Is Social Networking Making Your Life Really Social?

According to a recent report by Nielsen, Americans are now spending more time on social networking websites than on their email accounts. The report goes on to say that Internet users spend around 23% of their time on such platforms and only around 8.3% of their time on their email, which is quite an alarming statistic, to say the least. Even though this does not indicate in any way that email is facing an untimely death, it just goes to show the rising importance of online social networks in the lives of people.

Platforms like Facebook have now transformed into full-fledged ecosystems where users can not only interact with their 'friends', but can also view recommended content, visit recommended websites, share interesting links and play various social games. It is the rise of this unanimous sharing of data that has seen the user base of such networks, and Facebook in particular, reach such unlikely lofty numbers. While the attractiveness of such online sharing is welcome, it is also giving rise to an unhealthy addiction to social networks which is threatening to crumble the very fiber of society on a whole.

It is not uncommon to see people who are literally hooked on to social networks for long hours and are virtually updating their every move and action for the entire world to see. Some may argue that this trend is bringing people closer together, but there is also a school of thought that asserts that these very networks are ruining interpersonal relationships between people. By divulging unnecessary details about their lives people are opening themselves to threats and risks of a new kind, and are also losing touch with reality. Sitting glued in front of a computer screen for hours and constantly updating ones whereabouts and actions, and monitoring similar activities of others, has led people to create pseudo realities for themselves where everything in their life is perfect and this will ultimately lead to repercussions that cannot be measured by modern science.

Social Networking and Life 

I fail to understand the need for people to constantly show others what their life is all about, so this passage will undoubtedly take a very critical view of this relatively new phenomenon. In its initial stages, social networks were solely restricted to computers, but the Social Networking Services (SNS) integration that smartphones provide have now also led to a situation where you will find people sitting face to face with someone in real life, but hung over their mobile phone and updating their witty thoughts for the rest of the world to see. How this qualifies as 'being social' is beyond me, but the reality is that social networks would not be as popular as they are today without the large influx of smartphones and speedy data services over the last few years.

One of the most annoying factors of these networks, and of technology in general, is the falling state of language and literature that is sparked by the use of abbreviations and emoticons and the like. A normal conversation has started to look more like a primeval collection of grunts and snorts, well researched thoughts are torn apart by amateurish blogs and the relative anonymity of the Internet has made people dig out long lost aggressive tendencies which can only surface from the comfort of ones home. Social networks have glorified these tendencies and unfortunately, there is no way back now.

On a separate note, the 'Like' button on Facebook is a great way to show your approval for something, but does it really make any sense? I recently came across an unnecessary and uninteresting status update claiming that the user was "Thinking seriously" and someone actually chose to 'Like' that. Really? Has it become so much of an extraordinary event when someone is actually thinking about something that they need to declare it publicly and inform hundreds of their friends about it? And what is there to like in that, the fact that you are thinking or the fact that you are openly declaring your abnormality? It is instances like this that really make me wonder what we are coming to, and what kind of a future we can look forward to.

Image Privacy and Security 

All this without mentioning the dangers of invaded privacy and universal picture sharing. Do you really want the entire world to see images of you going about your life? Job seekers have faced innumerable difficulties because their prospective employers now view their social networks to gauge their personality, and more often than not, are left disappointed and disgusted. Admittedly, there are privacy settings that can help protect you, but going through these complicated settings and dealing with constant updates and changes to them is something that simply adds to the chagrin. When someone tags a picture of you without your consent, everyone can see that image on your very profile without your knowledge. My apologies, but I want to understand how this is even legal.

There have also been reported cases of burglaries and thefts in the homes of people who have updated status messages about their impending vacations. Moreover, predators and stalkers and other anti-social elements also have access to these networks, so the chances of being exposed to such elements is definitely higher. Social networks are a great hunting ground for such people, and this is something that we have to live with. So it is best to not divulge highly personal and sensitive details, as this does nothing but invite trouble.

I am in no way undermining the popularity of Facebook and other social networks, because after all, millions of people all around the world cannot be wrong. These platforms undoubtedly have their benefits, but in my personal opinion, the fine line between embracing this world and abusing it has been crossed. I do not resent people because they have better pseudo lives than mine, nor do I begrudge them their individual rights to live their life their own way, but I merely fail to see the pull of such trivial pursuits.

