What are Internet Pirates?

Where do pirates like to shop the most? Taaaarrrrget! Okay, I know that's a bad joke (and probably doesn't make much sense outside the US and western Europe), but today we're looking at what, exactly are Internet pirates. They get discussed in the media, laws made against them, and are blamed by some to be the cause of all of the music industry's problems. You may be an internet pirate and not even know it!

"Internet pirate" is a term for someone who steals items from the internet instead of buying them through legitimate channels. This can be music, movies, software, or anything else digital. The term "internet pirate" became popular when Napster was at its peak and people were downloading music left and right. Have you ever downloaded a song from a program like Napster, Limewire, or Bearshare? These are all programs that are designed to allow people to share large files between each other, but people have taken over to share large copyrighted files between them and millions of strangers.

I've noticed an uptick in parents unknowingly pirating songs because their children download a program like Limewire on the computer and tell them that it's a place they can get music, TV shows and movies for free. They don't tell them that it's illegal, that they can be fined thousands of dollars, that it's a good way to get computer viruses, and/or have their internet provider refuse them further service. How can you know if you've been accidentally stealing your content? Did you pay for it? Did the maker of content explicitly say they're giving it away for free? If the answer is "no" to those questions, you've been pirating content!

Practical Tip of the Day:

As previously stated, pirating content is a good way to get viruses, malware, corrupted files and content you do not want (like porn instead of a TV show) downloaded onto your computer. Because of these as well as the legal and ethical reasons, I strongly discourage pirating. Where should you go to get these things then? iTunes, Amazon and Google Play are the three biggest content providers on the Internet. And yes, you have to pay.

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What are Internet Trolls?

If you've spent any notable time on the internet, you've probably run into this term if not the actual thing- "trolls." No, we're not talking about the dolls from the 80's, the thing from nursery rhymes, or even the things that will try to eat Bilbo Baggins in the upcoming movie The Hobbit. Internet trolls have been around since the internet began, and the likelihood of them going away is somewhere between zero and not-a-chance. Here's how you can identify a troll and how to respond to them:

Wikipedia defines internet trolls as "someone who posts inflammatory, extraneous, or off-topic messages in an online community, such as a forum, chat room, or blog, with the primary intent of provoking readers into an emotional response or of otherwise disrupting normal on-topic discussion." In short, trolls are people who are intentionally annoying at best and downright discriminatory at worst.

Why do they do it? For fun. Yes, these people are like the two-year old who plays the "I'm not touching you!" game with their older sister just to annoy her. Some will argue that people who post sexist, racist, or other "-ist"type comments aren't trolls because they're assumably posting from legitimate feelings and not just for fun, it is impossible to know the true reason someone will troll (yes, it's a verb as well as a noun) and therefore people who make these comments are generally put in the same group as all the other trolls.

What is one to do when encountered with an internet troll? Well, you have options. Some people choose to engage the person in conversation. I generally recommend against this as it just leads to frustration and nothing else to show for your efforts. Others will just ignore the person and continue the conversation with other people. This works well though the troll will sometimes get another member of the conversation trapped in conversation. The recommended method is to either block or report the person. Many places on the internet have "anti-trolling" measures in place that allow a person to either report a troll (and thereby have them removed from the site permanently) or block them (they maintain their membership, but you no longer see any of their comments).

Practical Tip of the Day:
When using a site like Facebook, the easiest way to avoid trolls is to simply increase your privacy settings so only your friends and family can interact with you. You can access your privacy settings on Facebook by clicking the downwards pointing triangle in the top-right corner of the webpage and then selecting "Privacy Settings." Once there, you'll have many options to help you get your account as buttoned up as you'd like.


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What is VOIP?

As previously mentioned in the article entitled "What is Skype?" an increasing popular way to make long distance telephone calls, especially out of country, is using a VOIP service like Skype. VOIP stands for "voice over IP," which means that yes, it's an acronym that holds another acronym. "IP" means "Internet Protocol," so to break down "Voice Over Internet Protocol" it simply means that you can talk over the Internet like it's a phone.

