* Posts by big_D

6775 publicly visible posts • joined 27 Nov 2009

Can you get excited about the iPhone 13? We've tried

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iPhone 13 + Samsung Galaxy Buds+ here, I just paired them as usual and they worked fine, no need to install the app.

I agree about the Face-ID and masks, that is a pain. Apple's answer of "buy a Watch" isn't really helpful, putting a fingerprint reader into the power switch (like the iPads) would have been a much better solution for pandemic times.

Other than that, I'm happy with my iPhone. I only go food shopping once a week and I use a card for that anyway - joint account and I only have my personal account in ApplePay - so that isn't too much of a hassle. After years of using a Huawei and Samsung Android phones, I found the migration relatively painless. I used the Apple app to migrate - it moved my photos across (offered to move SMS across, but that was just one-time codes for various services, so I didn't bother). It also installed the free apps that were available on both platforms.

Using a password manager meant that setting up the applications on the iPhone was a breeze. I had everything set up and running in a couple of hours and had reset the S20+ and given it to my daughter within 2 days. The only thing that took time was re-scanning the QR-Codes for my 2FA tokens.

Google joins others in Big Tech: Get vaccinated – or you're fired

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Re: If, and I stress the IF ...

My ex-neighbour got the jab, but because she was recovering from cancer (post-chemo), her body didn't make any anti-bodies. She was taken into hospital in June for observation and after 3 days was tested positive, she spent the next 2 months in a coma and the time since trying to regain the use of her muscles and limbs.

She is walking again, and making better progress than the doctors expected.

Popular password manager LastPass to be spun out from LogMeIn

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Re: People still use Lastpass?

I used LastPass for years (well over half a decade) and most of that time as a paying customer (family subscritption). But it became unreliable on Android and then the tracker "scandal".

I'd discovered the 1Password "Random but memorable" podcast at the end of last year and they are a fun bunch of people who really seem passionate about their product and their jobs. I decided to give them a try and within a month, I'd swapped the whole family across to a paid account and let the LP account run out at the end of this year.

I looked at Bitwarden, but it was too complicated for certain users in the family, so I went with 1Password and I find it very good, so far.

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Re: There is a lot to be said for keeping your passwords locally.

The Android app also became unreliable around that time - it didn't work well with Firefox, so you ended up swapping back and forth between LP and FF copying and pasting usernames and passwords!

I switched to 1Password. I looked at Bitwarden, but it was too complicated for my partner - heck, 1Password is too complicated for them to set up and I usually end up creating new accounts for them, but at least they can log in using 1Password!

We often forget how even something as "simple" as a password manager, or even setting up an account on a new service, is often beyond mere mortals who are not interested in technology and don't use technology every day, day-in, day-out.

Most services are written for the technically literate, even "simple" on-screen prompts are often confusing for non-technical people.

Log4j doesn't just blow a hole in your servers, it's reopening that can of worms: Is Big Biz exploiting open source?

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Re: Don't forget the other bugs introduced by copy-n-paste software

And don't forget, version 1 has other security problems of its own...

Bloke breaking his back on 'commute' from bed to desk deemed a workplace accident

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Re: Except the right to work from home...

No, if they are "opening the laptop on the kitchen table", they aren't allowed to work at home.

The employer has to ensure that the home office environment is properly set-up, before they can work in home office - lockdowns excluded.

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Re: Bad laws (or contracts, or policies) -> hard cases

The employer is responsible for ensuring the employee has a proper (H&S compliant) workspace in their "home office" (so no sitting on the couch with the laptop on the knee). Anything not "up to spec" has to be provided by the employer.

If the employee doesn't use the supplied workspace and gets injured (bad back, carpal-tunnel etc.) that is their problem. If they were sitting at the desk and the chair broke & they injured their back, the company insurance would pay, bad posture, when the company provides the right equipment, no.

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Re: Is that only valid for working from home?

That is correct, though. Normally the commute starts when you leave the house - or if you have woken up and went to the bathroom or had breakfast, then the last bit between the kitchen and your home office.

It seems that if you tumble directly out of bed and down the stairs into your home office, that is now the commute.

