Is your online data really secure? As we increasingly use the Internet to manage personal information, the stakes are getting higher for ensuring you have a strong enough password.

A new study from the Georgia Institute of Technology, reported by CNN, has found that the safest passwords should contain at least 12 characters. At 12 characters, according to researchers, it would take hackers 17,134 years to crack you data.

“The researchers recommend 12-character passwords — as opposed to those with 11 or, say, 13 characters — because that number strikes a balance between ‘convenience and security.’”

What’s even better than 12-character passwords? Full sentences. While this isn’t an option for many sites yet, researchers claim full sentence passwords are the best way for users to protect their online data from hackers of all types.

What do you do to increase security for your online accounts? Have you had any problems with security? Let us know in the comments.

Connecticut’s Attorney General Richard Blumenthal is leading attorney generals from 37 other states in an investigation of Google’s Street View software.

Blumenthanl says in a release, “Google’s responses continue to generate more questions than they answer. Our powerful multistate coalition — 38 states so far — is demanding that Google reveal whether it tested Street View software, which should have revealed that it was collecting payload data.”

The release does not disclose all 38 states participating because some state laws prevent disclosure of investigations. Blumenthal, however, says his office is seeking permission to disclose the other states. Those listed include:

Connecticut
Florida
Illinois
Kansas
Kentucky
Massachusetts
Mississippi
Missouri
Montana
Nebraska
New York
North Carolina
Oregon
Rhode Island
Texas
Vermont
Washington

The issue of consumer privacy is important to Wired Wisconsin, and we applaud those states that are working to ensure people’s privacy is protected. Why has Wisconsin Attorney General JB Van Hollen not signed on to participate in the investigation? Technology growth is key to developing Wisconsin’s economy and is also dependent on consumer’s trust that their private content is being protected.  Committing to this investigation would be a key step in sending the message to Wisconsin residents that their privacy is valued and protected.

Imagine the frustration you feel when the internet is down or you don’t have the right plugin to watch a video. Losing that immediate access to information can be a major hindrance in this hyper-connected time. People with disabilities often experience similar frustration with the barriers they face accessing technology. In an effort to help overcome these obstacles, The National Broadband Plan (NBP), a division of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), is seeking comments to help launch their new Accessibility and Innovation Forum in July.

The Forum’s goal is to promote innovative solutions to broadband and other communications technology barriers by encouraging input with ongoing online efforts, workshops, field events, and facilitated dialogues.  Currently they’re seeking input on launching an online clearinghouse.  To provide feedback, or to find out more about their future initiatives, visit their blog.

Wired Wisconsin partner IndependenceFirst is another great resource for people with disabilities who want to find out more about improving their access to technology. The organization’s mission is to “effectively facilitate empowerment of individuals with disabilities.” As part of this mission they have developed an Assistive Technology Program.  They provide information about products and services about assistive technology and adaptive equipment that help people with disabilities find technology that works for them.

Ensuring that everyone has reliable and convenient access to technology is essential. Both the FCC and IndependenceFirst are doing great things to ensure technology is accessible to all demographics.

So you’re on Facebook and you’re already careful about what information you post, but is that enough anymore?  Facebook recently announced that it would be providing user’s information to third party websites.  This would be done with cookies from Facebook.  If users are highly informed and proactive they can remove third-parties’ access to their profiles, but if they don’t, their information will automatically be shared.  Although Facebook is a free site, that doesn’t mean it comes without costs.  Many users don’t think twice about the rights they give up when they click “I agree” under Privacy Policy. 

So what info exactly will these sites have access to?  “You and your friends’ names, profile pictures, gender, connections, and any content shared using the ‘Everyone’ privacy setting,” says the new Facebook privacy policy.  While it’s helpful that users can opt out of this new setting, it is worrisome that pictures and other personal information will be shared without explicit consent.  We’ve said it before but it bears repeating, consumer privacy controls in the form of future-thinking technology policies  have to develop alongside new advancements of social media technology.

Link: http://techcrunch.com/2010/03/26/facebooks-plan-to-automatically-share-your-data-with-sites-you-never-signed-up-for/

This week, March 7-13, marks the 12th Annual National Consumer Protection Week (NCPW). The purpose of this week is to encourage consumers to be more knowledgeable about what their law-protected rights are as consumers.