To understand why this is impressive, one must first understand the difference between "analog" and "digital." If something is analog, it travels along a continuum. Think of this as the way someone can count between 1 and 2, using a seemingly infinite number of decimals between them. If something is digital, it's more like counting between 1 and 2 (well, 0 and 1 actually), but there are no decimals. It's either one or two. Sound is something that is analog, we can make a wide range of sounds, but computers and other electronic devices only understand digital (click here if you don't know why) so the trick is getting something to sound analog when in fact it's digital. I'll spare you the long explanation as to how that happens.

Once the sound is converted into a digital signal, it can then be sent over the Internet to anywhere you want it to go. When you use a service like Skype, you can "call" people to direct where your digitized voice will be sent to. The nice thing about the Internet is that whether your voice is going across town or across the world hardly changes the delay in conversation so it can simulate a phone very well, and since most countries have a decent connection to the Internet, it can usually also save you money versus using an actual telephone.

Practical Tip of the Day:
If you're travelling abroad, using a VOIP service can save you money versus calling long-distance, but be careful if you're using an "Internet anywhere" card or a smartphone to access the Internet for that purpose as roaming fees for data are often much heftier than roaming fees for voice, and a conversation over VOIP can use a significant amount of data. When travelling abroad, I usually recommend turning off data roaming and using Wifi only if possible to save you from surprise several hundred dollar phone bills when you return.

Should I Get a Smartphone?

A recent study has shown there are now more smartphone users in the US than basic phone users. That means that now more than ever people are using their phones for more than just making calls, but is a smartphone right for you? Even if you easily feel overwhelmed by technology or don't think you'd use all the functions, it's still easy to feel the pressure from friends and family to "get with the times" and buy a smartphone.

First of all, what makes smartphones "smart?" Generally speaking, a smartphone is a handheld device that can make calls and run programs like a computer. This means that on the same device that you call your friends with you can write an email, play a game, check the weather, and almost anything else you can imagine. If this sounds like something you'd be interested in, you might be a candidate for buying a smartphone. On the other hand, there are plenty of people who aren't interested in doing anything besides talking on their phone, and if that sounds like you, a smartphone might be unnecessary.

The other major consideration when contemplating getting a smart phone is your budget. Many smart phones nowadays are free or close to when you sign up for a contract. If you don't want to sign up for a contract, many smartphones will increase in price since the cell phone provider will not help subsidize the cost of the phone then. Either way, you want to make sure you look at the cost of adding data to your cell phone plan. Smartphones access the Internet often, and if you don't have an adequate data plan your cell phone bill could go sky high. Check with your cell phone carrier to see which plans and options they offer, and look at others available in your area as well to get a good competitive solution for you.

Practical Tip of the Day:
When in doubt, try them out! Head down to a store you can try smartphones out at and play around on them. See if you can easily figure out how to do all the things you'd want it to do, and make sure it "feels right" to you. There are a plethora of smartphones on the market now, and each one is slightly different. Picking out a smartphone is like picking out a car- make sure you read reviews, ask your friends and family, and do your research before spending your hard-earned money on a new phone.

Special Edition: What is CISPA?

Today Congress passed bill H.R. 3523, even while President Obama has promised to veto it. Being called the "Son-of-SOPA," H.R. 3523 is the new-big-and-scary-Internet-bill. H.R. 3523, AKA the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA for short) is remarkably like SOPA, but has some key differences.


While both bills would negatively affect the Internet and America's culture as a whole, CISPA focuses more on personal information and your ISP (Internet Service Provider). In short, the bill would allow your ISP (the company you pay to access the Internet) to monitor everything you do on the Internet, without your knowing, consent, or court order. Why would they do that? The bill says it would be to look for "potential threats" it would then report to the government. One of the criticisms of this is that the language is vague in what it is considered a threat. Another is that it would mean that everything you do, every blog you read, every email you read or send, every Facebook post, every picture on the Internet will be monitored and scanned to see if it mentions any trigger words.

Once your ISP knows what you're doing online, they can then share that information- including all your personal information as well like your name and address with other ISPs and the government. There is no way to opt out of this, and the ISPs will be granted immunity from privacy lawsuits. This law will supersede any and all privacy agreements you make with the ISP or any websites you visit.

Practical Tip of the Day:
Even though the bill has passed the House, it still has to pass the Senate and not be veto'ed by the President. You can find your elected officials by your zip code on this website, and can contact them in whichever means is most convenient for you. You can also see how your representative voted on this webpage.

