Nowhere to hide

I suppose, everyone remember that buzz around peoples' privacy rights when Wikileaks' and Snowden's top secret data about world's governments' mass surveillance. Everyone were shocked and struck when realized, that somebody else can read your private e-mails, text messages, even listen to your last phone call record. But governments don't hurry to abandon that "self-espionage", justifying total control with the risk of terrorists' attacks. But here's the problem: we aren't terrorists and we don't want our private life to become national treasure.

Laws of most countries guarantee its citizens right of privacy, integrity of personal data. But remember how many times you gave other people, companies your name, phone number, ID number, credit card number, how many times you are seen by cameras everyday, how much information do the social webs contain about you... Is personal data so personal? No, for a good hacker it's rather easy to know almost everything about anyone using only the Internet. For a government even easier. Their logic is simple: people should give a part of private freedom, state should give them security. Of course, there should be a border for government's huge possibilities: some document, judge's decision etc.

New communication technologies like mobile phones, e-mail's, video calls, social webs were originally invented to ease contact between people, to let us talk without hindrance in any case. But new communication opportunities turned new espionage opportunities and make us worry much about our personal information. So should we get back to medieval age and abandon electronic communication? Should we endure such privacy violation? I suppose, not. People should use Internet and phones without worrying about their privacy and government should use their great espionage opportunities un such way. Look after terrorists, not me chatting on Facebook. 

Nowhere to hide

Have you ever caught a moment, when a cold eye of camera is watching you? That unpleasant feeling on your back, like somebody is staring at you. There, right behind your shoulder. You can't work properly, smb is watching you. You can't relax, smb is watching you. There is always smb, who is sitting behind this camera and watching you. Only you. You're afraid, that you've done something wrong and smb knows. What if you said too much in a private conversation? Aren't these questions familiar to everyone of us?

What a paranoia. Well, now let's play a game. I'll make this phobia worse. Google your name. Done? What do you see? How many photos, that facebook promised to keep in secret are here, how many contacts, how many information? Okay, what do you think about your internet privacy now? (you can pretend, that things, you've seen are much worse, than they are, I need it for atmosphere of this text, please-please-please).

Let's imagine, that you're very careful on the Net, you don't add any information, just listen to music and look for information for school reports. But what about streets, shops, school? Thousands of modern gadgets like cameras, microchips, were made just in last 5 years. Sometimes ways, which help government to control us, are too creepy; they don't make you feel safe, they just make us panic and protest against more and more.

Of course it's okay to install cameras in public places, it helps to reduce amount of crimes, they also can help to prove your innocence, when you're suspected. But nowadays, we can understand the phrase “You're being watched everywhere” literally. Cameras are often installed in places, where they are absolutely useless: changing rooms, toilets, hospital chambers and so on. I'm sure, that people, who do such things, have no rights to do it, they just don't want to understand, that everyone needs private space.

So, to sum up, people need a compromise (as always). It will be suitable for us and for the government. But if everything continues like it is now, then wasn't George Orwell right?  

They all are the same, aren’t they?

 Nowadays many stereotypes exist around us. There are many different opinions about them. Stereotypes help us to identify something or someone we have never had contacted with or just mean discrimination of other people? And also should we eliminate stereotypes from our lives because they prevent objectively thinking?
 
 From one point of view stereotypes can help us. For example some national stereotypes. Many people think French cookers are the best. I think that it’s true because many famous cookers are from France. And also there are many interesting and delicious dishes in French cuisine.
 
 But national stereotypes sometimes aren’t true. For example many people think that Americans eat only fast food, hamburgers and drink fizzy drinks. I don’t think so because there are many Americans dishes except fast food. For example steaks.
 
 But some stereotypes are dangerous and can cause discrimination that lead to genocide. It’s really stupid and wrong to think that persons from one race are worse than another.
 
