Cyber Law

Most prudent business people and citizens have passwords for their personal tech devices to keep out prying eyes, hackers, cyber thieves, and protect against unauthorized use, especially if we use our computers or laptops a lot for online trading, banking, shopping, or what not. Now then, what if the police all of a sudden want to have a look see at the information if they suspect a crime "may have been" committed? Ah, good question, and perhaps we may soon know what the courts have to say about all this.

There was a very interesting article recently posted to the SlashDot website titled; "DOJ: We Can Force You to Decrypt That Laptop," July 11, 2011 by Smazenpus via Betterunixthanunix re-post

"A mortgage-fraud case may have widespread implications for criminals who use cryptography to hide evidence. The DOJ demands the defendant to decrypt her hard drive, claiming that if they cannot force such decryptions, law enforcement will be unable to gather important evidence. The defendant's lawyer and the Electronic Frontier Foundation have made the claim that forcing such a decryption would be a violation of the defendant's Fifth Amendment Right not to self-incriminate."

Whoops, that argument is actually valid isn't it? The defendant could maintain that since she couldn't remember everything in her brain, she put it on the computer. Likewise if she kept it all in her brain could authorities make her submit to a mind-reading device too? This is one case which will set case law and precedence, and there is also compelling case law to demand that she turn over the records, but if she says she forgot the encryption, then the authorities cannot have her undergo psycho-hypnosis because, there is case law for that too.

What is so interesting about all this is that, one would think that the person in question would have to turn over those records, but if it was on their personal laptop, and it is encrypted, apparently, common sense and the constitution have differences of opinion it seems. Usually when we thinking of encryption - we think about protecting information from hackers, spyware, viruses, and cyber thieves, not forensic computer detectives - but this does show how our information age is changing things.

If the individual is mandated by the court to hand over the information, encryption code or password, then this will have far reaching future ramifications in the future when people communicate via though-swapping, or have an add-on memory chip implanted into their brain. Are police in the future going to be allowed to tap into your brain to solve a crime that you committed, may have had a part in even if it was by happenstance - wrong place, wrong time?

If so, it kind of throws the whole Fifth Amendment out the window. Of course, we've been known to shred the Constitution a lot lately others might argue. Indeed another good point for yet another future discussion I'd say. Please consider all this and think on it.

The facts are black and white and cannot be denied. Cyber-Bullying is one of the major dangers that our children face. Yet laws against Cyber-Bullying are not in place to afford our children the protection they deserve and need.

As of January 27, 2010 I found that only 9 states offered any form of legislation addressing the problem and no federal action has been taken that I could find evidence of.

The 9 states that offered some form of legislation (most of which I felt did not address the situation with adequate consequences for the violator) were:

*Arkansas
*Idaho
*Iowa
*New Jersey
*Oregon
*Missouri
*New York
*Rhode island
*Vermont

How many kids need to commit suicide as the result of Cyber-Bullying for our government to realize action needs to be taken?

Our Federal Government, through either the Legislative or Judicial branches, needs to create laws to prosecute those who attack our sons and daughters in the form of Cyber-Bullying. Our States Legislative or Judicial branches need also to get involved. There are several agencies that provide strict supervision of internet activity that are in violation of laws or fair trade practices.

Where are they when it comes to the protection of our children on the internet?

The majority of the Cyber-Bullying takes place in the chat rooms and forums on the internet that are designed to attract our children. These are the same places internet sexual predators hang out to search for their victims. Any chat room or forum that promotes their services to our children as a place to hang out needs to be forced to:

*Provide only public rooms or forums for use; no private chat rooms!

*Make sure all private messages are blocked

*Make private all profile information

*Ban any uploading of photos

*Ban any emailing between participating members

*Allow for message blocking of any user by another user for any reason

*Ban the use of all webcams services

*Provide 24 hour moderation of the forums and chat rooms.

Many of these chat rooms make a very handsome profit off of the advertising raised by their services.

I think the least they can do is to provide the safety measures I have listed above to protect the children they are trying to attract to their domain.

If those practices were implemented our children would be much safer as a result. I as a parent would be happy to have my child use that service over another that does not adhere to those practices.

We need to write our State Legislators.

We need to write our Federal Legislators.

We need to let Internet Providers know we expect them to make the necessary changes in service policies to protect our kids.

We need to stand up for the safety of our kids and make sure our elected officials and Internet Service Providers know we expect action to be taken!

Cyber crime has in the recent past been on the increase with very many incidences getting reported time and again. And the saddest thing to happen is that the severity of the attacks grows bigger and wider as more and more attacks are poured onto internet users. For many people as well as the businesses, questions linger as to what would be the best course of action to take to enhance cyber security and particularly put this wave of crime to a complete stop. Worries and fear exist for all stakeholders on the internet due to the sheer amount in wealth and information broad as it can be being transferred especially on the internet. Cyber crime has been at its highest at a point when this transfer of wealth and information is at its highest. Systems are continually being exposed through many vulnerabilities and this is concert with many external threats identified and still cropping up today.

It is said that for every new technology, there comes opportunities for crime and this somewhat explains the different criminal activities seen in the cyber world today. Computer crime has been on the rise and it gets advanced each passing day. Cyber crime can be defined as the activities which are criminal in nature and also unethical and which are facilitated by the use of a computer or by the use of information technology. Examples of these crimes are the denial of service attacks through the saturation of a network, impersonating an individual on a computer system, stealing files and documents for many different reasons, stealing money and services, the interception of data, hacking of websites and lastly creating an spreading malware. These are just few examples of computer crimes and they all have different and devastating results. Of great interest to many people have been the attacks by viruses and other forms of malware. Second to the virus attacks on the cyber crimes which many people will be wary of are the hacking of systems. These are more rampant and they are associated with some of the most devastating results known in the cyber world.

