Now the Bullies Can Follow our Kids Home

Bullying has always been an issue on which I've had lots of perspective.  In elementary school, I was pretty heavily bullied for being weird. I just wasn't like other boys my age, and it made me feel terrible about myself. I tried being nice, but I was never able to make any friends.
In middle school, I made sure things were different. I became the thing that I hated the most: a bully. I would love to make fun of other kids behind their backs, and tease. I was really good at making a person sounds stupid. Ever since, I have been very conscious of bullying and ways to so it. However, even for kids back then, one thing made bullying bearable: it stopped when you went home.
Home used to be a place where bullied kids could get solace from their demons. However, with a new trend called cyberbullying,  the bullies can now follow their victims into their homes and continue to torment them. Cyberbullying is when a child torments or bullies a peer through any form of technology. Be it instant message, Facebook comments, or text messages, any form of social technology gives kids the opportunity to torment others. This can make being a bullied child absolutely unbearable. Anytime you turn on a screen, you see a reminder of your unpopularity.
This trend of digital tormenting has gone so far as to include a new term: cyberstalking. Now, if someone is exhibiting a pattern of threatening or unwanted behaviors exclusively through computer mediated communications,  it is known as cyberstalking. When one is this tormented by another through CMC,  it can be hard to have peace of mind, or even feel safe.
But what are we as humans supposed to do in order to prevent these kinds of acts? There are already laws against harassment and stalking, so should cyberbullying be treated any differently? In 2009, the Megan Meier Cyberbullying Prevention Act was introduced, but has since never gained much traction. The act proposes a law under which it would be a felony to send any digital communication with the intent to cause "substantial emotional distress." Until the act, or another like it gets some recognition, it seems like cyberbullying is just something we're going to have to deal with. However, individual websites are taking some measures in order to mitigate the effects or harshness of hateful words.
With a process called disemvowling,  websites can automatically censor or remove the vowels from certain key words. Example: sht or sh*t,  fck or f*ck. With this technique, the message is still able to come across, but feels less harsh for the recipient. Ultimately, the process doesn't do much to mitigate cyberbullying. However, it's all we have currently.
What do you think? Should there be more laws preventing cyberbullying? How can we enforce that law? Would creating such a law infringe upon our rights to free speech? What are some other ways individual companies and websites can mitigate cyberbullying or prevent it altogether? Until we figure out ways to solve this problem, kids will continue to be bullied-- even after they get home.

The Trolls Among Us

Internet trolls are relentless individuals that can ruin peoples lives with just a few simple keystrokes.  They aim to cause chaos with what they say, post, or comment on.  These trolls are people that usually hide behind a fake name and can actually make living out of harassing individuals and making there lives miserable.  They will continue to badger and attack other individuals or groups over the internet until there reputation is damaged, life is ruined, or whatever other motive they have is fulfilled.  Since these individuals do there damage through conversations or or comments they make, the question that arises is- why are they so successful?  It should seem that ignoring these trolls would be easy and should make them go away but that it not the case at all. In an article by PC Mech Media, they describe ways to spot trolls and ways to defeat them. (http://www.pcmech.com/article/spot-defeat-internet-troll/)

Spotting a troll is usually easy.  You just have to look for the most negative person or the person who is giving out the most hatred.  These are the people in forums who attack several or one individual or repeatedly or the ones who's all social media is about attacking people in a negative way.  These are also the users who rarely have a picture and very little information associated with their accounts.  Although, some users who post these things have legitimate reason to do so.  In order to avoid labeling someone as a troll who isn't, you should do a little research on their related accounts and see if their is a history of the same behavior.  Usually, if you cant find anything else on them or there related accounts do show the same behaviors, you are  probably dealing with a troll.

Defeating troll is not so easy.  Although, there are some non-proffessional and less moral measures you can take to stop these trolls, there are also some good ways.  First, you must refrain from engaging with the troll. The troll may seem like its fine by luring you in at first, but you its actually waiting to abuse its power over the internet.  Before engaging with anyone you should research their conversations and any social media profiles.  Next, when engaging in conversations the trolls in them, ignore the troll completely.  Continue commenting and responding to everyone else who is not a troll but leave the troll out.  This defeats the power the troll is trying to obtain over you and eventually it will move on to someone else.  The best thing you can do is to ban a troll.  If you are the head of a forum, its your page they are commenting on, or its your website; you have the power to ban or block the troll.  This will deny any chance the troll has to instigate any problems with you or with people associated with you.

In conclusion, dealing with trolls is something we will all encounter several times as CMC continues to grow and become our main form of communication.  Knowing how to spot and handle these trolls can keep your internet identities and lives running smoothly. Many trolls are dedicated to their craft so be careful not to upset them too much or try to engage in "trolling the troll" or it will probably have negative consequences for you.  Happy trolling.

