In the wrong hands (mine?) this could
become a “Best Practice” for Identity Theft. I'm encouraged that
at least some users questioned the request.
Instagram
Asking For Your Government Issued Photo IDs Now, Too
Over the past week, a number of users
of the popular photo sharing app Instagram and parent
company Facebook have been locked out of their accounts
and prompted by both services to upload images of
their government issued photo IDs to regain access, as
CNET
first reported on Tuesday.
Concerned users seeking to regain
account access have turned to several outlets online, including Yahoo
Answers, to try and determine whether or not the prompts asking
for images of their IDs are real or are hacking attempts.
… More frustrating still for some
users, not all IDs have been accepted, leading Facebook and Instagram
to send follow-up emails asking users to provide more documentation,
including their birth certificates, if necessary. [I'm
so old, my Birth Certificate didn't come with a photo Bob]
… As it turns out, the requests are
official and are being done by Instagram and Facebook in
response to suspected violations of the two social networks’
distinct terms of
service.
[So this only happens when you are a violator? Bob]
“This is just a general practice for
both Facebook and Instagram to request photo IDs for verification
purposes depending on what type of violation [So not
all violations? Bob] may have occurred,” a spokesperson
for Facebook told TPM.
This is why I carry a small photo of my
lawyer to tape over the camera lens. (I also hack the GPS to say
“Mars”)
Lookout
Android app now snaps your phone thief's image
… A new feature in Lookout
Security & Antivirus for Android, called
Lock Cam, automatically snaps a photo from a phone's front-facing
camera after three unsuccessful unlock attempts. Lookout then sends
you an e-mail about the attempted intrusion, along with a photo of
the culprit.
Users can then log onto Lookout.com to
see the location of the phone, as well as its location history.
… Lock Cam is clearly a lure for
Lookout's Premium service, which costs $30 per year (or $3 per month)
and adds extra features such as remote wipe and remote lock. A new
Premium feature, added in the latest update, lets users add custom
messages to their phones' lock screens, such as a phone number to
call or a request to return the phone to its rightful owner.
Keep in mind, though, that you don't
need to pay Lookout's annual subscription fee to get remote wipe on
Android phones. Third-party apps SeekDroid
and Cerberus
offer remote wipe, remote lock, and other security features for a
one-time fee. Another app that's in beta now, called Android
Lost, provides many of these services for free.
“Maybe we'll notify users, maybe
we'll blame the Credit Card companies...” Would implementing fees
for using the card push enough users back to checks to cost companies
far more than they save? Will they have to give notice?
"A speedbump on the road to a
cash-free economy will go into effect Sunday in the USA, as retailers
in 40 states will have the option of passing
along a surcharge
to customers who pay with credit cards. The
so-called swipe fees arose from the settlement
of a seven-year lawsuit filed by retailers against Visa,
Mastercard, and big banks, who collect an electronic
processing fee averaging 1.5 to 3 percent on transactions
involving credit cards. The banks naturally have opposed the
consumer surcharges, preferring that the extra costs to be passed
along in the form of higher prices. Consumers in ten states
(California, Colorado,
Connecticut, Florida, Kansas, Maine, Massachusetts, New York,
Oklahoma, Texas) won't be affected,
since laws in those states forbid the practice (it seems that
gasoline station owners here in Massachusetts got a different memo,
though). Also, the surcharges won't be collected for debit or
prepaid cards."
Because
you never know when the urge to learn might strike...
The Harvard Classics
Some of the most important works of
literature are a part of the dozens of volumes available in The
Harvard Classics. They were curated by Harvard University president
Charles W. Eliot and were published in 1909. They’re available
in open format here and here..
Project Gutenberg
Project
Gutenberg offers over 40,000 free e-books (free
epub books, free kindle books, read online, or download them).
Bartleby
The go-to source for the classics,
Bartleby.com
features Gray’s Anatomy, the Harvard Classics (see above), the King
James Bible, and just about every major publication you could ever
require.
OER Commons
Open
Educational Resources (aka OER Commons) boasts
more than 40,000, well, resources for teachers.
ICDL – International Children’s
Digital Library
Just like a brick-and-mortar library,
the ICDL
feels just like what you’re accustomed to. It lets you become a
member, take out books, and do even more.
Perspective
I might use this in a Data Mining
scavenger hunt. Find it fast or don't find it at all...
… With “This Link Will Self
Destruct”, you can create short links with all kinds of options.
The
main feature of this site is the ability to make your link expire
after an amount of time you choose. You can choose anywhere between
minutes and weeks. You can also set a certain number of uses before
the link self destructs. This is really useful if you don’t want
your link floating around the Internet for anyone to see. You can
send it to the person you want to see it, and have it go away when
they are done.
In
addition to expiration time, you can also set the level of security.
The more secure the link, the longer it will be. You can add a
password to make it so only people you give that to can get access to
the content of the link.
Similar
tool: DyingLinks.
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