Sunday, March 13, 2011

Social Networking Tools Come to the Rescue Following Japan Earthquake

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/twitter/8379101/Japan-earthquake-how-Twitter-and-Facebook-helped.html

Following the disastrous 8.9 scale earthquake just off the coast of Japan, widespread destruction took over Japan as huge waves hit the Japanese coast and shook the island nation. Because mobile networks were unable to deal with the the influx in cell phone use and land lines failed as a direct result of the earthquake, many resorted to broadband networks and online tools like Facebook, Twitter, and Skype communicate with loved ones and the public about what was going on. These serviced proved to be invaluable to those who could not reach the people they needed to contact through typical means like the telephone. In fact, these networking tools even became the primary means of communication people used in Japan following the earthquake. In one common example, a girl at an international school was able to use Facebook chat to contact her cousin in Great Britain during the earthquake, but could not phone her parents who lived a short distance from her school. Technology today really is making the world a smaller place.
Even governmental agencies used Twitter to post emergency information concerning telephone numbers to call and safety shelters to go to for aid.
In ways that were probably never even imagine during the creation of these networking tools, they are helping society in its most neediest times.

Sunday, March 6, 2011

IRS Impersonators During Tax Time

http://www.standard.net/topics/scams/2011/03/06/beware-those-who-impersonate-irs-tax-time

The article discusses the problem of how people have been recently impersonating the Internal Revenue Service in emails and phone calls to individuals requesting personal and sensitive information. The fact that this is occurring just goes to show how easy to access people's information really is. Personal emails, phone numbers, and addresses must be easy to find online which would lead scammers to take advantage of them to contact unsuspecting individuals. The internet is obviously very useful, but there is also a huge cost to our privacy in using it. There are so many ways to be tricked or scammed, and this is just one more way.
Most of these impersonators are from other countries and are taking advantage of the U.S. government system. Something really needs to be done about this, but it is hard to find a simple solution to this widespread problem of internet privacy.