There has been a lot of buzz recently about online privacy, however; this is not a new issue by any means. Online privacy has been a concern for years. Go do a quick google search for online privacy and you will see articles from 2010, 2008, etc. discussing the issue. What is new is that thanks to our government your ISP (company you buy your internet from i.e. Verizon, charter, time warner, etc.) will be allowed to sell your browsing habits. So first, why does this matter?
For the most part, it doesn’t. A large percent of what we do online is harmless. For example, me searching for a new video game in google will tell amazon I want that game. And ads on Facebook will be for that game. With Insurdinary, it will be able to keep your insurance on private and to compare insurance quotes, you would know that Insurdinary is better.Kind of cool in a sense that the internet knows what I want. This is also scary. Imagine that you think you are sick with a disease, and now amazon, google, health insurance companies, life insurance companies, future/current employers, know about it. The real question though is, should anyone be able to see what you are doing online? Is it their right? Should your ISP be able to spy on you? If you say OK, I would ask, would you allow your mortgage company to come in your house and go through your drawers? Because that is essentially what is happening. So yes, it is a concern and should be to anyone.
So, what can you do to prevent this from happening? There are a number of things and I am going to break this up so that it’s easier to understand. The important thing to remember is that you are never going to be 100% secure. But you can take steps to make it harder for anyone to spy on you. Think of it like an onion, the closer you are to the middle, the harder it is to get to you. The outer layers (i.e. no security) are easy to get to but several layers in takes more work. Also, keep in mind I am not discussing Malware, Viruses, etc here, I have other blog posts about that but I do always recommend antivirus software, malware software, and a good firewall, if you want to learn more about network access control, you can go to this page to find good information in this area.
To stop your ISP from spying on you (to stop just facebook/browser scroll down to the end):
For your computer/browser (for most home users):
Step 1 – get a VPN.
VPN – This is the first thing you need. I am not going to explain what a VPN is, just that it makes it so that your ISP (or job) cannot see what you are doing. They can only see that you are connected and using data. The great thing with VPNs is they are so versatile, you can use use them for a ton of things. VPNs, like iPlayer VPN, are used for program and show access no matter your location. Other VPNs protect sensitive information and protect your devices from cyberthreats. Now, the issue with VPN is that the VPN company can see what you are doing. So yes, they can sell your data just like your ISP. But I trust them more and most do not sell your data, just the shady bad ones do. However, keep in mind if you are doing something illegal, the VPN company will turn your information over to authorities if they are subpoenaed – no one is going to jail for you. You will also need to have a secure and fast connection so you can cater the software (click here to find some packages).
There are tons of options for paid and free ones. I personally like Hotspot shield, CyberGhost, and Windscribe because they have free versions. Here is a link to them:
https://www.hotspotshield.com/
Step 2 – Start using Firefox.
Why? Because of the security and add-ons. Once you download Firefox, you need to install the following add-ons. They are: HTTPS Everywhere and 1 of the privacy/adblock addons I explained below. They will not affect your browsing experience, they will however make it much more secure. Additionally, use the private browsing mode of the browser.
And do these:
For the most secure (for people who are more technically inclined):
Use Tor Browser. Tor browser with its default settings is going to be super secure. Its slower because of how it works to hide your identity but if you are searching things no one can know about, use this. https://www.torproject.org/
Download Tor Client. Tor is the best security that most home users can set up themselves. If you are a super high tech person and want something more secure you already know way more than what I am blogging about and shouldn’t even be reading this so this post is not for you. https://www.torproject.org/
For your mobile device:
For those that want to be super secure, use a Tor browser. While there is no official mobile Tor browser there are tons that are free ones that use the Tor network. I personally have Onion browser for my iPhone.
To stop facebook and other internet companies like google, amazon, etc from spying on you:
1. You can always just not use the internet but come on…
2. Start using Firefox.
Why? Because of the security and add-ons. Once you download Firefox, you need to install the following add ons: uBlock and you can add Privacy Badger if you want double protection. Keep in mind, when using these add ons that some websites, like your online bank, might not work correctly, so if a site isn’t working correctly, you can simply turn them off for that site with the click of a button. It will remember, so its only the first time you visit that site.
3. Use DuckDuckGo search engine. This is a search engine that does not record/track your searches. You can very easily make this your default browser by going to your browser settings and its just as good as Google. https://duckduckgo.com/
4. Backup your data. Don’t wait for an attack for you to start backing up your data. Make sure you’re ready for any threat to your data. Visit sites like www.venyu.com/colocation/ to know more about cybersecurity.
]]>1. Run rKill – This will stop all of the bad stuff from running so that you can run other software to delete it.
2. Run Malwarebytes and Ad-Aware
3. Run Combofix
4. Run Antivirus and keep it installed/running – ClamAv
5. Install security and keep it installed/running – Zonealarm
Once you have scanned your computer with the first 4 it should be clear. I would then recommend step 5 and keep it running on default settings. Also keep ClamAV running. The others should be run and used as there are problems on your machine.
