>Hate Page Alert : F*** Jesus Christ – Please Report to facebook

April 30, 2011 Leave a comment


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Hate Page Alert : http://www.facebook.com/nooppression
Do Not “Like” the page, just follow the link to the facebook page and then “Report” to Facebook

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>Facebook Games And Automation Tools (Cheats!) a MUST Read

April 29, 2011 Leave a comment


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Today we would like to bring to light about some Automation tools out there that are being used to “Help” Facebook gamers with various tasks.
Hey, who doesn’t want a bit of help now and then aye?
Reports show that some of the more popular tools have been removed from Facebook, and for good reason!
I really don’t want to hear about how you’ve been banned, or your favorite bot has been removed.
We hear it quite a bit, and the excuses are ALWAYS the same. So spare the pitty party for your cheating friends.
These tools include, but are not limited to…
  • Automated Friend Adding
  • Automated Gift Recieving/Sending
  • Automated Clicks Through Game Mechanics (Missions/Fights/Looting/Farming etc…)
  • Glitching (acquiring desired results by methods not attainable through normal means of gameplay)
These are otherwise known as “Bots“, and bots ARE CHEATS!
These Apps may seem harmless enough, but they give a user an edge above others that do NOT use them. This places an imbalance of gameplay in the favor of the bot user.
The game companys, and even Facebook itself have noted in their TOS & FAQ that these are against the TOS (Terms Of Service).
Colton had this to say…
” You’re using these because you’re disabled? Boo frickin who. It’s called laziness, not disability. Think that’s wrong of me to say ? Read the full article and then see if you feel you can verbally spar with me in comments. “
Zynga’s TOS reads as follows…
I Chose to Highlight these sections, because they are the most common among users who don’t actually program these cheats… Just use them.
Section 1.9. License Limitations
CHEATING AND HACKING – You agree that you will not, under any circumstances:
d. Use cheats, exploits, automation software, bots, hacks, mods or any unauthorized third-party software designed to modify or interfere with the Service, any Zynga Game or any Zynga game experience;
e. Use the Service in order to design or assist in the design of cheats, automation software, bots, hacks, mods or any other unauthorized third-party software designed to modify or interfere with the Service, any Zynga game or any Zynga game experience;
And also…
I chose to highlight this one, because when using these “Automation Tools (Cheats)”, you are in fact causing additional stress on the servers by sending multiple requests at an abnormally high rate.
UNAUTHORIZED USE OR CONNECTION TO THE SERVICE – You agree that you will not, under any circumstances:
t. Make any automated use of the system, or take any action that imposes or may impose (in our sole discretion) an unreasonable or disproportionately large load on our infrastructure;
I used Zynga’s TOS only as an example here, because it is the most widely use game system on Facebooks network.
You will note however that in almost ANY game you play online. Other companies usually follows these same guidelines, and this does NOT limit the rules to only Zynga based apps!
Facebook is also against any use of these “tools“.
Facebooks TOS reads as follows though the FAQ…
I was warned for using automation while using an application not built by Facebook.
Using automation to collect content or other information from Facebook members is not permitted. If you are using special bookmarks or programs to perform actions in applications not built by Facebook, then you may unknowingly be using automation. Further use of these tools can result in your account being permanently disabled.
I was warned for engaging in behavior that may be considered annoying or abusive.
Facebook has security systems to stop abusive actions.
The systems automatically identify the following types of behavior:
Feature overuse: There are limits to restrict the rate at which you can use features on the site. Overusing features is not allowed because it may make other people feel annoyed or unsafe.
Unwanted contact: Our systems detect when friend requests you send to others are being ignored at a high rate and volume. Using Facebook to contact many people you don’t know is not allowed because it may make them feel threatened, harassed, or unsafe.