What are Internet Pirates?

Pirates of yore would sail around the world, fighting, drinking, stealing, and in general being bad people. There are still pirates today, and while some are still naval-based, others are no different than the person next to you in the grocery store. Internet pirates don't have to leave the house, and some have never even been on a boat.

"Internet pirate" is a general term for anyone who acquires and/or shares other people's works online. The most commonly pirated types of works are TV shows, movies, and music. In the late 90's, Napster became very common, and people were sharing and downloading music as often as they checked their email. Some people didn't even know what they were doing was illegal. As access to the Internet became faster, eventually people began sharing videos, though at this point Napster had been all but shut down. People simply moved on to the next file-sharing site.

While downloading copyrighted material off the internet is illegal, it is doubtful that the FBI will be knocking down your door to take your computer and lock you up. What is most common for the internet pirate who's been caught is to receive a letter in the mail asking them to pay some large sum of money to make up for perceived lost revenue for the companies who's material you've downloaded. This can be more than a little startling for people who receive these letters, as often they're young people or unwitting parents of teenagers. Sometimes these letters even go to people who haven't pirated anything, but people who left their wireless network unprotected, and a neighbor has used their network instead.

Practical Tip of the Day:
If you use a wireless router (if you do not need to plug your internet into your computer), make sure it has a secure password on it. If you leave your wireless network with either no password, or a simple password ("admin", "abc123" or "password") you leave yourself open for people to use your internet to do whatever they want with. While receiving letters to pay for music you didn't steal is on the mild end, there have also been stories of elderly people and families being accused of things as serious as sharing child pornography because someone was using their network unbeknownst to them.

What is Cloud Storage?

It seems everything nowadays offers cloud storage, a place you can keep things up in... the cloud? What is "the cloud", what kind of things go into it, and how does it work? Cloud storage has been around for a long time, but it's seen a surge in popularity in recent years. (Note: This is not a full, technical explanation. This blog, and the articles within, serve to give a "normal person's" understanding of technical topics.)

When people talk about "the cloud" they are generally speaking about servers held by a particular company. A server is a physical computer that serves only one purpose- the kind we'll be discussing are storage servers, and their job is to hold, transfer, and move data and information around. When you put something up in "the cloud" you're sending the file over the Internet, and onto one of these servers. Once it's there, you can access it from any computer you want using the same website you used to put it up. That's it! Cloud storage in a nutshell.

Sometimes cloud storage is known as a "drop box", which I find is a lot less vague. Cloud storage is a lot like your own personal locker on the Internet, where you can access it wherever and whenever you'd like. How big your "locker" is depends on what the company offering it to you has allotted. Sometimes they're small, just big enough for a picture of two, or sometimes they're larger, allowing you to share whole movies with your friends and family.

Practical Tip of the Day:
Cloud storage can be used as a good way to back up your most important files from a "meteor falling on my house" sort of emergency, but may not be a good primary source of backup, especially if you ware using a cloud storage company that also offers file transfers (as many do). A good, recent example of this is a company called MegaUpload. It was taken offline by the government for being a place people would share copyrighted material like movies and music. Unfortunately, there were also lots of people who were using it for legitimate purposes like sharing important business files or storing person files like backups, photos, etc. At this point in time, they are still unable to access any of their files.

How Do I Know if a Webpage is Secure?

Ever been ready to fill out a form online and then pause, wondering who's actually getting your information? Most websites are public, and the information you share on them is unsecured, meaning people other than the intended recipient may be able to access it. How can you be sure if a website's form (the part you fill in) is secure or not?

Look up at your URL bar. The URL bar is where a website's address is displayed on your web browser's window. The text inside usually starts with "http://" See it? Now, go to a website where you need to type in your personal information like a bank's webpage. It's ok, I'll wait. Did you see it? The difference? The URL (URL is the technical name for a website's address) didn't say "http://", it said "https://" The little "s" makes all the difference! S stands for "secure".

When a website's address has that S at the end of "HTTP" it means that that website has special measures in place specifically to ensure that the information you type in to that webpage goes directly to them, and does so in a secure, safe way. While I'll spare you the techno-babble of the "how," just make sure you're more aware of the websites you visit, and their security status.

