| Lifestyle & Entertainment

Insurance Just May Be Your New Best Friend

Posted on August 19, 2013 | Leave a comment

The Value of Insurance, Protect Yourself

This an audio documentary about the value of having insurance as a part of our everyday needs and insurance agent, Richard Horton of American Family Insurance in East Point Georgia discuss how vitally important it is in today’s world to have Insurance. Insurance today is more than just a basic need; it’s become a vital part of our everyday existence. You may have never thought about how much you need insurance and for what, however when you really understand how it all works you’ll realize that you need insurance as protection, just as you would protect yourself in your home or a covering over your head, remember to cover yourself with insurance.

There are so many options out there today and now with extra added person attention with some. There are so many to choose from, but do your homework, be smart and protect yourself with health, everyone needs health insurance, you never know when that medical emergency will happen, life insurance is important because you not only protect yourself, but the your family’s future, and there is car, everyone may not have a car, but remember, if you have a car that’s ten years old or more, full coverage isn’t necessary, so you can pocket what’s left and all business should be covered when you’re dealing with people and the public, it’s to protect yourself. So, no matter how you look at it, protect and cover your assets, know that there is value in you.

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Posted in Interviews, Lifestyle, Publications

Tagged information, insurance, money matters, Publications, tips

Evanjahlist “The Music Man” Of Midtown Atlanta at Little Five Points

Posted on August 12, 2013 | Leave a comment

Evan, fondly known to the Little Five Points community in Midtown Atlanta as Evanjahlist, who’s a celebrity in his own right. Evanjahlist says his first name is Evan and he created the add-on “Jahlist” as a last name and prefers to be called Evanjahlist (as in Evangelist). The name represents the biblical term to spread the good word/message and reaching many people.

Evanjahlist sits on the streets of Atlanta's Little Five Points district stopping to take a break away from the drumming in order to stop & talk with his drums while a spectator. August 10, 2013

Photo by D. Garvin/Journalist (c) 2013 Evanjahlist sits on the streets of Atlanta’s Little Five Points district stopping to take a break away from the drumming in order to chat a moment with a spectator. August 10, 2013

Evanjahlist is a 44yr old man who is currently homeless, he says he use to do art, stones and jewelry, but he doesn’t do it anymore and prefers to do music. He has played drums since he was 12yrs old and he also sang in the choir. Evanjahlist moved to Atlanta from Miami, during the 1996 Olympics, but has visited Georgia regularly every summer from childhood. He says “although he lived in Miami, he grew up in Atlanta.”

He believes that Atlanta has the best culture, art and music scene around and says “that’s why I love Atlanta so much.” Evanjahlist loves all genres of music and finds peace of mind and joy spreading love through his music to the community he plays in. As he plays his homemade drum set made from two 5 gallon water jugs, a milk crate for a seat and a wooden spoon to hold his symbol in place and beating the drums with his hand and a wooden stick, Evanjahlist creates wonderful music. Evan has been a part of the community for the past 17 yrs and is very well known by most people in the community.

Evanjahlist, the man of the community tells a little bit of his story as to why he plays on the streets of Little Five Points in Midtown Atlanta
He reminisces w/a pleasant memories.
Photo by D. Garvin/Journalist (c) 2013

He was forced to move from one location, stating that he was told that he needed to get a permit to perform. “It’s very hard to get a permit” says Evan, “so I moved to this location, where the spirit led me and I love this location.”

Evanjahlist, looks on talking to the people when they stop to ask questions. Little Five Points, August 10, 2013
Photo by D. Garvin/Journalist (c) 2013

Evanjahlist states that “he is not out robbing people, but is making an honest living.” Although Evan is currently homeless and struggling, he keeps a great spirit and sees beauty in the world around him and just wants to share the good news and his music to the world while bringing a smile to the faces around him.

