Internet Impulse Control

A student in the Kansas City area was dismissed from a nursing school over a photo of her posed with a placenta they were studying in class that she posted on Facebook (a judge later reinstated her to allow her to take exams). Two high school teachers were fired from their jobs in NYC after posting inappropriate messages to students, and a third remains out of work after posting a photo showing her kissing a former student. A woman in Connecticut was fired from her job as an EMT after criticizing her boss and posting it. College professors are beginning to ban cell phones (and even laptops) from classrooms; calling them more a distraction than an aid as students use them not only to take notes, but to keep up their social networking. 

It's a growing sign of the times and of the technology that we use and sometimes abuse in a never ending cycle of dependency. Like most other addictions, such behavior often leads to poor impulse control ... and eventually to exhibitions of foolish behavior. While no less prone to such behavior (and having perhaps shown a past predilection for it in other ways), I find myself with little guilt where social networking is concerned. 

The limited wisdom that I have attained has fortunately been second hand. This is not to say that I am not active on things like Facebook; but only to say that perhaps being a generally more private person, I tend to limit the things that I am willing to share. 

As some of you now reading this will know, I put up a link to each of the postings to my blog on my Facebook page. I do this in a vain and perhaps vague attempt to lure the occasional new reader onto the site (not that I get any monetary reimbursement for doing so), and to notify those who regularly read it that another of my unscheduled efforts has occurred. I likewise share the odd picture taken or sent my way and what I consider to be the occasional clever thought that I come up with. (Wait, maybe that should be the other way around.) What you will not find from me however are the times that I get up or go to bed, the things I eat, the opinions that I have of my bosses or employers, or the status of my love life; none of which quite frankly would make very interesting reading. 

I exhibit this limited forbearance for no other reason than to keep me out of trouble (something that I have not proved particularly adept at over the years). I'm not afraid, but instead cautious; since I recognize that what we're talking about are not only issues of personal privacy, but that of others as well. I do not have the right to violate that privacy, and in fact have obligations to respect it. As is often the case with increases in our access to technology and with our ability to communicate however, there is far too often an interval between gaining it and the ability to use it wisely. 

We've only had the telephone since 1876, email since 1971, the first hand-held cell phones since 1973, and the first phone with web surfing capabilities since 1996. Facebook came along later still in 2004, and Twitter in 2006, so it's only in the last few years that this perfect storm of instant communication technology has been at our fingertips. Small wonder that we're still figuring out how to do little more with it than stupid human tricks. 

While I fear that all of the final answers on the subject will likely come from generations far younger than mine, there might be something that those of us with thinner and grayer hair might have to offer in the way of wisdom. We might suggest that using this marvelous ability to communicate might be better served by doing less of it. We might offer the opinion that a little mystery about our lives for friends and loved ones is anything but a bad thing. We might say that telling everyone of every waking thought that we have serves no one, especially ourselves. 

Maybe its time that we all did some sort of a 'preview' of what we are about to share before actually doing so. Maybe its appropriate that we attempt to think about how others might view our personal gems before placing them in these all too public settings. Maybe its long past time that we realized that every peccadillo and indiscretion that we place out there in cyberspace will remain there long after we have achieved room temperature. Certainly therefore, using a little internet impulse control might be the best impulse any of us are capable of.

The Russians Are Coming

The Russian Are Coming, but not in the way that you think. We need not fear that Alan Arkin will be leaving a submarine that's run aground to try and figure out a way for he and his pals to escape a small coastal village. Neither are we talking about the "evil empire" of the Reagan days which kept us on the brink of nuclear destruction. No, what we have here is much better organized, better funded, and more dangerous.

The threat that I am talking about is from a group that you have probably never heard of before, the Russian Business Network. 

I know that this group sounds innocuous enough, but in fact the RBN is a multi-faceted cybercrime organization that has generated revenues of up to $150,000,000 in one year through its machinations. Like a modern day cyber-Mafia, they engage in the use of free downloads of bogus anti-spyware or anti-malware programs. These free downloads immediately notify the user of further bogus active threats which can only be corrected by purchasing more extensive versions. (I know, this is a scam and illegal, but hardly justifies my dire warnings, but read on.)