If you are going to a real place of work, you are covered as soon as you leave the house and during the normal (direct) way to work. The same for going home. If you make a detour, for instance to go shopping or to fuel the car, the company insurance doesn't cover any injuries. So, if you slip on a banana in the supermarket, their insurance and not your employer's covers you.

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Re: Hello, this is your WC/Osha compliance department....

It is already a requirement here.

We've been ordering monitors, keyboard, mice, docking stations etc. for home-office use like nobody's business. Luckily we aren't responsible for ensuring the office furniture is up to spec in home offices, that is another department!

But I did have to sign off that my home working environment is up to scratch - it is actually better equipped than my office workspace.

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Re: In all seriousness

This is also a requirement in non-Lockdown work from home in Germany, except the employer has to make up for any deficits in the employee's home office equipment.

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Re: Except the right to work from home...

There is already a legal requirement for the workspace to be ergonomic - desk, chair, monitor, mouse, keyboard etc. and anything that is missing is the responsibility of the employer to provide.

If you have an employee who already has a decent office set-up at home (E.g. I have height adjustable desks, decent displays, ergonomic keyboards and mice), then the employer doesn't have to do much. If the employee is sitting on a dining chair at the table, or sitting on the sofa with a laptop balanced on their knee, then they need to ensure that a desk, monitor, keyboard and mouse are provided.

If the employee decides not to use the equipment and suffers injury through improper use, they are not covered by the company insurance.

But it is going to be very expensive to get people set-up with professional equipment at home.

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It is the same in Germany.

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As long as you take the direct route to and from the place of work, the employer's insurance covers any injury incurred.

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If you are "just" working from home, as opposed to being in lockdown and working from home, the employer is already responsible for performing an assessment of the "home office", to ensure you have a height adjustable desk, a proper desk chair (height adjustable, arms, tilt etc.) and that monitors, keyboard and mouse are made available (possibly also a docking station, considering the lack of ports on many modern laptops).

Anything that is missing has to be supplied by the company, if they are letting the employee work from home. That generally means at least a doubling of costs for the workspace, as they will generally also have an office in the company's building.

Logistics will also be much more expensive, ensuring the equipment is delivered and installed properly and organising the collection of the equipment when the employee leaves the company, (moving it to temporary storage) and on to the next employee.

This is probably one of the reasons why employers aren't very interested in home working, when it hasn't been forced on them in the shape of a lockdown.

(General rule: If you work in Germany, you employer's insurance covers the direct route to and from the place of work. That means, if you have an accident on the way to or from work, you get compensated through the employer/their insurance.

If you deviate from the "most direct route" - that can be argued with alternate routes due to roadworks etc. - and, say, drive to the petrol station to refuel the car or you drive to the supermarket on the way home, the employer's insurance cover doesn't cover the journey.)

Assange extradition case goes to UK Home Secretary as High Court rules he can be sent to US for trial

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Re: thou

I think Assange's alleged problem is that he didn't act as a journalist receiving information, he was allegedly active in obtaining the information (providing information on how to extract the information and possibly being active in the hacking?).

That is, at least as I understand it, the main reason the US was trying to prosecute him.

If he was a journalist and he had accepted information from a whistleblower, he would have been in the clear, but he isn't a journalist (not accredited in any country, AFAIK) and he allegedly helped extract the information.

I think the whole case is overblown and the US should probably let it rest, but it is probably now being done on principal.

More than half of UK workers would consider jumping ship if a hybrid work option were withdrawn by their company

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Re: ...

I have a fully outfitted home office, a separate room with 2 desks in an L-shape, professional office chair and fast enough DSL. I have a 43" 4K display (I got my company to buy me the same one for the office). But I also have my private PC, which means easy distractions - I have gotten into the habit of turning it off, when I start work.

I like working from home sometimes, but I do miss being in the office and having other people around me to talk to. Even with Teams, you miss out on so much of what is going on, when you aren't in the office on a regular basis.

During most of the year, we have been on a 50% presence system - half the team in the office, half in home office. That way, if one part of the team gets infected, the other half can still cover. Now, with rising numbers, again, we are down to 1 person on site, the rest at home.

I'd like to go back to normal, where we can all be in the office if we want/need, but also keep the option of working from home - for some tasks, being alone is useful, other times, having someone to bounce ideas off of is more useful.