Evanjahlist watches as a young girl drops money into the bucket as he sits in front of a building playing his music. August 10, 2013 Atlanta, Midtown’s popular Little Five Points.
Photo by D. Garvin/Journalist (c) 2013

Evanjahlist, the music man stops to count his money after the bucket gets a little full and puts it away to prevent any temptation of theft. Midtown, Atlanta Little Five Points district. August 10, 2013 Photo by: D. D. Garvin/Journalist (c) 2013

Evanjahlist bucket is slowly filling up, but a little more help is always good. He can always be found in Midtown Atlanta’s Little Five Points district.
August 10, 2013
Photo by D. Garvin/Journalist (c) 2013

So, the next time you’re in Midtown Atlanta in the Little Five Points district, don’t hesitate to drop by to say hello to Evanjahlist and Bless him with a little drop in the bucket.

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Posted in Inspirations, Interviews, Music, Publications

Tagged Drummer, Inspiration, Lifestyle, Little Five Points Atlanta, Music news, People

Multi-Media is Changing the Way Consumers Experience the Content they Consume

Posted on August 5, 2013 | Leave a comment

Multi-Media is Changing the Way Consumers Experience the Content they Consume

Is TV slowly going away? That’s a question that’s being posed. According to Oregonlive.com, back in 2011, they claim people in the U.S had cancelled cable and satellite TV in record numbers. In 2010, subscription TV showed a small loss, but the in 2011 the loss had become more substantial. It’s assumed that the decrease was due to the unemployment rate and the declining housing market, which made people more frugal with their spending. Question, why spend on cable when there’s free online streaming?

Netflix (23M) Online Streaming (83M) Cable (114M) Movie Goers (1.5B)

According to Jeff John Roberts of Paid Content, he claims “the number of Americans who pay for cable-like TV products is declining. Also says that research forecasts claims that subscriptions peaked at nearly 101 million in 2011, but will decline to less than 95 million by 2017.” However, The NPD Group/2013 Online Gaming Study shows that when it comes to watching TV the issue is not television alone, it’s deciding what device to watch them on. Gaming devices is not just for games anymore, people are using them to watch YouTube, play DVD’s and blue ray discs. Either way you look at it, the way we watch TV is changing.

Not long ago, consumer options were very slim for higher end content viewing. But, today there is a vast array of options for the pickings. There’s Netflix, Hulu, Amazon, Apple and host of technological devices, including, PC’s, tablets and smart phones.

Technology is getting even smarter and they’re making it more convenient to watch anywhere via the cloud. According to Laura Williams, employee of Comcast Cable stated“I don’t see cable TV going anywhere anytime soon, however cable sales has dropped drastically this year, but Internet sales has had a tremendous increase.”

Is Pay TV becoming a Thing of the Past?

Netflix monthly viewing exceeded 1 billion hours for the first time ever in June. January 2012 Netflix experienced almost 50% increase in streaming hours. Then It streamed 2 billion hours previously to the three-month quarter. Market opened in July 2012 and Netflix experienced a continuous rise in stock, an increase of $70.45 to $81.72 by the end of the next trading day.

The Department of Justice announced that it will require Verizon and four of the nation’s largest cable companies to make changes to a number of agreements involving sales and services. Companies include, Comcast, Cox Communications, Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks.

Well, not according Brian Stelter and Amy Chozick of The New York Times. As of May 2013, they say TV isn’t going anywhere, but with Video-on-Demand VOD it’s actually slowly gaining notable recognition. With VOD, cable and satellite subscribers can now tune in “on demand” with their set-top boxes that goes on the television.

Now consumers can view TV episodes, movies, Networks shows from Fox, ABC and more. Cable companies like Comcast understands the value of integrating the cable with online media and smart TV’s that’s internet ready. It’s time to work together because the consumers are moving on with or without them; technology is making the consumers options easier than ever before.

Larry Magid of Forbes shares his thoughts on the direction of television. He says he uses the Roku Boxes on TV’s throughout his home to stream HD. The Roku box is another alternative to online streaming, while still watching TV on your flat screen at home.The box start at $50, you just plug it into your TV using your home network. You have access to 100 free channels; you also get Netflix, Hulu Plus, HBO Go, Disney, on-demand for a fee. The best part is you can take it with you wherever you go.

