http://www.myrepublica.com/portal/index.php?action=news_details&news_id=15384
KUIRE KO KURA Our dangerous internet lifestyle HEROJIG With so many of my Nepali brothers and sisters glued to YouTube these days, I thought it prudent to devote some time writing on the Internet Lifestyle of the Nepali People, and the Danger. I was hoping to get a grant from a UN agency to complete this work, but it looks like for now, due to the global economy and the climate change information crisis, Republica is the only taker of this report. Now, there is nothing new about the dangers of living on the Internet, as I know most of you do, but this just out this week: Microsoft Security Advisory (980088) Vulnerability in Internet Explorer Could Allow Information Disclosure. Essentially. The advisory says that no one using a PC with Internet Explorer is safe from a hacker attack, where all your personal information can be stolen—for example, to secure the number of your empty checking and savings accounts. But Chinese and Russian hackers are not the real threat, now are they? If you look at how much information you disclose on Facebook and other social networking sites, you are all at risk of anyone, and I mean anyone that knows how to do a Google search, of being exploited by the info that you willingly reveal. Take for example the thousands of job applicants now being screened by employers, where human resource managers simply scan social networking sites to find out how many times you visit The Bourbon Room each week, and then summarily stamp “application denied” on your paperwork. Then there are the hoards of whoring lawyers who use the info that you post on the Internet against you. For example, take poor Amit who was involved in a difficult divorce trial. A simple search of Amit + New Girlfriend found dozens of damning tweets, FB pages, and photos on Flickr. He had lost his case before it ever began. In these cases, and others - Google is not your friend. Thousands of Chinese dissidents found this out last month when Google itself was hacked, and their identities revealed to Chinese government officials. In fact, just this week Google announced it’s partnership with the US government’s National Security Agency (NSA) to combat cyber terrorism. Sounds to me like one government just figured out how to bypass the hackers all together, and just dig in for themselves for what they want: Info about you, your family, and your every move. If you think that you can use the Internet to turn the board around and fight back, well, you may be sadly mistaken.And if you think that you can use the Internet to turn the board around and fight back, well, you may be sadly mistaken. Take for example Nigel Pogmore, an expat married to a lovely Nepali girl. Both he and his wife were fired unexpectedly from their jobs as pilot and ground crew. Nigel had submitted a safety report that was, let’s say, unflattering for his employer. So, Nigel and shree mati hired a local Nepali web designer to create a whistle-blowing website to expose the scam. Now they are all being hounded by lawyers from around the globe, and the website is constantly under attack from all sides (hackers plus hack lawyers). That’s all out in the open at www.serengetiballoonsafaris.com, but what should be a lesson-learnt from this experience (UN agencies take note), is that while organizations, governments and individuals with deep lawyer pockets can use the Internet against you, you have little chance of using the Internet against them when the need arises. It just doesn’t work that way. And as for the New Nepal—opening at a shopping mall near you soon—it would seem this might be the time to petition the framers of the Constituent Assembly to include Internet protections for citizenry, but it seems the framers have other problems to deal with right now: Like getting power to the people and cleaning up the piles of garbage on the streets. So, I’m afraid there won’t be a draft law anytime soon to protect you from your own stupidity. And I don’t mean to insult all of you Facebookers and My Spaces out there, who are winning Mafia Wars and cultivating beautiful virtual gardens in Farmville. I am just putting you on notice that your boss can easily find out when you are goofing off, instead of writing that final report or attending to your other non-virtual job responsibilities. Just beware; your Internet lifestyle may be putting you in harms way. (Writer is quirky-kinda expat happily living in the Kathmandu valley with Nepali family, friends, and a very large dog.) ------------------------------------ -- INFORMATION OVERLOAD? Get all ZESTMedia mails sent out in a span of 24 hours in a single mail. Subscribe to the daily digest version by sending a blank mail to [email protected], OR, if you have a Yahoo! Id, change your settings at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTMedia/join/ PARTICIPATE Share media news, discuss journalism issues and network with media professionals across South Asia on this mailing list. Just write to [email protected] TELL FRIENDS TO SIGN UP If you got this mail as a forward, subscribe to ZESTMedia by sending a blank mail to [email protected] OR, if you have a Yahoo! ID, by visiting http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTMedia/join/ Also have a look at our sister list, ZESTCaste: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTCaste/Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTMedia/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTMedia/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: [email protected] [email protected] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [email protected] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
