Tag Archives: cybercrime
Can You Trust That Link?
Posted on 21. Sep, 2012 by lynette.
In an age when everyone can author or share information to a mass audience almost instantly, it is more critical than ever to develop and sharpen our ability to discern the credible from the implausible things we see online.
There are many purveyors of false or biased information on the Internet – a company seductively advertising the effectiveness of its weight loss product, a politically-motivated organization hoping to persuade you to vote for their cause, a hacker attempting to fool you into clicking on something that infects your computer with malicious software.
Thankfully, among the mounds of information we find online, there is also the credible and the safe. It’s a good habit to have and teach others how to figure out which is which. I believe the skill to do this is made up of 2 basic things: information literacy and information security.
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Online Community Promoting Child Pornography Taken Down
Posted on 03. Aug, 2011 by lynette.
Today, was a sad day as one of the darkest and most malicious uses of the Internet was uncovered.
In the U.S., 72 people were charged and 52 arrested in the U.S. and abroad, for participating in the online distribution of images depicting the sexual exploitation of children, including infants. When you read about the horrific acts committed against these children, it is very difficult to get through the details. But beyond the child safety issues, this case brings up a number of other things relevant to current debates around online privacy, anonymity, and censorship.
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Criminals Exploiting Japan’s Tragedy: A Chance to Teach Digital Literacy
Posted on 14. Mar, 2011 by lynette.
As we’ve all seen, read, and heard, the people of Japan are experiencing tragedy beyond what any of us could have imagined or may ever experience ourselves. Seeing the magnitude of another’s suffering stirs compassion in many of us and drives us to search for a way to help. One of the most powerful things that the social web has allowed us to do for many global tragedies in recent history is do something – spread the word, send good thoughts, and most importantly give financial support.
Unfortunately, as we have also seen many times in recent history, human tragedy to some appears only as an opportunity to profit from another’s pain. Cybercriminals have done this in the past and the event in Japan have shown they are up to no good again…