How I learned to be protective of my personal information

Identity Theft

            At some point in our lives, we all have most likely been exposed to possible attempts at identity theft. As we’ve covered in class, this occurs when somebody tried to steal our personal information to use for their own gain. For me personally, my computer suffered a near-disastrous viral infection from a rogue anti-spyware program called pc optimizer pro last fall. This program seemed legitimate at first, as it claimed to be able help “tweak, repair enhance and protect” my PC. The publisher of this software was not known to me, and I failed to consider the risk that downloading this software would pose.

            Rather than actually be an anti-spyware program, pc optimizer pro tried to tell me that my computer’s legitimate systems files were causing infections and needed to be removed. I saw constant pop-ups of virus infection alerts even when nothing seemed to be wrong. My computer’s system performance began to decline drastically and it turned out later that PC Optimizer Pro is actually a fake antivirus program created to steal one’s bank account information, and possibly make purchases under my name without me even knowing, which fits the criteria of financial identity fraud. Had I agreed to download the full version of the software, the harmful aforementioned software would have had an easy pathway onto my computer for automatically downloading other rogue programs that I was unfamiliar with. Fortunately, the slow system performance that I noticed prevented me from purchasing the full version of the software.

            It is always important to pay attention to our words and actions, because they can be interpreted in many different ways. If people believe that we’re lying, we will lose credibility either way. As our class reading “New Threats to your Privacy” covered, there is always somebody watching us and is constantly aware of what we do. Putting the wrong information out on the web can easily make us victims of things such as Phishing. This means that we constantly receive potentially unwanted messages regarding issues that we don’t feel even feel are important to us.

            In a similar manner, I tried to scour the web for extra web browsers which I felt were faster and had more to offer for my computer. To do so, I simply went onto Google and typed in ‘new internet browser’. I clicked on the first option to pop up because I felt that that browser (which was called Comodo Dragon) was faster and more secure. The reviews even said so themselves. However, the outcome was quite the opposite of what the reviews had said. Soon after, I began to constantly see advertisements pop up everywhere each time I opened a web page up. It became impossible to browse normally for almost an entire month. The advertisements were being caused by a browser hijacker known as Search Protect by Conduit.

            Since getting rid of this of my older computer, I have become extremely paranoid when it comes to safeguarding my personal info on the web. Once the information is put out, it is under the ownership of the website and they are free to do what they please with it. One of the ways I have done that is I have made it a habit for me to change the password on my iPhone once every few weeks.

Deception, Love and a Housewife

http://abcnews.go.com/US/online-love-triangle-deception-end-murder/story?id=14371076

Deception online is a very common thing and one that feeds into the hysteria of predators and dishonest people online. Deception occurs when another person or group of people deliberately make another individual a belief known to be false. Facebook and Twitter accounts have increased the amount and level of deception because of the ability to have many accounts. However, the ease of getting an account also makes it easy for individuals to deceive one another. Previous work on deception found that people in general lie routinely, and several efforts have sought to detect and understand deception. Deception has been used in various contexts throughout human history to enhance attackers' tactics. Social media provide new environments and technologies for potential deceivers. There are many examples of people being deceived through social media, with some suffering devastating consequences to their personal lives.  For example many people watch the show cat fish and that shows deception all the time the entire show is about being deceived. But are these people naïve or believe what they see is the truth. We are horrible at detecting deceivers because of context competent liars adjust to suspicion, liar behavior changes with the situation, believe myths and stereotypes like the gaze avoidance, nervous, and fidgeting and finally we overlook on purpose due to having a sense of security or not wanting to believe the person is a fake. If you’re instincts are telling you this isn’t right listen to yourself.  A story I came across on Abc.news.com was about a  a Two middle-aged lovers who started affair by both posing as teenagers... before torrid romance drove Sunday school teacher to murder 'rival' over woman who didn't exist. Thomas Montgomery began an unplanned online affair with a girl he believed was 18-years-old called 'Jessi' Montgomery told 'Jessi' he was an 18-year-old Marine When Montgomery's wife discovered the affair she sent 'Jessi' a photo of her 46-year-old husband and their two children 'Jessi' broke off the affair and began a new one with Montgomery's 22-year-old co-worker Brian Barrett  Montgomery became so jealous he shot and killed Barrett  It turned out 'Jessi' was in fact a 45-year-old woman called Mary Shieler who used her own daughter's pictures to send to men online. “Jessi” was really her mother pretending to be her online and the real Jessi had no idea this was occurring. Montgomery pleaded guilty to Barrett's murder and was sentenced to 20-years. Prosecutors in New York desperately searched for a reason to charge Mary Shieler, but ultimately, could find no law she had broken.In her defense she claimed that she was keeping Montgomery online so that he couldn't talk to other teenagers. Shieler has never apologized to her daughter and her husband divorced her and Jessi cut off contact.Brian Barrett's parents began a petition to for laws to protect against future deceivers. Since this type of behavior is fairly new in the cyber world the lawmakers have to be very specific when making new laws to prevent these types of occurances from happening again.