The motivation for many a cyber criminal will be monetary gains which are seen in a variety of attacks aimed to steal money. These people will target financial systems. On the other hand, there will be the theft of services, information and software. For another lot of cyber criminals, their main intention will be thrill and challenge associated with hacking and other forms of cyber crime that they engage in. these criminal elements end up becoming a nuisance. The ever evolving nature of information technology has made it very difficult for businesses, organizations and all other players in the world to stay ahead of cyber crime or even forge a concerted effort at cutting down the ever growing number of risks.

With the knowledge that no one system is 100% secure, a number of very important steps have to be made towards ensuring cyber security is guaranteed on the very least. It has been observed that financial institutions and for the big organizations, security is very strong since they possess the capacity and money is involved. It becomes a demanding task for the medium sized and the smaller online businesses which will make efforts reminiscent to their ability and scope and which are never adequate to guarantee cyber security. Security should be matched to the need and this is where it gets tougher for the smaller businesses. It is with great concern that security has been a big issue and this arises from the fact that responsibility has to be emphasized all around the board. Government has a role to play in coming up with laws and regulations and all other stakeholders have a stake in the whole picture. Awareness is also another big part of the equation towards achieving cyber security. The impact of this would be big since from a tender age school going children are taught about the dangers found online and this would influence everything that they later learn and do when online. What is for sure though is that the whole environment whether it is policy or regulation, all these must move with great speed to ensure that cyber security is a reality now and in the immediate future.

The online community is cruel and ruthless leaving no margin of error for anyone. Once you make a bona fide mistake you get crucified immediately. It is because of this general attitude among many people in social communities, that people jump to unfair and unjustified conclusions. Most participants of these communities are used to this behaviour and are not bothered by it too much. Most of these unjustified remarks often cause embarrassment for the comment maker, which is well deserved, because you should take the consequences of your actions for speaking out loud without thinking. Where am I going with this? What does this have to do with fighting cyber crime?

Let me explain with an example: When a big company like Microsoft cause a security risk for users of Internet Explorer out of negligence, you can be sure that the press (including the online community) will throw some big stones at them. This response is justified because the safety of innocent users is put at risk because of the negligence of a respectful organisation. But when Microsoft makes a remark that is misunderstood by some people, without causing any security threats because of this ill formulated remark, why should they be crucified? Microsoft is run by people and people make mistakes. If the community wants to rant and rave about something, then find something that deserves some ranting and raving and stop wasting time on things that can be excused. The company has to waste valuable resources to put out the fires caused by this overreaction instead of using those resources to improve the security of their products. No, I am not a Microsoft prophet, I am simply using them as an example.

Investigating spam and determining the origin of a scam letter is not as simple as tracking an IP address. Most people think so, but that is because they never really tried to locate a spammer on their own after being spammed. It is very easy to forge an e-mail header and that makes it almost impossible to locate the real sender of the e-mail. Even if the header is not forged, you never know whether it is a case of identity theft. Computer criminals hack into e-mail accounts, they hijack web sites and use it to their advantage under the identity of an innocent victim. This enables them to operate undetectable by moving from one account to another. Jurisdictional constraints makes it is hard for federal organisations of one country to prosecute crimes committed in another crime, not even to speak of locating the criminal.

Abuse departments of hosting companies and service providers are so swamped with so many daily reports of spam and network abuse that it is impossible for them to respond to each and every spam report individually. It obviously creates the impression that they do not really take action against the guilty parties. Of course, some companies appear to have an abuse department, but it is only a front to make people believe that they take action against spammers. This discourages people from reporting cyber crime and it effectively allows cyber criminals to operate in the open without the risk of getting caught.

People take cyber crime lightly, cyber crime is being handled as crime committed in another dimension, a dimension not regulated by law. Cyber crime is just like any other crime committed in the normal world, the only difference comes in the methods of investigation. Cyber swindlers are real life criminals, they should never be underestimated. The fact that they operate behind a computer screen makes no difference. Law enforcement agencies do not really care about the person robbed from a couple of dollars, they only pursue the big fish. Unfortunately this is how most scammers operate. They steal a bit from one victim, they steal a bit from another victim, they steal a bit from hundreds of helpless victims and pocked thousands of dollars in the end. Law enforcement agencies will take this crime more serious if everyone starts to report it to their local police department. Sooner or later they will realise that something has to be done. Many police departments are also not equipped to handle digital evidence effectively and many police officers still do not have the skills to conduct proper cyber crime investigations.

Cyber crime is very volatile and cannot always be solved using conventional methods, so I appeal to the online community not to question the unconventional methods of cyber crime investigators. At least they are doing something about an epidemic that is ignored by many influential and powerful organisations.

Our law firm receives a lot of calls from people and companies who are being threatened with an Anti-Cyber Squatting Consumer Protection Act claim because they registered a domain name identical or similar to a trademark held by someone else. Inevitably, we hear the words "Network Solutions allowed me to register the domain, so there is no way someone can say that I did anything wrong."

Of course, Network Solutions and the other registrars do little to ensure that a person registering a domain has legal right to do so. In fact, about the only thing registrars do is make each person who purchases a domain affirm that they are not interfering with some else's legitimate trademark rights. The fact that you are able to register a domain doesn't mean that you won't get sued for having done so under federal law.

