{"id":1716,"date":"2011-05-03T16:27:39","date_gmt":"2011-05-03T20:27:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/?p=1716"},"modified":"2011-05-03T16:28:58","modified_gmt":"2011-05-03T20:28:58","slug":"the-truth-will-set-you-free","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/the-truth-will-set-you-free\/","title":{"rendered":"The Truth Will Set You Free"},"content":{"rendered":"

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When I was a kid, like most kids, I was pathetically naive. And I believed in Santa Claus and all the rest of the stuff kids believe in. I also used to lie awake in bed at night and worry about the bogey man and other phantoms that may come in the night and take little boys off into the night. Off course, when I grew up (Be quiet, EB, I really did grow up!) I not only found out there was no Santa, but there weren’t any bogey men nor any phantoms in the night to fear.<\/span><\/p>\n

We wrote this just after we finished writing “Your Computer Won’t Bite II<\/a>” – our newest ebook. While I was writing some of the chapters in that ebook, it became clear to me that there are many people and companies on the Internet that make a darn good living off the na\u00efvet\u00e9 of those who are basically children when it comes to computers and the Internet. These software developers and bloggers have a vested interest in keeping you in the dark, in muddling your mind with misinformation, and in creating new phantoms and bogey men for you to fear. They take advantage of the very confusion and fear they themselves create, because they make a darn good living by preying on folks who really don’t know much about their computers, and even less about the Internet. They are in essence preying on the na\u00efve.<\/span><\/p>\n

And we mean no disrespect to anyone. There are many very intelligent folks who are very naive when it comes to computers and the Internet. Doctors, lawyers, teachers, professors and members of Mensa, may understand the most complex of things, but when they get behind the keyboard and start browsing the Internet, they somehow change and forget the common sense that has served them well in real life. It doesn’t matter if you have PhD or a M.A. or a B.A., the world of computers is a whole other world.<\/span><\/p>\n

The companies and individuals who sell software using fear tactics make a living on scaring people. And it’s perfectly legal – the Internet is still much like the Wild West. They understand that the vast majority of those who use the Internet really don’t understand much about how it works or why it works, but only understand that it works. So there are millions of people using Norton 360 or McAfee Internet Security because it came with their computers – and they figure (wrongly) that if it came with their computers, it must be the best – and it’s what they should use. If a car company filled your tank up with Shell gasoline and put a sticker on your gas gauge that said “General Motors recommends you use only Shell gasoline”, you would laugh and peel that sticker off the gas gauge as quickly as your little fingers could peel. <\/span><\/p>\n

Yet if some firewall vendor warns:<\/span><\/p>\n