Does not the pursuit of cybercriminals attempt the ordinary Internet user's freedom ?

The development of the information technologies and communication networks entailed a rise in cybercriminality, ie offenses committed by electronic medias. Actually, cybercriminality is increasing as it's becoming more lucrative. The FBI estimates that American companies alone lose more than 70 billion.

I'll take one example of cybercriminality : pedophilia on the Internet. The initiative in the fight against pedophilia is interesting because it is based on the civic responsibility of Internet users. However, its application is very limited in time and space. In particular, as the content of Web pages is extremely volatile, a notification at a precise moment in time risks losing all legal value if the incriminating photos are removed from the server before the competent administration visualizes them. More troubling, what powers of intervention do national police forces truly have concerning photos that are published on anonymous servers in distant countries?

Concerning the international Convention on Cybercrime, European countries did their utmost to include an article aimed at combating Web sites with xenophobic or racist content. But there were confronted with the refusal of the United States, invoking the first article of their Constitution.

As for the measures concerning cryptography and the control of Internet Service Providers (ISPs) connection files, they raise the problem of individual liberties and the respect of anonymity. The current projects risk penalizing above all the ordinary Internet user, without reaching the real cybercriminals who are often one step ahead in terms of ingenuity and technological innovation.

The new religion of the XXth century is still alive.

The promotion of sects on the Internet are part of what we can call violence, like pornography, childish prostitution, racism, xenophobia...
If I tell you that this sect is growing at an incredible rate... will it scare you ?
I am going to give you some clues : it is in the news, it is talked about in the media, TV and the worldwide web. It has been attacked, venerated, questioned and praised. And last clue, the main tenets of this Church are : you are an immortal spiritual being, your capabilities are unlimited, even if not presently realized. So, have you guessed what I am talking about ?
The answer is... scientology, founded by L. Ron Hubbard.

"We of the Church believe that man is basically good." If you look at the scientologist website, all that you find is believes in human kindness and human rights. We are explained the way humans should and can help each others to be somebody good and to achieve him/herself thanks to the others. They tell they help us in finding our own answers to life questions. And they praise a better a better education and literacy. Sounds interesting, isn't it ?
But, just read "Another day in Scientology-land" by Catarina Pamnell : my_story and you will see how she started on the road to total freedom to end up to in a Scientology labor camp ! "When you follow the path of blind belief, there is a risk you will end up doing things which are very, very much contrary to whatever good intentions you started out with."
However, Scientology is really powerful, with a lot of adepts, like stars... Can young influencial
people distinguish what is good and bad in it ?...>> youtube.

Who is afraid of the Big Bad Hacker ?

In September, the president of France, Nicolas Sarkozy, has had his bank account hacked into, according to security researchers.

Crazy story, isn't it ? But true !

A "small sum" of money was taken, prompting the French government to investigate the case. Secretary of State for consumer affairs Luc Chatel has also called for online banks to tighten their security. Apparently, The French President is the latest political figure to fall victim to hackers - last month we reported that Sarah Palin's email account had been compromised, while Barack Obama was the subject of a malicious spam campaign.

What is interesting is how the cybercrooks managed to steal the password to access what should have been a secure account. This latest incident highlights the fact that no one is safe and that everyone should take the necessary precautions

The most probable origin of Sarkozy's identity theft is 'carding'. Dump tracks lists are for sale by the thousands, and many hacked credit card readers are on the market. Perhaps one of them involved Sarkozy's credit card during one of his numerous foreign travels.

What is really striking and amazing is how swollen the 2 hackers were to do such a thing ! They had to be really confident to do it and not afraid of the severe consequences they could undergo afterwards...

Internet and the Financial Crisis

Does the Internet have positive or negative effects on the crisis ?
Quick, go on Youtube, to listen to the experts Clarisse and myself ! :)
>> youtube

The web in favour of pro-social purposes : blogs.

In the path of Bill and Melinda Gates, we (you, I, them, everybody who feels concerned by such issues) can act to help people in difficulty. To begin small to get bigger.

I chose to act in an individual way. Is it a good solution ? I really wonder if it is a good idea to help individuals in order to help and to give to charities. Indeed, the money or the time we will spend in one charity or another will be (I guess) better used than if I give this time or this money to one person I meet in the street. Who can know, however ? Because, sometimes, some people who do need help, will never go to meet organizations because they do not want this kind of help, for some different reasons.

I will talk again about this topic later refering to my personal experience.

For now, I would like to talk about "Action Contre la Faim" (ACF) or "Action against Hunger". Next Wednesday (not tomorrow), the 15th of October, that is to say in a week, there will be a really big general mobilization in 19 cities of France and in Paris, under the lenses of the media in order to sensibilize people to malnutrition problems in the world.