Yik Yak Yuck

It's no secret that cyber bullying is becoming an increasing problem in today's world. With the number of kids knowing how to use a cellphone and having access to social media before they're even allowed to see PG-13 movies, there's almost no way of stopping this unfortunately growing trend. We see cyberbullying on most social media sites-Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter (the one I see the most on) but there's a new addition to the social media family that I think brings cyberbullying to a whole new level: Yik Yak.
Yik Yak is twitter of sorts-you leave a short message under a certain number of characters, which can be seen by anyone in your area, and it can be upvoted (like favoriting a tweet) downvoted, and replied to. The thing is, it's completely anonymous. You have no idea who is saying what, who is replying to you, or even who is upvoting or downvoting you. Yik Yak is extremely popular with college students. However, college students aren't my concern when it comes to Yik Yak. When I get on my Yik Yak feed here, I see many people making random comments about their day, a person they saw, how they're excited for a party tonight, etc. There are a few negative comments in that mix, but the student body is so large that no one person can be targeted. College students just have different things to worry about, which makes Yik Yak a pretty harmless app within large universities. The thing that worries me about Yik Yak is high schoolers getting a hold of it. Most cyberbullying stories are those of high school students who have received the grief from their peers-kids that they know personally and see every day. Statistics show that most cyberbullying experiences happen under the age of 18. This could be due to multiple factors such as maturity, free time, and familiarity with the people around you. Regardless of the reason, these kids are ruthless. Some weekends when I go home, I accidentally open Yik Yak, forgetting that I'm out of the Penn State zone and in my high school's zone. What I find on their Yik Yak feed is absolutely mind blowing. There is more name calling than I've ever seen in my life, the nastiest of comments that I can't believe someone around age 15 is saying. I've seen threats of fighting, threats of "boyfriend stealing", but the worst thing I see is students who are pinpointed. The students posting these yaks have no boundaries-they say the person's full name and put whatever horrible story they think of to go along with it. These stories could be true or could be rumors-I have no idea. On these yaks are 50+ upvotes, showing that 50 people agreed with whatever mean thing this person said. There are also comments on the yaks, telling of agreement and "thank you for finally saying this";basically congratulating the person doing the bullying. When I asked my brother, who is in high school with these students, about what the heck is going on with this app, he told me it's all transferring to their school lives. Kids have been sent to the principle's office because they've been accused of a yak. People have stayed home from school because such nasty rumors have been spread about them. Unlike with cyberbullying on other social media sites, where you can see the name and profile of the person posting, Yik Yak could be anyone talking. These students don't know who to turn to; their best friend sitting right beside them could be the person posting all the mean things.
To me, Yik Yak poses the greatest opportunity for cyberbullying yet. The threats, name calling, and rumors are just as bad, but the source isn't right there. With other cyberbullying cases, finding the source and cutting them off was easy because there name was right there. Schools were able to take care of these cases quickly and efficiently. With Yik Yak, you never know if the mean comments are coming from the same person, multiple people, close friends; basically, no one even knows where to start looking. It takes the police and tracking technology to go in and trace the comments back to the phone that it came from. The people posting these yaks feel like they will never get caught, so they keep doing what they're doing, and so far, they've had no repercussions. It's only a matter of time before we hear of suicides due to Yik Yak. Anonymity is one of the things most valued on the internet and in CMC, but when it's doing more evil than it is doing good, something needs to be done.

“Please don’t feed the trolls”

       Saying that there are “evil” people in this world isn’t a new discovery, but saying that they are coming out of every crack and crevice they were in before the internet exploded might be new. The internet opened the doorway for people to upload, and download all types of media, but who is posting and who is commenting. There are a multitude of different types of people who are using the internet and new sites, some people to just find out information while other sit on website just to see the world crumple. Internet Trolling has become a new source of unwanted harassment and disturbance. As Slate, an online news article has stated that, “Internet Trolls really are bad people”. http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/climate_desk/2014/02/internet_troll_personality_study_machiavellianism_narcissism_psychopathy.html

      The study that they did exposed the true personalities of who is online trolling. There are a numerous of different personality disorders that people live with every day, and some use the internet as their feeding ground. In the graph, they asked a question about what they like/enjoy to do online, and one of the answers in a multiple choice question was “trolling others”. Some of people that selected “trolling others” were matched up with certain comments they expressed on websites, and there is a list of different disorders that some people have. Machiavellianism which is the, willingness to manipulate and deceive others, Narcissism: egotism and self-obsession, psychopathy: the lack of remorse and empathy, and sadism: pleasure in the suffering of others, which are all serious disorders. Some of these people like to comment on certain post that are very personal, and hurtful and they put up comments that destroy the purpose of the post.

