Facebook Phone Numbers... the latest alarmist nonsense!

Aah... the joys of Facebook! I see today some more alarmist 'stuff and nonsense' being bandied about... people running around clucking like chickens without heads... about the latest concerns involving Facebook.

Here's an article in The Guardian, that stalwart defender of individual privacy, that exemplifies today's scaremongering wheeze: Is your private phone number on Facebook? Probably. And so are your friends | Technology | guardian.co.uk.

Apparently, Uploads from iPhones using the Facebook app will "push all your contacts onto Facebook's servers - where they'll be matched against any and everyone". The article asks... "Worried at all?"

Well, frankly NO!! So... what's the problem??? I always give my friends my phone numbers... don't you??? I am quite happy for my friends, on Facebook or anywhere else for that matter, to have my phone numbers... they might want to call me!!

So, what's the problem?? To my mind, if anyone insists on having twats on their Facebook contacts.... who might abuse this privilege... ask yourself... WHY do you have them???

My Privacy settings are set to "ONLY Friends". No one else can see my phone numbers. It really isn't a problem... if you manage your account on Facebook with a little bit of common sense... something which seems not as common as the phrase implies... it should not be a problem!!

Many people I see, posting on Facebook and elsewhere today,. are all worrying about whether their phone numbers are showing inappropriately... and yet many are the same people who do not worry at ALL... about the way email addresses are shared by everyone when forwarding email 'funnies'!!! I see people forwarding my personal email to everyone all the time... forwarded on to all sorts of strangers... and people we do not know... without ANY controls... then we wonder why we receive SPAM or nasty malware!! This, in my opinion... is a far bigger threat... and a bit of an old chestnut of mine. I blogged about this some time ago. You can read that article here if you're interested: And we wonder why we receive so much SPAM and Junk mail - Blind carbon copy... for Christ's sakes!

Those of you lucky people who receive MY emails know I delete ALL emails and forward on BCC... no one else sees who I have sent the email to... ONLY the recipient!! Simples!!

Going back to Facebook... some simple guidelines will avoid most problems. First and foremost... be careful who YOU ADD!! Set your Privacy settings properly... and you will NOT have to worry about a stranger phoning you up!! Then again... a heavy breather down the line might give you a laugh... might even get you excited... one way or other!! lol Hmmm.... I wonder who MY next phone call is going to be from??? heh heh

And we wonder why we receive so much SPAM and Junk mail - Blind carbon copy for christ's sakes!

As many of my regular readers know, I often share jokes, interesting pictures and other curious or weird fun stuff that I receive... and publish them under my A Gibo's Tale: In my Inbox today... blog tab.

The source for these is, as the tab title implies, the many emails I receive, forwarded to me by my contacts, friends and family, that arrive in my email inbox on a daily basis.

I also have a 'Family and Friends' contact list in my email manager, that I use when I want to pass these fun and/or interesting emails onto them... mostly a discriminating selection of my idea of good stuff, sometimes it's not a joke, but it could just be a particularly insightful opinion piece, some important bit of security information or... whatever stuff I think may inform and amuse.

I think most of us do the same or similar. It's fun and it's a great way to just keep in touch with family and friends... without having to write lengthy emails. It tells them they're in our thoughts... so all very positive and fair enough.

But... the all important thing to bear in mind... when forwarding or sending an email to multiple recipients is this... that you are about to use the great medium that email is to mass distribute something quickly and easily... often to a group of people, who may be friends to YOU but who are often strangers to each other... and THEY may also forward the email onto another group, possibly of friends... but more probably strangers too!!

Would you give a stranger your Mother's or brother's private telephone number?

The answer is surely not... right? You wouldn't walk round the streets dealing out your friends or loved ones' private phone numbers to anyone you happened to meet in the streets right?

So how come... so many people... do exactly that, with our private email addesses??

Please... Please... Please... when forwarding an email... there's just one simple rule: Do not forward my email address! That applies to the email address of all your friends and loved ones... just delete them... then forward the email!!

Forwarding Emails

Before you hit that send button, there's something you should know, if you don't know it by now... or still don't get it.

Please don't put all of the email addresses of your family and friends in the "To" or "Cc" fields of your email. Instead, put them in the 'Bcc (Blind carbon copy)' field!

By putting the addresses in the 'Bcc' field (as very well explained and illustrated here), their email addresses will not show up at the top of the emails that each of your contacts will receive.

As I've already explained, we've all received those kinds of emails... you know, where you have to page through reams and reams of email addresses before you actually get to the message that the person wants you to read? Yes, those ones. It's just NOT a good idea... for the reasons explained here.