Once you close your warning, you must significantly slow down this behavior. Further misuse of site features may result in a temporary block, or your account being permanently disabled from Facebook.
What types of behavior does Facebook’s automated security system identify as abusive?
The systems automatically identify the following types of behavior:
Feature overuse: There are limits to restrict the rate at which you can use features on the site. Overusing features is not allowed because it may make other people feel annoyed or unsafe.
Unwanted contact: Our systems detect when friend requests you send to others are being ignored at a high rate and volume. Using Facebook to contact many people you don’t know is not allowed because it may make them feel threatened, harassed, or unsafe.
These rules are set in place for a reason… Fair Play!
Not only does this type of cheating effect the game play, but you are indeed placing yourself, and your friends at risk.
How?
Well you are essentially opening the flood gates for these “Cheat Developers” to be able to take whatever information they want…
Lists of Email Contacts, Phone #’s, and possibly Passwords as well if you need to “Log In” through their tools to make them work.
This exposes yourself and everyone around you to let them spam through you, or even steal information.
These are NOT legitimate companies that you really want to do business, or share personal information with.
If these people are willing to make Cheats; what else are they willing to do? Do they do it out of the kindness of their own heart?
9 times out of 10, this is an unlikely case. They want to make money too. Be it through Ad revenue or even worse!
There are Scams running rampant that hook people into thinking that a Glitch in the Game is going to give them Free Credits, hack someones profile, or other things.
The most predominate ones right now are the Copy and Paste Javascript Code to your Browser URL.
This is something you NEVER want to do!
It executes script from outside of Facebook to preform functions within Facebook.
These scripts very to some degree, but the end result is usually the same.
Within about 30 seconds it’ll run wild through your account creating events, inviting all your friends, make posts to yours and your friends walls tagging them in the process, send messages to anyone who is online through chat. all linking back to to the scammers website. In the end you’re then directed to either a Survey Scam, Enter a Cell # Scam, or forced to download & install a virus.
In the end, you’re left with nothing or a fraudulent $10.00/month texting charge to your cellular bill… Or worse!
The whole point to this is this.
If you’re willing to cheat, you better accept the fact that you get what you deserve!
If you’ve been banned from a game… Goodbye! Nobody wants to play with you anyway.
If you know a cheater… Warn them, and remove them from your friends list if they do not head that warning.
Because you don’t want to receive penalties from their misconduct!
Colton also quotes…
“I’m quite disabled and somehow manage without cheats. Play properly, or not at all. And if you meant “mentally” then I will tell you the same thing I tell my daughter with special needs. “I don’t want to hear: ‘It’s Hard!’ or ‘I Can’t !’ or excuses. You do things the proper way or not at all. If you want it bad enough, you will find a way. Is it harder for her to play a game or do anything for herself ? Of course, but how will you ever accomplish anything in life and truly feel like a real person if everything is handed to you. “
In the greater scheme of things…
Yes, it’s just a game, but everyone should play by the same rules. You are NOT above reproach to anyone else, so don’t be so naive as to think otherwise!
Legitimate channels ARE out there for you to take advantage of for the simple tasks.
If you need more friends for a game… Join a Add Me Group for the games you play. There are plenty out there!
If you want to collect bonuses that are posted to your friends walls through the news feed. Use the filter system available to you provided through Facebook itself.
You can click on the Game Requests on the left hand side, scroll down and filter by specific game to show news feeds by selection of the game intended. Right click on the item, and open in a new tab, and work on down the list this way.
Cheers,
o0MeTaL0o, & Colton

