Now is the time that many people are looking for rental accommodation to take up for 2012 whether it be for studying at Uni or other reasons.  We have noticed a spate of rental accommodation scams lately where a real bargain flat, apartment or house or flatmate situation is offered on one of a multitude of websites. Often it is advertised as central and includes great photos as well.  It will have lots of extras (like power and water included as well as internet access, dishwasher, heat pump etc).  The owner will be overseas and needs you to accept the offer without actually going through the place (which seems ok if you are in a different part of the country at the time).

So you look at the photos, email back and forth a few times and decide this will be great for you and the owner sounds really nice.  He or she may even email you a passport photo of themselves and the Title Deed to the property.

All you have to do is deposit the bond (say 4 weeks rent) and 2 weeks rent in advance into their bank account overseas or send it by Western Union because they can’t get to a bank easily, and the keys will be sent back to you as soon as the money clears so you have them well before you take up the tenancy.  The stories may vary a bit, but money first for keys second is the familiar theme – oh and along the way you will be asked to fill out an application form with a lot of personal information in included.

We have found that the photos of the rental may have been on a real estate sales site in the last few months or a different site under the actual owner’s name.  The photos have been copied and used to try to trick someone into parting with money or at the very least with personal information.

Read more about scams on www.scamwatch.govt.nz the Ministry or Consumer Affairs website and report scams to www.theorb.org.nz

As NetSafe staff speak with lots of school age children (and educators), we’re often exposed to views that differ from our own, in part due to an age gap, and the notion of privacy has surely evolved for tech savvy teens happy to share their lives online.

Just today, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has been quoted as describing Facebook as “the most appalling spying machine ever invented” in an interview with Russia Today.

The New York Daily News story goes on to say he refers to the popular social networking site as one of the top tools for the U.S. to spy on its citizens:

“Here we have the world’s most comprehensive database about people, their relationships, their names, their addresses, their locations, their communications with each other and their relatives, all sitting within the United States, all accessible to US Intelligence,” he said. “Facebook, Google, Yahoo, all these major U.S. organizations have built-in infaces for US intelligence.

The Saturday Night Live sketch comparing Assange and Zuckerburg:

I believe for many younger people (I’d clump them together as the X-Factor/Pop Idol generation) that exposure to popular TV shows and other media has created the notion that success (and fame) can be gained through building your own personal brand, by getting your name out there and making friends and influencing people.

Now Dale Carnegie wrote the book How to Win Friends and Influence People all the way back in 1937 so can we really say that times have changed?

I believe we can – even 20 years ago publishing as a concept was a top down, centrally controlled operation where newspaper and book editors and TV channel execs called the shots and decided what made the news, got screentime or made it onto the bestseller lists.

In 2011 anyone can share their thoughts and dreams, publish a manifesto and also expose their darkest secrets should they – or others – wish.

Back in 1999 I worked for one of the largest internet companies in the world providing community homepage building services to people keen to build websites about their family, their hobbies and their pets. Modelled on Geocities, this UK start-up let you easily build a simple, template driven website in exchange for displaying banner ads to visitors.

It was perhaps a new (and short lived) business model where ‘citizens’ of this online city were encouraged to cluster around shared topics and themes, publish stuff and connect, kind of like the social networks of today.

1999 was also the year that blogging went mainstream and anyone could create an online diary or weblog to publish to the world.

Twelve years on and a 13 year old child of one of my Facebook friends has taken this process further by publishing a whole array of thoughts, experiences and pictures on the site through an open profile with more than 500 friends and a possible world of watchers.

When I suggested to him locking down his profile, he couldn’t grasp why that move would do anything but restrict the opportunity to make new friends.

It’s something Facebook founder Mark Zuckerburg famously commented on back in January:

People have really gotten comfortable not only sharing more information and different kinds, but more openly and with more people. That social norm is just something that has evolved over time.

The Wikipedia entry on privacy describes the term as being a Western notion, often without equal in some cultures, with the first publication advocating privacy in the United States – by Samuel Warren and Louis Brandeis – being published way back in 1890.

The concept of privacy as a natural right to “be left alone” has of course evolved since then and new technology has always been seen to have brought with it new threats to retaining privacy.

