When downloading an app, all its “required” permissions are displayed, and you need to accept them, giving the app unlimited access to that function (eg, using the GPS to determine my location)

The reason I don’t like this is that I’m not ok with an app using things all the time – I might like to do a “check in” on facebook now and then, but I certainly don’t want facebook to track me continuously, which it does – as soon as I open the facebook app, it immediately starts searching for GPS.
Another example: WhatsApp requires the “directly call phone numbers” permission. Perhaps I may want to call someone via WhatsApp, (unlikely) but I certainly don’t want it to drain my airtime automagically prank calling people in Russia.

Android permissions are too generalized. They shouldn’t grant an app unlimited access to the function.

A better way to do it:
when I’m viewing these permissions in the Android App Market, allow me to select permissions I’m okay with, such as “access the Internet” and then ask for my permission when Apps require the permissions I’m not ok with, such as GPS access. For example, “Google Maps wants to find your location using GPS. Is that OK?”
My old, non-smartphone Samsung already does this, which makes me feel like android is a few years behind with this one.

Additionally, permissions should be more specific. “access to the mail.google.com servers” rather than “full Internet access”. This more closely follows the principle of least privilege, which is a good thing not only for privacy, but for protection against spyware and viruses, which are increasingly becoming a mobile threat.

It’s a known fact that the top experts are always consulted before film production begins.

Here are some lessons in IT that we can learn from movies:

1. Mice are a security hole. It is a well-known fact that these pointing devices are a serious security risk even to home PCs, and every security expert has heard of the crippling xe.feline.root trojan, which is attracted by computer Mice. For this reason, no Hollywood computer user may use a mouse. Typing con brio can further protect against this threat as the noise of typing the longest keystroke for the simplest command frightens off would-be threats.
2. Redundant engineering is outdated. Nowadays security systems are so advanced that a villain would need root access (such as the always-on terminal at the physical site of the mainframe supercomputer) to gain access to a computer system. thus, to maximize performance, it is best to have just one supercomputer mainframe in a secure facility guarded by a single army geriatric veteran. To prevent server meltdown, this facility should have a hi-tech ventilation system, including un-grated ducts, and roof slats, to let in a draft. For safety, all mainframes (including those providing vital services) should have an obviously displayed self-destruct switch. International convention makes provision for wild animals to initiate this function.
3. Shielded cables carrying sensitive data are illegal. According to regulation, all class 2 electronic devices must accept outside interference. Electromagnetically shielding cables, including ones carrying classified data or CCTV security feeds, goes against this regulation. These cables need to be unshielded so that devices such as clip-on wiretappers (such as those used for espionage)  may operate.
4. Complex passwords should be avoided. Setting complex passwords for secure data increases the likelihood of causing accidental SQL injection of special symbols (‘*’ for example). Recommended passwords are simple ones such as ‘PLEASE’ and ’12345′. Note that all passwords should be in uppercase and, when entered, the appropriate DTMF tone sounded.
5. All memory must be constantly dumped to stdout. If converted to ASCII characters, this failsafe might come in handy for debugging. (Alternatively, the code being executed can also be dumped.)
6. Design for physical accessibility. With a heavily guarded system comes heavy guards. Always make systems accessible for people with very, very, large fingers (such as meaty guards) by implementing large, heavy-duty buttons/keys.
7. Backup power is a no-no. When the power is cut to your computer system, the end-user expects the computers to go offline as well. Do not implement backup power devices such as UPSes or petrol generators, as these could prove to be a safety hazard should the power need to be cut in an emergency.
8. Ensure that a script for hackers has permissions 777. Can’t you be sympathetic to hackers who can’t hack? Help them, so that they can impress their boss’s hot girlfriend/sister.
9. Do not allow your users to log off. Logging on takes only a few seconds every day, but can rack up to days of lost productivity over time.  Especially agents working for the other side.  Putting a PC into Sleep mode is acceptable.
10. 

    Your mainframe: The massive Van de graaff generator

    Titanium. Yes, titanium. And glass. Because even a high-strung agency can afford to splash out a little, and make sure that the mainframe area makes for both a pleasing enviroment and a Van de Graaff generator.

11. Let secret agents PWN your system in style. If your system is compromised, design it to make as much noise and involve as much explosives and mountain climbing rigging as possible. Include a life-or-death moment to enhance the agent’s relationships. the guy deserves it, after the ingenious plan he devised on the underside of a paper plate in five minutes. Ensure that an emergency change of clothes are near the exit so he can dump his now-singed outfit.

