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.

How to Identify an Email Hoax

Email is a quick and efficient mode of communication, that allows us to reach a large number of people at the same time. It also facilitates communication, by allowing us to transfer files and documents. So huge are its benefits, that not only has it become popular with common people, but has also become an indispensable tool for business marketing and improving customer service. However, just like every other innovation of man has been exploited, emails too have been misused to spread rumors, computer viruses, and hoaxes. Educating ourselves about such malpractices will help us to better utilize the Internet. 

Types 

Knowing the types of email hoaxes is the first step towards dealing with them. Most of these fall in the following categories. 

• Mails that appeal to help someone in trouble, like missing child or charity hoaxes. 
• False virus alerts or bogus warnings. 
• Email chain letters. 
• Emails that promise free gifts or cash rewards on forwarding. 
• Emails that make petitions and protests. 

Identifying Such Emails
These emails have a few peculiarities which expose them and give them away, most commonly one or all of the following.

• A hoaxer wants his message to spread across as many recipients as possible. Phrases like forward this to everyone you know or forward this email to all the people in your address book are very commonly used lines in email hoaxes. Some emails might also specify a certain number of people that it should be forwarded to, so you can win a prize or gain a benefit. 
• Note the language of the mail. Hoax emails typically use an 'over the top' style of writing. Words like urgent, danger, and hurry are typical; for greater effect, these words are written in all caps. There are certain hoax emails that appeal to help dying children or people hit by some calamity. Such mails use language dripping with emotion; be skeptical and use your own judgment before forwarding such mails. 
• Hoax emails try to sound authentic by claiming to be backed by some government organization or big corporate entity. If that is the case, then look for some sign of genuine involvement of such an organization or entity. Try to search for a way you could contact those organizations; if such a way is not readily available, it is probably a hoax email that you are reading. 
• These mails do not provide verifiable evidence or links to other sites related to the content of the mail. For example, if the mail seems to be an alert for some virus, look for a link to some other site that corroborates the information. Also look for the signature of the sender in the email. If there is no reference of the person or organization who sent the mail, it's time to reconsider the veracity of the mail. 

Email hoaxes are generally harmless as they are not meant to spread viruses or collect personal information of unsuspecting users. However, it can be assumed that the hoaxer just wants to see how far his nonsensical mail can travel through the Internet. Sometimes these can also be used to discredit some product or a company. Although they are different from phishing, a spammer can deliberately create email hoaxes to collect email addresses for use on spam lists.

Educating ourselves about the various forms of malpractices prevalent in the online world will help us contribute towards tightening Internet security. Detecting email hoaxes is no rocket science. Besides the tips discussed above, a little bit of alertness and relying on one's judgment can be of great help to keep a check on such nuisance.

Email Security Guidelines

Options 

Strong Password 

This is the first fundamental step. You should be very careful while choosing a password for your email account. Avoid the ones that can be easily guessed like your birth date, phone number, initials, or any other similar personal details. A medium length (at least 8 characters) alpha-numeric password can be decided. Also, instead of writing it down in your diary, or on any other piece of paper, memorize it. 

Spam Filter 

Unless you activate such a filter, you will surely receive a minimum of 10 spam emails per day. Spam constitutes nearly 65 percent of all worldwide email traffic. Opening such emails, and clicking on any of the links that they contain, will surely invite trouble (not to mention a dangerous computer virus). Thus, by activating your account's spam filter, in most cases, the potentially dangerous emails are diverted to a spam folder, where they can be deleted easily. 

Phishing 

A common example of such attacks is a fraudulent email that is sent to you by an Internet fraudster, posing as an executive associate of your bank, and requesting you to reply with certain personal details or bank account information, failing which, your account will be penalized with a heavy fine. Innocent and ignorant users often fall prey to such frauds and Internet hoaxes, and end up being conned. Another potential threat of giving out personal details is landing up in a messy case of identity theft. Phishing attacks are presently on the rise, and therefore, always remain alert, and verify the authenticity of the sender before you reveal any personal details. 

Attachments

Most Internet and email viruses are sent in the form of attachments. They appear in such a way that mostly, the user will click on them. Once this happens, the virus that is hidden in these files starts creating havoc. Therefore, you should be very careful while opening emails that contain such attachments. Make it a point to study the email's subject and the sender's validity, before you open any attachment. 

Anti-Virus 

Although, many email providers have a system, wherein an email or an attachment is scanned for viruses by default, you should make it a point to install some good and effective anti-virus software on your computer that has built-in email scanning features, as it could come in handy. 

