If everyone who ever lied (or even stretched the truth) in an online profile could be convicted of a misdemeanor, the lawsuits would never end. And bullying with harsh words and body language is rarely a criminal activity; as this Wired article notes, “Bullying with no physical contact” is usually a matter handled by schools and parents, not the courts, and the fact that the bullying took place online doesn’t change the nature of the offense.

Drew will probably face a civil suit, and she’s already been tried and convicted in the court of public opinion. But there was no reasonable way to send her to jail for this case without creating a means for selective prosecution of others who don’t tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth when they’re online.

Craigslist: You’ve probably heard of the case of the alleged Craigslist Killer, Philip Markoff, who prosecutors say met women from the online classified ad site and robbed them, eventually killing one. His case is currently in the courts. But now, there’s a new story about Craigslist that has a similarly creepy vibe as the Myspace story above: A woman allegedly placed a sexually suggestive ad on Craigslist inviting interested men to email and then call a phone number. That number, as it turned out, belonged to a 9-year-old girl who was evidently the woman’s daughter’s “rival,” and she was setting up the little girl out of revenge because of a dispute between the two girls.

Roughly 40 men called the number, including 22 in a single day, looking for the “cute blonde” mentioned in the ad, the targeted girl’s mom said. The woman who allegedly placed the ad, Long Island social worker Margery Tannenbaum, now faces charges of aggravated harassment and endangering the welfare of a minor. This is quite a bit more complicated than the Myspace case above… Tannenbaum allegedly gave out the little girl’s home phone number to dozens of men who were looking for sexual activity on Craigslist. That could have placed the child in real jeopardy.

Tannenbaum pleaded not guilty, and she’s due back in court July 16. Her case is a clear example of why giving out a phone number isn’t always “harmless” or “in good fun.” If she is proven to have placed the ad, then she didn’t just pretend to be someone else and bully a teenage girl; she handed over a young girl’s personal contact information to every strange man, well-intentioned or not, who replied to the ad. This, clearly, is just one reason why privacy matters.

Want to do what you can to protect your own privacy? Sign up for the Privacy Council! The list removal service takes your name off of major marketing lists (so you get less junk mail), adds you to the government Do Not Call list, and helps you fight back against SPAM emails. Sign up today and reduce your chances of identity theft!

If you watch any TV at all, you probably already know the details about this transition, but just in case you missed the news, here’s the deal. Today, TVs that receive an analog signal (those that use rabbit ears or antennae to get a signal) will no longer work. If you have a TV in your basement, guest room, etc. that uses rabbit ears and you try to tune in “The Price Is Right” today, you won’t be able to watch. If you have any form of cable or satellite (Charter, Time Warner, Direct TV, etc), you’ll probably be fine. Your TV will still work, although this NPR article notes that some of the analog cable channels will be taken back in order to make room for other services, so some cable customers might notice a few channels disappearing. Still, households that rely entirely on antennae are the ones who need to act right now.

If you use an antenna for your TV signal, there’s still a way to keep your reception: You need a digital converter box. They cost around $45, but the government is offering $40 coupons to be applied toward the cost. Each household can apply for up to two coupons at this coupon program site.

The original digital switch date was four months ago, but the administration pushed the date back in order to give people more time to get the needed equipment after the funding ran out for the converter box vouchers. The airwaves have been bombarded with news and updates about the coming switch, but even with that effort, experts estimate that there are still one million households not ready for the transition. This Associated Press article on Pilot Online notes that many people still do not understand the details of the digital switch, although the article also mentions that the public is far better prepared now for the transition than it was four months ago.

The date will not be pushed back any further, so hold-outs need to get their converter boxes or risk missing the Showcase Showdown. People with additional questions can visit dtvanswers.com to learn more.

