Snippets

Passwords (again), silly Twits, and more…

Test Your Passwords

Click here for (another) password tester. Yes, I know I’ve given a link to a site like this before. I don’t apologise because I’ve seen how much upset can be caused by a malicious person guessing a client’s password. See this blog on the subject of stolen Gmail passwords, for instance. Even if you don’t change any existing passwords, please use strong ones in the future. In the meantime, find out how good that one password (that you use for everything!) actually is – or not.

A Plug for Low Cost Names

If you find yourself wanting to register a web domain, then I definitely recommend doing it with LCN. I’ve been using them for years and never had a problem, but hadn’t realised before just how good an example they set in communication and online support. This week I needed to register a domain for some testing I was doing. I needed to speak with someone and was very pleased to find that they prominently publish their telephone number on their website. Not only that, it is a normal, non-premium, UK landline number. Even better, the normally-elusive technical support people were available from option number one on their automated telephone menu system. Then they told me how many were in the queue before me. Then, within a minute or so, they answered me with a knowledgeable, UK-based adviser. That’s the way to do it!

Who Said You Could Share My Data?

I was rather miffed last week to receive an email from Twitter suggesting people that I might like to “follow”. Apart from the fact that I’m perfectly capable of deciding for myself whether my life is so empty that I want to fill it by “following” anybody (it isn’t and I don’t), I was annoyed by the unsolicited intrusion into my inbox and by the fact that two out of the three suggestions were people who had figured in my Linked In connections (one of whom I had deleted). I hadn’t realised before that Twitter and Linked In were connected and I certainly hadn’t knowingly given them permission to share information with each other. When I looked at the privacy policy of Twitter I learned:

“Links: Twitter may keep track of how you interact with links across our Services, including our email notifications, third-party services, and client applications, by redirecting clicks or through other means. We do this to help improve our Services……”

Well, I for one do not consider sharing data this way and then sending me unsolicited emails to be “improving…. services”. Instead, it just reminds me of some of my worst nightmares of these large organisations sharing more and more data amongst themselves, and then coming to computer-generated conclusions about who I am and what I want.

And still on the subject of Twitter…

Did you see the Channel 4 programme last week called “Don’t Blame Facebook”? It told tales of how injudicious tweeting and posting on social network sites can cause unforeseen problems. It’s amazing just how shortsighted and, frankly, stupid people can be in giving away too much information on these sites. Nevertheless, even I had to feel sorry for the the couple who were refused entry into the USA and sent back home without having their holiday just because of the paranoia of the spooks who monitor everything that is shared on Twitter. Apparently, the male half of the couple had tweeted that he intended to “..destroy the US” while on holiday. He just meant he was going to have some fun, and maybe a drink or two. Nevertheless, they were stopped by the US border guards on their way in, spent a while in jail, and then returned to the UK.

At the time of writing, you can still watch the programme “Don’t Blame Facebook” by clicking here.