BARBARA'S TCHATZKAHS

I tell this to every net-user I know. 6 years ago I watched an NYPD forensic assistant click up someone's real identity, address and phone number using no special software, in just two clicks - using a free site. And with commercially available software - they found everything this person had written online since 1998. As well supposedly "private" stuff they'd used their credit card for, going right back to their IP! Please people, be more careful out there. You are not as anonymous as you think. How a dirty SMS can come back to haunt you. By Jacob Leibenluft On Tuesday, a Michigan court released yet another batch of romantic text messages sent between Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick and his former chief of staff Christine Beatty in 2002 and 2003. In the messages, Kilpatrick and Beatty — who are charged with perjury for denying their affair in court — professed their love to one another and graphically described their sexual encounters. If you delete an old text mess...

by Kirsten Powers It turns out that Craigslist is about a lot more than second-hand furniture or an apartment rental: Prosecutors charge that it's a prime part of the modern slave trade. The Web site has become one of the most effective (and free) tools for human traffickers to ply their hideous trade. Its former "erotic services" section has allegedly been a boon to the human scum who post children and women for sale. Incidents like the ones involving "Craigslist killer" Philip Markoff and the New York radio reporter allegedly killed by a teenager who responded to a Craigslist ad are apparently just the tip of the iceberg. Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan has referred to the Craigslist section then known as "erotic services" as an "Internet brothel." Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin accuses it of being a significant source of child prostitution in her city. In 2008, the attorneys general of 40 states charged that the site's "ero...

Yes, even the rich, educated and well-heeled do it. Blame shift, call each other nuts or crazy ('rhymes' with: psycho stalker or woman scorned). Can't people find anything better to do with the power of the internet? Like just telling the truth, speaking openly & honestly and maybe doing things to help other people. Guess that's too much to ask, huh? Cuckold's Internet Revenge Against Top Banker If you've visited sites like those run by New York magazine and the Observer over the past couple of months, you may have noticed, in the comments section, repeated instances of a message that begins, "Steve Ratner [sic]... has paid my wife $500,000.00 to leave me." If you saw these comments, you probably wondered what the hell was going on. Well, the Times this morning sheds precious little light on the situation because, get this, there is a Steven Rattner, he did sleep with that guy's wife and now, as a result of the angry ex-husband's smear ca...

I was accused a while ago of putting someone's blog on a "porn aggregator." Heck, I wouldn't know how even if I wanted to. And I dislike porn; its very upsetting for me to see. But now I do know how that other site got on a porn aggregator -- and that I had zero to do with it! FROM THIS SITE Security on the Internet means more than just protecting your personal computer from online predators and viruses. If you own a domain or have a website you may need to protect your online reputation as well as your content. The web pages you see when you browse the Internet with Internet Explorer or Firefox is not all there is to see out there. Your web browser reads pages written in a language called HTML and interprets instructions for formating, placement, and file retrieval. The web browser shows you the interesting, full-color, animated, graphical version of a file of text references. The text and images you see are not the whole story. Hidden within the HTML pages are keyw...

After being exploited due of my once-trusting nature about 4 1/2 years ago, I unplugged then ditched my computer for many months. Much of what was done to me happened online. I was severely ill and too traumatized then. It took me that long to wrap my head around what had happened, my part in it and deal with the (still unanswered) 'whys.' People do and say a lot of things online they would never do or say in real life . Therein lies the problem. I went and got a new computer because in my trauma I had personally smashed up a lot of my equipment. I spent time at a retreat and had what used to be called a breakdown. It took a lot of therapy for me to be o.k. with getting back online. I am grateful to Blogger.com for being so helpful during my May 2007 hacking in identifying the culprits and keeping an eye on things for me now. Since then I constantly tell my friends and anyone I talk to to PLEASE PLEASE be careful online. I watch my children like a hawk and monitor them...

As the Internet has become more and more a part of our lives, people of all ages have become more vulnerable to Internet crime, such as cyberbullying, online predators, online affairs, emotional or psychological exploitation, scams and pornography. In recognition of this growing concern, the United States Senate declared June -- National Internet Safety Month. Please spend a few moments surfing for information on internet safety -- for yourself & your children. And remember - nothing you post on the internet is ever really gone. Archival searches can pull up everything. Aggregators pick up every little word you type and sort it out. So Blog responsibly! MORE

NOTHING EVER DIES ON THE INTERNET -- NOTHING I can't stress to my friends (and readers) enough - how vital it is to use caution with what you write, do or put online. I tell people never ever put out pictures of your family (or your buddies) if you want to protect them or any identifying information. Also, be careful what you put on support boards, discussion boards and even - yes - chats. I have had site managers refuse to take pictures or information off their sites when I left their boards (mostly boards for emotional or abuse support!!), despite begging and getting legal letters. About 4 years ago I watched a police detective click up things in a just a moment or two that I am sure weren't meant to be public. And they didn't use any special software for most of it. When I got done being naseous he told me - every single thing you put online - even if you think you deleted it along time ago, is recoverable. Even chats . What a huge lesson I learned. Despite wh...

