Response Katlin

Katlin wrote...

People deceive others online everyday whether it be to protect their identity, mess with someone, or hurt someone. Do you think that deception online is one of the main reasons people get caught up in dangerous acts and put in situations where they could be in danger such as older men posing as younger guys wanting to meet younger women?

There have been many incidents where people and sometimes police have posed as a “fake” online to retrieve information. I was unable to find information on how these criminals begin posing as someone else; I honestly think men who pose as younger men to attract girls have something seriously wrong with them. This is why parent need to protect their children form having free reign over the internet. “More than half of American families with teenagers use filters to limit access to potentially harmful content online. But both teens and parents believe that teens do things on the internet that their parents would not approve of” (protecting teens online) http://www.pewinternet.org/pdfs/PIP_Filters_Report.pdf . This web site enough is enough provided great information to educated parents on the risk online. It’s parent’s job to protect their kid form men posing as a fake.

Response to Susan

Susan Cannaday wrote...
How can you tell if your credit card information is safe online, or which sites are secred sites?

Many people shop on line, especially during the holiday season. But private information can be stole, and anyone could be a victim if you are not educated in the steps that are needed to protect yourself.
After researching tips to protect yourself, I came across a site, http://soc.hfac.uh.edu/artman/publish/article_273.shtml
Humans civil rights.
One point that grabbed my attention that I had never really thought about was the password questions people use if they have forgotten their verification phrase. Many questions ask “what is your favorite pets name, or what street did you grow up on? With the new trend of blogging, many people provide this information online. If a person had enough time and energy to figure out someone’s code, they could.
One more key this website provided was, do not give out your private phone number. People can do a reverse lookup and this searches a public database and then your private phone number, name and address is provided. Then people could fide you and begin stealing your private information; credit card information.
Most known websites that allow people to shop on have protected sites. Just keep an eye on your past payments.

Response to Sarah

Sarah Rippel said...
While researching, did you find anything that suggests what not to post on the internet? What is "safe" to post and what isn't? I know the obvious things, like our social security number but is there something that would surprise some of us?

I found a lot of what not to put on the internet. And really it all depends how educated you are on protecting yourself. Many people have said don’t disclose any information online and others might suggest simply updating your security programs, don’t same important and private information on a laptop, and if you suspect someone might be trying to steel, check your bank accounts often and look for any suspicious purchases. As long as you know the “obvious” things to protect yourself then that’s one step closer to protecting yourself. Just make sure all your programs are updated and don’t get influenced or persuaded into any websites or in many cases new spyware programs. I found some tips to hlp protect an individual when he or she is online
Don't mix business and leisure. Get an e-mail address for personal use.
Use encryption software.
Ignore spam
Remove old e-mail from your computer
Turn on the cookie alert.
Use Anonymizers
Review sites' privacy policies
Opt-out.- (Websites that collect personal data may allow you to decide whether the data can be shared with third parties, such as marketing companies, and whether you want to receive e-mail offers from them. Typically you check a box, either agreeing to this or refusing. You have no obligation to share your personal information with anyone, so opt-out if the offer holds no interest.)
Make sure your computer is secure
Clean up your history files, location bar list and cache

These few helpful hit should help people become better protected online! Thanks for the question.

Rsponse to Kelly Byke

Kelly Byke said...
Hi Jessica, loved your lit review! I was wondering about the instance of identity theft, or someone finding and using your private information online. Do you know how often these crimes occur? Should we just avoid using our personal information altogether? Perhaps some people use false information for this reason--to prevent their real information from being stolen/used against them?