Practical Tip of the Day:
If, instead of outsiders, you're more concerned with people who share your computer getting your information, consider using your web browser's private browsing settings. Generally called things like "Private Browsing" or "Incognito Mode" (these are examples for Safari and Chrome respectively,) these modes allow you to browse the web without the history being recorded, cookies being saved, and various other tracking methods disabled.

What is a Computer Virus?

They're there. Lurking in your inbox, behind that photo attachment, inside that program- the fearsome computer virus! Viruses in the physical world are microbes that are self-replicating. Viruses in the digital world are small programs that are self-replicating. A virus in your computer takes advantages of weaknesses in your security in much the same way a real virus takes advantage of weaknesses in your immune system.

A virus can do anything, or even nothing. Some sit there doing nothing but slowing down your computer, some will corrupt your data, others will take over your computer for someone else's use. Regardless of what it does, it's not a computer virus unless it self-replicates, meaning it makes a copy of itself and sends it on to another computer. I've compiled a small glossary of commonly used and misused terms related to this topic:

• Virus- A program that self-replicates (typically) through computer programs and usually does harm to your computer.
• Trojan- A program that claims to be one kind of file (like a game or music file), but is actually doing harm.
• Worm- A program that self-replicates through a computer network, not through programs. Usually does not harm the network itself.
• Adware- A program that pops up advertisements even when you are not connected to the internet.
• Spyware- A program that spies on you, reporting your activity to an outside source without your consent.
• Malware- A program that does bad things. This is a general name for all of the above terms.
• Phishing- An attempt- usually via email or webpage- to trick you into giving your information to a fraudulent source.

The last one, phishing, usually isn't a program at all, and thus is one of the most dangerous ones since there is no program to keep you from giving your own information away. One of the most common tricks is an email that appears to be from your bank saying your password has expired and needs to be changed. It then links to you what looks like your bank's webpage, and then asks for your log in, old password and new password. Once you hit submit, your banking ID and password is now available to whoever sent that email.

Practical Tip of the Day:
If you do ever receive an email from your bank asking for you to log in, do not follow the attached links, but rather navigate to the bank site as you normally would and log in from there. This keeps you from being navigated to a fraudulent site. Be suspicious of anything that asks for personal information of any kind. Most companies have a strict policy of not asking for log-in or personal information via email. If in doubt, call the company to verify the email.

Should I Get The New iPad?

Yesterday Apple announced the third generation of the iPad. Immediately, people began asking whether they should get it or not. Here's a quick breakdown of the new/improved features:

Screen- Higher resolution. This means your pictures, movies and even your webpages and books will look crisper and sharper.

Processor- They've used a quad-core graphics processor. This means this iPad is significantly faster than the previous version. This primarily comes across when running applications.

4G- Certain models of the iPad can use a cell phone carrier's 4G network. This means that you can access the Internet when you're not in a wireless hotspot, and if you're in an area with 4G your webpages, YouTube videos, etc. will load faster.

Camera- They've increased the quality of the camera so now it can take 5 megapixel pictures (pretty good), and record HD video.

Now, does all of this add up to needing a new iPad? If you only use your iPad for checking your email and occasionally playing games, probably not. If you've been thinking about getting an iPad, or you have a tablet that's too slow or doesn't meet your needs I'd recommend taking a look at them.
Practical Tip of the Day:
If you aren't one of the people who feels the need to have the newest product all the time, you can save quite a bit of money by buying the previous generation (aka version) of a product. Often times companies who sell the product will put the older versions on sale, and individual people put their used products on sale on websites like eBay and Craigslist. Buyer beware on purchasing from individuals though- "good condition" is subjective and may mean different things for the seller and buyer.

What Are Cookies?

In addition to small, delicious desserts, if someone's talking about cookies, they could mean internet cookies. It's very common for even web-savvy people to be slightly confused about what cookies do and what they're for. Some people have come to fear internet cookies, deleting them every chance they get.

So what exactly is a cookie as it relates to the internet? In the simplest of terms, when your computer visits a webpage, the webpages gives your computer a cookie, which it stores on your hard drive. When your computer visits that webpage again, it shows the website the cookie, and the webpage "recognizes" you. Think of it as a small badge or ID card the website reads.

