You think the things that you do online are between you and your computer. Not so. Your cyber-privacy is constantly being chipped away: by your Internet provider, your cellphone carrier and lawmakers. Before you post to a social-media site or browse the Internet for that report you’re compiling on pedophiles, keep in mind how your actions online are anything but private.

At issue is the struggle to protect privacy rights while fighting the online theft of American intellectual property.

Last month, the U.S. House of Representatives shelved its proposed Stop Online Piracy Act, or SOPA (H.R. 3261). The legislation’s surface intent seemed sound: It would have given holders of music, films, books and other intellectual property copyrighted in the United States some teeth to stop its illegal distribution, even if that property was stored in an offshore server. But the bill required such sweeping enforcement that Google communications director Bob Boorstin said, “YouTube would just go dark immediately.” If you were caught unwittingly posting a video of your niece singing along with the latest Taylor Swift tune, you could be blocked from Facebook and by your Internet provider and you’d have the burden of proving your innocence. ...Keep On Reading!

Think of your web browser as your window into Internet, web pages and applications. Which browser should you choose, and what security measures should you take to protect your view?

The most popular browsers are Microsoft’s Windows Internet Explorer, Google’s Chrome and Mozilla’s Foxfire. Internet Explorer — preinstalled on all Windows machines — dominates with 40 percent of all users. But Chrome is coming on strong, according to StatCounter, a global web analytics company. It reports that among those browsers’ latest versions, Chrome 15 edged past Internet Explorer 8 during November’s final week, taking 23.6 percent of the worldwide market compared with IE’s 23.5 percent. ...Keep On Reading!

By: Andrea Eldridge

There are certain things we all know we should do: change the oil every 3,000 miles, choose different passwords for every online login, and back up our computers. Though I know better, I sometimes get to 5,000 miles before changing the oil, I can’t remember 500 different passwords, and I rarely back up my computer. I am a bad person. While mom showed me how to balance a checkbook (thanks mom!), no one ever showed me how to back up my computer. Now I can return the favor and teach my mom, and you, how to back up your system.

Your computer’s hard drive has moving parts and all mechanisms with moving parts eventually break. Sometimes it takes years, or decades, but it’s usually when you’re in the middle of a doctoral thesis. Modern technology has created a new type of drive to combat this problem, a Solid State drive. While this type of drive doesn’t have any moving parts, it still runs on electricity. What all this means is simple: one day your hard drive will fail. The only thing you can do is prepare for that day with a regular and reliable backup system. There are two types of data backup methods and you can use one, or both. It depends on how badly you’ll miss the pictures of your kids’ first steps… hint, you should do both. ...Keep On Reading!

Do you remember back when your computer was shiny and new, it likely came with pre-installed Norton or McAfee antivirus software. It would periodically pop up little notices that it had downloaded the latest updates, and you felt snug and secure when you surfed online.

Then that trial membership ...Keep On Reading!

About a month ago, I walked away from a coffee shop without my iPad. After I collected my stomach from my feet, I frantically raced back to the shop and practically offered to kiss the employee that had held it for me. I’m sure many can relate to the panic of losing a portable electronic device. Many of us carry personal and financial data on a multitude of devices — from laptops to tablets to smartphones — that can be easily lost or stolen. My experience got me thinking: What tools are out there to protect my devices, other than padlocking them to my wrist? I’m quite fond of keeping my wrists free for more useful purposes.

On March 21, Joshua Kaufman’s Macbook was stolen from his apartment in Oakland, Calif. When he reported the crime, police said they didn’t have enough resources to help. But Kaufman had taken the precaution of installing a program called Hidden.
After activating the software online, he was able to remotely capture his Macbook’s location, see photos of the perpetrator using the laptop’s iSight camera, even monitor the criminal’s use of his computer. He gave the program’s data to the authorities, allowing them to recover the stolen ...Keep On Reading!

As the days get longer and warmer, they herald the coming of summer vacation. Who doesn’t remember the joy of lazy days spent roaming the neighborhood with your buddies, swimming in the pool or lake, or inventing games to play in the backyard?

Yet these days our kids are more likely to spend the summer roaming the Internet, swimming in a sea of media, and inventing stories for their Facebook page. How do you get your kids to unplug and see the sun? When they are online, how do you keep your kids safe when they’re home free and you’re not? Nerd Chicks have scoured the Internet for the best tips and tools to bring the relaxation back to summer vacation. ...Keep On Reading!

I love my smartphone. As a self-proclaimed Nerd Chick, I should probably be ashamed by how reluctant I was to jump on the smartphone bandwagon, but once my old flip-phone finally dialed its last digit I took the leap and will never look back.

This thing is awesome! I can keep up with my email and Facebook, sync my calendar with my husband’s, even use apps to find the best shopping deals and cheapest gas in town. Why did I wait so long for this technological goodness?

You can imagine my panic when I learned that smartphone viruses have officially come to town. I’m not sure why I didn’t expect smartphones to be susceptible; after all… ...Keep On Reading!

Call out card from thatsnotcool.com

Are you talking to your kids about cyberbullying but not feeling like you’re really getting through? Or would you like a few websites with games and other interactive features to really drive the message home? Well you’re in luck, we’ve searched out some of the best websites and iPad apps for kids and teens of all ages.

Here Is Our List Of The Best Cyber Bullying Websites For Kids,

Ages 5-7
Professor Garfield Cyberbullying: Download this Garfield app on your iPad with comics regarding to cyberbullying, it keeps kids entertained and its free! Professor Garfield Cyberbullying

Ages 8-12

If you spend a lot of time “Googleing” on a public wifi connection, then maybe you should think twice.

misterbisson

Love getting free Wi-Fi? Yep so do we, but free Wi-Fi may have more risks than we think while we’re sucking down our soy vanilla lattes and shopping on Ebay at the local Starbucks. The truth is, that with any unsecured network your putting yourself at risk for someone seeing what your doing and possibly sealing your information.

Most Wi-Fi hotspots don’t encrypt the information sent over the internet and are not secure. If a person uses an unsecured network to log in to an unencrypted site or a site that uses encryption only on… ...Keep On Reading!

cjggbella
Less and less common are the days of kids getting stuffed into their lockers, bullies of the younger generation have decided to turn to technology to continue their harassment of fellow classmates. While cyber bullying is a relatively new phenomenon, bullying is not. By definition cyber bullying is when one person, or a group of people use technology like computers or cell phones to annoy, belittle, or demean others. So what gives? Why this surge in cyber bullying?

Well the answer isn’t so cut and dry. Let’s face it there will always be bullies, but now the internet has made it easier to be able to continue their bullying with almost complete anonymity (or… ...Keep On Reading!