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>Javascript Pasting Scam Alert – CheckMe – See your views

April 28, 2011 Leave a comment


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Please report this Java pasting scam
 http://www.facebook.com/pages/CheckMe-See-your-views/171272426260270

How To Fix It If You Fell For It

If you have fallen victim to this type of Scam by pasting the JavaScript into your account, please change your Facebook account password immediately. If you have lost access to your Facebook account as a result of pasting these types of JavaScript’s please use one of the forms below to notify Facebook of the problem.

What to do if you have become a victim of Phishing On Facebook.
If you become a victim of Phishing while on facebook or find a phishing link directly on the platform, the links below will help you recover your account and report the incident. Be aware the process for recovering a compromised facebook account can be long and hard and require you to provide proof of who your are. The best practice is to avoid this issue by taking great care while using the service.

My Account Has Been Hacked And I Have Access To My Login Email
Use this form if your account has been compromised but you still have access to your facebook login email address. Meaning the hacker may have change your password on your facebook account, but did not manage to hack you email address or remove it from your facebook account.

My Account Has Been Hacked and I Don’t Have Access To My Login Email
Use this form if your account has been compromised and you do not have access to your facebook login email address. Meaning the hacker may have gotten to your facebook account and the email you use to login or you may simply no longer have access to your login email address due to some other reason.

My Account Has Been Hacked And My Login Email Has Been Changed
Use this form if your account has been compromised and the hacker has removed your login email from your facebook account. You will know if this has happen because when you try to log in to facebook with your email address, facebook will tell you there is no account associated with that email address.

Report a malicious link or website (phishing)
Use this form to report any Phishing links you come across while on the facebook platform.

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>Farmville Scam Alert – English countryside sweepstakes

April 28, 2011 Leave a comment


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Please Report this scam page here
http://www.facebook.com/pages/English-countryside-sweepstakes/213650105331654?sk=app_10531514314

Damage Control ( Like-Jacking )
What Like-Jacking Means.
Like-Jacking is a Facebook-enabled Click-Jacking attack that tricks Facebook users into clicking a hidden “Like Button” on External web pages. Most Facebook users are unaware that a like-jacking has taken place due to the fact the like button is usually hidden behind a fake video play button or some other object on the web page. Users will instinctively click these fake objects thinking they are harmless. Many Facebook users end up leaving the Scam sitting on their wall for days because they never knew it happened. Their friends come along and fall right in to the same trap once they click. AVOID IT. Read and share this with your friends.
Damage Control ( For those who have fallen victim. )

How to Recover From Like-Jacking
If you have fallen victim to a Like-Jacking scam, you need to clean up your facebook profile immediately. You can do this by simply removing the “Like” made to your wall. This will ensure that you do not continue to assist the scam artist in spreading his Like-Jacking ruse to your friends and even further throughout the facebook network. .
How To Remove A Like Message From Your Wall
  1. Navigate to your profile wall by clicking the “Profile” link at the top of your facebook home page.
  2. Scroll down your profile wall till you locate the like, then click on the little “X” at the top right corner of the message. 
  3. Select “Remove And Unlike” from the menu and the message/Like will be removed.
How To Remove A Unwanted like From Your “Liked Pages List”
A few facebook users have complained about the unwanted “Likes” remaining in their “Liked Pages List”. This  list is located in your profile info area, in the “Activities and Interests” section, under the “Show Other Pages” link. The problem seems to happen even after following the directions listed above. If this happens to you please follow these direction as well.
  1. Navigate to your profile wall by clicking the “Profile” link at the top of your facebook home page.
  2. Once on your profile page click “Info” right below your profile picture, then Scroll down to the heading “Activities and Interests” and click the “Edit” link to the right.
  3. At the bottom of the Edit Activities and Interests page click the “Show Other Pages” link.
  4. The “Other Pages You Like” Dialog Box will open and from there you can scroll through your list of liked pages and remove the ones you don’t want by clicking the “Remove Page” Button..
Damage Control ( Rogue App )