But in this 21st century world is the concept now dead in the water given the numerous ways corporate and governmental organisations have to monitor our activities and the fact that a new generation of young people seem to be actively avoiding being ‘left alone’?

One Facebooker responding to the Assange story commented:

Every time you use a credit card, log into a website, buy anything on-line or a store you are giving away information about yourself. It’s known as data mining and has been going on for years.

There’s no need to get paranoid about it. it’s a… fact of modern life and we have to get used to it. The only way to get away from it is to live in a cave and grow your own food; but some nosy busybody will have that logged on a computer somewhere as well.

Should we therefore give up and accept defeat? It’s a discussion I think will be actively explored at July’s NetHui.

Updated: A tip off from someone connected with privacy in NZ – The Onion News Network’s tongue in cheek take on Facebook being the CIA’s greatest success

For fans of the Matt Damon/Jason Bourne spy thriller trilogy, the word Treadstone has instant meaning – a US government ‘black op’ programme training volunteers soldiers to become highly effective assassins.

What does a fictional movie series have to do with being an iPhone owner?

Smartphone iPhone security and privacy threats - see our presentation for more info

Well if you’ve been following the media over the last 24 hours, you’d possibly be thinking your shiny smartphone has been reporting back your every move to Apple and – as some message board commentators would have you believe under the terms of the US Patriot Act – to the US government too.

Researchers in the UK recently published their findings about a location cache file on iPhones running the iOS4 operating system that regularly logged the location coordinates of the phone owner and then copied them across to the PC or Mac they were syncing with.

If you’re even slightly into personal privacy and security or a member of the tin hat brigade*/Apple hater, the file at  Library/Caches/locationd/consolidated.db would appear to be very good at tracking your movements and can be used along with the iPhoneTracker app to build up a visual map of your routine travel.

This isn’t really news to me. Of course, I can’t claim to have found this file before Alisdair Allan and Pete Warden but having spent the last few weeks putting together a NetSafe presentation on smartphone security the idea of Apple logging this information comes as no surprise.

Location Based Services – privacy vs commercial gain

Location Based Services are just one of the next big things that handset manufacturers and corporate marketers are really hoping will take off in a big way. And judging by current smartphone sales forecasts they could soon be very happy indeed.

After all, when you’re meters away from your favourite coffee shop company as you pass through an airport after hours stuck on a crowded plane, a quick SMS from them offering you a bargain mochachoccachino could result in a swift sale.

If your phone is letting Google (if you have Android or Latitude) or a.n.other provider of location based marketing know your location every minute what harm is there in letting you have a loyalty reward?

I’m not so sure that having an iPhone really does mean some secret US government agency can follow my movements but if you’ve ever watched Enemy of the State maybe the Faraday Cage loving Gene Hackman character has a point.

Are we trading away our personal privacy for the sake of being in the shiny tech gadget crowd? Does it matter? These are the kind of questions I think will be increasingly asked over the next few years.

In the UK, “The Information Commissioner today said anyone who is concerned about the log of their whereabouts can make a complaint to his officials, who enforce the Data Protection Act.”

I’ll be watching to see how this situation develops and keeping my stack of anonymous passports close to hand.

*we use the term in jest

The organisation produces a video each year around the topic chosen and you can see the latest below on the theme of digital lives, the impact of sharing photos online and the ownership of information:

I’m not sure I understand this video completely but it’s prompted some debate in the NetSafe office about which cybersafety/digital literacy videos are the most effective in trying to reach a youth audience.

We’ve chosen 5 below on the topics of cyberbullying and internet safety in general. They are produced by organisations around the globe and take a very different approach to delivering the message.

Take a look at the ones we’ve chosen and please leave a comment about which one you think is best (based on tone /production values /any criteria you want to use).

If you’re an educator would you use any of these in your school and with your students?

We’d really value your feedback on this topic, details about the appropriate audience for these kinds of messages and if you think they spark some understanding with children and their parents.

