July 16, 2004
Dear Subscribers:
We always welcome your emails - send concerns, questions, stories to me anytime
via anne@netfamilynews.org. Here's our lineup for this second week of July:
~~~~~~~~~~Support the Newsletter!~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Help support Net Family News: Make a tax-deductible
donation
to our free public service, via Network
for Good's online fundraising system
for nonprofit organizations or our page at Amazon.com's
Honor System
(Amazon takes a small percentage of each transation).
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Family Tech: What if our PC's a zombie?!
You may've heard of the new Digital Age kind
of zombie. I hope so, because it could be your family PC. Actually, the odds
aren't great that your computer has been turned into a dummy machine run by
malicious hackers, but the probability is growing - especially in households
with very connected kids (gamers, IM-ers, file-sharers, Web researchers, emailers,
etc.). So if your PC's acting strangely (unexplained shutdowns, error messages,
etc.), it'd be good to have a family chat about what everybody's using the
Internet for - what applications they're using, what's being downloaded, how
Preferences are being configured, and so on.
It'd also be good to have the anti-virus software
(which I trust you've installed and kept up-to-date) scan the PC(s) for viruses.
The problem is, there are more and more ways for family computers to catch
worms and viruses, and that is all a zombie is: a computer that has been infected
by a very controlling virus.
Sometimes all a surfer/Web researcher has to do is
go to a Web site to catch it (see 7/2).
That could easily be a child randomly browsing all over the Web, oblivious
to the consequences. [It helps to talk about the importance of alert browsing:
using a search engine (not just typing in URLs you're not sure about), reading
the brief description before clicking, trying to stay on topic (whether for
school research or a favorite fan site, game, or friend's blog).] In other
cases, the virus might have come in via an opened email attachment, an instant
message, or a misnamed "music" file downloaded with file-sharing software.
Virus writers' favorite goal these days is not to
damage your computer, but rather to take control of it altogether - turn it
into a zombie (see "One very illegal summer job" below for how groups of teen
are allegedly capitalizing on controlling networks of these dummy PCs all
over the world).
When this happens, the quite reasonable question comes
up: "If our PC's a zombie, what can we do about it?" We put that question
to someone who answers it all the time: Ted Werth, founder and CEO of Boston-based
PlumChoice, which provides tech support
for homes and small businesses.
First of all, be sure to make good use of that anti-virus
software or service. "The most popular ones," Ted emailed us, "are McAfee's
VirusScan, Norton's AntiVirus,
or Trend Micro's HouseCall.
Because these are different companies, sometimes one of them may find a virus
that is missed by another. When any of these products are run on your computer,
they'll identify what virus(es) you may have and which of your files are infected."
Before you tell the virus detector to clean, delete,
or quarantine whatever it found, Ted suggests that you first try to save critical
files and software - address books, emails, photos, important documents, financial
software, etc. - burn them onto a CD or move them onto an external hard drive
or another PC on your home network, using your usual backup method.
"The last step is to remove the virus," Ted writes.
Most of the time, the anti- virus software can take care of the virus with
a click on "Clean," "Delete," or "Quarantine." "Otherwise, you will have to
take manual steps that could be as simple as running a removal tool (software)
the vendor provides or as complex as stepping through a process of manually
removing the virus." In some cases, he adds, the virus simply can't be completely
removed, "necessitating the need for you to reinstall your computer's operating
system" - that disk that came in the box with your PC which you thought you'd
never use.
Of course, if you get stumped at any of the above
points, first ask your tech- literate kid for help. Second, see if McAfee,
Symantec, etc., will give you free virus-removal support. Third, go to PlumChoice.com
or any of the other companies (mentioned in articles linked to just below)
that, for a reasonable fee, provide online or drop-in tech support to home
PC users.
Further info and help
- For the big picture on zombies, see "One
very illegal summer job" below or "Your computer could be a spam zombie"
from the Associated
Press.
- Get the new patches! Microsoft this week
released two "critical" software updates, the Washington Post reports. "If left unpatched,
Microsoft said computers running the vulnerable Windows versions [Windows
2000 and XP] could be remotely controlled by hackers." Here are Microsoft's
Windows Updates and Windows
Security page.
- This week's top virus. CNET says it
scans your PC for software files, renames them, opens a "back door" door
to give control of the infected PC to the code writer (that zombie problem
again), and finally looks for unprotected PCs connected to your computer
(e.g., on your home network) and infects them.
- Microsoft's virus-removal tool. Sounds great,
but it only works on the Explorer-related virus that's been plaguing that
browser of late, the Associated Press reports, and only if that virus has already
infected your PC. MS hasn't yet released a patch that stops the virus from
exploiting Explorer in the first place - just an update that adjusts some
Windows settings to thwart the virus. Patch to come, MS says, so stay tuned.
- Problems installing anti-virus software?
The Washington Post's "Computer Guy" addresses that.
- If your browser's been hijacked. SpywareInfo.com
has information on this, right on its home page. "Computer Guy," too, explains the hijacked-browser
thing and why neither anti-spyware nor anti-virus software can fix it. But
he tells you what does (in his second answer on that linked page).