Privacy, Free Speech and Anonymity on the Internet On Friday, January 11, 2008; 12:00 PM -- Daniel J. Solove, associate law professor at George Washington University and author of "The Future of Reputation: Gossip, Rumor and Privacy on the Internet," will be online Friday, Jan. 11 at Noon ET to resume his discussion about the Megan Meier-MySpace suicide case and the growing concern over the "Google Generation." Daniel J. Solove, Associate Law Professor, George Washington University and Author, 'The Future of Reputation: Gossip, Rumor and Privacy on the Internet' CLICK HERE FOR HOW TO SUBMIT QUESTIONS & JOIN THE DISCUSSION READ MORE: DEATH BY 1000 PAPERCUTS - MEGAN MEIER/MYSPACE LIBRARY

THE POSITIVE POWER OF THE INTERNET We all hear about online predators who prey on children and vulnerable adults online. So it is nice to see a story of how the anonymity of the internet can help people who have a variety of problems - by restoring their sense of self worth & self esteem. CLICK HERE FOR VIDEO OF ONE SUCH STORY.

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EASY DAVEN - HELPING OTHER JEWS At first I wasn't sure how I felt about this, when I came across this site. I pondered for a day or so and decided - its a good thing. Any prayer or positive thought is good energy in a world that has so little. I would be a hypocrite, also, if I put this down. I spend a lot of time on the net - mostly because I can't get out often and I am having a serious flare for weeks now of barely being able to walk most days. Getting from my bed to the computer (where I can't sit up for too long) to the couch is excruciating but I force myself. My kids have become my legs in the house - running up and down stairs for me. I have a small window of energy every day and I use that to make dinner, straighten the children's rooms and get them ready for bed and the next day. Yesterday I was in Manhattan all day. Today I am paying for it. My children are old enough and tell me they are "tweens now, mom" and "can do it" themselve...

E-Jihadists Take Advantage of Net Technology -- Good and Bad from ZDNet The arrest of the so-called “jihadist James Bond” is putting the spotlight on how terrorists are using the Internet. Like other criminals, terrorists are taking advantage of zombie techniques, but they’re also simply putting the amazing capabilities of Google and Web 2.0 startups to nefarious use, TechNewsWorld reports. Many experts quoted in the story reason that terrorists must be using the Internet. “We know criminals are exploiting technology to further their criminal activities, and there’s no reason to believe terrorists aren’t taking advantage of those same technologies,” FBI spokesperson Paul Bresson said. But there’s precious little real information on how they’re using it. “The story of the presence of terrorist groups in cyberspace has barely begun to be told,” Gabriel Weimann, senior fellow at the United States Institute of Peace (USIP) and professor of communication at Haifa University in Israel, c...

THE ASSAULT ON REASON I just got a copy of this and barely started. (I tend to have 2-3 books on the go at any one time minimum) This piece is pure Gore. He mentions the silence of Bush's Senate. Yes, of course they were silent - they were power hungry, money mad yes-men. The current administration surrounded itself with armies of rubber stampers and sycophants. These people work for us - and we still have no idea what the truth is. Bush will say one thing and do another; just whatever is best for him and his buddies at the time. Gore's on the money about Internet Providers squelching information. Its already happening as I posted HERE . People who run sites are also filtering, deleting, promoting, squelching and spinning their information too. (Which is why I believe its so important to read every side of the aisle's opinion and think criticially not emotionally about them.) Please read this one, even if you aren't a Gore fan. He makes some fantastic points a...

JIBS and OTHERS - HACKED Owning a computer used to be a big deal, just like having a color TV was a WOW factor for a family. Now everyone has them. Even keyboard terrorists and loonies of all stripe. We all know about the "online disinhibition effect." No one can see you or hear you so you can be big and bad behind a keyboard, right? You can imply, smear or hack up someone's hard work and just laugh about it right? In my opinion, WRONG. Click BagelBlogger and Walking on Fire for their posts already covering the JIB awards site being hacked. Today I got home after dropping my kids at school and doing some important errands and sat down to take a look at my RSS readers. I saw something I found important I went to blog about it - but discovered that my blog had been hacked. At first I blamed myself - thought in my stupidity I'd inserted some bad code. But no, there was a black box and then in my template, literally chunks of the code that make up my blog were g...