For anyone who worries that the new converter boxes and the lack of analog broadcasting somehow means a reduction in personal privacy or security, fear not. The converter boxes are not a way for “Big Brother” to keep tabs on you, nor are they a way to control what you see and hear. A video that went viral a few months ago allegedly showed a man opening up his converter box to show a camera and microphone inside, but the video turned out to be a hoax. Of course, any widespread mandatory action such as this will spark conspiracy theories and tinfoil hats among the most skeptical of the population, but there’s no reason to worry this time around. Save the panic for the next flu strain.

Of course, if you DO want to protect your privacy, sign up for the Privacy Council’s list removal service. The service removes you from marketing lists (which send you junk mail) and puts you on the no-call lists (which means fewer telemarketing calls). Sign up today to start cutting down on these annoyances in your life!

According to sources like U.S. News and World Report, cell phone elbow is described as a nerve condition that affects “high tech talkers.” People who spend long periods of time holding a cell phone to their ears, their arms bent at more than a 90 degree angle, are choking the blood supply to the ulnar nerve, a nerve in the arm that runs from the collar bone to the pinky and ring fingers. Eventually, the fingers get tingly, painful or numb. Compressing this nerve for long periods can lead to hand and forearm issues, including cubital tunnel syndrome (similar to carpal tunnel syndrome), with the worst case being loss of hand strength (the J-Walk Blog mentions that sufferers have trouble opening jars and playing musical instruments, among other challenges).

How can we prevent cell phone elbow? For starters, use a headset instead of holding the phone. If you must use your hands, switch hands frequently to allow your arms to relax and get back to normal. If you ignore the pain and tingling for too long, it could eventually require surgery and physical therapy to decompress the nerve, so listen to your body; if your pinky is feeling the pinch, put down the cell phone. After all, as Lifehacker wonders, how can we make cell phones less of a pain on our bodies? For now, the handsets aren’t exactly conducive to our health, and the impact doesn’t stop with cell phones… When you think about it, ANY phone, including a land line, can have this effect on our arm nerves. The problem is in the design, not in the calling plan.

Of course, the best way to avoid the impact of talking on a phone is to avoid talking at all. That keeps conditions like cell phone elbow at bay and also prevents the loss of focus that talking hands-free can cause, especially while driving. It’s almost impossible to avoid talking on the phone throughout the day, so use good judgment when you talk, and try to save the phone time for important conversations.

If you’re trying to make the minutes that you DO talk on the phone count, you probably want to cut down on any telemarketing calls you get. That’s where Privacy Council can help! Sign up for our list removal service, and we’ll make sure you’re removed from all the major marketing lists and placed on the Do Not Call list. Reduce your junk mail and your unwanted phone calls with our service today!

Wisconsin’s No Call List: Unlike the National Do Not Call list, where you need to submit your number just once to get onto the list of numbers that telemarketers can’t call, state no-call lists aren’t necessarily in effect forever. Such is the case with Wisconsin, where the list expires every two years. According to WEAU News 13, thousands of people have dropped off the state’s list since January. Those who sign up for the free service before June can make it onto the July 1 list, so if you live in Wisconsin, call 866-9-NO-CALL or click here to get your number back on the no-call directory. Fox 11 News reports that the list is updated quarterly, so if you don’t sign up by this Sunday, it’ll be a few more months before you can make sure you’re on the list.

DMV’s Do Not Smile Policy: According to USA Today, four states have now adopted policies prohibiting smiling in your driver’s license photo. Arkansas, Indiana, Nevada and Virginia are combating identity theft and driver’s license fraud by putting this policy into place, and others might follow suit. Why the lack of mirth in the photos? The states have new, high-tech software in place that compares new license photos to old ones in an effort to stop people from assuming others’ identities. But the software doesn’t work as well if the faces in the photos have anything but a “neutral” expression… after all, we look different when we smile. Other states claim that their software works just fine with or without a smile, but the reality is that facial matching software would, by nature, be far more accurate if the faces had the same expression. So far, 31 states use some version of this technology, and in Illinois alone, the system has stopped 6,000 people from getting fraudulent licenses since 1999. So if you go to the DMV, don’t get too annoyed if they tell you not to smile… Protecting your identity and decreasing the incidences of driver’s license fraud are worth it.

