Tips | Last post

Now, as you may all know, I have been doing this blog for my English class. Our assignment was to pick a topic that concerns the world that we know right now. I have chosen Internet Privacy, and if you read my other posts, you’ll come to see that along the way, I have been trying to give advice to all you internet users out there. 

This, unfortunately, is my last post. I have had a blast writing these for the past 10 weeks (note the sarcasm). 

 

In this blog post, I’m going to be summarizing all the tips that I have found so that you may have more protection when facing off all those cyber-bullies, or strangers, or simply just protecting yourselves.  

 Here we go:

1.       A few tips regarding Social Sites:

a.       When using Facebook, try to remember that with the new layout, stalking is made even easier.

                                                               i.      Put your profile on private, so that not everyone can find you.

                                                             ii.      Do not accept strangers.

                                                            iii.      Don’t post all your pictures.

                                                           iv.      Don’t always announce to the world what you’re doing.

b.      When using Twitter:

                                                               i.      Don’t always tell people what you’re doing, when you’re doing it and where you’re doing it.

                                                             ii.      Don’t link up your Facebook and your Twitter: bad idea.

                                                            iii.      Don’t put all your information out there. Not everyone needs to know what kind of toilet paper you’re using, your address or how many pillows you have in your room.

                                                           iv.      Change your privacy settings.

2.       A few tips with Online Shopping

a.       Make sure you know the seller

b.      Make sure that the payment method is something that you know, so VISA/MasterCard

c.       Keep the receipts/Transaction Papers

3.       Blogging

a.       If you don’t want anyone to read it, don’t post it

b.      Don’t use real information (i.e where you live, your house number, your real last name with your birthday and city of birth)|

c.       Avoid uploading pictures of yourselves. When you upload pictures of yourselves, remember that those pictures are going around the whole world.

4.       Youtube

a.       If making a channel just for commenting and liking videos, avoid using real information about yourself.

b.      If making a channel for your band/music career, use your name and last name sure, but the contact information should be things like your email and your twitter(if you have one)

Well, I hope you enjoyed these tips, and hopefully they’ll be helpful in the near future.  Bye!

READ MORE...

SOPA!

Journal Entry number 9!

So, I've reached my ninth blog, and it's my second last one. Now, in this blog post, I'll be talking about SOPA. If you've heard about it, then good, if not, then it's an organization that stands for ''Stop Online Piracy  Act.'' It's one of the bills that the congress wants to impose. 

 
BusinessInsider says ''They are well-intentioned. They want to prevent piracy and copyright infringement. But they do so in a overly-aggressive, innovation-endangering way. They allow the entertainment industry to censor sites they feel 'engage in, enable or facilitate' infringement.'' So, the Electronic Frontic Foundation would describe SOPA as the blacklist bill, so, it would allow the US Government to create a blacklist bill, which is a list that will block a few couple ''a lot actually' of websites and cut of many online payment providers, so like VISA, MasterCard, or even PayPal.

That means that search engines like Google, Yahoo!, or Bing! Would have half their websites cut off.
Now with this blacklist bill, the Internet will be ruined forever, and many sites like Tumblr, Wikipedia, Youtube and maybe even Twitter will be blocked because it's all copy-paste, or reblog, or even retweeting, which involves piracy.

Now, the US government is all about freedom, and freedom of speech. But if the Blacklist bill goes through, then the Censorship in America will start.
Censorship is when an authority figures to examine things to remove unnecessary information that goes against the morals from the government.

The State News have said that “Wikipedia, the vast online encyclopedia often used as a go-to starting point for class essay sources and background information, and Reddit, the user-driven link sharing site popular among college students, will black out their pages on Wednesday during the day in a growing movement against the Stop Online Piracy Act, SOPA and the Protect IP Act.” Now, imagine you’re doing a project, and you wanted to look up some general background information, and you find out that Wikipedia is blocked/shut down. That would suck.

Well, I’m hoping, actually, we should all hope that SOPA doesn’t go through. See you all in my next and final blog!

REMEMBER!

READ MORE...

Youtube : Don't Broadcast yourself

Hey! So I figured because I don't have any homework now, and my blog post deadline is coming to an end very soon (before exams!), I might as well start finishing them off now.

