Category Archives: Outwit Identity Theft

Gliph me, maybe: how privacy and connectivity may be able to coexist after all

Posted on May 28, 2012 by | 1 Comment

In Carly Rae Jepsen’s intensely catchy song “Call Me, Maybe” she offers her number to a stranger she has just met and acknowledges that though “it might sound crazy,” she’d like it if he called her (, maybe.)

But maybe Carly Rae isn’t as crazy as she thinks she might sound. Rob Banagale, co-founder of Gliph, made a similar observation, noticing that the way we exchange information with people we just met was outmoded; that asking for a number carried a lot more weight than it used to, whereas email addresses seemed corny, and Facebook not exactly appropriate.

With all of this, in addition to the increasing debate around privacy and the ever growing presence of social networks and the lack of trust that seemed to surround them, Gliph was born.

A fairly new start-up based out of Portland, Oregon, Gliph’s aim is to achieve natural relationship in helping people build connections with others, going from strangers to fully developed human relationships, whether personal or business. Gliph wants to allow you to continue to connect freely, but prioritizes the protection of your personal information.

Claiming a “gliph” is like kicking off a sort of digital identity for yourself, assembling different aspects of who you are under different symbols — “artifacts”– that personify who you are. Gliphs are composed of symbols, making your identity global and culturally neutral.

We got the chance to ask Rob a few questions about Gliph:

Q: What are you most excited about?

A: The potential Gliph has to change the way people communicate with each other in the information they share. Gliph allows you to share exactly what you want to share with who, changing the way people communicate in terms of social signals as well as making connections.

Q: Why do you think a digital identity platform is important?

A: Gliph is trying to make your personal information more useful and valuable. Right now, personal information is being bought and sold, and that’s not really valuable to you. We want to change the way people view the value of their own personal information. We want to make you feel more in control of it, and more powerful than you would be if you didn’t use it. We want to put the control back in your hands.

Q: What makes you different?

A: Facebook and Google+ store all your private info in plain text, Gliph encrypts it.

Q: Best moment so far?

A: Presenting at Privacy Identity and Innovation Conference (pii 2012) and winning the Innovator Spotlight award. It was industry validation from the privacy community that showed we were on the right track; that we were different.

Q: Any Gliph success stories?

A: A friend randomly searched someone because they were the opposite Gliph than their own. They talked on Gliph, then became Facebook friends, went hiking, and had a pizza. All cause of Gliph!

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Posted in Chatting, Connect, ConnectUpdates, Outwit Identity Theft, Prevent Cyberstalking, Protect, Protect Yourself, ProtectUpdates, PublishUpdates, Social Networks, Uncategorized, Updates, WorkUpdates

Beaming: James Cameron may have been onto something with “Avatar”

Posted on May 15, 2012 by | Leave a comment
A family dressed as the avatars

Photo Source: Federico Campoli (CC BY-NC-SA)

Last week we saw the parallels between ourselves and superheroes as seen in “the Avengers.” However, it appears as though we may soon have more in common with Academy Award winning “Avatar” instead.

According to BBC News, the European Commission is funding a project to

“investigate how a person can visit a remote location via the internet and feel fully immersed in the new environment…[where] the visitor may be embodied as an avatar or a robot, interacting with real people.”

At this year’s Coachella, an extremely realistic hologram of the deceased Tupac came back to join Snoop Dogg and Dr. Dre in a mind-blowing performance that few words can explain. Soon after, jokes were made about Coachella 2013’s “all-ghost” lineup. But with also deceased Freddie Mercury set to make a similar virtual appearance in London next Monday, it seems as if this I’m-here-but-not-really-here technology is indeed here—and here to stay.

The article describes how teleconferencing, overseas relationships, education, and the medical field would be transformed by this advancement in augmented reality that has already successfully “beamed” people from Barcelona to London. However, it also raises concerns about the heightened risk of deception and crime, especially in the areas of sexual harassment and identity theft. Just like how you will be able to craft your avatar’s appearance however way you please, (OMG gurl, blue skin really brings out your eyes!) there will be virtually (pun unintended) nothing you can do from stopping a hacker with all your personal information from generating and posing as you in avatar form.

So do the pros of this promising new technology outweigh the cons? Or vice versa? You tell us.

Will it allow us to better align our true selves to our online alter egos? Or will we instead be compromising our information and our privacy? Will it allow us to connect better with our world and our community? Or rather will we be, as in Sherry Turkle’s Ted talk, more “connected, but alone?”

We want to know what you think. In the meantime, for prepatory purposes, I’ll be painting myself blue.

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Posted in Connect, ConnectUpdates, Outwit Identity Theft, Protect, Protect Yourself, ProtectUpdates, Social Media, Social Networks, Studying and Collaborating Online, Updates, Wireless Safety

The Avengers, the Internet, and YOU

Posted on May 10, 2012 by | Leave a comment
Captain America is yelling at a frisbee

Photo Source: Andy Roth (CC:BY)

Last weekend, superhero movie “The Avengers” grossed $207, 438, 708 (via BoxOffice Mojo).

If you’re like me, and have yet to see this movie, don’t worry. The premise is simple: a bunch of regular folks with alter egos come together and are forced to co-exist for the greater good. Awesome. Except… wait a second. This sounds a little too familiar. Not in a hey-isn’t-this-like-every-other-superhero-movie-in-existence? kind of way, but in a hey-isn’t-this-what-I-do-everyday??  kind of way. See, when we participate on the Internet, we accomplish exactly what the premise of “the Avengers” offers: a bunch of regular folks (check) with alter egos (check) coming together (check,) forced to co-exist for the greater good (check).

