Window to the Web with LINKS for Friday, July 9, 2004

I’m Don Smith with your Window to the Web….

If you’re looking comprehensive news of the upcoming political conventions on the Web, you’ll find that the coverage won’t be as good as it was four years ago.

Even the major TV networks have announced they’ll be scaling back their broadcast efforts.

CBS Marketwatch reports that, unlike four years ago, there have been few, if any, announcements by Webcasters of plans to cover the conventions.
Pseudo.com had convention coverage in 2000 that let Web users choose events they wanted to see. In 2001, the Web firm went bankrupt and Pseudo.com has remerged as a music site.

You may have to find much of your information in pieces from Web Bloggers; people who write for their own online diary. A number of Bloggers have signed up to cover the conventions.

Of course, the major news sites such as
MSNBC.com
CBSNews.com
ABCNews.com
CNN.com
and
FoxNews.com
will cover the conventions, but there will be fewer sources by which to gain different perspectives.

This declining interest in covering the conventions comes at a time when many Americans seem to be more polarized over who should be the next president than they have been in many years.

To see the links mentioned here, go to my Blog at DonSmith.TV.

I’m Don Smith with your Window to the Web.

Window to the Web with LINKS for Thursday, July 8, 2004

I’m Don Smith with your Window to the Web….

Let’s go Phishing. That’s Phishing beginning with a P.H.

Phishing is the Internet way of catching a fish. Only with Phishing with a P.H., the fish could be you and your bank account.

A Phishing scam is an email that PRETENDS to alert you to a problem that has to be fixed by correcting account information. The reality is that you’re NOT entering your personal information at a real Web site if you do this. People think the email is real because the link goes to a familiar bank or commercial Web site. However, that link only LOOKS like its legitimate! It’s called a SPOOF. In reality, spoofing is a link that takes you to the personal server of the scam artist but makes it look like you’re on the site of a company you know and trust.

According to Gartner Research, the loss to U.S. banks and credit card companies last year due to Phishing scams was one point two BILLION dollars! Almost two MILLION people fell for the Phishing scams last year!

The best way to avoid Phishing scams is to make it a personal policy to NEVER click on the link contained in the suspected email. Instead, make your own way to the real company and into your account.

In addition, there are now several tools to alert you if a link is real or if it a spoof

The first two are toolbars for your browser that tell you where a link has REALLY taken you. Try SpoofStick from Corestreet.com
(http://www.corestreet.com/spoofstick/)

or SpoofGuard from Standford University.
(http://crypto.stanford.edu/SpoofGuard/)

EBay and Earthlink have been hit with so many Phishing attacks that they’ve developed their own Spoof detection toolbars.

To look at the links mentioned today, go to my Blog at DonSmith.tv.

I’m Don Smith with your Window to the Web.