If you've ever visited a website twice, and it's remembered your log in information or your automatically logged you in that's because of a cookie. When I log in to my Google account, it automatically knows my account, password, name, preferences, and lots of other things. That's because I have a cookie on my computer that has this information on it. A cookie is simply a small text file like "ID=JaneSmith Password=2Cute4You!"

A lot of people think that cookies can let viruses in to their computers, or let hackers get their personal information, but that's not true. A cookie saved on your computer is the same as any other text document with words on it. The worst thing a cookie can do is go bad.

If you have a technology question you'd like answered, comment on this post or send me an email. Reader submitted questions are the best ones!

Practical Tip of the Day:
If your web browser is acting slow or funny, you can try deleting your cookies. Sometimes something happens to internet cookies and they just "go bad". All web browsers have options for deleting cookies, usually in the settings. Once you delete your cookies, you'll notice you'll need to log in again to all the websites that normally remembered you, and maybe fill in forms by hand again. (Some website cookies remember things like your home address if you enter it into a form on the page.)

Which Web Browser Should I Use?

Uh oh. I can already feel the scrutinizing eyes upon me! People nowadays are so attached to their web browser of choice that some will argue their point more heatedly about this topic than their political views. For some, their choice of web browser IS a political view, but I'm getting ahead of myself. First of all, what is a web browser?

If you read my article about "What is the Internet?" you may alread be familiar with the term "web browser" as I briefly mentioned them in the PTD (Practical Tip of the Day). In short, a web browser is the program in your computer (or any other electronic device that lets you surf the web) that communicates with the Internet.

Some of the most popular web browsers used right now are Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome and Safari. These four programs are all made by different companies and all do the same thing only slightly differently. When asked which web browser is "the best" I usually draw similarities between web browsers and cars. If you have four sedans lined up, and had a dozen people test them all, it would be unlikely that all twelve would pick the same car as "the best." Personal preference comes into play just as much with web browsers as it does cars.

For some, they want the fastest. Others, the safest. Still others prefer ease of use or maybe they just want to stick with what they've always used. I'm not going to go into which web browser wins in these individual catagories because A) Web browsers are upgraded so frequently that my information would become out of date very quickly and B) Some of these catagories are very difficult to quantify so it's difficult to rate. What I might consider a difficult browser to understand might be simple to someone else or vice versa for example.

Fortunately, if you do want to "shop around" for web browsers there are a plethora of people who do do reviews and rate them. A simple google search for "web browser reviews" should give you plenty of resources. The other nice thing is that most web browsers are available for download for free so you can try them out without paying anything. What do you have to loose? Read around, try them out, and you'll be sure to find one that works perfect for you!

Practical Tip of the Day:
Most web browsers have two areas to type things in towards the top of the window. One is called the "URL field" (don't worry about what URL stands for right now), and the other is the "search field". If you know exactly what webpage you want to go to, you will type in it's name into the (generally longer) URL field. This is where you'd type an address typically starting with "www". If you don't know exactly where you want to go, or you need to find the answer to a question, you'd type it into the search field. Think of this as the yellow/white pages of the Internet. It'll show you all the webpages it finds that match what you typed into the search field.

Who is Anonymous?

You may have seen their iconic images, the suit with no head, the Guy Fawkes mask, or you may have even read their slogan before:

"We are Anonymous. We are Legion. We do not forgive. We do not forget. Expect us."

If you watch or read the news you've probably heard of this mysterious collective, but exactly who is Anonymous and what are they about?

In the simplist of terms, they are a loose-knit collective of Internet activists. They have no leader, they have no headquarters, and yet they are one of the most effective groups of individuals on the Internet. Their hobbies are:

• Civil disobediance
• Punishing racism
• Exposing Internet predators/ child pornographers
• Defending freedom of speech
• Preventing Internet censorship
• Punishing abuses of power
• Sharing information
• Long walks on the beach

Okay, I have no idea if they like the beach or not, but they do also like to have fun while being Internet vigilantees. Their MO is usually DDoS attacks and defacing websites, but they've also been known to take down phone systems, send black-faxes and just about anything else they think will get their point across.

What they aren't:

• Anarchists
• "Script kiddies" (Young, inexperienced hackers)
• Terrorists

Just the other day, they were bringing down government websites in Greece alongside the riots happening in Athens while also helping to restore access to the Internet to people in Syria and Iran when their government shut it down. The day before that they shut down the CIA's website (not it's internal sites, just the sites available to the public), and the week before that they were attacking members of the Neo-nazi party. A month earlier they brought down over a dozen major websites (government and corporate) and kept them down for hours because the website MegaUpload was taken down and it's leaders arrested for piracy. Busy, aren't they?