Sending an e-mail to multiple recipients

When sending an e-mail to multiple recipients, you can hide their email addresses from each other. Why? Because this is a sensible anti-spam precaution... because it avoids making a long list of email addresses available to all the recipients (which is what happens if you put everyone's address in the To: or Cc: fields).

For this reason, it makes sense to use the Bcc: field for mailing or contact lists. Some viruses also harvest e-mail addresses from users' cache folder or addressbook, and large CC lists may further the propagation of unwanted viruses, giving another reason to use Bcc:.

So why Bcc?

Basically... as I said earlier... because you don't want to be giving your mother's email address to everyone and their dog... in the same way as you would NOT broadcast her phone number and street address to the world without a second thought!!

Here's a great article by Craig Hartnett @ www.iamcraig > How and Why to Blind Copy Multiple-Recipient Emails that goes into the whole issue at length... and highlights the crassness of NOT using Bcc in multiple recipient emails

So... to Conclude...

It's not that complicated or that much of a big a deal to send multiple-recipient emails to your family, friends and co-workers while respecting their privacy and email addresses... once you know why and how to do it. So please, if you are still unsure, take a second to read Craig Hartnett's article @ www.iamcraig > How and Why to Blind Copy Multiple-Recipient Emails

Please... it's the right thing to do and not at all as trivial or anal as it seems.

Thanks!

Email Hoaxes and Internet Scams

To conserve this post specifically to the topic, I didn't want to go into the related topic of chain letters and the various hoax emails and scams that also abound on the net.... which also concern me greatly. For that, you can look up the Latest Email Hoaxes - Current Internet Scams @ Hoax-Slayer.

More information on Blind carbon copy (Bcc) @ Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

In my Inbox today... A Facebook warning on adding possible hackers

I received a message today in my Facebook Inbox... warning me... and asking me to "tell all my friends... and all my contacts" not to add someone.... well an email address actually!

The message read:

"Tell all your contacts not 2 accept dr3am_rock@hotmail.com ... he will pirate your computer and if one of your contacts accepts, he also hack in2 yours! Make fast it is moving..."

This is the second such message I've received over the last couple of days. The message has also been posted on the 'Facebook Wall' by at least one of my contacts too.

I receive many of these warning in my email inbox every week... asking me to forward them urgently to all my contacts.

Which is all very nice... that some people want to make the effort to warn others about these dangerous people... hackers and / or viruses etc. On the other hand, you might think some people have nothing better to do?

But... there are all sorts of possible dangers lurking round every corner on the net... so perhaps it is worth warning or checking these out?

The reality is that nearly ALL these warning emails are hoaxes.... and if people trouble to check with sites like Hoax-Slayer (see more on Hoax-Slayer below) they will probably find that email warning has already been debunked as a hoax!

Notwithstanding that... ask yourselves some questions when you next receive this type of warning email.

The first thing that occurs to me about this warning today (on Facebook), apart from going to Hoax-Slayer to check it out... was... how do we know the person whose email address this belongs to... is really a hacker? Has anyone verified this? For all we know... this warning may have been a malicious attempt by someone to mess up this person's email and probably get this person into a lot of hot water!

Nevertheless... many users on Facebook, over the last couple of days... have been forwarding this warning along quite merrily! I wonder if they've given this possibility any thought!??

The second thing that goes through my mind is.... do we really still need to be told NOT to add people we 'don't know from Adam'? Are there really still people out there who accept 'Add' requests from people they don't know??

To my mind... anyone who is stupid enough to add people they have never had any contact with before... probably deserve everything they get... a sharp lesson in what not to do again on the internet!

Maybe I'm being a little too harsh... but honestly!!

Anyhow... for 'newbies' to the internet and social networking sites or instant messaging systems.... be warned... the best advice is... NEVER add people you don't know!

If you ever receive an 'Add Request' from someone you don't know... and I constantly receive many (at times from people I've never ever heard of before), just take a moment to ask them why they want you to add them... ask them to explain themselves. Nine times out of ten... they probably have a good and totally legitimate reason for asking.... but... be very wary of the reply... and think carefully before you DO add them... as you never know what you're going to get! If in any doubt... DO NOT ADD them... quite simple really!

Oh and it really does help if one keeps one's wits about us a little.... as we stumble around the net! Another problem with the warning I received on Facebook today is... that it rather puts the cart before the horse.... in this case possibly a 'Trojan'!

The message warned not to add a person with the email address of dr3am_rock@hotmail.com. The trouble is... on Facebook anyway... users cannot see other users' email addresses... until you have added each other! By which time... if the other user IS a hacker... or intent on doing you some damage or disfavour in any way... by the time you go and check if his email address matches the one you WERE warned about... it really is too late!

