Encryption and how you control data your is a hot topic right now, but understanding encryption and how it relates to your personal data is confusing. YouTuber CGP Grey explains encryption, as well as some of the issues up for debate right now, as simply as possible.
If you’ve read about the debate between Apple and the government over encryption, and wondered what all the fuss is about, this video might help explain it.
By now I’m sure you’ve all heard about the security hole in Firefox, and the “recommended fixes”. Here’s the thing though, turning off Javascript disables all those cool little Greasemonkey scripts, and turning off “Let website install software” just makes it more difficult for people to get extensions for Firefox. It’s those extensions and add-ons…
It’s from Australia, but the part that I have looked at so far could be useful for everyone trying to figure out how to build and maintain a workplace that supports mental health. (Check your local laws, though, as the legal references are obviously related to Australian workplace safety rules)
I’m a man with no children. So, working extra hours when the need arises isn’t really an issue. (It’s a mental health and work/life balance issue when it never ends, but when that happens I can choose to go do something else, and we’ve made some progress in recognizing this in many workplaces.) On the other hand, I know, pretty instinctively, that if I put a hard 40 hour limit, or a hard ending of my day at a certain time, no matter what, I’d probably be out of a job. Yet, for people with children, there needs to be a hard cap on the hours spent working. The pandemic creating this home/virtual school issue made this worse, and more obvious, but it’s always been an issue. Lots of workplaces talk a good game about balance and flexibility, but when push comes to shove, most of them will also demand that you figure out your childcare issues on your own time and be available to work in a pinch. So, you login from home all evening and work, and if you’re a single parent, the kids get ignored, or maybe you can find someone else to watch them for you. If there are two parents, you’d better hope you both don’t have those kinds of jobs, because one of you needs to be available for childcare, you can’t both be online working all night.Â
And, if you have to choose which one leaves that kind of work arrangement, well, in general, women get paid less and have less advancement opportunities, (partially because they are more likely to “opt-out”), so they are going to be the ones to opt out, perpetuating the impression that women make these choices, that are then used to justify not changing the workplace to accommodate working mothers. After all, they’re likely to leave anyway, right?Â
It’s really quite the little, vicious, circle we’ve made for women in the workplace.Â
The tech predictions by Jefferson Graham on the USA Today website include a couple of tidbits about the possibility of users going over the new Google limits, and thus paying to keep their Gmail accounts, and the possibility of paid podcasts, large podcasts moving to a service similar to Apple Music, and becoming a paid…
This is true, there’s no reason for people to be stuck only reading what social media decides they would like to read. Alas, too many of us are not actually interested in doing anything more than knowing what our social networks decide is important. “But anyone weary of black-box algorithms controlling what you see online…