The following 15 activities, all of which are facilitated by Facebook and other social networking websites, are causing lots of heartache and headaches: 1. Posting illegal activities. In the little town where I grew up, 30 kids recently faced the wrath of their parents, school officials, law enforcement, and the Boston media, all because someone…
Home is where you look forward to towards the end of a vacation. Home is where you rush to at the end of a work day. Home is where you’d rather be when you are somewhere else. After all, as Dorothy said tapping her ruby red slippers, “there’s no place like home”. Our homes become…
Allen West, a Republican Congressional candidate, is speaking out after a mailing from the Florida Democratic Party releases his Social Security number and his wife’s federal employee number. “It’s an attack against me and I think it shows the weakness of the character of Ron Klein and definitely the Florida Democratic party, to put a person’s…
Cybersquatting, simply put, is the act of procuring someone else’s trademarked brand name online. The Anti-cybersquatting Consumer Protection Act, a U.S. federal law enacted in 1999, describes cybersquatting as registering, trafficking in, or using a domain name with bad faith intent to profit from the goodwill of a trademark belonging to someone else. Cybersquatters squat for many…
It is obvious to many that Facebook has got the message and is becoming more responsible for their users security. For a few months now I have enjoyed a security feature they implemented that allows you to say in control of your logins. Login notifications: This feature sends you an email or text telling you…
We have heard it all before, once you post it on the Internet; it is no longer in your control. Anything digital is rRepeatable. Re-peat’ a-ble: “To say again. To utter in duplication of another’s utterance. To tell to another. To do, experience, or produce again. Capable of being replicated.” In very simple terms whatever…
Today’s criminal hackers are very different than those who hacked for fun and fame a decade ago. Every week, I see stories about more criminals in faraway lands, making millions from various scams, emptying the bank accounts of small businesses or draining the financial reserves of entire towns. High-tech crimes can be committed by lone…
Generally when a burglar or thief sets out to break into a home their motivation is to steal any item they can sell at pawnshops or to those on the “black market”. The phrase “black market” has always intrigued me. It means doing business “in the dark” or out of the view of law enforcement.…
On the Policy, Practice & Procedures page of their website, the IRS addresses the public’s concern regarding Social Security numbers on checks: “Complete Social Security Numbers (SSN) on Checks or Money Orders Remitted to IRS Issue: Tax Professionals and clients have concerns about taxpayers putting their full SSN on checks remitted to IRS in payment of…
Every time you use a credit card, you increase the chances of that card number being used fraudulently. Cards can be skimmed and hacked in a number of different ways. #1 Watch your card. Whenever you hand your credit or debit card to a salesperson or waiter, watch to see where your card is taken…
