Privacy through Passwords

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This week is’  Choose’  Privacy Week. To celebrate I wanted to write a post about passwords.

First, how many of you use the same password for every site you log into? Do you have the same user name as well?

I know often times we hear IT and other computer professionals tell us to never use the same password, but in reality we are often over worked, and have more important things to do with our brain cells than memorize a bunch of silly passwords (like memorize a bunch of book titles) Right?

I used to feel the same way until I read a blog post about how easy it is to guess one’s password.’  Follow the link to see how easy your password is to hack, and then check back here for tips to make your password more secure. Read More →

Hacking

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There have been a flurry of high profile stories lately about teen hackers. There’s of course the unlocked iphone, internet porn filter, and AjaxLife-a web based client for Second Life.

In a recent article by USA Today, many teens cited learning about computers because “it is exciting and challenging” as their main motives for hacking.

While that doesn’t excuse illegal behavior, not all hacking is illegal and hacking itself often has a very negative connotation. Library consultant Linda Braun pointed out, why not consider what ‘hacking’ could be as a library program. What a great opportunity to talk about issues such as the digital millennium copyright act that George Hotz points out after unlocking the iPhone. If your library has done a similar program, share your comments. Why not approach a store like Radio Shack that also offers online classes and see if someone will come to the library and teach a program about modifying devices. Throw out a contest or a problem and ask teens to fix it. Share your best practices on the LibSuccess wiki, check out previous blog posts, add your links like Makezine to the YALSA del.icio.us page. Encourage teens to blog about their legal hacks (check out hackzine.

Posted by Kelly Czarnecki