Danish version below / Dansk version nedenfor

I recently came across a video that delves into Microsoft’s new AI feature, “Recall.” As someone who’s always curious about the latest advancements in technology, I found this particularly intriguing. The feature promises to revolutionize how we interact with and retrieve information, but it also raises questions about privacy and potential intrusiveness. Let’s explore this together.

From YouTube Channal https://www.youtube.com/@EricParker

What is Microsoft Recall?

Microsoft Recall is an AI-powered feature designed to help users quickly access and manage information stored across various platforms. It leverages machine learning algorithms to identify and retrieve relevant data based on user queries, making it easier to find documents, emails, and other important files without extensive searching.

Potential Benefits of Recall

  1. Enhanced Productivity: By reducing the time spent searching for information, Recall can significantly boost productivity. Users can focus more on their tasks rather than wasting time locating files.
  2. Seamless Integration: Recall is integrated into Microsoft’s ecosystem, meaning it can pull information from Office 365, Outlook, OneDrive, and other Microsoft services, providing a comprehensive search experience.
  3. Contextual Understanding: The AI can understand the context of user queries, leading to more accurate and relevant search results. This is especially useful for complex searches involving multiple criteria.

Potential Dangers and Privacy Concerns

While the benefits are clear, there are potential dangers associated with such an intrusive feature:

  1. Privacy Issues: The most significant concern is privacy. Recall requires access to a vast amount of personal data to function effectively. This raises questions about how this data is stored, who has access to it, and how it is protected from breaches.
  2. Data Misuse: There is always the risk of data being misused either by the AI itself or by unauthorized parties who might gain access to it. Ensuring robust security measures is crucial.
  3. Dependence on AI: Over-reliance on AI for managing and retrieving information could lead to reduced critical thinking and memory skills in users. It’s essential to strike a balance between using AI tools and maintaining personal cognitive abilities.

Conclusion

Microsoft’s Recall feature has the potential to transform the way we interact with and manage information, offering significant productivity benefits. However, it’s essential to be aware of the potential privacy and security issues it brings. As we embrace new technologies, maintaining a balance between convenience and privacy is key.

Watch the video to learn more and share your thoughts on this fascinating development.

Post by Mike
With the assistance of my trustworthy friend ChatGPT

Danish version below

Udforskning af Microsofts Nye AI-funktion “Recall”

Jeg stødte for nylig på en video, der dykker ned i Microsofts nye AI-funktion, “Recall”. Som en, der altid er nysgerrig på de nyeste teknologiske fremskridt, fandt jeg dette særligt spændende. Funktionen lover at revolutionere, hvordan vi interagerer med og henter information, men det rejser også spørgsmål om privatliv og potentiel indtrængen. Lad os udforske dette sammen.

Hvad er Microsoft Recall?

Microsoft Recall er en AI-drevet funktion designet til at hjælpe brugere med hurtigt at få adgang til og administrere information, der er gemt på tværs af forskellige platforme. Den udnytter maskinlæringsalgoritmer til at identificere og hente relevante data baseret på brugerforespørgsler, hvilket gør det lettere at finde dokumenter, e-mails og andre vigtige filer uden omfattende søgning.

Potentielle Fordele ved Recall

  1. Øget Produktivitet: Ved at reducere den tid, der bruges på at søge efter information, kan Recall betydeligt øge produktiviteten. Brugerne kan fokusere mere på deres opgaver i stedet for at spilde tid på at finde filer.
  2. Problemfri Integration: Recall er integreret i Microsofts økosystem, hvilket betyder, at det kan hente information fra Office 365, Outlook, OneDrive og andre Microsoft-tjenester, hvilket giver en omfattende søgeoplevelse.
  3. Kontekstuel Forståelse: AI’en kan forstå konteksten af brugerforespørgsler, hvilket fører til mere præcise og relevante søgeresultater. Dette er især nyttigt for komplekse søgninger, der involverer flere kriterier.

