lien the property.
Source: got letter from the city a week ago.
In fairness, I’ve been dealing with a lot and there were some areas that looked like we were abandoned. I’ve been meaning to clean out the unwanted stuff so the flowers can grow. My lawn is mostly moss and clover and that’s not what they cared about.
- Comment on YSK that if you lose your Social Security Card (USA) more than 10 times, the Social Security Administration will have to, by law, refuse to issue anymore replacement cards, for the rest of your life. 4 months ago:
Who down-voted you? You answered my idle thought with the sauce!! Thank you!!
- Comment on YSK that if you lose your Social Security Card (USA) more than 10 times, the Social Security Administration will have to, by law, refuse to issue anymore replacement cards, for the rest of your life. 4 months ago:
What happens if someone gets married a lot and keeps needing a new card with new name?
Now I’m wondering what the maximum number of times someone has been married. Elizabeth Taylor was married 8 times (twice to Burton, so she could have reused that one if she kept it) But if she took her husband’s last name legally (while keeping her stage name) each time, she would have been pushing the limit, and over it if she went back to her maiden name, lost any cards, or didn’t keep old ones… Or if her lawyers were like, don’t change your name legally again after husband 5?
- Comment on YSK that if you lose your Social Security Card (USA) more than 10 times, the Social Security Administration will have to, by law, refuse to issue anymore replacement cards, for the rest of your life. 4 months ago:
In slight fairness, your employer has to set up payroll so that part of your paycheck automatically goes to Social Security. So they kind of need it, since there’s not another way to track that you get proper credit for paying in to Social Security. Unless you are self employed and you send the money directly in yourself.