The ACPA is a federal law that took effect in November 1999, in order to preclude bad faith registration of domain names. This new domain name dispute law is intended to give trademark and service mark owners legal remedies against defendants who obtain domain names "in bad faith" that are identical or confusingly similar to a trademark or service mark. In order to win a case of cyber squatting, plaintiff must prove that defendant has a bad faith intent to profit from the mark that is identical or confusingly similar or dilutes plaintiff's mark. The key element is that plaintiff must prove that defendant has"bad faith intent to profit from the mark." What this means is that if defendant merely registers the domain and does nothing with it commercially, plaintiff will have a difficult if not impossible time proving bad faith. Typically, intent to profit is shown by the use of the domain as a commercial site which sells goods or services. For an alleged domain violator who does not develop a website, bad faith intent to profit is often shown when the defendant tries to sell the domain name to the trademark holder. Any transfer of the domain for consideration will typically satisfy the profit test.

Another bad faith factor is if the registrant provides false contact information to the registrar or fails to maintain correct contact information moving forward. Because of this bad faith factor, it is important for all domain name owners to check their domain registrations regularly in the Who's database to determine if their contact information is correct.

If you should decide to file an ACPA lawsuit, you have a variety of remedies which are available to you under the act. The most important one is potential forfeiture or cancellation of the domain name or transfer of the domain name to the plaintiff. In lieu of actual damages, the plaintiff may elect statutory damages and has discretion to award between $1,000 and $100,000 in damages for bad faith registration. Attorney's fees are also available for a bad faith registration. Sometimes, the domain owner cannot be found or served with a Summons and Complaint because they have provided false information or are not located within the United States. In these instances, a trademark owner may bring in "In Rem" action against the domain name in the judicial district in which the domain name registrar, domain name registry or other domain name authority that registered or assigned the domain name is located. Money damages are not available in an "In Rem" lawsuit. Typically, the trademark owner is more focused at having the domain name transferred to them.

One recent Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals case, Interactive Products, Corporation v. A2Z Mobile Office, No. 01-3590 (6th Cir., April 10, 2003), was not good news for trademark holders in our jurisdiction. The Court held that the "post-domain path of a URL (the sub-file directory). . . does not typically signify source (of goods or services). The post-domain path merely shows how the website's data is organized within the host computer files." Accordingly, the Sixth Circuit held that the presence of plaintiff's trademark in the path of the domain name of a competitor was unlikely to cause consumer confusion. Interestingly, the Court reached this result even though the defendant, A2Z, was selling competing products. It should be noted that the Court did not hold that using some else's trademark in the top level domain, on the website itself or in the meta tags is exempt from ACPA liability.

Each ACPA case turns on the particular facts presented. It should also be noted that the Interactive Products plaintiff did not present any evidence that the presence of its trademark in the post-domain path caused actual confusion or was likely to cause consumer confusion. If such evidence existed and was presented, the outcome could have been different. The ACPA in an important weapon for trademark holders in protecting their intellectual property in the online world. If you do not protect your trademarks, you may lose rights in those marks altogether. Besides, if you don't protect your marks, who will?

Cyber bullying does have negative consequences. The effects of cyber bullying can be short-term or if not dealt with can create long-lasting problems that can significantly impact the life of the target as well as the bully themselves.

Effects of Online Bullying

As a parent, it is your responsibility to check how much time your child spends in front of the computer. More importantly, you need to keep an eye on what each of them is doing. If you observe something strange, do not ignore these signs, even if it seems something small - step out and investigate.

You need to do this as the short-term consequences of online bullying may start out small but they can significantly develop and impact your child's future.

Lets take a look at some of the effects of cyber bullying for the target

Severe Depression - A child being bullied online can experience depression that can cause them to avoid people, even parents.

Loss of Self-Worth - A target of bullying may lose confidence in themselves. The actions, words or any other methods of bullying can push a child to doubt themselves, to not to believe in their strengths and abilities, and cause them to think that they are worthless.

Difficulty in Sleeping - The effects of cyber bullying are not limited to the times when your child is online. It extends to different aspects in their life, even sleep. The combination of fear, depression, anxiety and all other negative effects, may prevent them from having a regular, complete and restful sleep.

Physical Indications - There could also be physical symptoms which may include things like constant stomach pains, headaches and the like.

Anxiety - A child who is bullied online may be worried about almost everything for no reason.

Lack of Interest in School - Your child's lack of interest in going to school can mean not finishing their studies or doing poorly.

If you see any of these signs; if your child just doesn't appear to be their normal selves; if you notice a difference in their behavior - make sure you take the time to find out what is going on.

Effects of Cyber Bullying on Bullies

Online bullying does not only affect the target of the bullying, but it can also have an impact on the bully. As stated earlier, parents should keep watch of their children. Whether they are bullied or they bully others, there will always be negative effects - these may include:

Trouble in Making Friends and Maintaining Relationships - A bully, due to their intimidating attitude and personality, may find it hard to make friends. The few friendships that they do have may be built on fear, thus they are more difficult to maintain.

Struggles in School - Being an online bully may impact your child's interest in studying. What they are doing online may consume them and with all this going on, there may be a lot less room for other important things like study.

Problems with the law - In many countries and states, there is an increase in laws against cyber bullying. A child who is bullying others online may at some stage be charged, this means they could end up with a criminal conviction against them and the repercussions of this are huge.

Short-term or long-term, the effects of cyber bullying can be devastating. Your child does not deserve a ruined life due to being bullied or bullying others. These possible consequences of online bullying are a sobering reminder as to how important it is to keep an eye on what your children are doing online.

Cyber-Bullying is the harassment & humiliation of one child by the hands of another child over the internet.

