Staying Safe Online -- Are You REALLY Anonymous?

It's tempting to feel that you're anonymous online, protected from potential cyberstalkers by cryptic user names and website privacy settings. But is that really true? How easy is it for a malicious person to track someone down, based solely on personal information they've made available?

We launched an investigation to find out.

The process started by picking a random person on Flickr. She had an unusual user name that we're going to call French Puppy (although all personal details have been changed), so no obvious clues there, but her profile linked to a personal website, LeahTphotos.com. First name Leah, but what was the T?

Website registration details often include the name and address of the creator, so we searched for "LeahTphotos.com" at whois.net. No luck, though, as it was registered to the name of a web design company, presumably the folks who built the site.

People often use the same user name around the web, and so we next tried searching for "French Puppy" at Google. Some hits, but not the right person.

Maybe her website name was the key? We tried another Google search for "LeahTphotos.com" and Leah, and success - we found a reference on another site that included her full name, a real breakthrough.

Entering this at Facebook gave us several hits, but we recognised her photo as a match for others on Flickr. The account was private, but revealed that she was in the Brighton network, and provided a list of all her friends. Within 60 seconds we had her phone number from BT.com, while 192.com helped out with her address, details of the neighbours, and even a handy map revealing how to get to her house.

That was enough, and we then emailed our test subject to explain what we were doing and why. She's since removed the page that linked LeahTPhotos.com to her full name, and so is a little safer as a result.

But what's really worrying isn't just that we could uncover so much in less than five minutes work on the very first person we tried. It's that the next two individuals we investigated were even easier to track down. And that suggests your privacy could be compromised just as quickly, unless you follow very strict rules about what you say online.

Seven rules for staying safe online

1. Don't give away your real name unless it's absolutely necessary.

2. If you register a domain name for a website then consider getting privacy protection as well. This lets you register with your real details, but ensures they're not available to the public, and is an option now offered by many companies (1steuro.net say they include it for free).

3. Don't tell people where you live, or work. Don't hint at it, perhaps saying you've just visited a particular place because it's "just around the corner".

4. It really should be obvious to say don't post details like your phone number online, but astonishingly people do this quite frequently. Try a Google search like "my cell number is" site:myspace.com to see what we mean.

5. Don't post links between your various internet homes, for example telling people on favourite forum A that you also post on message board B. And don't register the same user name everywhere. This only makes it easier to stalkers to follow you around the web, put together clues from different places, and uncover useful information.

Staying Safe Online -- Are You REALLY Anonymous?

It's tempting to feel that you're anonymous online, protected from potential cyberstalkers by cryptic user names and website privacy settings. But is that really true? How easy is it for a malicious person to track someone down, based solely on personal information they've made available?

We launched an investigation to find out.

The process started by picking a random person on Flickr. She had an unusual user name that we're going to call French Puppy (although all personal details have been changed), so no obvious clues there, but her profile linked to a personal website, LeahTphotos.com. First name Leah, but what was the T?

Website registration details often include the name and address of the creator, so we searched for "LeahTphotos.com" at whois.net. No luck, though, as it was registered to the name of a web design company, presumably the folks who built the site.

People often use the same user name around the web, and so we next tried searching for "French Puppy" at Google. Some hits, but not the right person.

Maybe her website name was the key? We tried another Google search for "LeahTphotos.com" and Leah, and success - we found a reference on another site that included her full name, a real breakthrough.

Entering this at Facebook gave us several hits, but we recognised her photo as a match for others on Flickr. The account was private, but revealed that she was in the Brighton network, and provided a list of all her friends. Within 60 seconds we had her phone number from BT.com, while 192.com helped out with her address, details of the neighbours, and even a handy map revealing how to get to her house.

That was enough, and we then emailed our test subject to explain what we were doing and why. She's since removed the page that linked LeahTPhotos.com to her full name, and so is a little safer as a result.

But what's really worrying isn't just that we could uncover so much in less than five minutes work on the very first person we tried. It's that the next two individuals we investigated were even easier to track down. And that suggests your privacy could be compromised just as quickly, unless you follow very strict rules about what you say online.

Seven rules for staying safe online

1. Don't give away your real name unless it's absolutely necessary.

2. If you register a domain name for a website then consider getting privacy protection as well. This lets you register with your real details, but ensures they're not available to the public, and is an option now offered by many companies (1steuro.net say they include it for free).

3. Don't tell people where you live, or work. Don't hint at it, perhaps saying you've just visited a particular place because it's "just around the corner".

4. It really should be obvious to say don't post details like your phone number online, but astonishingly people do this quite frequently. Try a Google search like "my cell number is" site:myspace.com to see what we mean.

5. Don't post links between your various internet homes, for example telling people on favourite forum A that you also post on message board B. And don't register the same user name everywhere. This only makes it easier to stalkers to follow you around the web, put together clues from different places, and uncover useful information.