My point being that this message which is doing the rounds on Facebook right now... like many... is a bit silly... a very pointless and at the end of the day... totally ineffective exercise.... that has only served in giving me the opportunity... to rant on!!

Well... then again, if I manage to warn at least one person with this post, about these sorts of dangers lurking on the net... then I suppose (hope) the exercise will not have been entirely worthless!

Check @ Hoax-Slayer

One final little tip. I mentioned Hoax-Slayer earlier. Well, whenever you receive a warning email like this... before you do anything... it may well often be worth your while to pay Hoax-Slayer a little visit!

Hoax-Slayer is dedicated to debunking email hoaxes, thwarting Internet scammers, combating spam, and educating web users about email and Internet security issues.

Hoax-Slayer allows Internet users to check the veracity of common email hoaxes and aims to counteract criminal activity by publishing information about common types of Internet scams.

Hoax-Slayer also includes anti-spam tips, computer and email security information, articles about true email forwards, and much more. New articles are added to the Hoax-Slayer website every week. I would recommend you bookmark this link. It could save you and your Facebook or other contacts... a lot of trouble and anxiety in the future!

This particular warning message for dr3am_rock@hotmail.com is not in their database... I checked... at least it's not there yet! But... in any case, it's probably rubbish anyway if you ask me... but it has gone far and wide across the internet already!

Twitter... the real world or a world for twits

I've been using Twitter for a while now. I started using it because I thought it would be a good way to let people know about my blog posts... get them noticed by as wide an audience as possible.

Having used it for a couple of months... I'm not that convinced of it's effectiveness to get one's message across. In fact, I'm beginning to wonder what all the fuss is about.

Here's how Twitter would like us to think about them:



So... Twitter 'rocks' eh? Hmmm...

Here's another view... the "twouble with Twitter"... as seen on Current.com:



Ha ha... that's a great video, very funny and well produced and one that I think hits the nail on the head... definitely about Twitter's superficiality!

I'm tending to be more inclined to this latter view. The 'twouble' with Twitter is... that one gets completely overwhelmed by the amount of 'Tweets'. The message... if ever there is one... tends to get lost in the morass of, often banal comment or completely uninteresting or unrelated 'news' that some sources spout off with at an amazing rate!

While Twitter can be fun, on a very superficial level and while it can be a way (a simple minded sort of way) to keep in touch with friends, family, etc., even receiving updates directly from (interesting?) sources as varied as No 10 Downing Street to Google Blogs or Stephen Fry... personally, I'm afraid I don't find it exactly 'rocks' for me.

I'm happy to continue to ride this trend though... till it fizzles out... as these things tend to do... and just dip in from time to time... but I won't take it too seriously... and it certainly isn't a good marketing tool... it's not a particularly effective way of getting one's message across!

You can of course, always follow me on Twitter... and make your own judgement!

The power of prayer... or of a picture

In my Inbox today... a beautiful picture of man's best and most faithful friend... or in this case, the little boy's!


The dog's intensity and concentration shows more sincerity than one might see in many people! Ya just gotta' love him!

Of all the stupid junk we receive every day over the Internet... occasionally, we get something like this... which just has to be shared... right? :)

Blogger makes following blogs easier with Google Friend Connect

If you’re using the 'Follow' feature of Google Blogger, which was introduced a few months ago, you will I'm sure, have enjoyed how easy it is for your readers to follow your blog posts and updates.

According to Blogger Buzz, nearly 3 million communities are using this feature!

Readers can find my 'Follow' feature near the bottom of my right sidebar.

However, I have found many readers are reluctant to 'Follow' using Blogger's feature, simply because they feel... since they are not bloggers on Blogspot (or any other blogging platform) themselves, this feature is not for them. In fact this feature can be used by anyone! A non-blogspot user can simply open a Blogger.com account and 'follow' even if he/she does not have a blogspot blog... or any blog for that matter!

Anyhow... now, you may be pleased to hear, your readers do not have to be restricted by this!

Yesterday, Blogger Buzz announced, that they have adopted 'Google Friend Connect' into their Blogger.com functionality.

This means that your readers, including many who may have wished to follow you, even if they don’t have a Blogger account, can now easily follow your blog using their Google Friend Connect account. So, whether they have tied up their Friend Connect to their Yahoo, AOL, WordPress, Typepad (or any other platform), or not... they can easily join your 'Follow Community' by using Google Friend Connect.

Likewise if you have other blogs in other blogging platform, your users can easily also follow your updates on those, using Google Friend Connect.

