I'm sure you know that modern cars are loaded with electronics that keep track of everything. I watched a video last night from a car shop that's working on a 2024 Mustang. Cars never have enough power. 😊 What he said is scary.

Basically, new cars spy on you and report back to the manufacturer. Imagine an invisible passenger riding with you all the time. But it's worse than that. It also knows everything that's on your phone, provided the phone has been paired with the car. It has all your contacts' numbers, and it can read your texts and emails even if you haven't read them yet. Basically, it knows as much as your phone knows. Did all your passengers click their seat belts? You may not know, but your car and the manufacturer know.

How about your driving? Are you weaving too much? If so, you're either tired or drunk. An alarm will sound, and it won't stop until you pull off the road and stop the car. Naturally, the manufacturer knows about this. Want to see if your car can do 100? Nope! It's limited to 80 MPH. There are circumstances in which you can go faster, but that is decided by the car. The car's camera can read! Some passengers in your car may not be able to read speed limit signs, but the car can. It knows when you are speeding, and so does the manufacturer.

As I said above, this pertains specifically to the 2024 Mustang, but the narrator said it's more or less universal. The owner's manual contains 551 pages, and most of this is spelled out in the manual. The manual also says that Ford will give information to "authorities" that request it. It also says - as all agreements do - that the agreement can change at any time.

It is my understanding that replies to posts in this section are expected to be not critical of an image and that criticisms of photos are restricted to the “Critique” section where posters solicit negative as well as positive comments. I understand the thinking that such a forum is designed to be a place to display work one is proud of and looking for ego stroking, but it troubles me that 3 pages of “great shots”, “ 👍s” and “well dones” in response to clearly inferior photos may do the poster more harm than good. I’m not talking about subjective analysis of a particular image. Rather I am referring to photos that are unintentionally out of focus, over sharpened to the point where the halos become the subject, unintentional skewed horizons, unintentional color shifts and other technical issues like a tree growing out of the subject’s head” that are NOT subjective. If a member posts a photo he/she is proud of looking for affirmation and experienced photographers clearly see that the image lacks sharpness, commenting “nice set” will not allow the poster to learn how to improve.

Again - I understand the desire to be supportive of such posters and the reluctance to say something “not nice” as my mother warned me not to do, but reinforcing demonstrably poor technique prevents a shooter from improving. I really don’t have a great solution for this problem, other than to say nothing in response to a post. Anyone else see this as a problem preventing growth in photography skills?

It probably depends on what was in the purchase agreement you clicked on when either purchasing the software or installing it. It was probably a promotional price with limited long term support with limitations on licensing.

These hidden agreements which really are not hidden, are everywhere. Legally was it theft, probably not but the disclosure of terms should have been stated in clear sight when the sale of the software was offered. Unethical is the term that comes to mind both by Adobe and Microsoft.

P.S.: Keep this in mind when you buy digital music or movies on the internet, unlike a record, CD or tape, you only have limited rights that are not for life. It's all in the fine print in the agreement we have to agree to for access.

I feel for you and understand your frustration and anger.