Potentielle Farer og Privatlivsproblemer

Mens fordelene er klare, er der potentielle farer forbundet med en så indtrængende funktion:

  1. Privatlivsproblemer: Den mest betydelige bekymring er privatliv. Recall kræver adgang til en stor mængde persondata for at fungere effektivt. Dette rejser spørgsmål om, hvordan disse data opbevares, hvem der har adgang til dem, og hvordan de beskyttes mod brud.
  2. Data Misbrug: Der er altid risikoen for, at data kan misbruges enten af AI’en selv eller af uautoriserede parter, der måtte få adgang til dem. Det er afgørende at sikre robuste sikkerhedsforanstaltninger.
  3. Afhængighed af AI: Overafhængighed af AI til at administrere og hente information kan føre til reduceret kritisk tænkning og hukommelsesevner hos brugerne. Det er vigtigt at finde en balance mellem brug af AI-værktøjer og opretholdelse af personlige kognitive evner.

Konklusion

Microsofts Recall-funktion har potentialet til at transformere måden, vi interagerer med og administrerer information, og tilbyder betydelige produktivitetsfordele. Men det er vigtigt at være opmærksom på de potentielle privatlivs- og sikkerhedsproblemer, som den bringer med sig. Efterhånden som vi omfavner nye teknologier, er det afgørende at opretholde en balance mellem bekvemmelighed og privatliv.

Se videoen for at lære mere og del dine tanker om denne fascinerende udvikling.

Indlæg af Mike
Med assistance fra min pålidelige ven ChatGPT

Quad9 the free secure DNS service is in trouble and need our help.

Quad9 - Wikipedia

https://www.quad9.net/letter-of-support-for-quad9-and-freedom-of-dns-resolution/

Explainer

If you dont know what Quad9 is, then here is a short explainer. Quad9 is a free DNS services much like Googles well known 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4, Quad9 (9.9.9.9 and 149.112.112.112) however add a very cool FREE security layer to the solution (a bit like Ciscos Umbrella, just not quite as customizable). If you use Quad9s DNS as your DNS service and you get infected by malware (eg. ransomware etc.) then chances are that the malware will try to “phone home” to its command and control server – Quad9 will blocks communication to known command and control DNS addresses thus disrupting many botnets or ransomware “providers”.

Anyhow, Sony has in Germany started a court case to force Quad9 to censor DNS resolution, Sony want Quad9 to block access to pages that Sony claim contain copyright protected content. In Denmark (where I live) we have a similar DNS blocking mandatory for national DNS services, it was originally introduced to block access to child phonography (something all of us could support) – but quickly the music industry and other rights owners/lobbyists saw this as a golden opportunity to block whatever they did not like and succeeded in convincing courts to add to the blocklist.

I support working against crime and child phonography however I do not think DNS blocking is the solution (perhaps against terrorism, pedophilia and violent crimes – but not for immaterial rights), experiences have shown, that what starts as a noble initiative quickly become a tool for lobbyists and huge enterprises to suppress whatever they dont like on the internet.

In general I think that more police, and more crossborder police collaboration is the way forth – not letting Sony and other dictate what is on the internet.

I supported the DNS blocking back in the days when the goal was to protect children against misuse, but now when it is a tool for mega companies and lobbyists my respect is gone.

Did you know:

Quad 9 offers free DNS services with malware filtering – to use just set your DNS (and or DNS servers) to query 9.9.9.9 and 149.112.112.112, then block all other DNS traffic outbound and presto you added a free additional security layer to your setup (company or personal). It is important to add the blocking for other DNS queries in your firewall as malware otherwise could easily bypass your protection. Read more here: https://www.quad9.net/service/service-addresses-and-features

Backblaze has something similar – here you use 1.1.1.2 (blocks malware like Quad9) and 1.1.1.3 (blocks both malware and pornography).
Read more here; https://blog.cloudflare.com/introducing-1-1-1-1-for-families/


To whom it may concern:
We believe that the act of recursive DNS resolution is not within the justifiable legal boundaries of control by rightsholders during infringement litigation. In order for the DNS to remain a stable, secure, and trusted platform, we would urge policymakers and regulators to clarify and reiterate the long-standing understanding that recursive resolution is a neutral technical function that should not be subject to blocking demands imposed by private parties based on data that has not been ruled upon by a suitable and fair court process.