Apple wins Epic court ruling: Devs will pay up for now as legal case churns on

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Re: Epically wrong.

I can access the App Store without buying anything in the Audible or Kindle apps... Well, actually, it is impossible to buy in the Audible and Kindle apps on iOS, I have to switch to my Android phone and buy them there... Or, now that the Android phone has been reset and passed on, I have to do it in the browser.

That is a step backwards in comfort and usability in the Apple ecosystem, compared to Android...

There are other benefits to iOS, so I'm sticking with it, but it is still not ideal.

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Re: Epically wrong.

Why should I have to pay 30% extra, when I buy an audio book or ebook on Audible or Kindle?

How exactly am I benefiting from the service Apple is providing? I already have a payment relation with Amazon, for example, so going through ApplePay is another step and it costs me more.

I understand that they need to cover the costs of the store, but 30% of processing a payment that doesn't have anything to do with the App Store is ludicrous. If it was more reasonable (under 10%), I doubt most would complain, that would be the processing fee (2-5%, plus the excess going to running the platform).

For smaller or fly-by-night outfits, I can understand going through ApplePay, but Amazon & Co., where I already have a relationship?

Provide me with two payment options, ApplePay or direct and let me choose, whether I think the additional safety of the payment with Apple is worth the 30% extra.

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Re: What BS!

They don't need to change anything, the apps have the additional code to call an external payment service... That doesn't touch the store at all.

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Dramatically overhaul the app store?

Sorry, the apps would have a link to a third-party payment provider, THE APP, I don't see how the App Store needs to be overhauled for that...

German court rules cookie preference service that shared IP addresses with US firm should be halted

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Facepalm

Re: And the rest too, please

I had GTM blocked at the DNS level (it couldn't be loaded). Our local newspaper app claimed that there was no internet connection, because it couldn't load GTM.

Shocking: UK electricity tariffs are among world's most expensive

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Re: Electric should be cheaper, gas more expensive

Gorleben is one of the biggest problems in Germany, with nuclear power. It was supposed to be storage for depleted fuel, but the storage is just not really thought through. We just don’t have any suitable containers that will last thousands of years without leaking.

The energy production might not cause any real problems, but the waste is a long term environmental nightmare.

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Re: Electric should be cheaper, gas more expensive

The problem is, most of the electricity comes from coal, gas or nuclear, all of which are an environmental catastrophe.

The coal industry is making big waves here, with the government wanting to get out of coal completely by 2030, although it looks like they have compromised and it will be 80% renewable by 2030 now...

"Green" energy is coming along, but it isn't 100% reliable, it isn't cheap to implement at the moment and it requires the weather to play ball.

I'd love for electricity to be cheaper, again. Prices have skyrocketed here (Germany). Our prices have risen to around 24p/kWh, but only because the local energy company bought energy in bulk on the futures market. The general price is over 30p/kWh.

But at least supply is fairly stable, at the moment.

The nub of the issue: Has your ThinkPad's TrackPoint gone TITSUP*? You aren't alone

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Re: Love your Trackpoint

Just tested the TrackPoint and the Trackpad, both are still working on mine (T480)... The first time I've used either in about a year - it is always docked and I use an ergonomic keyboard & Logitech MX Master 2 mouse.

Microsoft wins court approval to take over sites run by Chinese crime gang

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Google isn't any better. We got DOSed by a Google IP address a couple of years back.

Their abuse address gives an automated reply, "we receive so many messages at this address that they are automatically deleted and never read." Phoning them just gives an automatic message to go and read the relevant part of their website - I never did find the part of their website that dealt with them being responsible for a DOS attack...

The Omicron dilemma: Google goes first on delaying office work

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Re: On-again-off-again

My ex-neighbour was recovering from cancer, she was vaccinated and didn't develop any anti-bodies.

She went into hospital for a check-up and was infected whilst under observation, spending the next 2 months in a coma.

There is a difference between being physically able to take the vaccination and it actually working, because of other medical conditions.

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On-again-off-again

We were back to most people being in the office, now we are going back to moving many of them into home office again.