It would take far too long for me to describe everything they've done, and there are a plethora of websites that have documented that already, but I just wanted to let everyone know exactly who/what they are and what they really do since major media outlets seem to switch between ignoring them, belittling them, and making them seem like terrorists. Several people have called them "bored teens", but after seeing what they do and why they do it I must ask: Does age really make someone's actions more valid than anothers? It would seem to me that this collective of people has been more effective at protecting the rights and liberties of people world-wide than all the politicians put together.

Special Edition: What is ACTA?

When I checked Twitter this morning I was overwhelmed with all the messages about ACTA protests around Europe today. Especially since most of these countries are experiencing record snow fall this year, it makes you wonder what in the world could bring out thousands in Berlin, Amsterdam, and London just to name a few major cities. So, without further ado, what is ACTA?

ACTA stands for the "Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement" and is an international trade agreement between the US, EU, Japan, Canada, Australia, Mexico and several other countries. The intention of the agreement is to help crack down on international copyright infringement and counterfeited goods. We've all seen counterfeit designer hand bags and illegal "generic" versions of medicine (the primary target of this agreement), but while this agreement hopes to taper if not end that, it would also have wide-reaching effects on the Internet as well.

If this sounds at all familiar, you might be remembering the recent protests about SOPA/PIPA. ACTA will have all the things bad about those, some even worse things, and put them on an international scale. (Click here for a refresher on SOPA/PIPA) It would additionally hold your Internet service provider (ISP) responsible for your actions on the Internet as it pertains to copyright infringement. Critics of the agreement make the point that if this becomes the case it will encourage ISPs to watch what you do on the Internet ala "Big Brother".

It would also make it extremely difficult to give things away for free on the Internet anymore. If someone makes something, let's say a web browser like the one you're using to read this right now, and they try to give it away for free on the Internet, their ISP will be forbidden from hosting it (hosting means letting it reside on a website they have) because it could access copyrighted material. Yes, if you make something that can see, touch, show or in any way access anything copyrighted, you cannot give it away for free!

The biggest problems people have with ACTA though, is that politicians are circumventing the normal due process of their countries in signing and supporting this without any voting input of their people, and that the details of ACTA are being kept secret from the people, being discussed and written in secret closed-door meetings. (No, really. They're secret, and they do not let in any press or lobbyists that are against this agreement.) This is seen as a major threat to Democracy everywhere, and has angered and outraged not only the Internet community, but anyone who cares about politics being of the people for the people, not of the corporations for the corporations.

Practical Tip of the Day:
I guess this isn't so much a tip as it is a "heads up". The Internet activist group Anonymous is planning it's own version of a protest today, so many government and large media company websites will likely be brought down today for large swaths of time. The group tends to use a version of a DDoS attack, and sometimes recruits new attackers by posting and sharing a link that is generally shortened as a "pastebin" address. So, if you do not wish to participate in cyber-attacks on government websites (which can get you jail time) I recommend avoiding any website links that start with "pastebin".

What is Email?

People have been sending each other messages since history began. At first they were physical signs, then verbal, eventually written, and now electronic. In a time when most people only buy stamps to send out holiday cards or bills, email has become ubiquitous. While a lot of people know how to send and read email, not everyone understands exactly what email is.

It is, in the most basic sense, a letter that is typed and sent over the internet (see previous post) instead of sent via traditional mail. That's it! Only not. Email is popular because of it's speed. Typically, once an email is sent it only takes a few seconds for the recipient to receive it. Just like how you can send pictures with a traditional letter, you can also send pictures in emails, but you can also send other things like a website address to a news article or a cute video.

Here's a small crash course on email terminology:

Inbox- This is where you receive your new messages. This is typically the first thing you see when you go to your email. Think of this like your physical mailbox. You open it to check if you have any messages.

Outbox- This is where messages are kept while they are waiting to be sent. Think of this as your mailbox with your outgoing letters in it- flag up- waiting for the mailman. Mail is only kept their briefly.