In addition to this fairly straight forward scam, this group is singled out as one of the worst at hosting sites participating in spamming, child pornography, and other cyber crimes. Providing secure web hosting for the sites of many of the worst offenders, they provide an environment where such crimes can thrive. Experts at covering their tracks and at hiding their own financial dealings, this group operates all but anonymously except to those in the cyber world. They also act as a "cyber-murder for hire" organization, targeting businesses and even countries by performing "denial of service attacks"; and to go with it, a protection racket selling protection against their own nefarious operations.

Now I know that we are all concerned with the recent situation in Georgia, and the incursion of the Russian military. Any attack on a country attempting to operate under a democracy (and as one of America's few allies) should be of great concern to us. With access to oil revenues that Russia has these days and a resurgence of many of the old hard-liners in positions of power, I fear that we may see even more of this coming. I fear that this may not be the greatest threat that this country presents however. The Russian government has always had a strong relationship with it's own criminal element. It has used that partnership to generate hard currency, perpetrate the government's agenda, and subvert Russia's enemies. It appears that this is the case with the RBN as well. 

Cyber crime is an attack that crosses no borders, and that no distance or geography can protect us from however. It's perpetrators can sit safely behind their own borders and attack us from a position of complete safety. As a consequence, it may present an even greater threat in the long run as society comes to rely on the Internet for more of its every day operation. We need all be on our guard against such an attack on our freedom if our way of life is to survive.

Surfing Security

My eyes were recently opened by an article that my son sent me on the Security of the Internet. Now when Sean sends me this kind of information on the subject of computing, I have to take it seriously. He works as a team leader in support of the server technology for a large banking firm (that I should probably not mention for fear of getting him in trouble). 

His knowledge of computers is extensive (he built the one that I am typing this on), his knowledge of the technology of servers and the Internet is extensive, and he works for a financial institution that has him working long hours to help make their sites more secure. (He also plays a mean game of World of Warcraft, and often helps his feeble old man's attempts at such endeavors.)  

It seems that once again, Mankind's reach has exceeded his grasp with respect to the technology that he counts on for his daily existence. Only this time it has to do with the security of the entire Internet that is used for financial transactions of one type or another (Oh yeah, and the fact that they are mostly keeping it a secret). It appears that the Internet was never actually designed to do many of the things that are an everyday part of the lives of us who shop and bank using the World Wide Web (hence the www designation). 

The DNS system, invented in 1983, was simply never designed to be secure enough for all of what we are now using it for. I am not talking about the security of the computer that you currently use and attempt to guard through the use of firewalls and virus protection software (though that is still certainly a concern). No, I'm talking about the security of the very web addresses that we send passwords, credit card numbers, and other personal information to on a regular basis. 

In the description of one of the companies making software to fix the problem, we are playing Russian Roulette by putting that information out there. What's more, even the fix that they are currently offering merely takes this to “playing Russian roulette with a gun that has 100 bullet chambers instead of six.” Take heart however. There appears to be a better, and more long term solution is in the works. 

A system known as DNSSEC is not only on the horizon, but has already been adopted by the governments of Sweden and Puerto Rico for their web addresses. It is an encryption based system of site identification that would dramatically improve the confidence that information being sent to a site would go only to that site.  

Meanwhile, there is another version being worked on by a Professor Bernstein at the University of Illinois who claims to have found a system that circumvents the these issues. Neither change however, appears to be imminent. Meanwhile, as in most other things in life "Let the Buyer Beware" (or in this case, the user).  

By the way, though appearances belie it, I am in fact an exiled Liberian prince. If you will only send me $1,000.00 to free capital that is currently tied up in the international banking world, I can promise you a return of 50% interest. If you don't have cash, just send me a credit card and social security number. (Hey, Just Kidding ...)