Awareness 

It is your personal responsibility to always be aware of all the latest happenings with regard to viruses, frauds, scams, security, etc. Being up-to-date with everything that is happening in the world of Internet, can often protect you and your email account.

How to Bypass Internet Filters Easily

The idea of Internet filtering refers to content control software or web filtering software designed for controlling the content that a user can access over the web. Often, Internet filter software are used in schools and offices to restrict user access to Internet resources. An Internet filter is a software tool, with the help of which, web content accessible from a certain computer or network can be controlled. Internet filters serve as the means to monitor content that users of a particular computer or computer network are allowed to read. Internet filters can prove to be of help to parents who wish to monitor their kids' Internet use. 

How do Internet Filters Work? 

How does an Internet filter work? Internet filters can allow or block Internet access based on web content type or actual website URLs. The filtering can be done before the data reaches the client or before it is handled by the browser. The allowing or blocking of web access is done by comparing browser requests with a predefined list of URLs to be banned. It can also be done by checking the incoming data on blocking parameters like content type and keywords. This allowing and blocking of web access is associated with terms like black list and white list. 

The blacklisted site URLs are those which are disallowed access to, while those websites to which access is allowed are the white-listed ones. Internet filters can be used to ban access to websites that are marked under a certain category that is not intended for public use. Net Nanny and Safe Eyes are some examples of Internet filters. Some Internet filtering methods restrict web users from searching for content. That is, web access is banned for a user who searches with controversial terms or 'blacklisted' words or phrases. Content labeling is another method used by Internet filters, wherein a small file describing the web page content is generated and used by the filter software to block or allow that page or website. Most of the browsers today, come with Internet filtering capabilities. They allow users to place websites under security categories that the browsers can use for content filtering. Choosing an Internet service provider that restricts access to certain types of web content, is another way of implementing Internet filters. 

Bypassing Internet Filters 

It is a threat to Internet safety. It may not seem right to bypass Internet filters. But there's another side to it. There's criticism over whether restricting web access is right. Sometimes, Internet filters are blamed for banning useful information. It's not always possible for a software to rightly filter every objectionable piece of content. At times, good content becomes a victim of web filtering, which is when bypassing Internet filters becomes a need. 

Also, information that is offensive for one user may be useful for another. Controversial content which, some consider, should be banned, can be of use to individuals researching on the subject. The line of difference between what should be allowed and what should be blocked is not always defined. Many times, the usefulness of web content depends on the users' interpretation of it. For these and other similar reasons, you might require to bypass Internet filters at work, home, or school. 

How to Bypass Internet Filters? 

Is it possible to easily bypass them? How exactly can that be done? Here are some easy ways. 

Use Web Proxy 

There are certain freely available web proxies that are downloadable from the Internet. They can help you bypass Internet filters employed in your school or at your workplace. You can search for free online proxies on the Internet. It will fetch you a list of free proxies that can be used. Or you could join a proxy mailing list to keep yourself updated with fresh proxies regularly. 

A web proxy has an interface with a search box like element in which you can type the address of the website you intend to visit. On submitting the URL, you'll be directed to the website you didn't seem to have access to. Anonymous proxy servers are an effective means to bypass Internet filters. 

The other option is to manually edit the proxy settings of your browser. You can actually set a proxy in the browser. For this, you'll need to go to Tools>Options>Connection Settings of your browser and change the proxy settings to a proxy. If you are using Internet Explorer, go to the LAN settings in the connections tab, click to select 'proxy server', copy the address of the public proxy that you have selected in the 'Address' field, type in the port number of the proxy address and click OK. If you are using Firefox, go to 'manual proxy configuration', write the proxy address and its port and check the 'use this proxy server for all protocols' option. This will enable you to use the same proxy for all the Internet protocols. Whenever you change the proxy, you will have to manually change the proxy settings for your browser. 

Use the IP Address 

This is one the best methods and it's also quite simple. All you need to do is go to the Command Prompt, type 'ping '. Here, enter the address of the website (without the http://) you wish to access by bypassing the web filter. You will see 'pinging [] in the window. The number, precisely, the set of four numbers, that follows the website name, is its IP address. You could also use the 'nslookup' by typing nslookup . Refer to the 'address' in the 'non-authoritative answer' field that appears after the command is executed. It is the IP address of the website you intend to access. 