IT was on a rota with 2 people in the office, the others at home, so there was someone on site to deal with immediate problems and 2 offsite, if one team came down with the virus, the other was still active. We've now gone back to 1 person in the office, the rest in home office, on a rotating basis. Weighing HGVs in and out at the gate and printing their documentation and handing it over, for example, can't be done 100% remotely, let alone the actual people on the production line.

We are a manufacturing company, so many departments just can't go into home office, or you can't put all of them in home office. We use 1 person per office, where we can, or large offices (6 persons) with 2 persons in the office. Priority for home office is given to the vulnerable - those that can't be vaccinated, E.g. autoimmune diseases, expectant mothers etc.

Why your external monitor looks awful on Arm-based Macs, the open source fix – and the guy who wrote it

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Re: Amazing....

Only until you update the Pi. I have a UWD display and the initial RPiOS showed fine. Ran updates, restarted and it can only do 1280x1024 (not 3440x1440).

Edit: I take that back, the latest update and it is working again. But it seems tempramental.

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Re: Fantastic

Bookmarked.

I have a 43" 4K LG display and a Mac mini on order. Hopefully, that should work fine (100% scaling), but you never know...

American diplomats' iPhones reportedly compromised by NSO Group intrusion software

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And the French President.

When it first broke, they claimed it was only used to spy on terrorists, drug traffickers and paedophiles... I assume that NSO executives would face slander charges, if they set foot on French soil...

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More likely, Apple, Facebook and Google are incorporated in America. That means that if they are active in the US, they are an easier target to prosecute in the US...

Although that no longer seems to be true, no that the US courts have rejected their alleged diplomatic immunity.

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Facepalm

We don't know who it was or which numbers they targeted, but we've blocked their use anyway...

Sometimes the PR person should proof read these missives, before sending them out!

Microsoft's Teams Essential tier seems designed to coax people on to Business Basic

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Re: I have kicked my chatting addiction in '97

No, my invoice was over 1,000€. The bullying and making me feel bad for not responding immediately to her messages...

If you are in such a situation, it is difficult to see what is going on and even harder to get out of. I was lucky, I had very good family & friends who didn't abandon me and took me under their wing, even though she had tried to distance me from them.

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Mushroom

Re: Global warning

If Microsoft would, you know, just write a native Windows application for Teams. That might help with the bloat and CPU usage.

Microsoft must have some developers who understand Windows somewhere...

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30 hours?

30 hour meetings? My bum hurts after a couple of hours of sitting in a meeting and I have an 8 hour working day.

Who on Earth has 30 hour meetings? I think they have an addiction problem and should seriously look for help!

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Re: I have kicked my chatting addiction in '97

Yes, I had a narcissist girlfriend with Borderline. That cost me over 1,000€ in SMS over a 2 month period!

I've also been wary of chat services and social media since then. It is a struggle sometimes.

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Re: Global warning

Yes, I was in a 5-way conference in Teams and I had to quit Outlook, Excel and close TeamViewer Manager and RDP manager, because Teams was taking all 8GB of RAM and over 80% CPU!

Qualcomm takes a swipe at Apple's build-not-buy culture (because it wants to sell stuff to Apple)

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Cooperation makes for more innovation.

That is why the Qualcomm chips are so much faster than Apple's and why their desktop chips run rings around the Apple M1 chips in laptops.

Oh, wait...

I'll be interested to see what the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 brings to the mix, but even Google are looking at their own customized chips. Mediathek are also moving into the AI subsidised chipsets, nVidia ditto. I will be interested to see if Qualcomm actually have an answer, with Nuvia, they might have a chance in the desktop and server markets, moving forward, but they have a lot of catching up to do first.

Microsoft adds Buy Now, Pay Later financing option to Edge – and everyone hates it

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I've even stopped running Windows at home. At work, I still have to, for now.

My boss is great, he says, I can use any OS I want, as long as it doesn't affect my ability to work... The biggest problem is the telephone software, we have a virtual telephone system with soft-clients. Only Windows and Mac at the current time and I can't install macOS on my ThinkPad...

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Paris Hilton

Disgusting your customers and driving them away is fine, from a capitalist point of view?

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Re: Kill it now

Why do you think they have removed the ability to switch to a 3rd party browser in Windows 11 and made it hard to do it manually and, even if you do, it still ignores your preferences in some circumstances...