Digging a little deeper into the consumer.gov website, I found many useful tools consumers should use to educate themselves on a variety of issues such as ways to avoid identity theft and how to safely get out of debt.

President Obama and Congress have been working hard to ensure the proper consumer protections are in place and passing the new credit card laws were a good step. I don’t know about you, but seeing how long it would take to pay off my credit card by only making the minimum payment really put things into perspective.

All the new technologies enabled by the advent of the internet (did you know the internet was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize last year?) are great, but it’s important that we have policies that reflect the ever-changing tech landscape AND continue to provide consumer protections like proper oversight over things like billing, sales, consumer fraud, and collections.

So educate yourself friends!

The Wisconsin Department of Agriculture Trade and Consumer Protection and the Wisconsin Department of Financial Institutions also have great websites full of free resources for consumers looking to get a better handle on their financial situation as well as protect themselves from scams.

http://www.wdfi.org
http://www.datcp.state.wi.us/core/consumerprotection/consumerprotection.jsp
http://consumer.gov/ncpw/

I’m a bus rider and when I’m waiting outside in the frigid Wisconsin cold, I would love to know how soon the next bus will get there.  Is it running late or right on time?  Well, Professor Jingnesh Patel at The University of Wisconsin-Madison has developed technology for smart phones and laptops that can provide real-time information on, not only the location of buses, but much more.

As this UW article describes, Patel’s innovation can help with serious needs such as helping doctor’s locate exactly were an organ donation is.  However, it can also simply increase convenience by being able to locate the nearest restaurants and even provide e-coupons for those restaurants.

This technology also provides the ability to locate other people, but the great thing is it does provide for consumer privacy.  In the article Patel states that consumer privacy is “a major concern” so “built-in privacy options are part of the DNA of the system’s architecture.”  We applaud this dedication to consumer privacy because at Wired Wisconsin we firmly believe that as new technology develops privacy controls must be created simultaneously.

Patel’s location awareness technology is just one more development that shows how technology enhances our lives.  As new technologies keep getting smarter and smarter, quickly becoming a part of our personal and professional lives, we soon begin to wonder, how did we ever live without this?

Can a person still share personal information with friends but keep it private from professional contacts and strangers in the age of the internet?  Mark Zuckerberg, founder of Facebook, the most popular social networking site, doesn’t seem to think so.

In an interview with TechCrunch.com, Zuckerberg argues that users offering more personal info is the new “social norm” and that loosening privacy regulations is just a way to “reflect what the current social norms are.”

With blogs and social networking sites becoming a part of everyone’s daily life, new privacy challenges are evolving.   

One common-sense way to protect one’s privacy is just to refrain from sharing information publically that is sensitive.  Personally I use the grandma-boss test.  Would you be embarrassed if your grandma or boss saw what you posted?

However, even though it’s smart to be cautious about the public information you share, at Wired Wisconsin we believe that developers and providers must respect consumer privacy.  Privacy protections must develop alongside the progress of the internet which is why future thinking technology policies are essential.

A new bill has been introduced in the Wisconsin State Legislature that would undo the progress our state has made in expanding consumer access to video and internet options, improving infrastructure, and creating new jobs.

The “Cable Consumer Repair Bill” was introduced by Rep. Hebl on Tuesday, and seeks to overturn the system of cable competition that was set up under the Video Competition Act (VCA), which was enacted in January of 2008.

Even though the VCA was passed less than two years ago, we’ve already seen a great deal of progress under the bill.  It’s generated real competition, helped improve prices, created hundreds of new jobs, spurred millions in investment in infrastructure, improved customer service and expanded consumers’ access to new video providers, services and features all across the state.

But this new bill would make it significantly harder for new companies to enter the marketplace while simultaneously discouraging future investment in our state.

Especially in these tough economic times, it’s vital to our state’s future that we do everything in our power to encourage infrastructure development in high-tech industries like video and internet services.

We need to let the current bill continue to do its job, rather than put the economic benefits we’ve seen in jeopardy.

Thad Nation, Executive Director

Wired Wisconsin

Written by Liza Barry-Kessler, Privacy Counsel, LLC

Are your employees blogging? Tweeting? Using FaceBook, LinkedIn, or BlogHer? Do you have any idea?

If you don’t know, and your company or organization is large enough that you can’t call out “Hey? Are you using any of these things?” and get a verbal answer from everyone, then the answer is probably yes.