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Simulator where you can build and test your apps for firefox OS
An article discussing some of the advantages and disadvantages of firefox mobile (although more towards the negative side)
]]>Non effective ways to prevent spam (bots just tear right through these but they still might help a little bit. Just do NOT rely on these):
– Email activation
– Captchas (the images where you write the numbers/letters that you see in the box)
– Asking for special characters on username/password
– Confirming email address
Effective ways to prevent spam
– Few registration attempts – this gives the bot less times to guess
– Questions – this will pretty much stop all spam. You need to ask questions that the computer will not know. Please not that bots have lists of 1000s of questions so you need to ask questions that are specific to your site only but is easy enough for your user base to answer. 2+2 is not good. But the last name of the author of this blog is ____, would be a good question. I have found these block nearly 100% of my spam. If you do start getting spam that means your questions are too easy.
– Using a service like akismet, which is awesome but doesnt currently have a plugin for phpBB. This works great for wordpress though.
So how do you add those questions in phpBB to prevent spam? There are two way and I encourage you to do both:
Method 1:
in the Admin control panel go to->spambot countermeasures->available plugins->Q&A->configure. From here you would create your questions.
Method 2:
In the admin control panel go to->users and groups->custom profile fields->then you would create a new field. From here make sure you require the question at registration.
For an example of a forum using these methods, check out my surfing forum and try to register: http://www.njsurfingclub.com/messageBoard
]]>Those include your web domain of course, a database (usually provided by wordpress hosting providers), and the information from your database like the master username and password. Once you have all of that information you need to pick your forum. There are two forums that I recommend, one is vBulletin and is the best paid forum software. It costs $250 and does quite a bit. It requires very little technical skill to set up or to use the advanced features. The second I recommend and use myself is called phpBB. This is opensource so it is 100% free. Just like vBulletin it is very easy to use and set up. phpBB get complicated when you start doing advanced things. But it does do everything that vBulletin does it just requires more technical skill to do all of it. But setting each up and getting them up and running is no different. Those are the main differences between these two software packages (very high level differences).
At https://webhostinggeeks.com/versus/inmotion_vs_siteground/ you will find a company that provides innovative and secure solutions specialized for hosting all popular open source applications such as Joomla, WordPress, Magento, Drupal and many more.
Once you have decided which forum you want, you install it on your database. Once installed you will log in as an administrator and set up your forums and take special time to set up security measures like a captcha and such. Now that you are there your community is ready to communicate. You may notice that no one jumps the gun and begins to use it. Many forums go unused. People like to talk on a forum that is active because usually they lurk at first and just read posts before feeling comfortable enough to speak. So a little trick that is not fun but IS necessary – talk to yourself for a while on the forum using several different usernames to make the community seem alive. Even better if a few people can do this to get it going. It really helps and is needed even if it feels like you are scamming people. Trust me no one will post if there are zero posts unless you have a huge community or something.
Well I hope that helps you get started!
]]>Assuming you have the rights to the DVD to do this, otherwise this is illegal, here is how to do it:
Download and install handbrake: http://handbrake.fr/
Handbrake allows you to rip the dvd onto your computer so that you can burn the dvd, play the dvd,, put it on your ipad, etc. without the disk. It is just now simple movie file on your computer.
If you want to then put that dvd back onto a dvd disk to be played on a dvd player you will use a program called burn (http://burn-osx.sourceforge.net/Pages/English/home.html) to burn the dvd on a blank dvd.
You can do this with any dvd, even netflix and redbox movies, however, it is illegal unless you have the rights to the disk.
]]>ClamWin: http://www.clamwin.com/
]]>“Patents threaten every software developer, and the patent wars we have long feared have broken out. Software developers and software users – which in our society, is most people – need software to be free of patents.
When Dan Ravicher of the Public Patent Foundation studied one large program (Linux, which is the kernel of the GNU/Linux operating system) in 2004, he found 283 U.S. patents that appeared to cover computing ideas implemented in the source code of that program. That same year, it was estimated that Linux was .25 percent of the whole GNU/Linux system. Multiplying 300 by 400 we get the order-of-magnitude estimate that the system as a whole was threatened by around 100,000 patents.”
]]>“The state’s Office of Higher Education has informed the popular provider of massive open online courses, or MOOC’s, that Coursera is unwelcome in the state because it never got permission to operate there. It’s unclear how the law could be enforced when the content is freely available on the Web, but Coursera updated its Terms of Service to include the following caution:
Notice for Minnesota Users:
Coursera has been informed by the Minnesota Office of Higher Education that under Minnesota Statutes (136A.61 to 136A.71), a university cannot offer online courses to Minnesota residents unless the university has received authorization from the State of Minnesota to do so. If you are a resident of Minnesota, you agree that either (1) you will not take courses on Coursera, or (2) for each class that you take, the majority of work you do for the class will be done from outside the State of Minnesota.”