There are many people for whom social networks have worked wonders personally and professionally, and I salute such people for not falling into the quagmire of abnormality. But for the other 'social butterflies' I only have one thing to say; do not let social networks obscure your vision and cloud your judgment. Be responsible in your usage and learn where to draw the line.

How to Move Facebook Photos to Google+

This is for all you Google+ fans and Google+ Rookies who are trying to migrate from Facebook to Google+. 

In my previous article I explained how you could transfer your contacts from Facebook to Google+ and now I am going to tour you through how you could transfer your pictures from Facebook to Google+. 

You can very simply (Download Speed!) download pictures from Facebook and then transfer them to Picasa. Google+ uses Picasa to run its images, therefore let us use Picasa as a shortcut to migrating pictures from Facebook. The pictures uploaded on Picasa can be directly uploaded to Google+. Cool Isn't it? 

If that wasn't cool enough, let me give you steps to do the act! 

Steps to Transfer Pictures From Facebook to Google+

Step 1: Move to Picasa
Go to the official page of Picasa and log on to it using your Gmail account. If you don't have the Picasa browser (Move2Picasa) installed already, then do it now. Once you have done that, you will find the Picasa icon near the address bar. Simultaneously, log on to Facebook and click on the Picasa icon and let Facebook authorize it.

Step 2: Downloading the Content
Log on to Facebook, and click on account (top-right corner), go to the 'settings' option and click on 'Download Your Information'.

Step 3: Saving The Content
Save the downloaded content in a zip folder (by default) and save it on your desktop; "This may take several minutes".

Step 4: Uploading to Picasa
Unzip the folder containing the downloaded data and let Picasa scan through your folder. Once that is done, right click on the folder and select the option "Upload to Picasa Web Albums".

Step 5: Transferring Photos to Google+
Log on to Google+ and click on 'view profile', then click on 'Photos' and select the 'Upload New Photos' option. Click on 'Select Photos From Computer' and choose the folder from your desktop which contains the pictures downloaded form Facebook. Highlight or mark the pictures that you want to upload on Google+ and select the option 'Open'.

This will upload all your pictures on your Google+ account. Give your album a name and select the option "Create Album". The transfer is done!

Using PickNZip
There is another option for you to transfer your photos from Facebook. Log on to PickNZip website using your Facebook Id and Password. Now click on 'Find my Photos' and select the 'Download' option. This will download all your photos from Facebook in the form of a Zipfile, similar to the Facebook download option and follow the same procedure. The major advantage of using this software is that Higher Resolution photos can be uploaded too.

Managing Visibility
You can also select a particular circle if you only want to share it with a few people on your friend list.

Step 1: Go to your Google+ profile and click on 'Photos' and select 'View all of Your Albums'.

Step 2: Now select the album for which you want to change the visibility and select the option 'Visible to...'; change your visibility to whatever you want to.

Well, yes its Google+ everywhere now! So, use the above steps mentioned above and start migrating your pictures from Facebook to Google+ like you transferred your contacts to Google+ previously.

P.S: There is a limit of 1GB for uploading pictures on Google+. Though, this will switch to 'Unlimited' very soon! Happy Google+ Migration.

Many people who have reasons to say goodbye to Facebook, are opting to shift to Google+. Moving from one social network to another social network is not a very easy thing to do. But, with the use of certain tools, it is easier to export your profile information, photos and friends to your desired social network. With the increasing popularity of the newly launched social network, Google+, people have found one more a good option to stay connected with their friends. Google+ is considered to be more secure than Facebook, because of the dual authentication system in Google+, which is just like how we use e-banking services. Google authenticator app sends a code to your smartphone, after you enter your Google+ password. This is an additional security feature in Google+. 

Exporting Information 

•  First, log in to your Facebook account and click on Account, which is located on the upper right corner of the home page. 
• Select Account Settings from the drop down menu of Account. 
• On the Account Settings window, you will find Download a copy of your data, which is located in the bottom of the page. 
• Click on download a copy, and you will be directed to a window, on which, you need to click on the button, Start archive. 
• Once you click on Start Archive, your personal archive containing your information, will be generated and an email will be sent to you, once the archive is ready. 

This is a safe method to get your information, but it takes hours or even a day, for Facebook to send you the email containing the archive of your information.