Note: If you don't have access to the command prompt, open notepad, type cd.. or cd\, then type cmd and save the file as 'cmd.bat'. Doubleclicking on the file should take you to the command prompt. This method serves as an easy Internet filter bypass. 

Change the way you Browse 

Browsing with text editors can help you. Open notepad, type the IP address of the website you intend to visit, save the file as filename.html and open it in a browser. Use the ping method to obtain the IP address of the website you wish to visit and remember to type the IP address with the 'http'. Opening the html file in a web browser should take you to the website you are looking for. 

Remotely accessing the Internet is another method of easily bypassing Internet filters. Establish a remote connection with a computer that does not employ any kind of web filtering. With remote Internet access, bypassing Internet filters won't be a problem. If it's the browser which is restricting your web access, changing the browser or downloading a portable browser for use, should solve the problem. Another way to bypass web filters is to use web page translation sites. Use a translation site like bablefish or google translate, enter the address of the blocked website and select the 'translate to English' option. This method can be used to bypass web filters only if translation sites are not blocked. 

Disabling Internet Filters 

The first step in disabling web filters is to go to the control panel. Switch to Classic view, click on Internet Options, click on the Security tab, choose 'custom level' settings. It will take you to Security Settings - Internet Zone. Here, you'll be able to edit the Internet filter settings. On the security tab, you'll find an option to change the security levels. Changing them might be of help. However, lowering the security levels can pose a major threat to your computer security. Changing your browser settings to disable the blocker is another way to go. 

While adopting any of these methods for bypassing Internet filters, be careful. You might have to face legal consequences if you are breaching Internet security for the wrong reasons. After all, bypassing something that you are supposed to pass through, cannot be risk-free. So, be careful.

Tips to Prevent Phishing Attacks

Remember when your parents would warn you about talking to strangers, telling them where you live and taking things from them? Well, the Internet is another "stranger" filled place, with hidden threats lurking around each site's corner. Along with the obvious bad guys like viruses and malware, a sneakier threat is phishing attacks, which are likely to rob you blind and take your identity too. What is phishing exactly? Without all the technical lingo, a nefarious site or person ("phisher") pretends to be a legitimate site to steal your personal information or financial records. So you think you are logging into your online bank account but you are actually logging into a very craftily disguised site, that stores your login info to access your account. The term "phishing" is a word play on "fishing", where a fisherman baits his hook, fools the fish into thinking it is food and reels it in. Such tactics are a serious threat to online safety and individual users security. Below are some tips to prevent phishing from stealing your information.

Top 10 Tips to Prevent Phishing Attacks

• Read emails and messages carefully. Instinctively one's first tendency is to "click, open, delete", don't follow such instincts. Go through the email completely. Look for some tell-tale phishing signs such as: 

1. Spelling mistakes and grammatical errors in the email's text 
2. Your name isn't present anywhere but instead a general name is given. ("Dear satellite subscriber", instead of your full name heading the email) 
3. Subtle threats to follow the email's instructions ("your account will be terminated if you fail to follow the procedure") 
4. Unknown senders or companies you have never heard of 
5. Impossibly unrealistic deals ("a wealthy millionaire died and decided to leave you, Mr. Abc, all his money") 

• Verify the authenticity of the email sender. If an organization like a bank or company is trying to contact you, whether known or unknown, you should contact that organization personally and verify that they have sent you the mail. Phishing sites are like chameleons, they do their best to simulate or imitate legitimate sites, to look authentic. Do not use any phone numbers provided in the email. Remember that most legitimate sites and financial services will never deal with sensitive issues in emails. 

• Do not click on links in your email at first. Hover the mouse icon over the link and see what address appears in your browser screen. The text of the link can say one thing but the actual address could be someone's private computer or fake website. For e.g.: the link could be: http://www.xyx.com but on hovering, the text might read: http://192.123.123.12/fileen.htm or http://192.123.255.12/collect.exe. Do not copy the URL or link and paste it in your browser's address bar. To truly test its authenticity, open a new window and type in the official site address of the organization or company. Phishing sites will use legitimate looking links to fool you into clicking and then take you somewhere else entirely. Do not click on links in pop-up windows at all. 

• Avoid sending private information like your name, account details, passwords - any sensitive information that is unique to your online identity, through emails. Your email account or the recipient's account could get hacked and your information exposed. 

• Do not enter any information in pop-up windows. With downloads and attachments, be vigilant. Only open or download email attachments from known senders but make sure you scan the attachment prior to download, using your anti-virus software. 

