websense

Wow, I am sure you’ve all heard about this so called “Craig’s List Killer“. Frightening, for sure. I know we’ve all used sites like this, either Craig’s list or a local newspaper’s site to buy and sell items. What is amazing to me is that people seem to have some sort of trust in people they meet online.

There are lots of places on the web that give online safety tips, so please check them out. I think just employing some basic common sense would go a long way towards keeping yourself, and your family safe online. Craigs List has it’s own safety suggestions as well.
1. If you are selling a vehicle, or some other item, meet the person in a neutral, busy area. Take someone with you, and don’t get in the car alone with anyone.
2. Don’t try to sell personal services online, such as massage therapy or anything else. If you are offering those services, just be safe and go through a salon or other means. Build a trustworthy client list, and stick to it. That way you can ask your clients for referrals of others that they trust.
3. Follow your gut – if it feels like a bad situation, just get out of there.

I know many of you have kids who use the web, and it’s really hard to keep track of everything they do online, but watching who they are talking to is huge. It’s really horrible to read about how many young girls are loured away by dirt bags, never to be seen again. These guys know what they are doing, and how to portray themselves as young, trustworthy teens or younger guys. There are plenty of places on the web that offer suggestions on how to keep your kids safer online, but really, supervision is the only way to be sure.

One method we use with our younger kids, to keep them from just surfing the web, is to create a list in favorites, and they know they are only allowed to surf these pre-apporved sites. This is also a great way to help your pre-readers find sites without having to ask you to get them there everytime.
Because You Tube is a lot of fun, but can be pretty sketchy in the material found there, we have found a great alternative that our kids have been enjoying. It’s called Kids Tube. The site was created by some concerned folks, parents and grandparents, as a safe, fun way for kids to share and enjoy online vidoes. It’s monitored, and so far, my kids have been finding it really fun.
Of course there are always Disney and Nickalodeon, our kids seem to enjoy these, and Webkinz has taken over the planet.

Those of you with teenagers, I know it has to be a lot harder, they are all into Facebook and Myspace. It’s impossible to control the content, and hard to patrol what they post, especially if they have an ipod, iphone, blackberry, whatever. I would still say be on alert, all the time, when they are on the computer, but I would also think that making sure they know that anything they post becomes part of the web, forever, is make clear to them. Help them understand how it can affect their college and job prospects and such. http://www.safeteens.com/ is a great resource to get you started.

So, do you have a great online safety tip? I’m sure we could all benefit from a fresh idea or two – got a good one?

TKG sent out an email weeks ago about the Conflicker virus that was expected to attack PCs on or around April 1st. This was soon dismissed as a false alarm, even though there had been a lot of speculation about it. Well, apparently the virus is starting a very slow roll out of attacks on PCs. This thing has been really well planned out, apparently the guys who created Conflicker know their stuff, so unfortunately, we need to as well.

According to reports I have read, if you have your PC set to do automatic updates, you should be in the clear. If not, there are several places you can go to find out if your machine has been infected.

1. Microsoft has a page devoted to cleaning the Conflicker worm up.
2. AVG has very good anti-virus and anti-spyware available for free download.
3. Can Talk Tech also has some information and removal tips.

While this worm is definitely a pain the neck, if you have kept your PC updated, you shouldn’t have a problem. If you do have the virus, you can’t get to any of the above suggestions, as the virus itself patches the “hole” left by Microsoft that allows the virus in in the first place. In this case, get a friend with an uninfected machine to download and email the removal software to you.

Just a friendly reminder to keep your machines updated and your firewalls on, folks! If you want more information about the Conflicker Virus, Fox News has a report with more details on how it works, and why the creators of this malicious worm went to so much trouble.

Our, you could just get a Mac

Okay, so I tend to go on political rants that sometimes have little to do with the web – maybe more business minded, or what have you, but not really the web per say. This is different. Big time. Have you seen the headlines? This is getting more and more disturbing everyday. This administration, in it’s first 100 days has been so devastating, so far reaching, that the American public has barely had time to react, and no, I don’t think that’s an accident. It’s been an out and out steam rolling of American principles.

New legislation in being introduced in the senate, senate bills S. 773 and S. 778. These two new bills are both part of the “Cybersecurity Act of 2009″. These Acts would create, the “Office of the National Cybersecurity Advisor”, and would be responsible for “defending the country from cyber attack”… and would report directly to Barack Obama. This new bureaucracy would also grant the Secretary of Commerce access to all privately owned information networks deemed to be “critical”to the nation’s infrastructure, “without regard to any provision of law, regulation, rule or policy restricting such access.”

Are you getting this!? The Secretary of Commerce, reporting directly to Obama, would be able to read, look and dig through ANYTHING connected to the web that a President decides is “critical”to look at. The law does not apply to this new bureaucracy. It would have the power to snoop through anything the president deemed a threat. ANYTHING. He would then have the ability to basically “turn off” the Internet for any type of threat, or what he decided was a threat. Sound much like the state controlled media in China and North Korea to anyone else? You control the media, you then control the country.

This is not just about media control (and I don’t mean that the way it sounds). This directly affects my ability to make and sell a product, create jobs, support my family. This affects everyone with any kind of web presence. How much would a temporary shut down of your site cost you? How much would a long term shut down cost you? What if the perceived threat were great enough for Obama to attempt a semi-permanent shut down? That means the end of all web business. Think about this one, folks. It’s enormous. The Act itself is so very vague and far reaching, not to mention what it does to the 4th Amendment – basically just puts it through the shredder.

I know I keep encouraging folks to speak up, but hey, this one matters, to all of us. It comes down to 1st Amendment and 4th Amendment rights. Write your congresspeople. Contact your senators. Just do it.

Another incredible move on the part of the government. The FTC is proposing regulations on bloggers! The proposed regulations could effect bloggers who review products or services as well as commenters. Facebook users are also potential targets.

Some of the more popular bloggers will review a product or a company for a fee, or perhaps just the sample product itself. Most claim to only give their fair and honest opinion of the product. They also try to stay within their particular area of expertise or subject matter. As far as I’m concerned, this is legit. Even helpful when the product is relevant to the blog.

The FTC claims it will only target false reviews, just as it targets false advertising. A Fox News report states that while the FTC makes these claims, not everyone is sure that the crack down will stop there. Even word of mouth advertising, as the web is purported to be, at least until they update the language to fit the technology, is prosecutable. And sure, we believe that this government agency won’t be abusive and overly zealous. Big governmental agencies never are right?

Many in the web world are up in arms over this topic. Should be interesting to see how it plays out, and the government encroaches more and more into the online space.

So, are you about to make a comment on the message board or blog of your favorite new product? Be careful, big brother is watching.

Take a moment and watch this video reminding us to support our troops.