Are our Computers stealing our Identity???

(Image net_efekt)

Ok, so in the beginning of the semester, two fellow classmates and I did a presentation on the article "The Long Tail" by Anderson. It was a brief explanation of how online shopping is very popular nowadays. Many Americans surf through the internet to find special bargains and anything that would be on sale online rather than in the store itself. In my sociology course, I came across the term "distance zones" which explains the living of the American life. It means that we Americans like and need to have our space when we are out and about, therefore shopping online is the result. When the holidays come around, we hate being in Herald Square having everyone bump into you every sixteenth of a block, so instead of going to the items, we like the items to come to us. Major sites like Amazon and eBay are huge when it comes to online shopping. The article "The long tail" stated the rises of percentages of purchases throughout the years through these sites. They are very popular and very gentle to our wallets. But, what happens when you make a purchase online and then when you receive your monthly statements and you see purchases that seem odd to you? Purchases that seem outrageously priced and you don't remember doing? Maybe it's because you didn't make that purchase, and someones else did! You could be a victim of fraud! YIKES!!! However, you start to think, how careful you are, your social security isn't posted anywhere online and when it comes to these major sites, your privacy is guaranteed. So how can anyone get your information?? Thats easy, the criminal got the info because you gave it to them through your own computer....literally!
You would never suspect anyone to get your data through your computer. But that is because these criminals are such geniuses that you would NEVER know. That is because your computer will be working in tip-top shape and you won't notice anything is wrong. This was they can log your key strokes and capture your credit card numbers and passwords. Crazy right!!??!! So here are some tips letting you know you are a target!
1. If your computer is experiencing long slowdowns out of know where, there is some fishy program in the background.
2. If you are getting numerous pop-ups that you can't control or delete, you are probably a victim of identity theft.
3. If you are typing a site and you are sent to a weird website you didn't intend to go. or your search results are funny....you are most likely a victim.

(image found on Flickr)

So what can you do??
The best way that you can control or get rid of this is by getting an "anti-virus software". This is a great help because it can detect the program and disable it. However, some can clean out your computer completely for a fee, although some can it for free. So make sure to do your research!!

One Laptop Per Child-Good or Bad?

Image found on Flickr

Nicholas Negroponte founded the One Laptop Per child Mission. His deeply believes this would be an exceptional process for the poorest children around the world to get an education. He believes is would be a "...joyful, self-empowerment" experience for the children and that it would bring a brighter future. He also states how getting an education should be a requirement and not a privilege. So, I've asked many people their opinions on this issue, and I have gotten so many mixed reviews! Many say, that they think it's a "...dumb idea that won't work, kids just want cartoons and Myspace..." or others that would say "...that would be great for the poverty countries, those children should have a chance to get some kind of education." However, I'm still stuck in the middle! I don't know exactly how I feel about the whole idea, I stronlgy agree with both points made by the people outside this class, also in the article "Are Celebrities Human?: OLPC", Theresa disagrees with the idea as well. In one hand I do think that those that are less fortunate around the world should have the privilage to get an education...a formal education. Having the laptop would bring extra hmph for the child to actually want to get an education. According to CNN, Rwanda had recieved a donation of laptops in a school that barely had any electricity. However, before the laptops only 50 percent of students showed up to class, but now this transformation brang in 1000 more students. Also, they are teaching their family members which I thought was a great way of family interactions, which brought me back to the presentation David, Paige and Kaitlyn did on DiMaggio. When they argued whether the internet broke or brang together a family.
In the other hand I thought of David's blog "Unemployment in the U.S.", if there isn;t enough money to keep our fellow Americans recieveing pay stubs every two
weeks, how can we possibly afford a "low cost" laptop for these children. This is
what doesn;t make sense and why it keeps me in the middle of the situation. I don't think they would use it for educational purposes only, who knows if they would into the social world of the internet? You may say "they are only kids...." but, according to one of my articles "Do you know who's really behind the screen? cont'd" children are the main targets online. If this were to completely go through, I beleive all children should be adult supervised.
Image found on Flickr

Baby sitters in sex act

Image from Flickr.com
The majority of our Americans confide in daycares and babysitters for the care they child needs while they are away at work for the day.At times, families leave it up to our wonderful technology to look for babysitters that would fall under the family's budget, or look for ads in the newspapers. Or the usual a neighborhood day care where it is very familiar to the community and to other families with similar situations.
According to the Associate Press, Stephan Quick and Samantha Light ran a baby sitting service from their home. They had apparently been video taping themselves performing sexual acts on infants as young as 2 months old, up to children as old as 6. This is all came about when a 3 year old daughter told their parents that Quick and Light had touched her in the "wrong places". These parents immediately made a call to police. Police searched Quick and Light's home, computers and video cameras, learning to find video tapes of these performances and kiddie porn on their computers. They have no history of crimes, but are being held in custody.
This is such a disturbing story, because for many parents, this rings up many questions and concerns. They will start not to trust all those around them with their children and brings a great amount of stress to the family.

Do you know who's really behind the screen? (cont'd)

According to the blog, Divorce within the family: "The Second Life", Paige starts off stating how the internet is such important factor in our social lives right now. Especially since we had limited communication with others before the internet was brought into our lives. It is now used for dating, making new friends, school work and according to Anderson's "The Long Tail", it is also a place to go shopping instead of going to a BEST BUY. The statements made in her blog are absolutely true. The internet is such a reliable source that it is a true addiction for many people, and it can sometimes be such a horrifying place to encounter your worst nightmares!

