Links on your Facebook Wall
We received an email from a reader today about a link on his wife's Facebook wall. The link indicated that a friend had tagged her. When he tried to remove the post from her wall it would not allow removal. He reported it as spam. Apparently a friend of hers clicked on the link and got infected. The link point to bitlyDOTcom and have random file names. Let this serve as a reminder to everyone not to click on links until you have checked out the source. As for Bitly - I would use extreme caution with any links identified as source bitlyDOTcom. This is a website redirector that allows the link to be shortened, shared and tracked. Even if you don't get malicious programs installed, do you really want to be tracked????
Thanks to our reader Paul for the email reminder and information.
Deb Hale
Data Encryption Ban? Really?
On Friday an article appeared on techdirt.com claiming that Pakistan is trying to ban encryption under their new Telco law.
In the article the author suggests that encryption is "really just a form of speech" and that "trying to ban encryption is
like trying to ban language".
I find the banning of encryption interesting in light of the number of United States compliance standards and laws governing
the use of encryption to protect financial data (PCI) and medical records (HIPPA) among them. These laws require that the
data be protected in place and in transit. Does the proposed Telco Law in Pakistan mean that the US will not be able to
exchange data with them? How will laws like this effect world trade?
All of the work that has been done to establish world economy could come crashing down if laws like this stand. It will be
interesting to see how this develops. Many businesses today operate in the Internet, many are moving to the cloud. These businesses and organizations need to protect their data to protect their financial stability. So in this Handler's opinion, ban encryption will never happen. Others may not agree with me. Let me hear from you. Can we or should we ban encryption?
Deb Hale
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