•  Check any of your online or financial accounts and transaction statements for any suspicious activity or operations. For example, if there has been a deduction from your bank account which you have no knowledge of or a "password successfully changed" alert appears on your phone, contact the respective department of the company involved and assert that you have not performed said changes. Such checking of accounts should be done at least once a month. 

• Your computer is your castle, so line its defenses with spam filters, anti-spyware programs and a decent firewall. Look for anti-virus programs, with phishing filtering. Download the latest security updates and keep your computer up-to-date, so that it can handle the latest threats as they come. 

•  If you are carrying out sensitive data transactions like online shopping or money transfers, make sure you are using a secure connection to a secure site. So look for "https://" in your address bar, before the site's address. Another sign is in the bottom right-hand side of the web browser. A small chain or yellow lock icon indicates a secure connection. Sometimes such icons can be "faked", so check the URL of the site as well. Clicking on the lock icon should display the site's security certificate. If the site name and the name of the site on the certificate do not match, leave the site immediately. 

• With phishing being such a silent yet deadly web menace, web browsers are also stepping up their security mechanisms. So install a tool-bar or phishing filter utility on your browser to warn you from navigating to phishing sites. Turn on your browser's security mechanisms and alert messages. Updating your browser will also keep such security features informed of the latest threats. 

• If you suspect a site of being "phishy" or you have been phished", then your silence will just allow the guilty party to scam someone else. Some web browsers allow you to report suspected sites or mark them as unsafe. You can even inform the legitimate site being impersonated of the phishing site. The Federal Trade Commission deals with phishing scams and sites dealing with such attacks, visit their site to complain of such sites and if you are a victim, then informing the FTC can help prevent the possible theft of your identity. 

Don't fall for the "hook", be the smart fish that got away by following the right anti-phishing tips. It is web hooligans like phishers and hackers, that give the Internet a bad name, so surf smart and access secure information smartly.

What is Cyber Insurance

The use of Internet and information technology has helped small and large businesses to a great extent. They have made their work a lot more easy from what it used to be a few years ago. Even though companies are reaping their benefits, they are exposed to many risks associated with them. The greatest loss to any business in the loss of valuable information. According to research conducted by Poneman Institute, 85% business organizations have suffered losses due to breach in data security. Furthermore, a survey conducted by the FBI suggests that 64% companies suffered huge monetary losses because of hackers in the year 2005. This is why, businesses have now realized the importance of cyber insurance and have started making use of it. 

The Product 

It is a product like any other insurance policy, that is brought by businesses to protect themselves from risks involved with Internet and information technology. Such risks are not covered under commercial liability policies which is why, the need of such an insurance comes into picture. It provides cover for losses due to hacking, denial of service attacks, destruction or loss of data, etc. Protective measures like anti-spam systems, virus protection, etc., fail at some point in time as they are not 100% foolproof. After a security breach, businesses need to restore their information systems, clean up infected files, etc., due to which they fail to continue their business for quite some time. All this calls for a lot of expenditure in times when they are not making money. At such instances, this coverage supports them to take care of their financial needs. 

Coverage 

Offered This insurance product provides coverage for liabilities that might arise due to web content and media, private and secure customer information, threat against computer systems and website, business interruption, and recovery of information technology infrastructure. Any loss or financial expenditure occurring due to these events is covered under the policy and claim can be made to make up the losses. 

Associated Benefits 

First and the most important benefit of cyber insurance is that in case of a security breach, it acts as a funding resource to cover up the losses and bring back businesses to normal working, without raising the need of government assistance. Secondly, it evenly distributes the risks among companies by charging high premiums from the ones having higher risk of such instances, while charging less from businesses with little risk. Lastly, it indirectly encourages businesses to adopt good security measures like tracking website visitors, etc., because companies with poor security systems need to pay higher premiums. 

Associated Problems 

Despite the benefits, there are some problems associated with this kind of insurance. One is that, insurance companies do not have sufficient actuarial data as this product is recently developed by the insurance industry. Because of this, insurers fail to estimate the amount of premium that must be charged so that in case of an event, the insurer has enough finance for claim settlement. Secondly, insurers fear "cyber-hurricanes". This is a term used for situations when excessive number of claims arise due to a security breach. Such situations are difficult to manage by the insurer and may drain them out completely. 

