I geek, therefore I am.

[jackofallgeeks]

"I believe that at the end of the century the use of words and general educated opinion will have altered so much that one will be able to speak of machines thinking without expecting to be contradicted."
-Alan Turing


[18:18] Andrew: It bothers me how many of these programs try to access the internet without letting me know first...
[18:19] Rachel: Huh?
[18:21] Andrew: Well, case in point, I just went to uninstall Musicmatch Jukebox (a music-playing program) and it tried to access the internet. I have another program that I put on here to tell me when things want to get Online, so I can say 'no' when I don't need them to, or else i'm not sure I would have ever known.
[18:21] Andrew: And it happens more than I would expect.
[18:21] Rachel: But why does it matter that it accesses the internet?
[18:23] Andrew: Accessing the internet means it's talking to someone. Firstly, if I get a program to play my music, it really shouldn't ever need to talk to anyone, excepting maybe to look for updates, though it would be polite to ask. Secondly, if I'm removing it, it really has no business talking to anyone at all.
[18:24] Andrew: It probably isn't doing anything malicious, so you needn't worry, really, but I like to have an iron fist on my system; it just bothers me when they try to go behind my back. As if they knew better.
[18:26] Rachel: You talking as if its people....
[18:26] Andrew: -smiles- I was just about to say "I probably anthropomorphize these things more than 'regular' people would..."

Comments

[metis2be.livejournal.com]

What's that iron fisted program you have, and where can I find it?

[jackofallgeeks.livejournal.com]

ZoneAlarm (http://www.zonelabs.com/store/content/catalog/products/sku_list_za.jsp?dc=12bms&ctry=US&lang=en&lid=dbtopnav_zass), the Secret Police for your digital regime. It's free, fairly easy to set up (it holds your hand the whole way through), and unlike other firewalls, it blocks and allows based on programs, so you'll know who's asking for permission. I personally think it's wonderful.

YES! True!

[xenu.livejournal.com]

For instance, did you hear about the whole thing with iTunes?

I like the way you put that, by the way: Accessing the internet means it's talking to someone. Firstly, if I get a program to play my music, it really shouldn't ever need to talk to anyone, excepting maybe to look for updates, though it would be polite to ask. Secondly, if I'm removing it, it really has no business talking to anyone at all.

Re: YES! True!

[jackofallgeeks.livejournal.com]

No, I hadn't heard about that, but yeah, it happens all the time. I'm not sure what it is MusicMatch wants, but frankly, the thing will play music if you're not connected to the internet, so I just tell it, "There's no connection, try again later."

[raen.livejournal.com]

i had that many moons ago.
That was one hell of a pain in the ass, lemmie tell ya :P

[raen.livejournal.com]

Well, I'm assuming that talking about such programs as if they are people going behind your back is acceptable. People designed the programs to do this. They're carrying out actions behind your back that the programmers want. I'd be calling them little buggers too if i was you :P

[jackofallgeeks.livejournal.com]

Ha. ZoneAlarm was a pain in the ass? Even though it can rememner who's allowed access?

[jackofallgeeks.livejournal.com]

I've told you I love that icon before, yes?