Facebook faces off with Ontario gov't

The Facebook. Currently 21 million worldwide users are regularly updating their profile on their dedicated page on Facebook. From high school students to company workers, numerous people have set up their Facebook page. Has it been a good influence on people or bad influence? I myself, for example, have gotten rid of the Facebook. Generally it took too much time out of my hands. Even when I had an exam the next day, I was constantly checking on Facebook if anybody updated any of their pages. Also how would people feel if lots of people in the world are checking on your profile to see what you did yesterday, and what you usually eat for dinner? Wouldn't it be a invasion of privacy?

Now the question arrives.
Ontario government employees won't be among the 21 million worldwide users of the popular social networking website Facebook - at least while they are at work. Premier Dalton McGuinty said Thursday he doesn't see how Facebook - an internet phenomenon that allows members to display their profile, photographs, interests and comments to fellow users and reconnect with-long lost acquanitances - adds value to a workplace environment.

This is true. I currently work for University of Massachusetts Office of Information Technologies. Whenever I am on duty, I am told not to go onto the Facebook. I agree that going onto Facebook does not help the workers to work in any way. Sometimes Facebook contains pictures that are obscene for a workplace environment. this is why Facebook should be off-limit to some of the places and times.

When workers tried to log on to their accounts Wednesday, they were greeted with "access denied" messages on their screens in the same way as pornography and gambling sites are blocked on provincial computers. As a follow-up, Chris Kelly is "puzzled" by the government's decision to restrict access to the site.

Several Facebook members have started groups on the site extolling and lamenting its addictive properties, with numerous users claiming to check the site more than 20 times an hour. This shows that we really need to restrict the Facebook off from the work environment.

Mike

Sources:

Facebook faces off with Ontario gov't
PUBLISHED: May 3, 2007
http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2007/05/03/ontario-facebook.html

CHINA SHUTS FAKE OLYMPICS SITE

China shuts fake Olympics site

Chinese police have arrested three men for setting up a fake Olympic Games ticket website, the official xinhua agency has reported. Nowadays websites have been really controversial. Lots of people are trying to steal other people's money and even identities.

This is a great example. In China, three men created a website, which sold fake Olympic Games tickets online. This is just absurd. It's even more frustrating when 10 people have actually tried to buy the tickets through the site operated from south-eastern Fujian province since March. Some people have no idea that those sites might be fake. Innocent and naive people like that are only bringing these people into the web. People have to be aware of these things. They have to know which are real and which are real.

Beijing began taking orders for tickets for next year's Games last Sunday, promising "very affordable" tickets and strong security, with group or block bookings banned. Those men were very sneaky. They thought, by creating a fake ticket selling website, they could get away with the crime. However, they were bound to be caught.

It is said that prices range from 30 yuan ($4.20) for preliminary shooting events up to 5,000 yuan for the opening ceremony on August 8, 2008. Delibery will only begin in June 2008. This shows us that we need to be careful when we are spending and transacting money online. We never know who's at the end of the transaction line. From now on, we ALL need to be careful when dealing with money.

Sources:

CHINA SHUTS FAKE OLYMPICS SITE
PUBLISHED: April 23, 2007
http://australianit.news.com.au/articles/0,7204,21603853%5E15331%5E%5Enbv%5E15306-15319,00.html

TEEN FAKE POLICES YOUTUBE CLIPS

Teen fake polices YouTube clips

Once my Operating Professor told us that half of the internet could be affected by few teenagers with their computers in their basement. He told us that those kids could do so much damage since all they do is coming up with mischievous things to do while they play around with their computers. Some kids are geniuses. For example, some can make viruses that can crash hundreds of computers when infected, and some can even port-block computers so that people won't be able to connect to the internet.

On this post, a teenager pretended to represent the national broadcaster in demanding the removal of hundreds of video clips from the YouTube website. The 15-year-old boy sent YouTube a signed form saying he represented the copyright owner, ABC Television, and that he wanted the footage removed from the website.

It's crazy how one kid can affect so much on multi-billion dollar corporations. How can a kid pretended that he represent the ABC TV, and send a form to YouTube for demand? and he's only a 15-year-old kid. Apologizing was all he done, and he was let free. ABC TV said that it was not yet clear why the boy had decided to impersonate an ABC employee, but it's pretty obvious that he was just doing it for fun-and-games.

The funny thing was that YouTube was actually sending copyright infringement notices to people who have been uploading Chaser clips to YouTube, threatening to shut down their access to YouTube if they persist. YouTube had no idea that the form could have been fake. Advancing technologies nowadays... Is it a good thing? or a bad thing?


Sources:

TEEN FAKE POLICES YOUTUBE CLIPS
PUBLISHED: April 16, 2007
http://australianit.news.com.au/articles/0,7204,21563838%5E27317%5E%5Enbv%5E15306-15319,00.html

MySpace blocks Photobucket videos and slide shows

Social-networking giant MySpace.com on Wednesday blocked Photobucket videos and photo slides shows from being uploaded to its pages. This is a great update from MySpace.com. My only reason of not using MySpace.com was 'cause of the slow load-up time for the pages and videos that pop up constantly every time I load up the pages.

The Facebook.com has been a hit. It generally went for the college social network, and it had so much success getting so many fans into the networking website. One of the main reason why Facebook.com succeeded was that it was very simple and ad-free. There were no user-added photo slide shows on the pages, and especially videos that drag the load-up time of the pages.

