From: Man@the.keyboard   
      
   On Wed, 4 Feb 2026 20:57:57 +1100, Daniel70   
    wrote:   
      
   >On 4/02/2026 4:12 am, John wrote:   
   >> On Sun, 1 Feb 2026 21:37:58 +1100, Daniel70   
   >>  wrote:   
   >>> On 1/02/2026 8:53 pm, John wrote:   
   >   
   >   
   >   
   >>>> I am not sure if that is a universal attribute of mobiles. Mine   
   >>>> cost twenty quids and doesn't have a camera. I only recently   
   >>>> bought it because UKland carriers told me that my decades old,   
   >>>> £20 phone *with* a camera would die when they switched off 3G.   
   >>>> The SIM may work on 4/5G but the machine itself can not.   
   >>>   
   >>> We "shut down" 3G about 2 maybe 3 years ago .... so that's how old   
   >>> my current Phone is. If I turn around, I can see my previous three   
   >>> mobiles in the Bookcase!!   
   >>   
   >> "We" being the USAliens?   
   >   
   >No!! no, "We" are AUSTRALIANS!!   
      
    Oh.   
      
    Right.   
      
    That's sort of like being a USAlien, only with fewer "States", more   
   kangaroos and more guns, yes?   
      
   >   
   >   
   >   
   >>> I'm P.O.ed when, moments after speaking to my Doctor's   
   >>> receptionist to make an appointment, I get a SMS from some third   
   >>> party service telling me I have an upcoming Doctor's appointment.   
   >>   
   >> I don't get that sort of annoyance. I never told them what the number   
   >> of my 3G 'phone was.   
   >   
   >I'm somewhat averse to giving out my Mobile number (maybe my Doctor got   
   >me on a bad day .... you know, I was SICK or something!!)   
      
    So, don't get sick again. It's a bad idea anyway and not doing it may   
   prevent future missteps.   
      
   >   
   >That's why I've still got a Landline phone!!   
      
    I got rid of mine. With all the weird extra bits it was costing £40   
   per month and I only made and received 3 calls annually.   
      
   >   
   >> I never told *anyone* commercialised. Which pissed off a seller of   
   >> electrical gear, once. They couldn't fill in the web-page based sales   
   >> receipt on their till because the space for "mobile number" wouldn't   
   >> validate.   
   >   
   >Back in about 2000, all landline phone numbers were changed from Two or   
   >Three digit Area Codes followed by Six or Seven digit Phone numbers (Big   
   >cities Two Digit Area Code and Seven digit phone number, Small/regional   
   >cities Three Digit Area Code followed by Six digit phone number) to   
   >EVERYBODY having a Two Digit Area Code plus an Eight Digit Phone Number,   
   >i.e. everyone everywhere had a Ten Digit number ..... and, Shock,   
   >Horror, Mobile Phones had a Ten Digit number too.   
      
    Yeah, they did something like that in UKland a while back. There was   
   screaming and yammering and "think of the CHILDREN" and "what about   
   the POOR OLD PEOPLE WHO WON'T UNDERSTAND?" for a couple of years until   
   they did it and no-one noticed nor cared.   
      
    The politicians who got entire columns in the newspapers by panicking   
   over the vulnerable OLD PEOPLE!!! who could never cope with such a   
   massive change mostly went quiet afterwards. Maybe a few of them moved   
   on to some other "WhaAboutTheCHILDREN" crusade in the hope of   
   garnering sufficient numbers of outraged chavs to get them elected.   
      
    But moving most mobile to "07..." numbers and adding a "1" after the   
   zero to most landlines didn't cause the planet to combust, oldies to   
   die in herds because they starved while trying to work out how to dial   
   a new number for Meals-On-Wheels, cats to live with dogs or our   
   horoscopes to turn purple, run around and smash up stuff.   
      
      
      
   >   
   >> There was no way round the problem. No way to tell the stupid page   
   >> that this customer didn't *have* one. The sales-robot eventually had   
   >> a manager sort of hack the system for me.   
   >   
   >"had a manager sort of hack the system"!! Boy oh Boy!!   
      
    Well, maybe "found an old version of the sales web-page that didn't   
   have a slot for a mobile number" or something. I don't know, I didn't   
   care enough to look.   
      
   >   
   >> Last December, my G.P. spent 20 minutes out of an appointment trying   
   >>  to explain to me how wonderful mobile 'phones were and how I could   
   >> get one for only £20-30 per month.   
   >>   
   >> I just looked back at him blankly.   
   >>   
   >>> I do!! REALLY??   
   >>>   
   >>> And 'they' want me to register with that SMS Service!! Pigs ARSE!!   
   >>   
   >> That's moot. They have you on the system because your kindly, old   
   >> Doc' has sold your medical records to them.   
   >   
   >.... after I kindly GAVE them the information!! Stupid ME!!   
      
    Well, it happens to those who are nearly the best of us. Not me,   
   obviously. :)   
      
      
   >   
   >> Those and those of anyone connected to you and those of everyone else   
   >> whom they treat. That's what makes them all "medically confidential",   
   >> "private" and "secure".   
   >>>   
   >>>> Those guys keep *everything* and they keep it *forever*. You   
   >>>> know that your data is secure and safe with them.   
   >>>>   
   >>>> UKland, where our Government *protects* our valued, private,   
   >>>> confidential data really, really well so we don't need to.   
   >>>   
   >>> And we ALL know ... Security is OH SO SECURE!!   
   >>   
   >> Well, *I* am not going to hack your records. I don't give a fuck what   
   >> childhood ickiness you suffered from and I have no interest in any of   
   >> your present rashes.   
   >   
   >BUT! But! But my information is OH so interesting!!   
      
    I had a flash of that fat-guy in an episode of a TV serial called   
   "Stargate SG-1" when his boss shot him with one of their extremely   
   poor weapons.   
      
    "But I'm so *interesting*."   
      
    Him, maybe. Your ickies, not a chance.   
      
    I don't even care how much money you make nor on what you spend it.   
   I'm not sure why *anyone* would.   
      
      
   >   
   >> I get way too much information from all of the little, old women on   
   >> the local buses. :)   
   >   
   >WHAT?? Do you mean they speak the SAME language as you?? REALLY!!   
      
    Many do. I live in UKland, it's my native country and the locals   
   often speak my native tongue.   
      
    Well, some of them. Not some of the students or a lot of the lovely,   
   young ladies. Those sometimes speak Chinese and Russian, respectively.   
   Then there's the Indian Sub-Continent lot, the lovely people from   
   places like Romania, Poland and USAlia and the damned foreigners from   
   the frozen north who all talk in weird ways. It's *nice* having so   
   many friends from strange places to talk to. :)   
      
   >   
   >> Most of us don't seem to care what they know about us and, of course,   
   >> there is now no way to recall the information they all sell to one   
   >> another.   
   >   
   >I seem to recall that, in the early days of this DATA Transference, if   
   >YOU could prove that the information THEY had on YOU was INCORRECT, THEY   
   >had to delete it.   
      
    UKland, when in the E.U., had laws about that. Good, sensible laws   
   that the little guys could actually *use*. They were probably derived   
   from E.U. directives.   
      
   >   
   >YEAH!! Sure, like that was ever going to happen!!   
      
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
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    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)