So, who says online streaming will take over? TV definitely isn’t going anywhere fast, also four major networks are working on streaming local & Network programming to mobile devices.

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Posted in Lifestyle, Publications, Technology

Tagged Consumers Experience With Content Consumed, Multi-Media News, Technology

Female Directors Rank Higher in Numbers for the Sundance Film Festival While Still Seeking to Find their Place in Big Budget Hollywood Film Industry

Posted on July 29, 2013 | Leave a comment

According to The Atlantic the Sundance Film Festival hit a record high with half of the U.S Films were directed by women. There were 119 films this year alone at the Sundance film festival and 34 percent were directed by women and for two years in a row a woman has won for best director. These winners include Jill Soloway and Ava DuVernay. Woman are making headway in the independent world, however the task of infiltrating the big budget or Hollywood films that will be the challenge.

Since the Academy Award’s first meeting back in 1927, the organization still remains majority white and Male dominated today. Out of the Academy Awards 85 years of history, there have only been four women nominated for best director, not even speaking of winning; but, simply nominated. Does that sound like a time for change to you? And according to The Atlantic only 4.4% of studio movies were directed by women, but 50 percent of Sundance films in 2013 were also directed by women, which is an encouraging leap in comparison.

However, according to a study done by the Women in Film Los Angeles they “found that 23.9% of directors at the Sundance Film Festival from 2002-2012 were female, compared to 4.4% of directors across the top 100 box office films each year from 2002 to 2012 that were female.”

Thanks to the independent film and Sundance, women may soon see changes in the mainstream big budget film industry. According to Flavorwire “Only four women have ever been nominated for Best Director” Lina Wertmüller for Seven Beauties (1976), Jane Campion for The Piano (1993), Sofia Coppola for Lost in Translation (2003), and Kathryn Bigelow for The Hurt Locker.” However, only one has actually won for best director, and that was Kathryn Bigelow for “The Hurt Locker” in 2009. She has become the first and so far the only woman to win the Oscar.” There is just a hand full of female directors that can catch the Academy’s eye due to the large budget & distribution and Bigelow is one of those people.

Here is a list of the top ten female directors according to GalTime.com:

1. Kathryn Bigelow 5. Catherine Hardwicke 9. Julie Taymor

2. Jane Campion 6. Mira Nair 10. Nora Ephron

3. Gina Prince-Bythewood 7. Amy Heckerling

4. Caire Denis 8. Sofia Coppola

Women Directed Narrative Film at Sundance- 8 out of 16 films were made by women in 2013

Women nominated for best Director- (Only 4 women)

Percentage of Female Directors in Documentaries (39%)

Female directors of Top Grossing Films (only 5%)

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Posted in Film, Publications

Tagged Female Directors, Festivals, Social Psychology

The Effects Of Internet, Technology And Social Media On The Music Industry

Posted on July 22, 2013 | Leave a comment

The Effects of the Internet, Technology and Social Media has had on the Music Industry

As social networking and technology evolve, more people are online adding more challenges for the music industry. Has social networking become a problem for the music industry?

It can be hard for the recording industry to make money because so much of the music is readily available online free of charge. However, this doesn’t put the record label out of business; readjustments and strategic planning with marketing must be made in order to make money and become of value to the artists and the industry as a whole.

Bands and Artists are finding new ways to stay relevant and to make money. They seem to be doing just fine because they are keeping up with technology and social media, which is valuable tool and much more affordable, especially for new artists. Social media had made it possible to create, promote and sell in the comfort of your home.

As I watch Tour Manager, Andre Washington setup, he says “Artist’s still make a major part of their money touring and states that technology will never replace the love of music and the human connection artist’s makes with their fans during live performances”.

