IMPORTANT - Your Safety On The Internet.

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[Snoskred]

Rule number one of Internet Safety -

Do not assume that everyone on the Internet has your best interests at heart.

The internet is like any other society on earth. There are good people, bad people, and then extra bad people who are out to harm others. There are people who have no concept of morals or doing the right thing.

Except, unlike a normal society, there isn't a "bad part of town" or a "dangerous spot" that everyone knows to keep well away from. Even people who hang out in a place you hang out at, who seem relatively reasonable, can suddenly turn crazy. Sometimes these may be people you put your trust in.

Rule Number Two of Internet Safety -

Trust Only Yourself.

There are even people on the internet who deliberately go around trying to "troll" and get a reaction out of people. We have seen this to some extent on the blog, but sometimes these trolls can go a lot further than that. This article - Malwebolence - in the NY times (you may need a login to view it) is worth reading to gain some perspective - it is extremely scary reading.

There have been cases on the internet of people being fired from jobs because of things they said or wrote. There have been cases of people who have received serious threats. Here are a couple of examples of these events -

Kathy Sierra - Kathy received threats which interfered with her normal life
Heather Armstrong / Dooce - Dooce was fired from her job because she blogged about the people she worked with.

There have been cases of people who are anonymous on the internet being outed before - the most famous would probably be Abby Lee, who blogged about her sex life. She was "outed" by the British Tabloids after a book was published under her pseudonym.

It is wise to protect yourself by keeping several degrees of separation between your online identity, and your real life identity.

This thread will contain information on how to do that in future posts..

I have locked this thread in order to keep the important info from being lost in discussion - I will create a discussion thread which I will link to here in a minute.

Discussion Thread

I have had several requests to post this thread and also to provide personal safety lessons - the latter I just don't have time for right now, this thread will soon contain as much information as I have time to provide but this is an endless subject, to be honest.

Next post - an important and timely warning.

[Snoskred]

Please be extremely careful when posting emails that you have written on the blog, the forums, and anywhere else on the internet

Some commentors have posted on the blog with an email they sent to the captain of the port, and they "redacted" their name, address etc in the comment.

Unfortunately the captain of the port (or anyone else you wrote to) now has your name etc, also your email address. He could easily google the net with the text of your letter, find your comment, and then he would know what pseudonym you are using online.

It is things like this which can cause anonymity to be undone.

I will continue to unapprove comments and send you an email to let you know where I see this happening, for your own safety, guys.

[Snoskred]

The Very Quick Mudflats Guide to Safe Email.

DO NOT use the email account your *Internet Service Provider gave to you on the internet at all - keep that one just for yourself and family and friends.

Create yourself a free email address to use on the internet instead. You may even want to create a few - some people use one for signups and subscribing to things, and another for actually sending emails.

I recommend Gmail as it has a huge storage capacity, and also it keeps you safe in ways too technical to explain.

When you sign up for the free email account -

- do not use your real name
- do not use a "handle" that can identify you as the username (eg I wouldn't use snoskred)
- create an alias (sort of like John Smith, but more creative)
- make a password which is both letters and numbers and different to all your other accounts on the web

Remember to be careful what name you sign with this account!

If you are going to take part in any of the calls of action, I strongly recommend you follow the above instructions.

*Internet Service Provider - the company you connect to the internet with.

[Snoskred]

What does your computer tell the internet about you?

http://www.whatsmyip.org/more/

The above link will give you some details about what your computer is telling all the other computers as you travel around the internets.

This one is just for your info - there isn't anything you can do to change the information it gives out *other than* use a proxy - and most sites these days can work out that you are using one - and some sites like our site actually have a plugin to find out what your real IP address is even if you are using a proxy.

[Memphis, NY]

People Search Engines: They Know Your Dark Secrets … and Tell Anyone
http://tech.msn.com/products/articlepcw.aspx?cp-documentid=18632762&GT1=40000

People Search Engines: Slam the Door on What Info They Can Collect
http://www.pcworld.com/article/161047/people_search_engines_slam_the_door_on_what_info_they_can_collect.html

Online Stalking Made Easy
http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/158347/online_stalking_made_easy.html?tk=rel_news

I have to go try and find myself  sluething

[Sirenoftitan]

Bumping this one just to remind everyone.