Firefox Live Chat Support Launched

There's now a new form of help available to new and old users of the Firefox browser. It's a live chat support system, and it looks like a promising way to help beginners with the installation, use, and common problems that they may have with the browser, while at the same time giving another part of the open source community a way to contribute without having programming or more specialized skills available. As of writing this, the Firefox support site still lists the service as open and ready for questions.

If you feel you could lend a hand and have some fun at the same time, helping others out with their problems, you can find the steps here. The steps are pretty basic, although right now, I'm a little doubtful about the amount of traffic in need of help. It's in beta, so hopefully once it's officially released, the service will be better integrated into the services of Firefox.

This is just one of the many neat ideas that are constantly coming out of the open source community.

Source: Firefox Support Blog

16 Year old Murdered in "Honour Killing"

Aqsa Parvez, 16, was allegedly murdered by her father in an "honour killing". I am deeply saddened that Aqsa was not given a say in her religion and way of life, which is a constitutional right in Canada. It is such a senseless tragedy.

Privacy on the Internet

There are many people who take serious precautions in their day to day lives to secure their privacy, and keep their information out of prying eyes. While your probably careful with your paper documents, do you exercise caution with your online activities?

Search engines are powerful tools these days. A hacker with some skill can type in custom search engine strings to find insecure databases of information. Think of all the sites that you sign up for. Now think for a moment about what would happen if someone infiltrated just one of those sites. Chances are, if your like most people, you use the same password. If hackers were to obtain your password, they would have access to all your accounts! Security experts recommend using different passwords for your most important accounts, such as banking and subscriptions. This is very good advice.

As for information available about you on the web. I'm sure you've seen movies where a person says "I found all the information about you on the web." I'm not too sure how true that is, but I would like to warn you about usernames. You might think your basically anonymous on the web, but if you use the same username everywhere you go, chances are a quick search would show some very big tracks, with forums you visited, online stores you shopped at, and maybe even medical information you've divulged to others.

The internet is no longer a chaotic place, so that means you have to be. With the right tools and skills, there is lots of information available on the web, from security mistakes from the government to hacked databases of major internet companies. So remember, when your online, you don't have a complete cloak of invisibility. So take caution in information you would rather keep to yourself. With the right precautions, you can avoid your social security number and latest bank statements being plastered all over the net.

*By the way, there are many other security tips such as making longer passwords with characters in them, and not using common names that can be found in a dictionary, but I figured I would leave that stuff for a security novel and not bore you to death. And besides, that's why many websites now employ a system that will disable an account after so many guesses. So following the tips above, as well as any on the sites your signing up for, should prove secure enough. As always, remember to use proper security on your computer, such as anti-virus and spyware tools. And remember, don't follow links in your email. If you get a bank statement, type your banking site into the address bar in your browser yourself. Following a link does not ensure you've reached your intended site, even if it looks identical!