Today's subject is going to be about the dangers of Youtube and how to protect yourself, as much as you can on Youtube.

While Youtube may be a great way to get your band known, or your awesome editing skills shown to the world, it is also very dangerous. You never know what kind of creep lurks around every corner of the web, and with Youtube's anonymity, you never know who could be watching your video or creeping around your channel.

Here are a few tips that could help reduce some dangers of that Youtube may contain:

• When making a Youtube channel solely for the purpose of favoring video's, or adding comments to someone else channel, make sure not to put any information that could lead to where you are (don't put your real address, last and first names, your facebook account page,  and phone number). There's also the option of making a private channel.
• When making a Youtube Channel so you can upload videos, try not to state where you are (i.e, what city in what country), don't put any real information if you intend not to be found
• If you're making a youtube channel so you could be discovered, don't put your phone number. Instead, add your email address, or a twitter (if you have one).
• If you don't want anyone to comment on your channel, remember, there's always a "disable comment" section before uploading a video. 

Remember that whatever you put on the Internet will come an haunt you some way (if it's embarrassing). If the video is of you doing something amazing, then good luck in the future :)

READ MORE...

blogging like a boss

Now, before I start, I would just like to say that I do have another blog besides this one, and on this particular blog, I'm writing about the dangers of blogging.

BLOGGING

Blogging is a term used by everyone who has a blog, obviously. It’s your own page, and you can do whatever you want with it. You can post pictures, you can post depressing/happy music and you can vent out everything out of your system. Although blogging might be helpful to many people, it’s also quite dangerous. 

One of the biggest dangers about having a blog would be cyberstalking. It’s a pretty new thing that allows anonymous stalkers to stalk their prey. When someone is blogging, they would usually put information about themselves. They can put some of their dislikes and likes, their pictures, and in some cases, where they live. There are ways to protect yourself though:

• When parents tell children, young adolescents and teenagers not put up any information, a lot of the parents don’t take this warning too seriously. They should also use this warning to protect themselves.
• Dr. Rachel O’Connell, a psychiatrist, says that “This is just a paedophile’s dream because you have children uploading pictures, giving out details of their everyday life because it’s an online journal” (BBC News) . To protect ourselves, we should avoid uploading pictures, because whatever goes on the internet stays on the internet.  
• If you don’t want anyone to read what you’re writing, don’t post it. Or post it anonymously. Make a blog, but don’t give out any information about yourself, that way, when you’re venting out your feelings, no one will know it’s you. 
•  Avoid using real information about yourself. If anyone asks questions about where you live, don’t answer them, and if you’re foolish enough to answer them, give out a wrong address, one that leads to the middle of nowhere.

· 

Well, I hope these tips help you when you’re writing a blog. Remember; try not to post anything about yourself. The internet is timeless.

The Dangers about Blogging

READ MORE...

Online Shopping

Hey everyone, I hope you guys are having fun in your break!

Today, I’m going to talk about online shopping.   

Now, I know that online shopping is much easier than normal shopping for many reasons. You don’t have to stand in line at the store, you don’t have to listen to mean cashiers and mean employees, and you don’t have to fight with the person who wants the same item that you want when it’s on sale. You obviously save time, save the effort of actually going and sometimes even money. But there are many problems with online shopping.

First we have our normal problems like:

•  They don’t have enough of a certain item;
•  The item you receive could be different than the one shown;
• If it was a hair, face or body product, the item would not have the same results as the   ones shown on the website;
•   The quality is horrible
• You receive the wrong thing;
• etc, etc.

Then we have problems like these ones:

• Unknown sellers –You never know when someone is impersonating a website, and that person could end up stealing your money and your credit card information. Before buying anything from an unknown website, make sure there is a contact number and maybe some addresses. That way, before buying something, you could always call the sellers and talk to them. If something goes wrong with the merchandise, you can always return it. 
•  Payment – Before paying, make sure that the total cost of your entire purchase is correct and that there aren’t any extra fees. Then make sure that you’re comfortable with the method of payment. Make sure the seller uses a secure payment system and look out for a padlock symbol and the web address starting with ‘https://’, which means that a safe payment process is being used. If you have any doubts, then don’t shop online.
• Make sure that there are receipts, or written records indicating that you bought the merchandise and that will come in handy if something went wrong. (ACCC)

Well, I hope you use some of these tips when you shop online. Make sure you know the sender, that it’s safe and that you keep any form of record of the sale.