     One particular comment that distinctly stuck out to me was, “The more beautiful and pure a thing is, the more satisfying it is to corrupt”. A person feels the need to hurt people online, just to see them get offended and people upset.  This type of comment about online trolling show exactly the mind frame a person is in, an evil and hurtful manner. The only way to avoid these online trollers is to; simply not comment on what they say. It is one of those situations when there is a comment that offends or is intended to start a conversation that is “corrupting” the post, to avoid it. The phrase, “Please Don’t Feed the Trolls” is showing people, just like at the beach, if you need the birds they are going to come back and beg for more. They trolling will not stop, unless people just simply ignore it, or don’t allow commenting on certain sites. The online trolling is intended to disrupt online activity, and if people give in and comment on certain posts, they are getting exactly what they wanted in the end. Some comments are being monitored to delete certain trolling situations, but all can’t be stopped online. The only beneficial moment is online trolling is when people end up getting caught, and they are either banned from certain sites or some type of situation happens when they are brought to justice. 

Identity Theft and Money

In class, we defined identity theft as the stealing of other people's financial, medical, personal etc. identities. People who commit this crime use other people's identities in order to get what they want and this can include anything from money to medical care/drugs.

According to the Huffington Post, 2013 was the year that the healthcare industry experienced more breaches in their database than in previous years. Even now that it is 2014, it doesn't look like this issue will die down or completely go away. If anything, it will continue to get worse.

Money is the reason behind this. If you have someone's medial identity, including their SSN, name, address and health ID numbers, then it can be sold on the 'online black market' for fifty dollars. The monetary value of a medical identity can act as an incentive for someone who is good at hacking into databases and can easily access people's medical information. Since a federal mandate made it so that healthcare facilities would have to keep electronic medical records to be reimbursed for Medicaid and Medicare, this made it easier for cyber criminals to get access to this information.

Protecting your medical identity is not an easy task, especially since your medical information can be found in various places and are accessible to the people who know how to get to them. However, there are some things you can do to monitor your medical identity to make sure it hasn't been stolen and these things include: shedding all of your paperwork before throwing it away, keep your insurance card in a safe place at all times, check your credit report annually, and just remain vigilant.

There are chances that you might not be a victim of this kind of identity theft or any other but there are also chances that you will. That said, being careful online and in real life is always a good thing. Remember to dispose of all of your personal info in a manner that will leave it illegible to someone who might potentially go through your trash. Keep her wallet close to you at all times, especially if it contains your insurance card and SSN. Make sure to password protect your phone, tablet, and laptop. Also, try not to keep the same password for long periods of time.

There are people out there who will steal your identity for numerous reasons and while not everyone you meet online or in real life are out to steal your identity, you just have to remember that identity thieves are liars; one of their main purposes is deceive someone or something whether that be insurance companies, the government, law enforcement or someone they care about. There are numerous reasons why people steal other people's identities, and many of those reasons are self-serving. The point is none of those matter once you become the victim, and since identity theft, of any kind, can be expensive to cure, it is better to be safe than sorry.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/joe-ross/finding-a-cure-for-medica_b_6152426.html

Gender Bending: When A Forty Years Old Man Becomes A Cute Dark Elf

I remember this one friend from long time ago. She was a Dark Elf, dressed in a greenish, middle-level wizard robes. Strangely enough, her name was 084 something… possibly her phone number, as I’ve never tried to call. We were good friends; for a lone warrior like me, a wizard is a great help. We stuck together wherever we went, spending so much times together that someone might actually take it as a romance. It was not. I was aware of the fact that everything is in the online world and… how should I put it… to be honest I wasn’t sure if she was really a ‘she’, either…

In the United States, the only humungous and most populated MMORPG that I know of is World of Warcraft. However, back in Asia, the number of such games might result in the hundreds. MMORPG, which stands for Massively Multiplayer Online Role-playing Games, are games that allow you to create you character, your ‘identity’, and perform activities according to the theme of the game including adventure, fighting monsters, racing of any kind, treasure hunting, and much more. The capacity of virtual worlds in MMORPG is gigantic; the number of users can result in the millions. And, needless to say, with games that are based on cooperation and interaction between living human beings, communication is unavoidable. Unfortunately, along with that, some disruptive behaviors follow, the ones worth mentioning being gender bending. Gender bending is when someone of one gender chooses to appear as the opposite gender in online context. Usually gender bending is considered and dishonesty or even betrayal if found out later in relationships, as we can see in examples given in class about Joan and Ms. Terious. However, gender bending in the world of MMORPG has a different motives and consequences, for more exotic than normal social networking sites.

