Showing posts with label digital world. Show all posts
Showing posts with label digital world. Show all posts

Thursday, July 5, 2012

WARNING from FBI: The ALUREON VIRUS - may lose your internet

Warning from FBI: If you have 'Alureon' virus on your PC, you WILL get kicked off internet on Monday
  • Hundreds of thousands of PCs still at risk worldwide
  • Virus 'spoofs' popular websites in attempt to steal personal information
  • Around 50 Fortune 500 companies still have virus in their machines
  • FBI 'ring-fenced' the virus late last year - but protection ends on Monday
  • Scroll down for advice on checking your PC
By EDDIE WRENN
DAILY MAIL
July 5, 2012

If you have a virus on your machine, there is a very real risk you will get kicked off the internet on Monday.

Web-users are being warned to ensure their computers are clear of the nasty 'Alureon/DNS Changer bot'.

This piece of software found its way onto hundreds of thousands of computers worldwide late last year. The software was designed to re-direct you away from trusted websites, towards spoof websites in a bid to steal financial and personal information.

When the attack was noticed, the FBI took the unusual step of setting up a 'safety-net', routing infected machines through their server to stop the 'spoof' attacks.

But these servers will be taken down on Monday, and when this happens, people still infected are likely to lose their internet connection without warning.

Users whose computers are still infected on Monday will lose their ability to go online, and they will have to call their service providers for help deleting the malware and reconnecting to the Internet.

WORRIED? FOLLOW THESE SIMPLE STEPS TO CHECK YOUR PC
If you are worried about this, and want to put your mind at ease, follow these steps:

1) Visit this FBI-approved site - http://www.dns-ok.us - and see if you get an 'all-clear' green background or an 'at risk' red background.

2) If you have a red background, visit http://www.dcwg.org/fix which lists free virus scanner and removal software.

Our personal recommendations from the free range are Microsoft Windows Defender and Avira.

For more information, visit here: http://www.dcwg.org/detect/

(click here to read the full article)

Tuesday, July 3, 2012

Teenagers 'sexting' nude pics far more than previously thought

Nearly a third of teenagers have 'sexted' nude photos of themselves - and 57% have been harassed to send pictures
  • Teenagers who 'sext' are more likely to have sex
  • Female teenagers feel 'harassed' to send pictures
  • Far higher than previous estimates
  • Practice is modern version of 'You show me mine...'
By ROB WAUGH
DAILY MAIL
July 3, 2012
Smartphone risk
Smartphone risk: A study in American
schools found that a third of teenagers
had sent a nude picture of themselves,and 

57% had been asked to.

Image Credit: DailyMail
Teenagers are 'sexting' nude pictures of themselves far more than previously thought.
A study in American schools found that close to a third of teenagers had sent a nude picture of themselves, and 57% had been asked to.

Teenagers who engaged in 'sexting' were also more likely to have sex.

Researchers claim that 'sexting' via email or text has become a modern version of 'You show me mine, I'll show me yours.'

The alarming figures are in contrast to previous studies which have estimated that a mere 1% of teenagers had sent naked pictures.

But the new study is much larger, and, researchers suspect, more accurate.

Researchers surveying nearly 1,000 students at seven schools in southeast Texas found that 28 percent of adolescents have sent a nude pictures of themselves through electronic means; more than half (57 percent) have been asked to send a nude picture; and about one-third (31 percent) have asked for a nude picture to be sent to them.

These rates are substantially higher than recently published peer-reviewed data suggesting that only a little more than one percent of teens had sent naked pictures.

[...]

Moreover, teen girls — but not boys — who engaged in sexting had a higher prevalence of risky sexual behaviors, including multiple partners and using drugs or alcohol before sex.

Jeff Temple, UTMB assistant professor in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, believes this gender difference may be attributed at least in part to social beliefs about sexting, particularly that it may be perceived permissively and positively for boys and thus, not considered risky or to be associated with other dangerous behaviors.

Girls, on the other hand, may be perceived as promiscuous if they sext. If willing to risk reputation, they may be inclined to take other risks as well...