It can be completed using verbal or written assaults or by posting images, real or fabricated using graphic software, to humiliate, degrade, embarrass, or harass your children and cause emotional trauma.

There are ways to prevent Cyber-Bullying and if it is already present there are very effective solutions to Cyber-Bullying.

Statistics show 1 out of 3 children experience internet harassment. The problem is less than half will inform their parent about the problem.

It is usually initiated against your son or daughter by someone who knows them, possibly a school-mate.

The internet bully is usually smart enough to use a fictitious profile to avoid you knowing who they are.

There are many ways to prevent this as a parent to help protect your child from this very serious problem.

Here are some solutions to internet harassment:

*Make sure the computer your kid uses is in a public area of your home where you can help supervise online sessions.

*Instruct your Sibling to never post their real name or photo in their profile and to make their profile private so that they cannot be identified.

*Teach them never to give out any private information over the internet.

*Show them how to use options in the forum to block posts from anyone they find to be objectionable.

*Tell them to delete suspicious email without opening it.

*Make sure they never share their passwords or personal info with anyone.

*Stress to your child to inform you immediately if an incident of Cyber-Bullying occurs.

Internet harassment is an extremely serious risk to your child's safety.

Bullying, online or offline, can cause your son or daughter to become seriously depressed and suffer a loss of self esteem or self worth.

The number of suicides among young children and teenagers due to the devastating effects of bullying has been on the rise.

It is reported that every half hour, 48 kids a day, commit suicide as a result of bullying (Bullycide) or Cyber-Bullying (Cyber Bullycide).

19,000 children each year attempts to commit suicide as a result of the tormenting by an online bully.

If you notice signs that your son or daughter might be struggling with the effects of being bullied you need to take it very seriously and take immediate action.

Do not hesitate to get in touch with a mental health specialist.

If you know of a bullying incident do not hesitate to contact school officials, the internet provider of services if it was on the net, and law enforcement agencies for assistance.

It does not have to be a long term occurrence for serious damage to be done. Just one or two sessions of "bully-like" behavior can cause serious emotional damage to your child.

Parents must be pro active in the prevention of Cyber-Bullying!

Unlike any other hosting, adult hosting is a hosting that requires more attention to due to its nature to offend cyber laws. There are more and more adult websites in the internet today and many have applied certain measurements to keep underage visitors from entering. This is because if they do not do so, they will be in trouble with the law.

To begin, you will need to look for a hosting provider that accepts adult content. Once you found it, you have to decide on the amount of resources that you want like the amount of storage, bandwidth and so on. Also, you need to decide how much you are willing to spend on your hosting.

As it is different from other websites, here are a few areas that you need to pay attention to if you want to start an adult content website:

Bandwidth - This type of website relies on graphics to attract their visitors. Therefore, you need a huge amount of bandwidth because you will be having a lot of content that consists of videos, flash and images. Also, if you are planning for a membership website that allows your users to download videos form you site, you will need the bandwidth to be able to support it.

Disk storage - As you will be uploading plenty of content. You need a huge amount of disk space to hold all those files. Files like videos and images takes up lots of space and it is important for you website to be able to support the amount of files you have. The way your website look will determine whether your visitors will stay or go. Therefore, having more images will help you to keep you visitors staying a little longer.

So, having mentioned the things above, a good hosting solution for an adult website would be a dedicated hosting. It has the ability to host an adult website because of its flexibility and power. The resources that you need could be obtained with a dedicated serve plus great support from the provider for dedicated server customers.

A lot of people have sudden moments of inspiration, coming up with great ideas for businesses, scientific inventions, games, mobile applications and so on. Some of them may not be feasible, but a lot of ideas may actually work. If you come up with something that you feel can make you a lot of money, how do make sure that the world knows it is your idea? How do you ensure that your idea or invention is not stolen or copied by anybody else?

There are lawyers who will file a document stating that the idea or invention is entirely yours, and that anyone else who steals or copies it is liable to be taken to court. You will find companies that will provide attorneys to file patents, trademarks and copyrights. These applications can be filed by your attorney of choice at the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), the USCO (United Stated Copyright Office) and different other trademark and patent offices around the world.

If you have an invention that you feel will make a difference, you can get it patented. Patents can essentially be divided as provisional and non-provisional applications. If you contact one of these companies, they will send a licensed patent attorney, who is specifically trained to file patent applications in the United States. The process will begin with an initial consultation which is free of cost. This consultation will be to determine whether or not you should begin with a patent search. A patent search involves browsing through the archives of patents to find out how many ideas similar to yours have been patented in the past. After this, you can go ahead with the actual filing.

A trademark is basically a word, phrase or symbol which manufacturers or sellers use to make their products unique, and differentiate their company from others. You can protect the symbol or phrase of your company, and apart from this sometimes there are other distinguishing features like the color and packaging of a product. You can contact a law firm to find out if any of these identifiers can be protected, in the case of your particular product.

A copyright involves the protection of all original works of authorship, which are fixed in a tangible medium. This includes both published and unpublished dramatic, musical, artistic and literary work, and some other intellectual works. When you file a copyright, you are protecting only the expression and not the subject matter. For example, say you are filing for a copyright for the photograph of a copy machine. This prevents others from copying the photograph, but to prevent the copying of the machine itself, the inventor of the machine will have to file a patent. If you contact the right firm, they will send over an attorney who will be able to advise you as to what form of protection will suit your requirements the most.

There are so many other ways of protecting your ideas and works. There is cyber law, which involves a number of issues like credit card fraud, identity theft, slander and libel. Attorneys handle all these cases and more.