As we probably can tell, majority of MMORPGs players are males. However, the proportion of the two genders of characters in the games is quite equal, even leaning toward females. Seeing female characters played by male players is rather common in this context. Research reports that males are 3-4 times more likely to gender bend than females, and older men are more likely to play a female character than younger males.  Yet, there’s no such thing as considering gender-bending a disruptive behavior, or at least no strong feelings against it. What are the motives of gender benders? And why, then, is gender bending in online games not frowned upon?

Researchers have been conducting online polls and, from numerous comments and answers, come up with top three reasons of gender bending: first, if you are going to look at a butt for hours from now on (most MMORPGs are in third-person perspective), you better look at a nice one. Second, as most games are made by males, female characters’ models are paid more attention and look more fluid and pleasant. Third, female avatars, just like in real world, are treated better. (Not so sure about the last one because as most users are aware of gender bending, sometimes they don’t take it quite seriously.) With the first reason being the most popular and sound, at last gender binding in online games might only be of artistic and sexual appeals.

Why, then, is gender bending acceptable in such context? In my opinion, it all comes down to the concept of goals or functions of the communication. In our examples presented in class, the goal of their communication is to create a relationship, possibly a romantic one. It is very different in the world of online games. There might be cases which female avatars commit fraud or something of that nature to others, but those are less likely. Users gender bend for themselves, and as everybody is aware of it or might even did it before, the disruptive behavior becomes a personal choice as it hurts nobody.

Gender bending itself can be a serious matter, especially to those who are looking for real relationships. In the context of MMORPGs, however, the issue has a new take to it. Despite the interesting nature of gender bending in MMORPGs, lots of people still find their love online and bring it out to the real word. As a computer-mediated technology, the virtual worlds in these games still perform their task; to bring people together no matter where they are.

Words Speak Louder Than Actions

The internet may be one of man’s greatest yet most deadly inventions. Having access to infinite information at your fingertips is truly astounding. We can look up anything as complex as information to help solve a scientific equation and as simple as how to tie your shoes. One of the most popular things people do with the internet is create profile pages to connect with others by posting or leaving others messages through Facebook or dating sites like OkCupid. It’s a great feeling when you post your best pictures and receive positive feedback, post enough information to share your interests with others or post fun comments on one another’s wall. This all may seem great, but it has lead to many horror stories, many resulting in deaths.

Cyberbullying is one of the generation’s biggest concerns as more kids are gaining access to the internet and social media sites. Adolescents already have a rough time dealing with bullying face to face, but now they must deal with the teasing online. Sending hateful messages takes seconds to submit through the web, so people can spam an individual with distasteful messages and links rapidly. One case that shook the nation happened in 2006 to Megan Meier. Meier received a hateful message from a mysterious boy who showed interest at first, but quickly turned against her. She committed suicide after receiving the message, “Everybody in O’Fallon knows how you are. You are a bad person and everybody hates you. Have a shitty rest of your life. The world would be a better place without you.” It was soon discovered that this account was actually Meier’s former friends’ mom. This case shows how easy it is to create a fake account and send hateful messages to someone after building trust.

When it comes to having easy access to infinite information, stalking also becomes a major downfall of the internet. People are able to search your address, look through all of your pictures to dig deep into your past, pinpoint your exact location or even keep up on your daily life by checking all your posts on social media. Many online stalking stories have lead to tragic endings for some, while others were able to escape threatening and unwanted behavior. Online stalking can be as innocent as hyper-intimacy (which is inappropriate or ‘creepy’ forms of courtship) or as intense as harassment and intimidation through the web or online.

Though the internet may seem like one of man’s greatest creations, activities such as stalking and cyberbullying make it a dangerous playground for most. We put our trust in people when we first meet them since it is the fair thing to do. Once they break that trust with false identity, it shakes us up and changes our views of the world. The government is trying to get involved with protecting people from such extreme harassment and bullying. The Megan Meier Cyberbullying Prevention Act was inspired by Megan Meier to enforce anti-bullying and punish those that “send any communication with intent to cause ‘substantial emotional distress.” Unfortunately even though this act was proposed in 2009, it has yet to be passed. People must be very wary of what they post and who they trust on the web to steer clear of the dangerous dark corners of the internet -- a trap that is very easy to fall into.

The Truth

In our discussions on deception, what sticks out the most to me is the notion of trust. I think that trust is something that frequently impacts the lives of all of us. Too much of it leads to vulnerability and pain, and not enough leads to loneliness and isolation. In relationships, we tend to ignore signs of lying because we trust our own ability to decide who to love and who to trust, also known as the truth bias. However, we also have a stronger ability to detect lies in those who we are close to because we can recognize better when their behavior strays from the norm.

Perhaps the most interesting part of trust is that we trust that those close to us will use their best judgment in deciding when to lie to us. It’s clear that most people will lie at some point or another. In class we learned that only 20% of the population believes that lying is never acceptable. What constitutes an acceptable lie? I would guess that each of us have slightly different beliefs about what an acceptable lie looks like, so why do we trust those close to lie only in acceptable circumstances? I think that this pattern illustrates the incredible human capacity for denial.