Today, online skills should automatically become a part of every artist requirements for the industry. It allows artists to become closer to their art because they’re not tied to what the record labels would normally do to create a product. Just as YouTube has made people famous without a label, success is still at your reach while simply working in the comfort of your own home.

According to Wade Jones, CEO/Co-Founder of Peach City Records, he stated that being a newly formed label, social media help to make the journey exciting. “To have the opportunity to get my artists exposed to a wider audience on a very low budget would not have been possible just a few years ago.”

Digitization of content has become inevitable in this age of technology. From the creation of music to the consumption of music, it all demonstrates how it has become digitized. Take IPOD’s, smart phones and tablets for example, and even apps created for these devices, they’re all the creation of digital technology.

According to Pandodaily, “popular digital music services have been criticized for not paying enough in royalties to the rights holders. It escalated into a debate with Congress in the form of the Internet Radio Fairness Act, a bill that aims to change the way royalty rates are set.”

Because the labels and digital music are helping each other today, digital music sales have gone up drastically. Services like Song Kick and bands in town are platforms that bring people to shows, which is how most artists make their revenues. Technology has definitely shifted the control of the record label to the control of the artists.

Social media had made it possible to bring all sides together, and allow more freedom for artist’s creativity. But, don’t get it twisted, record labels are still needed and used today because someone has to do all the legwork. In the end it’s a lot of work, and the coming together of the old and the new as a team can be very profitable.

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Posted in Lifestyle, Music, Publications

Tagged Effects of Internet, Music, Social Media, Technology

Atlanta’s Traffic Can Be a Horror However, Alternative Ideas Make For Interesting Travel

Posted on July 15, 2013 | Leave a comment

Atlanta’s traffic has been a major concern for many years, as the population grows so does the traffic. Places that should only take 10 to 15 mins to travel can take up to an hour during certain times of the day, specifically during your commute to work. That alone takes away time away from home, having to leave an hour earlier just to get to work on time. Traffic is bumper to bumper during the morning commute and just as bad on the return home which is commonly known as the five o’clock traffic jam.

Atlanta’s traffic has been the reason why some businesses refuse to make Atlanta its home. According to some public officials, bad traffic has had a negative effect on the economy by company’s refusal to come to Atlanta due to its horrible traffic, which creates a spiraling domino effect. If business is lost, then jobs are lost, which causes lack in the economy. Gas prices are high alone and fuel is being wasted just sitting in long hours of traffic and not to mention time lost from being spent at home.

After speaking with Atlanta resident, Anthony Barr, he tells the story of how difficult it is driving long distances to work and has resorted to riding his bike and catching the train to save time in his commute. Barr say’s “I can get to work faster on my bike and on the train than I can in a car.” According to Barr, he state’s that it can also become a bit dangerous on the bike because of the traffic as well.

According to Randy Golden of Randy’s corner, Sonny Perdue, former governor of Georgia has come up with the idea of coordinating traffic lights back in 2012, which would smooth out the flow of traffic.

However an organization called The Atlanta Biking Coalition had come up with a very interesting alternative to driving, not to do away with driving altogether. But, to lessen the congestion of traffic, the idea of what is called bike share feasibility to get around small areas in town doesn’t sound like a bad idea. It’s safe, a great way to exercise and a convenient way to travel once the whole plan is put into place and implemented.

The idea of the program is to open a cyclist lane for travel and there’s even a place to park a bike or pick up a bike to get to your next stop. You wouldn’t have to transfer to a bus, you can just pick up a bike at the next kiosk. The idea is to expand the idea and attract more people to cycling.

The idea has spread to a few universities and other smaller residential communities and are hoping to grow into larger communities, but for now is considered a great start to a good idea that will be good for people in the communities, which can be cost effective, beneficial to businesses, pleasing to residents and a welcome feel for visitors.