Exporting your Contacts

Using Facebook Friend Exporter

• Download the software, Facebook Friend Exporter and install it in your computer. 
• Log in to your Facebook account, where you will find the tab, Export Friends in the main menu. 
• After you click on Export Friends, you will be directed to a window, where you need to select, Let's get started! 
• Cache all your photos and click on, Let's start. You will be given two options to export your friends list to Google+. One way is through Gmail, wherein you need to log in to your Gmail account and import your friends list and the another way is, through CSV (Comma Spreaded value). 
• CSV is a simpler method, wherein you copy and paste the CSV file in a notepad, and save it in .csv format. 
• Now, go to Google+ home page and click on Upload Address Book, and select the .csv file from the folder, where you have stored the file. That's it! 
• Select the friends list that appear on your Google+ home page, and drag it and place them in the Friends Circle, which appears on your Google+ account. 

Another way is through your Yahoo account. Google has a collaboration with Yahoo, to carry out this migration process.

Exporting Videos

• Download the software, Facebook Export. 
• Log in to Google+, and follow the path: Videos → Upload new videos. 
• Upload the photos which you have downloaded on your system, to Google+. 

Exporting your Photos

To export your album to Google+, what you need to do is, download them and re-upload on Google+.

Using Picasa

• Download Picasa. Add the photos, which you have downloaded, to Picasa. To do this, follow the path on Picasa: File → Add Folder to Picasa. 
• After importing the photos to Picasa, find the photo album and click on Sync to web, which is on the upper right corner of the current window. 
• A pop-up window will appear, on which you need to sign in with your Google+ account. 
• A pop-up window asking you to verify the upload settings, will appear. 
• Click on the option, change settings, and modify your settings. 
• Enable the check box, Use the above settings. 
• Go to Picasa, and click on sync button, and the uploading of your photos will be done automatically. 

Using Pick & Zip

You can also use a free software called Pick & Zip, where you can download your photo album, by logging in to your Facebook account, from Pick & Zip website. A zip file containing your photo album will be downloaded, after you click on the tab, Download all photos. Extract the zip file, which has two folders, albums and tagged. Now follow the route on Google +, to upload your photos in Google+: view profile → photos → upload new photos.

With increased privacy and attractive features, the recent launch of Google+ has interested many social media lovers, to migrate to Google+. Google+ is undeniably an excellent competitor to Facebook. Many assert that, Google+ is an upgraded version of Facebook and they prefer migrating to it. However, there are still many people who are happy with Facebook. If you are not very obsessed with Facebook, you can try Google+ for a change.

What Is an Internet Filter?

The Internet totally encompasses our lifestyles. Be it entertainment, information, shopping, or communication. Today, it has become the global businessman's tool, the lonely person's companion, and sad to say, the criminal's playground. 

Yes, the Internet is a dangerous place; yes, there are proper tools that offer a good level of security to a common person on the Internet. No, not many use it, and those who use it do not exactly know all the features of Internet security tools. 

There are now Internet filters that intend to make the Internet a better place to live in. These are also sometimes termed as content controllers, and are used to block any one of the following types of content. 

Sexually Explicit Content/Child Filter/Family Filter 

A child filter blocks any kind of sexually explicit content, like softcore or hardcore pornography, erotica, or any discussions about sex and sexuality. These filters also block any discussions about alternative lifestyles. Some social networking websites have specific filters that dissuade child predators from contacting underage individuals. 

Illegal Computing 

Some filters block any information about illegal programming, like hacking and software piracy. They also block any information that may be useful for crime, or anything illegal in the real world. 

Extreme Content 

Filters can also censor any graphic or textual content regarding violence or gore. 

Moral Content 

In some regions, they are used to combat any discussions related to politics and religions. Some governments also take extreme steps to ban dissidents and opposition in countries. 

Advantages 

First off, the proper kind of filter keeps the Internet world safe from the Internet underground. They are a boon to newbies to the Internet. With the proper implementation of these filters, the chances of identity theft and cyber crimes decrease. 

Internet filters are at their best use in a corporate scenario. There have been cases where an employee clicks on a completely innocent looking link, only to be greeted with something they would prefer not to see while in a professional mixed gender company. 

Also, Internet filters can actually create scenarios where the employees have little option other than working, and may play a big role in the increase of productivity in employees. 

Disadvantages 

Internet filters and content controllers have some disadvantages. One of them is that if the filter is not properly prepared, it may end up blocking websites and material it was not actually supposed to. 