Tired of junk mail in your mailbox? Want to be placed on every Do-Not-Call List possible, and keep those lists updated? Want to aid in the fight against email spam? Then sign up for the Privacy Council’s List Removal Service. A small monthly charge ensures that your name is removed from all major marketing lists, and that your name is KEPT off those lists. Sign up now!

While this website is a great idea for the sake of humor, it’s also a lesson in how posting personal photos on the Internet can backfire. Even a photo that you consider to be adorable, precious or beautiful might be someone else’s laughter-inducing image, so be prepared for that if you see fit to upload. It helps if you follow these rules every single time you post a photo on the Internet, regardless of which site you’re posting it on:

1. Don’t post anything that you wouldn’t want the entire world to see. Even if you’re posting with privacy settings or “friends only” viewing in a social networking profile, you still have to assume that somehow, a photo will get out to the general public. It just happens.

2. Don’t post photos of yourself doing anything remotely illegal, immoral or questionable; even if you think it’s a good idea now, you WILL regret it. That kegstand from last weekend? Awesome for you, but if you post the photo, it’ll be out there forever, certainly long past the age when you’ll be proud of kegstands. The same, of course, goes for photos of nudity, drug use, vandalism, etc. If it’s illegal, you just gave up the evidence willingly. If it’s immoral to the bulk of the population, you just impaired your chances of becoming a huge success in life (see: politicians, heads of major corporations, etc.).

3. Don’t post anything that gives away too many details about your identity (a photo with your home address on it, a photo with your full name or the names of your kids, etc.). Prudence is best when posting images, and you don’t want an identity thief using that info against you.

4. Be willing to laugh at yourself. After all, someone else probably is, especially if the photos are at all goofy, dated, and of course, awkward.

But there’s an outcry that the scanners violate the privacy of those traveling through airports, and the complaints are getting louder. The image at right is of a woman scanned with backscatter technology; images such as this one create a fear that TSA agents sees passengers naked with this technology. The TSA counters these fears by noting that the current technology in use is called “millimeter wave” technology, and that the images produced are fuzzier and less defined than backscatter. But still, the can of worms was opened with photos like this, and now the debate rages.

Right now, six airports nationwide use the scanners in place of traditional metal detectors, while another 12 airports use them as a secondary screening techniques (for example, if someone repeatedly sets off the metal detector or is randomly selected for closer scrutiny). Advocates of the scanners note that almost everyone chosen for a pat-down will select the scanner over a TSA agent’s physical touch, and the scanners take just a fraction of the 2-4 minutes needed for a pat-down. So why the resistance to the technique?

CNN reports today that privacy advocates call the whole-body scanners an invasion of personal rights. The argument is that the TSA goes too far by essentially seeing the airport travelers naked (privacy advocates claim that any “blurriness” in images doesn’t address the underlying issue), and while the computers that manage the system don’t currently store data, there’s nothing to prevent the TSA from storing images or other information in the future. Those opposing the current system want full disclosure to passengers about what’s going on, legal wording in place to protect those scanned, and safeguards in effect to keep the TSA from storing the data or changing the technology later without telling anyone. A national campaign against whole-body scanning is launching now in the hopes of going viral and getting attention for the cause.

Up until recently, the efforts of privacy advocates seemed to be ineffective. Budget Travel’s blog looked into whole-body scanning last month, noting that, while the scanners are available in just a handful of airports so far, the TSA intends to implement them in place of metal detectors in all airports in the future. But there’s a hiccup in the TSA’s plans: Congressman Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) introduced a bill late last month to eradicate the whole-body scanners from airports. As quoted by Emergent Chaos, Chaffetz called the scanners “unnecessary to securing an airplane” and noted that there must be a balance between safety and privacy. The ACLU agrees, saying that a choice between being “groped or stripped” is not a fair choice and that “people shouldn’t be humiliated by their government” for security’s sake. Even leaving aside the privacy arguments, the financial side must be considered: the scanning machines cost $170,000 each, making the investment substantial should they be used across all airports in the U.S.

