Computer Act!ve - UK (2022-01-19)

SOFTWAREWARNING!

Named & Shamed

21

WHATARETHEY

TALKING ABOUT?

BARRY’SVILLAIN OF THEFORTNIGHT

BarryCollinsputsthebootintotechvillains,jargon-

spoutingcompaniesandsoftwaretryingtotrickyou

It’s asin:Jesus

Passwordwantsto

accessyourentire

OneDriveaccount

togiveJesusaccesstoyourentireaccount

(seescreenshot).Thatnoiseyoucanhear

isalarmbellsringing.Evenifyou’rethat

foolhardy(andIwas,onyourbehalf,dear

readers), you’llfindadismalappthathas

noneofthefeaturesyou’d expectofeven

ahalfwaycompetentpasswordmanager.

There’s noauto-complete,thepassword

generatorisbroken,andtheappisso

badlydesignedthatIgenuinelythoughtit

hadcrashedwhenIfirstopenedit.It’s

easytopickonJesusPassword,butthere

areloadsofsimilarlow-rentequivalents

intheMicrosoftStore–aplacewhere

Microsoftismeanttovetsoftwareand

provideappsthatcustomerscantrust.

Howcanyoutrustapasswordmanager

thatcan’tevendeliveracoherentprivacy

policy?Howdoesthisevengetpast

Microsoft’ssecurity? Someoneat

Microsoftshouldbeshufflinginto

confessionaltoadmittheirsins.

JesusPassword’s

“unholymess”

WHAT THEY SAY VirginMedia

LGwww.snipca.com/4 0402

“LondonartistRuofanChen presentsa

setofvisually-striking piecesthat speak

totheemotionalconnectionhumans

haveformedwiththenaturalworld...

Centraltooneofherexhibitedpieces,

therollableOLEDTV(pictured)stands

stoically betweenpreciselyarrangedtree

branches, juxtaposingtechnologywithlife,

invitingviewerstointerprettheconnection

betweentheinorganicandtheorganic.”

WHAT THEY MEAN

We’veinterpretedtheconnection

betweenart, TVsand pretentiousness.

U

singanypassword

managerisalwaysa

leapoffaith–willit

besecureenoughtoprotect

yourhighlysensitive

credentials?However,entrustingthemto

JesusPassword,whichismiraculously

availablefromtheMicrosoftStore

(www.snipca.com/4 0401 ),isbrave.

JesusPasswordisdevelopedbyachap

calledVerlokaVadim.No,I’dnotheard

ofhimeither,whichiswhyIclickedon

JesusPassword’sprivacypolicytofind

outhowheintendstoprotectmy

passwords.Herewefindanunholymess

(andIquote):“Allthatyouenterandsave

inrpmbeingused‘andthereis’because

wedonotpassittothirdparties.The

programmaycollect,storeandtransmit

usagestatisticstoimprove,namely,the

frequencyoffailures,launch,thenumber

ofrecordsandsoon.”OK.Ifyousayso.

Theappitselfislittlebetter.Itbasically

worksbysyncingyourpasswordsvia

Microsoft’s OneDrive,meaningyouneed

Virgin Media’scorporate bank

accountislighter to thetuneof

£50,000,after it wascaughtsending

451,217marketing emails to people

who’d expresslyopted outofsuch

junk.

Thecomplaintdates back to

August 2020,which showsThe

InformationCommissioner’sOffice

(ICO)isdispensingjustice as rapidly

as ever (www.snipca.com/40403).

Themessageadvised customersit

wouldn’t be raisingthe priceoftheir

package, before inviting them to

revisittheir decision to stop

receivingmarketing messages,ina

less-than-subtle‘carrotand stick’

operation.

TheICOquite rightlydismissed

Virgin’s defencethatithad

contactedonlycustomers “who

we reasonablyconsideredmight

have changedtheir marketing

preferences”.Virginsaysitisn’t

appealing thefine,which it could

probablypaywithloose change

from down thebackofthe

boardroomsofa.

Issue 623 –1February2022