Quite some time ago, I wrote a story of a predator who manipulated hundreds of underage girls to take inappropriate photos of themselves. He threatened to blast the photos online to the world if they didn’t send him more inappropriate photos. I wish I could tell you this was an isolated incident.
But I can’t. According to the Justice Department, sextortion is the biggest growing threat to children and underage teens today. Sextortion is enticing someone to commit inappropriate sexual acts online, then threatening to expose the act if the victim doesn’t give in to the culprit’s financial or perverted demands. But victims can be of any age. At George Mason University, two college students are lured into trusting people online. They got the students to broadcast sexual acts on a webcam. The suspects threatened to put the videos on the Internet if the victims didn’t pay $5,000. As early as 2010, a 13-year-old named Amanda Todd was talked into exposing herself, and the online predators demanded more. When she didn’t cooperate, they posted the girl’s pictures to social media. She made a powerful You Tube video addressing her ordeal two years later. Then, she committed suicide. Sadly it’s gotten worse. Between 2010-2013, sextortion complaints have increased 32%. Even President Obama addressed this epidemic in April 2015, calling April to be “National Child Abuse Prevention Month”.
Think about what victims are driven to. Often, victims feel shame, guilt, and isolation. In 2015 alone, two sextortion victims committed suicide and 12 attempted suicide. The victims are often bullied, can’t get friends, a job, housing, hindered from obtaining meaningful relationships. If you’re a perpetrator of such crimes, do you want that on your conscious for the rest of your life? And if you’re a perpetrator of these crimes, you will eventually be found out. Law enforcement on every level is cracking down on this atrocity. Communities are coming together to combat this epidemic. And when you do get caught, it won’t be a speeding ticket. You’ll probably be in prison for decades, if not life. Just ask Lucus Michael Chansler. Is it worth it? I’m sure Chansler doesn’t think so. Everyone failed 13-year-old Amanda Todd: her perpetrators, her peers, her school, her teachers, her parents, the justice system, her community, her town, county, state and nation. Todd ought to be alive and thriving right now. Will we let this precious child’s death be in vain?
A young Russian hacker stole over 232 million email accounts and passwords. The emails come from various places. Over 57 million of them come from Mail.ru accounts. Mail.ru is a major Russian email service. Around 40 million came from Yahoo, 33 million came from Microsoft Hotmail, 24 million came from Gmail. According to Alex Holder, founder of Hold Security, this is the biggest security data breach by one single individual of all-time. But the sickest thing of all is what the hacker wanted and got out of the breach. He calls himself ‘The Collector’. He didn’t want millions of dollars for this data. He didn’t want thousands, or even hundreds. The Collector only wanted 50 Russian Rubles. That’s less than one US Dollar! That’s not per email; that’s for the whole batch! When he didn’t get that, he settled for likes and praises on social media hacker forums! Google and Yahoo declined to comment about the attacks. Mail.ru says they will warn users that may have been affected. Microsoft talks about the rise of security breaches and their ability to spot compromised accounts.
There is so much wrong here. First off, all email providers can, or will do, is talk. ?I don’t know how young The Collector is but if he is old enough to steal 232+ million emails, then he is old enough to know right from wrong. The fact he wanted so little for the compromised data shows you the new lows ID thieves are stooping. To them, your privacy, your security, your civil liberties and civil rights, and your family’s securities are only worth one dollar, or some popularity points. There’s something sick and perverse about that. Why aren’t email companies doing more to stop people like this? Why isn’t mainstream media covering this better? What can we do to prevent this, and why isn’t more being done?
You go to sleep. You wake up only to find your computer or smartphone doesn’t work. Neither does anyone else’s. You can’t even use your credit/debit cards because that system is kaput. You can’t fill up on gasoline because the electronic pumps aren’t working. Welcome to the world of an EMP.
This isn’t a sci-fi movie plot. Political leaders like Defense Department analyst Michael Maloof are extremely concerned of what an EMP could do to our computers, communications, banks, cars, transportation, food and water supply, electricity, emergency services. An EMP (electromagnetic pulse) can fry all electronics in it’s path. This can happen through a solar flare or a nuclear attack from high altitude. Think about how dependent we are on technology. If this were to happen, hospitals wouldn’t even be equipped to treat patients. Pacemakers would cease, leaving patients without this critical tool. Maloof believes North Korea has two satellites hovering over the US that can launch EMP’s at any moment. Even US Congress has been briefed on such EMP attacks. A device can fire an EMP from a distance and knock out power for an entire airport, or a high rise building. But Maloof is frustrated Congress isn’t doing more to prevent such a catastrophe. Other nations are. But Congress should be giving the EMP threat it’s highest priority, but it isn’t.