Premium Charged 

Like other insurance products, the premium charged depends on the coverage amount and the risks involved. Typically, for $1 million coverage, the premium charged is $3,500 with a deductible of $5,000. This amount is not fixed and may vary depending on the insurer and the time of issuance of the policy. The amount of premium charged is higher for business with relatively poor security measures as compared to the ones who are better equipped. 

No matter how stringent a company's security measures are, it always has some kind of threat. To save themselves from financial crunch during such untoward situations, many companies are now opting for cyber insurance. It is true that this product is a costly affair nowadays, but it will gradually become simpler and cheaper as more and more insurance companies will start offering this product in the market. 

History of Internet Security

The Internet came into existence with the view to bring the world closer. It is a very dynamic environment where there is no boundary of place and time for any user. Initially, Internet was conceptualized for a limited number of users and hence it was designed without taking any security aspect into consideration. The increased popularity of Internet made it an open ground for hackers, viruses, bugs; which compromised the basic motives for which the computers and Internet came into existence.

Birth of the Internet and Concerns 
Though information sharing started taking place via computers in the '60s called the ARPANET (Advanced Research Project Agency Network) and the e-mail system was conceived in 1969, when it was termed as the electronic post office, the term 'Internet' was first used in 1982. The world was made familiar with the term 'computer virus' for the first time in 1983 by Fred Cohen. Robert Schifreen and Steve Gold were arrested for compromising with Prince Philip's Prestel mailbox. The first PC virus called 'Brain' was created in Pakistan in 1985. By 1987, with the growing number of Internet hosts and the personal computer industry; number of people got access to Internet, which was a unique experience. With such a wide and open platform to use, the Internet was no longer safe. Privacy and security concerns started mushrooming and the terms 'hacker', 'cracker' and 'electronic break-in' were coined, when Robert Morris launched the Internet worm that spread across 1/10th (6000) of the Internet hosts. He was then sentenced to three years probation, 400 hours of community service and $10,000 fine.

CERT (Computer Emergency Response Team)
As the safety concerns over the Internet started increasing, CERT was formed in 1988, which was to be the focal point of the computer security concerns of the Internet users. This team actively spread computer security awareness among users and started conducting research that was targeted to improve the security of existing systems.

By 1992, the number of Internet users swelled by 341% since the restriction on the commercial use of Internet was lifted by the National Science Foundation in 1990 and Tim Berners-Lee, a scientist in Switzerland first wrote the code of the World Wide Web in 1991, many companies, organizations and individuals hosted their websites. However, hackers started working widely around 1995 and altered the websites of the U.S. Justice Department, the CIA and the U.S. Air Force. This was followed by number of virus attacks and worms that affected computers and operating systems since the late '90s. Even today, Internet systems cannot be deemed foolproof, and always need a security back-up to save the computer systems. As such threats were unfolding and making headlines in the press, they needed to be tackled and also raised alarms to develop security systems, this is when Firewall started its evolution.

Firewall 
November 2, 1988 changed the Internet user experience forever. Peter Yee at the NASA Ames Research Center reported an incident in the TCP/IP Internet mailing list that Berkeley, UC San Diego, Lawrence Livermore, Stanford, and NASA Ames were attacked by Internet virus. This is when, those who built and contributed to the Internet and its users felt unsafe of their web presence. Other viruses followed suit and started attacking systems. This prompted the making of a Firewall. This term literally means that it is a wall or barrier between the house and the garage or between apartments that will control the time of a raging fire from entering another premise, or a precautionary distance between an automobile engine and its driver. This concept was executed in the virtual world in the form of the first network firewalls in late 1980s, which were routers that were used to separate networks into smaller LANs. This avoided various networks from being affected at the same time. However, the first security routers were used in the early 1990s which worked on the filtering rules that could detect harmful pages or sites and could block them from the system. These were effective but limited. Thereon, Firewalls also emerged with technology and security needs. Firewalls are the checkpoints that impose restrictions on the incoming and outgoing packets in public and private networks based on IP source ad TCP port number. Packet Filters, Circuit-level gateways, Application-level gateways are some of the types of firewalls.

