Daily Dose of Sultnpapper 08/02/18> I sure as hell didn’t see this coming…. started with fraud and ended in spying.
Fraud is a despicable crime and it happens more frequently than most people realize, today I want to share with you a rampant serious issue of fraud that I am quite sure most of you are not aware of.
We are all pretty much aware that there are some people on this block chain and crypto sphere that have been known to defraud people and in some cases just outright steal from other people so that isn’t what I am going to discuss today.
What I am going to discuss is the fraud that takes place in a financial transaction that some people dream of having an opportunity to even be a part of and that is purchasing a home, which for most people is the largest financial transaction they will ever be involved in.
For the sake of brevity we are going to skip over all the preliminary things in the transaction like finding the right real estate agent to find you the right home. We are also going skip over all the negotiations on price and all the required inspections to make sure that the home is up to standards. All of those things have already taken place and you are now seated at the table in some office somewhere at the final step, the closing.
Your real estate agent is there since they have guided you through the process thus far, all the time telling you just how perfect life will be in your new home. All you have to do now is sign and initial the mountain tall stack of legal papers that have been placed in front of you, papers that you have never seen or even had the opportunity to read before now having to sign them.
Son of a biscuit, I stopped to play a poker game and a storm blew in and so I turned on the TV to see if I could catch weather report since this storm is pretty nasty. I haven’t turned a TV on is the hotel in months, I’ll be damned if the TV didn’t come on with my name right on the screen welcoming me. Not only that, this TV evens has the Google and the You Tube on it. I finished third in the poker game, and won some Wang Change crypto by the way, my wang holdings are really starting to gain some size now.
Anyway, I am a sucker for You Tube and videos on historic structures like the pyramids and such. I have mentioned before that some of my favorite structures on the earth are in Peru, wouldn’t you know that when I decided to see just how the You Tube worked on the TV the suggested videos that came up just happened to be on pyramid structures in Peru and South America.
Just WTF is going on here, is this smart TV, even when it is turned off, connecting to my computers by wi-fi and checking what I am watching on the computer? Could this TV not only be doing that but watching me too? I don’t have smart TVs at home; I don’t trust anything that has the capability to spy on me. I think I may just have to start reading the terms and conditions when I sign on to use the internet with my computer, for all I know I have may have agreed to let them spy on me through the TV when I agreed to use the guzbucking internet.
I purposely use an older laptop with no camera and I use just the plain old internet explorer, not interested in Chrome, except for wheels and bumpers. I would rather be a little behind on technology and still feel that I have just a little bit a privacy but from what I hear when 5G gets here, there will be no privacy when you are on line. My work computer has the camera and Chrome browser and I keep some black tape over the camera just for grins.
I just checked to see if the TV You Tube has a “history” tab that I could look at but it doesn’t, I would surely be curious to see if what I had watched last night on You Tube on the computer showed up on there.
The wife is even less trusting than me when it comes to this technology stuff. One day she was using Google Maps to get some driving directions and she made a smart ass comment at the phone with regard to the directions it was giving her and she and Blondie both said the Google voice giving the directions responded back with, “I heard that.” She hasn’t used Google maps since then either.
I am going to call it quits on this daily dose, I’ve got some investigating to do. I will pick up on the fraud tomorrow right where we left off, you are just about to sign the papers.
Until next time,
@sultnpapper
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I hear that's what happens if you hold your wang long enough.
Yep, that tends to be true,
Not exactly, but the smart TV will be using data Google has collected through other means once it connects back to the internet. However, it seems you viewed those videos in a way that Google should not have been able to pick up on. Perhaps it figured out how to tie the identities together using IP addresses or some other cookie. On your older computer did you log into YouTube as well? Cause that would already be enough to collect the data.
Yes, I watched some videos on Monday and Tuesday night on the old computer in this hotel room but never turned the TV on until Wednesday night while I was writing today's daily dose.
I think it tied the name and IP's through the log in process to the internet, name and room # requirement would be my guess. I might just try a fictitious name and room number next time and see what happens. It does make you wonder just how much stuff is being collected and why.
I think you would be terrified if you knew exactly how muchof your information is out there being sold to interested parties. I don't know if it is just me or if it is the situation here that makes me guard my privacy even more zealously.
I don't use Google, FB, Youtube, Twitter or Whatsapp because no matter whatsafe guards they say saythat are in place, it's just not so. I clean the information offf my photos. I use a privacy browser and hve tape over my camera and have diabled the mic on my laps top. Am I taking things too far? Personally, I think I can do more. CCTV is another bug a boo for me, especially in so called public spaces.