So what do you think? Are whole-body scanners necessary to protect our security in the air, or are they an unnecessary invasion of privacy? Let us know your views in the comments. And don’t forget to protect your own privacy by signing up for The Privacy Council’s List Removal Service! You’ll be removed from the major mailing lists, and you’ll get less junk mail and more peace of mind.

First, the spammers: If you receive an email that promises to help you get your tax refund quickly, claims to offer a tax filing service that’s faster than anyone else’s, claims to be from the IRS, or guarantees you a tax payout, delete it. Do not click any links, do not open any attachments, and do not believe what you read. The IRS does not send emails asking for your personal info, and neither do reputable tax preparation companies. Just like the economic stimulus spams of a few months ago, these spam messages are designed to play on the average American’s desire for an easy and quick tax rebate. Most people view doing their taxes as a hassle, and anything that promises to make that process easier is a tempting offer for some. Too tempting for the spammers and identity thieves to ignore the potential there.

Second, take care of your own records the same way you do the rest of the year, with common-sense techniques. Use precautions when sending, filing and storing your tax documents. Don’t put sensitive documents into your own mailbox for mailing; take them to the post office if you can. Don’t leave documents lying around at work or in your car, where people might find or steal them. If you e-file, don’t leave sensitive information on your hard drive, especially if it’s a shared computer. Overall, be cautious and safe! Tax time is just like any other time: Don’t leave your personal information out there for anyone to find.

If you want to help fight identity theft, you can forward suspected spam emails to spam@uce.gov. You can also spread the word to your friends and family about being safe with their own tax documents. And of course, you can sign up for the Privacy Council’s List Removal Service to reduce the junk mail, spam and telemarketing calls you receive. Sign up today to do yourself (and the environment) a favor!

In honor of April Fool’s Day, though, we wanted to highlight some of the better pranks we’ve heard of. We know YOU wouldn’t fall for any of these, but just in case, remember the Golden Rule of protecting yourself online: Don’t click it, download it, buy it, install it, open it or run it unless you are CERTAIN of the source. And never respond to emails from anyone claiming to be Nigerian royalty.

Dihydrogen Monoxide - This prank has been around for years, circulating online and in petition form. The warnings about dihydrogen monoxide speak of the damage it causes to property and the environment, and how it kills people every year. The message is dire and apocalyptic. The joke, of course, is that “dihydrogen monoxide” is actually water (H2O). Many people have fallen for this prank over the years, most notably a New Zealand politician who called for a ban on the “drug.” You can read more about the history of the dihydrogen monoxide prank at Snopes.

Arm the Homeless – Three college students started this prank in 1993 by sending a press release to the local newspaper about the “Arm the Homeless Coalition” and its efforts to collect firearms for homeless people. Several major news organizations, such as CNN and the AP, picked up the story and ran with it. When the prank was exposed, the students said that they did it to draw attention to “the issues of guns and violence, homelessness and media manipulation in our society.” 

Those Funny Folks Across the Pond – England is the source of two great pranks in history. The first: In 1965, a professor went on BBC and announced that he’d invented Smellovision, a technology that allowed  viewers to smell things through their TV. He used coffee and onions as examples on the air. While there’s no way the smell could ACTUALLY be transmitted through the television, viewers called the station to share that they had smelled the smells. The second: In 1980, the London Daily Express picked up a magazine story that reported that the fur hats worn by guards at Buckingham Palace continued to grow and needed regular trimming. The story was carried as fact until the joke was revealed. (Source: examiner.com)

Taco Bell Buys Liberty Bell – In 1996, Taco Bell bought ad space in several major newspapers to trumpet the news that the company had purchased the Liberty Bell and would be renaming it the “Taco Liberty Bell.” Many people who thought that national treasures like this actually could be sold were incensed, and the Park Service received calls about it. Even some politicians’ offices called to complain, which says something about how much those politicians (or at least their staff) knew about the buying and selling of landmarks.

