Large companies begin to identify individuals using biometrics, fingerprint recognition systems being the most common methodology. This has become controversial, but need it truly be the biggest concern?

For example, other privacy issues include detailed log files which contain IP addresses, domain names and in academia — even names. Everything about a user is recorded along with recent activities. Privacy is continuously compromised more and more. Google can help identify many of us given our full name (NameBase can pin-point links and connections). It can then refer to people’s public thoughts and opinions about us. The availability of more information is unavoidable and the young generation has adapted to accept it.

This image-to-text tool is possibly what you need to impress your friends. I produced a very small-scale example. A larger size was possible as well, but it would have taken up much of this page.

Here is the famous Lenna image:

Here is the result of translation/rendering. It is purely text.

It is surprising to see that portals such as Yahoo are still being used. What’s even more surprising is that many people’s entry point (and only central point of navigation) remained Google. Some people have extensive bookmarks (Favorites in M¥¢ro$o£t terminology) which are most frequently used.

Nevertheless, one of the most efficient and convenient ways to browse is from a personal portal — one which you create yourself. My portal consists of about 200 links, sub-divided into some 30 categories. They all reside on the same page so that they are only a single click away. With tabbed browsing, this becomes a crucial factor.

At the top of the page, I choose to have a snapshot of the weather, a clock, and basic search facilities for this site and the World Wide Web.

For good fit of a large number of links, I use 3 columns. Their aggregated width fits all browsers and screen resolutions.

Here are a few extra bits that are worth mentioning:

• Put usernames or numbers below links for quick copy-and-paste.
• Set up keyboard accelerators using the accesskey attribute.
• Group similar links under the same heading and use a hierarchy of header levels.

Also see: Portal Zen Garden

The moral values of salesmen decline and business credibility is lost when almost laughable lies are being made; without guilt! High street shops have been using this strategy for as long as they existed. “While stocks last”, “Limited supplies”, hotel clerks who say “We have just a few rooms left” and travel agents who say “The flight is almost full so make a quick choice”. 95% of the time this must be bogus (simply urging you to make a transaction) and yet nobody rants loudly. Make a stance and become more sceptical.

On the right: “have you seen this man?”
 
 

Hard-drives are far more fragile and error-prone than computer users imagine. From my survey amongst friends and colleagues, it appears that almost nobody retains a remote copy of personal data. If errors were ever to strike, the result would be devastating. I have seen people losing their in-progress Ph.D. thesis, Masters dissertation and work documents. All it takes to prevent such tragedies is one of the following routines:

• Backup on CDR.
• Backup using a remote FTP server. To store only the recent differences, search by the last modified field.
• Free software packages like Rsync.
• Occasional hard-drive to hard-drive copy/mirror (volume sharing, redundancy).

Many of us undervalue the amount of data which is available owing to technology. Eavesdropping became only a time investment issue in a world where every event is recorded with the aid of brute-force. As an example, from the month of December I have a 20+ MB text file which contains everything one needs to know. Webmasters do not bother investigating such files and neither do I. I only suggest that everyone becomes aware of the following:

In cases where curiosity pushes its limits or even wrong-doing is considered, someone, somewhere will be able to retrace your steps. In this cyber-space where privacy is compromised, always be cautious and remember which Internet domain you go under.

Example: Whatever you search Google for will become visible to others; not only to Google employees, but also to sites you subsequently enter. Familiarise yourself with the rules of the ‘game’. Be suspicious.

Aren’t we all tired of so-called news that bring us stories about broken homes? Something in the minds of the public yearns for trouble and pain in the life of a celebrity. Indeed Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston split up, but are they not entitled to privacy? Much of the media sank to low levels and reported this.