24-02-2019, 08:28 AM
Colin
I, like all other WIA members, received that same email. It made me stop and think "why?".
Personally I only use my WIA email redirection for the weekly news email-out as I have my own email accounts due to my web hosting options but I can see your point. I get enough what-I-will-call-SPAM when I browse to a web page that involves advertising that I sometimes just close that browser page. I know it is targetted advertising but what I look for elsewhere on the web should not impinge on what I do when visiting another site. It is a money game paid for by advertisers who want to recoup via sales. Even so, it is extremely annoying. If I kill all cookies then I can fix "it" but that also inhibits visiting some sites and also have the computer remember login info, like for this forum.
Yesterday I went looking for some info on halo antennas. Google results put me in the direction of some articles but then I was faced with adverts about something that I had searched for the previous day and that I was finished with. Totally annoying.
The G-suite is ok for some but I don't need to share raw documents with others as I am not involved in collaborations and am no longer in any business environment.
To quote Google : G Suite: Collaboration & Productivity Apps for Business
G-Suite comprises Gmail, Hangouts, Calendar, and Google+ for communication; Drive for storage; Docs, Sheets, Slides, Forms, and Sites for collaboration; and, depending on the plan, an Admin panel and Vault for managing users and the services.
Note that I have underlined Business.
Do I want or need any of these facilities ? No, not even Drive : I take care of my own backup / storage where no one else can get at the files.
I don't always have a "connected" environment. I do a lot of non-web time so the apps on my Windows device get used with local documents, files etc.. When we travel, USB sticks and a 2TB pocket HDD are used for backup.
I suspect too many people are relying too much just on "cloud computing". There are other methods for collaboration without relying on 'clouds'.
If the cloud goes 'down' then there goes your data. After all, it is only a geographically separated set of computers with disks to store data. A major operating system "issue/hack" might be all it takes.
If some hacker gets an entryway open in the cloud then your data is no longer secure.
If the WWW has a major fault can you still get at your data ??
You say it can't actually happen... but it could. All too easily I suspect.
The WIA records will be somewhere in the 'cloud'. Will that financial and contact information be secure ?
Your credit card info that you paid your WIA subs with - will that always be secure ?
No guarantees are given.. only assumed.
After all hackers are smart and if they direct their attention somewhere then vulnerabilities WILL be found.
It only takes a break into one of the authorised computers to gain access to the cloud data, so if that happens to be the President's PC (assuming that has access to all areas), it is literally open slather. If we go on to assume that there will be multiple authorised PCs and they all form a possible entry point, the risks get higher and higher that the cloud data will be insecure.
Back to the email account, Colin. If the only reason you belong to the WIA is an email address to keep your basic email address anonymous then you shouldn't renew. I have been a WIA member since about 1964, with a break of a few years around the 1990s when I was inactive due to work pressures, and I don't renew each year to have a WIA email address. I look at what they are doing for AR in Australia as an overall task - and that is why I continue as a member. Their work is important as they make representations to bodies, the ACMA included, to help us retain, if not expand, the frequencies available to the amateur service in Australia. New emission mode approvals and practices don't happen without that representation. Every organisation has people with differing views ('ructions' happen as a result) but that doesn't make the organisation bad or wrong. There is something you can do to set the ship on a better course : volunteer.
If you don't want to renew then there are a number of free email forwarding services available on the web that you can pick from. I will make you a special offer : how does your callsign at ahrdf.net sound ?? Would that do in lieu ?
PM me if you want to take up my offer.
Doug VK4ADC
I, like all other WIA members, received that same email. It made me stop and think "why?".
Personally I only use my WIA email redirection for the weekly news email-out as I have my own email accounts due to my web hosting options but I can see your point. I get enough what-I-will-call-SPAM when I browse to a web page that involves advertising that I sometimes just close that browser page. I know it is targetted advertising but what I look for elsewhere on the web should not impinge on what I do when visiting another site. It is a money game paid for by advertisers who want to recoup via sales. Even so, it is extremely annoying. If I kill all cookies then I can fix "it" but that also inhibits visiting some sites and also have the computer remember login info, like for this forum.
Yesterday I went looking for some info on halo antennas. Google results put me in the direction of some articles but then I was faced with adverts about something that I had searched for the previous day and that I was finished with. Totally annoying.
The G-suite is ok for some but I don't need to share raw documents with others as I am not involved in collaborations and am no longer in any business environment.
To quote Google : G Suite: Collaboration & Productivity Apps for Business
G-Suite comprises Gmail, Hangouts, Calendar, and Google+ for communication; Drive for storage; Docs, Sheets, Slides, Forms, and Sites for collaboration; and, depending on the plan, an Admin panel and Vault for managing users and the services.
Note that I have underlined Business.
Do I want or need any of these facilities ? No, not even Drive : I take care of my own backup / storage where no one else can get at the files.
I don't always have a "connected" environment. I do a lot of non-web time so the apps on my Windows device get used with local documents, files etc.. When we travel, USB sticks and a 2TB pocket HDD are used for backup.
I suspect too many people are relying too much just on "cloud computing". There are other methods for collaboration without relying on 'clouds'.
If the cloud goes 'down' then there goes your data. After all, it is only a geographically separated set of computers with disks to store data. A major operating system "issue/hack" might be all it takes.
If some hacker gets an entryway open in the cloud then your data is no longer secure.
If the WWW has a major fault can you still get at your data ??
You say it can't actually happen... but it could. All too easily I suspect.
The WIA records will be somewhere in the 'cloud'. Will that financial and contact information be secure ?
Your credit card info that you paid your WIA subs with - will that always be secure ?
No guarantees are given.. only assumed.
After all hackers are smart and if they direct their attention somewhere then vulnerabilities WILL be found.
It only takes a break into one of the authorised computers to gain access to the cloud data, so if that happens to be the President's PC (assuming that has access to all areas), it is literally open slather. If we go on to assume that there will be multiple authorised PCs and they all form a possible entry point, the risks get higher and higher that the cloud data will be insecure.
Back to the email account, Colin. If the only reason you belong to the WIA is an email address to keep your basic email address anonymous then you shouldn't renew. I have been a WIA member since about 1964, with a break of a few years around the 1990s when I was inactive due to work pressures, and I don't renew each year to have a WIA email address. I look at what they are doing for AR in Australia as an overall task - and that is why I continue as a member. Their work is important as they make representations to bodies, the ACMA included, to help us retain, if not expand, the frequencies available to the amateur service in Australia. New emission mode approvals and practices don't happen without that representation. Every organisation has people with differing views ('ructions' happen as a result) but that doesn't make the organisation bad or wrong. There is something you can do to set the ship on a better course : volunteer.
If you don't want to renew then there are a number of free email forwarding services available on the web that you can pick from. I will make you a special offer : how does your callsign at ahrdf.net sound ?? Would that do in lieu ?
PM me if you want to take up my offer.
Doug VK4ADC
Doug VK4ADC @ QG62LG51
http://www.vk4adc.com
This Forum is only going to be as interesting as the posts it contains.
If you have a comment or question, post it as it may trigger or answer the query in someone else's mind.
http://www.vk4adc.com
This Forum is only going to be as interesting as the posts it contains.
If you have a comment or question, post it as it may trigger or answer the query in someone else's mind.