Monthly Archives: September 2008

Do you know when your employer has the right to fire you?  If you’re like most workers in the United States, the answer is "whenever they want to."  Most employment contracts will state that the employment is "at wil.l"  This means that whenever the employer wants to let you go, they can.  This can make for a lot of uncertainty, especially in tough economic times.  The truth is, only a few employment contracts state that the employer has to have …

The more time people spend on computers, the more hazards are out there.  Viruses, malware, spyware and cookies are just some of the things that can download themselves to your computer with little or no warning.  You might think that this is only a risk for people who download files and visit questionable sites, but it can happen to anyone regardless of the way they spend their time online. I was trying to find a replacement for a beloved, well-worn, …

I once worked in a law library where someone was downloading porn and filling up the hard drives of every computer on the library floor with it.  The login identification belonged to a school professor who faced some tough questions until they caught the real culprit—a night janitor who spent his time surfing instead of cleaning with a stolen login.  Can you say “fired?”  Actually there are two valuable lessons here.  First, don’t use a work computer for personal reasons.  …

Predators are everywhere in society.  Teachers, neighbors, relatives, and others can pose threats that seem hard to believe.  As parents are becoming more aware of the people who come into contact with their children, they need to make sure they also know who their kids are coming into contact with online. Social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace are perfect for predators.  Many kids allow people they don’t even know to access their information.  Unfortunately, what most people don’t realize …

Computer safety, and particularly internet safety, is a huge issue that only becomes more complex as more and more people do more online.  There are several dangers that need to be avoided and I’ll be talking about these in the next several posts.  The first one is identity theft. The more we shop online or join social networking sites, the more we put our personal information out there.  Details as seemingly harmless as birth date or high school attended can …