- Home tech support. For context, here are
two articles with names of various companies around the US: "PC docs make
house calls" in the Pioneer Press and "Who you
gonna call?" in the Boston
Herald (reprinted on PlumChoice's Web site).
We always appreciate hearing your stories about
dealing with kids and PC security issues. Email them anytime via feedback@netfamilynews.org!
* * * *
Web News Briefs
- File-sharing's up
Unless your family's had "the discussion," chances
are any file-sharers at your house are swapping tunes as much as ever.
Despite the recording industry's thousands of lawsuits, last month file-sharing
was up 19% over that of June 2003 - "8.3 million people were online at
any one time" using P2P services such as Kazaa and eDonkey, USATODAY reports. Kazaa is becoming less popular, while New
York-based eDonkey and Israel-based iMesh are picking up some of that
P2P traffic (BitTorrent
is another very popular service, Reuters UK reports ).
Most of the files being swapped were tunes (1 billion songs were available
for downloading last month, up from 820 million a year ago). But parents,
look at this: porn videos and images came in second. So back to "the discussion"
- about file-sharing activity at your house. The best way to start might
be to discuss PC security: e.g., how the eDonkey software's preferences
have been configured, what's being shared (if anything), if the kid's
concerned about spyware, and whether we shouldn't take a look at all this
at the PC together. For more discussion points, see "Teen writes: Kids like
P2P risks", "A tech-literate dad on file-sharing"
and "File-sharing realities for
families." After you've been through the security issues, it might
be interesting to ask your kids about the ethics involved. We'd love to
hear how the discussion goes - email me anytime via anne@netfamilynews.org.
- Graphic images online
Parents worry about the graphic images children
are exposed to in the media, but Americans in general are divided about
what should be available on the Web. Nearly half of Americans disapprove
of posting images online that have been deemed too horrific to run in
newspapers and on TV, according to a recent survey by the Pew
Internet & American Life project. But "24% went online to view some
of most graphic war images," and "of those who have seen the images, 28%
actively sought them out. When viewed, the images elicit mixed feelings
as well as mixed opinions. Pew found that, though "millions of Internet
users want to be able to view the graphic war images and they see the
Internet as an alternative source of news and information from traditional
media ... many who do venture outside the traditional and familiar standards
of the mainstream news organizations to look at the images online end
up feeling very uncomfortable. Women are particularly opposed to the display
of the images and are much less likely than men to have viewed the images
online." Released late last week, the nationwide survey was conducted
in May, when some of the most violent imagery was coming out of Iraq.
Here's coverage of this survey by Newsday (New
York), the Chicago
Sun-Times, the BBC,
the Associated Press, and ClickZ
Stats.
- Xanga and other teen 'hangouts'
About 13% of the students at San Jose's Evergreen
High School have blogs on Xanga.com, and that's just one online journal
site. One student told the San
Jose Mercury News that he visits Xanga "like 50 times a day," either
to post to his own blog or visit someone else's. Most of the blogs are
innocuous, some cruel. "Evergreen's Xanga crowd operated largely under
the radar of school officials until a parent called attention to an anonymous
blog called Mc_Smack_Crew that mocks students with digitally altered photos
and vicious messages," the Mercury News reports. "School officials alerted
San Jose police, who opened a 'hate crime' investigation. The police decided
last month not to press charges, calling it a 'case of name-calling, however
foul'." The school blocked access to the site from school computers, which
of course did nothing to help the site's young victims. But most of the
Evergreen blogs are the typical teen diary fare (or the digital sort):
true confessions, gossip, school news, flirtations, virtual relationships,
and seeking validation through peers' posts/responses and links. "Most
teens abide by an unwritten code of the blogosphere: What happens online
stays online," e.g., test relationships - reading an interesting prospect's
blog, learning all about him, flirting with him via IM and posts on his
blog, deciding he's a little too weird, and ending it, without ever having
had even a phone conversation.
Interesting note for parents: The secrets in today's
teen diaries are open to the public but not to parents, who remain generally
clueless about them. In fact, some parents feel they're invading their
child's privacy if they do what everybody else does, go to the blog, and
read it (see an example in "Daughter's
blog, mom's dilemma"). Would you agree? Is it wrong to read your kid's
Web site? Please email us
your answers!
- Blogging's crazy numbers
About every 5.8 seconds a new blog is created
somewhere in the world, The
Register reports. That's 8,000-17,000 new blogs every day. These figures
are from Technorati.com, which says it keeps an eye on 3,097,030 blogs.
- One very illegal summer job
Unbeknownst to countless families around the world,
groups of teenage malicious hackers are renting out zombie family PCs
to "spammers, fraudsters, and digital saboteurs," Reuters reports. Zombie PCs, as mentioned in the feature above,
are regular, old Net-connected home computers that have been infected
by a "trojan" worm or virus that allows the attackers to control the infected
PCs. "The result is a powerful network of zombie PCs that security experts
call a 'botnet'," according to Reuters. Scotland Yard's computer crime
unit told Reuters these botnets are networks of as many as 10,000-30,000
computers that small groups of young people, probably working out of their
bedrooms, are renting to anybody for as little as $100 an hour. Consequently,
"there may be millions of such PCs around the world doing the bidding
of crime gangs," say computer security experts who believe the gangs are
using these kids as child labor - a new, technically sophisticated form
of it. As for the botnets they've developed, experts are worried the people
who manipulate them will move beyond mere spamming to taking down key
data networks and major Web sites.