And they might not be using it in a way that reflects well on their workplace. For example, the now-Internet-famous Lindsay and her former boss both used Facebook in a way that few employers would find acceptable.

In that example, the boss clearly knew who was posting disparaging remarks about him and about the workplace.

What if she’d been complaining anonymously? On Twitter, there is no identity verification, or even any particular motive for using a personally identifiable username. There, so many people complain that they hate their jobs that someone created a feed to capture all of the “I hate my job” tweets in real time.

I tried to find anonymous complaints, but nearly all of them appeared to be either fully identifiable — first and last name — or partially identifiable — first name + profile photo or location. Some even named the employer!

Still, it isn’t hard to imagine a de-identified or anonymous complaint stream in a social network. Companies and organizations should consider instructing employees not to post disparaging comments about their workplaces anywhere that is generally viewable by members of the public.

These kinds of posts and comments seem like the same kind of “venting when you get home from work” comments that many people engage in, but it is in fact, completely different.

Your competitors can’t show potential clients or recruits a transcript of your employees’ dinner table discussions. Inappropriate verbal comments made to an employee’s friends or family are unlikely to become evidence in a discrimination or harassment complaint. These are searchable, they last indefinitely online, and they very well may result in people losing their jobs.

And although your employees may feel anonymous while complaining about their jobs in social media settings, they need to know that they aren’t really anonymous.

If they said something actionable, you could subpoena Twitter’s records about the account, which at a minimum, include an email address. Very likely it also includes the IP address where the account was first created, or where it was most recently used.

While that isn’t necessarily a good proxy for identity, if a person is using their home computer, it should give you ISP data that could be tracked back to a specific customer account. And if that account belongs to Joe Smith at 123 Main Street, and you have an employee with that name and address, you have a pretty good idea who has been “anonymously” disparaging your company online.

Tempting as it might be, don’t fire them online. Some things really should be done the old fashioned way.

About the author

Rep. Tom Nelson’s Opinion Editorial in the Capitol Times:

You’d be hard-pressed to find someone who doesn’t agree that the Internet has revolutionized our daily lives. We can communicate faster and cheaper than ever before, get up-to-date news with the click of a mouse, and do our banking and shopping without ever leaving the couch. Whether you’re permanently attached to your Blackberry, or still haven’t quite figured out e-mail, our world is now wired, and it’s likely to stay that way.

For businesses, the proliferation of the Internet is somewhat of a double-edged sword. On the plus side, it helps reduce costs, connects customers with the specialized goods and services they want, and generally makes business transactions easier and more efficient. On the other hand, it’s nearly impossible to run a business without high-speed Internet. It doesn’t matter if your business is big or small, run out of a corporate office park or your home office — the Internet is critical for success.

Unfortunately, lack of high-speed connectivity is a serious problem that persists in communities all across Wisconsin. Because of the high cost of developing broadband infrastructure, Internet providers wait until they have a critical mass of customers before investing in an area. Urban areas reap the benefits of high-speed Internet, while small towns and rural communities are left to rely on outdated services like dial-up. It’s almost as if entrepreneurs who live in the wrong ZIP codes are doomed to fail, which is bad for business and bad for Wisconsin.

Thanks to the leadership of Wisconsin Congressman Dave Obey, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act includes $7 billion in loans and grants for the purpose of improving our nation’s broadband infrastructure. The funds will be made available to state and local governments, as well as private companies, to help make the necessary investments in broadband infrastructure. Wisconsinites should take note, however, that we are competing for funding with every other state in the nation. We must be able to make the case that Wisconsin citizens and Wisconsin businesses want and need high-speed Internet.

The Wisconsin Public Service Commission has launched a survey to help identify broadband needs in Wisconsin, so our state will be well-positioned to compete for federal funding. I urge all Wisconsin residents to visit http://psc.wi.gov, where you can share your experiences with Wisconsin’s broadband infrastructure and express your ideas about how it can be improved. If you can’t access the survey online, you can call the PSC to get a hard copy at 888-816-3831, or my office at 888-534-0005.

A fully wired Wisconsin won’t happen overnight. But the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act provides an incredible opportunity to help build Wisconsin’s broadband infrastructure. By acting now, we can ensure that no matter where they live, Wisconsinites have access to the technology that makes our world run.

Rep. Tom Nelson, D-Kaukauna, is the Assembly majority leader.