State of the Net 2009
The June 2009 issue of Consumer Reports contains a recurring report they do assessing the state of the Net with respect to cybercrime (last such report was in November 2008).There’s lots of great information describing the cybercrime problem: For instance, they estimate viruses did $5.8 billion in damages. That works out to an average of $66.51 per Internet-using household in the US. Among other useful things, they have published a short article describing five ways to stay safer online.
Given the audience, which I believe is similar to those I am trying to reach in this blog, I think the advice is reasonable and simple enough. Trouble is, the average Internet user probably won’t be able to follow every suggestion.
For example, here’s tip #3: “Control the privacy settings on your social-networking sites.” OK, now how do you do that? What settings, in particular, should be changed? Where do I find them? What values should I select? Without that site specific information, or a pointer to it, I doubt many people are going to know what to do. So the article seems to put a little wind in your sails to get you moving, then you abruptly come to a stop.
Taking a quick glance around, I’m overwhelmed by the number of details on social network privacy, such those provided by EPIC, the Electronic Privacy Information Center. I found one page at the Illinois State University site that appears authoritative to me, but how would an average Internet user know if it was reliable?
The upshot is I believe my blog would be more impactful if I provided authoritative advice on the technical settings you should make from your computer to guard against cybercrime. What do you think?