Rogue Applications Explained ( App Spam )
Defined- There are weaknesses in facebook that allow unscrupulous facebook application developers access to your facebook information and to use your facebook account as a means to spread a fake viral messages/ads across facebook. Once you install a rogue app it does not function as promised. It instead mines your data and/or spam’s your wall in an attempt to spread itself to your friends and throughout facebook.
How to Recover After A Rogue Application Install
If you have installed any Rogue Applications within your facebook profile, you may be currently spamming your wall and or your friends News Feeds with the Rogue Applications viral/scam messages. You must remove the messages from your wall by deleting the post and remove the rogue app by uninstalling it from your facebook profile.
How to remove a Rogue Application and it’s Spam Messages from your profile:
To Remove The Rogue Applications Messages From Your Wall:
  1. Navigating to your profile wall, then locate the message you want to remove.
  2. Once you’ve located the message click on the little “X” at the top right corner of the message. 
  3. At that point Facebook will either open a dialog box which will ask you are sure you want to remove the post, or it will offer you a menu. If you get The Dialog Box simply click the “Remove Post” button in the dialog box to remove the message. If you get The Menu simply Select “Remove Post OR Remove Post and Revoke The Publishing Rights of {App Name}” from the menu and the message will be removed.
To Remove The Rogue Application From Your Facebook Profile:
  1. From your Facebook home page Click Account, then “Privacy Settings“.
  2. Then under the heading “Applications, Games, and Websites” click “Edit Settings“.
  3. To the right of the heading “Applications You Use” Click the “Edit Settings” button.
  4. Finally find the rogue application you want to remove in the list and click the “Little X” to the right of it’s name. From there Simply follow the facebook prompts to remove the app.
Damage Control ( Fake FarmVille Animals )
Damage Control ( For those who have fallen victim. )
If you have fallen victim to any of these Fake FarmVille Animal Scams, you need to clean up your facebook profile immediately. You can do this by simply removing the posts made to your wall. This will ensure that you do not continue to assist the scam artist in spreading his ruse to your friends and even further throughout the facebook network. 
To Remove The Fake FarmVille Messages From Your Wall:
  1. Navigating to your profile wall, then locate the message you want to remove.
  2. Once you’ve located the message click on the little “X” at the top right corner of the message. 
  3. At that point Facebook will offer you a menu. Select “Mark As Spam” from the menu and the message will be removed. If the message is not remove or reappears on your wall simple follow sets 1 & 2 again, but this time chose “Remove Post” to have the message permanently removed.

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>Facebook Security and Safety Not Making Users Safe? By B-Joe

April 28, 2011 Leave a comment


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     Is Facebook completely safe or just a complete fail? That question might be in the mind of the Facebook Web Team. I went around asking people what they think about Facebook and how they feel about all the scams and hacks that go around. Here’s what they said.

     Bailey Slands replied on one of our questions about her feeling safe on Facebook and here’s what she said. “It depends, i feel safe when i am alerted and know the steps to stay safe. I don’t feel safe when i don’t know the extent of the virus.” I think many of us can agree on what she said because you never know if your safe if you don’t know the extent of viruses. We also asked her what would she tell others on Facebook about how to avoid such scams on Facebook. “I would tell them not click on any suspicious links and stay away from sketchy material.”

Another Facebook user we asked named Eric answered if he felt safe on Facebook and he said “Not wanting to trust any links.” I can agree to this because sometimes i see strange links and i debate over whether to click them or not and well each time I am lucky whether i click on them or not. January P. said “I’m really feeling not safe at all.” Anthony Wiuff said the biggest scam he sees is the Website scams. Here’s what he said in his own words “The biggest one i see is fake website making i got scammed like a month ago off of a site i thought it was fake so i used my old account and went back and all my stuff was gone.” That was in reply to what happened to him in one of Zynga’s Hit Games YoVille.

     Many others that i questioned also said they do not feel safe. Jeannette Howard said “You should know who your friends are first.” I agree you never know if there trustworthy or not if you add many people from around the world like i do. Quite a few more answered the questions and told me interesting things.

    A Question asked by The BULLDOG Estate page “With all the scams and spam on Facebook , do you think Facebook is doing enough to stop it all? or is it something more sinister behind it all?” 11 People answered “Yes They Are, Members need to do their part also.” An outstanding 181 People said “No They are not, They need to do more.” This question shows that many do not feel safe on Facebook and wish that Facebook Security would start making Facebook safer. 


Only a small amount think they are as safe as they can be and that Facebook Security is trying their best. Which would you agree on?

    Every security update takes a while so we are hardly getting safer besides the fact that Facebook users have The BULLDOG Estate, Scam Sniper, Sophos and many more pages to rely on to get updates on whats going on with scams and such. Then again not many know about or like these pages because well they just don’t know about scams and viruses very well or just don’t care.

     Do you think Facebook Security & Safety is making you safer?

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>Official Email From Sony Regarding Playstation hack – a bit late dont you think?