5 short videos to review

First up we’ve chosen ‘Where’s Klaus‘ – Klaus is upstairs at home inviting some less than ideal friends to come visit

Next is a similar tale of unsuitable new childhood friends from Icelandic ISP Siminn – instead of CGI robots shooting up the house you have tweens and teens frequenting nightclubs, stripclubs and casinos:

Our third short video was also produced (in 2009) under the Safer Internet Day banner and shows the harmful effect of IM or online chat bullying:

This next video is aimed squarely at teens 13 – 16 years of age experimenting with webcams and their sexuality online and was produced by the Danish Media Council for Children and Young People:

Our last pick comes from the US Ad Council who have created some well known resources under the themes Delete Cyberbullying and Think Before You Post. This video simply titled Talent Show takes the insults associated with cyberbullying and exposes how unacceptable making those kind of remarks would be in front of a public audience:

What works?

Every nation addressing internet safety has a different cultural view of the problem and of ways to change behaviour – which video would be effective for your family, friends or students?

Leave a comment below or pick a choice on the poll top right of this page.

It was an eye opener for me to discover that (albeit 15 years ago) I lived a mere 500m from the most crime ridden place in the UK. And also surprising to discover that it had taken some 300,000 pounds  to deliver the project to the public.

4 years ago, when I ran the local Neighbourhood Watch, I built a rather rudimentary version of the site using the Google Maps API as a proof of concept to learn what you can ‘mashup’ with government data and PHP. That took a few evenings but alarmed my contact at the local police station who was supplying me with photocopied local crime stats.

What about thieves looking at it they asked? And what about ownership of the data? These are questions increasingly being asked by all kinds of people scared about falling house prices, police effectiveness and the availability of previously confidential information. Why should any victim of crime have to share that burden with the world?

Crime mapping is nothing new – in Chicago they’ve been informing residents about patterns of crime in their neighbourhood since 2006 when one of the original Google Maps mashups chicagocrime.org used the powerful public API to put pins on crime scenes.

It’s a powerful tool for citizens and is noted in the UK that

Crime-maps can give citizens a readily accessible means of understanding patterns of crime in their area. It can help them to evaluate the priorities and performance of the police and to make informed judgements pertinent to their safety and well-being.

In the UK, the increased use of geolocational information has however concerned the Information Commissioner who believes that:

Publishing exact household level mapping pins will generally constitute the processing of personal data and is likely to breach the first data protection principle’s requirement of fairness.

They also go on to suggest that publishing crime stats more frequently than monthly is also more grounds for concern.

Why you may ask? Well would you want a potential home buyer to know that someone was murdered outside your home? Or, as a witness to a serious offence, does the publication of the incident details risk your anonymity?

In the UK, 80% of people are now concerned about their personal details online, and 96% of individuals surveyed are concerned that organisations do not keep their details secure. A concern I’m sure may be echoed in New Zealand after the recent revelations that the Telecom Wireline database may have been accessed fraudulently, an issue now being investigated by the Privacy Commissioner’s Office.

Check our their Top 10 tips for privacy and now that the kids are heading back to school, make sure you discuss with them keeping private information offline, especially if your child is taking a shiny new laptop to school.

NetSafe TV 16– 22 May (2m):

Related links:

• Google Street View ’single biggest breach of privacy in history’
• Online list puts street in touch
• Online expert: Shocks will turn to yawns
• MGM v. Grokster

Plus the launch of a new book High-Tech Tots edited by Ilene and Michael Berson which features chapters written by Liz Butterfield and former NetSafe staff member Richard Beach.

Martin also discusses research which highlights the importance of texting and social media to under 25s. Lee Chisholm reviews The Bullying Forum event run by the Mental Health Foundation.

Take a look at the video below and do please comment on this format for a weekly wrap-up of cybesafety themed news and events:

NetSafe TV 2 – 8 May (2m 30s):

Related links:

• Privacy Awareness Week - review presentations from the Privacy Forum: The Future of Privacy event held in Wellington on 5 May 2010
• Media release: New UMR Privacy Survey Results
• Individual Privacy & Personal Information – UMR Omnibus Results March 2010 (PDF report)
• High-Tech Tots edited by Ilene and Michael Berson
•  Is Social Media a New Addiction? - The report from Retrevo Gadgetology Studies
•  Apparently That Text Can’t Wait — Not Even During Sex
• The Bullying Forum videos from the Mental Health Foundation
• Lee Chisholm talks about Technology and Bullying

4 years (or maybe 2/3 I’m not sure being the newbie here) is a long time in the rapidly advancing world of cellphones and modern technology in general. Things have got a lot smaller, faster and more toy-like in that period. Given our involvement at the cutting edge of technology – it helps if we understand the problems people are having with their gadgets and protocols – there’s been a move towards purchasing smart phones, the kind of devices that allow you to check and respond to emails and monitor Twitter conversations whilst curled up at home with a book/blasting away at the zombie hordes on your PS3.