Antivirus 
Most viruses in the '80s were relatively less harmful to the systems, as they were limited to self-reproduction and had no specific damage routine written in the code. However, this scene changed when more programmers became aware of virus programming and started building viruses that manipulated and destroyed data on infected computers. This aroused the need for something like an anti-virus, which would render safety to the systems and networks. Though it is a topic of debate over who was the first to invent the anti-virus code or software, early records from the 1980s credit Bernd Fix of having first publicly performed the removal of computer viruses in 1987, also there were two anti-virus applications that were developed for the Atari ST platform in the same year. Many inventors had picked the academic papers to develop strategies for anti-virus by Fred Cohen I 1988. Desperate need to get a breakthrough with anti-viruses, a mailing list called the VIRUS-L was started in 1988 on the BITNET/EARN network where new viruses and possibilities to eliminate them were discussed. These discussions led to two of its members - John McAfee and Eugene Kaspersky to form software companies that even today develop and sell anti-virus software.

Installing an anti-virus software on individual computers, using tools like firewalls, cloud anti-virus, on-line scanners, etc are being increasingly used for security purposes. These tools come with their own share of benefits and disadvantages like an expensive renewal, for example. Every facility comes with its own drawbacks. Like the innovation in computer technology gave rise to the Internet facility, it was bugged with security concerns. When the tools for protection from these threats evolved, they too have certain limitations or are still progressing. Yet, we cannot do away with both these facilities.

Sourcing Pop Culture In an Internet Culture

Pop culture has been around for a few decades. It couldn't truly exist until the technology was developed, that would make possible the dissemination of so many different forms of media in such a short period of time to so many people. Radio and film kicked the whole thing off, and now here we are, a hundred years later, watching as the industry grows ever larger and beyond the scope of sympathetic definition. 

It's a beast, a monstrous, mechanical beast. But, like any beast that humanity doesn't understand, it will probably soon be taken down. This isn't so much idle prognostication though. It's already happening. Pop culture is evolving quickly, and it's because, once again, of technology. 

Over the years, things change in the world. Pop culture adapts to the mindset of the culture it targets, and while it may seem like the industries are setting the agenda, more often than not, major companies scramble to and fro, trying to put together the next big craze based on what the people want. 

What happens is, one company will take a calculated risk, releasing something that no one thought would be successful; something like comic books in the '30s or video games in the '90s. Today, it's hard to think of comic books, as not having been a major force, in pop media. But, in the 1930s, when the kids behind Superman were first publishing their bravado and explosions of pop story telling, a lot of people were skeptical. It didn't matter though. The kids loved comic books, and soon the industry was booming, and dozens of books were released every week. 

You can look at reality television in today's market. The first network reality TV show was Survivor. With monumental ratings, every other station followed suit. It's how the industry works. One company takes a gamble and the rest wait to see what happens. When that gamble pays off, they all jump in head first. If it fails, they point and laugh as though they wouldn't have followed suit. 

Which makes today's developments in pop culture all the more intriguing. Not only is it much more rare for the industry to properly read the consumers these days, anomalies of popularity arise all the time. And it's because companies can no longer market their goods to the entire population and hope for good numbers. Today's pop culture is no longer truly "pop culture" in the sense that everything is broken down. 

Beyond the presence of a dozen different demographics that no one truly understands, there is the internet, and this is the crux of my point. The internet has redefined how pop culture exists and what is defined as truly popular and important in today's media. There are no companies online telling people what to like and what not to like. Instead, it is the people online, sorting through millions of videos, songs, books, and movie trailers to decide what they want to watch or listen to. 

Websites like YouTube have become so prevalent in the spread of the next big thing and the 15 seconds of fame (or less, these days) that certain video creators have actually found honest celebrity offline as well. The Internet is no longer a giant encyclopedia to which school age children turn for homework advice and middle age men turn to for pornography. It's the world's largest forum for the free spread of ideas and new media and that power has started to make the internet a bigger force than television or radio. Already, you see more 'next big thing' bands come from the bowls of Myspace and Facebook buzz, instead of MTV. MTV rarely bothers to play music anymore, let alone participate in the dialog over what is good and what is bad. 

So, the people are in control of their media then, yes? If only that were the case, the power these companies wield over us could finally start to diminish. Rather, the companies are finding themselves forced to rethink their entire approach to marketing. Because of the sheer volume of new ideas presented on YouTube and the like, the ones that sink in, have to be truly original and exciting. No one wants to see the same old schlock online that they see on TV. They don't have to. There are thousands of genius videos that go beyond the schlock. 