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Posted in Publications

Tagged Alternative Ideas, Atlanta's Traffic, Lifestyle

Understand your Rights with Copyright Infringement

Posted on June 27, 2013 | Leave a comment

Understand your Rights with Copyright Infringement

Copyright infringement is when a person reproduce, publically display and distribute someone else work without permission from the owner. Bottom line, when you take something that doesn’t belong to you simply put, it’s stealing! That’s how you know that you’ve broken the copyright law. Most people don’t realize that they are breaking the law everyday just by downloading & uploading music, movies, sharing photos, video clips, copying, ripping and burning CD’s & DVD’s. Some have questioned whether it’s considered copyright infringement if not done for a profit.

How do you know when you’re breaking the law?

The copyright infringement law is so complex, that it can make it hard not to infringe on some people’s legal rights. Being new to blogging or simply a part of the social networking community makes it difficult for the average person to realize that they’re breaking the law because it seems everyone’s online doing it. Here are a few tips to avoid copyright infringement on social media.

If you don’t know what the law entails before you break it, then you will quickly learn it once they slap that lawsuit on you. Take casual blogger Roni Loren, she tells her story on her blog site about being new to blogging and being sued for copyright infringement. She had a photo on her page that was not attributed and according to Loren, she didn’t know the rules and did what most people she saw do. She assumed that under the Fair Use standard, that it was OK not attribute. She didn’t know and unfortunately learned the hard way.

Breaking the law comes with a price

According to eonline, the children of the late musician David Pryor recently filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against Kanye West for millions, after sampling their father’s song (Gold Digger) without getting consent. Pryor passed in 2006, but his children Trena and Lorenzo ascertained that their father’s work has been sampled numerous times and by various artists. However, they made it clear to all record companies involved that if they don’t stop exploiting their dad’s song (BusStop) without requesting permission, will be next in line for a lawsuit.

OntheFlipSideofCopyrightInfringement

Former Film Student Pattie Clark was director on a class film that was to be shot for their final project, but to her surprise several months down the line, found out that part of their story had been copied, re-shot, and uploaded to YouTube, with the exact same storyline and Title. Because the script was never copyrighted and protected, all rights were lost. “Now that’s a lesson well learned on copyrighting. Wish I knew to do it sooner.” Chuckling, Clark says “Take it from me, even if you’re still in school protect your work and get it copyrighted.” “Don’t let all of your hard work get snatch right out from under you.”

According to PCMag, in August 2012, Judge Richard Posner of the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that linking & embedding video is not considered copyright infringement. Posner explains in great length how linking and embedding works and they that watch the videos are not violating copyright infringement law, nor are they who are embedding & linking violating the law. However, they who are uploading copyright infringing videos are in violation.

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Posted in Privacy & Rights, Publications

Tagged Copy Infringement, Laws, Rights

The Freedom of Information Act’s “FOIA” latest ruling stirs up controversy

Posted on June 24, 2013 | Leave a comment

The Freedom of Information Act’s “FOIA” latest ruling stirs controversy

“FOIA” law allows US citizens the right to access information from federal agencies.

According to the Los Angeles Times, US citizens have encountered a setback in the ruling of the Freedom of Information Act. The Virginia ruling was unanimous, in that you must be a resident of the state that you are requesting public information in. If you are non-resident of that state, then you have no access to the public records and this ruling was adopted by a few other states; what a blow to the rights of citizens of the United States, however the good news is that although those states are not required to give access to public records, the can however choose to do so at their own discretion

The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) “provides for the disclosure of information held by administrative agencies to the public.” “The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) is a law that gives you the right to access information from the federal government, it’s often described as the law that keeps citizens in the know about their government. “

Anyone can use the Freedom of Information Act to request information from government agencies, including foreign nationals. No one group has more rights over the other when it comes to requesting public information under FOIA. However the journalists, bloggers or anyone involved with news media does have a few extra perks, such as waiving or discount of some fees and perhaps even speeding up the process, but don’t bank on that completely, it may not always be the case. But, informing the agency of who you are and letting them know that you may publish some of the information can possibly be a motivation to the FOIA officer to make your process a little easier, faster and can possibly save you some of the required fees.

