I remember using netgroups and UUCP in the early 90’s to piece together files from alt.binaries.pictures.erotica
Back then there were fewer financially/data-predatory websites, mostly because we didn’t have payment methods on the Internet yet (we were just getting websites as opposed to news and gopher), and it wasn’t yet practical for companies to scrape your data.
So instead we were inundated with viruses. Like every few weeks, somehow, a virus would eat your frickin’ files. It was more simply malicious, not even greedy. Not going to try and argue which is worse.
I also used gopher, usenet, uucp, archie and all that in the early '90s. And if you were just a little bit careful, catching a virus or trojan was very rare.
Now, everything is monetized. You’re under constant surveillance on a scale it was unimaginable at that time, and being careful amounts to nothing (unless you’re super paranoid) because your security depends completely on how others secure your data, assuming that they’re trying to secure and not sell it.
In this respect, now it’s much, much worse than it was, even if in some other ways it’s somewhat better.
Getting drive-by zero click malware from an Adobe Flash / ActiveX embed banner ad, or JavaScript / CSS vulnerability, had nothing to do with how careful you were. You just randomly got viruses from your computer existing with an Ethernet cable connected. Antivirus were also pretty useless.
If you never got one, you were either extremely lucky, or just didn’t notice and it was sneaky spyware
Now?
I remember using netgroups and UUCP in the early 90’s to piece together files from
alt.binaries.pictures.eroticaBack then there were fewer financially/data-predatory websites, mostly because we didn’t have payment methods on the Internet yet (we were just getting websites as opposed to news and gopher), and it wasn’t yet practical for companies to scrape your data.
So instead we were inundated with viruses. Like every few weeks, somehow, a virus would eat your frickin’ files. It was more simply malicious, not even greedy. Not going to try and argue which is worse.
I also used gopher, usenet, uucp, archie and all that in the early '90s. And if you were just a little bit careful, catching a virus or trojan was very rare.
Now, everything is monetized. You’re under constant surveillance on a scale it was unimaginable at that time, and being careful amounts to nothing (unless you’re super paranoid) because your security depends completely on how others secure your data, assuming that they’re trying to secure and not sell it.
In this respect, now it’s much, much worse than it was, even if in some other ways it’s somewhat better.
Peak internet was around 2005-2010, IMHO.
Getting drive-by zero click malware from an Adobe Flash / ActiveX embed banner ad, or JavaScript / CSS vulnerability, had nothing to do with how careful you were. You just randomly got viruses from your computer existing with an Ethernet cable connected. Antivirus were also pretty useless.
If you never got one, you were either extremely lucky, or just didn’t notice and it was sneaky spyware