Page 1 of 2
Comfy Couch of Confusion 2.0 (3.0?)
Posted: Mon Nov 26, 2018 1:45 am
by TheDOCTOR
I hope I'm not causing any problems here,I mean that is the LAST thing I would want to do, But I would like to know if anyone whoever visited the mentioned Couch has heard anything at all. I wondered if there were plans of its return, or If someone new has taken over, planning to or will. I heard some chatter a while back but nothing definite and I thought it would be really cool if we could "Get The Band back together" as it were. Just sayin'.
Re: Comfy Couch of Confusion 2.0 (3.0?)
Posted: Mon Nov 26, 2018 2:05 am
by Atomic
Looks like it's still owned by Sedoparking.
Re: Comfy Couch of Confusion 2.0 (3.0?)
Posted: Mon Nov 26, 2018 2:18 am
by GlytchMeister
I’m not involved with any of it, but last I heard, since Jim’s passing, it was taken over by a blackhat and pumped full of nasties or something?
Re: Comfy Couch of Confusion 2.0 (3.0?)
Posted: Mon Nov 26, 2018 3:12 am
by Bookworm
I know nothing about it. Or even what you're discussing
Re: Comfy Couch of Confusion 2.0 (3.0?)
Posted: Mon Nov 26, 2018 7:04 am
by jwhouk
Geez, I'd forgotten about his website.
And it hasn't even been a year.
Re: Comfy Couch of Confusion 2.0 (3.0?)
Posted: Mon Nov 26, 2018 9:31 am
by Atomic
Not to stack ghastly upon somber, but we all will be passing eventually - do your documents include instructions on winding down your web presence? Sounds like a potential business model like funeral societies, etc.
- The_Last_Click.com - Web services for the dearly departed. Browser history adjustments included.
Re: Comfy Couch of Confusion 2.0 (3.0?)
Posted: Mon Nov 26, 2018 11:02 pm
by Bookworm
Atomic wrote: ↑Mon Nov 26, 2018 9:31 am
Not to stack ghastly upon somber, but we all will be passing eventually - do your documents include instructions on winding down your web presence? Sounds like a potential business model like funeral societies, etc.
- The_Last_Click.com - Web services for the dearly departed. Browser history adjustments included.
I've thought about it. The problem is that you'd have to somehow hold onto at least one or two passwords that could be released somehow. That kind of site would be absolutely ripe for non-stop hack attempts to gather every site, every account, forum membership, etc that someone has. Even without passwords (say you keep those offline -and- updated), that's a treasure trove for Russ.. sorry, criminals.
Then, how does the site know that you've been kacked?
Re: Comfy Couch of Confusion 2.0 (3.0?)
Posted: Tue Nov 27, 2018 12:20 am
by Dave
Bookworm wrote: ↑Mon Nov 26, 2018 11:02 pm
I've thought about it. The problem is that you'd have to somehow hold onto at least one or two passwords that could be released somehow. That kind of site would be absolutely ripe for non-stop hack attempts to gather every site, every account, forum membership, etc that someone has. Even without passwords (say you keep those offline -and- updated), that's a treasure trove for Russ.. sorry, criminals.
Then, how does the site know that you've been kacked?
I'd think that the thing to do would be to store the instructions, and a "credential kit" (IDs and passwords), in encrypted form, with the necessary decryption key being held as part of your personal records (e.g. on a flash disk, in your "Open this in case I spontaneously catch fire some day" envelope). The decryption key would be provided to the "close things down gracefully" contract service by your executor.
I've been keeping all of my login credentials stored as GPG-encrypted email messages to myself, in a special folder. With any of several computers here (that have the encrypted private key on them) and my passphrase (which can go in a letter-to-a-lawyer), an executor could gain access to all of those accounts and close things down.
Been meaning to write a script to generate a nice, conscise printed version of all of this (sorted and indexed) on demand, so I can print it in advance and put it in our fire safe along with my will and Advance Medical Directive and so forth. Seems like a great use for one of the days-off over the upcoming holidays,
Re: Comfy Couch of Confusion 2.0 (3.0?)
Posted: Tue Nov 27, 2018 8:48 pm
by Atomic
Dave wrote: ↑Tue Nov 27, 2018 12:20 am
Been meaning to write a script to generate a nice, conscise printed version of all of this (sorted and indexed) on demand, so I can print it in advance and put it in our fire safe along with my will and Advance Medical Directive and so forth. Seems like a great use for one of the days-off over the upcoming holidays,
Back when I was using Dreamweaver to build site stuff, there was a function that would walk through -all- links in the subset of whatever you were working on, and report dead links. It would even work for the Root of the site, if you wanted to wait all day while it check x zillion of menu choices, etc.
If someone did start a service, it would be very useful to occasionally challenge/check the sites listed to test for password changes and de-activations. That could be something like the Credit Safe overwatch services out there. Two birds, one service?
And it would have to be secure as all get out as well, vs an old P3 system in somebody's closet...
Re: Comfy Couch of Confusion 2.0 (3.0?)
Posted: Wed Nov 28, 2018 1:08 am
by GlytchMeister
Like hell I’m letting Equifax anywhere near my passwords.
Not only did they create a problem with bad programming or whatever, they hid it until it was a major problem that had been taken advantage of, and then they offered up a “free service” that had an auto-renewal that would charge you if you forgot to cancel within one month... aka they sold the “solution” to the problem they made.