Your local City Hall is a good place to start your search for public city records.
(c) 2013 Photo by D. Garvin

Andre Washington of Atlanta Georgia gave an account of his own personal experience with public records search. While driving home late one night on the highway, he was trailed by a police officer and was signaled to exit the highway. Once exited, they officer walks up to his car to tell him that he were stopped because his tail light was out. “I figure, it was an easy mistake, he can give me a warning and let me go.” Instead, it became very intense, the officer insisted I get out, I replied, what’s the problem officer? According to Washington, the officer was irate and replied, you don’t get to ask me questions I’m asking the questions right now! He began searching the car, while holding him against the car. Washington say’s “the more questions I asked the more aggressive he became.” I recognized that kind of aggression w/a badge, so I did what he asked.”

After holding me up for 20 minutes I received a ticket for the light, says Washington. I was angry about the unnecessary treatment and was advised to research the officer’s background. I found out that the officer had the same complaints by several African Americans, going back seven years about his aggressive behavior and racial comments. Washington challenged the ticket after finding out the information and won. So, public records can serve it purposes for many reasons. Doing an online search is an easy and convenient place to start your search. There’s also a site called black book online, it’s a directory that links you to a host of public records search sites.

These sites share limited information for free, and for a price you can access more comprehensive information. You’d be surprised at how much you can learn just by gaining access to public records including federal, state, county and local resources. Public search can be done to research companies, employee verification, research public officials, and to protect ourselves against unlawful government activities. It can also be a benefit for personal reasons, to gain information that will even help in negotiating business, creating proposals, background checks on employees and even aid in creating lists for sales leads.

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Posted in Privacy & Rights, Publications

Tagged Freedom of Information Act, latest Ruling, Laws

Release Forms, Photos & Videos for Any Occasion: Know When to Protect Yourself

Posted on June 17, 2013 | Leave a comment

Everyone Loves Taking Photos & Videos for Just About Any Occasion: How Do You Know When You’ve Crossed the Line of Hobby to Offender of the Law

Know How to Protect Yourself

In today’s world, people will whip out a camera, cellphone and even the tablet to capture the moment on video and photograph for just about any reason. Whether it’s for work as a photographer, filmmaker, Journalism, or for just plain ole fun, once it’s upload to YouTube and/or your social networking page and any other public site; shooter beware! It’s not like the times of old when things were much simpler and internet was not hugely popular. Although there were always laws in place to protect people’s privacy or legal rights to prevent unlawful display of a person’s image in the professional world, those of you who do it for fun today take heed, the same rules may apply to you once you decide to cross the line of fun and into the realm of use for commercial and profit.

In film production, to protect yourself legally you should began researching and preparing all of the necessary waiver/release forms to collect any signature connected to your production. Particularly for each identifiable actor and/or product such as logos and photos that you plan to have publicized that belongs to another. There are a variety of release forms for a variety of situations such as location, property, talent, private events, interviews, underage children and more that involves commercial purposes. If you’re a film student the rules still apply because you can also be sued for displaying work online, that’s why you should always protect yourself by getting release signed up front

For instance, former film student Anthony Barr explains his issues with an actor after shooting his student film. According to Barr, after the short film was shot the actor was disappointed in the way he was edited in the film and thought that film was not good enough to be published online and that no one would take him seriously after seeing the finished product.

Barr explains all of the hard work that went into it and disagreed. After having several back and forth conversations about it, Barr felt that it was good and ignored his request because everyone else was satisfied and he decided to upload it anyway.

When the actor/friend found out that the movie went up, he called the school to complain and insisted that it be taken down. Barr stated, he never thought it was that serious until the media department explained that the actor was in the right, he never signed a release form. Barr says “it’s my own fault, I learned the hard way to always get a release form signed no matter who it is, especially friends.” I’ll never let my guards down again!

Donati Grabs pen in agreement to sign contract

A release form is like a contract, which is a written agreement between two parties for the purpose of protecting yourself from any future lawsuits that may include, claiming invasion of privacy or perhaps for money or profit. However, laws differ depending on the jurisdiction and the state you live in when it pertains to the use of an individual’s image.