Furthermore, MySpace.com will no longer let users post such content from Photobucket in their profiles, blogs or comments section. Even though MySpace.com blocked Photobucket for violating MySpace.com's terms by encouraging users to post advertisements, it was a good move towards getting more users to join the network, I believe. As in the post, the move was said to be something akin to Microsoft blocking third-party applications from Windows. Scores from companies offer software tools, commonly referred to as "widgets," that allow users to post photos, music, video and other contents to Web sites, and many have built their businesses specifically around MySpace.com's 90 million users.

It's true that Photobucket is the largest photo-sharing site on the Web with more than 17 million monthly users, and has recently branched into videos. And the fact that MySpace has blocked Photobucket is a huge news. According to this post, the social-networking site never alerted Photobucket before pulling the plug on slide shows and video.


Sources:

MySpace blocks Photobucket videos and slide shows
PUBLISHED: April 11, 2007
http://news.com.com/2100-1026_3-6175272.html

CD with medical data of 75,000 is found

CD WITH MEDICAL DATA OF 75,000 IS FOUND

A missing CD containing confidential medical and personal information on 75,000 Empire Blue Cross and Blue Shield members was recovered Wednesday.

Erin Sommers, a spokeswoman for Magellan Behavioral Services, a managed care company that monitors payments for mental health and substance abuse cases of insurers, said the company received a telephone call Wednesday morning saying that the CD was delivered by mistake to a residence in the Philadelphia area. The CD had been missing since January.

Magellan sent two security employees to identify the CD, interview the people who received it and bring it back. "We have no reason to believe, based on our interviews, that there was any improper access to the evidence," Sommers said.

The recipients were assembling a new audio system when they found the Magellan disc among the packages, she said.

The coding and password protection for the information on the CD, which included the names of patients, their doctors, hospitals, Social Security numbers and medical claims going back to 2003, had been removed by the sender, Health Data Management Solutions, a company working for Magellan, Sommers said.

Health Data Management Solutions is a unit of ActiveHealth Management, a data management company owned by the Aetna insurance company. Health Data and Magellan staff members "had agreed to exchange the data in an unencrypted manner," ActiveHealth spokeswoman Oonagh Holt said.

Law weighed to stop online predators

Law weighed to stop online predators

In past few years, social networking websites have been boomed all over the internet, such as myspace, facebook, xuqa, and etc. And these website has been the online predators' main targets as well. Since lots of young students join these social networking website group, online predators have been lurking around the sites and trying to lure young people. From these online predators, we had to do something to protect our younger brothers, sisters, and kids.

Finally, New Jersey lawmakers are considering a measure to prohibit released sex offenders from using the Internet and to impose new rules for online dating sites. This is definitely a big step towards stopping online predators. I am also against the online dating sites. How can people trust some random person chating online? and meet and date them after?

Released sex offenders caught using the Internet would face up to 18 months in jail and fines of up to $10,000. Sex offenders caught using the Internet to solicit a child would face a mandatory five years in jail. We should absolutely keep the law harsh on the sex offenders online. How can we let our younger brothers, sisters, and kids go online safely with these sex offenders lurking around? We have to set some strict rules and laws to prevent these from happening.

One thing I really like about this new law is that the new measure requires online dating sites to tell New Jersey residents whether they do background checks. All online chatting and social networking sites should have these feature when people first register. The site should check their background information, and register according to that. Internet companies like Yahoo!, AOL, eHarmony and Match.com also are concerned about the online dating rule.

We should move to these direction as soon as possible. We should be able to let our kids go online safely without worrying about anything. When sex offenders are caught, there should be a harsh punishment as well. From these measures, we only can get rid of all the sex offenders on the internet.

Mike


Sources:

Survey: Law weighed to stop online predators
PUBLISHED: March 1, 2007
http://www.northjersey.com/page.php?qstr=eXJpcnk3ZjczN2Y3dnFlZUVFeXk1JmZnYmVsN2Y3dnFlZUVFeXk3MDg1NjU2JnlyaXJ5N2Y3MTdmN3ZxZWVFRXl5Mg==

Survey: One-third of Net users in U.S. have used wireless connections

It seems like only the wireless industry is expanding nowadays when it comes to the Internet. Lots of companies are working to make everything wireless, even keyboard, mouse, and the Internet. According to this survey, about one-third of Internet users in the U.S. have used a wireless connection to surf the Web or check e-mail, according to a survey released Sunday.

Even at home, I use the wireless internet. Without wires hanging around the room, lots of things are much organized, and I can even move around my laptop to go online, such as in the kitchen, living room, and even in the bathroom. I was expecting this high rate since almost all net-users know how to set up the wireless, and they have been using it in the school, library, and even cafes. The survey by the Pew Internet & American Life Project showed that 34 percent of Internet users have gone online through Wi-Fi service or a cell phone network, including 27 percent who have logged on from somewhere other than their home or workplace.

It is said that 19 percent of the Internet users have now a wireless network in their home. Almost every person I know or friends I know have wireless even in their dorms. According to the survey, now, that number has nearly doubled since Jan 2005.

With the fact that now people use more laptops than desktops, expanding wireless connection all over the country was just a matter of time. Also with the cellphones with capabilities to access the Internet have helped a lot on this survey as well.

Mike

Sources:

Survey: One-third of Net users in U.S. have used wireless connections
PUBLISHED: February 26, 2007
http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/news/editorial/16785912.htm