Euro-telcos call on big tech to help pay for their network builds

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Re: Netflix...

Precisely. If the infrastructure isn’t there, it is irrelevant how many servers Netflix put into the data centre, If the provider can’t deliver the data to the customer.

I live in Lower Saxony, I live in a small town and work in another small town.

In the office, there is an edge signal, but very weak. If I go outside and walk 100M in any direction, I could get around 20mbps. The office is a, from Vodafone acknowledged, not-spot.

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Re: Netflix...

Yes, but as I pointed out, getting at least a 10th of that would have been good!

The connection at work was so slow that Vodafone's own network speedtest was claiming that there was no Internet connection available. Email and Signal messages would (eventually) arrive.

I switched to congstar, I "only" get 50mbps maximum, but at least I get a usable speed, even at work.

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Netflix...

putting servers inside the network of the IPSs and the mobile networks is all well and good, but they also need to reach the users of the network.

If the server in the networks data centre can't reach users in not-spots or in places where they only get dial-up speeds, those services are totally useless.

I just switched away from Vodafone, because I was on a 500mbps LTE contract, but at work I got around 0.001mbps and at home ~5-12mbps. I'm now paying a third of what I paid Vodafone for a 50mbps LTE contract and I get 8mbps at work and 20mbps at home.

If I was in the local city, I'd get around 60mbps, on a good day. It just wasn't worth paying 3 times as much for a theoretical 500mbps service, when they couldn't even deliver 1% of that most days!

I'm not saying Big Tech needs to co-invest, or that they don't, I'm just pointing out that putting servers inside the network doesn't help with the last mile delivery.

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Re: telcos vs big data

Without the cables and radio masts, they can know anything they want, but if people can't connect to their services, they are dead in the water...

The climate is turning against owning our own compute hardware. Cloud is good for you and your customers

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Re: What was the question again?

Exactly. We are in an industry where the data can't be stored in the cloud, so no choice.

That said, PC and laptops are on around a 6-8 year cycle (my laptop is from 2018 and I don't reckon with it being replaced before 2024, unless it fails). My previous company mobile phone was 6 years old, when it got replaced, as long as they are getting security updates, I'm happy to keep using them, we only do email and Teams when out and about.

Our servers usually go through extended support lifetimes, so, again 5 - 6 years in many cases. On a cost front, it is hard to justify cloud costs, compared with the normal lifetime of the servers.

Plus, they are behind our firewall. If there is a data breach, we get it in the neck, whether it was our fault or our cloud providers... I'd rather have to pay for our mistakes than the mistakes of others.

Renting IT hardware on a subscription basis is bad for customers

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Re: In house...

They own the buildings and we are a manufacturing company, so most workers have to be onsite, they want as many on site as possible.

Also, the cost of a desk in the office is a one-off cost. If you have to order desks for all workers in home office, you have to pay extra to have them delivered to hundreds of addresses, instead of one central location. Also, when the employee leaves the company, you have to arrange for it to be collected and moved to storage, then moved again to the new employee’s residence.

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In house...

we keep everything we can in-house.

With everybody disappearing into home office, that meant large orders or laptops. But a clear policy: no private data on company devices (computers, smartphones, storage media etc.) and not company data on private devices.

If you are going into home office, you get a laptop, dock, keyboard, mouse and external display(s). Due to German law, if the people remain in home-office after the lockdowns, the employer has to ensure the workspace meets health & safety guidelines, so there could be desks and chairs added to the list in the long run, one of the reasons management is keen to get people back into the office after lockdowns are over.

Desktop bust and custom iPhone 13 Pro made from melted-down Tesla car for the Elon Musk dork in your life

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Re: The bold design of the smartphone echoes the outline of Musk's Teslas

They drive along behind Teslas with the moulds and wait for them to burst into flames, letting the bodywork drip into the moulds.

I just hope that the clearances between the glass and the metal of the housing are within tolerances, unlike many of the Tesla cars...

Apple's Pegasus lawsuit a 'declaration of war' against offensive software developers, says Kaspersky director

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Re: I am not

Yes, but in this case, the spyware was used against legitimate journalists, world leaders etc. doing their normal day-to-day business.