- Michigan: Kids' do-not-email list
For this law to work, a lot will depend on execution.
"Michigan will soon become the second state [after Utah] to make it illegal
to certain types of spam to kids," the Detroit
News reports. Parents will be able to add their children's email addresses
to a state-run do-not-email registry modeled after the federal do-not-call
list run the Federal Trade Commission. Anyone who email those addresses
about porn, gambling, tobacco, drugs or any products children can't legally
purchase could be fined $5,000 per email and made to forfeit their computer,
according to the law, which has been sent to Gov. Jennifer Granholm (her
spokesperson said she will sign the bill). The idea of a do-not-spam list
for kids "has attracted questions about its enforcement," according to
the Detroit News. "Some parents are skittish about giving their kids'
e-mail addresses to the government." The FTC rejected the idea of a US
do-not-spam system as unworkable.
A more workable solution - for anyone who wants
only kid-friendly email in their in-boxes - is filtered email. There a
lot of options, among them: JustSafe.com, KidMail.net, KinderStart.com,
KinderMail.com, and kidZmail.com.
- Tracking kids with tech: Japan & UK
A primary school in Osaka will soon be testing
a high-tech way of knowing children's whereabouts at all times. RFID (for
radio frequency identification) chips will be attached to students' schoolbags
or clothing tags and read by readers (like bar-code readers in grocery
stores) that will be "installed in school gates and other key locations,"
UK-based Silicon.com
reports. Legoland in Denmark is already using this "Kidspotter" tech.
As of last May, children entering the amusement park were given RFID bracelets
that could be tracked anywhere within its boundaries, so that parents
could be called on their cell phones about their lost child's location,
Silicon.com reported in a separate article. Just one caveat: the marketing angle. The chips
will also tell Lego exactly where customers go, which will be great for
"insightfully targeted marketing campaigns for the perennially popular
Lego brick toy sets."
Interestingly, tracking kids by cell phones, on
the other hand, has some important detractors in the UK. "A coalition
of children's charities has urged the UK government to set strict controls
on services that let parents track their children by their mobiles," the
BBC reports.
The organizations are worried that, as more and more companies market
the technology without legal safeguards, the tech can get into the wrong
hands. "The onus is on the child to decide whether to accept or reject
the request, if it is not from a parent."
- Spyware: Not just a privacy prob
Here's a new rule for child surfers: Don't click
on "yes" to all those "Download this!" offers they run into on the sites
they visit - check with Mom or Dad first. "Why?" they might ask. There's
a strong chance they'll be downloading spyware, or "scumware," as the
Wall Street Journal's Lee Gomes calls it. It can
"reset your home page to a porn site ... and then refuse to let you change
the page back" (see our "Spyware
& an 8-year-old" last week) or "hijack your search requests and then
direct them to its own page" or even "secretly record the keystrokes you
use to log in to bank accounts and then send the info off to who knows
where," Lee writes, adding: "A program making the rounds in Europe installs
a piece of software that dials up expensive 976 numbers the spyware authors
have set up." There's a fund of information on spyware and what to do
about it at SpywareInfo.com.
- Another view of hackers
We hear from the media much more about malicious
hackers than about the regular kind - many of whom are young and still
living at home! So, because many news people put a negative twist on the
word "hacker," we thought fellow parents might be interested in the way
hackers view themselves. Insights are provided in this USATODAY article (part of a series) on a conference in New
York over the weekend called "The Fifth HOPE" (HOPE for Hackers On Planet
Earth).
- Video game camp
Hmmm. The campers are "all guys ages 15 to 20,"
USAToday reports . Though
this all sounds a bit sexist, the good news is, they're using New York
University's Center for Advanced Digital Application's "cutting-edge facilities
to learn the techniques behind best-selling digital masterpieces such
as Doom, Quake, and Madden NFL Football." Typical day at camp? "Campers
will arrive each day for a 9 a.m. warm-up of playing time-tested analog
games like chess or cards, followed by a discussion of the elements that
explain the games' persistent popular appeal. Lights-out could happen
more than 14 hours later, if they choose to work in the computer lab from
9 to 11 p.m." Campers can choose from three majors: art, design, or programming.
We hope there are camperships for this elite- sounding program that costs
more than $5,000.
* * * *
Share with a Friend! If you find the newsletter useful,
won't you tell your friends and colleagues? We would much appreciate your
referral. To subscribe, they can just click here.
We are always happy to hear from potential sponsors
and distribution partners as well. If you'd like to make a
contribution or become a sponsor, please email
us or send a check payable to:
Net Family News, Inc.
P.O. Box 1283
Madison, CT 06443
That does it for this week. Have a great weekend!
Sincerely,
Anne Collier, Editor
Net Family News