So, it is that everyone from car companies to political figures are taking their messages to the Internet, and trying new and exciting things to stimulate the quarter second attention spans of so many of today's youth. The end result is a society that relies on brilliant new ideas that can be produced en masse, hundreds at a time, to keep everyone happy. The move to force creativity and intelligent thought out of today's artists and media executives is amazing, but the problem with that creativity is that, it quickly turns to gimmickry. Everything is now a gimmick instead of a progression, and gimmicks are easily mimed, which only leads us down the same path we've been down a thousand times before―that of waiting to see what the next big thing will be.

Information Infrastructure Design in IT

As life progresses, new information emerges, in turn leading to further progress of mankind. Information remains to be like a limitless ocean. It is infinite and extends till eternity. Information technology (IT) involves the management of information on computer-based information systems. IT deals with the use of computers to store, process, and retrieve information. The construction and design of a safe, reliable, and an always-available information infrastructure is an important constituent of information systems. 

Information Infrastructure 

It is the collection of communication networks and the software associated with it. It refers to networks and software, which support interaction among people and organizations or the currently available networks and the prospective facilities that they will make available. It includes the Internet, the telecommunication networks, and the embedded systems as also computers. 

Internet that is regarded as the network of networks is the information infrastructure of today. It is a collection of interconnected computer networks that transmit data in the form of packets using the Internet Protocol. Each of the networks carries information and services like mail and file transfer. World wide web, a collection of documents and other resources, is a service offered by the Internet. 

Information infrastructure design is concerned with issues like privacy, security, translation, right to information, and most importantly, software and hardware compatibilities. Let us look at each of them. 

• Privacy: Privacy of information is related to the collection of personal information. Many a time, we are asked to furnish our personal details on the web. It might be in case of an online transaction or in the process of a registration. Such information collected over the web has to be kept private and confidential. People should feel safe while letting out such information. For this purpose, it is important to include information privacy in the design of information infrastructure. 
• Information Security: Securing information is about protecting it from unauthorized access, disclosure, or modification. An unauthorized access to information should not result in the destruction of that information. Information security deals with confidentiality, availability, and integrity. 

1. Confidentiality: It is preventing the information from being disclosed through unauthorized access. 
2. Availability: Computing systems that store information and the communication channels that enable access to it, must function properly. The information in an information system should be available for the users at any time. 
3. Integrity: In information security, integrity means that the information cannot be modified without authorization. 

• Rights surrounding Information: Citizens have a right to obtain information. They are allowed to access copies of certain official documents. Law allows us as citizens of a country to access information. Information rights pertain to possession of the rights to copy or modify the acquired information. People who create content are logically, its owners. So anyone other than the author cannot modify it. One is not permitted to steal content of another author. Rights to translation of content are as prescribed by law. To organize information in an information infrastructure, it is necessary to manage the rights to information. 
• Compatibility issues: While accessing information over the web, different users access it in different ways. The software and hardware they use is different. The type of communication network over which they access information may be different. Here arise the compatibility issues. Looking at the pace with which new types of software and hardware are being built, backward compatibility of newer versions with the older ones is a serious concern. 

National Information Infrastructure refers to the integrated communication system of the US. It takes into account the high-speed public and private broadband and narrowband networks. It also includes satellite, wireless, and terrestrial communications. It is inclusive of all the information that flows in the infrastructure.

Free Information Infrastructure
It is a term used in Europe and it resembles the National Information Infrastructure. The use of the word 'free' is intended to focus on freedom and on the internet which is freely accessible. It comprises no software patents. It sometimes refers to open source software. It is about free access, open standards, network neutrality, and less control by state.

Global Information Infrastructure
It is an upcoming communication framework that is meant to connect the computer and telecommunication networks all over the world. Currently, the Internet is considered as the Global Information Infrastructure.

Information infrastructure in IT is actually a vast subject. It deals with the creation, design, and organization of information. It focuses on an infrastructure that caters to the security and access needs of information. In the words of William Pollard, "Information is a source of learning. But unless it is organized, processed, and available to the right people in a format for decision-making, it is a burden, not a benefit." This briefly describes the goal of an information infrastructure design.

Fun Stuff To Do Online When You Are Bored

Sometimes, even the most popular solutions to boredom, like reading a book or watching a movie, fail to work. But now, thanks to the internet and the web, you can find lots of fun stuff to do online, when you're bored. The options are unlimited and there is something for adults as well as kids. The web is not just limited to games or social networking websites. There is much more to it, like blogging, taking online spelling tests and quizzes, reading books online, etc. Along with entertainment, these activities also provide scope for personal development and can increase a person's knowledge base. 