In an article by Marcia Smith reported to congress addresses the issue of identity theft and the increase of this crime. It is said that about 10 million people are affected by identity theft. I don’t think it is completely necessary to completely avoid giving personal information online, for example shopping online, however we need to be educated on how to prevent people form retrieving our information. I found some tip to help internet users stay protected of catch a criminal in the act.
1. Do not give out personal information over the Internet unless you have initiated the contact or are certain you know who you are dealing with; and
2. If you store PII such as Social Security Numbers (SSNs), financial records, tax returns, birth dates, or bank account numbers on your computer:
— Use virus protection software and update it regularly;
— Do not open files sent to you by strangers or click on hyperlinks or download programs from people you do not know, and be careful about using file-sharing programs;
— Use a firewall program;
— Use a secure browser (software that encrypts information you send over the Internet);
— Try not to store financial information on your laptop;
— Delete all personal information on a computer before disposing of it; and
— Look for website privacy policies, and if you do not see one, or cannot understand it, consider doing business elsewhere.
http://italy.usembassy.gov/pdf/other/RS22082.pdf

There have been instances where people use a fake identity to browse and shop around the net. Many people have set up competently separate baking account used solely for online shopping, however if a person is using a credit card to shop then their name will be linked to the account, to prevent this you could contact your bank and tell them you don’t want your information sold.

Deception and Trust

Deception

Deception about a person’s identity could help keep an innocent person safe but when an individual with a motive to steal is deceptive; then we are faced with a dilemma.
In many cyber communities it is encouraged to create an imaginary cyber identity. There are also opportunities for people to exaggerate characteristics of themselves as well as information about their lifestyles. The internet has developed itself into a “visual medium” (Jordan, J. 2005). People now have the opportunity to create an, online image. This could be a single person, but it could also be a couple people posing as a security program, selling “spy ware” to better help people stay protected. Little do people know that it is the complete opposite.
Many times there are people who just want to create a stir in the media. In a past incident regarding Facebook, a fake student created a “group”. The guidelines of this group were to get over 300,000 members to join the group. After he reached this goal, his girlfriend was to then perform a sexual act. After reading this article on MSNBC by Frank Ahrens, 2006, I thought it was a great example of how a person could deceive 300,000 college students. He targeted a very popular site and got the attention he wanted when he was caught as an imposter of the schools network.
Deception and false identity may not change in the future but this issue can be prevented. It has been found in recent studies that people lack the knowledge, not the capacity to detect a deceptive site or false information. (Grazioli, and Wang. (2001). personally I have been deceived on the internet before. Being cautious is vital to protect your identity; however, the aspect of trust on the internet is something each person builds as they become more involved or becomes a member or an online community.

Trust

The internet is absolutely the biggest source of information. There’s not doubt that the information accessed through the internet can be valid, however there are many sites that misinform people everyday. The growth of the internet brings with it a major increase in the variety of deceptive Web activities such as Phishing and many more scams involving fraudulent uses of identities. (The number one sign of trust on the internet. 2006). Phishing is the “act of tricking someone into giving them confidential information or tricking them into doing something that they normally wouldn’t do or shouldn’t do. For example: sending an e-mail to a user falsely claiming to be an established legitimate enterprise in an attempt to scam the user into surrendering private information that will be used for identity theft.” (Department of information technology, 2006).
There has been a lot of research and media press on the negative aspects and trust issues regarding the internet. Many people have fallen for hoaxes when on the web, but when is it time to re-build that trust? An on line blogger deceived her cyber community for over two and a half years. Kaycee Nicole Swenson, claimed she was a dying teenager of leukemia. She received support form all over the place encouraging her and providing a community of help and prayer. Unfortunately this was a lie from the beginning. This woman had deceived her community and in the end obviously the trust was broken. (Jordan, J. 2005.)
It is difficult to distinguish real life from the cyber lie. Many times people lose trust because of past deception hoaxes. There are many deceptive traps and strategies hackers use to lure in their “prey.” Dr. Eric Shaffer states that because of “the lack of real-world clues that we have learned to utilize to know whether to trust a business vendor or marketplace offering in the real, physical world, makes it extremely difficult and time consuming for the average Internet user to be able to recognize fraud and deception when they present themselves online” (Shaffer, E. 2005).
When using the web, it’s important that private information is concealed, and individuals are educated on what is safe and what could potentially harm you or your privacy. Once deceived many people learn their lesson. People become much more aware that the internet is in fact a place for imagination and fake identity. Unfortunately, in order for people to become more educated on the life inside the web, they are taken advantage of or in worse cases their identity might be in danger. If only we could prevent this sort of thing from happening before the attacks occur. The internet is a fascinating machine, but we should only expose ourselves at our own risk.