 

READ MORE...

#tweeting #AllDayEveryDay

Hey everyone...I'm back!  

Hey everyone...I'm back! Today, I want to post about Twitter.
 


Now, before I start ranting on, I just want to inform you guys that I do use Twitter…. A lot, and I’m of those people that tend to tweet a lot when they’re bored.

·         Founders : Evan Williams, Biz Stone and jack Dorsey

·         Evan Williams created blogger, which we are using now

·         Google bought it, and Evan was working for Google

·         Evan and a Google employee, Biz Stone, left Google for a new company called Odeo.

·         One of Odeo’s projects was Twitter

·         Stone and Williams bought out Odeo and Twitter and called it Obvious Corporation

·         Jack Dorsey came along, and helped made Twitter into what it is today

·         In March 2006, Twitter split from Obvious Corporation and became its own company: Twitter incorporated.  (How Stuff Work)

Now, Twitter is used by over 200 million people, celebrity and your normal, average joes. It lets you update your “status” in 140 characters and let your followers know what you’re doing when you tweet it. You can follow all sorts of people, and keep in touch with others. Because Twitter has a mobile site and app, smartphones can now use it on the go, or just put in their numbers to receive tweets via-mobile.

Now, there are some issues concerning your privacy when using Twitter:

1.      People know what you are doing, when you’re doing it when you tweet about it.

2.      It’s more open than Facebook, meaning that if someone decided to Google you, you’d probably show up.

3.      Your tweets show up to anyone who is following you, and sometimes, even to people who aren’t following you.

4.      Linking up your Twitter account with your Facebook account, not a good idea.

There are some ways to avoid these disasters:

1.      When tweeting, you don’t have to tweet every 5 seconds letting the whole world know what where you are and what you’re doing at the exact instant. You could tweet at the beginning of each hour, or every 30 minutes for Twitter addicts.

2.      Don’t put all your information out there. Not everyone needs to know what kind of toilet paper you’re using, your address or how many pillows you have in your room.

3.      Change your privacy settings to “Protected” so that if someone decides to follow you, they have to be approved by you. If you decide to hate on someone who has a Twitter account, best way to avoid it, would be not to hate on anyone.

4.      Sometimes, linking two accounts for two very different social networks might not be good idea, unless you want to be hit by a break. Let’s say you linked your Facebook with Twitter, and you were watching a game, or some sort of tv show. Obviously, you’re going to tweet every 5 seconds, which will annoy everyone on Facebook and will result in having your face being hit by a brick. (Avoid Disasters on Twitter)

Well, Thanks again for reading my blog, hope you use these tips someday in the near or distant future J

READ MORE...

What ever happened to..

Hello Everyone!
Thanks for reading my blog post last week; I enjoyed all your comments!
Now, I want to ask everyone about something that has been bugging me for hours now....Don't you ever wonder: What ever happened to sites like MySpace and Piczo?
I remember when we were in grade 5, so like 2005, and we had computer time at school, everyone would log into MySpace or Piczo. Now when I was younger, I personally didn't have MySpace, because I knew that it was going to die. I did have like 5 Piczo pages though. Me and my friends would build one whenever we were bored, and post a bunch of posts. But don't you ever wonder about the information that we put up there, about all those biographies that we put in our "About Me" section, or all the pictures that we posted.
What about all those ads that would appear bigger than your own pictures, or the music and videos that would take   F O R E V E R  to load? I know that's one of the reasons we all quit it.
If you want advice on how to handle MySpace information, my advice would be to delete all your information, then delete your page. Even though all your information has been once up there, it's better to have it deleted before anything happens. With Piczo, you should do the same things, if you remember your password, of course, because I know I don't.
From what I heard for MySpace, there were also a lot of undercover cops waiting and watching everyone, kinda like Big Brother would, to make sure that nothing bad or illegal is happening (this is where English at Lajeunesse comes in handy).
Hope you all enjoyed it, even though it was less entertaining then my last post.  Besides, who knows, Facebook might die out and something else will replace it.

READ MORE...