Are you really serious about maintaining your privacy? Really, seriously, taking all the precautions to protect your identity? It's quite the paradox isn't it?
I want anonymity regarding my financial identity, yet, the fact that I am leaving on a two week vacation is posted in my status on Facebook. I wouldn't put a sign out in front of the house indicating that "I'm not home and won't be for two weeks", yet I post it on Facebook? So, you say "they" don't know where you live? Type your name into any search engine and see what pops up. Not only do "they" know where you live, they know what elementary school you went to and what level you have achieved in "YoVille". Social media is outing us on so many levels.
For the last ten+ years, I have worked as a certified privacy professional. Knowing and understanding the concept and legalities of privacy and the impact on target marketing is what I do for a living. I know that putting certain demographic information about myself in cyberspace will open me up to various, unsolicited, contacts. But, I want to "play" with my friends.
I can designate certain contacts as spam; I can opt out of mail, telemarketing and email contacts, but it doesn't stop the targeted solicitations that pop up on the various websites that I use and follow.
Lately, I've been particularly barraged with advertising relating to "dating" for "older, mature" people. There is the "Meet someone new today" ad that I swear has a photo of my great-niece's husband. Meet Elite Singles! Romance a Millionaire! Dating for Mature Singles can be very difficult! 1,000s of Big and Beautiful Singles in your area! 40+ and Single? Find love this Fall! Mature Singles Only because no one should be alone. Find Love Again!
I have been targeted as "an over 40, mature, big person, who is not in love but wants to be." How do I opt out of that? Why they think I'm "big", I'm not sure. Oh wait a minute, they probably know what size clothing I order online since I probably agreed to the terms and conditions of the retailer which stipulated in fine print that they shared certain information about me to third party vendors. They didn't share my credit card number or address, but did share what size, color and style dress I purchased. They know I'm single because I indicate such on my Facebook profile. And, they know I'm over 40 since I put in my birth year to register. They must know that I am beautiful because I got an ad that said I was "an intelligent beauty with invincible spirit." Target marketing is amazing!
The other catch to online privacy is that while you may be agreeing to share your information, you are often times sharing my information as well. Most Platform notices of access will indicate that you are agreeing to allow them to "pull YOUR profile information, photos, FRIEND'S info and any other contact info." You can thank me later for getting all those emails from the pharmaceuticals companies and debt consolidation companies.
Each morning, when I log on, I take the time to go through my spam folder and opting out from unwanted solicitations; if they don't cease, I send an email indicating I am reporting them to the FTC, FCC and Consumer Affairs. I get a number of phishing emails that I forward on to the bank or credit card company for them to do something about. I delete, unopened, all those emails from the "Minister of Finance" in Nigeria and the "lottery administrators" from the UK.
You are only as safe as the precautions you take. Each morning, after my personal hygiene, I perform "cyber-hygiene". If you don't you could get a virus.
Showing posts with label computers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label computers. Show all posts
Monday, October 19, 2009
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Readin', Writin' and Excel
I didn't write yesterday. Oh, I allotted time to write and I had a list of random thoughts to write about; just didn't sit down at the keyboard. Now, that isn't to say that I wasn't a productive citizen. I had a wonderful lunch with an old friend, went through 100 pages of Dan Brown's book and attended a sneak preview at the USC School of Dance (very impressive!); and I managed to do some work on my personal finances.
Checking my cash flow and my budget, I noticed that, while I may be very good at the reading and writing, my 'rithmatic is on hiatus. I actually entered 75 plus 35 in the calculator. I might as well have entered 2 plus 2. What happened?
I remember, as a young student, how many of my peers would always question "why do we need to know Algebra?" "We'll never use it in real life!" I knew better. I knew that math was important and that I would need it in "real life". I did need it. I needed it to balance my check book; I needed it to figure out which credit card was getting how much money; I needed it to do the profit and loss statements at work; I needed it to do budgets; I needed it to figure out who got what salary increase; I needed it to figure out which flight I could take to get me to my meeting on time in three time zones away. And I needed it to figure out the appropriate tip for the bartender. Numbers were, are, my life.
I remember finance, accounting and statistics classes and committing formulas to memory. I remember learning ways to use numbers to solve what seemed insurmountable problems. I scribbled formulas and calculated the answer to the identity of "X".