The Release Form is Signed

Understanding the law and the business side of online marketing, will save you money, time and protect you from a whole lot of future legal woes down the line.

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Posted in Photo Journalism, Privacy & Rights, Publications, Social Media, Technology, Videos

Tagged Laws, Legal right in video & photography, release forms, Rights, Social Media

How Much Privacy Do You Really Have on Your Public Sites?

Posted on June 12, 2013 | Leave a comment

Are You Apart of the Social Networking Scene? Your Private Settings Are Not So Private Anymore

Companies are making social networking sites a first step to pre-screening before hiring. They’re checking your conversation, photos and anything else that will give insight into your character. Your personal Facebook Page is not so personal anymore; people are actually fired over Facebook Postings.

According to NBC 4 New York, Twitter was asked by a judge to surrender an Occupy Wall Street protestors tweets. “We are disappointed in the judge’s decision and are considering our options,” a Twitter spokeswoman said Monday.” “Twitter’s Terms of Service have long made it absolutely clear that its users own their content.”

Social media has become bigger than the federal government and more people are tracking you more often than you think. So, If you put all of your information including posts, photos, videos, resumes and what have you on the World Wide Web, It’s there for the world’s picking and it will be your own fault. Whether it’s on one of your many social networking sites or email, you should expect to be a potential victim of hacking, researched or investigated. You can have a life changing experience simply by having your alone hacked.

How can you protect yourselves and your personal information from being invaded from privacy and internet fraud? What about when companies tell you to go online to apply for jobs? How safe are you with these companies? Craigslist has become another popular site for job searches, but you never know what you may get when not dealing with a company’s direct website. Extra precautions should always be taken when dealing with a third party.

That’s exactly what happened to Sonia Roe, a customer service Rep in the Atlanta area. While searching for work on Craigslist, she applied for a position using her home address and email not thinking much of it because she linked to the company’s site and it all looked legitimate. However, a Few weeks later she received a $1600 money order, in which case she assumed it was from another organization who she expected to receive support from for her education.

Roe says, “So, I deposited the money order, and all of a sudden my account was in the negative.” After reporting to the fraud department, she discovers that her personal information had been collected after applying for the online position. “Luckily I called the fraud department because they traced the numbers on the money order right back to the man who sent it.” “Apparently he has had a history of fraudulent money orders”. There are actually hacking classes, software and an operating system created, which makes it so much easier for hackers today. An Operating System called Kali Linux built into computers used to do a penetration testing is given away for free hoping that the big companies will bite and take the hacking classes offered by them, which is said to be a $4000 class for these companies.

Information is being hacked every six seconds and you must learn ways to protect yourself. Here is a link that can give you a few tips to protect yourself. Other privacy issue the citizens of the United States have to be concerned with today is the idea of the government’s National Security Agency (NSA) tracking and collecting our phone calls, monitoring the numbers we call and the duration of the call. However, the president suggests that they’re not monitoring the content of the call, but the goal is to gather and enter the information into a government database allowing it to sit unless otherwise needed for criminal investigation.

This act is turning talks towards the idea of revisiting the 4^th amendment, which is the part of the bill that guards against unreasonable search and seizure without a warrant, since that law was put in place before internet and social media existed. The NSA and FBI are tapping directly into servers of web companies.

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Posted in Privacy & Rights, Publications, Social Media, Technology

Tagged Laws, Privacy, Social Media

Insurance Just May Be Your New Best Friend

Evanjahlist “The Music Man” Of Midtown Atlanta at Little Five Points

Multi-Media is Changing the Way Consumers Experience the Content they Consume

Atlanta’s Traffic Can Be a Horror However, Alternative Ideas Make For Interesting Travel

Understand your Rights with Copyright Infringement

The Freedom of Information Act’s “FOIA” latest ruling stirs up controversy

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