With a brand new year upon us, experts are concerned. Very concerned. It was reported last week that British law enforcement expects internet and cyber crime to surpass traditional crime rates for the first time in British history. Law enforcement officials lamented that while their jobs used to consist of apprehending thieves attempting to rob cars or vandalize homes, they are now faced with the seemingly inordinate task of detaining criminals from thousands of miles away. Criminals engaged in complex internet hacking and identity theft schemes.

Almost all U.K. precincts report an upsurge of internet and cyber-savvy crimes. Most consider spyware and "malware" to be the most significant types of attacks, and the most likely cause devastating identity theft on unsuspecting victims. Further, many of these victims do not have protection and anti-theft software in place to protect themselves from attack, further encouraging criminals and frustrating law enforcement. The increased use of smartphones and iPads has furthered the problem as well.

The smartphone craze has stimulated the hysteria over cyber crime and victimization. Law enforcement all over the world reports increased smartphone theft, much associated with violent robberies and assaults. In the U.K., a group has been set up to help combat the problem known as the Mobile Industry Crime Action Forum. The Forum urges smartphone users to stay aware when using mass public transit, the most common place for theft. The scariest aspect of smartphone crime is what can happen after the theft. Many times, thieves charge sellers in Eastern Europe, Algeria, Morocco or West Africa thousands of dollars for a smartphone filled with sensitive data. Thereafter, sellers can use the data to steal the identity of the victim and wreak havoc on his credit and identity.

With so much cyber and smartphone crime around us, 2011 must bring an increased awareness and fervor for security. London-based Snuko, P.L.C. has offered clients across the globe the opportunity to secure their phones and laptops. Snuko's smartphone products allow for remote location of a stolen item and total lock-out of unauthorized users. The inexpensive product can assure that victims of violent crime can mitigate their losses by recovering their stolen property before it is sent overseas and virtually lost forever.

Attention to protection constant awareness of threats could help lead to 2011 being the first year to see a decline in internet and cyber crime in recent memory. With just a little extra caution, internet and smartphone users can rest assured their identity will be safe in the new year and for many more to come.

With the current advancement in the communications world, cyber bullying also has started to emerge from behind the safety of Internet anonymity.

Cyber bullying crime is the new face of traditional bullying in which a student threatens another with physical abuse, invades their personal e-mail account and leaks the private information outside, posts denigrating remarks about them or their digitally altered images with obscene features - and all these are done through the technical media, such as Internet or mobile phones. Cyber bullying is different from cyber stalking which characterizes the harassment of an adult by an adult. When a child posts something disparaging about the school authority or a teacher, it is not cyber bullying. Repeated harassment with unsolicited mails and messages also counts among the crimes.

The key explanation for cyber bullying crime becoming rampant has more than one reason. An individual can remain anonymous on the Internet without divulging a single detail of hi/her whereabouts. This lets the culprit escape the crime scene easily. The advantage of staying anonymous and invisible while harassing someone allows the criminals to attack someone much stronger than them. Moreover, perhaps the biggest loophole of the web media is that it is just impossible to stop any defamatory stuff from circulating of the world wide web once it is posted. Therefore, even if the perpetrator is caught at a later date, considerable damage has already taken place by then through the global access to any downloadable information.

The menace of cyber bullying crime often leaves a deep scar in the victim's mind that can not be erased. Teenagers experiencing bullying often become life long sufferers of depression, lack of self esteem and trust, poor concentration and worsened relationships with friends and family. Some even take to ending their own life, being unable to bear the ignominy any more. While many states are now coming up with whole new sets of cyber crime laws to eliminate this menace, parents and the school authority should also come forward to help the victimized students and take stern action against the rowdy students. Parents should keep a vigilant eye on the sites their children visit and also explain the danger of revealing personal information on the social networking sites to them. An unfortunate incident of cyber bullying should immediately be brought to the notice of the local authority.

In today's Web 2.0 world, businesses face new ways to broadcast their presence and advertise their goods and services, and the Internet is an effective, far-reaching tool for brand marketing. As businesses explore new ways to advertise online, it has become apparent that brand marketing has transcended buying ad space on popular search engines and other informational sites to actively engaging with their consumers in conversations and sharing information. Now businesses must embrace social networking as a marketing strategy.

Social networking sites have continual membership growth. Facebook, for example, is estimated to have more than 350 million active users. Twitter now boasts around 32.1 million users. MySpace attracts about 115 million people to its site each month. With such a wide consumer base at the ready, how have businesses used these social networking sites to their advantage? As businesses move into the cyber frontier, how they protect their brands is critical. To help businesses police their brands and leverage the power of social media, these social networking giants have put mechanisms in place to help guard against fraud, impersonation, and rights infringement. After all, social networking strategies only work if everyone plays by the same rules.

Social Media as a Marketing Tool

Facebook, the largest social networking site, is a good example of how social networking sites have become an effective marketing tool for businesses. Facebook has developed its website to allow for Pages, customizable mini-sites geared toward organizations, products, or public personalities, to join the conversation with Facebook users. A Page essentially allows fans to become brand advocates. It allows users to post comments, view news and information about a certain product, and learn more about a company. Businesses have jumped on this viral form of advertising.

