Where Are The Internet Police?
Do we need internet police? You bet! The internet is still the wild west, and the sheriff hasn't yet come to town. Scams are everywhere, and there is little to stop the criminals. For example, I estimate that my online articles have been used in violation of my copyright at least 2000 times. Two thousand times - this is not an exaggeration.
Is there anything I can do about it? Yes, when someone in another country steals my article and puts their own name on it, I can find it online using search engines. At that point, the most I can really do is send a threatening email mentioning a lawyer that I can't actually afford to hire for each of these many violations.
In these cases the thieves usually remove the article, but they will almost always keep stealing other articles. They know that it is too much trouble and expense for anyone to pursue a legal case against them.
Of course there are larger crimes. I get "scam" emails almost daily, looking like they came from my PayPal account or my bank. You have probably seen the same. They try to get the information necessary to empty our accounts.
The Internet Police To The Rescue
There are few police qualified to fight crime online, and no political will to allocate money for training. My solution is to encourage someone or some company start their own for-profit internet police department. It would be a company that charges for protecting our rights.
They would know all the tricks necessary to go after the criminals. They would have technical knowledge needed to shut down web sites of criminals, for example. They could go after web hosts or others that repeatedly did business with known criminals. They could punish the wrong-doers.
To finance these operations, they could charge for each enforcement action, or sell a basic security package that might even include virus protection and such. Many, including myself, would pay for this protection, particularly if they could truly punish and deter criminals.
This would essentially be a "vigilante" operation. I am okay with this, because it is clear that the legal authorities are so far defaulting on their responsibilities in this area. Of course the company would have to develop a reputation for true integrity.
How would this work in action? Suppose I found an article of mine that was stolen. I would contact the Internet Police.com (or whatever their name was). They would then verify that I have used their service without problems before (to be sure I am not making bogus claims against others). Then they would look at documentation I sent them. I might have a service contract with them, or I would pay a set fee.
They would contact the owner of the website where my stolen article is, telling them to cease and desist in their copyright violation. If this site or person had a record of such violations, punitive action would be taken, which could include notification of all who do business with them that they are stealing articles. It might also mean being listed on the internet police "most wanted" list, a site the public could visit.
If this didn't convince the offenders to change their ways, other actions could be taken. Web hosts might be convinced to close their accounts. Volunteers might be used to overload their server with non-stop visits.
Criminals who engage in scams like trying to access people's bank accounts, could be "tricked" into divulging information. Criminals are always susceptible to being fooled, because they are always hoping for unearned power and money. Information thus obtained would be used to punish them, or could be forwarded to the appropriate authorities near them.
There are many ways internet criminals could be legally punished by the internet police, especially in conjunction with internet users who want to help clean up the web. Eventually, after a few good stories of this "vigilante justice" get into the press, fewer people would choose to engage in internet crime.
Copyright Steve Gillman. For inventions, new product ideas, business ideas, story ideas, political and economic theories, deep thoughts, and a free course on How To Have New Ideas, visit : http://www.999ideas.com
Easy Promotion for Online Shops
Online shopping is growing very fast. Because it does not cost anything to open a new online shop that will be accessible by any user from any part of the Earth. It doesn't require thousands of dollars. Any internet user that has some good idea and some internet experience can open the shop. It needs only several days to buy domain name, hosting and setup shopping cart software. The main problem is to find customers on the market. The advertising and promotion become more important in the web era.
The first step of promotion is to submit your website to Search Engines like Google, Yahoo and MSN and list in directories like DMOZ, Yahoo Directory and Business.com .
The first key to success in attracting the customers is PPC advertisings like Google Adsense and Overture. You need to spend $30..$50/month at least to receive some good promotion.
But more relevant users you will get by using Product Search Engines. This means that you will not get a lot of rubbernecks, and you will not need to buy expensive servers to serve a lot of non-effective visits. The major Product Search Engines are: Froogle, Yahoo Shopping, BizRate, Price Grabber, and Shopping.com . Only Froogle is free, all other requires deposits based on PPC. You will need to spend some time to prepare product listings in special format and submit them to Product Search Engines. If you using common shopping cart software, in most cases you will need only to setup new module for this software, in other case you will need help of the programmer. Also I like WillyFogg.com Product Search Engine, it is free and it doesn't require creating any special product feeds. You need only to submit your site URL at http://willyfogg.com/submitshop.php and your products will be added in several days to products catalog and search engine index. This is the fastest and the easiest way to promote your online store. The other key of WillyFogg.com is that it is have the multilanguage support.
After you have tried all these major methods, you can try to use more complicated online marketing methods like optimizations, researching customers segment, offline advertisings e t.c.
Spyware Protection for Dummies
Spyware is software that is installed onto your computer without your knowledge. Everyone that accesses the internet is at risk but you can protect yourself using spyware protection.
Spyware software installs on your computer and then reports back to its owner on your internet activities. These spyware programs can prove to be potentially dangerous and some come in the form of keyloggers which will actually record all the keystrokes you make on your computer, this can include personal details, passwords, and even back details. In order to prevent this from happening you need to install a spyware removal tool onto your computer. A spyware blocker will stop spyware from being installed on your computer and will also alert you of any potentially dangerous websites if you go to access them.
Spyware removal software is available as both free spyware software and paid spyware software. Both have advantages and disadvantages, but having a spyware blocker installed on your computer is definitely a necessity if you intend to access the internet.
How to Recognize Spyware
If you suddenly notice a change in your computer, for example pop up advertisements suddenly appearing, your internet home page changing unexpectedly, or maybe your computer is just running very slowly, then you may have been infected by spyware software.
Spyware protection is vital if you use the internet and some of the spyware blocker software will allow you to scan your computer and remove these programs. Other spyware blocker software will run in the background of your computer and prevent spyware software from being installed.
If you suspect that your computer may be infected with spyware software, you will need to install a spyware removal tool immediately to help prevent any further damage taking place. Remember it's not just your computer at risk, with spyware it can also be your personal details and passwords.
Read more on spyware protection on the spyware removal tool. All about spyware and adware on - http://www.leandernet.com/Spyware_removal/Spyware_removal.php
