Over - Exposed?

OverExposed?

With the rapid growth and remarkable adoption rate of social networking sites such as LinkedIn, Facebook, Google+ and Twitter, we are now more concerned with the growing risks associated with social networks that implicitly give rise to exposure of one’s identity and privacy. The intent of exposing our identity and connecting publicly, at times makes us ignorant of the fact that we are at the risk of breaching the privacy and security of almost all our personally identifiable information. According to a survey, social networking risks and concerns may be identified as four categories

Identity Theft

This is the main concern on social media sites. When creating an account, users give as much information about themselves as they can. This is to make it easy for their friends to identify them easily. The flip side is that this information can be used by identity thieves. With the date of birth on their hands, the identity thieves can easily estimate the social security number of a person. The thief can then personify a car accident attorney in order to rip you off. It is recommended to change your account settings so that only your trusted friends are able to view your personal information. You should also leave your date of birth out.

Sex Predation

Stalking is common. There have been cases of people establishing relationships with social media users with negative intents. Once the stalkers get the phone number of the user, they start preying on them. This may subsequently result in sexual crimes. The key is to never give your personal information to someone you have never met. Additionally, if you must meet for a date, it is vital that you seek the company of your best friend and make sure you meet in a public place.

Unintentional Fame

On the social media, people have the freedom of uploading their photos and videos. Opportunists may take your online content and use it for the wrong thing. For example, your videos may be uploaded to video sites or your photos edited to depict something unethical. The key to avoiding these incidents is limiting access to your social network page. You do not want your photo to be used as an expert who helps reclaim PPI whereas you are a stay-at-home mom.

Employment

Due to the popularity social networks have amassed, employers are using information on social sites to conduct background checks. If your social page is polluted with negative information, chances are you might end up missing the opportunity. The same applies when you are employed and stalkers post uncouth information on your page. This information may easily cause you to lose your job.

However, the challenge here is to fully understand the risks associated with social networks because you never know what information are customers requesting through social media? One of several such concerns related to social network was discovered when Facebook inadvertently exposed millions of users’ phone numbers and e-mail addresses to unauthorized viewers over years that began in 2012. The major reason for causing such breaches in social network security and privacy emerges from the massive amount of information that these sites process every day, making it much easier to exploit even if there is a minute defect in the system.

Moreover, social networking is now no longer restricted to just your PC -- the technology is available on smartphones, tablets, and just about anything that is connected to the Internet. The whole phenomenon has opened new avenues for malware transmission, bringing concerns about information theft and security lapses. Social engineering is another significant concern, alluring privacy, identity theft and treachery concerns. There is no doubt about the benefits of operating business in social environments such as the propaganda of intense correspondence, mass communication, effective marketing and reaching extended networking opportunities. However, with the mushrooming of social networks and its associated risks and concerns, we cannot completely ignore the threat it imposes on our identity and privacy. 

With every piece of information that we store online, we are more exposed to threats that may be used against us in a variety of ways. What is required is balancing between the identity and privacy. So should you still blindly jump into the race of socializing or rather implement stringent solutions that balance both our identity and privacy to help mitigate the risks and concerns? The choice is yours!

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— Pratik Deshpande (@PratikD88) October 28, 2014

Four Candles

In a quiet room of a small house, there were four candles which lit the room every day from dusk till dawn. The family which lived there had a small boy. Just like any other day the four candles were doing their job when the boy came in the room and started to stare at the four flames.

The boy was amazed as to how much light just 4 candles could spread. Suddenly a strong breeze blew and the candles struggled to sustain their flames, that's when one of the candles spoke to him: “I’m tired of the hatred and violence in this world, nobody wants to live together and nobody cares about me anymore. There is negativity everywhere and I feel suffocated living in such a world and so I would prefer to die instead”. Saying this, the candle’s flame was lost. This candle's name was ‘PEACE’.

