The other shoe has dropped — a recently enacted revenge porn law has reached the point of criminal prosecution in California.
Indeed, a San Diego man has just been charged with operating a Web site that allows users to post sexual images of others so that he then allegedly could extort large sums of money from the victims whose images had been posted.
Continue reading “Revenge Porn Website Creator Faces 31 Criminal Charges”
Earlier this year, I told you about how I finally took the leap and moved off of my BlackBerry to the latest iPhone. It was a struggle for me at first, because I was addicted (yes, a confirmed CrackBerry addict) to the tactile keyboard for ease of typing on the BlackBerry device. But, as you may recall, I was won over by the many other fantastic features of the iPhone, including Siri voice recognition, the larger screen, better photography, and the vast array of iPhone apps.
I have been very happy with my iPhone for the better part of 2013 — notwithstanding the fact that I often miss the BlackBerry keyboard. So, end of story, right? iPhone wins and BlackBerry loses, correct?
Continue reading “iPhone Not Secure Enough for President Obama; BlackBerry to the Rescue?”
It is officially the holiday season. And the Internet makes it so easy and convenient for us to purchase holiday presents. (Indeed, I must confess, I already have shopped on Amazon and have bought dozens of presents for my family members.) In fact, this user-friendliness, as opposed to trudging out and waiting in lines at stores, might result in the purchase of even more presents than otherwise.
But, and there always seems to be a “but,” as reported recently by USA Today, cybercriminals have been lurking in the vicinity of Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and the overall holiday season.
Continue reading “Holiday Cyberscammers – Naughty, Not Nice!”
It is that time of year again. Soon, we will have turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce, yams, and pumpkin pie on our plates, if we are fortunate. But more importantly, it is a time to reflect with gratitude on those aspects of our lives for which we are thankful.
Things to Be Thankful For
Of course, toward the top of the list, assuming we have such luck, we should be thankful for our health, family, friends, loved ones, home, and work.
We also can be grateful for the fact that we live in a country that strives to be governed by the rule of law. We do not sanction the resolution of disputes by violence and armed conflict. Instead, we allow parties through their lawyers to present their cases for decisions of law by judges and findings of facts by juries.
Hacking attacks have been part of the Internet landscape, unfortunately, since the dawn of Cyberspace. Nevertheless, you might think that certain sites are sufficiently important and secure that they are immune to the effects of a hack attack.
But that is not necessarily the case. News accounts periodically report on hack attacks wreaking havoc on large commercial websites. And now even President Obama, the leader of the free world, is bearing the brunt of some recent hack attacks.
Should consumers be able to avoid paying state sales tax simply because they make purchases on the Internet?
Some legislators think not, believing that state coffers should not be deprived of sales tax revenue from online purchases. Consequently, they have enacted some laws designed to capture such revenue.
However, according to the Chicago Tribune, a recent law passed in the Land of Lincoln attempting to tax online purchases was just ruled unconstitutional by the Illinois Supreme Court.
Continue reading “Illinois’ “Amazon Tax” Law Ruled Unconstitutional”
Facebook has decided to let teenagers share their posts even more broadly.
According to The Wall Street Journal, Facebook users between the ages of 13 and 17 will be able to set their posts as “public,” meaning that they can be viewed by anyone on Facebook, not just friends and friends of friends.
This shift in policy appears designed to allow Facebook to compete even better against other social media sites that allow for teen public posts, such as Twitter, but what will it mean for teens?
Continue reading “Facebook Allowing Greater Sharing of Teen Posts”
Cyber crime is not new. And despite grappling with it now for years, the cost of cyber crime continues to increase. This has been made plain by the 2013 Cost of Cyber Crime Study by the Ponemon Institute that was sponsored by Hewlett-Packard.
What do we learn from this study? Well, for starters, the annual cost of cyber crime is a staggering $11.56 million per U.S. organization. This represents a 26 percent increase from the $8.9 million figure from last year.
Continue reading “The Price Tag for Cyber Crime Continues to Increase”
In my most recent blog, I reported on the phenomenon of “revenge porn,” the unfortunate practice by former lovers, boyfriends, and husbands of posting nude and sexual photos and videos of women with whom they had been intimate.
Now, according to Reuters, California Gov. Jerry Brown has just signed a unique state law that criminalizes revenge porn.
Smartphones now provide the ability for users impulsively to take photographs and videos of life as it happens. And lovers in the midst of passion at times record their amorous activities with the intent of keeping revealing photos and videos private. What happens, though, when love dies, but the photos and videos remain? Do they stay private?
Unfortunately, often times the answer is “no.”