“Sizzling HOT Specials @ Russells this weekend. Get a 54cm TV @ R999, We will also be trading on Sunday, With CASH BACK on purchases above R2999. See you there”

This was the last straw for me. My objectives were:

1. To find out what South African Law states about SMS spam
2. To find contact information for Russells
3. To challenge them sending me spam
4. To find who supplied them with my number

Here is the Electronic Communications and Transactions Act, #25 of 2002 , which says in section 45:

Unsolicited goods, services or communications

45. (1) Any person who sends unsolicited commercial communications to consumers, must provide the consumer:

(a) with the option to cancel his or her subscription to the mailing list of that person; and

(b) with the identifying particulars of the source from which that person obtained the consumer’s personal information, on request of the consumer.

(2) No agreement is concluded where a consumer has failed to respond to an unsolicited communication.

(3) Any person who fails to comply with or contravenes subsection (1 ) is guilty of an offence and liable, on conviction, to the penalties prescribed in section 89( 1).

(4) Any person who sends unsolicited commercial communications to a person who has advised the sender that such communications are unwelcome, is guilty of an offence and liable, on conviction. to the penalties prescribed in section 89(1).

So, I had to find an email address (I wanted to use email so I could shape responses that were strong, which I can’t do quick enough on the phone). russells .co .za helpfully gave me a login page for the company email. Thanks. After much searching I found that the Russells brand is owned by the JD group. There I found an email address for customer service for Russells. I also found an email template on the ISPA site for this type of thing which sounds pretty impressive and I didn’t think they would mess with me by the sound of the mail. I encourage you save this somewhere – it may come in handy.

If the number you received a message from is a shortcode (like 35123, for example), you can visit smscode.co.za, which is supported by MTN, vodacom and Cell-C. You enter this number here and it’ll tell you the owner who is responsible for the SMS, as well as their contact details.

If you get no response from the person you contacted, here the law is your tool again. Further on in the act, it states that if they do not respond within 30 days, they are committing yet another criminal offense. Then you should contact the Wireless Application Service Providers’ Association (WASPA) with this form.

So, we wait for the reply. If this takes longer than 20 days, say, I would suggest sending another mail reminding them that not replying in the next 10 days constitutes yet another criminal offence, and it is in their best interests to follow-up the mail, to avoid getting reported to the WASPA, or, failing that, criminal case proceedings.

After some conversation, my number was removed from their database. As to where they got my number from, their explanation was that their customers that did, in fact, want to receive these “promotional messages” (?) sometimes gave the wrong cellphone number (this is perfectly believable, I get tons of wrong-numbers a week).

This approach of mine probably won’t work if you are receiving scams and virus-containing spam (from a less reputable address, eg, some_store@hotmail.com, as opposed to ads@some_store.com), replying to these mails just confirms that your email address / number exists, and you will get increased spam.

Else, I encourage you to follow-up spam as I have done. It seems easier to just delete it and carry on with life, but that is what the spammers rely on. The more people who do this, the harder we make the life of those who litter our inboxes.

• I upgraded the pc in my room. I now have a 2.53GHz processor, a gig of ram, and a 64MB AGP graphics card. I’m on a low budget, ok!
• I’ve started with C# development, I’m trying to break into the .net framework.
• We’ve upgraded to a 2GB cap, because we were often running out of a 1GB, and so now we can pay more to run out of a 2GB (that’s how caps work, boys and girls!)
• I’m back at school, which means there will be NO time for anything, but I’ll be back if I don’t burn out before the next holiday.
• I read all the fits in The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, which I really enjoyed. Douglas Adams was a great writer!
• I started a Google Apps domain.

I’m wanting to do something beneficial / useful on this blog, when I can.

1. Select “Run…” from your start menu
2. type “gpedit.msc” (without the quotes) in the combo box and click OK or RUN
3. The window that appears has a tree view on the left, and options on the right.
4. To turn off autorun, navigate to Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > System 
5. On the left,  Double-Click “Turn off Autoplay”
6. Select “Enabled” (which actually disables, it’s a negative property), and choose whether you want to just disable CD-ROM autoruns (you put in a CD and an installer usually runs) or All drives (eg, flash sticks).
7. Click OK and close the surplus windows

There are many settings you can change here, for example,

• To specify that you have the windows XP CD copied to your hard drive, so that it does not require you to insert the CD when doing system changes: 
  • In the same folder as the Autoplay option, “Specify Windows Installation file location, Select Enabled, then type the folder location in the box
• To display a detailed report of what happens when you log on, shut down, log off etc, instead of just “Applying your personal settings…”
  • In the same folder as the Autoplay option, “Verbose vs normal status messages”, select enabled.

I will post more as I find them, but first, a message from our sponsors:

Although I have tested each of these settings I have posted above on my own computer, I cannot garrentee that the above will be safe or work on your PC, and so cannot take any responsibility for any malfnction or damage resulting from the use of these tweaks. If such curcumstance does happen, I sincerly apologise and ask that you let me know so that I can edit this to make it safer for those trying it.

What sparked me to write this article is a techie joke which I heard, and it goes something like this:
A father was unhappy about his son on mxit so he said to his son, “Jonny, I don’t want you to go on mxit anymore, it’s dangerous.” to which his son replied, “but dad, I don’t have any chat rooms!” and his dad, with a knowing look on his face said, “Jonny, mxit is a chat room”. This sort of sums all of it up. Parents too often trust the media without doing their own investigations. They assume that everything on mxit is a chat room, because that is where all the horror stories stem from. Lets start off with a definition:

Definition: Chat room
A chat room, in the most common sense of the word now days, means an electronic medium where people, usually strangers, can exchange messages with each other. This form of chat room usually does not contain any moderators. [© Me, 2008]

I strongly recommend worried parents to do this: ask your child to show you what mxit is like. Go into this discussion without any pre-concieved ideas about what you think it is like. Feel free to ask your child any questions you may have. Most teenagers know all the ins-and-outs of mxit and will be able to answer any questions you may have. As you will realise, mxit is not primarily a chat room in the sense described above. Except for chat rooms in mxit that you can subscribe to (provided you are over 13 years of age), mxit is not a chat room. ‘contacts’ on mxit (people you can talk to) have to know your cellphone number (which you or someone else can give to them) and have to be ‘accepted’ (approved) for them to be able to send any messages to you. This is straight from the mxit website (www.mxit.co.za):

SO WHERE DOES MXit FIT IN?

• MXit is an instant messaging (IM) program that allows all our registered users to communicate with each other inexpensively, if they give consent.
• MXit is not a web browser and as such cannot be used to access pornographic or other adult sites, or adult chat rooms.
• The majority of our traffic is person-to-person where a user needs to add a contact before he/she can send a message or receive a message from a person – very similar to SMS.
• As part of community building, we have created a number of chat rooms where we have given our registered users the ability to meet other people. We continually strive to make the chat rooms safer and more user-friendly, but any chat room has an element of risk associated and safety is dependent on the conduct of the user.

A few (really bone simple) tips for your kids (who already know this in their common sense department) are:

• If you don’t know who this contact is for sure (ie, you don’t know them in person), don’t accept them, delete them and don’t talk to them. (see, I told you they were going to be simple)
• DON’T participate in chat rooms. I have. They suck, they’re not fun at all. They are not worth the ‘moola’ (mxit money) you spend to send messages. People are sending messages hither and thither and you don’t know what on earth is going on and who is talking to who. A few sub points if you do decide to use chat rooms are:
  • Don’t give out your mxit contact (your cellphone number for people to add you as a contact) on a chatroom. Don’t add people who give out their numbers. The people you add are so boring anyway, because you don’t know them and you have nothing to talk about
  • Don’t give out your particulars. It is common practice, however to ask for your ASL, or Age, Sex, Location. give out your age, unless of course you are underage in a chat room, give your sex, and for location, give your province, not your street address!
  • If it starts getting weird, get out. Chat rooms are for your enjoyment, not to make you feel uncomfortable.
• Be streetwise. If a man you didn’t know came to you on the street and asked you to come to his house, would you? It’s the same with mxit. Behind the contacts, there are real people (except the ‘foo’ ‘companion’ in ‘Tradepost’, of course! That is a special technology called AI. Read more here)

Update: Mxit now allows you to block and password-protect all chatrooms. This a good idea if you want to keep your children safe.

So in conclusion, know what your kids are doing, so you don’t form misinformation for your self and perform unrealistic discipline for no reason. As Herman Melville once said, “Ignorance is the parent of fear”. One other thing about ignorance: Do you know why the number 13 is unlucky? When man first counted his fingers and feet it came up to 12. Anything unknown was scary (eg, after death), so after the known number of 12 comes: 13!

I have temporaraly stopped posting large articles in this “series”, but if thoughts arive I will still attach them to the “Series on parents and technology” category. I am still working on the article advertised about law pertaining to electronic communications