April 27, 2011 Leave a comment


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This is an email from Sony Computer Entertainment Europe. View online.
PlayStation®Network
Valued PlayStation Network/Qriocity Customer:

We have discovered that between April 17 and April 19, 2011, certain PlayStation Network and Qriocity service user account information was compromised in connection with an illegal and unauthorized intrusion into our network. In response to this intrusion, we have:

1)     Temporarily turned off PlayStation Network and Qriocity services;
2)     Engaged an outside, recognized security firm to conduct a full and complete investigation into what happened; and
3)     Quickly taken steps to enhance security and strengthen our network infrastructure by re-building our system to provide you with greater protection of your personal information.
We greatly appreciate your patience, understanding and goodwill as we do whatever it takes to resolve these issues as quickly and efficiently as practicable.
Although we are still investigating the details of this incident, we believe that an unauthorized person has obtained the following information that you provided: name, address (city, state/province, zip or postal code), country, email address, birthdate, PlayStation Network/Qriocity password and login, and handle/PSN online ID. It is also possible that your profile data, including purchase history and billing address (city, state, zip), and your PlayStation Network/Qriocity password security answers may have been obtained. If you have authorized a sub-account for your dependent, the same data with respect to your dependent may have been obtained. While there is no evidence that credit card data was taken at this time, we cannot rule out the possibility.  If you have provided your credit card data through PlayStation Network or Qriocity, to be on the safe side we are advising you that your credit card number (excluding security code) and expiration date may have been obtained.

For your security, we encourage you to be especially aware of email, telephone, and postal mail scams that ask for personal or sensitive information. Sony will not contact you in any way, including by email, asking for your credit card number, social security, tax identification or similar number or other personally identifiable information. If you are asked for this information, you can be confident Sony is not the entity asking.  When the PlayStation Network and Qriocity services are fully restored, we strongly recommend that you log on and change your password.  Additionally, if you use your PlayStation Network or Qriocity user name or password for other unrelated services or accounts, we strongly recommend that you change them, as well.

To protect against possible identity theft or other financial loss, we encourage you to remain vigilant to review your account statements and to monitor your credit or similar types of reports.

We thank you for your patience as we complete our investigation of this incident, and we regret any inconvenience.  Our teams are working around the clock on this, and services will be restored as soon as possible. Sony takes information protection very seriously and will continue to work to ensure that additional measures are taken to protect personally identifiable information. Providing quality and secure entertainment services to our customers is our utmost priority.  Please contact us atwww.eu.playstation.com/psnoutage should you have any additional questions.

Sincerely,
Sony Network Entertainment and Sony Computer Entertainment Teams

Sony Network Entertainment Europe Limited (formerly known as PlayStation Network Europe Limited) is a subsidiary of Sony Computer Entertainment Europe Limited the data controller for PlayStation Network/Qriocity personal data 
SONY make.believe

Please note that this is an automated e-mail, so replies to this address cannot be responded to. 

©2011 Sony Computer Entertainment Europe. 

eu.playstation.com

““, “PlayStation”, “PlayStation Network”, “PlayStation Store”, “PlayStation Home”, “PS3”, “PSP”, “PS2” and “” are registered trademarks of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. All titles, content, publisher names, trademarks, artwork, and associated imagery are trademarks and/or copyright material of their respective owners. All rights reserved.

Prices, content, promotions and services are subject to change or withdrawal at any time. Content may not be available in all territories.

Games sold in the United Kingdom are age rated by the independent organisations PEGI and BBFC. To find out more, visit http://www.pegi.info, http://www.bbfc.co.uk or http://www.askaboutgames.com. Age ratings indicate the age for which the game is suitable.

If you have PlayStation®Network account you can edit your profile and notification preferences, including unsubscribing, from within your account. Sign In here. If you don’t have a PlayStation®Network account and want to unsubscribe, email us here.

PlayStation®Network, PlayStation®Store and PlayStation®Home subject to terms of use and not available in all countries and languages (eu.playstation.com/terms). Broadband internet service required. Users are responsible for broadband access fees. Charges apply for some content. Users must be 7 years or older and users under 18 require parental consent.

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>Help Ive been contacted by someone claiming to be Facebook Security

April 26, 2011 Leave a comment


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I’ve been getting reports in that someone from Facebook Security has been contacting users to get them to send login information to them, or be blocked, removed, banned etc…

They already have this information, nor do they actually need it to manage accounts.
The real Facebook Security has Administrative privileges that supersede anyones accounts.
This also goes for any site you log into. There is a structured order to these things.
As with any site, my own as well as your PC work in much the same way.
If anything goes wrong, or someone forgets a password. The Administrator can “Take Over” any other account to fix problems or what not.

