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On Sat, Feb 19, 2011 at 10:25 AM, Simon Waters <simon@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote: > On 19/02/11 01:54, Julian Hall wrote: >> >> I think education is the way forward. > > This line of argument is a red flag to my skeptical brain. > > More education is rarely the best answer to a problem like this. More > education can be good, and reduce problems, but at the end of the day > there is only finite resource for education. > > It is a bit like the phrase "the government should do something about > this", sometimes it is true, other times it just reveals you haven't > pondered the other pressures on government's resources. > >> The more people understand about >> what their computer *can* do, the more they'll understand about what >> some lying scammer *can't* do and will recognise blatant attempts to >> defraud them without going through the pain of expensive mistakes. > > I suspect more education about computers will get us no where, and will > likely confuse people. More education on common types of scam on the > other hand might work. People seriously can't be expected to have a > correct mental model of how their computer works, how their phone works, > how international direct dialing works etc etc. > > On the other hand the moment someone wants "access" to their computer it > should be like the moment someone wants your front door keys, or your > bank account details, similar questions should flash across your mind. > > However even this education is likely dubious in its success, as > educators have waxed lyrical about "critical thinking skills" for > decades, but few schools explicitly teach them. Organised Religion, > homoeopathy and "alternative medicines" seems to be rife despite this > focus, and they are your basic big frauds. > >> In its' simplest form people need to understand the *only* company who will >> contact them about a virus being spread by their computer (or whatever >> other lie they come up with) is their ISP, and even then 99% certain to >> be an email not a phone call. > > I suspect most contacts regarding virus infections on PCs these days are > from geeky "friends", or knowledgeable passers-by rather than ISPs, > except perhaps where they send spam or otherwise make their presence > very obvious to outsiders. Well! I have certainly learnt something from the original posting. Thank you all :-) - A slightly less naive roly. lol. -- The Mailing List for the Devon & Cornwall LUG http://mailman.dclug.org.uk/listinfo/list FAQ: http://www.dcglug.org.uk/listfaq