TeamCushman

I see a huge growing problem. In one day, both my wife’s cell phone and my kids are starting to get a number of text messages, from spammers! While a new problem for us, apparently in Japan this costs consumers over the pond many Yen per year. The problem is two fold. One, you can’t reply to the message and ask them to stop, your message will just bounce back. Two, these messages cost money! This is like giving them the ability to charge something to your bill without your authority and you have nothing to say about it. This got me thinking. Which companies do the best job in shutting down text spamming. The easy way out is to just shut off text messaging entirely, which many of you resort to. In an age in which texting is becoming the norm (especially with one teenager and a preteen in the house), turning off text would be like taking away cable TV. The key though, is that will your provider let you turn off texting. Here’s your answer …

Tmobile: No, “because it’s where voice mail and billing notifications are delivered.”
Verizon: Yes,, you can ask for “data” to be shut off, which will turn off text messaging, get it now, mobile web, and mobile email, or just simply ask for them to disable receiving text messages sent from emails or web browsers.
Sprint: Yes.
AT&T: Yes.
Alltel: Yes

Verizon wins. Almost all text-message spam campaigns are run from a computer (basically, they are emails) so disabling receiving messages sent by computer, while still retaining the ability to receive cellphone text messages, is the best option.

Whatever you do, protect your email address at all cost. Many retails, physicians, lawyers now ask for your email address as another way to contact you. But just like your phone number or even your social security number, this is a way for evil doers to spam you or utilize your email address for evil things. Worse case! send you bad jokes endlessly. If you are one that likes to send out jokes, videos to a group of your friends that don’t know each other, take care to hide their email address by blind CCing or creating a distribution list that hides the addresses. Best case, create a new email address for public use such as newsletters, jokes, posting comments, registering for public web sites, etc. PC Magazine claims that 97% of spam comes from posting comments and registering your email address.

Best way to prevent is to spell it out as a graphic. You can do this best by going to Safe Mail.

Of course there are all sorts of different ways to use protection just google it. Probably, the best way to stay safe, is to abstain or just not do it. I just want to raise awareness.

I know this is a long post, but one I feel is the most important that I’ve put up. If you have any teenagers or even pre-teens in the house you know that staying ahead of the tech curve can be like a chess match. I have one teenager, but the younger one is the one that scares me when it comes to the internet. He is very curious when it comes to the internet. While I don’t think he would do anything inadvertently to harm himself, the fact that he even knows how to set up a username and password on sites like Club Penguin sends shivers up and down my spine. This is one of the reasons we all use the same email address. Some families set up separate emails for everyone in the family, I feel that we don’t have anything to hide, so we use the same. This is the way I found that my young hacker signed up for said Club Penguin. It’s not a bad site for kids, but I don’t want it to become training ground for My Space and Bebo (notice I am not linking to these sites!). I’m not being naive, if he can figure out how to set up a username, I’m sure he can figure out how to set up an online email account.

In a recent survey by Pew Internet & American Life Project, shows that on social networking sites, most teenagers are taking steps to protect themselves, which is good news. However, there are a lot of potential risks that parents need to know. Such as: 43% of teens that use social networking sites have been contacted by a stranger. 31% of users have “friends” on their site that they have never met in person. 55% have set up a profile online. Of those, 46% contain some sort of false information about themselves, which can be accessed by anyone online. Think about that for just a second … Get this, 91% of teens use social networking sites as a way to stay in touch with one another … they are not using email! This is how they know what the hot clothes to wear to school, which party to go to, etc … etc … Here are some more disturbing facts in this report:

• Eighty-two percent of teens who have created profiles have included their first names. Seventy-nine percent have included photos of themselves, and 66 percent have included photos of their friends. Sixty-one percent have included the name of their city or town, while 49 percent have included the name of their school.

• Forty percent have included their instant-message screen name. Forty percent have streamed audio to their profile, and 39 percent have linked to their blog.

• Twenty-nine percent have included their e-mail address, and 29 percent have included their last name.

• Twenty-nine percent have included videos, while 2 percent have included their cell phone numbers.

• Six percent of online teens and 11 percent of profiling teens have posted their first and last names on public profiles.

• Three percent of online teens and 5 percent of profiling teens have disclosed their full names, photos of themselves and the town where they live in public profiles.

