Protect our Earth - follow these tips for recycling electronics

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It's Earth Day!  NMC encourages our clients, freinds and blog readers to be earth friendly when it comes to managing broken or unwanted electronics.  We encourage you to "e-cycle" electronics to ensure that toxins such as lead in these devices do not end up in our landfills.  Read our post: How to "e-cycle" broken and unused electronics for great tips on how to   If your electronics are still in good working order, why not donate your devices to a person or organization that can put them to good use. 

NOTE: While protecting the Earth, please don't forget to protect your privacy - before donating your electronics, you should take time to clear your personal infomation from devices such as computers and mobile phones.  Here's a tip on how to remove personal information from your hard drive.

The Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA)

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According to Wikipedia, The Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) is defined as follows:

The act, effective April 21, 2000, applies to the online collection of personal information by persons or entities under U.S. jurisdiction from children under 13 years of age. It details what a website operator must include in a privacy policy, when and how to seek verifiable consent from a parent or guardian, and what responsibilities an operator has to protect children's privacy and safety online including restrictions on the marketing to those under 13. While children under 13 can legally give out personal information with their parents' permission, many websites altogether disallow underage children from using their services due to the amount of paperwork involved.

To learn how this federal law might affect your website, please visit the Federal Trade Commission's website at:  http://business.ftc.gov/privacy-and-security/children%E2%80%99s-online-privacy

Beware of malware on your computer to protect your privacy

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This week we are discussing ways to protect your privacy while browsing online.  One of the key threats to your online privacy is malware which can be picked up from email attachments, clicking on links to unknown websites, clicking on pop-up windows, file sharing via the web or free downloads.  Microsoft describes the term malware as being derived  from the "two words 'malicious software,' and refers to any software that is designed to cause damage to a computer, server, or network.  Viruses, spyware, worms, key loggers, and Trojans are examples of malware.  If you click links that are disguised as images, audio, or video files which might appear on suspicious websites or in Instant Messages (IMs) or email messages, you might expose your computer to malware. In some cases, malware can even be hidden in files that have been uploaded to reputable websites.  Malware can:

• Corrupt data.
• Slow down your computer.
• Use your email or instant message(IM) program to spread itself to other computers.
• Erase everything on your computer.
• Result in identity theft or give a criminal access to your web accounts."*

To help protect your computer from malware, you should should install anti-virus software including a firewall and be sure to update the software regularly.  As an extra preventive step, adjust the security settings on your browser to control the types of websites that can be accessed, block pop-ups, how cookies are handled, etc.

If you have malware on your computer and need help removing those files, give us a call at  (212) 851-8426 to make an appointment.

See also:

• Help! My PC is infected with malware (FAQ)
• Apple - Mac OS X - Security - Keeps safe from viruses and malware
• How to prevent spyware
• A guide from the Federal Trade Commission - Minimizing the Effects of Malware of Your Computer

*Source: www.microsoft.com/protect/learnabout/iemalware.aspx

Could your online activity be costing you a job? Learn how to manage your online identity!

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According to a New York Times article entitled "The Web Means the End of Forgetting," a Microsoft study found that "75 percent of U.S. recruiters and human-resource professionals report that their companies require them to do online research about candidates, and many use a range of sites when scrutinizing applicants — including search engines, social-networking sites, photo- and video-sharing sites, personal Web sites and blogs, Twitter and online-gaming sites. Seventy percent of U.S. recruiters report that they have rejected candidates because of information found online, like photos and discussion-board conversations and membership in controversial groups."  If you are even considering applying for a new job, now is the time to ensure that your online presence only shows you in the most positive light!

Here is a summary of tips from ReputationDefender.com, to help you discover what information is linked to you on the web but also ways to manage any negative information/activity that might scare off a potential employer.

• Edit the privacy settings for all your social network accounts to limit the information that others can view about you.
• Google yourself to find out what, if any, negative content might exist about you on the web.
• Edit or delete any poorly written, inappropriate, or defamatory blog posts, forum comments that you have made - especially if they are about a former employer!
• If there are photos of you doing anything that an employer might find questionable on Facebook or Flickr, untag yourself.
• If it's not possible to remove the embrassing content on any website on your own, try requesting that the person that posted the content remove it.
• In extreme cases, you may need to hire a repuation management firm to manage your online reputation.
• In the event that someone with a similar name has questionable content on the web, be sure to explain to potential employers at the beginning of the interview process - or even in your cover letter.
• There is a chance that you may not be able to avoid being linked to negative content on the web so proactively maintaining your personal brand on the web by writing a blog showcasing your expertise or by posting about topics and news related to your profession on Twitter is great way to help counteract any negative content that may be posted about you.

Facebook raises privacy concerns again with new "Subscribe to" feature

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Facebook already allows us to subscribe to status updates via SMS.  Now, Facebook is testing a new "Subscribe to" feature among a small number of users.  The feature allows a user to be notified of all actions such as status updates or photo uploads of another user or a business page.  This is separate from your news feed which shows only top news or the most recent activities of your friends and business pages that you like. 
Fast Company goes as far as saying that this new feature is "stalker-friendly" when applied to personal pages.  AllFacebook suggests that this feature is best suited for business pages only.  With all the recent backlash against Facebook regarding privacy, let's hope Facebook chooses not to roll-out this feature for individual users and limit it to business pages.