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Yeah. Let's bring our boxes online and send each other mails. Later we can perhaps even reach 9600 bps. Our computers back then had bit banged software controlled serial communication at 300 bps. Later we optimized it up to 2400 bps in software and 4800 bps if we raised the CPU's clock frequency. 9600 bps does not sound totally out of the question.
As for the modem - we tried, but our contraption did not work. At least our poor parents honestly could not explain what happened and their innocence was absolutely plausible.
I have lived with several Zen masters - all of them were cats.
His last invention was an evil Lasagna. It didn't kill anyone, and it actually tasted pretty good.
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Yeah, modems definitely sucked back then...I still remember the acoustically coupled ones where you actually had to put the phone's headset into a rubber cup-like receptacle.
That said, the direction of e-mail was fairly obvious even back then. They started standardizing e-mail headers as far back as the early 70's (RFC 561). Arpanet had been kicking around for a while, when CSNET debuted in 1981...the year this guy wrote the article. I remember actually sending e-mails over CSNET as early as 1982.
So, a small amount of reading, even back then, should have exposed this as an idea who's time had already passed.
Though, starting in 1983, that didn't stop products like MCI Mail from making money on a slight variation of the idea...for quite a while. Heck, over its 20 year lifetime, that product alone made a fair amount of money. If you add in similar products, collectively they probably did make a billion
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BY 1981 I was using a home built IBM clone and running Fidonet at 2400 baud, leter went up to 96000 baud a few years later..
CQ de W5ALT
Walt Fair, Jr., P. E.
Comport Computing
Specializing in Technical Engineering Software
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Really? The IBM PC was first sold in September 1981 and you already had a built a clone? Was it perhaps a CP/M machine instead and the PC came later?
I have lived with several Zen masters - all of them were cats.
His last invention was an evil Lasagna. It didn't kill anyone, and it actually tasted pretty good.
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Good to know that they described a fax machine essentially and that the author was right. Had he known that in another 4 years that there would be a full stack of networking protocols finished on BSD he would have described the rough system of Email. John C. Dvorak would have probably written a similar article. Also don't look up the address in the ad to the right of the article. It's not exactly in the good part of Cleveland.
I also like the author's byte encoded word dictionary compression rom idea.
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Sometimes, I really wish Randall wouldn't get it quite so right[^] - particularly the mouse over text ...
Sent from my Amstrad PC 1640
Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...
AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!
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Those were the days...
Nothing to do all day but making holes into things with guns and other even better means.
I have lived with several Zen masters - all of them were cats.
His last invention was an evil Lasagna. It didn't kill anyone, and it actually tasted pretty good.
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I used to have a toy called Super Flight Deck - if the plane was replaced with a small marble which was then fired at a standard single pane of glass (such as one might find in one's parent's sitting room) the marble shattered on impact while punching a perfectly circular marble sized hole through the glass. The presence of several such holes were evidence that the first one wasn't a fluke. My father was less than impressed by my experimentation.
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What some people fail to understand is that it takes less time to drill the 500 holes manually than to have SW bug-free enough mechatronics that work-
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That's what I was thinking.
Everyone is born right handed. Only the strongest overcome it.
Fight for left-handed rights and hand equality.
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Retro
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I was looking for an email address and hit various sites. One of them, ripoff report, had the following across the top of the page:
Quote: NOTICE! Those consumers located in the European Union, effective 5/24/2018 due to the GDPR, citizens of any GDPR applicable country or anyone sitting in, or operating from, such country are prohibited from using this site. Read our Terms of Service to learn more. By using our site you understand and agree to these terms. Don't blame us... blame Europe! This site uses cookies to store information on your computer which may track your browsing behavior on our site and provide you with ads or other offers that may be relevant to you. Some are essential to make our site work; others help us improve the user experience. Read our Privacy Policy to learn more. There are two ways to handle the EU's GDPR laws. One is to comply. The other, above, is a very valid alternative. (note: bold face in quote is mine)
Giving it some thought, I think I'd do the same for my websites that could possibly fall under the EU's jackboots.
Ravings en masse^ |
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"The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits." - Albert Einstein | "If you are searching for perfection in others, then you seek disappointment. If you are seek perfection in yourself, then you will find failure." - Balboos HaGadol Mar 2010 |
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As a consumer I'm very much in favor of the GDPR.
If I do not wish to use a website anymore and I want to delete my account, for whatever reason, I want to be able to do that.
I'm also not very fond of companies selling whatever info they have of me to other companies that I have no knowledge of.
Etc. Etc. You've probably heard all of this before.
As a developer I also understand that this is very difficult to implement in existing systems.
In fact, I'm currently implementing it in a new and small application that I'm building and it's already a PITA (like, I need to be able to delete customers, but I want to keep their orders and some other data for reporting).
If you're not implementing this from the start you're in for a lot of hard work.
And I do understand that a lot of companies that have little or no business in Europe choose not to implement it.
It's a little ridiculous that Europeans are now excluded from many services that are not located in Europe though.
If non-European companies get excused from the rule everyone will move overseas though, so I get that too.
I hope GDPR is a worldwide future so no one is left out and everyone has their data at least a little bit protected.
It may not be perfect, but at least steps are made.
