Posts Tagged ‘facebook’
Years ago, a friend introduced me to the concept of “phishing” – impersonating a legitimate business or authority on the Internet in attempts to steal personal information. At the time, were were trying to play a prank on a childhood friend, but I never quite realized just how wide-spread the phenomenon has become. Every few days I hear a new report of this bank or that social networking site being violated by malicious phishers, and part of me always questioned the reports.
In an increasingly connected world, the “new elite” are those who are the most disconnected. Bill Gates, for example, has only 5 connections on LinkedIn. While the masses are linking their Facebook pages with their Twitter accounts and syndicating their blogs, there’s a large group growing that is abandoning social networking altogether. They block all but their closest friends from accessing their information online and are all but invisible to the likes of Google.
I’ve never quite understood the phenomenon. People will wake up uncharacteristically early and sit outside in the cold and rain to wait for stores to open (again, uncharacteristically early) to shell out cash on so-called “great deals.” Given, many of these sales and discounts are pretty steep, but that doesn’t necessarily justify the 4am rush.