Other than that, their major disadvantage is their basic feature―blocking websites and content. Many individuals are of the opinion that Internet filters are a bad way of muzzling the media and the world of information. There have been cases where governments have blocked websites. In some regions of the world, content and websites with even a hint of sexual undertones are immediately banned. 

But on a personal level, Internet filters are a good idea, specially if you have a computer at home that is accessed by a wide age range of people, or even people who have a wide range of computer skills.

Information Security

If information security were a person, the security policy would be the central nervous system. Policies become the core that provides a structure and purpose for all other aspects. 

 Another aspect of information security is organizational security. Organizational security takes the written security policy and develops the framework for implementing the policy throughout the organization. This would include tasks such as getting support from senior management, creating an information security awareness program, reporting to an information steering committee, and advising the business units of their role in the overall security process. The role is still so large that there are many other aspects beyond just organizational security and security policy. 

Yet another aspect is asset classification. Asset classification takes all the resources of an organization and breaks them into groups. This allows for an organization to apply differing levels of security to each of the groups, as opposed to security settings for each individual resource. This process can make security administration easier after it has been implemented, but the implementation can be rather difficult. 

Another class is personnel security. This can be both fun and taxing at the same time. Personnel security can often be a duty of another person and not the sole duty of the information security manager. 

Another area of information security is communication and operations management. This area can often be overlooked in smaller organizations because it is often mistakenly considered overhead. Communication and operations management encompass such tasks as ensuring that no one person in an organization has the ability to commit and cover up a crime, making sure that systems that are being disposed of are being disposed in a secure manner. While it is easy to overlook some of these tasks, doing so can create large security holes in an organization. 

Following the analogy used previously, if information security is the central nervous system, access control would be the skin. Access control is responsible for allowing only authorized users to have access to your organization's system and also for limiting what access an authorized user does have. Access control can be implemented in many different parts of information systems. Some common places of access control include: 

• Routers 
• Firewalls 
• Desktop operating system 
• Fire server 
• Applications 

In addition to keeping our systems secure from attackers, we also need to keep our systems running in the event of a disaster - natural or otherwise. This becomes another facet of information security, and is often called business continuity planning.

The last aspect discussed here is compliance. Now you may be thinking that compliance is someone else's job. And you might be telling the truth; but if we go back to our analogy that if information security were a person, with security policy being the backbone, and access control being the skin, then compliance would be the immune system.

With all the phases from policy to telecommunications, there is a lot to information security. All the phases are equally important, because when it comes to threats to an organization, a breakdown in any of these phases can present a gaping hole to the attacker.

Internet Security

Internet security is a term that refers to methods aimed at protecting data and personal information from unauthorized access. Considering the worldwide usage of the Internet, security on this platform is an important issue. Netizens need to be well aware of the problems associated with online security.

Internet Security Measures 

Here's an overview of the most important security measures and technologies widely implemented over the Internet. Implementing one or more of these methods will go a long way in securing your data online.

Data Encryption: Encryption is wrapping up or converting the original information into an unintelligible form that can only be decoded using a certain method. The encrypted form is called cipher text.
Password Usage: Passwords are used to prevent illegal access to networks to secure the entire system as a whole. Construction of passwords should be in a way that the other people do not easily guess it. Alphanumeric passwords with symbols used in between can be harder to crack.
Firewalls: A firewall is a software that filters illegitimate access in a network. It should be properly configured and has to be combined with a proxy firewall to build a secure system.

Backing up Data: Regular data backup of a system is an essential that can help retrieve data in the event of a system crash. If the computer suddenly crashes or the operating system fails to boot due to a virus attack, the data backup can really come in handy.

Using Antivirus Software: Computers may be affected by viruses, trojans, worms etc. due to some infected files downloaded from the Internet. These viruses are nothing but programs that install themselves and operate whenever the host programs run, causing malicious attacks.

The viruses either replicate or implement a function that affects the system files of the computer, leading to corruption of the operating system, in some cases. These viruses can be removed by using antivirus software that detects and removes them, to heal the system. These software programs run in the background, along with other programs to prevent malicious attacks.

Avoiding Baleful Links: People can prevent their system from getting affected by a virus, by avoiding clicking on unnecessary links, often mediated via emails and websites. Certain links may lead to file downloads unexpectedly. These pose a security risk to your computer, and hence should be avoided. Routers with

Encryption Facility: Using routers with in-built encryption technology can secure your your wireless Internet connection and prevent snooping by external sources.