Ahrens, F. (2006). Beware of effective, deceptive Internet 'puppets': Trolls, shrills, also
used to seek out users' IDs and email addresses. MSNBC.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15163362/

Department of Information Technology. 2006. Definitions.
http://www.michigan.gov/cybersecurity/0,1607,7-217-34415---,00.html, April 4,
2007.

Jordan, J. (2005). A Virtual death and a real dilemma: Identity, trust, and community in
cyberspace. Southern Communication Journal, 70, 200-218.

Shaffer, E. (2005). Phishing and Pharming and Phraud, oh my. HFI User Interface Design Update Newsletter.

Grazioli, and Wang. (2001). Looking with out seeing: understanding naïve consumers
success and failure to detect internet deception.
http://www.commerce.virginia.edu/faculty_research/Research/Papers/Internet_Deception_Grazioli.pdf. 193-204.

Protect Your Privacy

Using the internet in the privacy of our own home or office is a great benefit to many people. The internet has given people the opportunity to communicate easily with people across the world, gain information by the click of a button about certain topics and many issues in the news; however, along with this mass flow of information, come peoples private information. Many people are aware of hackers out on the web that are searching to uncover private information but because this information is so easily accessible, many times people are not educated enough about what is appropriate and inappropriate to put on the web.
Protecting ourselves form predators and keeping private information from others has always been a concern on the internet. There have been many issues involved with identity theft, fraudulent charges to bank accounts, as well as stalkers and dangerous predators. It is important to be aware of these unfortunate facts and what it takes to protect ones self and their private information. It’s very easy to be deceived on the internet and it’s a problem facing the World Wide Web every day. I will take a look into the down sides of using the internet, such as deception, trust, and identity threats that people are faced with when exposed on the internet.
There is no doubt that the internet has brought fascinating aspects to our culture, making life easier and much more convenient. Of course nothing this good could be flaw free. There are many downsides to the exposure a person gets when using the web. There is a constant tension when people surf the internet. A person could feel completely safe or anonymous in the sense that he or she might feel that no one can see what they are doing on the web. But in reality, people should assume that anyone has access to this information. Private information is easily accessible through a person’s email, what a person downloads, spam, chat rooms, and there may even be information already published on the web (Office of the Privacy Commissioner, 2001).

Privacy

When shopping on the web, I always feel very uneasy when I enter my credit card number into the web site. After pressing the enter key, I feel like any one could get those numbers and have a hay day with what is left in my bank account (which isn’t much). There are many aspects of people’s lives that they keep private. Credit card numbers and social security numbers is information held close to the individual. In a recent study, research found that 84% of Americans are concerned of becoming victims of identity theft. (The number one sign of trust on the internet, 2006). But the internet is not a controlled environment. Privacy is governed by a law, and yes, the government is not allowed to surveillance anyone with out reasonable cause, however, hackers are not “government” they are mostly thieves and are willing to do anything to make some money and gain power.
Privacy protection has developed greatly as the internet develops with years. “Computer technology and digital media have not only increased the capacity to collect, process and use professional information, but have also deeply changed the dynamics surrounding personal information and privacy protection” (Woo, J. 2006 p. 953). There are many instances when people create their own solutions, such as deception. People feel that if someone doesn’t really know who you are, then their privacy is masked. Some feel it’s their right to privacy and identity concealment.

Protecting your privacy on the internet. 2001. Office of Privacy Commissioner.
http://www.privacy.gov.au/internet/internet_privacy/.

Woo, J. (2006). The right not to be identified: privacy and anonymity in the interactive
media environment. New Media & Society. Sage Publications, 8, 949-967.

The number one sign of trust on the internet. (2006). Internet Security National Survey, 3.
http://www.verisign.com/static/013506.pdf

General Info

I am currently a senior at ASU. I swam for 3 years for the sun devils. I am looking for an internship for the summer and will graduate in July. I am planning on writing my final paper on Deception on the Internet.