The sensational headline responsible for alarming many read: “Millions of WhatsApp users ABANDON the app and switch to rivals Telegram or Signal ahead of privacy policy update that will force them to share their personal data with Facebook.”

“The sky is falling, the sky is falling!” cried Chicken Little. “The internet is going dark, the internet is going dark!” cries law enforcement and government snoops.

The message contained in the email that appeared in my inbox read: “I got a message from somewhere and I think it said something about how I have to sign up with Windows or somebody so Google can download my iPad to Facebook in the cloud.

When I was a teenager in the 1960s, like most young men I spent a lot of time working on my first car, a fixer-upper.

In my efforts to solve a recurring problem I have run up against Howe’s Law. Howe’s Law says “Everyone has a scheme that will not work.”

There is good news and there is bad news, and this is not a joke.