Another interesting part of deception is the vast array of situations that fit into the category. Deception includes lying about everything from forgetting to do the dishes to lying in a court of law. I had tended to think of lying as more confined to interpersonal relationships, but the impact of lies on a greater scale is perhaps much larger. My high school, Lower Merion, is part of a national initiative called the 1-to-1 program. Each student receives a laptop to use for the school year, and return during the summers. After a student was caught using drugs in his home through the camera on the laptop, my school became national news for “spying on students.”

The real story, however, is that the student had reported his laptop missing in an attempt to steal it. As is written in the contract we all signed to receive the laptops, when a computer is reported stolen, the camera can be activated in an attempt to find its location. He went on to due my school district, and he lost, but to this day when I tell people I went to Lower Merion they either ask me if that’s the school that spies on their students or if I have met Kobe Bryant. (Kobe did go to my high school, and yes I have met him.)

The impact of the students lie cost my district its reputation, and cost him his reputation as well. However, despite the fact that it was proven that the district was not spying on the students, that myth has never gone away. Students still put duct take over their cameras and make jokes about the administration. Lies are certainly problematic when they are caught, but their lasting impression can outlive and overshadow the truth.

A Real Online Deception

 

Online deception is a kind of deception through a medium except face-to-face, the most frequent way to conduct an online deception maybe the email include information verify or URL, the fake message to tell you that you have win a prize. I always consider this kind of deception would only appear in the news and always delete these kinds of messages without reading, but it definitely happened to my roommate last week.

My roommate first received what we called phishing emails, an email used to get personal information. The email included a picture looked like a medical record and the content of the email was:” Here’s your father’s physical examination record, take care of yourself!” the cheater also created a pseudonyms as “Mom”. My roommate was so worries about her father that she didn’t check the email address but directly downloaded the attachment picture. Her password and account includes personal information was stolen in a second by the virus included in the attachment. The cheater used this account to have an online chat with my roommate’s parents, and finally asked her parents to transfer 70,000 dollars to the cheater’s bank account. My roommate realized the deception in the second day when her father called her and asked if she has receive the money. What the cheater did is an identity fraud in financial, he used my roommate’s identity information to engaged crime and obtained a large amount of money from her parents. Text based chatting online is less of nonverbal cues, the cheater pretended to be my roommate, who involved in some troubles in the school and need money immediately. He also said the cellphone was lost so he cannot make a phone call. My roommate’s parents failed to detect the deception because the less of voice and nonverbal cues. They also easily fall into a truth bias, for they simply believe what their “daughter” said because of the close relationship between them.

As we emphasize in class, college students are prime target for online deception. US students usually toss out piles of credit card offers, and their detailed personal information are all online. As for me, I seldom balance my checkbook and keep receipts from bank before I came to Penn State. What’s more, international students like us are more attractive to some criminal. Most of the students from China came from an upper middle class or upper class family, parents usually prepared a huge amount of money for us to finish our university study. We usually carry more than one credit or debit card in order to deal with some unknown emergency problems, that’s why Chinese students usually have more disposable money than other students. Since the limited between two different countries, the method students use to contact parents are based on the internet, like email, QQ (a synchronous chatting software) and video chat. These contain tons of the personal information even the bank information, which provide chances for identity thief to engage crime. 

After my roommate called police, we also realized how important for us to protect our personal information. It should be started by set up personal security, change the frequently-used password monthly and use different passphrase for different things. We also tried to think about complex password in words or sentence instead of simple date of birth. After receive an email or message, double check the address and the link included in the email before open it, and be cautious to download any attachment or software from unfamiliar website. We also let our parents know that they should never trust the request for money without confirmed by a video chat or phone call.

My Mom Caught Me Playing Mob Wars

In our most recent lecture for CAS 283, we discussed the concepts of Identity theft and Identity fraud. These two terms are often associated with each other and often interchanged to mean the same thing but they are actually two different acts involving someone else’s identity. The difference between identity theft and identity fraud are clear when they are defined. Identity theft is the act of stealing someone else’s information and pretending to be that person by assuming their identity. Meanwhile, identity fraud is the act of pretending to be someone else and actually using their stolen information to gain something. There are many types of identity theft and fraud such as financial, criminal, id cloning, synthetic and medical theft or fraud. The most common type being financial, where the information of another’s identity is used to obtain money, goods, or services.

