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Comment Re:Eventually they will be in dictionaries. (Score 1) 563

If we're dealing with #1 then simple passwords are perfect AS LONG AS SOMEONE IS MONITORING THE ACCOUNT FOR FAILED LOGIN ATTEMPTS and dealing with them (and having a delay between individual attempts).

You are only thinking about the individual's situation. Yes, a simple password is fine for a particular account if that account is monitored to prevent a dictionary attack. But in a lot of cases an attacker doesn't need to breach a particular account - any account will do. Instead of attacking a single account with thousands of passwords an attacker can simply attack thousands of accounts with a single password (or even different passwords from a dictionary - it doesn't matter).

Comment Re:Perversion of the law's intent (Score 2, Insightful) 371

Well it's not that easy, I think. Someone like Christopher Reuel Tolkien (age 85) is still publishing - at that age you are more likely to be interested in earning money for your family or descendents rather than yourself.

But why should certain professions even have this ability to generate ongoing income for their descendants? Joe Taxi-driver can only invest the money he makes during his lifetime to provide ongoing income. Other artists such as painters and sculptors don't get ongoing income from their work. Why should some authors and entertainers be treated differently?

Comment Re:Retail banking != investment banking (Score 1) 398

When that happens I'm sure the bank will be happy to consider working with him. In the meantime the bank has no evidence that this will ever be the case.

The bank may then be happy to work with him but will he be happy to work with that bank? The bank has no way of telling which 10% of it's customers will end up being the 10% most profitable so you think they should annoy all their customers on the assumption that each one will probably be in the 90% least profitable.

Do you have any idea how expensive it is for a large bank to have policies that are inconsistent? It's unbelievably complicated and expensive. If a large bank is going to change the rules for you they'll need some sort of reason to believe you are worth the hassle and extra cost.

I didn't advocate inconsistent policies.

Look, I've worked very closely with bankers for years. It is a relationship business. After all, the banker is selling an undifferentiated product - one money market fund is pretty much the same as any other money market fund.

Exactly. So why should banks foul their customer relations by introducing punitive fee structures? Why jeopardise future potential for less than $50 per year?

Your mortgage doesn't earn them "tens of thousands of dollars a year" unless you have an absolutely gigantic mortgage. The interest they receive is 5-7% annually. For a typical mortgage of $200K (close to the average in the US) that works out to $7000-15000 in revenue which steadily decreases over time.

Why did you assume I was in the US? I am not. I didn't just pull that number out of my ass - I know exactly how much interest I have paid on my mortgage and I assure you it is in the tens of thousands per year. The average new mortgage in Australia is in excess of $350K and the interest rates are around 6.5%. You do the maths.

You also are not considering the cost side of the equation. Chances are good those future interest payments have been securitized and sold already anyway so the bank may already be effectively out of your mortgage anyway.

In which case the bank has already realised their profit. Mortgages are where the profit is for consumer banks, are they not? Customers are more likely to take out a mortgage with a bank they already use, right?

The only justification for charging more than the cost of those accounts is that they can get away with it. That doesn't necessarily make it a good idea.

Comment Re:People still bank at Chase? (Score 1) 398

Sorry, but I don't have a lot of pity for people that don't plan things out and expect everything to go perfect tomorrow. Comments like yours somewhat demonstrate the commonality of this problem though. "Why should I bother with that, all I have to do is make sure everything goes perfect and I'll be fine". No thank you. Not where my money and health are concerned.

You're making a few unwarranted assumptions there. As it happens I have a mortgage so all the "emergency" features you're talking about using a credit card for I can use my mortgage for - at a much lower rate. I also keep a few thousand in a savings account.

I have managed to forget to pay my balance off on time occasionally - maybe 3 times in 10 years. But having a lower rate for that rare situation is not worth losing the other features of the card I've got.

Comment Re:People still bank at Chase? (Score 1) 398

I've heard though that they classify customers like me as "dead beats" because we don't carry a balance for them to charge interest on. I suppose it's possible that's why I got sacked. It's just a shame to have to cancel your first credit card, that helped you establish credit, that you've had for almost 20 years.

If you don't carry a balance and are therefore not paying any interest then what difference does the rate make to you?

Comment Re:Some customers are to costly to keep (Score 1) 398

Now I'd never really actually used it, and only had $50 or so in it

So you were providing them basically no money whatsoever to invest. Do you know how a bank works? They take in deposits and then invest the money deposited. In return they provide you security and safe access to your money and perhaps a bit of interest. The amount of interest that can be earned on $50.00 is less than the cost to send you your statements. Your $50 costs them money. Not a lot and probably not $2.00 but more than zero. Why would the bank want to do business with a customer that costs them money each month?

You speak as though the savings account was this guys only account with the bank. It wasn't. Because they nickel-and-dimed him on the savings account he closed his checking account with an undisclosed amount in it. You also need to consider future potential. Maybe this guy was small-fry, but tomorrow he might want a big loan to start a business or buy a house. Maybe one day he'll be in a decision making position with a large company. No doubt he'll show this bank the same amount of loyalty that they've shown him.

They institute the fee specifically to drive away unprofitable customers.

But those tactics also drive away profitable customers. If my bank tried to take $2 a month from me on my $100 savings account they'd lose all my business - including the mortgage that earns them tens of thousands of dollars a year. Sure, most people are too lazy to change but it still generates a lot of ill will and for what? $50 a year in fees? Banks get away with this shit because they're about the most profitable industry there is. But don't try claim that it's sensible, reasonable, or intelligent behaviour.

Comment Re:iPhone didn't have cut-and-paste either.. (Score 1) 319

I've had a smart phone for years, work in IT and have never ever needed to use copy and paste! I don't know why people worry about it so much???? It really is one of those, who gives a rats arse about it, features!!!!

I've never used it either. Though I don't write emails on my phone. I can imagine that if you needed it one day and it wasn't there it'd be rather frustrating.

Comment Re:Well Duh (Score 1) 773

Cher has a last name, as most likely did Homer and Virgil and everyone else, they're last names might have been "from _____ or the ______", but they still had one.

Cher had a last name at birth. But her legal name is now "Cher", with no last or middle name. She legally changed her name in 1979.

Comment Re:I don't want it, it's human blood stained (Score 1) 1184

Are you swearing off all Chinese made products? If not you are a hypocrite. Foxconn also makes non-Apple devices & products. Are you going to swear off buying these too?

I am swearing off everything that is not necessary for me to live. I don't have an iPod, iPad, iPhone, Intel-branded motherboard, Dell, HP, PS2, PS3, WII, XBox, Motorola phone, Kindle and Cisco. I will try to buy as few as possible products made in China.

But you're still going to use the net even though Cisco produce the majority of hardware it's made from?

Comment Re:stupid (Score 1) 393

Agree. Transmitting from a chip to PC or vice-versa, is no big deal. The fact he put it inside his body doesn't alter that ability.

Unfortunately superapecommando chose a very poorly written version of the story to submit and for some reason samzenpus chose that one to post. If you read a more informative version, like this one, or this one, you'd know that what the guy is claiming to have done is to have infected an implanted RFID device with a virus and had the virus infect his PC when it accessed the device. That's actually quite concerning.

Comment Re:It's a really simple equation: (Score 1) 194

Therefore, no-one values other people's work as much as their own. Following that line of thinking, I can't realistically trust others with my work as they simply won't value it as much as I do.

You don't need someone to value your work more than their own to be able to trust them. There is a big difference between someone not valuing your work as much as their own, and someone not valuing your work enough to take reasonable care with it.

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