Taking Blogging A Little Too Far??

Worker suspended over blog wins back pay

In this article on msnbc.com in the Tech news, a man is accused of blogging on company time and writing stuff against a small town in Virginia. He was suspended from his job for two weeks and won his case, saying that state policy does not have anything against blogging on work time. Since then the Department of Business Assistance banned blogging on agency time.

Wow...blogging, blogging, blogging. I have never heard of so much blogging until recently. It is like one of those things you never hear about and then when you do EVERYONE is talking about it. Blogging is an interesting concept, yeah it can be cool and fun if you like to journal or put your opinions out there for everyone to see, but in some respects it is a little too personal and putting yourself out there for people to see. I do not think this guy was in the right by blogging during agency hours, but if he really wants to put his opinions out there that is his decision. I think it is too much to be doing it on agency time and that he should do it in his own personal time. Blogging...do it on your own time! :-D

Milestone I: Is my information really safe?

As I sit here and read chapters 2 and 12 I see that even though I think I am knowledgeable about some things on the computer I really am not. But my first ah-ha moment came when I was going through Chapter 12- "Computers in Polite Society-Social Implications of IT," and thinking about how I decide on my passwords for everything that I do and how easy it would probably be for someone to get into my stuff. I, myself, do not think that I would be able to break anyone's password, but some people out there can probably do anything and everything if they put their mind to it. It has kind of set me back just because I never really thought about making my password as intense as the book says to make them. I just think why would anyone want to get my information or my stuff offline? Creepy to think that someone out there just wants any one's stuff that they can get their hands on.

It is interesting to really understand how to develop a secure password, through guidelines that help solve a problem, that is not algorithmic (or heuristic, in IT language). First off by using a phrase instead of just a word and then shortening it down to how many characters needed is a great way to have a more secure password and secondly, by using symbols in the words that kind of look like the letters. (I never really thought about doing this) These are things I would never of even thought about doing, because I try to do something that I would remember really quick, and not thinking about security. Along with all of this, since I am on the computer all the time I should be able to remember the passwords just by "total recall." So...all in all...I need to secure my stuff with more complex passwords, and know that there are a lot of creepy people out there that are looking for whatever they can get their hands on. Scary...