Federal Agent Abuses Monitoring Systems to Track Girlfriend

(Image is in the Public Domain)

Still trust the government to not abuse their surveillance power? Read this story about a federal agent who used the Department of Homeland Security's database to stalk his ex-girlfriend and her family. When we paraniod types tell you that massive government systems can be turned against us easily, remember that though we may be loud, obnoxious, and a little nuts at times, that doesn't mean we're wrong.

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Department of Homeland Security Dumps $42 Million Failed Data-Mining Project

DHL
(Image is in the Public Domain)

In what has become the norm and not the exception, an expensive Department of Defense project has been shown to be a complete failure wasting millions of dollars and all of our time. What makes this story interesting is it was due in no small part to the efforts of the Government Accountability office that this project was scrapped. They discovered that the program was using live data on American citizens instead of dummy data and that none of the required privacy protections had been put in place. Go figure.

Most frightening is this line:

The privacy office concluded that although required privacy analyses were ignored, the Privacy Act was not technically violated because the live data were covered by privacy notices issued earlier for other programs that originally gathered the information.

Which demonstrates the danger of taking data for one reason, but using for a completely different reason altogether.

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DHS Hasn’t Really Done Anything

DHL
(Image is in the Public Domain)

Apparently, the DHS has only charged 12 cases of terrorism out of 814,000 cases it's brought.

TRAC reported more than 85 percent of the charges involved more common immigration violations such as not having a valid immigrant visa, overstaying a student visa or entering the United States without an inspection.
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US Snubs Canada

DHL
(Image is in the Public Domain)

In a continuing effort by the Bush administration and the ridiculous Department of Homeland Security to make sure there's not a country left in this world that supports us, the DHS has suddenly abandoned talks with Canada about traveler pre-screening.

"It's unacceptable to say it can't be figured out," former U.S. ambassador Gordon Giffin said Thursday from Calgary. "The U.S. can't just throw up its hands. It's almost childish, like they're taking their marbles and going home," said Giffin, who served in Canada from 1997 to 2001. "It's just not productive. For Pete's sake, we're working with Canada. We're not working with some Third World country."
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Consumer Group Wins Victory Over RFID Identification Cards

DHL
(Image is in the Public Domain)

The DHS apparently has backed off of the requirement to use RFID in the National ID card. It's a start.

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Dept of Homeland Security Clueless – Says Privacy Isn’t at Risk

DHL
(Image is in the Public Domain)

Apparently the head of the DHS doesn't see why the REAL-ID act is such a big deal.

I'll make this very simple: Passports. E-voting. Airline security. Domestic spying. Not a great track record.

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E-mail Dangers

Until we find out who the people are who actually buy things from spammers and kick them off the Internet, you're going to have to learn how to deal with and prevent spam.
E-mail Viruses - Learn how viruses are spread through e-mail and how to stop them
Phishing - Spot and avoid lures that pull you into the dark side of the web
Don't be one of those people that loses thousands of dollars to the classic Nigerian Scam.

E-mail Etiquette

Use CC only when necessary and BCC the rest of the time.
Use Reply-All when you mean to and never when you don't.
Practice proper E-mail Forwarding to protect privacy and make e-mails more readable.
Always personalize your e-mails to make it obvious to your recipient that it's valid.

E-mail Tips and Tricks

Using E-Mail Aliases Properly - Be careful about using sensitive data (like your real name) in an e-mail account.
Remember to treat your e-mail account with the security it deserves.
Use a decoy e-mail account to keep your main e-mail account free of spam.
Avoid using any Internet provider's default e-mail.

... or check out any of my other guides and tutorials by clicking here!

Preventing Spam

Spam is annoying and worthless, but you still see it every single day. Here are some tips for preventing and reducing spam.

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E-mail Viruses

Make sure that viruses don't sneak onto your computer through your e-mails. Read some simple tips to prevent that from happening.

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Phishing

By far the most dangerous thing you'll find in e-mails is a lie. Sending a bogus e-mail to someone is generally called phishing, but can also be referred to as a Nigerian scam (depending on the goal of the e-mail). Learn to recognize and deal with phishing before it's too late.

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Nigerian Scam

Many people have lost thousands and even hundreds of thousands of dollars to the classic Nigerian Scam. Don't fall for it!

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How to Use "CC" Properly

Don't violate people's privacy and invite spam into their accounts by CC'ing all your contacts. Learn the proper way to send mass e-mails first.

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Reply-All

It's easy to embarass yourself or harm your career when you don't know how to use Reply-All appropriately.

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How to Forward E-mails Properly

Don't forward e-mails carelessly or you risk looking foolish as best and violating the privacy of all your contacts at worst.

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Personalize E-mail

Follow this simple rule of e-mail etiquette to help prevent your friends and family from falling for phishing scams.

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Using E-Mail Aliases Properly

It can be hard to find a good name to use in an e-mail account that hasn't been used and doesn't give away too much information about you.

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Protecting E-mail Passwords

Your e-mail account is the most important online account you have. Remember to treat it as such!.

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Using a Decoy E-Mail Account

Why it's very important to use a buffer e-mail account to shield your main account from people and companies that you don't trust.

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The ISP E-mail Trap

Don't fall for the trap of using the free e-mail account provided to you by your Internet service!

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