Apparently, facing backlash from the higher ed community, Minnesota plans to ignore the law and let these programs exist within its borders – http://chronicle.com/blogs/wiredcampus/facing-backlash-minnesota-decides-to-allow-free-online-courses-after-all/40588
Now there are a lot of good issues here. First, these MOOCs are free and offer no credit….plus they are online. How could a state really police them? Should a state really be able to police what is on the internet? On one hand you have states rights and on the other you have a state telling its citizens what they can and cannot see online which brings up a whole host of issues. I would not be surprised if we see more of these types of situations in the very near future so keep your eyes peeled:)
]]>Here is a brief history of it:
“March 31, 1998: Coders at Netscape start an open-source project. They call it Mozilla, a former codename for the Netscape Navigator browser which was extremely popular in the 1990s. Mozilla was derived from the words “mosaic” (another popular 1990s browser) and “killer.”
Sept. 23, 2002: The release of “Phoenix 0.1” marks the earliest version of the browser that would eventually become known as Firefox.
July 15, 2003: The Mozilla Foundation is established. The foundation is a non-profit organization whose core belief is, “The Web is a shared public resource to be cared for, not a commodity to be sold.”
June 15, 2004: Mozilla launches the Add-ons Gallery, an official comprehensive list of all the extensions, themes and plug-ins users can employ to customize their browsers.
Nov. 9, 2004: Mozilla unveils Firefox 1.0, the first full version of the browser. Fans of the project organized a full-page advertisement in The New York Times to herald the release.
Aug. 12, 2006: Enthusiastic Firefox fans, mostly students from Oregon State, make a 220-foot wide crop circle reproduction of the Firefox logo in an oat field near Amity, Ore.
Feb. 21, 2008: The total for downloads of Firefox surpasses 500 million.
June 17, 2008: Mozilla releases Firefox Version 3.0, which establishes a Guinness World Record for “Most Downloads of a Software Application in 24 Hours,” totaling more than 8 million. There was no previous record.
Feb. 8, 2011: The beta version of Firefox 4 includes a “Do Not Track” feature, furthering the company’s commitment to privacy awareness.
March 29, 2011: Firefox releases a mobile browser for Android devices, initially available in more than 10 languages.
April 2011: The company implements a “Rapid Release” schedule, making a new version of Firefox available every six weeks. By this schedule, there are always four versions of Firefox being worked on at a given time. Users can try the “Nightly” version, which has the latest updates that have not been fully vetted; the “Aurora” version, which is more stabilized; or the “Beta” version, the last step before an official release.
July 26, 2012: The download total for add-ons surpasses 3 billion. Firefox currently has over 17,000 user-created add-ons.
Today: More than 450 million people use Firefox. About 40% of the code was written by volunteers. The browser is extremely popular around the world; it is available in 75 languages and more than half of users employ non-English versions”
]]>Google Search
Youtube
Android/Droid
Google+
Google Maps
Google Docs
Google Wallet
Google Earth
Google Scholar
Blogger
Now there are many more. But how many of you can say you are not using at least one of these? Every one of us is using a Google product in our daily lives. Do I get scared when a company has this much control? Yes. Do I like what Google is doing? Yes. So having said that I think it’s good to keep an eye on Google’s motives and make sure they keep a good course as they currently are.
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]]>Blogging – WordPress
Forum – PhpBB
Photo Gallery – Coppermine
Office (Word/Powerpoint) – Open Office
Browser – Firefox
Survey – Lime Survey
Social Networking – Buddy Press
Music Editor – Audacity
Photo Editor – Gimp
Course Management System (CMS) – Moodle
Additionally, wordpress integrates well with bbpress and buddypress because they are all made by the same companies. It is my belief that many future websites will be created using software such as wordpress rather than standard html.
]]>Coppermine installs easily and its upgrades are easy assuming you do not have many mods. It comes pre-installed with around 7-10 themes. Creating your own theme is very easy with some basic html, php, and css programming.
Coppermine can be found here: http://coppermine-gallery.net/
]]>Opensource software is FREE software. It is free software that not only can you install and own, but you can modify it because the developers make the source code available. This means that anyone can change any part of the software they do not like. So for instance take your web browser. Lets say that you wish your web browser would keep track of how much time you spent online. If it was an opensource web browser, you could develop a program, called a mod or app, that kept track of your time online. You could then submit that app to the opensource company so that they could offer it for free to other people who might like to use it. Opensource is awesome and is a great business model. But how do opensource companies make money? Service. Thats how. What are some examples of opensource software packages: open office (replaces word/powerpoint), firefox (web browser), and gimp (replaces photoshop). I encourage you to check them out.
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