Emails and Employees' Rights

In their daily work schedule, employees cannot keep from using the company’s IT facilities to send and receive private emails. This is aside from the business-related ones which are considered official. These emails could stay in an employees’ inbox for an indefinite period of time, and it is understood that private emails are only for that particular employee’s own personal consumption.

The issue with this situation is when an employer needs to access an employee’s email account when the latter is unavailable or absent for any length of time. Legal implications have been associated with employers who are opening their employee’s emails. The German Higher Labor Court early this year ruled that employers have the right to access and review an employee’s work-related email correspondence. It said that the requirements of the “secrecy of telecommunications” do not hold true in these cases. The company cannot be considered a “provider of telecommunication services” although the employee was allowed to use the employer’s email services.

A case once involved a worker who was not present at work due to a long-term illness. The employer was unable to obtain the employee’s consent despite repeated attempts. The employer then opened the employee’s email account, but only those emails that were business-related were read and printed. The owner did this in the presence of two eligible witnesses. Employee’s emails that were “private” and not business-related were neither read nor printed.

As a result, the employee tried to get a court order prohibiting her employer from accessing her email account in the future without her permission. The court denied her, and further repeated that her employer was not a “provider of telecommunication services”. The circumstances do not meet the criteria to fall under such a category.

The Higher Court made it clear that the employee’s use of the company’s email system is just a “side effect” of her normal daily routine. There is no adequate basis to decide that it actually falls under the scope of the Telecommunication s Act. With this present court ruling in Germany, employers can open an employee’s email account even without permission. The limitation would be that only business-related email messages in an employee’s email inbox would be opened, read or printed.

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Cyberattacks on the Loose

Last August, there was a public disclosure of the most threatening and pervasive online espionage. This disclosure, prepared by internet security experts at Silicon Valley, after years of investigation, said that the cyberattacks have been going on for at least five years. The targets were identified as some U.S. companies and government agencies. Obviously, these attacks are threats to the country’s national security and economy.

According to McAfee, there were 72 organizations targeted, but the total number could reach into the thousands, and may include companies and government agencies. It was found that the attacks were mostly aimed at obtaining sensitive information. Going deep into the nature of the attacks, the experts suspected that the perpetrator is a particular nation. At present, the experts choose not to identify the offender.

A McAfee spokesperson said that the surveillance slowly eats up both the economic and national security advantages of the U.S. He considers the activities to be very serious as they steal valuable intellectual property. Consequently, these will adversely affect jobs and the condition of the economic community. The spokesperson did not give details of the data that is being stolen because doing so might raise privacy concerns of the targeted organizations. He simply reiterated that a particular nation is behind all these attacks.

Of the targets, McAfee identified that 49 are found in the U.S. These include a solar power company, defense contractors, tech companies, news organizations, real estate companies, and a county government. Targets outside of the United States include, among others, a government agency in Taiwan and some Olympic organizations.

Another cybersecurity expert said that China and Russia are two of the most active opponents of the U.S. when it comes to cyberspace. However, a Chinese government representative earlier denied any involvement by China in any such activities. He said that China is willing to work with other countries against these kinds of attacks, and emphasized that it is also a victim. He added that China is not happy with the way some people linked the country to hacker attacks.

The toll on the U.S. economy brought about by stolen data might not be felt for years. It is estimated by experts that the country loses as much as $20 billion every year to online espionage. It is possible that the attacker is first trying to weaken the country’s competitive edge before finally dropping the full weight.

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It's Better with Anonymous Proxy

Data theft and data breaches have become so common that there is a need for a more secure online connection. At present, one can only hope that data thieves can be prevented from monitoring a user’s online activities. There have been many attempts to deal with this concern, but only a few effectively gave users satisfaction.

Once a user’s IP address is known to unscrupulous people, it is easy for them to get his or her personal information. Literally, the user cannot hide anything from them - what kind of sites he or she visits, how long he or she stays there, what products he or she usually buys, etc. But if the user’s IP address is hidden from them, these annoying and actually unsafe scenarios are not possible.