F them and F all debt in general. If it wasn’t for the stupid fact that employers look at credit (which really seems like bull crap), I would have hard-frozen everything a long time ago. I don’t use credit cards and I have one loan that I didn’t want but was pressured into by my parents “because I need the experience.”
Of what? Losing money every month?
...
Long story short, credit bureaus should not touch anything else. They’re dangerously important enough as it is, the last thing we need is them expanding or becoming tied to yet another thing. For all we know, they’ll start using my browser history to rip my credit score to shreds.
So nah - either it’s fully and absolutely independent, and based in a country that actually recognizes privacy as a basic human right and therefore not accessible to the government without a tooth-and-nail legal fight, or I won’t have any of it.
I have a paper copy of passwords and usernames in a very strong physical safe, and a very close friend with a key to it. I’ll stick to that.
Re: Comfy Couch of Confusion 2.0 (3.0?)
Posted: Wed Nov 28, 2018 1:20 am
by Dave
GlytchMeister wrote: ↑Wed Nov 28, 2018 1:08 am
I have a paper copy of passwords and usernames in a very strong physical safe, and a very close friend with a key to it. I’ll stick to that.
That should work just as well. At least you're thought through the issue and done something effective to deal with it responsibly... I'd guess that most people never even do the first part at all.
Re: Comfy Couch of Confusion 2.0 (3.0?)
Posted: Wed Nov 28, 2018 1:36 pm
by Bookworm
What I explain to customers is this.
Create a spreadsheet. On the spreadsheet, put in the sites you have accounts, the name of your login, the email address associated with it, and a number that corresponds to a password. Separately, preferably on a physical medium, have a list of passwords, but all they should have next to them is the letter or number shown on the spreadsheet.
When you're forced to change a password, find every site with that password number/letter, and change them to match the new password. Periodically print out a copy of the spreadsheet for your files, with a separate folder for the passwords. That way, someone has to physically enter your home in order to have a hope of stealing from you, yet in case of final failure, someone can shut the accounts down.
Re: Comfy Couch of Confusion 2.0 (3.0?)
Posted: Wed Nov 28, 2018 2:24 pm
by Dave
Bookworm wrote: ↑Wed Nov 28, 2018 1:36 pm
What I explain to customers is this.
Create a spreadsheet. On the spreadsheet, put in the sites you have accounts, the name of your login, the email address associated with it, and a number that corresponds to a password. Separately, preferably on a physical medium, have a list of passwords, but all they should have next to them is the letter or number shown on the spreadsheet.
One might also want to list the various security questions and answers used on a given site. This information might go along with the password, or on a third set of media.
Re: Comfy Couch of Confusion 2.0 (3.0?)
Posted: Wed Nov 28, 2018 11:18 pm
by Atomic
Ah yes, security questions...
- Name of your first Goldfish
- Middle name of the person who sat behind you in Third Grade
....
Re: Comfy Couch of Confusion 2.0 (3.0?)
Posted: Thu Nov 29, 2018 2:43 pm
by Bookworm
Atomic wrote: ↑Wed Nov 28, 2018 11:18 pm
Ah yes, security questions...
- Name of your first Goldfish
- Middle name of the person who sat behind you in Third Grade
....
those would be more useful than the ones they always ask, which can be found relatively easily. "What was the name of your elementary school". "What is your mother's maiden name". "What's your father's middle name". With social media, "What's the name of your favourite pet" becomes easier too.
Re: Comfy Couch of Confusion 2.0 (3.0?)
Posted: Thu Nov 29, 2018 10:52 pm
by Atomic
The problem,of course, is they didn't specify which grandmother...
Re: Comfy Couch of Confusion 2.0 (3.0?)
Posted: Thu Nov 29, 2018 11:18 pm
by Warrl
Atomic wrote: ↑Wed Nov 28, 2018 11:18 pm
Ah yes, security questions...
- Name of your first Goldfish
- Middle name of the person who sat behind you in Third Grade
....
I don't know the answers to any of those questions.
Re: Comfy Couch of Confusion 2.0 (3.0?)
Posted: Thu Nov 29, 2018 11:38 pm
by Dave
Atomic wrote: ↑Thu Nov 29, 2018 10:52 pm
The problem,of course, is they didn't specify
which grandmother...
And the solution of the problem is to lie your head off. Have a different "grandmother" for every site that asks you this question. Pick names out of the 1957 phone book from Budapest, or from historical records of the Siberian nomads who were greatly inconvenienced by the Tunguska explosion, or something like that.
Of course, you have to keep a list of which bogus names you've given to which sites... it's basically a password list at that point... but at least nobody will be able to figure out your answers from your public history.
Re: Comfy Couch of Confusion 2.0 (3.0?)
Posted: Fri Nov 30, 2018 4:11 am
by Atomic
Or, use standard answers, just enter them in a mix of Cyrillic, Korean, and Kanji!
Re: Comfy Couch of Confusion 2.0 (3.0?)
Posted: Fri Nov 30, 2018 9:08 am
by Dave
Atomic wrote: ↑Fri Nov 30, 2018 4:11 am
Or, use standard answers, just enter them in a mix of Cyrillic, Korean, and Kanji!
Ah, but if you do that, the "I am not a robot" captcha system may insist on taking a blood sample so that it can confirm your ancestry.
After that, you'd be committed to having your phone's fingerprint scanner stick you with a needle each time you want to unlock the screen. Convenient if you're a diabetic and have to finger-stick yourself to do your glucose measurements anything, but less so otherwise.
It's probably better to tell the system that your mother's maiden name is