In today’s society people are constantly putting personal information out in cyberspace for a variety of reasons. The internet is a cornucopia of personal information of all its users and when enough of it is collectively used it can be enough to fabricate or represent an identity. In lecture, the professor used a video example of a teenager who was asked to fill out a car application to gain progress in a game on his Facebook page. The user was probably asked to provide just enough information to form an identity and thought nothing of giving out that information. I can’t exactly remember what this particular individual’s information was used for but it was definitely fraudulent. The thing is that once that information is out there, it only takes the right person with the right kinds of skills to access it. I believe I was actually a victim of a case of financial identity theft and fraud.

This incident occurred in the spring of my freshman year of college, when I was a prime target for such theft. I’m sure I was a victim similar to the teenager that filled out the car application simply because I was fairly reckless with very simple information in my younger days (cause I've matured a lot in the past two years…kinda, sorta, not really). Back to my experience, I remember returning home from Spring Break, my father and I were driving back to State College from the Pittsburgh airport and decided to grab take-out dinner from the restaurant that I work at. It was a Friday, I remember because it was the first Friday night I hadn't worked in way too long. I arrive at the restaurant and the parking lot if filled as usual on a Friday night, but among the cars was a tow truck from Altoona which struck me a fairly odd. I continued into the restaurant to get my take-out and chat with some coworkers but then one coworker informed me that the man with the tow truck was actually looking for me. Immediately I became super suspicious and curious so I went out to the tow truck and found the guy driving it and as though he was about to hand me a subpoena, he verified my name and then asked if I had my car. I told him I didn't and he asked where it was, he asked where my ’05 black Honda was. I stopped him immediately because that wasn't my car at all. I told him that no one in my family has a car matching that. He proceeded to tell me he was sent to this address, the restaurant I work at, to repo a ’05 black Honda owned by a Zachary Barlow.

At this point I was completely thrown off guard and began asking too many questions and he showed me his clipboard and the that was the only information he had, was my name, the address of the restaurant I work at, and the type of car to repo. Once I assured him he had faulty information he just took off and I never saw him again. Later that week, my manager calls me and tell me to call this number that’s been harassing the restaurant by calling nonstop requesting me. I called the number and it was a lawyer from Texas. He continued to ask me about the car that I didn't have and then asked me if the last four digits of my SSN were what he had and all I told him was that what he had wasn't it. At that point he apologized to me for all the confusion and trouble and I never heard from him again either. I believe someone took very basic information from my Facebook page and then fabricated an identity from it. I didn't think much of this experience other than the fact that it was bizarre because it was literally by chance that I actually ran into the Altoona tow guy, but my dad along with a few coworkers helped me learn from it in the sense that I need to be much more careful and caution whenever I'm revealing even the most minuscule information online.  

Sticks and Stones May Break Your Bones, and Words Can Actually Kill You...

     We are living in a world where social media and online networking is on a steady increase. The expansion of technology and the proliferation of internet usage has become widely accepted and more appreciated daily. It is apparent that more people have joined the hype over hysteria perspective of technological advancements as they continue to come about. Parents are a large portion of that population in which we see the evolution of trust in the internet grow. Researchers and various communication studies have aided in revealing the way parents are further allowing their children to participate in this new era of communication in which we obsess over; and they often doing so without monitoring them accordingly. Unfortunately for so many of these parents, it has resulted in devastation. It is not unusual that young children, and teenagers are surfing the web and interacting online without the constant supervision of an adult. As a result there has been serious negative effects as we see the numbers of cyberbullying and cyberstalking incidents spike. In today’s blog, I will be discussing the two counterparts as they can be interrelated.

     What is cyberbullying? The definition provided in a CAS 283 lecture is the “willful and repeated harm inflicted through phones and computers.”  Although anyone can be a victim of cyberbullying, we see it most prominent in our adolescences.  Incidents have consisted of offenders sending multiple cruel messages and or threats to their victim(s) using emails, text and etc…Other forms can be through the spreading of hurtful or untrue rumors online, and using photos that may unflatter or defame the victims reputation. These happenings are not innocent and can be traumatic experiences causing multiple issues to those who are affected. Examiners state that cyberbullying has been known to affect teens in the forms of anxiety, depression, and even worst suicide. While youth may not know the seriousness of these actions, it is the responsibility of parent guardians to supervise their children to avoid these instances. Those of you who do not understand the gravity of these undertakings, I would encourage to look into some devastating cases that have resulted in fatality such as Megan Meier. Megan Meir is the martyr and face of cyberbullying. For those who are not familiar with whom she is, she was a 13 year old girl who was a victim of this abuse that resulted in her suicide. The perpetrator in this incident was the mother of one of her friends in which she had a falling out with. She used the popular social networking site Myspace to commit the despicable acts. A fake profile was created in order to interact with Megan as the mother pretended to be a young male. The mother was sending her cruel messages and creating bulletins to deface the reputation of the soon to be 14 year old girl. Once the manipulation began it was too much for the young girl, who discovered had suffered from prior issues with her emotional state of being. As a result of what her friend’s mother did, Megan Meier committed suicide by hanging herself on October 17, 2006. The only positive that came out of this tragic incident is the effect it had on legislature and the awareness it has since brought to the public. There is now an act called the “Megan Meier Prevention Act,” in which works with respects to cyberbullying and protecting other youths like Megan. The story of this young lady draws attention back to the concept of deception which I explicated in the post prior to this one. The internet has made it particularly easy to mislead others that you connect with the way her friend’s mother did her. I am confident in saying I do not believe that Megan had ever even fathomed the idea of the profile being illegitimate. This idea often invokes me to question the overall safety of the internet in its entirety.