Surf Porn at Work? Get Fired.

By Howard Levitt

The Internet enables people to watch more pornography than ever before, even at work. However, despite its rising popularity, it hasn't become any more acceptable to the mainstream and is often part of sexual harassment in the workplace.

Bad taste makes the day go by faster. --Andy Warhol

When business was slow, Greg Backman, a supervisor at Maritime Paper Products, would surf sex sites on his office computer up to three hours a day. The company never complained Backman was gratifying himself instead of performing his job. Neither did any of the people he supervised. On the contrary, the company was satisfied with the job he was doing.

It kept giving him raises and excellent reviews. Backman must have truly been talented to get his work done while surfing the Web for sex for hours a day. The company, like many employers, had an "Acceptable Use Policy" for work computers. Surfing for sex sites wasn't one of them. At the same time, it was aware of Backman's habit.

Several years earlier, he was warned to stop watching pornography at work or he would be fired but no one ever followed through on the warning. His great ratings continued. The company finally pulled the plug when a woman from the company's Manager of Information Services complained. Her job was to monitor everyone's computer use which required her to look at the images on Backman's computer, most of which were explicit images of young women engaged in sex acts. She told the company she found the images highly offensive. Maritime immediately fired Backman.

The court sided with the company. Justice McLellan of the New Brunswick Queens Bench stated, by displaying sexual images on his work computer, Backman was sexually harassing the woman in Information Services. In law, Maritime had a duty to protect her. It could not permit Backman to surf pornographic sites at work if it meant female co-workers would see it and be offended. Besides, Backman was warned and knew the risk he was running.

The company did the right thing by firing Backman because he placed the company at risk to be sued by the woman in Information Services for allowing him to sexually harass her. The lessons for employers are clear:

- Pornography in the workplace is not harmless entertainment. If an employee views pornography on a work computer, the employer may have cause for termination.

- If other employees are, in the course of their job, forced to see another employee's pornography collection, it can lead to claims of sexual harassment.

- Employers should make it clear to all employees that work computers cannot be used to view pornography or any material that might offend other employees. This protects the employer from claims it permitted sexual harassment and strengthens the employer's hand in firing employees that refuse to stop.

Howard Levitt, counsel to Lang Michener LLP, is an employment lawyer who practises in eight provinces and is author of several texts, including The Law of Dismissal for Human Resources Professionals, recently released.

ORIGINAL ARTICLE POST HERE

Surf Porn at Work? Get Fired.

By Howard Levitt

The Internet enables people to watch more pornography than ever before, even at work. However, despite its rising popularity, it hasn't become any more acceptable to the mainstream and is often part of sexual harassment in the workplace.

Bad taste makes the day go by faster. --Andy Warhol

When business was slow, Greg Backman, a supervisor at Maritime Paper Products, would surf sex sites on his office computer up to three hours a day. The company never complained Backman was gratifying himself instead of performing his job. Neither did any of the people he supervised. On the contrary, the company was satisfied with the job he was doing.

It kept giving him raises and excellent reviews. Backman must have truly been talented to get his work done while surfing the Web for sex for hours a day. The company, like many employers, had an "Acceptable Use Policy" for work computers. Surfing for sex sites wasn't one of them. At the same time, it was aware of Backman's habit.

Several years earlier, he was warned to stop watching pornography at work or he would be fired but no one ever followed through on the warning. His great ratings continued. The company finally pulled the plug when a woman from the company's Manager of Information Services complained. Her job was to monitor everyone's computer use which required her to look at the images on Backman's computer, most of which were explicit images of young women engaged in sex acts. She told the company she found the images highly offensive. Maritime immediately fired Backman.

The court sided with the company. Justice McLellan of the New Brunswick Queens Bench stated, by displaying sexual images on his work computer, Backman was sexually harassing the woman in Information Services. In law, Maritime had a duty to protect her. It could not permit Backman to surf pornographic sites at work if it meant female co-workers would see it and be offended. Besides, Backman was warned and knew the risk he was running.

The company did the right thing by firing Backman because he placed the company at risk to be sued by the woman in Information Services for allowing him to sexually harass her. The lessons for employers are clear:

- Pornography in the workplace is not harmless entertainment. If an employee views pornography on a work computer, the employer may have cause for termination.

- If other employees are, in the course of their job, forced to see another employee's pornography collection, it can lead to claims of sexual harassment.

- Employers should make it clear to all employees that work computers cannot be used to view pornography or any material that might offend other employees. This protects the employer from claims it permitted sexual harassment and strengthens the employer's hand in firing employees that refuse to stop.

Howard Levitt, counsel to Lang Michener LLP, is an employment lawyer who practises in eight provinces and is author of several texts, including The Law of Dismissal for Human Resources Professionals, recently released.

ORIGINAL ARTICLE POST HERE