Blogger: Safe and Sound?
Running a blog or a website of any kind can be fun – and so it should be. Writing about stuff you care about, maybe producing videos and taking pictures of things you like to look at, and then sharing them with the world can be, and should be a very positive experience.
There are a few things you should think about, however, since not all those people who visit your blog or site are your friends. Some of them might even be your enemies, even if you’ve never met them or heard of them. So what should you be doing?
[box type=”red”]Are you doing what needs to be done in order to stay safe online? Being a blogger can be fun, but make sure you’re wearing your helmet![/box]
Information is Power
Having information is one thing. Being able to use it is another, and actually using it is a third. When you throw a little ill will into the mix, then the results can be hard to handle. Someone who has information and is willing to use it is one thing, and not at all necessarily a bad thing, but if that person is out to harm you or holds a grudge of some kind, then information is your worst enemy.
People have known for centuries that information and knowledge is power, and the more of it you have, the more powerful you’ll become. If you know how to use that information to your advantage. What you need to do is control your online information – don’t be a stranger, but make sure that the information that is available is the information you decide should be available.
Do the Baiter Thing!
The what now? The baiter thing. Okay, let’s back up a little and look at what this is.
“Baiters” are specialists on internet scams, fighting them in their own way and with a variety of different tools. The first thing you learn as a baiter, however, is to controll all information. Absolutely every piece of information that the internet scammer receives must be under the baiter’s control.
Now, a baiter’s job is basically to lie to the scammer, to make sure that the other victims of the person or persons are neglected and get away. Provide the scammer with a better target, an easier and more profitable one than the ones he’s got going already. Controlling the information to make sure that the scammer stays on the hook and does the baiter’s bidding (eventually) is paramount, all important and absolutely the most important thing both to make sure that the “bait” goes as planned, and to make sure that the scammer doesn’t find out who the baiter is.
[box type=”yellow”]Baiting can be very dangerous, and should only be done when properly trained. Baiters have been killed after being exposed to scammers! Check out 419eater.com to learn more about baiting and baiters! [/box]
The first thing that a baiter learns is to protect his or her identity. In the case of baiters, that means being absolutely anonymous. Baiters learn to use proxy servers, free email accounts, IP stripping programs for emails and chat programs. Some go even further…but there’s no need to spill all their secrets – that’s not what this is about. Everything they do centers on controlling information in order to acheive their goal, namely put a scammer out of business. While you probably don’t need to put scammers out of business, you do need to control your information.
Information Control
It’s easy to say that you need to control your information, and it’s a whole other ballgame to try and actually do it. That’s why we’re going to see if we can make it a little easier, by writing you up a little checklist of information do’s and don’ts. So here it is.
- Decide – what information you want out there. It might be just your name and business phone number, or it might be that you want your visitors to have full access to your Facebook account. Whatever the case, you need to decide which route to take (by the way, we don’t encourage full public access to your Facebook account…).
- Raise the walls. To the height that you want them. If you decide that your business info is all that people need to know, then you have to make some more decisions. Whatever the level you go for, make sure you control the information by having properly tall walls around you.
- Start deleting. Pretty self-explanatory. Remove information that you think might be exploited from your webpage. After a while, that info will start to disappear from Google caches and the likes as well. This isn’t an overnight thing.
- Check your local listings. Ask to be removed from directories you don’t want to be listed in. This goes whether the info is supposed to be out there or not. Some directories just don’t do you any favors.
- Remember! The only info that really should be publically accessible is the information you would be prepared to shell out to a stranger you’re passing on the street. That, in fact, isn’t really all that much, is it?
Next article: Steps To Control Your Information
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