Facebook now has more than 1.6 million active Pages. More than 700,000 local businesses have created Pages to reach their target demographics. In fact, it is estimated that Pages have created more than 5.3 billion fans. The Page form on Facebook requires the creator of the Page to be the official representative of an organization, business, celebrity, or brand. As such, the representative becomes the Page Organizer, able to add and remove content, manage the information appearing on the site, and increase the viral effects of the advertising. Each Page (depending on the type of organization selected) comes equipped with pre-selected formatting options, such as tabs for Discussion Boards, Events, Information about the organization, and Photos. The Info tab, for example, lets you share key information about your company, such as Website, mission, overview of the business, and products. Fans can post comments on a company's wall, view videos, and read about upcoming events or promotions. Every time a Page has activity, such as postings or announcements, this activity becomes visible on the NewsFeed. Information about your fans regarding their activities on your Page also becomes available for viewing by their friends, thus opening the door for others to become a fan of your Page.

This is what causes the viral nature of advertising on Facebook. Businesses can capitalize on this market and gain valuable information from tools such as Facebook Insights, which, includes data on fans' engagement with posts from a business's Page. Businesses have also "opened up shop" on Twitter and MySpace. Some businesses have launched official Twitter accounts and allow (or require) employees to post daily or weekly Tweets, often about promotions or events.

What's interesting about these sites is that there isn't a filter that blocks out negative or unflattering information. As such, questions arise as to what a business can do once the angry "fan" or follower posts negative comments on a wall, if a disgruntled former employee opens a page in your name, or if someone poses as a representative of your business claiming your company name or brand as their username.

Social Networking Sites and Their Terms of Use

The simplest and most cost-effective way to protect a brand on social networking sites is to utilize the site's dispute resolutions mechanism. Most of the social networking giants have procedures in place for submitting complaints about copyright infringement, trademark infringement, and privacy concerns.

Facebook: The Facebook Statement of Rights and Responsibilities asks users to agree that they are the rightful owners of all the content and information they post on Facebook. They are also asked to agree that they will not create accounts for anyone without their permission. Users are not allowed to post content or take any action on Facebook that infringes or violates other's rights or otherwise violates the law and Facebook reserves the right to take down content or remove a webpage that is found to be infringing on those rights. Facebook provides its users with tools to help address intellectual property issues. Most of these tools are forms that are submitted electronically.

Twitter: The Twitter rules specifically state that they don't monitor user's content and will not censor such content except in limited circumstances. Twitter does not allow impersonation of others that does or is intended to confuse, mislead, or deceive others. However, ways for monitoring such impersonation has proved to be a problem for Twitter since their biggest concern is fake accounts. Twitter also reserves the right to reclaim usernames on behalf of businesses or individuals that hold legal right or trademarks in those user names. To prevent name squatting, Twitter suspends accounts that are inactive for more than six months.

Business owners using social networking sites would be wise to read the terms of use to be well-versed in protective actions these companies have put in place to help police brands. It's a new marketing world, and greater tools can lead to greater risks if a business isn't careful. Just as businesses benefit from social networking sites, the social networks rely on businesses to leverage their power. It's a symbiotic relationship-and must be protected.

The internet has gone a long way to increasing opportunities for people with disabilities. Today, one does not even need to leave the home to purchase a television, furniture or even a wheelchair. Websites like eBay, Craigslist and Amazon have made it extremely easy for anyone to make a purchase over the internet. So easy in fact that many individuals do not consider the possibility of a fraudulent transaction. However, it does happen. According to the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3), it received 206,884 complaint submissions for the year 2007. Just slightly lower (by 0.3%) than the year before, which was 207,492.

IC3 reports that 90,008 complaints of crime to federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies around the country for further consideration. The majority of cases referred alleged fraud and involved a financial loss on the part of the person making the complaint. The total dollar amount lost from these cases was $239.09 million with a median dollar loss of $680.00 per complaint. This was an increase from $198.44 million in total reported losses in 2006. Therefore, although the number of cases reported went down slightly, the actual cost to the person who suffers a lost went up.

The WC3 Statistical Breakdown
Perpetrators were predominantly male (75.8%) and half resided in one of the following states: California, Florida, New York, Texas, Illinois, Pennsylvania and Georgia. The majority of reported perpetrators were from the United States. However, a significant number of perpetrators also were located in United Kingdom, Nigeria, Canada, Romania, and Italy.

Among complainants, 57.6% were male, nearly half were between the ages of 30 and 50 and one-third resided in one of the four most populated states: California, Florida, Texas, and New York. While most were from the United States, IC3 received a number of complaints from Canada, United Kingdom, Australia, India, and Mexico.

Males complainants lost more money than females (ratio of $1.67 to every $1.00 lost per female). This may be a function of both online purchasing differences by gender and the type of fraudulent schemes by which the individuals were victimized.
Electronic mail (e-mail) (73.6%) and web pages (32.7%) were the two primary mechanisms by which the fraudulent contact took place.

The Agency claims that recent high activity scams in 2007 were those involving pets, checks, spam, and online dating sites, all of which have proven effective as criminal devices in the hands of fraudsters.

Who is WC3?
The Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) is a partnership between the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the National White Collar Crime Center (NW3C), and the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA).

IC3's mission is to serve as a vehicle to receive, develop, and refer criminal complaints regarding the rapidly expanding arena of cyber crime. The IC3 gives the victims of cyber crime a convenient and easy-to-use reporting mechanism that alerts authorities of suspected criminal or civil violations. For law enforcement and regulatory agencies at the federal, state, local and international level, IC3 provides a central referral mechanism for complaints involving Internet related crimes

How do I file a complaint?

IC3 accepts online Internet crime complaints from either the person who believes they were defrauded or from a third party to the complainant. We can best process your complaint if we receive accurate and complete information from you. Therefore, we request that you provide the following information when filing a complaint:

- Your name
- Your mailing address
- Your telephone number
- The name, address, telephone number, and Web address, if available, of the individual or organization you believe defrauded you.