Online Spelling Tests and Quizzes 

These are a great way to kill time. They are not only fun, but also improve vocabulary and general knowledge. Online crosswords, brain teasers, and puzzles can also be solved and different tests like IQ tests, personality tests, and color tests can also be taken. There are a number of websites that offer these options for free. 

Social Networking and Blogging 

Social networking sites are very popular and there would hardly be anyone who is not familiar with this trend. Many of them like Orkut, Facebook, MySpace, etc. have emerged gloriously over the years. You can spend time searching for your friends and family and renew lost bonds with those you had lost touch with. They can also be used to establish or expand your business network. Blogging is a popular means of expressing one's views and ideas, commenting on events and issues, and sharing videos and photos. Maintaining a personal blog can serve as a fun thing to do when bored, and will also keep friends and family updated on your activities. 

Reading Books Online 

This is a fun thing to do and you can choose from a wide variety of classics, fiction, non-fiction, and also books for children, that are available for free on the web. There are many websites that offer free books for online reading, and some of them also offer discussion forums regarding the books that you have read. They also feature interviews and chats with the authors, of some of the ebooks available on their website. There are also a number of websites that offer free comics and joke books for light reading, when you're bored or when you are feeling low. 

Adopting Virtual Pets 

Owning or adopting virtual pets can be a great way to kill boredom. A valid email address is all you need to adopt a virtual pet and once you adopt one you need to look after and care for it, just as you would in the case of a real pet. There is a lot you can do for your virtual pets that is fun, interesting, and time-consuming. Both adults and children can indulge in this activity and it may even train you to own a real pet some day! 

Online Shopping 

Online shopping can be a fun thing to do, especially for women. There are innumerable online shopping websites, offering a wide variety of products along with special offers, discounted rates, and the convenience of shopping from home.

Other fun stuff, includes downloading music and videos, playing online games, listening to online music, making your own animations, etc. So the next time you are bored, try out some of the above mentioned activities. 

Things to do on the Internet

The Internet is used for innumerable purposes, such as surfing for the required information, chatting, sending emails, payment of bills, ticket booking and many more. Due to its uses, the Internet has become very popular since its launch. We can get the desired information by using the famous search engines, like the Yahoo and Google search engines, in very less time. Apart from these two, there are other search engines that are popular in the various parts of the world. The number of website owners has increased by millions over the years, due to increasing number of activities on the Internet. Let us discuss the fun stuff to do online when bored, in detail in the following paragraphs. 

Surfing For Information and Images 

You can get detailed information on a variety of topics by going through the number of concerned websites on the Internet. Some of the categories in which the information available can be classified in, are education and higher learning, health, entertainment, politics, national and international news and finance related information. This information is used by people from varied backgrounds and professions. Surfing helps us update our knowledge and keeps us informed about the things happening around us. It can be a good hobby and a method of recreation. The Internet can help you access and search for many pictures and images, which you are interested in viewing, just by a single click. You can also download the images, by carefully reading the terms and conditions of the website. Internet surfing saves a lot of time, money and energy. 

Connecting With People 

Sending emails and chatting are cool things to do on the Internet. You can stay connected with your friends and family, even if they are far away from you. You can register yourself on the famous social networking sites and share your views and feelings with people you like. You can make many friends by viewing the profiles of the people, from all over the world. You can improve your relationships with the people near to you by using the Internet. Matrimonial websites are of great advantage for the people seeking a marriage alliance. 

Business Transactions Using Internet 

The Internet is used on a large-scale, to carry out various business transactions. For executing the business transactions online, you need to have an Internet banking account. You can buy your favorite items by paying the bill online, in a few minutes. This is better than personally visiting the place, to shop. The regular banking transactions can be carried out using the Internet properly. You can transfer money to different accounts, anywhere in the world. You can consider the idea of paying all your bills, filling admission forms of universities via the Internet, etc. for the quick completion of the task. There are many online jobs available, which can fetch you a decent amount of money if you complete the job well and in time. You can also carry out your stock market transactions through online trading, for transactions like placing an order for shares and selling the shares, without much efforts. 

Fun Things to Do on the Internet 

Writing your own blogs, articles, playing Internet games, watching movies by logging on the concerned website, listening to the latest hit songs of top singers, etc. are some fun things to do on the Internet. These are the best things to do on the Internet. The online games market is increasing with every passing day. 

The Internet has an answer for all your queries and difficulties, for it provides with many fun things to do. However, one should avoid misusing the Internet, as it can lead to serious consequences.