Bob’s Blog

CNet News.com did a story this week on online chess playing. This is yet another form of social networking, and an interesting one. Other networking sites, like FaceBook, are places where anybody can upload anything. Niche social networking sites, like Chess.com, on the other hand, are structured. This leads to fewer members, but also tends to generate more excitement from those who participate. Social networking in any form is still very popular. Chess.com gained 120,000 user in its first 8 months. Social networking fills a need in people’s lives. Human beings are social animals. The advent of technology in a way separates people from each other. Most everyone you see in public is either listening to an iPod or talking on a cell phone, completely oblivious to the work around them. Even in professional life people are more isolated than ever before: each working on their own computer and communicating with each other largely through memos and email. Social networking sites help such people feel a part of a community. They also allow people to extend that community to anywhere in the world, forming communities not of location, but of interest. Social networking sites will continue to flourish. Any product that helps bring people together in new ways is likely to go far.

Internet security, and network security in general, is becoming increasingly important. As more and more information is stored and accessed via networks, and more and more devices become network enabled (and dependent), the realm of internet security becomes more broadly applicable. It also becomes more of a target for malicious activity. We need to be more aware of the dangers, and more familiar with the security measures available to protect us.

The internet is built on a system of trust. I trust that the content I want will be provided in a way that I can access and understand it. You, the content provider, trust that I won’t take advantage of you for providing that content. We both trust that our ISPs will respect our right to communicate with each other privately, and so forth. The problem with a system of trust is that it can often be easy to violate. A malicious hacker takes advantage of my trust by providing what appears to be valid content, but turns out to be something invasive or destructive. He violates your trust by pretending to be an average visitor to your site, then uses his connection to your server to forward his own schemes. When trust is violated, it is harder to trust again.

An attacker could be almost anyone. Many hackers are young people who find it exhilarating to make something that spreads and infects other computers. Others are trying to steal your personal information so they can make money off you. Still others are interested in spreading chaos and panic, for personal enjoyment or perhaps profit. They employ various tricks to scope out your network, observe your activity, record sensitive information, and shut you down.

Internet security devices–such as firewalls, antivirus software, spyware removal utilities, and others–help to maintain and restore our trust because these devices help secure us against those who would abuse that trust. However, these devices are only as useful as we let them be. Antivirus software only protects the person who uses it regularly to scan his system. A firewall can only protect the devices behind it. We therefore must learn how to use these devices, and not only learn, but do.

Even more important than security devices is simple common sense. Just as you shouldn’t leave copies of the keys to your house and car lying around, so also you should take care with your passwords and other sensitive digital information. Choose passwords that are difficult to guess: that aren’t in the dictionary; use numbers, letters, and special characters; and are changed regularly and uniquely. Be sure that you have a secure connection to an internet site before providing a password. Password protect your computer login, and encrypt any sensitive information with another password. Following these guidelines makes it harder for somebody else to gain access to your data without your permission.

By securing ourselves against internet attacks, we preserve the trust-based nature of the internet. We depend on that trust to do our work and have our fun. As long as that trust still stands, the internet will flourish as a medium for communication and collaboration. If that trust is lost, we stand to lose much of the advances the digital revolution has brought us. 

Google has decided to begin a medical records program, starting at the Cleveland Clinic hospital in Cleveland, Ohio. Some 10,000 patients participating in the test run will have their personal heath records (PHRs) moved to their Google accounts, allowing them to access their records from any computer with an internet connection. This may seem like a brilliant new idea, but in fact several other companies (including Microsoft) are also looking into this industry. As with any venture, online PHRs have their pros and cons. The benefit comes from being able to access your records anywhere. This allows you to visit any doctor, and they’ll be able to access your health records and provide you informed service. The drawback is privacy. Putting your data online makes it easier for others to steal it. Additionally, marketers could exploit data that would otherwise be confidential. These are serious issues. Unless Google and other interested companies can develop a secure way to keep PHR data confidential, the development of this industry will lead to more harm than good.

In the last 150 years or so, the general interest in genealogy has been steadily increasing. Starting in the mid-1800’s, governments began to make more meticulous records of birth, death, and census data. The first genealogical societies began around the same time. Today there are thousands of such societies, and people are searching out their ancestors like never before. This increased interest leads to the collection and processing of more data than ever before. The result is that millions of genealogical records are generated every year, and billions of records are now accumulated in various institutions around the world. Searching this data can be a daunting task for the genealogically inclined individual. Thankfully, the technology used to process genealogical data has improved as steadily as the interest in genealogical research and the collection of that data. Today’s greatest challenge is digitizing and indexing data. Another important challenge that emerges from millions of people searching their ancestry is the duplication of work. The research of isolated individuals often turns up common ancestors. Without a central repository of genealogical data, these isolated researches will duplicate each other’s work. The solution to these problems is the linking together of existing genealogical databases through common standards and cooperation. When genealogical societies get together and cooperate to bring all their individual work into a comprehensive whole, the family of Man can finally be completely linked.