If you have time, go to before the stairs of the arch of the Defense : then you will participate to a big performance, kind of Freeze Mobs. The event will be created in a few minutes, simbolizing the opposition to change this scourge.

To support this Action, download your placard on the ACF website : actioncontrelafaim

Join the FB event : facebook

Or post the banner on your blog : http://acf.b-r-m.net/

Let's use the word of mouth to serve a cause !

So, here is an exemple of a small scale action...

Open Office vs. Microsoft... No hesitation.

I think that Open Office, Firefox and others are not the match for Microsoft and the commercial software groups. Don't you ?

2 years ago, I bought a laptop, and it was sold with OpenOffice. The assistant insured that it was exactly the same as MicrosoftWord. I wanted to believe him. Sure, why not ? Moreover, it was free, so I really wanted to believe him. I tried. I swear.

But the reality can sometimes be very cruel. And I had to admit that Microsoft worths a lot more. It is handier and some details and subtleties do not exist in OpenOffice, which is more crude. And some applications are limited.

So, I think next time I will choose to pay in order to have a good commercial software rather than having a less good quality commercial software for free.

Google on the iPhone

I've heard that Google had launched an application to compete with the iPhone and that it was less good than the iPhone itself. Google announced its competitor to the iPhone Apps Store, the Android Market, at the end of August. The market is a place where content developers can publish applications for Android phones, and Android users can go to discover and download them to their devices.

Let Google say a word :

"Developers will be able to make their content available on an open service hosted by Google that features a feedback and rating system similar to YouTube. We chose the term "market" rather than "store" because we feel that developers should have an open and unobstructed environment to make their content available."

I've read that there is a new Facebook app too. FB has launched a new iPhone application, that directly targets messaging service Twitter as well as for-pay mobile text messaging services. The new application is a mobile status service that includes instant messaging functionality. It builds on Facebook friend relationships, but ignores a lot of the traditional social networking features of the site, such as profile info about what your favorite movie is.

Are SMS appropriate for "proper" communications ?

Let's discuss the matter about using the SMS text messaging alert.

Some people think that SMS text messages are used only for the "most inconsequential messages". Was Barack Obama right to use them to lead his campaign ?

This constitutes a very innovative way to communicate on his campaign and to make people aware of what he is doing. Indeed, tgaks to this strategy, he can catch the attention of young people. It is the world's most widely used data application (globally twice as many people are active users of SMS text messaging on their phones, than the total number of internet users).

So, we now know that the Obama campaign collected millions of cellphone numbers from interested voters (and media) and promised to send the official announcement of the Vice Presidential pick first to those voters. Sounds like a clever bit of using high tech, a gimmicky PR campaign to increase attention and interest in the VP pick, and to create suspense and anticipation to the selection (and dominate the news cycle prior to the announcement).

We know that SMS texting is definitely in every country adopted by the youth first. Imagine one moment that a simple SMS can influence voters behaviour ; this sounds crazy. A study by the University of Michigan and Princeton University, covering 4,000 cellphone users in America, found that when a prospective voter is contacted via SMS text messaging alert/reminder on election day, the likelihood of voting increases by 4.2%.

Comics : are they a media ? How are they used by enterprises today to communicate about themselves ?

>> Imagine R, Season 2 ! (By Jeanclode - Sébastien Touache, Nicolas Barrome and Mathieu Julien -, represented by the Lézilus agency).

If you like reading Comics, then you will enjoy this post. I hope so, actually.

I love reading comics. Ever since. And, little by little, I discovered new forms of comics. When you hear about comics, your first think can be about French and Belgian comic books, like "Astérix", "Tintin", "Bécassine" (the firsts!), or "XIII", "Thorgal" etc.

But, since the 90s, a new movement has emerged in the comic books. Now, some can be understood and read like kind of illustrated novels, autobiographic illustrated books. There is more psychology in them and the characters are often quite real. Saying that, I'm thinking about comics writers edited by "L'Association" for example or "Atrabile", who chose to edit new writers, to give them a chance, like Marjane Satrapi, David B., Mattt Konture, Frederik Peeters and others...

Comic books serve the purpose of enterprise communication, publicity and promotion. Anyway, comic books have been praised these last years, and even thought as a teaching tool.

Besides, exist now some publicity agencies that are specialized in communication through comics, like "Corporate Fiction" or "Une bulle en plus".

>> corporatefiction

>> unebulleenplus

>> costume3pieces

Well, there are a lot of things to think about Comics and Communication, Comics and enterprises? Can Comics have the status of a media ? Can they convey messages to inform people about special subjects ?

This will constitute, I think and hope, the subject of my thesis this year.

>> By Thomas Baas, for a bedding brand.