One’s IP address can be effectively hidden by using Anonymous Proxy. With this online defense, a user maintains online anonymity in his or her surfing activities. No one can trace the location where he or she is surfing from so his or her online transactions can no longer be tracked. Anonymous Proxy helps a user keep his or her personal information secure. With all these, he or she does not have to worry when transacting online. These are but some of the personal reasons why one should use Anonymous Proxy.

Anonymous Proxy can give lots of security and convenience to those who are in online business. They can now carry out an anonymous study of their competitors. Being hidden, chances are that they will be able to “look” at their competitors’ strengths and weaknesses. They can also publish their web sites anonymously, making it difficult for their rivals to block them.

Travelers, who can be businessmen, can maximize the benefits of Anonymous Proxy. Using Anonymous Proxy can spell the difference when it comes to security, inasmuch as almost all of them rely on Wifi access while they travel. Access to Wifi services at airports or hotels can never be totally free from possible intrusion. With Anonymous Proxy, browsing from hotels and airports can be safe and secure. Businessmen can do financial transactions without having to worry that they are under scrutiny.

These and other benefits make Anonymous Proxy a must for those who want a more secure and safe online activity for so long.

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Better Control, Better Facebook

Privacy issues have been hurled against Facebook in the past years. Users have complained about several features that take away their control over their own privacy. While the features’ purpose was to improve users’ experiences, problems have arisen, especially in the area of content sharing. In response, the company has made changes to its privacy features that hope to allow users to control their privacy. Some of these changes were successful, but others have invited even more complaints.

Just recently, Facebook announced that it is giving its millions of users more enhanced privacy control. These changes will be rolled out in the coming days, and users will be given a chance to try them when they become available. The new privacy features will generally make it easier for users to understand what people online will see about them and their posts.

With just a few clicks, users can quickly know who can see all that they post. They can also choose to block unwanted photos and those items that are tagged by others from their profile page. Facebook expects that users will have less confusion by changing such terms like “everyone” to “public”. Most users used to think that “everyone” meant everyone on the social networking site. The term actually meant all people on the internet.

Some analysts commented about Facebook’s move towards enhancing customer satisfaction. According to them, social networking buffs have long been asking for features that would allow them to clearly see what content is posted. Analysts said that Google+ was successful at avoiding Facebook’s privacy pitfalls. It gives users easier control when comes to content sharing. Facebook denied that its similar improvement was triggered by Google’s success in providing more acceptable privacy features.

According to another policy analyst, there is a brewing competition in the area of privacy. Ultimately, this trend will move towards empowering users to gain more control over information sharing. Other observers commented that policies should be clear in order to avoid backfiring. If controls are very complicated for users to understand and use, more problems can be expected. Facebook has taken the first few right steps, and now it has to take a lot more towards privacy protection.

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Up... Up... and... Supercookies!

Users are conscious that every time they go online, someone is watching them. Regardless of size, companies use updated technology just to be able to keep track of users’ online behavior. Users also realize that companies have one purpose in doing this, and that is for marketing. Trackers keep an eye on which sites are visited by a user, how long the user stays on each site, and what pages he or she visits before leaving. They are also concerned with the users’ interests, as revealed in the categories of posts that users read, and by comments that they leave.

Tracking is made possible mainly with the use of HTTP cookies. These are packets of information that are used to store the user’s preferences. Cookies were originally intended to be used to improve a user’s browsing experience. Because of cookies, users do not have to enter their basic information, like user name or password, every time they visit the same site.

The strategy of using cookies to store private information has previously stirred privacy concerns. Browsers responded by providing options for users to decide whether they want cookies to be stored or not. A user can easily delete cookies when he or she finds that they are not needed anymore. Because of this, it can be assumed that users have complete control over their private data.