Again, I haven’t seen “The Avengers,” but based on what I know of superhero movies, one of the larger plot points always concerns the contradiction of the superhero’s regular-day identity and his/her superhero identity. For us, this is also a growing concern; it’s inevitable that our true selves will creep into our online alter egos. Which raises the question of the Guardian’s Aleks Krotoski, “which is more important, “authenticity, or anonymity?” Suleika Jaouad of NYTimes Blogs believes that “”in a world of social media, [where] we are our own self-portraitists…there’s a liberation in the type of public honesty you can engage in on social mediawriting. ”

But how much authenticity is too much? Do we want to reveal all that we are on the internet? With the rise in demand for online verification services such as the MiiCard, with the aim tor help you prove “I am who I say I am” and control your own digital identity, it is clear that too much authenticity/personal information can give an adversary the tools to disarm us (see Superman; kryptonite.)

But then, what of anonymity? Do we want our online presence to be that much different from our true selves? Are we ready to back up the things we do under pseudonyms, should our masks come off? Defamatory statements, even posted under fake names, are not protected as free speech. $13.8 million dollars was recently won by Mark and Rhonda Lesher in a case against “masked” internet trolls.

And though the Password Protection Act of 2012 is being introduced in order to better ensure your privacy in banning employers from demanding their employees’ Facebook passwords, there is no harm in being a mindful and careful online citizen. So get informed! Learn how to protect yourself, connect with others, publish your work, and work on your professional appearance in a safe and responsible way.

As Uncle Ben once told Spiderman, “with great power comes great responsibility.” No words could be truer in our digital age today.

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Posted in Be Findable, Connect, ConnectUpdates, Employers Dig for Dirt, Got a Job?, Learn, LearnUpdates, Outwit Identity Theft, Protect, Protect Yourself, ProtectUpdates, PublishUpdates, Social Media, Social Networks, Uncategorized, Updates, WorkUpdates

Online network education for kids – Doctorow style

Posted on April 4, 2011 by | Leave a comment

Cory Doctorow talks about kids, privacy and social networks

In a recent TEDx presentation, the Canadian blogger and science fiction author, Cory Doctorow, proposes a new type of “network education” for kids online. His views stand in contrast to those suggesting that filtering internet content in an effort to keep kids safe is the way to go. Rather, he argues that filtering content prevents kids from understanding networks and privacy tools on their own – kind of like how feeding ducks in a pond leaves them unprepared to fend for themselves come winter.

Instead, here’s how Doctorow envisions privacy education for kids:

  • Turn to libraries, schools and other institutions to be “islands of networked privacy best practices”
  • Teach kids to encrypt everything they do on the internet
  • Teach them to jailbreak every device that they handle
  • Teach kids to choose the best products for their privacy
  • Teach them to bust every sensor wall that harvests a record of what they look at
  • Teach them to spoof every form they’re asked to fill in
  • Block the RFID tags they carry around with them
  • Figure out how to move through their cities and towns without their locations being recorded by CCTV cameras

Who should be responsible – parents or teachers – for teaching kids about their digital footprints and how should it be done, are important questions. Perhaps, now it’s not a question of who should be responsible but who is willing to take responsibility.

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Posted in Adjust Your Privacy Settings, Blogs, Connect, ConnectUpdates, Control Your Cookies, Cyberdating, Erase Your Digital Path, Learn, LearnUpdates, Outwit Identity Theft, Outwit Pharming, Outwit Phishing, Prevent Cyberbullying, Prevent Cyberstalking, Protect Your Computer, Protect Yourself, ProtectUpdates, Publish, PublishUpdates, Social Media, Social Networks, The Fine Print, Updates, Wireless Safety, WorkUpdates

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Facebook Now Adding a Secure Connection

Posted on January 29, 2011 by | Leave a comment

Big news in Facebook security settings. And it’s positive!

Last week, Facebook announced they will offer users a more secure connection – encrypted HTTPS protocol instead of HTTP protocol. Similar to the type of secure connection you have when you do online banking, this protocol prevents others from capturing your “cookie” and accessing your account when you use an open wireless network at a coffeeshop, library or other public place. Here’s what it looks like:

It’s a good idea to enable this secure connection – especially if you are using an unsecured wifi network when you log on to Facebook. To select this option, go to “Account Settings”, select “Account Security”, then check the box for “Secure Browsing”. Facebook will be rolling this feature out to all users over the next few weeks. If you don’t see it available now, check back soon.

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Posted in Adjust Your Privacy Settings, Caching, Control Your Cookies, Outwit Identity Theft, Outwit Pharming, Outwit Phishing, Protect, Protect Your $$$, Protect Your Computer, Protect Yourself, ProtectUpdates, Social Networks

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President Hacked

Posted on March 25, 2010 by | Leave a comment

Truly no one is immune. Anyone who has ever had a snoopy significant other knows the importance of password safety. This past week, US President, Barack Obama, had his Twitter account hacked by someone making a guess. I hate choosing passwords as much as the next guy, but what this goes to show is that taking the time to remember “Rambo2012streetfighter” is better in the long run than “123456.”

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But it is not just about the password, it also about the security questions. What the Obama hacking has shown is that a good password is not enough. One also needs to have a good answer to ‘forgot your password?’ Would be account snatchers can easily bypass your nifty unbreakable code if you put your towns biggest sports team as your favourite ‘sports team.’ For example, a 2009 study showed that nearly 30% of lost password questions could be guessed by loved ones. While that number goes down the less familiar an associate is, the recent high profile hacking shows that even a stranger can guess – the odds are better than winning the lottery.

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Posted in Connect, Outwit Identity Theft, Protect, ProtectUpdates

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