‘Geek Speak’ Allegedly Confuses Net Users
The BBC is running a story on a recent survey that aimed to establish how much online security-related “technology jargon” the average home user understands.
The survey, helpfully titled ‘Do you speak geek?’ to really enforce the idea of a segregated clique of tech-heads running the Internet, discovered that 84% did not know that phishing referred to fake email scams; 75% did not know what spyware was (though 1 in 10 of those that said they did thought it was something one used to spy on unfaithful partners) and 61% did not know what a trojan was, including, it seems, the BBC, who included an incorrect definition in the article, as well as confusing crackers and virus writers with hackers.
And what bastion of good sense and intelligence was responsible for the survey? None but AOL UK. For people scared of the label “geek,” they needed look no further than their own user base, which appears to be just what they have done. And with that in mind, the figures are hardly surprising.
“Many are often left vulnerable because they have no idea what they are supposed to be protecting themselves against,” revealed the survey, and with all-new dumbing-down operations like the “now even simpler” AOL Security Centre, is it any wonder that the simple-minded sheep rely on the supposed blanket protections offered by their loving ISP, as opposed to taking the time to learn about the threats and countermeasures themselves?
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