That’s why, Parents, this is like a chess game. Your job is to stay a few steps ahead, figure out their moves before they think of them. As the title says … the end game is Checkmate! So, here are a few thoughts, suggestions and links to help you. The easiest thing to do is put your computer in a public area. If your kids, have a computer in their room, make sure it’s pointing outward so anyone can see the monitor. Also, make sure that the history files doesn’t erase after the browser is closed. That way, you can track movements by looking at the history file.

Start using Firefox. Why? well for one thing, it is the safest way to browse. Secondly, with all of the additions, you can customize your browsing experience and add a layer of protection for you and your family. In addition to Firefox, you can use family safe browsers for the kids, specifically those under 12. A few examples are Kidzui or Glubble.

Once you have Firefox set up, here are some extensions you can use for safe browsing:

• ProCon and Greasemonkey are two of my favorite profanity filters. These sites will block any profanity on the site with a “***”. ProCon will even direct the browser to another site of your choice. Very nice!!
• Another add on through Firefox is BlockSite. This add-on allows censorship ability to your browser. If you put a site on the blacklist, it will never come up. As with ProCon, you can also redirect to another site. So, what sites do you block? easy Google “social networking” sites to find out the most popular and add them to the list. That way, even if your teen or pre-teen doesn’t know about it, add it!! they soon will. Remember, you want to stay a few steps ahead of them!!
• Read. There are a few good parent forums that will help us band together. A few are: Blogsafety, Web Aware and Safekids.
• For instant messaging, I suggest IM Safer. Just make sure you download it on all the computers in the household, not just one.
• If you plan to continue to use IE, that’s fine, but use the Content Advisor in your internet options.

Lastly, and this one sounds so obvious, but its needed to be said and that is … talk to your kids about their online activities. This type of education starts at home, don’t leave it to the playground or classroom. If you pay the internet bill, then you set the ground rules for usage.

Ok, I admit it. I’m a touchy feely guy. While you may think this goes against an earlier post, it really doesn’t. I enjoy meeting new people. When shaking hands, I often grip my non-shaking hand to the shoulder, elbow or even the double cover handshake. However, more often than not, I hug. Not strangers mind you, but people I know. Some still feel this is awkward, I don’t. Men especially feel this way. It’s not about being a metrosexual or whatever, it’s just a sign of affection to someone I care about. So for those that are still confused, I give you the steps to a great “Man Hug”. Enjoy …

         When to hug

This is entirely down to what you feel comfortable with. When greeting family members, or a good friend you haven’t seen for a while, a hug almost certainly required. Congratulating a guy on getting engaged, becoming a father or even securing a promotion, a hug will be in order. If celebrating a win for your favorite team, you will find that suddenly worrying about hugging is no longer an issue. Anything goes.

 

The approach

When going for a hug, make it clear what you are doing. You won’t want to catch the huggee off guard. Start by spreading your hands wide with your right hand about 20 inches higher than the left. Lean back ever so slightly, this is a non threatening stance, making it clear you are not about to attack. Tilt your head to the left - this lets your huggee know where you are going so they can do the opposite, others wise there may be an embarrassing collision.

 

Embrace

 

 

Step in towards your compadre. Your right hand will go over their shoulder, with your head going to the left of theirs. Show your sincerity by gripping them firmly in your arms - there is nothing worse than a floppy, half heart attempt. Keep your head level and facing forwards. Looking down, or turning towards your hugee may end up as inappropriate nuzzling. Hold the embrace for as long as you feel comfortable, a second or two will do

 

The pat

 

 

This is the crucial part of a man hug, separating it from a traditional cuddle. With your left hand pat, tap or even smack your buddy 3 or 4 times on the back. This demonstrates you are still men - you maybe be affectionate but you can still dish out some pain. If you still feel this is too effeminate for you then give a light, double punch instead of a pat.

The break

 

 

While you are giving the final pat, break. Lift your hands smartly away, don’t slide them over your buddy in a lingering manner. This may confuse them, and you. Alternatively you could finish by gripping your friends firmly on the upper arms and saying something celebratory. ‘Well Done Eric”, “Congratulations”, or “Great to see you again” are all good. This makes for a clear and understandably reason for the hug and finishes it succinctly. Now return to whatever you were doing before the hug. Don’t feel the need to cough, avoid eye contract, or scratch yourself. You are still firmly a man - but one who is not afraid of showing their emotions. Mission accomplished.