I agree with Maloof 100 percent. I don’t even hear the presidential candidates talk about this issue. It seems like we’re more concerned with who uses what bathrooms than a threat that could destroy us all. And if an EMP hit us, it would takes weeks, if not months to repair. ?Technology is no longer a luxury, but a necessity. If technology shuts down, our whole systems shut down. All the things we take for granted will cease to exist. It would be like knocking us from 2016 to 1835 in just one swoop. Shouldn’t our government and major tech corporations do more to prevent an EMP attack?
Texting and/or using a smartphone while driving has become one of the biggest road hazards today. It’s the drunk driving of the 2010s. Did you know that nearly 40% of highway accidents in the US are caused by drivers with a phone in their hand? That number is even higher than those who drink and drive.
Thankfully, 2010s technology can prevent such calamities. If you have an Apple or Android based mobile phone, in which the vast majority of Americans do, you can have Siri read text messages for you. Just ask Siri to read your messages. And she will. Siri will give you a chance to reply. You say the reply and the voice messenger will send that reply to your intended target. It doesn’t matter if it’s one or ten texts, just say, “read my texts” and they will be read. Android based phones have an app called ReadItToMe, which users can download for free. It may cost you a little time and effort. But I’d rather take a little time downloading these apps than let distracted driving get me in trouble with my insurance company, get me in trouble with the law, or something even far worse. Did you know texting and driving is illegal on some level in most US states?
So take advantage of Siri and ReadItToMe. Get these apps for your teen drivers. Teach them how to use them. Set good habits and lead by example. Did you know over a third of teenagers admitted to texting while driving in the last 30 days? Maybe that’s because over a fourth of adults admitted to distracted driving in the last 30 days. We’ve got to do better. I‘m thankful there are tools out there to help us do better. What other tools or tactics can we do to curb the epidemic of distracted driving?
Yesterday, I talked about Japan’s plan to keep tourist ‘safe’ at the 2020 Olympics. They plan to implement a system in which no tourist can buy or sell unless they are fingerprinted. That means, no tourist will be able to use Japanese cash, just your fingerprint.
I read an interesting article in The Atlantic. Ever hear of Operation Choke Point? We were told it would fight predatory lending, the kind of lending that helped cause the Great Recession of the late 2000s. But big banks weren’t targeted: So-called ‘morally unsavory’ businesses were. This includes gun dealers, adult entertainment, gambling, dating services, online alcohol dealers, even coin dealers. Many gun stores and adult website owners complained of being cut off by their credit/debit card companies, to the point their websites couldn’t even process them. It gets worse. An adult film actress named Eden Alexander said she couldn’t even get the prescription drugs she needed because the medical providers just assumed because she’s a porn star, she’s going to abuse the prescriptions. When fellow porn stars raised funds to help her out, their platforms GiveFoward and WePay?shut that down too, claiming they violated policy. This ordeal almost ruined her health and finances. Don’t even get me started on how they’re following EBT recipients like a hawk.
I noticed how they’re not targeting 1% big banks or bankers, but 99% ordinary people. Let me be clear: We at Computer Geeks do not endorse adult entertainment. But Eden Alexander is a human being and an American citizen. She should not have to endure such cruel treatment at the hands of banks and credit card companies just because she’s involved in a ‘morally unsavory’ business. This is when technology becomes too far reaching. I love technology. But when it tramples on peoples rights to life and liberty, that’s when things get dangerous. I don’t see them getting any less reaching. Can a cashless society lead to big brother?
These are crazy time we’re living in. I read an article of how the EU wants visa requirements for Americans and Canadians just to visit Europe, even it’s just for a weekend. Japan wants to go even further, using today’s technology for identification purposes.
This year, Japan, the nation that gave us the robot greeter, ?will test fingerprint systems for identification and security purposes. If this is successfully, the only way tourists will be able to buy or sell is through a fingerprint. This is supposed to fight theft and keep tourist from using credit and debit cards. Japan hopes to have this system in place by the 2020 Olympics. Tourist will have to register their fingerprints, credit/debit cards, and other information as soon as they arrive at the airport. They would be able to make purchases only if they pass identity inspection. That’s when they place two fingers in the device that’s already installed throughout that nation. Japan even wants the fingerprint tests installed in hotels. As of now, you can check in with a passport. But it won’t just measure who is in the country. Your spending habits will be analysed and processed by the Japanese governments, probably by Japanese corporations, too. There is already an outcry against this system. Some are concerned about tourists feeling uneasy about using such a system.
I know I wouldn’t use it. I’m not even that crazy about that RFID chip in your credit card. I wouldn’t even go to the 2020 Olympics if I knew I couldn’t buy or sell without a fingerprint. All it takes is one or two hackers to break into the system and infect it for everybody involved, the tourist as well as the government and businesses. Do they really want to take that risk? No, this has Big Brother written all over it. And they’re going to analyse our spending habits? What are they going to do next? Tell tourist where they can or can’t buy?