So Unless you are at the Official Login Page (This is the ONLY place You should EVER be asked for login credentials), do NOT ever give this information out freely in ANY way shape or form claiming to be an administrator.


If anyone ever contacts you in this manner… Report, and Block the person immediately.
This is an age old tactic called phishing using Social Engineering as a way to get personal information.

Login credentials are for you, and you only!


Stay safe everybody,

o0MeTaL0o
metal@thebulldogestate.com

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>Who’s really viewing your profile ? It’s Spammers, Scammers and Hackers

April 26, 2011 Leave a comment


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If you don’t want people calling you, sending you e-mails and IMs or even showing up at your door, then I would not put that information on Facebook. It’s not even that hard to retrieve. Just as an example I used a Yahoo mail account. A sad sad account with 0 friends 😦
I’m so very lonely….. I know ! I’ll use Yahoo mail’s import from Facebook feature that searches all my friends Facebook pages, ( I used a FB page with 1040 friends) and brings their e-mails to my yahoo.
Whew, now I have friends. 905 separate contacts, some with multiple e-mails associated with their name. Yay ! And it only took 3 minutes.

Hmm I wonder how many cell phone numbers and home addresses I can find ?

For this one I could have used a simple program to find and download them but that is actually against the terms of use by Facebook. Unlike getting all those e-mails which is perfectly ok. I personally don’t want to get banned, but the guy who hacked your friends Facebook doesn’t seem to mind, because he had lots of time to get all the info first and then spam any ads and scams he wanted to before getting shut down.

For my sanity’s sake at having to manually go to each page, I’m going to use an account with 139. These 139 are personal friends who have been listening to me preach for two years to make themselves more secure and how to do it. Lets see if they listened.

Well the results are in. I’m pleased to say that all 16 of my Facebook family members gave no info other than e-mail. So that leaves my 123 friends, lets see how they fared. I collected 31 cell phone numbers. Of those 31 only 2 were guys. Leaving 29 women who (let’s be honest) are for the most part, young and quite attractive. 5 of these 29 women also listed their home/street address. I don’t think I need to stress how bad an idea this is. ( By the way – I also collected 114 new e-mails and 43 instant messenger IDs)

Well, now that I’ve frightened you, how do we fix this ?

The fix is to go into your “edit my profile”, on the left side you’ll see privacy settings.
After which you once again look on the left for “Custom” and then the little blue “customize settings”
You’ll see many things that you can change “who views”. When you click one of the grey locks on the right and click custom, it’ll pop up a small window.

Click the drop down option beside ‘These People’ and change to “Only Me” on many things. I would recommend at the very least the address and phone #. Personally I have every thing from religious views down checked “only me” on mine. I understand that e-mail is not a big deal, but keep in mind that you will probably receive a lot of spam mail so it may be a good idea to designate one e-mail address as your possible spam receiver and share it.

I’m sorry if you want your friends to see, if they need to they can message you. It’s way too easy to be have an account compromised on Facebook. Can you really tell me you’ve never seen a friend that appeared to have been hacked ?

I also really dislike the “check in” and “allow my friends to check me in” features. I swear that I saw someone post that they were loving their new 64″ plasma TV, then the next post from them was of foursquare checking them in somewhere across town. I just remember thinking “Hmmm I could use a new TV. ” Granted I’d never do that, but you see my point.

I’ve shared this to Facebook several times and even directly messaged people about it and yet I can still see half of their numbers. Oh well, I guess they are in for some, ” I saw your number on Facebook, whatcha doin’ ? ” 2 am text messages from me.