To date, we now have one iPhone and one Nokia N97 in the staff armoury and it’s been intriguing (and a source of jealousy if I’m honest!) watching the gradual learning curve of adopting these cutting edge tools. Just how fast can you select a free app and get it installed on your phone? What purpose does a touchscreen drum kit serve for the man in the street? These questions and more will be answered soon I have no doubt.

Secondly, this week NetSafe has moved into the cloud, abandoning the 20th century staple of networked and continuously supported hardware in your office to serve as your email client and adopting Gmail or Google Apps Premium or whatever suite name it’s currently known as. The onus is now firmly on Google staff in Mountain View (perhaps they’re closer to NZ as there’s no obvious lag) to keep our emails flowing freely and we’ll be making increasing use of Docs and other cloud based tools to work on NetSafe projects more efficiently in the future.

Who knows, one day we may end up all working from home as a cloud based collective saving a small fortune on office space – that should encourage the landlord to think carefully before proposing a rent rise next time the lease comes up for renewal anyway.

The point of my ramblings to date is this – the pace of change seems to be ever increasing and if you’re not quick to adapt to technological and cultural evolution then there may come a day when you really are losing out on the benefits of this ‘new stuff’.

Just ruminate on this suggestion for a killer app we dreamed up at NetSafe Towers this very afternoon – your phone pre-orders your favourite coffee for you as you approach your favourite shop whilst you’re undertaking a little light shopping. The GPS locator handily alerts store staff to your pace and any changes of direction and only submits the final order when you’re 60 seconds away from walking through the door. If you have some sort of e-currency enabled on your phone (as they do in Japan) then one swipe of your handset and your hot, frothy beverage is perfectly brewed for you on arrival.

How does this work? Well if you’ve armed yourself with a Google Android powered device you’ll now have access to the wonderful new Google Maps Navigation with turn by turn directions. Yep, just like one of those expensive sat-nav style tools but now on your phone, for free. It’s a killer app alright – it certainly managed to wipe a big chunk off the share prices of the major GPS navigation companies a month ago when launched.

Now if you’re also out there in the cloud using Google docs and Gmail you may well have chatted or written to a friend about your favourite store and beverage choices. If the Googleplex is working effectively, scanning your mail and building that personality profile of you to pop up personalised adverts then surely it can alert your favourite coffee shop when your Google phone is within spitting distance and pre-order your favourite drink?

Does the idea scare you? It must scare those companies building paid-for mapping products. Convergence is making this kind of sci-fi functionality a reality and brings with it all kinds of questions over data privacy and the ability to opt out of any future advertising/personality based shopping programmes that are being dreamt up right now.

I don’t currently have this problem – NetSafe may be able to get bargain smart phones from parallel import sources instead of paying Vodafone prices for those people with broken equipment – for now though I’m making do with my rapidly aging, 2nd hand Nokia E65 and dreaming of a touch screen guitar app. I promise not to drop it on purpose just to get an upgrade…

On the last international flight I took from the UK to NZ via the US, I distinctly remember the long queue of people looking glum whilst casually removing shoes, belts and most of their outerwear to process through an airport scanner.

At the US we then queued for the traditionally frosty immigration reception following by fingerprinting and iris scanning (which I think was broken that day).

One proposed technological solution to the problem appears to have stumbled at the first hurdle in the UK where security staff at Manchester airport have now been banned from taking ’see-through’ scans of children for fear of breaking a law designed to prevent the creation of  an ‘indecent image of a child’.

If you can’t scan the bodies of all passengers boarding a flight then surely the committed terrorist will simply seek assistance from those under 18 to carry their equipment. It’s certanly been a tactic the military have encountered in Iraq and Afghanistan with suicide bombers.

Whilst the ‘grey area’ of the law is examined on this sci-fi style security development, let me ask you the personal question would you be happy passing through one of these Rapiscan devices for a faster start to your holiday or business trip?