Further, we believe that systems that are designed for providing cybersecurity (be they DNS-based or otherwise) should not be made available to be repurposed for other goals against the interest and intent of the service operator or the end user. This type of corruption of core internet infrastructure risks eroding the trust in both the operators and a technology that is core to the continued well-being of the internet and that of the citizens who use it.

We support Quad9 in their objection to the ruling of the Hamburg Court of (Case 310 O 99/21), and hope that the court finds in favor of the defendant.

So, you recieve this text from someone which they for some reason or other has written in ALL CAPS – *sigh*, what to do – well if it is just a few words then its easy enough, just rewrite the darn thing. But what if it is several pages :-O

Well, there likely is some function in word or notepad++ I dont know about, but there is ALSO a site (there is almost always a site)..

https://convertcase.net/

I mean, who would not LOVE to get their text back in “Morse Code” 😉

Enjoy

securityAs many of you may have experienced the Internet is not just filled with wonderful “things” and cute kittens, its equally filled with malware as well.  Just over the past 6 months, I in my professional capacity, have experienced Cryptolocker like malware more than 5 times, in the professional scene this was mainly a nuisance as we could “just” revert to backups – however in many private homes this could often mean “pay up” or loose your family photos etc. – seeing that many home users do not have a good backup strategy.

Sure antivirus may detect and protect against many of these things, however why rely solely on that – why not add an extra and free layer of protection to the internet of your friends/family and kids?  A protection that is not only free but also auto-updating thus maintenance free.

It is actually REALLY simple, all you do is to configure your DNS to use the DNS servers of Norton (and yes, it is totally free for home use).  Instructions for configuration is on their site https://connectsafe.norton.com/configurePC.html – on the top right you can even select the level of protection – three levels are available, may I suggest level 3 for Aunt Mathilda.

“Advanced” use

if you administer your own network and or router (or that of family and friends), then you can setup the DHCP to hand out these Norton DNS addresses and protect each and every device in the network (even that Internet of things ;-))..

Word of caution..

If you configure this setting manually (like shown below) and have a laptop you carry with you, then you MAY run into problems at schools/workplaces – in my company we ONLY allow our own DNS servers access to the internet and subsequently if you set your own DNS addresses these requests are blocked in the firewall.  This is not a problem for Aunt Mathilda or the toddlers using the home desktop computer, but keep it in mind if using laptops – the VERY best solution is to setup your DHCP to hand out the Norton DNS addresses..

2015-07-23 14_23_46-Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP_IPv4) Properties

How good is it?

That is a difficult question to answer, as you get no statistics it would be pure guesswork – but seeing it is free and MIGHT protect you and your loved ones, why not just go with it.

Alternatives

This sounds really cool, but are there no alternatives?
Well sure there are alternatives, not sure if they are better but to mention a few;

https://www.comodo.com/secure-dns/ – Equally free, but give you adds for non-existing domains.

https://www.opendns.com/enterprise-security/threat-enforcement/packages/ – OpenDNS is a great and old player in this field, you can customize things and it even works in corporate environments – however it’s not free, you will need the “Umbrella Prosumer uses” license which is a bit hard to find on their site, however it will give you 3 devices for 20US$.

http://www.securly.com/parent-signup   – This one I just read about, it sounds cool though even though the purpose seem more parental control than security – by using Google accounts you keep track of your loved ones internet use and you get to see cool graphs etc.  But this one is equally not free.

Npolitifact_photos_redditow I have for the longest time been way to occupied to do a lot of reading on Reddit – which is actually a shame as there is lots of good info flowing around in there..  But anyhow, I came across a neat little trick which might be wellknown to you Reddit sharks out there, but I did not know it so I’ll share 😀

See the thing I hated was that in order to get to the groups that interests me I had to logon and then do several mouse clicks afterwards..  Might not sound like a major undertaking, but if you are busy then everything that takes mouse clicks may put you off..

Then I discovered that you could actually embed the groups you wanted to see in the URL and hence bookmark it!?  Now I have one bookmark with the mail groups I want to read and thats it…  Nice..