Like I've mentioned before, Facebook and Myspace are highly popular and it's THEE networking place for almost all college students and for all those who want to have a social life with the world. One good thing about these sites is that you can confirm who you want to be friends with because you can see who is actually requesting you. If the person is unfamiliar, you easily deny them. In "The Second Life", another way of communication was provided, it wasn't Myspace or Facebook, it was actually the oldest method of all, the infamous CHAT ROOMS. The couple in her article met on a chat room, moved across the country for this loved one, and married, eventually ending in a divorce. Main reason was because they weren;t who they seemed to be online, in person. The beauty of being in a chat room is, that you can use your imagination. You can be anything you want and have all the luxuries in the world by just creating a character.
No one could know if you're lying, nor see how you look like, how could they? It's all words behind a screen while other are either amazed or intrigued. Since this is possible in chat rooms, they are also very dangerous for the young ones that use the internet as a place to socialize.
Sex offenders use chat rooms highly in order to capture their next victim. They'll pose as a 12 year old girl for the 12 year old boy on the other end to make conversation. They'll be your friend when you are in need and want someone to cry to. They easily talk you into trusting them, by twisting words and saying exactly what you want to here, you eventually confide in them and begin telling your whole life story. According Chloe Albanesuis, these predators move through the relationship slowly before convincing them to meet, resulting into God knows what. Chat rooms are very dangerous for children that aren't supervised and usually, they are kids that have low self esteems and believe they aren't good for anything. It is reported that by PCMAG.com that Myspace has deleted 30, 000 prolfiles belonging to sex offenders and 5,585 offender profiles have been deleted from Facebook as well according to TECHLIME.com.
However, it is hard to say that any of these websites or chat rooms will ever be "predator" free, but we can continue to help catch them or talk more to our children making them more aware.



First image by Mikey G Owatta on Flickr.com
Second Image by Ben Lawson on Flickr.com
Third image by Waffle Friez on Flickr.com

Murder in God's House

Image by hellophotokitty

If anyone would asks you, "what do you think is the safest place to be?". Many people would say there homes, a family member's home, and a good majority would say a church. In one of my english courses, I read a novel called "Chronicles of a death foretold", an investigation on two brother who killed the main character due to the code of honor on behalf of their sister and family. They brothers ran inside the church where no one could hurt them and they could confess their sins. The church symbolized safety and a place where anyone could be trusted. So what happens when all this is violated?

U.S. News- In Illinois, a pastor is killed inside a baptist church during a sunday serivce. A man walked in a spoke to Reverend Fred Winters momentarily, then pulled out a gun and shot him in the chest. As he tried to shoot again, the gun jammed and he then takes out a knife. As parishoners tackle the man down, he slashes two others, wounding them severley. It is still uknown why this man came and shot the pastor, also many don't know if they had any kind of relationship. Both victims are in recovery, and so is the gunman. Questions are still unanswered and a community is left despair and fear. Many people from the neighborhood couldn't believe there was a shooting in a church; a place where they would gather once a week to praise and give thanks for their blessings. So you come to wonder, if a shooting can happen in a church then that means there is no place that is completely safe.

According to CBS, there will be a prayer tonight for Rev. Fred Winters in a nearby community church. They ask for everyone to continue praying and thanks for thr great support. Winters was a father of two and a pastor of First Baptist church for 22 years. This is a horrifying story that upsets many people, and make you think "A pastor killed?". I just hope justice is served and investigators will get to the bottom of this!

Kills his family...killed himself

Image by DOCSPLATTER

So we all know how relationships can be a bit difficult at times. And we know that arguments tend to always occur when in a relationship and hope that i wouldn't get top severe. A relationship such as a marriage can have may rocky moments, as you can read about on my fellow classmate's blog Divorces within the family. As she write about divorces in families and how it can affect others and also the importance of the decision making at all. It's usually based on the fights and misunderstandings the couple may conquer. Abuse is a very delicate case that many women go through, but may never report it and continue suffering, or they come forth in fear. However, it will always take that one celebrity to bring the abuse case to life. As another classmate writes about the celebrity gossips in our present time in her blogs of Are Celebrities Human?. The case of Chris Brown and Rihanna is major at the moment, as Chris Brown is being accused of hitting Rihanna. Now many abuse cases and coming forth and domestic abuse is now being closely looked at and taken more seriously. However, we always hope that relationship or marriage arguments ever escalate to abuse, but this isn't always the case.

According to CNN, Davon Crawford, 30, of Ohio was being searched for by police. Apparently he was being accused of killing his family members this past week. It is assumed that Crawford had gotten into an argument with his newly wife Lechea Crawford when it turned violent, resulting in numerous deaths. It is believed that Mrs. Crawford and Mr. Crawford were having a heated argument and it escalated heavily. Davon Crawford then, takes out a gun and kills his own wife, her sister Rose Stevens and 3 of her young children, of 5 years old and twins, 2 years old. Two other children ages 7 and 12 were wounded but managed to escape and are being treated for. After police received a call, then quickly began a search to the building Crawford lived at. The whole area was surrounded by police, then entered to confront Crawford. They found him hiding in his bathroom, when Crawford saw police he immediatley shot himself taking his own life. As of now, speculaiton leads to an argument gone wrong as evidence doesn't conclude to a clear cause. The wounded children are being taken cared for and now await on what will happen next.