(click here to read the full article)

Tuesday, June 19, 2012

Facebook NOW has facial recognition...now a bigger asset to the CIA and intelligence agencies

Facebook buys facial recognition startup Face.com
by Jennifer Van Grove
Reuters
June 19, 2012

Facebook has purchased facial recognition startup Face.com, the companies announced Monday morning.

photo
The Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) filed a complaint in
2011 against Facebook over their facial recognition capabilities.
“People who use Facebook enjoy sharing photos and memories with their friends, and Face.com’s technology has helped to provide the best photo experience,” a Facebook spokesperson told VentureBeat. “This transaction simply brings a world-class team and a long-time technology vendor in house.”

Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but previous reports pegged the acquisition price at between $80 million and $100 million. The deal, which is still pending, is expected to close within the coming weeks.

Founded in 2007, Face.com makes technology that can identify people in photos and even guess a person’s age. The company makes mobile-friendly products such as a developer API and an iOS camera application called KLIK that uses facial recognition technology to help users...

(click here to read the full article)

Tuesday, April 10, 2012

New Microchip Knows Your Location To Within Centimeters (Infowars)

Forget a chip in your forehead – the ‘mark of the beast’ is the cell phone

Paul Joseph Watson
Infowars.com
Tuesday, April 10, 2012

The development of a new microchip for cell phones that knows the user’s location to within a few centimeters confirms the fact that contrary to biblical fears about mandatory implantable microchips, people have willingly exchanged their privacy for convenience and that the cell phone itself is the de facto “mark of the beast”.

“Broadcom has just rolled out a chip for smart phones that promises to indicate location ultra-precisely, possibly within a few centimeters, vertically and horizontally, indoors and out,” reports MIT Technology Review.

“In theory, the new chip can even determine what floor of a building you’re on, thanks to its ability to integrate information from the atmospheric pressure sensor on many models of Android phones. The company calls abilities like this “ubiquitous navigation,” and the idea is that it will enable a new kind of e-commerce predicated on the fact that shopkeepers will know the moment you walk by their front door, or when you are looking at a particular product, and can offer you coupons at that instant.”

Over 82% of Americans own cell phones, with around half of these being smart phones. In the near future, the majority of Americans will own smart phones that will have the ability to track their location down to a few centimeters.

(click here to read the full article)

Monday, November 28, 2011

Sexting: A Growing Heinous Phenomenon: By Carly Nicola

Posted: November 24, 2010; by Carly Nicola


Sexting is a result of advances in technology enabling new forms of social interaction. Sexting is the act of sending sexually explicit messages, photographs or videos through some form of technology in digital media, mainly involving cell phones and internet. Anyone can participate in the act of sexting, but it has become typically common among many teenagers and young adults. The new forms of technology that we use have a big risk on the people who are using the digital media irresponsibly. With all these new forms of technology, it enables us to send photographs and videos more easily and more often. Sexting has become so common among teenagers, that they are partaking in this activity as a social thing; however the social danger with sexting is that the messages can so very easily be spread and it will be completely out of the sender’s control. Interestingly, 22% of teens admit that technology makes them personally more forward and aggressive (CosmoGirl and the National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy, 2009.)

Many teenagers aren’t aware that sending or receiving explicit photographs to their peers is actually illegal and is correlated with child pornography. Sexting can result in very legal repercussions. Sexting is becoming more and more dangerous and it is not uncommon for teenagers to be charged with the distribution of child pornography or the possession of child pornography. The United States especially has such strict anti-child pornography laws, which is of course good; however many teenagers and young adults aren’t aware that they can be charged for these acts. Some people are even charged as sex offenders, and will have to live their whole lives with that title.

...Many people, especially teenagers don’t realize how big of a deal that sexting is or simply using electronic media to send something explicit. Teenagers are often unable to recognize long term consequences. There are lots of things to think about before sending explicit messages to others. Don’t forget that when you send something digitally to someone else, it’s theirs to keep afterwards and do whatever they want with it, because you can never take that back, once the message is sent you cannot un-send it. There is also no changing your mind in cyberspace, anything you send or post, in all reality will never truly go away. Also, don’t forget the laws of our country, and the consequences of committing the crimes according to the law. In all reality, don’t assume anything you send is going to remain private because it’s likely that at one time or another messages will get shared or sent to someone else. Let’s face it sexting is a very risky, and dangerous activity to be involved in....

(Click here to read the full post and view related videos)

The Dangers Lurking on the Online Community of Craigslist: By Jade Dreyer

image: dangersofdigitalworld