Your web and privacy laws pretty much come from a time where the web didn't even exist
I absolutely detest the "we use cookies" warning though
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Sander Rossel wrote: I absolutely detest the "we use cookies" warning though
Once is OK and possibly needed, but those that show it every time are simply proving that they aren't capable.
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Which shows they haven't bothered at all.
How many nags about cookies and GDPR have you recieved from Codeproject? One extra right?
That's because Chris actually found out what it all was about. And however much extra work it is for the developers, it's all about things you would want the companies you're dealing with to have control over in any case.
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You get one for every time you clean out the cookies in your PC.
One way to reduce the amount of spying on you is to delete all cookies every Sunday night (at least). So you start every week with a "We use cookies" from every website you visit. After a few weeks, it becomes a habit to click that OK button without worrying about it at all.
If you want to be even more safe, delete all cookies after you've been visiting FB or any Google service or similar. And don't log in on any site until you have to. When you log in, they don't need the cookies to track your activities, and deleting the cookies doesn't delete the info that those sites store about you. Note that sometimes, it isn't enough to log out from the website to return to anonymous state: They may keep their eyes on you even if you don't have access to their services. You have to log out from the web site, delete all cookies and other info that web pages store on you machine, quit the browser and log out or restart your PC. (In other words: Visit FB at the end of the day, not in the morning.)
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Member 7989122 wrote: You get one for every time you clean out the cookies in your PC. Which in my case is everytime I close the browser... (ESR version and Domain politics, no changeably for me)
Member 7989122 wrote: After a few weeks, it becomes a habit to click that OK button without worrying about it at all. Which can be a bigger danger than the cookie itself, if you don't pay attention to which "OK" you click, because you "automated" it
M.D.V.
If something has a solution... Why do we have to worry about?. If it has no solution... For what reason do we have to worry about?
Help me to understand what I'm saying, and I'll explain it better to you
Rating helpful answers is nice, but saying thanks can be even nicer.
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Nelek wrote: Which can be a bigger danger than the cookie itself, if you don't pay attention to which "OK" you click, because you "automated" it I never log in to any web site before I have to - I accept the reduced service level of not being logged in (such as web newspaper articles being available ony by heading/teaser).
Similarly, I do not OK cookies until I "have to". If I get what I want without accepting the cookies, I'm fine with a banner, usually atthe bottom of the window telling me to click OK. It reduces the usable part of the window a little bit, but that's usually OK.
Several times, when web sites force me to create an account or accept cookies before giving me enough of a teaser to reveal if they have anything to offer that I want, I don't trust them, press the 'Back' button and forget about that site. I very rarely "have to" visit an unknown web site.
So those that I OK are usually well known web sites (like CP or Google or web shops I use regularly). I do not OK by routine. But then again, I have not made myself dependent on e.g. asocial media and dozens of mobile apps. I can mostly do with old style solutions that are less suspectible to monitoring.
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Sander Rossel wrote: I need to be able to delete customers, but I want to keep their orders and some other data for reporting
If you've got financial transactions, you have a legitimate need to keep the customer's data for whatever retention period you've declared in your policies. In the UK, that would typically be seven years.
Once that period is up, you no longer need the orders or financial transactions, so they can be deleted. At that point, you can delete the rest of the customer's data if they've requested it.
There's also an argument to be made for automatically deleting the customer's data if they haven't done any business with you in the last seven years.
"These people looked deep within my soul and assigned me a number based on the order in which I joined."
- Homer
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Hold up, this is some good info!
I don't have financial transactions yet, but what you're saying is that when I implement PayPal I am obligated to keep someone's data for x years?
Of course the transactions are already stored by PayPal and the bank too... All I need to know is "did this person pay?"
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In the UK, if you've sold something to a customer, you have to keep their data for seven years, in case HMRC decide to audit you. You need to be able to produce the last seven years of financial transactions on demand, to make sure you're not fiddling your taxes.
You could probably delete some customer data before that - application logins, etc. - but you need to keep their name, address, contact details, VAT registration details, etc. for auditing purposes.
Obviously, if there's any doubt, you should consult a wallet-sucking leech lawyer for proper advice.
If you've got a Pluralsight subscription, Troy Hunt (@User-993886) has recently published a GDPR course there:
The State of GDPR: Common Questions and Misperceptions | Pluralsight[^]
"These people looked deep within my soul and assigned me a number based on the order in which I joined."
- Homer
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Thanks, going to check out that Pluralsight course
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If you have a business requirement for keeping someone's data then even if they tell you to delete you do not have to delete it to comply with GDPR.
You just need to show evidence that the data you are holding is required for the functioning of the business.
So.
Customer orders goods, pays for them, has them delivered.
Customer then leaves a review on your site praising the great goods he has ordered.
You save the customers details required for processing the order and the review in your data store.
Customer decided to raise a GDPR request saying he wants all his data deleted.
You delete the review, as it is not required for any business reason.
You do not have to delete his order or delivery details as these details are required for the operation of the business in cases where there might be a query or as required for auditing purposes.
Such is my understanding of GDPR after reading about it a lot.
We deal with medical information within the EU and US so we get to play with GDPR, HIPAA, NHS and a whole load of other 3-5LAs that all want things done differently.
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