Various office pranks – Classic office pranks include wrapping everything on someone’s desk in aluminum foil, linking all of the paper clips together, filling the cubicle with packing materials, and putting a Post-It note or sticker over the red light of someone’s optical mouse so that it doesn’t register movement. All of these, of course, assume that coworkers have a sense of humor. I admit that I’ve done the aluminum foil thing before, and the coworker in question retaliated by covering the surfaces in my cubicle with his own business cards.   

Many other sites have great lists of April Fool’s pranks that you can read if you’d like more amusement at the gullibility of people. The Huffington Post has a list of the top 5 April Fool’s Day pranks of all time, some of which made our list here. The Composed Gentleman has a few more pranks of the office variety to share.

The ongoing reminder is to question things that don’t sound quite right. With vigilance, you won’t be a victim yourself. And to help keep your privacy safe and your environmental impact low, sign up for the Privacy Council’s list removal service. Be removed from the major marketing lists and watch your junk mail disappear!

According to Wise Herb’s Random Jottings, Johnny Appleseed was born John Chapman in 1774. He was known for traveling around the Midwest and introducing apple trees to the area, all while spreading a message of conservation, generosity and keeping life simple.

Many of us grew up hearing stories about Johnny Appleseed and watching the Disney cartoon about him (I think the song from that cartoon is still stuck in my head, in fact). The character with the pot on his head seemed far-fetched, but in truth, Johnny Appleseed did walk around the countryside, barefoot in the summer, doing his pioneer work as a missionary and as one of the first real “tree huggers.” He had no home of his own but spent most of his time in Ohio, making other people’s lives better. He planted tree nurseries and left them in the care of neighbors who helped to sell the trees for trade or credit. Johnny didn’t press for payment if someone was unable to pay for a tree. He also did what he could to help those in need, such as injured animals. According to I Organize You, Johnny Appleseed gave away clothes, horses, trees and even land, acting as a “roving philanthropist” who challenged others to be kind and generous to people, animals and the earth.

In the spirit of Johnny Appleseed Day, The Privacy Council invites you to save trees by reducing your junk mail! Each year, 100 million trees are cut down to produce the junk mail that’s received here in the U.S. Signing up for The Privacy Council’s list removal service means you’re doing your part to save trees and reduce the pileup of trash in landfills. You’ll get less junk mail, more trees will be saved, and Johnny Appleseed himself would approve. Sign up today by clicking here!

According to the leading superbowl websites, Super Bowl 2009 kickoff will probably be a little after 6:30 PM Eastern Standard Time. As we saw last year, different official sites list different official kickoff times. 
 

• NBC, which is broadcasting the game, writes clearly “kickoff 6:00 PM” — but they do have an interest in getting people to tune in early.
• The NFL’s superbowl.com site is counting down to 6:20, and this is the time that most websites are using as official.

• The Super Bowl 2009 hosting committee lists kickoff time as “approximately 6:28” though the countdown on their site is counting down to 6:00. 

Last year, FOX (which was broadcasting the game) announced kickoff for 6:17, the NFL said 6:18, and the site hosting the Super Bowl said 6:30. Actual kickoff was 6:32. 

So if you’d like to hear some of Journey’s performance, Jennifer Hudson singing the National Anthem, and catch some of the pre-game hype, turn on your sets by 6. But don’t expect the game to actually start before 6:30.

Quick additional tidbits:

• Date: February 1, 2009
• Location: Tampa, Florida
• Teams: Pittsburgh Steelers & Arizona Cardinals
• National Anthem: Jennifer Hudson
• Halftime: Bruce Springsteen
• Super Bowl Number: 43 (XLIII)