The Reasonable Activist

This is why I only play games on Facebook.

ARTICLE: How FB betrayed users and Undermined Privacy

SUGGESTIONS TO PROTECT YOURSELF:

1. Don’t use your real name on the internet.  Always, ALWAYS use some kind of alias not related to your real name.  (i.e. if your name is John Smith saying SmithJ069 is not a suitable alias)
2. Don’t use your real birthday on the internet.  That’s right, I have a different fake birthday for online accounts.  Actually, I have several fake birthdays, but that could be confusing if you are prone to forgetting your password and need to then remember your correct fake birthday to login to an account.
3. Do not post pictures of yourself, your friends, your coworkers, or your kids on the internet.  It is probably okay to share by email or secure server privately.  Those can both be easily hacked, but let’s face it, if someone is targeting you that closely you are probably screwed anyway.  Facebook is NOT a secure server.  It always drives me bonkers when parents who join Facebook groups like “let’s burn pedophiles at the stake” then post cutesy pics of their kids on Facebook to share with their ‘friends’ — many of whom they have never met in real life.  Where do you think online predators get pics from?  That’s right, they get them from YOU.  And, since you same people have no clue as to security, they probably also have your telephone, email, and hometown, which you were dumb enough to put on your profile.
4. Don’t tell online people where you are going.  Sure, everyone wants to brag that they have tickets to some fabulous sold-out show.  But tweeting about it?  Do that AFTER the concert.   Announcing to the world that you are in the Bahamas for the next two weeks is announcing that your home is ripe for a robbery.  Instead, wait until you get home and THEN you can post pics of the fabulous beach sunset and talk about how sunburned you are.
5. The Internet is like a megaphone.  Did you know social networking sites (i.e. Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, etc) are admissible in court?  You can be fired for griping about work.  You can lose your divorce case if there is proof of an affair.  You can even lose custody of your kids if caught saying nasty things about an ex.  Our brains are wired to think of these sites as cozy, private spaces where we can vent.  Not so.  Pretend everything you post is being shouted on the street to random passersby.
6. If it sounds too good to be true, it is.  You are not really going to win a free iPad or iPhone, just like you won’t win that car on display at the mall.  They use those entries to sell your information to spammers.  There is no such thing as a UK national lottery which picks winners by random email.
7. Check the address bar before you login to a site.  This is the primary way accounts get hacked.  Maybe one of your friends on Facebook has been hacked.  The bot sends out a message to everyone on that person’s friend list, saying “check out this vid of mine”.  You click on it, and it asks you to log in.  Only that login isn’t real.  The minute you type in your name as password, you have been screwed.  How do you protect yourself?  Check the address bar before you type in that information.  Sometimes they will try to use similar names to confuse people.  “facebook.com” might become “faccbook.com” or even “loginserver.ru/facebook.com” which just means they’ve named their page “facebook” when you are really going to “loginserver.ru” instead.  If you aren’t sure, type in the address manually.
8. Beware of certain countries.  Scammers tend to work out of countries with lax internet laws or law enforcement, because then they don’t have to worry about being busted.  Russia and Nigeria host internet scammers in the same way Somalia has pirates.  I say this as someone who knows people who, in fact, have married Nigerians and/or Russian brides.  The odds of that happening are less than 1000 to 1.  You are more likely to win that car.  Chances are, your Nigerian prince or Russian bride is just a scam artist sitting in an internet cafe overseas, who makes a living by tricking people just like you.
9. Everyone’s account gets hacked from time to time.  It happens.  If you think your friend has been hacked, send them a quick note telling them so.  Chances are, they aren’t even aware of it.  (I’m finding this alot lately on yahoo email accounts.)  Usually just changing the password is sufficient.  If you aren’t sure if you have been hacked, change your password.  Very simple.  Also, if you know your account has been compromised, a quick note sent to all your friends apologizing for any spam you may have sent and telling them not to click on any previous links, etc, from you (or if they have, that they need to change their password) is considered polite.

Stay safe, everyone, and stay secure!

Just a quick article link:

Wiretapping On Americans

The Supreme Court yesterday sharply limited the power of police to search a suspect’s car after making an arrest, acknowledging that the decision changes a rule that law enforcement has relied on for nearly 30 years.

FOR MORE INFORMATION, READ THE FULL ARTICLE AT:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/04/21/AR2009042102125_Comments.html

MY OFFICIAL COMMENT ON THE POST:
It is a hard line to draw beween safety and freedom. Part of me wonders how many dangerous criminals will not be found out because no one knew about the guns in the trunk. The other part remembers riding home from work late at night with some coworkers and being stopped for no good reason, forced to sit on the curb, and wait thirty minutes in the cold while police searched the car and didn’t find anything.

I would love for police to have the right to conduct a reasonable search, but as with any privilege comes responsibility. Too many power-tripping officers have abused this right, and like any bad apple they have made things harder for the good, responsible men and women of law enforcement.

If you belong to any Yahoo Groups, please be aware that Yahoo uses something called “Web Beacons” to track every Yahoo Group user.  It is similar to a cookie, but allows Yahoo to record every website and group you visit even you are not connected to Yahoo.  You can read their updated privacy statement at:

http://info.yahoo.com/privacy/us/yahoo/details.html

About halfway down the page (in the section on cookies) you will see a link that says “Web Beacons”.  If you click there, you can find a box entitled “opt-out” on the left hand column.  In that section find “opt-out of interest-matched advertising” link and that will let you opt-out of their snooping.

Note that this invasion of privacy is machine specific, not user specific, meaning you will have to opt-out of every terminal you use.  What a pain.

REFERENCES:

http://antivirus.about.com/od/spywareandadware/a/yahoobugs.htm