 It’s hard to distinguish stereotypes from racism sometimes. For example are national stereotypes kind of discrimination? I don’t think so because some skills are depends on country. For example people from countries near the sea often are better surfers that people from other countries. But think that white people surf better than black it’s real weird.
 
 In conclusion I’d like to say that stereotypes aren’t useless at all. But when you decide to follow them just think they are true or not.

Not in my lifetime!

Not in my lifetime!

We live in the world full of gadgets, technologies and we could hardly imagine that one or two hundred years ago people lived without this things which are usual for us. And I think that people from the past imagined our time in other way, not so developed. But there were genius people who thought through the time. For example, Leonardo da Vinci described helicopter, Tsiolkovsky started space exploration. Nowadays, there are lots of opinions about future. Some of them are positive, the others are negative. So? how do people of twenty-first century imagine their future?

As for me, I divide predictions about future into two groups: "may be" and "fairy tales". First involves predictions which could come true in next 20-30 years (during my lifetime). And "fairy tales" are about things which might appear but present knowledge isn't enough for them.

I think that people would work mainly on medical researches and fight against ecological problems. From my point of view, people could grow different parts of our body from small cells and fight most diseases. But other illnesses which are stronger than present will appear. I suppose that in 2030s people will use only solar energy and they will invent a solutions for traffic jams.

As for space expeditions, I think that in next 10 years the first man will walk on the surface of Mars. Also people could try to reach planets from the others systems with conditions similar to Earth's. But reaching another system is a fairy tale for me.

Flying cars, teleports, life on the other planets are fairy tales for me. I think They wouldn't appear next hundred years. But I believe that they would come true.

My point is not so optimistic, but I think it is more certain. So? I'll check, If I m a good predictor:)

Never in my lifetime!

Imagine you have a dialogue with your friends and they suggest you going on a vacation to somewhere you really do not want to go and you say "Never in my lifetime!" But is it right?

Nowadays because of technical evolution and a lot of technical inventions people have tons of opportunities. For example, today it is much easier to travel or to connect with people that are in the opposite place on Earth. So, I want to say, that life is very changeable today, more than it was early. And there are a lot of factors that have an effect on our lives. Things that you have thought you would never do or try to do can catch you years later.  And it is like notorious "Never say never".  

Moreover, nobody trows away, that not even life but people are changeable. A human is an active and upcoming being. After the number of years human's views and beliefs can also change. Sometimes when you tell somebody "Never in my lifetime" you do not know what may come afterwards and can not say in the certainty that you will not do it later. People may have a wrong impression of you because of that. 

To my mind, people should not say such words because we live only once (YOLO haha) and personally I would like to try so many things in my life as possible. 

So, do not listen to other people when deciding what to do because it is you and it is your life. Do not compare yourself to others - we are all different :)

They're all the same, aren't they?

They're all the same, aren't they?

   Today people from all over the world think stereotypically. Stereotypes exist all around us and everyone uses stereotypes on a daily basis. Stereotypes can be based on race, nationality, profession or gender. Stereotypes lead to prejudice and discrimination.

   There are some stereotypes about women. First - all blondes are stupid.

This is not true. For example, IQ of Sharon Stone is the same as that of the Einstein - 154 points. And JK Rowling, author of the Harry Potter books, received in 2006 the title of highest paid writer in the world — bur she is a natural blonde. Also, Hillary Clinton Hillary Clinton became the first in the history of the United States of the former First Lady, who took over as secretary of state.

   Second - woman drive a car worse than men. According to statistics, women less likely to get in an accident due to the fact that they have developed a survival instinct. More difficult for women to learn the skills of driving, they know the system of a car worse, than men but when women learn to drive, they drive no worse than men. 

   Third - all women want to marry.

There is a stereotype that all women think about a problem: how to get married? But it's not true, not everyone wants it. Some women are afraid of the idea to be married and have children. Many of them believe that first they have to make a career.