Specific details on how, why, and when you believe you were defrauded. Any other relevant information you believe is necessary to support your complaint.

File a Complaint at http://www.ic3.gov

Note The Following:

• Because IC3 is a partnership the proccesed complaints are forwarded to Federal, State, Local and International law enforcement agencies for action.
• It is at the discretion of receiving agency as to what type of action to take.
• Filing a complaint with IC3 does not mean that your credit card companies or banks have been notified of fradulent charges. It is your responsibility to notify your credit card company or bank directly.
• IC3 does not guarantee that information submitted to authorities on your behalf will remain confidential. The state that it depends on the State or Local laws.

Today I'm stepping out on to the cyber high-wire.
I'm performing a high-risk blogging manoeuvre.
No safety net.
No cyber-harness.

I'm going to write a brief opinion piece on the Law of Attraction (LOA).
Possibly a no-win situation for me.
Aah well.
Advocates (of the concept) will disagree with me.
(I'm okay with that... as long as you're okay with me thinking differently to you).
And opponents are already with me.

I personally think the LOA should be re-named the Law of Distraction (as the title of my post suggests) as it (in my opinion) actually distracts people from change principles which actually work.
(Just lost half my readers).

Firstly, I am not a vocal opponent of the LOA (as such), in that, I have never written or spoken publicly about it.. but I am a seeker of the truth... and it is my belief that it (the LOA) may not be the 'answer' so many believe it to be.

When it comes to creating forever results and believing in something (which we all want), I want proof, I want consistent evidence, I want impartial analysis, I want large-scale, irrefutable results over an extended period of time and I'd prefer someone who's not trying to make money through the peddling of this or that particular philosophy or program (to be the person doing the talking).

So why am I doing this post?
Clearly, I'm a masochist.
Who wants to be popular anyway?
It's overrated.
I sat back for a while (about a year) and observed the fervour surrounding the LOA... and while I get some of the thinking (no, I don't disagree with everything), I have a few issues (no, not those issues... other issues) to discuss, points to make and questions to ask.

So let's put a ripple (or tidal wave) in the personal development pond and see what it's about.

Note (2): Yes, this is an open forum for you to voice your thoughts.. just keep it civil, nice and constructive and we can all explore (debate, argue) together.
Happily.
We don't all have to agree.. (that's the beauty of being a grown-up) we just have to live on the same planet.
And be nice to each other.
Even though... we have different beliefs.
Hmm, maybe we should tell our leaders that?
Wanna join my political party?
Me either.
By the way, I love a healthy, good-spirited debate... but not some inane verbal attack from a bitter, twisted, angry zealot who simply wants to impose his or her opinion on the rest of us.

Which leads me to my next comment....

What I am about to write are my thoughts and opinions only... don't get offended, defensive or angry (well, I'd suggest you don't anyway).
Feel free to agree, disagree or stop reading at any stage...
Sometimes it ain't about right or wrong; it's about what we think, believe and choose.
Let's commence boys and girls....

While there are volumes of information on the LOA, the following is an assortment from a range of sources and seems to be indicative of the general thinking, principles and beliefs... and there's also some thoughts, suggestions and questions from me thrown in (of course).
The stuff in blue (or purple... I'm not sure!) is me.
(Probably woulda figured that out all by yerself).

Some Definitions of the LOA:
(1)People experience the corresponding manifestations of their predominant thoughts.
I think this is a fancy schmancy way of saying "you get what you mostly think about"... gotta make it sound like pseudo-science though. I could give SO many examples of people focusing on (the attainment of) certain things for years.. and never getting them... but do I really need to?
Nup.

(2)People have direct control over reality and their lives through thought alone.
Mmm.. surely at some stage WHAT WE DO is gonna have some impact on our reality?
Thought ALONE... don't think so.
It's an ingredient... but it ain't the whole recipe.

(3) A person's thoughts (conscious and unconscious), emotions, beliefs and actions are said to attract corresponding positive and negative experiences "through the resonance of their energetic vibration."
I'm a scientist (a crap one admittedly), so I've explored this a little... and nobody can tell me how the resonance of an individuals 'energetic vibration' (which apparently occurs when they focus on stuff) can help them lose weight as they sit on the couch, while simultaneously inhaling beer and donuts.
Stupidly, I thought losing weight (for example) may involve getting off the couch and at some stage, expending some energy.
Thought it may have something to do with behaviour not JUST thoughts.

(4) The "law of attraction" states "you get what you think about; your thoughts determine your destiny."
I wonder how the billions of people who live on less than a dollar a day feel about this ideology... no wonder those LOA workshops never took off in the Sudan.
"C'mon you guys over there in that mud hut with no food... your attitude and your thinking is holding you back.... stop limiting yourselves with your crappy mindset!"
"Stop it with those negative thoughts."
If you think I'm being insensitive, how do you think they (people in the Sudan) would feel about someone telling them that their thoughts are responsible for their reality?

LOA Principles:
(1) Know what one wants and ask the universe for it. (The "universe" is mentioned broadly, stating that it can be anything from a god to an unknown source of energy).
Okay... I want to be able to run a hundred metres in nine seconds (a world record)... the fact that I'm fat, slow, forty three and don't train for the event shouldn't be a problem... the only thing which might get in my way is my negative energy... (and I thought it would be my hamstrings).

