MakeUseOf » personal safety

How to Use Google Person Finder to Locate Loved Ones After a Disaster

Ryan Dube — Wed, 01 May 2013 22:30:14 +0000

Living barely an hour and a half from Boston, it was a bit surreal to watch the aftermath of the recent Boston Marathon bombings. I know there are lots of readers from different countries that frequent MUO, and many of those countries are somewhat violent - where bombings are not a rarity. However - in Boston, bombings are very much a rarity. And when things are rare, tpeople are unprepared for the aftermath.

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Don’t Be A Victim – Your Smartphone As A Personal Safety Device

Ryan Dube — Thu, 28 Feb 2013 19:00:44 +0000

Whether you're a man or a woman, visiting new places can introduce a long list of dangers that you are not aware even exists - especially if it's the first time you've ever been there. Almost every place in the world has a "bad part of town" or a certain criminal element. When you travel, you should have certain tools and personal security measures in place to protect yourself and your property.

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FBI & White Collar TV Show Team Up With Internet Users To Solve Real Crimes [Updates]

Dave LeClair — Thu, 24 Jan 2013 21:00:07 +0000

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is teaming up with the hit television show White Collar to try to solve real-world crimes. The FBI and USA Network (the channel on which White Collar airs) created the aptly named "Real Life White Collar Crimes" to let viewers of the show contribute to solving crimes and recovering missing items.

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Why Internet Monitoring Laws Will Make Criminals Harder to Catch [Opinion]

James Bruce — Sun, 23 Dec 2012 18:31:24 +0000

While the ITU is busy behind closed doors trying to take away Internet freedoms on a global scale, the UK government brazenly announced plans to give wide-reaching Internet monitoring powers to various British agencies as well as increasing the amount of retention time of data ISPs must store. The so-called "web snooping" plans have been met with widespread criticism.

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Ho Ho Ho, Viagra: Top Ways Spammers Can Get Your Email Address At Christmas

Christian Cawley — Thu, 20 Dec 2012 21:30:42 +0000

The problem is that not all businesses “trading” at Christmas are reputable. While you can trust your shopping center chains and online giants, there are plenty of businesses operating both in plain sight and behind the scenes that are trading not in gifts, but in data – your data. Specifically, I’m talking about email addresses, and the remarkable number of ways that scammers can farm them over the Christmas period.

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Prepare For The Worst: Disaster Recovery Tips You Need To Use Now

Aaron Couch — Tue, 20 Nov 2012 02:01:50 +0000

No! This is not happening to you right now! It’s 1:30 AM, you’re almost finished with your huge project due at 8 AM and your computer just crashed and won’t turn on! Worse yet, you haven’t saved for a whole two hours because you were so far in the “just get it done” zone that you completely forgot to save it. How are you going to explain this to the rest of the people relying on you to get this done?

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Solving Crime With Social Media [INFOGRAPHIC]

Mark O'Neill — Sat, 20 Oct 2012 16:01:31 +0000

If Dick Wolf is looking for his next police procedural drama series, I have a suggestion for him - Law and Order - Social Media Unit. A dedicated team of detectives who use Facebook and Twitter to hunt down their prey. These are their stories. Clunk-clunk. Yes, I can see it becoming the next big hit. Royalty checks care of MakeUseOf.com please.

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Not Just Email: Your Voice Mail Can Be Hacked, Too – Here’s How To Secure It

Christian Cawley — Wed, 03 Oct 2012 19:01:49 +0000

Much has been made throughout 2011 and 2012 of the dangers of phone hacking. While many of the victims of the practice – in this case sponsored by major news organizations – were celebrities, politicians and sportsmen, many more were real, regular people who may or may not have been involved with slightly more famous [...]

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Know Your Rights: Are You Using Safe & Friendly Online Services?

Chris Hoffman — Mon, 01 Oct 2012 23:31:27 +0000

Do you know how the web services you choose use your data? Do they claim a broad copyright to it, remove your rights to a class-action lawsuit in the USA, or share your information with other companies? Or are they a well-behaved service that respects your rights? The answer to this is in each website’s terms of service - unfortunately, no one has the time to read those.

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7 Important Email Security Tips You Should Know About

Joel Lee — Fri, 14 Sep 2012 02:01:37 +0000

Internet security is a topic that we all know to be important, but it often sits way back in the recesses of our minds, fooling ourselves into believing that "it won’t happen to me". Whether it’s the destructive force of the newest virus or just the hacking attempts of a newbie scriptkiddy, we’re always only one click away from dealing with a security mess that we’d rather not confront. Nowhere is this truer than in our emails.

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AT&T Launches No Text While Driving Campaign And Pledge Day [Updates]

Bakari Chavanu — Sun, 19 Aug 2012 17:30:14 +0000

To address the staggering rates of automobile and death related accidents caused by people texting while driving, AT&T is launching a nationwide "It Can Wait" campaign to urge Americans to stop texting while behind the wheel. Over 100,000 automobile accidents and related injuries occur each year while drivers are texting, said AT&T Chairman & CEO Randall Stephenson, citing a statistic from the National Safety Council.

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5 Steps You Should Take NOW To Make Your Email & Social Media Accounts Recoverable

Tina Sieber — Wed, 11 Jul 2012 23:31:06 +0000

There are three great tragedies of the Internet age - losing access to the internet, a serious malware infection that ultimately prevents access to the Internet, and forgetting passwords and thus losing access to online accounts. Two of these tragic events can easily be prevented or fixed, provided you took the necessary precautions. This article will show you how to prepare your online accounts to make them recoverable.

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Find The Best iOS And Android Apps For Your Children With The Help Of These 3 Websites

Saikat Basu — Mon, 25 Jun 2012 18:00:09 +0000

Where do you go to ensure that your child has a kid-friendly experience on an iPad? These three services (among a few more) help out by sifting through the clutter and giving you personalized recommendations on the best apps to choose for your children for both iOS and Android smart devices.

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The Internet Scam Hotspots [INFOGRAPHIC]

Mark O'Neill — Tue, 19 Jun 2012 15:03:31 +0000

When the Internet hit the mainstream and everyone jumped into email, personal websites and online banking, it became inevitable that the criminals and organised crime gangs would not be far behind, with their devious plots, schemes, scams, hustles and heists. There's always enough gullible people that will fall for the craziest stories which makes it easy for the gangs to make a profit.

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What Steps Do You Take To Protect Your Children Online? [We Ask You]

Dave Parrack — Thu, 14 Jun 2012 03:31:11 +0000

While the Internet may be just about the greatest invention of all time (yes, that is open to debate), it also has a darker side. While adults can dip their toe into the murkier waters as they see fit, or choose to ignore the existence of that grimy underbelly altogether, things are a little tougher for children. There are various things parents need to be aware of if they're going to allow their children access to the Web.

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