Technological/practical "backward steps" we all just accept now

I like the biometric stuff because it is truly unique. Not sure if my using it has negative effects on other people though.

Guess we don't have to "accept" this, but wireless phone charging. We just bought our first one - an Anker thing with two charging pads. First, it's not really "wireless" (duh) because there's still a wire to the charger, and then the charging pad takes up way more desk/counter space than just a phone with a charger. You have to take the phone out of the case to make it charge at all (maybe because I have a magnet on the back of my case for attaching to a car phone holder), and you have to place it exactly right or it doesn't charge, plus it's slow.

it's just that sometimes you have stuff on your hands and fingers, and ... honestly, I have not tested it to see if various materials or amounts of materials would prevent the touch recognition from working (or the whole thing of ... I have to take gloves off to use the phone .... uh, that's kinda annoying) ... though tbrr, the whole thing makes me think of all those movies and tv shows that involve cutting off the person's finger to access the vault.

I do like my wireless stand charger because it does double duty propping the phone up as well, but yes, it is annoying that it's slower than wired

I still think cutting off my thumb would be more difficult than swiping my PIN

I guess it depends what is stored on your phone and how damaging the consequences of theft would be? ... I'd rather have to deal with apologizing to people for spam messages from my gmail due to phone theft than getting a thumb reattached but ... idk ... I don't want to shame anyone for their security precautions or storing stuff on their phones

Do you not have the dot pattern thing option? I find that the easiest to swipe quickly.

I still think cutting off my thumb would be more difficult than swiping my PIN

And cutting someone's face off? Still more difficult.

I don't swipe ... I type with my fingernails (if my fingers are dirty) or just with my fingers -- the buttons are big! It takes 5-10 seconds idk. It takes more time to find the phone in my bag.

xp But what if someone fucked up your face so that you couldn't access your phone, and you needed to call someone to report being assaulted (or let friends/family know) ... I think the likelihood of injury resulting in screwing up facial recognition is probably more likely than someone cutting off your thumb (or losing it in an accident)

swipe pattern is good but they've put the emergency call button right underneath the grid and if your pattern starts at the bottom, which mine does, then it's a fiddle.

When you submitted your last post, weren't you relived to see the big window come up that said, "Are you sure?" It gave you one last chance to make sure everything in your post was on the up-and-up.

And then, when you did click "YES", another window popped up announcing "Post submitted!", freezing your screen until you clicked the "OK" button.

Wait, this didn't happen for you on ILX? And you hope it never does happen? Why, I thought you all were concerned about online safety!

I truly don't understand why people have a problem with typing in a pin to open their phones. Never will use the biometric stuff.

I dont even own a fingerprint

True. Apple/Google does.

I truly don't understand why people have a problem with typing in a pin to open their phones. Never will use the biometric stuff.

― Kind regards, Anus (the table is the table), Sunday, September 5, 2021 2:01 PM (yesterday

High Five!

I truly don't understand why people have a problem with typing in a pin to open their phones. Never will use the biometric stuff.

Agreed.

Also biometric stuff is fine and its hard to rail against it too much without sounding a bit well much

Would happily do a blood test to open my phone tbh

I'm having a hard time seeing what is bad about any individual using whatever method suits thrm.

I just spit on my phone and it does a DNA test to unlock.

I swipe it through my butt crack like a credit card

I'm having a hard time seeing what is bad about any individual using whatever method suits thrm.

That goes both ways

I kind of assumed people hated the biometric stuff if they don't work for that industry or one that relies on it but that they figure everything else is compromised anyway do who cares

seems bizarre to me to have no problem at all with it even then but I feel the same about people who support or don't mind having CCTV cameras everywhere, I'm intimately familiar with the you're being a bit much about this look

I guess blurring of the line between surveillance and convenience (and the unclearness about who the convenience is for) seems like such a self evidently bad thing to me that it's weird how normal about it people are. and the potential price of not being normal about it is terrifying (which means you have to become your own cop and do a lot of their own work for them)

i don't think biometric stuff you have on phones (android here) leaves the device. so my fingerprint is hashed, the hash stored, and any new presses are similarly hashed and compared against the stored one.

if i bought a new phone i'd have to re-register my finger. if i put my phone into airplane mode it'll still unlock. so, slightly different.

I think if you are carrying around a phone and doing all the regular internet stuff people do, you've already conceded this a long time ago, and the biometric stuff only adds a tiny piece to the massive amounts of personal information you've already given away (like your precise location 24/7).

That being said, I totally don't begrudge anyone for not being comfortable using this stuff. OTOH, I'm still trying to wrap my head around what harm I'm causing to others if I prefer to use it.

I find it gratifying when someone from another country validates my horror about eg those banners on london buses because I know I'm not the only one but people get so weird if you bring it up as a problem like they're half contemplating turning you in or something

that's the logic I understand xp, I do not understand not understanding how it could possibly bother people at all regardless of logic

it's not so much the fingerprint or where it goes in this case as the cumulative effects these things seem to have on behaviour around surveillance of self/others in general & the sense that any hesitancy or criticism is kind of suspicious

I’ve never heard anyone express suspicion about someone being hesitant around biometrics or fingerprints, and certainly not here. On the other hand, people moaning about their privacy being taken away by big tech are seemingly everywhere.

I’m not happy about CCTV everywhere but that feels like a different issue.

are the people moaning about that wrong

Well it depends why. Usually they’re moaning about their own personal use and there’s a very simple way out of that which is to stop using Facebook and Google and Amazon.

Helpfully, there are about 10000000 other good reasons not to do business with those companies as well.

There's a lot of this we take for granted that should be questioned. I'm still dubious on the idea that biometric locks are a significant part of that puzzle, but ymmv.

It's a trade off for me. I feel like they provide more security for my actual phone because they are unique and can't be copied vs PINs, which are relatively easy to swipe. I really, really hate POS devices at certain stores that force you to enter a PIN for a debit card even if your own bank doesn't require it.

Like 9 out of 10 card swipe machines don't require a PIN, so why are there still ones that do?

I think it's the "I'll never understand people who…" that rubs the wrong way. I can understand why someone would want to use biometric (it's quicker, more convenient) and why someone would not. Can you seriously not understand the advantage, just the disadvantages of it?? Otherwise it certainly appears that you're calling everyone who choose to use biometric id foolish.

and the suspicion of discomfort thing is v real if you often have to interact with invasive bureaucracies with close ties to psychiatric & law enforcement in order to live, any excess paranoia feels like part of the point then

Yeah, this is pretty much what I was responding to, not that I think everyone has to use it, but I feel like my own personal reasons for preferring it are mostly ok, at least for me.

xp

On the Internet anyone who disagrees with you is an idiot, this is canon

xpost Okay, fair enough Left.

no one is insulting anyone just for using this stuff so the hurt feelings are hard to empathise with here

I'll never understand you, Left

Lol Left nobody’s feeling are hurt

I was literally saying I don't see what's so hard about entering a PIN, which is something that had been expressed.

I truly don't care if you use it, I just don't think that the face or fingerprint thing are any more convenient than a PIN.

In other words, I'll keep using my PIN, thanks.

It's not "so hard". It's just easier to use face or fingerprint. Why else do you think people prefer it?

Cause it seems more "futuristic"?

I'll never understand you, Left

I especially like face id when I'm driving, using my phone for GPS directions. If face id doesn't work (often happens due to position of my face vis a vis the phone dock), I have to take my eyes off the road that much longer to enter pin.