(2) Feel and behave as if the object of one's desire is on its way.
Hmmm, let's say the object of one's (such a funny word... I sound like the queen) desire is to be a rock star and right now I'm flipping burgers for seven bucks an hour.
(1) As long as I'm working at Big Sam's Diner, I'm never gonna feel like Bono (good in theory, stupid in practice)... but I need to keep working there 'cause right now I'm not a rock star and.. I need the money.
(2) If I walk around behaving like a rock star.. I'm probably gonna get punched in the head by someone who doesn't share my reality.
(3) Perhaps I actually need to get off my ass, practice my music, develop some skills and do some work.
(4) Perhaps I'm never gonna be a rock star 'cause I don't have any musical ability.

Just a thought.

(3) Be open to receiving it.
I'm open to creating it, chasing it, working for it... not so open to sitting on my ass and waiting for it to knock on my front door.... call me old-fashioned.

"Er.. hello Craig, it's the universe here... I'm at the front door with that tropical island and that incredible singing voice you wanted.. let me in..."

(4) Proponents say that by abiding by these, and avoiding "negative" thoughts, the Universe will manifest a person's desires.
My experience tells me that (by and large) the only person/thing that will create forever positive change in my life is ME... yes, thinking plays a role but typically it's more about my actions, my life choices, my ability to persevere and deal with discomfort, my ability to adapt and... my drive to create something from nothing.

Some quotes from LOA websites:
(1) "The Law of Attraction is fun to learn and use because you are always watching, waiting expectantly for your desires to manifest. You can deliberately use this law to create your future!"
Part of the appeal (in my opinion) of the LOA is the whole notion of how easy and fun the process is.
Who wants to buy hard work, self-control and discipline when the universe can manifest your desires while you pull your nose hairs?
Easy (fun, quick, painless, convenient) is what people want to buy.
Don't believe me?... look at how weight-loss and fitness products are marketed.
Look at how money making schemes are sold.
I don't like waiting for things to manifest.. I like creating.

(2) "You get what you put your energy and focus on, whether wanted or unwanted."
I know plenty of people who have focused on finding Mr or Mrs right for years... if only they'd lose fifty pounds, get a job, change their crappy attitude, use a mouth wash and stop whining.
But what do I know?

(3) "A major factor behind this universal law is the energy and vibrations of our emotions and feelings. Any thought you may have, when combined with emotion, vibrates out from you to the universe and will attract back what you want. You can leave all the details to the universe. Let the universe figure out the method of delivery, when you will receive it, etc. Now all you have to do is Allow It."
Crap.
Sorry.. couldn't help myself.
(I'd been so grown-up too).

In the last month I've (did I mention I'm back in black now... hey, isn't that a song?) spoken to a bunch of people who tell me they have no plan and no idea how they will achieve their goals... but know they will (achieve their goals) because "their thoughts alone will attract whatever it is they desire"... they just need to put "that energy" out there at "it (their desired outcomes) will come to them".
When I ask them for more of an explanation, one of three things happen:

(1) They say they don't know how it will happen and they don't need to... just need to allow it.

(2 ) They get very defensive.

(3) They get aggressive, grumpy or critical of non-supporters.

So... like many Personal Development philosophies or ideologies, I guess the underlying motivation for any individual to embrace the LOA is to create positive change in an area or areas of their life (I think both sides of the fence will agree with this).
We all have this in common; the desire to create positive change... to have more... whatever 'more' is for us (peace, fun, love, money, power, recognition, happiness... and so on).

I guess it's a matter of us finding what really works.
For us.
I know what works for me and the people I work with... but that's my truth.

When you do business you do not earn money whereas you generate money. You are responsible for the earnings of many people in a way you provide for the bread and butter of many houses. When you take responsibility for so many people you need to be linear with respect to rules and regulations. In fact you need to be adept at so many things only then can you sail smoothly.

You need to be a juggler who can juggle two or three skills at a time. You need to know the tax, law, sales, marketing, purchasing, inventory etc. For all this you need to know the law. You need to be bound to law and be adept at it. Business lawyer if you appoint then he can ease much of your load and give you some relief. Business lawyer is a very broad term though.

Legality is the back bone of any business. You need to take care of many aspects as a legal advisor. Let us see some of them in short

1) Property acquisition--first and foremost the business property whether bought or rented must be legally viable. The appropriate documents are made by the business lawyer.

2) Legal documentation-the business certification required for its running is bone by the business lawyers.

3) Patent-if you require taking a patent for your product then business lawyer advices you the legal proceedings.

4) International standardization certificate-lawyers help you in getting the standardization certificates.

5) Contracts-job conditions and contracts between the employers and employees are done by business lawyers. Breach of contract is dealt with by them.

6) Partnership deals-again chalked out by the lawyers. The clauses of partnership chalked out by them.

7) HR(human resource)-rules and regulations between the employees. Rules for internal smooth working. Conditions if there is a breach in understanding.

8) Authentication of the project. if any new projects are taken up by the company.

9) Bankruptcy laws-these are chalked out initially itself for both company and the bankers. Clauses of understanding are drawn.

10) Blue law-this law is especially observed in US and Canada to take into account religious aspects in work like holidays on Sundays and Christmas etc. If unavoidable then compensation in what form is chalked out.

11) Cyber law--new law that is gaining importance. This ensures the security and privacy options of cyber sites. Also deals with the ethical and unethical hacking.

12) Duress-deals with any act of injustice or compulsions from both sides employee and employer.

13) Corporate law-clauses of corporate working and their requirements and fulfillment are taken care of.

14) Lien-security offered by company in exchange for some services or utilities and the terms and conditions of it.

15) Retirement laws-benefits a person gets on retirement, age, planning for retirement are all taken care of.

It is not easy running a business. However small it is always an empire because you are the sole master who runs the show.