Post by William on May 31, 2006 21:41:54 GMT -5
As of late, Britner Family Connection has come under some criticism over security matters. First, I would like to reassure you that these concerns have all been hypothetical; we have had no actual incidents to date. At the same time, "hypothetical" is not the same thing as "unfounded". To the contrary, these concerns have been quite legitimate. I asked Amber for the opportunity to speak on her behalf, and to address a few things we feel all of you should be made aware of.
Everything that follows can be summed up by these words (but please read on):
That may sound facetious, but I think it's a point we could all be reminded of from time to time. The Internet, for all the benefits it provides, has also promoted viruses, pornography, hate groups, child predators, stalking, flame wars, spam, identity theft, fraud and probably a half dozen other threats that I haven't even heard of yet.
As the administrator of Britner Family Connection, Amber will continue to field concerns and take the measures that she deems necessary to protect your interests. However, every security feature she implements diminishes the usefulness of the site to some degree, and there is simply no way to browse any site on the Internet without accepting certain risks. With this in mind, I would like to suggest that you consider the three following questions before you take part in any activity on the Internet, in this forum or elsewhere. I will answer the first one for you.
1. Am I 100% safe? The answer is no.
2. What is the perceived value of posting this message, sending this email, making this on-line purchase, etc.?
3. What is my personal threshold for risk? If the very worst happens, am I prepared to deal with it?
In regard to this last question, I would suggest that you always have a contingency plan. For instance, I only use my credit card for on-line purchases, not my debit card, knowing that if my card is used fraudulently, I can cancel it and dispute the charges. Likewise, I have two email accounts, one for people I explicitly trust and one for, well... everything else.
Also in light of this last question, I urge you to monitor the on-line activities of your children, whether on this site or anywhere else. At the risk of being redundant:
A few notes about this forum:
1. Unregistered guests (i.e. anyone at all) can no longer post to any part of the forum. They can, however, view the "Public" board, and possibly your personal profile.
2. