So, security has been hyped in the press and especially in ads over the past few years… various IT ads talk about security, keeping out hackers, etc. But is Joe Sixpack actually paying attention?
Recently, Paris Hilton (one of those people it seems is simply famous for being famous… oh and for having her knookie tape broadcast all over the Internet) recently had her T-Mobile smartphone hacked, with its phone list of celebrities (and even pictures of her breasts taken with the camera phone) posted all over the web. T-Mobile’s security (or lack thereof) was at fault. This is just one of several breeches of security that has hit T-Mobile.
So, of course, the free market being what it is, people are now leaving T-Mobile in droves, especially eschewing the products that have been so famously hacked, right? Apparently not, as T-Mobile is selling out of Sidekicks, the unit Hilton owned that was hacked.
So, I guess what we have is the confluence of “there’s no such thing as bad publicity” and “there’s a sucker born every minute.”
The more everything ties together the more we are open for invasion. But the Paris Hiltons of the world seem to embrace the great borgification, the assimilation into the overmind, in which notions such as autonomy and privacy are not so much quaint as incomprehensible.
In any event, I’ve got a cell phone hack as a plot point in the novel I’m working on, so this is more grist for the mill. Thanks!
I must actually freely confess that I’m (still) a T-Mobile customer. I’m looking into switching, but honestly, they seem to be the only company that has a plan catering to me (really small amounts of airtime for a low fee). I only use my cell to a) let me know I have email in the email account my girlfriend sends email to and b) make those “I’m going to be late” “Where the hell are you?” “Where the hell am I? Help!” and similar short phone calls.
Verizon Wireless would likely be the one I move to, but they only have a $39 plan which of course will end up costing more like $45-$50 after they tack on all of the fees, taxes, and whatnot. (Why can;t I do that. “Hey, Mr. Employer, in addition to my agreed upon salary, you need to pay my taxes for me.”)
Gary – It’s amazing to me that there’s so little choice in phone plans. It is as though we were dealing with a rare commodity, which if true, can only be because of, er, friction in the "free" market.
(See some maybe related rants at http://wetmachine.com/i… and http://wetmachine.com/i…)
John – See my new posting http://wetmachine.com/i…