   Types of prejudice include sexism and relying on stereotypes can have negative consequences. So, I think that people should get rid of stereotypical thinking and prejudice and think about the person, judging by his actions and his character and not based on generalization. We should try to eliminate stereotypes from our lives.

How Safe Am I?

How much your security matters to you? Let’s talk about some things you need to follow to protect yourself.

Talking about the internet, every day lots of frauds tries to break in your computer. 

The first thing you should do is to install an antivirus. The antivirus is quite expensive, but can protect your computer.

Another important thing is having lots of difficult passwords.You shouldn’t have one password on all your accounts, e-mails and etc. 

Of course, do not go on unknown sites. You can see a lot of interesting advertisements but don’t read them! If you go on these sites, the frauds also will be able to infect your computer with viruses and will steal your private information. 

Lots of people are becoming victims because of buying stuff in the internet. When they pay for the purchases, they have to enter the card data. Somebody can steal the data and get your money.

Do you post lots of personal information on your profiles in the social nets? You shouldn't do it. Things like phone numbers, photos and your home address mustn't be known by strangers.

Also, you mustn't talk with unknown people in the internet. It can be very dangerous. He will be pretending that he is your friend to steal your personal information. 

So, my advice is not to live in the internet but just appear there sometimes if you really need to.

Invisibility is an Impossibility

Do you think that somebody or something is watching you at the moment? May be.

Nowadays it's easier to find out something about a person, you can just google his name and get all information you need, he wouldn't even know about it. It wasn't always like that. But we have what we have, big brother is always watching you have to accept it.

Some people still fighting it and some people think that watching us might be useful and government would be able to protect us (from what?). I don't think that knowing what's your underwear color is government could predict if somebody is going to rob us.

Every year thousands of new gadgets are being produced to watch after you in the shop, alley or garage. For example RFID tags (Radio Frequency Identification tags) – tiny microchips which are used on credit cards or keys. But now, somebody think of using it as implants. I think it's a terrible idea, nobody wants to be followed, it might be helpful with prisoners but they think of it only as a passes to some clubs or identity cards for patients.

Tagging people is as bad as location services on phones, or possibility to listen to somebody's conversations. It ruins the idea of personal phone, computer and etc. 

There is nothing you can do about it. You can just sit still and watch how many people will know what you had for breakfast today.

How safe is my password?

                                  How safe is my password?

All too often, passwords are exposed. Instagram, Pinterest, Yahoo, and even Google accounts were compromised, rendering millions of online accounts vulnerable to third-party hacks. And that was only the most recent security breach.

Passwords especially those not supported by two-step verifications  are your last lines of defense against prying eyes. This guide will help you understand how those passwords are exposed, and what you can do to keep them locked down.

How are passwords exposed?

Before we dive into the how-tos of creating secure passwords, it's important to understand why you need a supersecure password to begin with. After all, you might be thinking, "Who would want to hack little old me?"There are a few ways your account passwords can be compromised.

1. Someone's out to get you. Enemies you've created, exes from your past, a nosy mother, an intrusive spouse -- there are many people who might want to take a peek into your personal life. If these people know you well, they might be able to guess your e-mail password and use password recovery options to access your other accounts. (Can you tell I'm speaking from experience?) 
2. You become the victim of a brute-force attack.Whether a hacker attempts to access a group of user accounts or just yours, brute-force attacks are the go-to strategy for cracking passwords. These attacks work by systematically checking all possible passphrases until the correct one is found. If the hacker already has an idea of the guidelines used to create the password, this process becomes easier to execute. 
3. There's a data breach. Every few months it seems another huge companies  reports a hacking resulting in millions of people's account information being compromised. And with the recent Heart bleed bug, many popular websites were affected directly.

What makes a good password?

Although data breaches are out of your control, it's still imperative to create passwords that can withstand brute-force attacks and relentless frenemies. Avoiding both types of attacks is dependent on the complexity of your password.

