Mobile phone GPS (global positioning system) is often accurate in less than 100 feet. Many mobile apps work with GPS to inform you of local restaurants, banks, gas stations and attractions. Mobile phone GPS is also being used for driving navigation too, but I don’t find it as effective.
In this amazing age of progressive technology the uses seem unlimited. The good guy often finds out what he can do to improve his life with technology and the bad guy uses it to ruin others.
A U.S. Justice Department report last year estimated that more than 25,000 adults in the U.S. are victims of GPS stalking annually, including by cell phone.
The Wall Street Journal reports “The Federal Communications Commission required U.S. cellular providers to make at least 95% of the phones in their networks traceable by satellite or other technologies by the end of 2005. The agency’s intention was to make it easier for people in emergencies to get help. GPS chips send signals to satellites that enable police and rescue workers to locate a person.”
Mobile phone GPS can generally be activated in 2 ways. First, phone carriers offer a service to track the phone for a monthly fee. The service acts to find the phone if it’s lost or to be used by parent or a spouse to keep tabs on their families. Employers often activate GPS to locate employees. Once activated the carrier sends a text message to the phone alerting the person they are being tracked via the phones GPS. The person paying the bill who is responsible for the contract is usually the person who can turn on tracking.
Second, mobile phone spyware. Software is installed on the phone that allows for another level of “keeping tabs”. The software will locate the phone via GPS and also keep track of all the text messages and phone calls too. In this scenario spyware is most often installed manually by someone who has access to the device. Otherwise in rare instances it can be installed remotely.
“Stalkers” who use the phones GPS are usually someone close to the victim like a family member or ex- boyfriend/girlfriend that has the capability of turning on tracking.
If you suspect your phone’s GPS has been activated by the carrier then call to find out. If you don’t’ like the feature turned on, request it be turned off or get another phone under your own name. If you believe the phone has been compromised by spyware then call your carrier and request they walk you through the process of reinstalling the phones operating system. This will wipe away any spyware that tracks via GPS.
The United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, and India are now planning to ban Blackberrys in their countries. The Blackberry service uses encrypted connections between devices and the email and web browsing service, which are operated from North America. The above countries have a policy of monitoring the email, messaging and browsing of their citizens, and even of foreign visitors to those countries.
It seems that RIM, the maker of Blackberry, is looking to add security back-doors so that governments in these countries can spy on Blackberry users in those areas.
Facebook takes on the issue is the data that was scraped wasn’t private at all. To a degree, I agree. The data is being shared through the site, it’s already public.
Here’s how it went down: a good guy hacker developed a program that went through all 500 million profiles and was able to skim (scrape) all the data from Facebook that wasn’t locked down via the users Facebook privacy settings. Basically if you didn’t lock your privacy settings down, it’s now available in this file. If you lock down your settings today, it’s still in this file.
What’s the point? Hackers like to tinker, and some like to make a point. It seems the hacker here wanted to make a point that your data on social media is up for grabs whether you like it or not.
What’s the risk? It seems the format and way the data was compiled is now searchable in a way that can benefit advertisers and marketers. Can it be used by thieves? It’s too early to tell. In this situation my first concern would be data that you may not want to be around in 20 years that may damage your reputation down the road.
This incident should highlight the lack of privacy and lack of security that exists in social media. Recognize that whatever information you share online, can ultimately end up in anyone’s hands, whether you like it or not.
Lock down your privacy settings and be very conscious of what you share. It may bite you someday.
Robert Siciliano personal and home security expert to Home Security Source discussing social media Facebook scammers on CNN. Disclosures.
If you are short of cash and are in need of some quick money, you can get a payday loan. Payday finance loans are a small loan that you must pay when you get your next salary. Because of its short-term nature, some states have laws that set a maximum amount that can be lent to borrowers. This allows casual borrowers to have just enough cash to get through to the next payday without worrying too much about long-term commitments.
When you acquire a payday loan, make sure that you’re not trapped into excessive interest rates. The last thing you want is to spend all your hard-earned money into paying off your loans. You must not get into the habit of always seeking out loans and accruing ridiculous interest rates. Make it your goal to live a life that is free from stress and loan commitments.
You can find loan companies from the internet. They will require you to fill out an application form where you state personal information such as your bank statement, Social Security number, and address. Some institutions would require you to write a voided check which you will have to fax over to their office.
Just a word of advice: Don’t ask too much. Asking too much money would give the impression that you are out of control and will not be able to settle your debts in the future. Unless it’s really for an emergency, refrain from borrowing too much money that is beyond your means to pay.
If you have a bed credit history, you will have a hard time convincing these companies to lend you cash advance loans. This is understandable, as most of these companies would simply like to know your capacity to pay them on time. But they might still be able to approve you if you show them that you have a steady job or source of income.
Today, it is difficult to have a loan approved because of the present economic problems. Everyday, numerous people are being laid off from work that is why it is not surprising that lending companies thoroughly scrutinize borrowers before they grant loan requests.
Most people do not have the capability to pay off debts anymore because plenty of them are out of jobs. Nevertheless, acquiring a home, going to college, buying expensive things, and improving homes are still possible in these tough times. Yes, these are all possible with home equity lines of credit and home equity loans.
A home equity line of credit is an amount of loan that a person can withdraw whenever he needs it. If he uses the funds from this kind of home equity debt, he has to pay the interest that is often at a flexible rate. Otherwise, he pays for nothing except for the annual fee. On the other hand, a home equity loan is a home equity debt that pays him lump sums that are often at fixed interest rates. Home equity fast cash loans also offer great advantages.
For instance, they are immediate sources of money. A person can easily avail of them if he has an available equity in his home. In addition, he can utilize the amount he has gotten from the loan in whichever way he desires.
Well, loan lenders typically review their clients’ portfolios to know how they intend to use the funds they are trying to borrow. However, it all ends there. They can read the details but they do not have any actual control over how the money borrowed is going to be spent.
Moreover, the interests that are paid are usually tax deductible; but individuals who have higher salaries may not notice the huge tax advantage because the tax deductible portions in home equity cash loans for bad credit are based on percentage. Nonetheless, a home equity loan offers very good interest rates; making it better than a credit card.
Identity theft has been occurring more often lately. Protecting against identity theft has become more increasingly important nowadays because of this. It is estimated that approximately 10,000,000,000 people are affected each and every single year because of this crime.
This crime has no prejudice. Children are affected and elderly are also affected. Basically if you have an ID card or a Social Security number you will at one point be possibly become a victim of id theft. It is estimated that 70% of the victims of id theft will never get rid of negative information on their records as a result of this crime.
A lot of people think that simply shredding all their important documents with their information on it will be enough to stop this crime. Some even go as far as to hide their Social Security number and avoid using it whenever possible.
Unfortunately 45% of the people who do these things have a chance at becoming a victim of identity theft at some point. In order to safeguard yourself from the damaging effects of ID theft it is much better take your protection to the next level. There are solutions available that will help safeguard you from being a victim of ID theft.
The best protection against identity theft should benefits for you including fraud resolution assistance, ATM and visa card protection wherever you go, child monitoring services in case in case one of your children ever becomes a victim of ID theft and also most importantly a financial guarantees to cover you if you ever become a victim of this silent crime. Protecting against identity theft is an important step you should take in protecting your name and your finances.
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