Implementing Google Friend Connect will certainly give our blogs more exposure since, if readers of our blogs follow our blogs, our blogs will appear on their Google Friend Connect profiles, which in turn can be seen by our follower’s followers... if you follow me! :)

To make it easier, for all of us who have implemented the 'Follow' feature on our respective Blogger blogs, to implement Google Friend Connect, Blogger has already included the feature on our Blogger Profile (which if you wish can be disabled by editing your Blogger Profile). All we need to do is to set it on (by default, it is ON) to start using the Google Friend Connect (open your Blogger Profile to check).

To learn how to follow a blog using Google Friend Connect, here’s a short video prepared by the Blogger team to guide you:



As I said earlier... if you wish to follow this blog, you can find my 'Follow' feature near the bottom of my right sidebar... just scroll down... hint hint!! :)

For more information, visit Google Friend Connect.

Facebook say... 'Relax, we won't sell your photos!'

Caroline McCarthy writing in CNET News' The Social, talks about a change to Facebook's terms of service, which has "created a firestorm of banter on the Web" and asks: Does the social network claim ownership to any user content on the site, even if the user deletes it?

Apparently, Facebook reorganized its terms of service last Wednesday. In a blog post, company legal representative Suzie White provided an explanation:

"We used to have several different documents that outlined what people could and could not do on Facebook, but now we're consolidating all this information to one central place.

We've also simplified and clarified a lot of information that applies to you, including some things you shouldn't do when using the site."

The blog post sounded benign. But the brouhaha arose on Sunday over a revision in the wording of Facebook's policy over what happens to profile content--shared items, blog post-like "notes," photos--when members delete their accounts.

I think Ms McArthy is spot on when she says, "most Facebook users won't give a hoot"... and that only "a few vocal advocates" of copyright reform and privacy, not to mention photographers and writers who may want the photos they upload or "notes" they write on Facebook to eventually lead to some kind of profit, will no doubt be alarmed and continue to debate the issues on who owns what.... and what can they do with it!

Ultimately though, for the average Facebook user, surely... do they still need to be told to be careful what they upload and say on their profiles? Does it really need to be said? I think so... ad nauseam... Be careful what pics you upload... I don't care what Facebook says... you never know WHO will copy them and what they will DO with them!

As for what should really happen when a user deletes their account? I agree with Michael Murdock's comment (on the article page)... Facebook should offer an option:

A. Delete and hold - remove my account for 6 months and if I don't come back in that time, delete permanently, nothing saved.

B. Delete Permantely, Immediately

Well, that's clear enough and I completely agree. However, confusingly, Mr Murdock goes on to say, "of course, you have archived copies of things, but those are understood and since the user is closing their account and not returning they forfeit the rights to those things".

No Mr Murdock... if a User wishes to delete HIS account, he should also be able to remove ALL traces of his posts, images, etc as they are generally tagged when someone uploads something into the system.

Otherwise, as Mr Murdock rightly concludes:

"If not, you need to strangle your programming team as they've basically screwed you.

I'd be asking a lawyer to ask a court to demand that such a contingency be in place so that when user A decides he wants to vanish from facebook, every email, every photo, every video, etc. just disappeared and was filled in by something else."

If I was the User, I would not care what Facebook chose to fill my vacuum with... so long as it's not my content!

The debate.. will no doubt go on endlessly!

Prayer: 'Please bless my computer too'

Just received this funny little prayer in my Inbox. It's bound to resonate with those who use their PC's to regularly keep in touch with loved ones... family and friends!

Dear Lord

Every single evening
As I'm lying here in bed,
This tiny little Prayer
Keeps running through my head:

God bless all my family
Wherever they may be,
Keep them warm
And safe from harm
For they're so close to me.

And God, there is one more thing
I wish that you could do;

Hope you don't mind me asking,
Please bless my computer too!

Now I know that it's unusual
To Bless a motherboard,
But listen just a second
While I explain it to you, Lord.

You see, that little metal box
Holds more than odds and ends;
Inside those small compartments
Rest so many of my friends.

I know so much about them
By the kindness that they give,
And this little scrap of metal
Takes me in to where they live.

Please take an extra minute
From your duties up above,
To bless those in my address book
That's filled with so much love.

Wherever else this prayer may reach
To each and every friend,
Bless each e-mail inbox
And each person who hits 'send'!

When you update your Heavenly list
On your own Great CD-ROM,
Bless everyone who says this prayer
Sent up to GOD.com!

Amen xx

Cute huh?

A big 'thank you' to a very sweet friend... who took the time to forward this to me! Thanks honey! :)