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>Tsunamis – Hurricanes – Tornadoes and your data

April 25, 2011 Leave a comment


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Are you prepared to deal if you don’t have access to your computer ? I thought I was, but two weeks ago a tornado basically touched down in my front yard. We were lucky, the only trees I had down did not hit my house or cars. However many of my neighbor’s were not so lucky. You think you’ll have time to do something, to grab things. You don’t. No one thought that we would have a tornado, just a bad storm. My fiancee and I were getting ready for bed when we heard the wind pick up a bit, so we walked to the front door to look. Seconds later we saw branches bouncing off our cars and both turned  and said “Basement!”  I opened the basement door next to us, and we began to run down the stairs. We only made it 1/2 down before the lights blew out. We just dropped and held each other sitting on the stairs, covering each others heads as the wind whipped around us and we heard the trees breaking. 
    Let’s just be honest, I’m crying as I write this thinking how lucky we are and how I could have lost my family, friends or neighbors. For the next few days I just went around trying to help open up the 200+ miles of road that crisscross and wind their way though my community. I saw hundreds of power poles snapped like twigs and just as many damaged houses. We were very lucky to have no fatalities. I was without power for almost five days and part of my road is still inaccessible by car.
     Ok, enough of the sad stuff for a bit. I of course have external hard drives and flash drives and such, but all are in my home. The tornado very easily could have destroyed all of it which, while I would be happy to be alive, would have been difficult to replace. My parents live across town so I thought giving them a few important flash drives to put in their safe, would be a good idea.
   Later I began thinking about the stories I’d heard about involving data loss and Hurricane Katrina. Some New Orleans based companies did not have backups at a separate location. The ones that did were very lucky you would think. However, several of these had unfortunately chosen Biloxi, which while 100 miles away, was also destroyed. Quite a few companies were unable to recover afterwards and went bankrupt. I wonder how Japan’s data is doing after the tsunami and nuclear issues ?
   As an individual, it certainly isn’t practical for me to have backups hundreds of miles away, but what about online ?  Amazon’s offers a free online storage called Cloud that allows you to store up to 5 gig for free. Other companies do offer free storage online as well, like FlipDrive, but Cloud is the most widely used. This CNN money video is quite informative and interesting in describing what you can do with Cloud.
   Granted “The Cloud” is cool but there are some things to remember. Like the fact that they can access your data to make sure you have not violated their terms or conditions and they will give access to law enforcement agency’s if asked. So that picture of you and Bernard Madoff surrounded by cash should probably go elsewhere. While Cloud is known to be very secure and normally have no issues, I’d be remiss if I did not mention that hordes of people who were up in arms about it being down recently for several days.
    The most important thing to remember, is that you are responsible for the security of things you put on Cloud. If a hacker gets in and grabs your data, its security is up to you. How do you go about doing that? I personally use a free cryptography program called TrueCrypt to keep my data safe and secure. Unless something changes, I plan on doing a blog on what cryptography is and how to use TrueCrypt soon. So if you want to go ahead and download it, you’ll be ahead of the game.
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>The Dangers of Geo Tags and Cylons

April 25, 2011 Leave a comment


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Do you own a Smart Phone or a newer digital camera ? I’m sorry but Commander Adama won’t allow it aboard the ship. (42 Geek Points to you if you smiled at that) (1)

All joking aside – The smart phones and many of the new digital cameras have GPS in them that will geotag your photos with “meta data”. This meta data can not be seen in the photos but computers programs available to any, can read them with ease.
We’ve talked a bit about cyber stalkers. Can you think of someone you wouldn’t want to know where you are ? Due to geo tagging I could very easily go rob many nice things if I were that kind of person. It’s easy to find geo tagged photos on Craigslist and many other places along with things like “I won’t be home til after 5”
Don’t think it will happen to you ? It’s already happened to many, including celebrities. My favorite was the very tech savvy Adam Savage. If you don’t know he’s one of the stars of the incredibly popular (and awesome) MythBusters.
When he uploaded a picture of his jeep to twitter he did more than tell people he was going to work. He told them exactly where his house was. When asked about it, he said that he was fully aware of geo tagging but had forgotten to turn it off on his smart phone. He has since disabled the geo tagging feature on his phone and has moved to a new home.
I was going to type in all the fixes for you but instead found a great (and scary site) called I Can Stalk You which has step by step instructions with pictures on how to disable it on smart phones. If there is a specif model or type that you can’t seem to find a fix for, please leave me a comment and I’ll do my best. On most models, you’ll find somewhere under your camera or camera app an option to turn off GPS.
(1) – Geek points are non-transferable and are only used to purchase my love. See FDA warning for possible side effects of my love.

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