Ideally, each of your passwords would be at least 16 characters, and contain a combination of numbers, symbols, uppercase letters, lowercase letters, and spaces. The password would be free of repetition, dictionary words, usernames, pronouns, IDs, and any other predefined number or letter sequences. 

Ideal passwords, however, are a huge inconvenience. How can we be expected to remember 80-bit (12-character) passwords for each of our various Web accounts? That's where many people turn to password managers like LastPass  and Password.

Invincibility is Impossibility

These days our life is much easier than it used to be 10, 20 and more years ago. New technologies come out every week and they are really helpful, aren't they? However, despite their advantages, there are some minuses too. So what is the price of easy living?

Using our mobile phones, computers, credit cards, etc. we make our personal data available for plenty of people. Nowadays, your private information is not so invincible. Government, police, hackers — they can easily find out all about you and use it as they want. Privacy of your personality is just an illusion.

At present, many people try to fight against it. So is it really so bad? From my point of view, it might be useful. For instance, government should know your personal data to protect you, they need it to be able to control our world, to prevent crime, etc. Anyway, if you even want to keep something in a secret, you won't be able, you will just make your life harder, because invincibility is impossibility nowadays. You are surrounded by great number of things that collect information about you.  

To sum up, I'd like to say that, at present, it's impossible to keep your life in a secret but, actually, it is no use doing it. Moreover, you don't even need to worry, because we really can do nothing about it.

Invisibility is an impossibility?

Nowadays there're a lot of phobias in the world and one of them is a phobia to be seen by something or someone.

It's a very topical problem because more and more shops, enterprises, even schools  have gadgets in their buildings to see people, to look after them. The abundance of gadgets leads to the lack of privacy. Who would to be seen while he's changing? No one. (Except for some individuals) 

Firstly, tags. For example, you're buying a piece of clothing with so-called "RFID tags". Of course, companies promise that after you bought something this tag would stop  working, but it frequently wouldn't , and after leaving the shop, company can see your location. This fact is really scary. Along with the fact that there were cameras in changing room of one company. This's completely unacceptable. People need their private space, where they cannot be seen, like toilets, changing rooms,churches and so on. 

Secondly, it's our online life. Many people don't care about things they write there, photos they post, etc. but actually "online space" is a really dangerous place. People often use their location there, leave their number, blood type, their photos, everything! And everyone can see it! What's good about it? Nothing. 

There are way more different things that affects our privacy, like ID cards which contain ton of information about you (fingerprints, image of your iris...), "cookies" which help anyone find out about your internet activities, "smart" travel cards which contain a microchip so you can be tracked across a city when you're using public transport and many many different things.

What I want to say is that you should always be carefully with your privacy, because who knows maybe you're being watched right now.

Nowhere to hide

Don't you feel, that you are watched everywhere? Cameras follow us in cafes, supermarkets, transport, even at school! So it's pretty easy to feel uncomfortable even in the most privat places like church, when you see little camera eye right on you.

Such close attention to us from our government (even in case of our protection) doesn’t help to feel on the safe side. As for me such sings as cameras, microchips and all that espionage stuff are providing us to have more and more secrets, to feel followed everywhere with no place to have private life, that nobody knows about. In part of occasions big amounts of cameras make people going crazy, they start thinking about what they are talking about, what they are looking  like and what they are doing. This paranoia contains deleting web-site history, call-story and even switching off phone and devices during serious talks.

So let’s think about is it benefit or harm to us? First of all, this stuff helps us to avoid too big amounts of crimes and to prove your innocence in case of charge. That is useful, that is helping us to live peaceful, than it could be. From the other hand there are too much means of following us everywhere, even when it is not needed (toilets, churches, post offices, hospitals), it makes us feel like real offenders and become incredulous to public places.

That is why I am absolutely sure, that we must find compromise, which will be suitable for both sides, because our safety is as important as our privacy.