Yes, there is a lot of stuff that gets collected and then who knows who gets it. I just think that we put way to must trust in these devices and some day we will end up paying the price in some way shape or form. So I don't use FB , Twitter, I don't even know what Whatsapp is to be honest, and I am sure I don't want to know.
I hear you on the being behind the times, technologically speaking. Im that way too. Im not paranoid or anything, but I dont appreciate how invasive these devices are. The potential for spying is definitely there. I dont have a smart TV, nor will I be purchasing one. I have one desktop computer, and my 'smart' phone is pretty dumb by everyone else's standards. Im happy with it that way. I also will not be buying one of those 'home' devices that you can talk to and connects everything. No thanks.
I surely don't want or need the latest, I'll let others be the guinea pigs first.
This is just the tip of the iceberg! Have a look at what James Corbett of the Corbett Report has to say on this! Just one example: an Amazon "convenience" device called the Alexa was not just listening in, but actually ordering toys online!
My first encounter with this kind of creepy technology was a few years ago when I was running a cafe. I started noticing that when I was having a conversation with someone, later on a text message would be populated with some of the words we'd been using and was ready to send! This started to freak me out, especially in a couple of instances when text messages were randomly sent out - messages that I had no intention of sending! One of these text messages, to my horror, went to a young girl who had come for an interview for a job in my cafe, but who hadn't been successful.
One time I was listening to the radio while driving. When I looked at my iPhone, it had a text message ready with some of the words the radio presenter had said. I was really freaked out by this! But then I started to put two and two together. I realised that it was Siri, the iPhone's voice command service, that was listening to my voice (and picking up other people's voices too) and interpreting these "voice commands" as intentions to send text messages.
I immediately disabled Siri on my phone, realising that it could also be sending my "voice commands" to who knows where... advertisers? the CIA? DARPA?
Even with Siri disabled, I'm always very careful what I say when my iPhone is around!
This all sounds real familiar and I went and watched that You Tubed you story you linked to, I had seen that before but since we don't have the Alexa or the Echo devices I really don't think about that much at all. I never have been a fan of Apple so I don't use iPhone or any of their devices either.
Corbett makes a good point about how people will pay extra for these devices and features and then be shocked when they find out the device is listening and recording them. All I can say to that is, "they have us right where they want us."Dumb downed to the point where we will pay them to spy on us.
I guess if a person really sat down and gave it some thought there is probably not one thing in existence that couldn't be used for either good or evil and how it is used is determined by who's hands it is in.
Yeah - I'd never really heard of Alexa before I saw that video. I had seen it advertised, but I didn't know what it was, and didn't think I needed it. But my brother-in-law did say a few weeks ago that he'd really like a "smart TV" - surprising, as they haven't had a TV for years. I think he was surprised by my reaction. I said "It's dumb to buy anything described as smart. Smart TVs spy on you!" I had to very quickly back this up with a few examples, and I think he kind of grudgingly agreed in the end.
Ugh I hate these cases where they trigger unintentionally. The rate of such things needs to be better controlled. I definitely turned off these things when I got my phone as well because I didn't want random actions that I didn't approve happening. Even if the chance is small, we're beside these devices all day long.
Yes, and they track us whereever we go too.
I'm pretty paranoid when it comes to such things also. I friend of mine told me stories many years ago about data collecting on citizens and I found it hard to believe but not so much anymore. Even putting out too much personal info on here gets me thinking that may not be the best thing sometimes. So much is hidden in a lot of those "terms and conditions" contracts but you almost have no choice in some instances. Crazy thing that happened to me was at 4am, my phone came on loudly with an ad. Scared the "bejeebers" outta' me. I told my husband and he seemed like nah..then it happened to him. Turned out it was google assitant. Happened several times before my husband finally got it turned off (we think as it came on once more since) but we never okay'd it to begin with. Especially, every time it came on was in the dead of night or morning depending on how you look at it. Anyway, great post and been hearing more about this 5G stuff. I'm a bit of a "truth seeker" and feel like we definitely aren't being given the full story on that. Certain frequency bands can be a good thing but can also be a very bad thing!
Ever since 9/11 and the government compromising more of our privacy rights the collection of data by just about every type business and government agency has been encouraged to collect information just in case the FBI or CIA or any other alphabet soup agency could possibly need it and the gov has a direct line into google for sure.
