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Hacking My Mother’s Phone to Save Her Memories

nytimes.com

71–80 of 89 posts

Re: Hacking My Mother’s Phone to Save Her Memories

#71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This sort of experience is fundamental to developing an appreciation for privacy. It just feels bad on a pretty basic level to have your privacy violated, or to uncover things you weren't supposed. Here's my two big transformative privacy moments. I'm fifteen and talking online with various strangers from all over the world, as one did at the time, and one night at 3am one of my closest friends calls me as a joke. It…

The dad story sucks. My parents spied on me when I was in high school too. That was the first time I learned to use Linux. However. It didn’t really do anything to me. I was furious at the time. But now a decade later it doesn’t matter at all. I don’t think I’d care if someone close to me goes through my stuff if i die. And I don’t think my parents or brother would care if I go through their stuff if they pass away b…

Parents have a duty to protect their children, including from themselves. That said they also have a duty to allow their older children enough freedom to learn independence. It’s a hard problem and there’s no algorithm.

Re: Hacking My Mother’s Phone to Save Her Memories

#72
post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Having the physical photos still didn't mean we saved the context and relevance surrounding those images. I've got boxes of photos from my Mom and Dad and Grandparents. For the most part, they don't have dates or captions. If I don't recognize a face, it's just random imagery that are, for the most part, just noise to my generation. If we knew why something was relevant, that'd be a different story. If you can record…

In the 1990s my cousins and I did a series of interviews with my grandfather about his experiences in WWII. Last year my cousin found the cassette tape of her interview and we all listened to it at Christmas. That was the first time I had heard my grandfather's voice in a decade. In the 90s the stories themselves were interesting but now just having his thoughts in his voice is invaluable. I'd be equally happy with a…

I did record a special episode of my podcast just one year before he died. He was 86 at that time and my last living grand parent, so it was quite obvious, now or never. I'm really happy to have done 1.5 hours him remembering his childhood and youth as a German teenager during and after WWII https://jeena.net/pods/6 (it's in Polish/Silesian)

My other grand dad wrote a long letter just two days before he died. His whole life he was haunted by what he saw and did as a German soldier during WWII, and this is also what he wrote about in that letter which I later translated and published on my website http://paradies.jeena.net/artikel/zweiter-weltkrieg (in German) (need to fix the char set there too).

Re: Hacking My Mother’s Phone to Save Her Memories

#74
post #31

I wonder how long (if ever) it will be until we have really good mechanisms for handling digital affairs after death. 1Password has the emergency kit [0] which I really should fill out and store alongside a will but I would need to write one of those first. It's just something that seems so.... antiquated? That's not the right word but writing a will feels like it will involve talking to a lawyer and not be cheap/eas…

Google has Inactive Account Manager[1], which lets you specify a user who can get access to your account after a specified time of inactivity has been determined. It also lets you specify if you want the account deleted after so much time. I set it up a few years ago and get periodic reminders saying that it's setup. Lastpass offers something similar. [1]: https://support.google.com/accounts/answer/3036546?hl=en

[deleted]

Re: Hacking My Mother’s Phone to Save Her Memories

#75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This sort of experience is fundamental to developing an appreciation for privacy. It just feels bad on a pretty basic level to have your privacy violated, or to uncover things you weren't supposed. Here's my two big transformative privacy moments. I'm fifteen and talking online with various strangers from all over the world, as one did at the time, and one night at 3am one of my closest friends calls me as a joke. It…

The dad story sucks. My parents spied on me when I was in high school too. That was the first time I learned to use Linux. However. It didn’t really do anything to me. I was furious at the time. But now a decade later it doesn’t matter at all. I don’t think I’d care if someone close to me goes through my stuff if i die. And I don’t think my parents or brother would care if I go through their stuff if they pass away b…

> I don’t think I’d care if someone close to me goes through my stuff if i die.

Do you care that those you communicated with might care? It's probably not going to be just about you and your family.

Re: Hacking My Mother’s Phone to Save Her Memories

#76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The dad story sucks. My parents spied on me when I was in high school too. That was the first time I learned to use Linux. However. It didn’t really do anything to me. I was furious at the time. But now a decade later it doesn’t matter at all. I don’t think I’d care if someone close to me goes through my stuff if i die. And I don’t think my parents or brother would care if I go through their stuff if they pass away b…

> I don’t think I’d care if someone close to me goes through my stuff if i die. Do you care that those you communicated with might care? It's probably not going to be just about you and your family.

This is what I try and get across to people who are snippy about me not letting them touch/look at my phone - "There are other people in there, not just me".

Re: Hacking My Mother’s Phone to Save Her Memories

#77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don't use SMS based 2FA. NIST recommends against it because it's so easy to hijack.

Is it easy to break a SIM pin?

What about taking control of the phone number itself? Unauthorized porting can probably be accomplished with a bit of social engineering.

Re: Hacking My Mother’s Phone to Save Her Memories

#78
post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A phone is particularly terrible as a single copy of data because it has a high exposure to theft, physical damage, and water damage.

And just as importantly, phones are practically irreparable. Phone dropped and screen cracked? Good luck, unless it's an old Android (which don't prompt before allowing their storage to be mounted). Laptop dropped and snapped in half? Just take out the drive and put it in another computer.

I'm not sure why you would make this claim. I've replaced the screen on my partners phone in a couple of hours with no previous experience. There's an entire industry of phone repair and data recovery.

Re: Hacking My Mother’s Phone to Save Her Memories

#79

I wonder how long (if ever) it will be until we have really good mechanisms for handling digital affairs after death. 1Password has the emergency kit [0] which I really should fill out and store alongside a will but I would need to write one of those first. It's just something that seems so.... antiquated? That's not the right word but writing a will feels like it will involve talking to a lawyer and not be cheap/eas…

> writing a will feels like it will involve talking to a lawyer and not be cheap/easy

(Assuming you live in a jurisdiction that recognises them) a holographic will[0] is going to cost you nothing more than the time involve to write it out, assuming you have a piece of paper and a pen handy. You probably won't even need to have it witnessed.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holographic_will

Re: Hacking My Mother’s Phone to Save Her Memories

#80
post #72
post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In the 1990s my cousins and I did a series of interviews with my grandfather about his experiences in WWII. Last year my cousin found the cassette tape of her interview and we all listened to it at Christmas. That was the first time I had heard my grandfather's voice in a decade. In the 90s the stories themselves were interesting but now just having his thoughts in his voice is invaluable. I'd be equally happy with a…

I did record a special episode of my podcast just one year before he died. He was 86 at that time and my last living grand parent, so it was quite obvious, now or never. I'm really happy to have done 1.5 hours him remembering his childhood and youth as a German teenager during and after WWII https://jeena.net/pods/6 (it's in Polish/Silesian) My other grand dad wrote a long letter just two days before he died. His who…

That is very precious material. As the world slides closer and closer to the last of those who saw these things with their own eyes dropping off the chances of repetition are increasing and their real life memories may be just what will stop the next round of madness. Thank you very much for doing this.
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