Skip to main content

WARNING!!!! If you use the internet, know the word 'smartphone,' or are breathing, YOU ARE AT RISK

Warning! This is some very important security information. If you know anyone who uses the internet, especially sites such as Facebook, this is a must read! This contains important security information that MAY SAVE YOUR LIFE!!!

Security is very difficult on the internet. With xif data in photos, tagging recognition, and global warming, death is around every corner. And if you get your security updates from Facebook shares, you are in even more danger. Because like most things, Facebook is years behind on it's security information.

So what to do?! How can one stay safe in the ever changing world of the internet, smartphones, and information stealing?! How do we keep ourselves and our loved ones safe in this world of people without good intentions. There are a few options

1. Don't get a smartphone
     a. Oh wait, most of the world wouldn't be able to make it without a smartphone.
2. Don't get a Facebook
     a. Oh wait, that's impossible too

Ok, seriously though. Here's a few tips to keep yourself safe

1. Don't post where you're going to be on the internet. A.K.A don't reply to Facebook events, check in with Foursquare/maps/ post your location. Don't put pictures of your house, address, or anywhere you frequent often on the internet. And if you must share about that awesome trip to the zoo that you just took, post about it the day AFTER it happens.

2. Turn off any gps features in your smartphone/tablet. These features are hidden all over the place so it might be hard to find them all. If your phone isn't communicating with a satellite pinging your location, it can't create the data of where you were when a picture was taken in the first place.

3. Sharing some Facebook status about how if you share this then you retain your rights to whatever you put on 'your' wall is yours complete crap. Facebook owns everything and anything that you put on it. End. Of.  Story. So does blogger for that matter.

4. Don't talk to strangers. Duh.

5. Avoid store credit cards and rewards programs if you can. Read This Article. Here's my favorite part, it's towards the end so I put it here for your convenience.


At which point someone asked an important question: How are women going to react when they figure out how much Target knows? “If we send someone a catalog and say, ‘Congratulations on your first child!’ and they’ve never told us they’re pregnant, that’s going to make some people uncomfortable,” Pole told me. “We are very conservative about compliance with all privacy laws. But even if you’re following the law, you can do things where people get queasy.”
About a year after Pole created his pregnancy-prediction model, a man walked into a Target outside Minneapolis and demanded to see the manager. He was clutching coupons that had been sent to his daughter, and he was angry, according to an employee who participated in the conversation.
“My daughter got this in the mail!” he said. “She’s still in high school, and you’re sending her coupons for baby clothes and cribs? Are you trying to encourage her to get pregnant?”
The manager didn’t have any idea what the man was talking about. He looked at the mailer. Sure enough, it was addressed to the man’s daughter and contained advertisements for maternity clothing, nursery furniture and pictures of smiling infants. The manager apologized and then called a few days later to apologize again.
On the phone, though, the father was somewhat abashed. “I had a talk with my daughter,” he said. “It turns out there’s been some activities in my house I haven’t been completely aware of. She’s due in August. I owe you an apology.”
6. If it seems too good to be true or too sad to be true, it isn't true. I used to make fake email chains in my free time with sad sob stories about how if your forwarded this a million times then a hospital would pay for some random surgery for some beautiful child. At the bottom I would always put in small print, this is fake. Jokes on you. I can't tell you how many of them I got forwarded back. Why is this a problem you ask? BECAUSE NOW I HAVE EVERYONE'S EMAIL ADDRESSES. Luckily for you all, I didn't have anything more than curiosity or else I could have used them.
     a. But, people hardly use email anymore!
          ii. Yes, it is true that people don't sit down to type up an email rather than sending a text message, but, think of all the things that are linked to your email. Your Facebook, bank account, websites, credit cards. Oh, the things one can do with an email,

7. Stop making your password your birthday. I thought this one was obvious, but I have been informed that people still do this,

8. Grow up in a family with a very internet security conscious parent who educates you and tries to educate the general public but they never listen and instead get their security information from Facebook shares.

This blog post started out as one of those fake emails I used to make, but I figured that while I had anyone's attention, I might share some useful information that some people might actually not know. I don't mean to be offensive in anyway, and in no way consider myself an expert on internet security. I will admit that I've got lots of improvement to make as well.

Stay safe. Stay awesome.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Racism, stereotypes, and plain ole judging

Being in a class dedicated to the idea of migration has really kept the idea of racism on the brain. In elementary school, the idea of racism was so defined to me, thinking people are better than others based solely on the color of their skin. It wasn't until middle school after reading many books that I realized racism wasn't jut as issue of black versus white, rather it applies to all cultures. In high school I was actually shocked to here racist statements from people I loved. All the sudden this issue became personal somewhat. (My favorite statement was from a little girl who said, it should be illegal for Mexicans to have babies. I guess I can't have kids then.)  But it wasn't until last week when we did an activity in my public health class that I realized that I myself was being racist as well. Now, this is something I am not proud of. I'm very embarrassed actually and that activity was humbling. Why am I writing about this? Because, it's som...

Toxic Masculinity

It seems like forever ago that they released that Gilette ad about toxic masculinity. I watched as people I'd grown up with freaked out about it, saying that it said that men need to be like women, and that it condemned masculinity altogether, along with other things. I crafted post after post to write on my social media, but in the end didn't bother writing anything. I didn't feel like arguing with people. But I had to share my thoughts somewhere, so here they are.  To me, toxic masculinity is exactly what it says-- ideals of masculinity that are toxic. It's telling your son that he needs to suck it up and not cry. That he can get away with more than girls because 'boys will be boys.' The idea that he can't read or watch certain media because it's "for girls." At the same time, girls are asked to watch things that are "for boys" all of the time. It's the idea that men need to repress their feelings. That they can't be sc...

Little Bit o Writing Monday

The beginning of my short story for class.  When Dora's son tugged on her pants leg, the last thing she expected was to see him holding a tooth. A tooth that clearly did not belong to him. She was no dentist, but she was smart enough to know the colossal thing couldn't have come from Mark's mouth. “Mark, where did you find that?” Dora scolded. “In the backyard.” “Show me where,” Dora commanded. Excited, Mark ran out to the backyard, Dora following on his heels. He led her over to the back of the yard, to the particular corner that couldn't be seen from the kitchen window. There, her other two children were gathered around a hole in the ground. Hole was an understatement though, they'd obviously been working on this, pit, for quite sometime. If there had been no tooth, Dora would have sat the kids down and explained how digging holes this deep was dangerous because of all the water, electric, and who knows what else lines were under the ...