Yep! I believe so also!!
Oh oh oh! I hope this fraud case isn't the same thing that ALMOST happened to us here in Panama! We had a scammer come to "buy" our house. We blew her cover and her "husband" Votava (who is actually not in the US Army but some Nigerian with a horrible fake passport). Anyway, I'll have to check. That's crazy about google maps responding!! We have to use that here or waze. Can't get anywhere in Panama without them as there are no addresses...just directions like, "go to bar la reina, go up three streets and turn left, third house on the right." Better know where Bar La Reina is!! Let me know about this fraud!!!
I read that post of yours, that was quite a story. I did a post recently on the lost art of giving driving directions, it even got me a Curie up vote. People in the US never give directions anymore, just addresses.
Addresses would make getting around here so much easier! Can you believe that even Panama City doesn't have addresses that are used/recognized? I mean you give an address like "we live at HP Nautica which is at the crossroads of calle india and calle R sur." It's insane. There is no mail here either other than mail services like DHL. No mailboxes at the houses. Because none of them have addresses. We went to a house today and all we knew was it was behind the Chiriqui Mall and was number 174. You just pull up and hope it is right (and it was). I haven't ever really seen house numbers here either so when we were told those directions, we didn't believe it! Ha
I would think the DHL and the other services would have nightmare with that kind of set up. No mail in Panama, I wonder if they ever did?
Well the DHL driver, mailboxes etc, and other services just drive from one branch office to the next. No home delivery. I don't know that they've ever had mail delivery here. It's even pretty hard to find post cards that you can mail here. Or they're pretty old, faded, ugly. Panama does not do a good job with tourism since it makes all its money from the canal.
Very interesting. I just thought for sure that they would have a government run postal system of some sort.
Each larger town may have some type of post office but they would not be secure and no one would use them... There are people in the town near us who will sell you a stamp for $1 and take your mail to the USA when someone in the town heads that way (pretty often). That's about the only way I can send something and it costs a ton to receive mail through a forwarding system like Mail Boxes Etc. More than you ever wanted to know about Panama mail. ;)
Yes, I think you are right about that.
I followed and up votes you. please followback @huanmv
Hello sweetie, I see that you are new here and so I am going to give you some friendly advise.
The way you are going about trying to find followers and gain acceptance in the steemit community is not the accept method if you plan on being here very long and succeeding at being a member in good standing.
Your comment is what is known as spam, and spam generally gets down voted or as it is known also as "flagged" which will end up reducing your REP which is currently 32.
Quit asking people to follow you for starters. If you want people to be interested in you read the posts of others and then make a meaningful comment on that post that actually lets the author of the post know that you read the post. There is no need to tell the author you up voted their post either, first your vote to most people is of no economic value to them since your vote is worth $0.00, and secondly most people do look and see who is up voting their posts so they will see you voted them without you telling them.
Also, I went and looked at the posts you are making on your page. You really need to stop copying and pasting articles you find on the internet, that isn't acceptable here either and the cheetah bot has already warned you of that. If you really do want to share what you might have read or found in some article because you found it interesting and think others might also find it interesting just tell the story of how you found the post and what it was that made the story interesting to you. Give people your perspective on what you read and then encourage them to go read it for themselves and come back and share their thoughts with you on your post. You can give them a link to the article, that is perfectly acceptable, copying and pasting the article and using it as your main body of your post is not.
I don't do the follow me / follow you / vote me / vote you thing and I highly suggest that you don't either. I will be more than happy to go look at your stuff in the future after I see that you are making some decent comments and showing you are reading posts, but I just don't condone your current method you have chosen to start out with.
I would expect that I will start the down voting of your REP if you show back up here and leave me the same type of comment you made on this Daily Dose of mine, you should expect that also since I have been kind enough and have taken the time to try and help you.
Until next time,
@sultnpapper
Good luck with that!
Fore those who may have a little curiosity into the matter:
CIA hacking tool 'Weeping Angel'
many of these smart TV's can now be fond on the second hand market. So there is a lot of material to experiment with.
And if you want to buy a new 'used' TV then this could be good information to talk the price down 50% or more. ;-)
That might be of interest for some others but the last thing I want is a smart TV. I'll check out that link and see what that is all about. Thanks for stopping in.
It should be safe as long as you don't let it connect to the internet.
:)
It would be my luck that I would get one that has wi-fi built in and automatically connects each time it is turned on, I think I will pass, despite how good the deal might be.