And then came those HP calculators; and then we were allowed to use calculators for tests. And then there were personal computers; and spreadsheet programs like Lotus and Excel. You still need to know your formulas to make the spreadsheets work,but you did not need to know how to add, subtract, multiply and divide. Why tax your brain with such mundane functions when the little device can do it for you. Common algebraic equations are already programmed into the hand held computer. Push this button, push that button and voila - the answer.
I cringe when I see a table of patrons at a restaurant pull out their cell phones and begin dividing up the dinner bill and calculating tips. I've lost a lot of money over the years by just grabbing the check and paying it to avoid the "you had the Cobb Salad and that was $11 and the martini was $7 and a 17.5% tip would be ????? Split it four ways and leave 20%!
I still hear young students today complaining, "why do I need to know algebra? why do I need to know geography? why do I need to know science?. You need to be financially accountable, you need to know where you are and where you are going and you need to know what household cleansers you can mix without blowing yourself up. If you don't learn these subjects you will never make it on Amazing Race!
Now to use Spellcheck and publish post. . .damn, my spelling has gotten bad too! Time to separate from the "borg".
Checking my cash flow and my budget, I noticed that, while I may be very good at the reading and writing, my 'rithmatic is on hiatus. I actually entered 75 plus 35 in the calculator. I might as well have entered 2 plus 2. What happened?
I remember, as a young student, how many of my peers would always question "why do we need to know Algebra?" "We'll never use it in real life!" I knew better. I knew that math was important and that I would need it in "real life". I did need it. I needed it to balance my check book; I needed it to figure out which credit card was getting how much money; I needed it to do the profit and loss statements at work; I needed it to do budgets; I needed it to figure out who got what salary increase; I needed it to figure out which flight I could take to get me to my meeting on time in three time zones away. And I needed it to figure out the appropriate tip for the bartender. Numbers were, are, my life.
I remember finance, accounting and statistics classes and committing formulas to memory. I remember learning ways to use numbers to solve what seemed insurmountable problems. I scribbled formulas and calculated the answer to the identity of "X".
And then came those HP calculators; and then we were allowed to use calculators for tests. And then there were personal computers; and spreadsheet programs like Lotus and Excel. You still need to know your formulas to make the spreadsheets work,but you did not need to know how to add, subtract, multiply and divide. Why tax your brain with such mundane functions when the little device can do it for you. Common algebraic equations are already programmed into the hand held computer. Push this button, push that button and voila - the answer.
I cringe when I see a table of patrons at a restaurant pull out their cell phones and begin dividing up the dinner bill and calculating tips. I've lost a lot of money over the years by just grabbing the check and paying it to avoid the "you had the Cobb Salad and that was $11 and the martini was $7 and a 17.5% tip would be ????? Split it four ways and leave 20%!
I still hear young students today complaining, "why do I need to know algebra? why do I need to know geography? why do I need to know science?. You need to be financially accountable, you need to know where you are and where you are going and you need to know what household cleansers you can mix without blowing yourself up. If you don't learn these subjects you will never make it on Amazing Race!
Now to use Spellcheck and publish post. . .damn, my spelling has gotten bad too! Time to separate from the "borg".
Friday, September 18, 2009
Password - "Thingy Magigy"
I had to change a password on one of my Internet accounts this morning. I had to change it because I forgot it. Remember when all we had to remember was our social security number and the combination on our lockers?
I've been known to forget a password or two. As a privacy professional, I take the responsibility of protecting my identity very seriously. During lazier times I would have used the same password over and over again. But, my paranoia of identity theft has changed that. I take pride in creating strong passwords - combinations of lower case letters, upper case letters, numbers and symbols. We shouldn't write them down for fear someone will find them and hack into our computers. What this process has done, is prevent ME from logging on.
A number of years ago when password protected programs began to blossom, my assistant had a direct line to the IT Help Desk; that was because Coralee forgot her password again! In those days I would use word association to create my double secret entry code. Sometimes it was the first thing I saw on my desk: stapler, a big mess, phone, file and "thingy magigy". Natalie would come in as she heard my usual profanity in the morning and attempt to identify objects on my desk that may have gotten my attention. I eventually learned that word association didn't work for me in this circumstance.
I knew better than to use dates. No birthdays or anniversaries for me. For awhile I used pet names. Then I started using combinations of pet names and telephone numbers (not mine of course). The telephone number thing got confusing because I couldn't remember whose phone number I used for what program. You see there was some word association coupled with the phone number.
