If You’ve Over 30, Don’t Screw Around Using Computers
Bless Paul Manafort’s heart. Like most people over 30 years old, he just accepts that computers are magic, and have no knowledge of how it works.
Remember a few months ago when it was revealed that the reason Manafort got caught trying to defraud the government was because he left a paper trail. And he left a paper trail because he couldn’t convert a PDF to a Word file and had to ask for help.
Oh, the Antics of Captain Keyboard continues. In the latest charge of witness tampering, Manafort used WhatsApp to send messages to people asking them to lie. WhatsApp is encrypted so Manafort thought he was safe. He was wrong. WhatsApp has a setting that automatically backs up the messages to your iCloud account. Unless that feature is disabled, anybody with a warrant can see your iCloud account with all your WhatsApp messages fully spelled out in a nice order.
No wonder they raided his home by slamming through the front door. The man was fixing to break the Internet.
It’s amazing how so many arrogant people are so stupid.
And I’m waaaay over 30 and I know better about security than that.
1I am 62 this July and I have worked as a software engineer since I was 15. (They called us “programmers” back then.)
Even before the Internet came into common commercial use I learned that you never ever write something to be stored in a computer that you would not be able to deal with if it showed up on the front page of the town newspaper.
Back then we knew all about FBI wiretaps.
It is easier said than done actually. Even with that knowledge there are things here and there that I have posted that might be traced back to me (with sufficient funding and focus) that I would rather not have. My best defense is that some of it is so old it would be stored on media nobody would know how to use anymore even if it were viable.
So it is not really a matter of age. It is a matter of temperament. The best defense is not to be a crook and an asshole in the first place.
2“So it is not really a matter of age. It is a matter of temperament. The best defense is not to be a crook and an asshole in the first place.”
Bu-bu-but, Alan, we’re talking about Republicans here. Criminality and assholery are part of their DNA. They’d need gene therapy to get rid of those traits.
3So Crooked Manafort got caught! I don’t care if it was the result of total technical numbskullery or whatever. I couldn’t have happened to a more deserving guy! I can only imagine his entourage is probably sweating ferociously, waiting for that visit from the FBI.I’d bet my pocket lint they are just as technically impaired and guilty.
4WTG Pauli! With your careful following of simple bail rules, you’ve certainly decreased your odds of being accepted into a witness protection program. Sweet dreams from Russia!
5Well good, we all know what his prison greeting and nickname will be:
What’sApp Doc?
6Not to rain on the parade here, but if you have a “get out of jail free card,” what’s Paul got to lose?
7Pardon, anyone?
Well excuuuse me! I’m old enough to be collection Social Security and I first encountered punch cards in 1977, got my genuine IBM PC (with the B in a circle indicating space for 640K of RAM) in 1985 and have been working in what we now call the Information Technology field for 29 years. Being stoopit is not age-related.
8I took a computer class that involved paper punch cards back about 1979, but my husband’s the NASA-contractor pro so I leave it to him, even when his answer is “Turn it off and on again.”
9I built my own cat-whicker crystal radio in 1948.
10Worked punchcard for IBM in 1961.
Serviced marine radar in 1970.
All Apple all the time.
They didn’t break down Manafort’s door.
They picked the lock.
I think the age old saying still fits:
If you can’t do the time, don’t do the crime!
Manafort is simply head in the collar, and @$$ in the sling. Now, how much he gives will determine what he gets…
😉
11And what about Flynn? He spent most of his military career in military intelligence but was too stupid to know that telephone conversations with Russian government officials were recorded by our intelligence agencies.
12@Alan
2600hz?
13Oh yeah!?! Well let me tell you about my tech expertise!
14I think Bill Gates might object to the “over 30” remark, in fact my elder son who is 42 works for MSFT and his younger brother, 38, is a software engineer. I am in my 70’s and have used computers for many years, but I know enough not to try to evade the law with it. He is desperate and grasping for a way out, but is just digging himself a deeper hole.
15C’mon, Paul, flip for Pete’ sakes.