information

Fri
23
May
Dennis Faas's picture

Phishing a High Stakes Game

More than three dozen people around the world have been charged with stealing personal information from Internet users through a 'phishing' scam. That's where criminals trick people into revealing information by posing as staff from online banks or ... other organisations, usually sending emails asking customers to confirm details for 'security reasons'. The arrests come following a Justice Department investigation that wound up in Bucharest, the capital of Romania. Of the 38 people busted, more than half were Romanian, with the rest hailing from the United States, Canada, Portugal and Pakistan. ... (view more)

Mon
12
May
Dennis Faas's picture

Apple Slammed by Environment Watchdog

Apple products may be fantastically marketed and look great, but according to a recent study by environmental watchdog Climate Counts, the company is a serious environmental offender. Although its website states that the company "recognizes its ... responsibility as a global citizen," Apple scored a pithy 11 out of 100 points on Climate Counts' 2008 survey of the environmental policies of large companies. Through attempts to identify problem areas, the Apple jumped up 9 points from last year's survey . However, the company lost huge marks for not acknowledging the extent of its carbon footprint. ... (view more)

Wed
09
Apr
Dennis Faas's picture

Reading the Fine Print Always a Good Idea

Sometimes, there's a good reason that the "privacy policy" has been placed almost invisibly at the bottom of the page, and that when you click on the link, it presents you with a mountain of microscopic legal-like gobbledygook in a document 24-pages ... long. The reason the policy is placed in a small, out-of-the-way location is simple: the site owners don't really want you to realize that you've just agreed to allow any information they collect about you or your PC to be distributed across the Internet for the rest of your life. But you'll miss that because you won't bother to read beyond the ... (view more)

Tue
25
Mar
Dennis Faas's picture

Behavioral Tracking: There Oughta Be a Law

Every marketer on the Internet understands that targeting is the name of the game. Better information about website visitors or email lists will produce higher advertising yields. However, there's now a growing group of lawmakers that want to limit ... that practice. In fact, some want to make using personal data for advertising, or "behavioral tracking", a crime. All the ruckus seems to have been started by Richard L. Brodsky, a little-known assemblyman in the New York state legislature who recently introduced a bill that would make the use of personal information for advertising a criminal ... (view more)

Fri
14
Mar
Dennis Faas's picture

The NSA's Big Brother Program

A startling report from The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) recently revealed details on what appears to be a domestic-spying program that was banned by Congress in 2003 known as the 'Total Information Awareness' (TIA) program. As noted by the American ... Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), the Orwellian program was shut down by Congress because it represented a massive and unjustified governmental intrusion into the personal lives of citizens. Despite the fact that Congress shut down the program, security agencies under the Bush administration pushed ahead anyway. The National Security Agency (NSA) has ... (view more)

Mon
10
Mar
Dennis Faas's picture

Information Out of the Document and Into the Table

You have gone to all the trouble to create a table in your document and fill it full of great data, but after you have finished your document you decide that you would rather have the information in the document instead of a table. I know you don't ... feel like copying and pasting all of that information and I don't blame you. But if I were to tell you that you could quickly and easily take the information out of your table and into your document you wouldn't mind doing it nearly as much would you? Well you're in luck because I am going to do just that! Follow the steps below to learn how: ... (view more)

Wed
27
Feb
Dennis Faas's picture

Popular Encryption Methods May Be Flawed

Researchers from Princeton University have found a simple way to crack popular encryption software, including the FileVault feature built-in to Apple's operating system and BitLocker, which is included in Windows Vista. The software aims to store ... data in a scrambled form making it indecipherable if in the wrong hands. Both programs use a federally approved algorithm that encrypts the information when it is written to, or read from, a hard disk. However, the keys allowing the computer to unscramble data are stored in the computer's memory. In theory, any information in a computer's memory ... (view more)

Thu
21
Feb
Dennis Faas's picture

Online Shopping Hobbled by Security Concerns?

Finally, the American consumer believes the Internet is a useful and convenient shopping tool and a good way to save time. However, there are still major obstacles between reaching the comfort zone for consumers. Concerns over privacy and credit ... card security remain a large issue to many would-be buyers. At least, this is what the Pew Interent Project Survey for September 2007 has concluded. Among the findings: Shopping on the Internet has become routine. A large majority of Internet users (93%) have done some Internet task related to e-commerce. e.g. they have bought something, researched a ... (view more)

Wed
06
Feb
Dennis Faas's picture

Advent of the 'Social Search'

Israeli-based Delver is looking to use social networking profiles as the basis for returning relevant Internet searches. The idea is simple enough; a user logs into the search engine and allows access to personal information on sites like ... del.icio.us, LinkedIn and Flickr. The system then creates a custom made search pattern based on profiles, tags from your friend's, blogs, and any other available information on social sites. Instead of the traditional text results page, Delver's search engine (called Semingo) displays your search in a web-like graphic, with information built on you and your ... (view more)

Fri
21
Dec
Dennis Faas's picture

Googling Oneself Is Becoming Oddly Popular

A report from the Associate Press reveals details of a telephone survey of 1,623 Internet users conducted between Nov. 30, 2006 and Dec. 30, 2006 by Pew Internet and American Life Project showing that more Americans are Googling themselves, their ... friends, co-workers and romantic interests. According to the report from Pew, 47 percent of U.S. adult Internet users have searched for information about themselves through Google or another search engine, more than doubling the 22 percent of users from the previous survey conducted in 2002. About 60 percent of Internet users aren't worried about the ... (view more)

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