Sent- This is where messages you've sent are kept. This has no good analogy to physical mail unless you're the kind of person that photocopies all the messages they send out before they actually mail it.

Spam (aka Junk)- What does canned meat have to do with unwanted messages? I'll spare you the history lesson (it's actually much more boring than you'd think), and just let you know that it's the electronic equivalent to junk mail that typically fills up your physical mailbox.

Practical Tip of the Day:
Often times, new computer users ask "Where should I get my email from?" Just like picking your child's daycare or your TV service provider, this is an important decission since your email address is like your house address- it's where people can get ahold of you- so you don't want to change it too often. There's no clear-cut answer to which email service is best, though.

More and more people are using Google's free Gmail addresses, but often your internet provider (the company that set up the box for you to get internet) gives you a free address as well. I usually tell people to ask their friends which they use, just like where they get their car serviced or who their doctor is, personal recommendations are often the best way to find a good solution for you.

What is the Internet?

Last week I had a special edition about SOPA, which mainly affects the Internet. Now, that was a by-popular-demand topic, but I thought we should start small for those of us who aren't so tech savvy. After all, it's hard to care about the politics involved with a topic if you don't understand the topic, right?

The word "internet" basically means "interconnected networks", but that doesn't really help too much does it? The way I usually explain the Internet to people is by visualization. You know me. I know my mother. My mother knows her friend Debbie. Debbie knows her mechanic Bob.We've now drawn a line from you to a car mechanic in South Florida. Now, let's say that instead of each of us knowing just one person, we know all the people we actually know, including coworkers, old classmates, neighbors, family, friends, etc. There's probably a lot of overlap of people-who-know-people-we-both-know now. We often know so many people we often classify them as our different "networks" of people, right?

The Internet is very much like that visualization. It's a collection of computers and computers-linked-to-computers (aka networks) that spans over the entire world- not so different than the telephone lines we're all familiar with. The only difference is that instead of carrying just audio, the internet can carrying those magical ones and zeros we talked about before that can turn into pictures, videos, audio, pages on a screen or anything else. It's a bit overwhelming, isn't it?

Practical Tip of the Day:
The icon you click on to get to the Internet is called your "web browser". There are lots of different web browsers out there, and while they all do the same basic thing, they all do it a little differently- just like different models of cars. So if someone ever asks what web browser (or sometimes simply called "browser") you use, you can now look at the icon and know exactly what they're talking about!

Special Edition: What is SOPA?

When you can count your page views on one hand, and you get three people asking for a particular topic, you're inclined to oblige. That being said, today's topic is bit more complex than I'd normally cover, but I feel fairly confident that I can explain this in a way everyone can understand.

SOPA- A.K.A. the "Stop Online Piracy Act" hopes to spur innovation and entrepenuership by preventing people from steal other people's copyrighted material. Sounds good, right? I'm a fan of new things, and I'm not a fan of people stealing things. The problem lies in how they do it though.

SOPA's original form (by the time this is read it's possible that it's been amended, so bear that in mind) contains language that would allow the US Department of Justice or the copyright holder to seek court orders that would:

A. Stop payment to the websites from any or all advertisements
B. Shut the website down temporarily.
C. Bar search engines from linking to the website.
D. All of the above.

Still doesn't sound too bad though, right? If a website is redistributing stolen goods it deserves to be shut down and punished, right? Well, here's the catch- the wording allows those things to happen not only to websites that knowingly do that, but also to websites who are unaware of it, or aren't actually doing anything wrong at all! Now, at this point you might be inclined to consider this "spin" by the liberal media or whatnot, but hang in there with me.

It does actually state that the above penalties can be enforced as soon as the alleged victim issues a complaint regardless of whether or not the claim turns out to be true. This would mean that YouTube would be down while it's under investigation if a teenage girl singing a Brittany Spears song counts as copyright infringement. It would mean that if ever someone posted a picture of a Coke can on Facebook it would also go down. Google would most likely cease to exist, or, if it did, it would be censored from every webpage that may-or-may-not potentially have copyrighted material.

If you hear your techie friends ranting about SOPA, you now know why. It is seen in the tech community as the largest threat to Internet censorship yet, and the Internet is the largest example of America's right to Freedom of Speech. When the Internet begins to become censored it will be viewed as the largest infringement of civil liberties yet.