Preventing Spyware: Several software programs pose a threat to Internet security. The software that runs along with other applications, without the permission of a user, gathering information and sending it to hackers through the internet, is known as spyware. Another software called ad-ware works similar to spyware. In addition, it pops up advertisements during Internet access and increases the CPU cycles, slowing down the computer. Antivirus software, with inbuilt antispyware or adware removal functionality, can be of great help in preventing such intrusions.

Using antivirus and antivirus software alone will not prevent the intrusion of viruses. Personal caution is also required while using Internet. Unwanted sites and potentially harmful links have to be avoided. Automatic updates should be enabled for the antivirus software, so that it is up-to-date in terms of known virus threats. All this will greatly enhance the security level of your system.

Email Privacy Issues

The Internet, as we all are well aware of, has become a part of everyday life. Internet is the need for most of the transactions occurring across the globe, it is one of the best means of communication; it is the best way to reach out to the masses and is precisely the technological boon that has made the world a small place to live. Emails are an integral part of the Internet. They serve as communicators between friends world over. To me, emails are options similar to the idea of making pen-friends. Emails travel along the network, take the right paths and reach the intended receiver. They help you stay in touch with close friends in this busy life of today. As, emails are so important for all the computer savvy people, email privacy has become an equally important concern. Email privacy issues arise when it comes to sending plain text over the Internet. Let us look at the email privacy issues in detail. 

Mails contain headers and the tracing of mails includes the analysis of email header information. An email header contains the source of the message and the list of every point along which the mail has traveled. The examination of an email header can give the information about the sender as also the sender machine's IP address. Moreover an email traveling through many computers across the network is vulnerable to get accessed by intruders. 

Secondly, spam, the most irritable issue, is also an email privacy issue. Spam mails eat up huge amounts of bandwidths and annoy the receivers. Unsolicited messages are often used to compel the users to reveal their personal information. Spam mails are commonly used to ask for information that can be used by the attackers. Trojans can attack a computer system in dangerous ways. They are powerful enough to give the attackers complete access to a user's computer system. Trojans include programs, which log the users' keystrokes, thus hacking personal information and passwords keyed in through that computer system. 

The safeguarding of email messages from unauthorized access and inspection is known as electronic privacy. Much of the Internet is susceptible to attacks. Emails travel across the unprotected paths of the Internet, becoming vulnerable to attack by intruders. E-mails are subject to unauthorized access, revealing confidential information on the network, thus breaching email privacy. Emails are susceptible to eavesdropping. They journey across several routers and smaller networks and if unshielded, are bound to be attacked. An insufficiently protected router can serve as means of an unauthorized access to emails. Intelligent software can screen email contents quite easily. Moreover emails receivers tend to compromise email privacy by indiscriminately forwarding the emails. Indiscriminate forwarding is often responsible for revelation of contact information and names of all those in that email thread. Technology has offered solutions to the email privacy issues. The issues have been resolved to a certain extent by the successful implementation of security measures. The security measures include cryptography, digital signatures and the use of secure protocols, which can ensure email privacy to a certain extent. 

PGP (Pretty Good Privacy) is one of the encryption standards that encrypts and decrypts the email message. This standard of encryption is a part of most of today's operating systems. Email encryption is another method that achieves email privacy. It is achieved by means of public key cryptography. The popularly used protocols for email encryption are S/MIME, TLS and OpenPGP. Digital signatures provide us with another way of ensuring email privacy. A digitally signed email message confirms to the receiver, the identity of the sender, thus enabling email privacy. A digitally signed electronic document serves as an assurance of the unaltered and original nature of the email content. This technique fights email spoofing, which involves a manipulation of an email header to make the email appear to have originated from another source. 

Email authentication methods are used to equip messages with verifiable information sufficient for the receiver to recognize the nature of incoming messages. In an effort to stop spamming, the valid identity of an email has to be checked. The Transmission Control Protocol and the IP address registries help recipients of emails to verify the IP addresses of the sender. Blacklisting attempts to segregate IP addresses that are of spammers who intend to breach email privacy. But due to the use of dynamic IP addresses, blacklisting fails to become a foolproof plan to fight email privacy issues. 

Technology has raised email privacy issues and human intellect has succeeded in finding remedies to them. But when it is about safeguarding privacy, ethics is something that matters most.