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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. -- The Mailing List for the Devon & Cornwall LUG http://mailman.dclug.org.uk/listinfo/list FAQ: http://www.dcglug.org.uk/listfaq