A new study shows that data collected from GPS-enabled devices is not as anonymous as we think. Data from the U.S. Census was analyzed and shows that for the average person, knowing their approximate home and work locations identifies them uniquely. You can read about it here.

Devices that can track the movement of your pet can be useful when Fido digs out from under the fence, but a 2003 paper on Geoslavery paints a scary picture of ways to enslave laborers and extract a financial return using these devices. For example, child slaves being forced to beg or steal on specified streets for specified hours or sex slaves confined to brothels or street corners.

However, many location based services (LBS) are useful and fun. If you are visiting a new city, you can find restaurants and get maps for interesting walking tours. If you are passing by an ice cream store, a digital coupon for a free cone may be texted to your phone, or you can play global hide-and-seek games like Geocaching. LBS are getting so popular that Wired magazine had an article about making the most of your GPS and meeting people at the same time in their February issue.

Let us know what you think by voting in our poll.

 

In April, we wrote on this blog about Surf Canyon and their innovative Discovery Engine for Search™ which allows you to find relevant information that's buried deep within search results. We particularly like the “instant” recommendations we get by clicking the bull’s eye next to a particular link. It saves time and our searches are more accurate.

Surf Canyon has received praise from the media and the general public alike, but they also heard from WOT users requesting that WOT safety ratings appear next to the results. Realizing that people want not only smart searches but safe ones, the good folks at Surf Canyon worked with us to give WOT users what they asked for.

A smart, safe search for everyone

But what about those  who use Surf Canyon but have not yet been introduced to WOT? Our goal is to help keep everyone safe on the Web, so WOT and Surf Canyon have partnered again to bring the new WOT-Surf Canyon search to life. Now Web surfers can get the WOT experience without having the add-on. The WOT-Surf Canyon search allows users to see the WOT safety ratings next to their search results with the option to visit the WOT scorecard for more details. For a safer search users may turn on  "Exclude sites with poor reputation" and "Exclude adult content."

We hope that these people will see the value in WOT and become part of our rating community. Please try the WOT- Surf Canyon search and give us your feedback. We will share it with the developers of Surf Canyon as we strive together to make searching the Internet smarter and safer.

Deb had the opportunity to talk about WOT with Dave and Bill from CyberHood Watch on their online radio broadcast, What does WOT stand for, and why should we be using it? If you have an hour, you can listen to WOT's interview where we discussed our mission and how our outstanding community is working together to make the Internet safer for everyone.

David Ballard and Bill Wardell have built a network of CyberHood Watch community service websites for the purpose of empowering children, their families and the community on how to stay safe online and off. They recently launched a Responsible CyberCitizen community - a go-to-site for honest Internet users - whose goal is to build relationships, increase awareness and create guidelines for a safe Internet. Their goals fit with WOT's very well and we are happy to have them as a Friend of WOT. A quote from their website says, "The Internet was not a little deal…It is a BIG DEAL. With big deals come Big Responsibilities. The Internet is…And it is all of ours to keep healthy." All WOT members are invited to become Responsible CyberCitizens.

 

WOT users are spread around the globe and in this month's Inside MyWOT newsletter, we have made a nifty map showing you the general distribution. You can probably guess where most of our users live, but you may be surprised to learn which other countries WOT is in. It proves that Internet security is an issue that means something to all of us, no matter what language we use or where we are geographically.

School is almost out for another year and kids will be hanging around the house looking for something to do. Modern kids don't climb trees and start neighborhood pick-up games of kickball, do they? (I'm showing my age...) Modern kids head indoors where they sit for hours chatting online with their friends or playing MMOGs. Noted syndicated columnist, author and family health educator Jodie Lynn, speaks to WOT newsletter subscribers about keeping children safe online. She provides some good age-related guidelines that may help you set some surfing limits this summer.

Read the May Inside MyWOT newsletter (pdf)

WOT is the recipient of the new Parent to Parent Life Buzz Award™ (formerly known as the Adding Wisdom Award) given by  internationally syndicated parenting/family columnist Jodie Lynn.The Life Buzz Award celebrates innovative family-friendly sites that entertain and teach and have created "buzz" in their field.

We are pleased to be among the Hot Products of 2009 and voted one of the best in the Social Networking: Cool Sites/Blogs category which includes Mashable, Snopes, Twitter and the Smithsonian Channel .

Thanks to Jodie and the judges at Parent to Parent.

 

Every week we hear stories about data breaches in companies and government agencies. The Identity Theft Resource Center reports that the number of data breaches in 2008 increased 47% compared with 2007. The organization also reported that 35.2% of breaches were the result of human error. Not only are data breaches costly, but they can result in losing customers.

The declaration from the RSA security conference that security companies must work together to battle cybercriminals is very important, but the best way to create security at your work place now is to encourage your end users to "think security."

Training and awareness programs

Once a year or at new employee orientation is not frequent enough to get people into the "cybersecurity" frame of mind. You can't expect a busy employee to become a security expert. However, you can teach them how to recognize when something looks suspicious and whom to call when a security-related issue arises.

Microsoft offers a free Security Awareness program that you can customize to meet the needs of your organization. The tool kit includes

• Brochure Templates
• E-Mail Invite Template
• Fact Sheet Templates
• FAQs
• Newsletter Template
• Poster Templates
• PowerPoint Templates
• Quick Reference Card

I made a WOT poster (PDF) based on the template from this program that you can see and use yourself.

Maybe you use the MS program or another one - please share it with us if it's a good one (especially if it's free!) Let us know what your company does to train employees in security awareness. Is it effective? Or if you have your own company, what steps have you taken to encourage your employees to help keep data and hardware secure?