     Cyberstalking is another negative concept we are beginning to acquire more about. The definition of cyberstalking was also provided by a Cas 283 lecture and says it is “a pattern of behaviors that collectively is threatening or unwanted using the internet.” Cyber stalkers can target an individual, group, or organization and can include slandering, harassment, and defacing their victims. They often use the method of inducing fear and threatening to provoke the victims of their acts. As technology continued to develop, more information about cyberstalking will come about. In my findings it is not as popular as the discussion of cyberbullying. All in all I advise all parent to constantly monitor their children as they use the internet and web. I also encourage people to disclose less information online and be less trusting due to the increase in the ability to deceive others using computer mediated devices when communicating opposed to meeting in person.

By: Normani J. Marbury

Crooks and Deception in Online Video Games

Online Deception: Video Games

            In today’s world, younger generations are not becoming aware to the dangers of online communication. Our generation has learned from past experiences and news reports of online deception over the last decade or so. It has been made well aware that any information one puts on the Internet that is accessible, professional hackers can and will be take that information easily. Kids these days are absolutely obsessed with social media and video games, well from what I have seen in my hometown neighborhoods. Kids don’t go outside anymore, all of them are glued to their phones, computers, and video game systems as if being ranked number one on some pointless video game will allow them to succeed in life. Now most of these kids these days, are playing video games that are rated M for mature… how do these kids get these games? Their parents buy them for them. An example is my neighbor, who is 10, was bought Grand Theft Auto 5 for Christmas. Now in this game I have learned there’s an online world where you can create your own persona and buy guns and do missions with whoever else is online. However, you have to create a profile, which asks if you are over 18 years old, not only that but you are able to talk to whoever else in the world that is playing online with you. Since you have no idea who that person is, you trust them that they will work along with you during these missions and not betray you, or worse, kill you. However, some online gamers live off of deceiving gamers by presenting the idea of truth biases in their minds. Your partner shoots a rocket launcher at the car you are about to go in and say that they meant to aim for the car behind you; you believe him because he has the rocket launcher, is a higher level, and seems like he is telling the truth. You don’t fully scrutinize him, you just let it slide, doubting that it will happen again. This game opens up a world of kids to be bullied by those more experienced and older to take full advantage by any means necessary.

            Now for my next point I am going to stay with the subject of children and video games. The other day, my friend showed me a YouTube video of a man, Joe, in his 30s who lives off of trolling kids and hackers online. In one video, a gamer that sounds like he is in his teens, is easily heard telling Joe that he is one of Microsoft Gaming’s leading managers in his state and would like to reward Joe with some Microsoft cash for playing so well in his Call of Duty game. Joe immediately states to the audience before anything starts that this kid is going to commit identity theft, and boy was he right. This kid begins to ask Joe for his credit card, Microsoft email and password, gamer tag username and password, and even his social security card number. This kid is either a hacking genius, or else he could be going to prison really soon if he keeps up his antics. This kid is committed three out of the five types of identity theft. He is doing so financially by trying to obtain Joe’s credit card, he attempts identity cloning by trying to get Joe’s game tag username and password, so that he can take over Joe’s account and play as him, messing with other gamers so they think it’s Joe. Last but not least, he is using a synthetic approach, by asking Joe for his SSN and use it not only to use for security question purposes, but to enable any type of reward it might have connected to it, such as benefits. Joe is able to deceive the hacker himself by asking the hacker to reiterate some of the facts he has said about himself, concluding in the hacker to have a lack of reason and lack of directness. The hacker becomes agitated with Joe saying he should not have to repeat anything he has said because he could shut down his account immediately. Joe messes with him for a little, in which the hacker is losing his touch taking longer to answer Joe’s question, becoming more cognitively complex. The hacker finally becomes so pissed off that he says he will terminate his account and signs off, and to this day Joe’s account has been safe and sound.

            Now because Joe is an adult and has a lot of experience with these types of hackers, it seems comical to us what occurs. But what happens when children ages 7 to 14 years old who are playing online and run into these crooks. They aren’t going to be able to outsmart these criminals, and information will be given away, leading to the possibility of thousands of money from families to be stolen, along with that child’s identity. Online security needs to be cracked down by parents or guardians or else future generations will vanish from identity fraud before they are old enough to make a resume.