A few examples;

First one group;

http://www.reddit.com/r/sysadmin

Now a bunch of groups, you see you just add a “+” sign and the groupname..

http://www.reddit.com/r/andSec+antiforensics+AskNetsec+computerforensics+homelab+HyperV+netsec++PowerShell+pwned+SCCM+sysadmin+sysadmintools+usefulscripts

As mentioned, this is likely childsplay to Reddit know-it-all’s but to me it is a real neat trick.

5df133c41bfcbf3289618ffd525f199a_largeI just read about a free caching solution (Open Source) for your web-server, it sounds like an excellent solution and it seem it has been around for some time.

What it does is basically to cache incomming requests in order to reply rapidly to repeated requests, thus taking a load of your servers and possibly reduce the need for a clustered solution.

Again there are many aspects on solutions like this, but if you “need more power” (as Cpt. Kirk always said to Scotty in Star-Trek then this may be a possible road to go down).

Header from website;

Varnish Cache is a web application accelerator also known
as a caching HTTP reverse proxy. You install it in front
of any server that speaks HTTP and configure it to cache
the contents. Varnish Cache is really, really fast. It
typically speeds up delivery with a factor of 300 - 1000x,
depending on your architecture. A high level overview of
what Varnish does can be seen in the video attached
to this web page.

Link to video that explain what it’s all about (in VERY general terms 😀 but still)..
http://sl.readmydamnblog.com/1nARoMe

Link to website;
http://sl.readmydamnblog.com/1k0Bo6p

If you use Microsoft SCOM for system management in your company then this is worth a look, Live maps from SAVision – it’s cool yet slightly expensive..

What it will can do is to allow you to create simple visual representations (Dashboards) of your system, you can even “publish” these dashboards as webpages and “drill-down” into these.

Not only does it allow to represent servers, routers and other equipment but it allow you to group different servers, services, equipment etc. into one (Dynamic objects) – eg. your CRM system may rely on some SQL databases and perhaps an active internet connection – in one icon you can represent the status of your CRM based upon internet being available, SQL running, Server Running etc. etc. Clever…

http://www.savision.com/products/live-maps-system-center

But as I mentioned it’s not the cheapest solution 🙁  a starter package with 25 dashboards/views should set you back $7000 I have heard – I also heard that a demo version with 5 views should be available upon request – but this is all hearsay so do check yourself.

WordFence

You are likely familiar with WordPress, if not well – interesting 😉  anyhow, you may also have heard about the recent attacks on wordpress blogs by a worm like virus/malware?  Attacks on WordPress installations is not something new, it has always been there as it’s such a popular platform however time has revealed some not so smart features with wordpress security, one thing is that you can try to log in as many times as you like without any action being taken – hence there is nothing to stop a brute force attack on your wordpress installation’s login!?

Well Wordfence to the rescue, a simple plugin you install on your wordpress installation that all of a sudden offers you a ton of cool security features, I will just mention a few here – for the complete listing visit their website..

Features;

  • Login limiter – limit how many incorrect passwords/usernames are accepted
  • Site and theme scanner – scan your wordpress blog for changes
  • Block unwanted IP’s from accessing your site
  • Manage crawlers (search engine index bots)
  • and many many many more cool features

You can define what the reaction to different attacks, eg. block IP/Lock account for xx min/throttle traffic.

Wordfence1

Now a thing like that must cost a fortune you say!?  well no, there is a TOTALLY FREE version with basic functionality (enough for most I would say) and the deluxe version which cost a bit.

Now after adding this you should also add Two Factor Authentication, eg using “WordPress Google Authenticator Plugin” – http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/google-authenticator/screenshots/ Or one of the other TwoFactor authentication solutions out there.

So, what are you waiting for 🙂 protect your WordPress blog now 🙂

While ‘playing’ with my Roku2 box I came across Crackle.com and thought I’d mention it.

Www.Crackle.Com is a fully Free (yes I don’t get the business model either) streaming service (USA only, but this can be fixed with either www.witopia.net eller www.unblock-us.com), not quite as good selection as www.netflix.com but FREE 😀