The boy now a bit saddened looked at the other three trying to hold on, when another candle gives up saying, “People have become very selfish and mean. I see betrayal and mean behavior everywhere. Most of all I am no longer indispensable, so it does not make any sense that I stay lit any longer.” The breeze then put it off. Her name was ‘FAITH’

“I have lost all the strength and aspiration to stay alive either. People put me aside and don’t understand my importance. They even forget to love those who are nearest to them.” And waiting no longer it goes out. She was ‘LOVE’

Seeing the three candles go off the little boy starts weeping and asks, “Aren’t you guys supposed to stay lit right till the end?” That’s when he hears a soft voice from the fourth candle which was still burning. She said, “While I’m still burning you don’t have to be afraid. We can still re-light the other candles using my flame”. That candle was ‘HOPE’

With beaming eyes, the candle lit all three candles with the candle of Hope.

Hope never abandons you. You abandon hope. Consult not your fears but your hopes and your dreams. Think not about your frustrations, but about your unfulfilled potential. Concern yourself not with what you tried and failed in, but with what it is still possible for you to do.

-                                                                                                                                                                                                               --Author Unknown

I wish all my readers lots of Love and Hope on the occasion of Diwali. Let us all work towards keeping the flame of Peace, Faith , Love and Hope alive in each on of us.

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Minority – Real or Reel?

Over the weekend 2 major issues were talked about in the entire nation; Maharashtra and Haryana State elections and LGBT acceptance episode on Satyamev Jayate. Both these events made news headlines and had people storming their views on Twitter and Facebook. Even when both these issues are tails apart from each other they had one big factor associated with them – Minority.

When political parties talk about vote banks they are actually talking about Minority vote banks Eg: Muslim Vote bank, Dalit Vote bank, Jaat Vote bank etc. Political parties thrive on these vote banks to gain votes and win seats. They play with the sentiments of the common man belonging to a certain community which could be a regional or religious community and influence them to agree with their dubious agenda. My question is, do we really have anything called Minority for real or is it just a hypothetical misconceptions that these political parties have created for their gains? When we say we all are Indians, how does it matter which religion I follow or which color is my skin or whether I’m Brahmin or Dalit?

For me, when I look around the streets of Mumbai, I cannot identify who is who, all I see are people trying to work hard and earn a living and survive. When I travel in trains I don’t see a compartment which says ‘For Muslims’ Or ‘For Dalits’ its simply says ‘Gents’ and ‘Ladies’. Likewise during festivals, people of all religions come together and celebrate no matter of which religion the festival belongs to. I can state umpteen examples supporting this fact.

Similarly, when the SC tags the LGBT community as minuscule minority and takes away their basic human rights of loving the person of their choice they are not just making an impact on the LGBT alone but also the entire population of India at large.

Both these instances are a result of the political bureaucrats who have taken us for granted and divided all of us and tagged us as a part of some or the other minority group. But the main problem isn't this. If we go down to root level no one can tag you as LGBT Minority or Muslim Minority or any other minority unless we as individuals allow them to do so. Yes, that is the unfortunate truth and that is where all the problem lies. We ourselves need to change our thinking and broaden our horizons to accept every human being as an individual first and what amazing things he or she can offer rather than focusing on which religion one follows or whether he is a man who loves another man or he belongs to the third gender.

Once we all have accepted this fact first, only then no SC or no political party would be able to divide us and exploit our rights, be it our voting rights or basic human rights.

So now, it is for each one us to think is Minority for real or a reel just created by a handful of political leeches and by default hammered into our heads since birth?

*PS – These are my personal views and are not with an intention to offend anyone.

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Ain't I Social

                         

So this is my first attempt at writing a blog, and the first thing which came to my mind was how can I make my blog more appealing than many others already in the blog space.

Therefore, to keep all the various moods and likes and dislikes of the readers around I finally decided that my blog would be dedicated to various social matters, news, reviews and at times satires on various issues.

That gave birth to the name 'Ain't I Social'. 

To start with I have committed myself to post twice every week Monday and Thursday.So stick around and keep shuffling for something I promise would be worth a read! 

So, i would appreciate honest comments, feedback and suggestions on what you would like to read about.

Here's hoping for a fun and entertaining time for all of us at blogging.

Cheers.

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