Times seemed to have changed, and control is slipping away from the user. A privacy researcher revealed that today, users can be tracked even when cookie storage is disabled or when the user browses in privacy mode. The new tracking technology uses “supercookies”, which cannot be deleted. It is able to “revive” cookies after they were deleted. It can also bring together a user’s browsing history across two or more different browsers.

The supercookie uses a matchless identifier known as ETag. Researchers at Stanford University and UC Berkeley discovered that some companies are already using supercookies. The researchers identified one supercookie that is able to look back at web-browsing history. They observed that it can dig deep into the sites that the user has visited; as many as 1,500 of those. They supposed that this new kind of cookie is interested in what products the user is thinking of buying. It is very much the same as the older cookies, but this one is more intimidating because of its “immortality”.

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Parents Need Not Be One-Sided

It is not unusual to hear parents talk about the downside of the internet. This is especially true when they can no longer control their children, which makes it difficult to see the good side of this technology. But when children are properly guided, the internet can help in improving their performance at school. Nowadays, schools are maximizing the use of this technology to enhance learning in many ways. That is why parents are not being fair when they talk ill of the internet without considering the benefits that it can give to their children.

From a wider view, parents need to engage themselves in the internet activities of their children. There are lots of strategies that parents can try on their own in handling this issue. The most essential is for them to learn more about the internet. It might even be better if they learn about it from their children. This activity leads to bonding, particularly with teenagers who are starting to search for “freedom” from parental control. When parents are sincere enough about it, this experience is a good shot to the child’s self esteem.

This may take some time, but it will surely build trust. When the right signal comes, parents can shift the topic to talking about internet safety rules. The time may come sooner, or later, depending on the age level of the child. It is clear that parents should know when this could occur because of their experiences with other areas that need parental control. They should take extra care that the trust built between them and their children is neither broken nor compromised.

Parents should be alert to signs of too much indulgence, especially in social networking. When children are already “addicted”, it becomes difficult for them to stop. Younger children could easily get captivated by online games. This is the time for parents to encourage their children to develop self-discipline. It will require one’s consistency and authority to make it work, but after a while, children will learn how to balance online and face-to-face time.

An indispensable part of this parenting is that children will build stronger self confidence and higher self-esteem. To achieve this, parents must keep the lines of communication open between them and their children. There is no better way for parents to protect their children than by seeing how they surf online. To keep themselves updated, they need to preserve the trust that sustains their children’s openness to them.

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Don't Push Your Children Away

There are parents who push their children away from the internet because they say that digital technology contains so much information that it makes it hard to control. Others reason that the internet takes up so much family time and builds an invisible wall among the family members. Still others assert that children could become exposed to online predators who pretend to be friends.

No matter how much we try to suppress or refuse it, technology is always a part of our lives, including that of the children. Information is deposited into this virtual world that holds limitless potential for good. In fact, it is more harmful to deprive children the chance of using the technology rather than guiding them on how to use it. Aside from not benefiting from it, they become dangerously curious, which usually leads to misuse.

With proper control and guidance from parents, children’s online experiences can be as rewarding as any offline activity. The internet is a threat to children’s privacy only in the absence of well-defined rules that both parents and children have agreed upon. It can also be added that many parents need to teach themselves more about the internet.

Yes, parents need to know more about the internet than just the basics of online browsing. They should also use such online stuff like email, online purchasing and, of course, social networking. Parents will have less fear and be in a better position to do what is right when they are well-informed. They can teach their children how to maintain their privacy while keeping in touch with their friends in the social network.

Parents who know how to use the internet will have access to websites that are potentially dangerous to children. There are websites that can lure children into providing some personal information about the family just so they can obtain an online freebie. In its simplest sense, the internet is a widely commercialized medium. Children do not have the maturity to appropriately handle these targeted advertising tools. They can only be safe with their parents as their first line of defense.

Not all children are on the same level of development. Parents cannot give a one-shot solution to online safety. They need to adapt internet safety rules according to the level of the child. It is not good for parents to threaten or to bribe their children. Above all, parents have no reason to deny their children the benefits of the internet simply because they are uninformed about technology.

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