When the security questions were implemented as protocol I was relieved; there was a back-up process to get me into the wonderful world of cyberspace. Initially all I had to remember was my mother's maiden name. When that became too common, we were given the option of creating numerous security questions. I thought this was such a good idea that I created different questions for each program: My favorite pet, my first pet, the street where I grew up, the high school I went to, my paternal grandmothers middle name, my best friend's name in elementary school. ..it got out of control.
Forgetting the password was one thing, but remembering which animal I thought was my favorite pet at the given moment when I created the answer was another. Was it RC? Was it Murphy? Was it Jen? Once on the phone with a help desk, they asked me the security question - what is your favorite pet? In desperation I began throwing out names - Surrey? Mr. Tom? O'Hara? Claude? Dostoevsky? Zachary? Finally, the gentlemen on the other end of the phone stopped me - just how many pets have you had? Oh, is that the answer? Do I need to know how many pets I had? He felt sorry for me. ..just tell me what kind of pets they were. Dogs, cats, ducks! One answer please. My favorite pet was "cat". He tried the second security question - what high school did you go to? Yeah, I knew that answer. Pathetic, I thought, how pathetic I must sound. He chuckled, "no problem, this is why I have a job!"
I thought I had the right system created for designating passwords. I created three. Three because you usually have three chances to log in before you get locked out. I thought this to be brilliant - I don't have to remember which password I designated for what program. And then it became apparent that those three were not secure enough for some programs and hence I've been locked out once again this morning.
Knock, Knock - what's the password? I dunno - yep, that's it!
I've been known to forget a password or two. As a privacy professional, I take the responsibility of protecting my identity very seriously. During lazier times I would have used the same password over and over again. But, my paranoia of identity theft has changed that. I take pride in creating strong passwords - combinations of lower case letters, upper case letters, numbers and symbols. We shouldn't write them down for fear someone will find them and hack into our computers. What this process has done, is prevent ME from logging on.
A number of years ago when password protected programs began to blossom, my assistant had a direct line to the IT Help Desk; that was because Coralee forgot her password again! In those days I would use word association to create my double secret entry code. Sometimes it was the first thing I saw on my desk: stapler, a big mess, phone, file and "thingy magigy". Natalie would come in as she heard my usual profanity in the morning and attempt to identify objects on my desk that may have gotten my attention. I eventually learned that word association didn't work for me in this circumstance.
I knew better than to use dates. No birthdays or anniversaries for me. For awhile I used pet names. Then I started using combinations of pet names and telephone numbers (not mine of course). The telephone number thing got confusing because I couldn't remember whose phone number I used for what program. You see there was some word association coupled with the phone number.
When the security questions were implemented as protocol I was relieved; there was a back-up process to get me into the wonderful world of cyberspace. Initially all I had to remember was my mother's maiden name. When that became too common, we were given the option of creating numerous security questions. I thought this was such a good idea that I created different questions for each program: My favorite pet, my first pet, the street where I grew up, the high school I went to, my paternal grandmothers middle name, my best friend's name in elementary school. ..it got out of control.
Forgetting the password was one thing, but remembering which animal I thought was my favorite pet at the given moment when I created the answer was another. Was it RC? Was it Murphy? Was it Jen? Once on the phone with a help desk, they asked me the security question - what is your favorite pet? In desperation I began throwing out names - Surrey? Mr. Tom? O'Hara? Claude? Dostoevsky? Zachary? Finally, the gentlemen on the other end of the phone stopped me - just how many pets have you had? Oh, is that the answer? Do I need to know how many pets I had? He felt sorry for me. ..just tell me what kind of pets they were. Dogs, cats, ducks! One answer please. My favorite pet was "cat". He tried the second security question - what high school did you go to? Yeah, I knew that answer. Pathetic, I thought, how pathetic I must sound. He chuckled, "no problem, this is why I have a job!"
I thought I had the right system created for designating passwords. I created three. Three because you usually have three chances to log in before you get locked out. I thought this to be brilliant - I don't have to remember which password I designated for what program. And then it became apparent that those three were not secure enough for some programs and hence I've been locked out once again this morning.
Knock, Knock - what's the password? I dunno - yep, that's it!
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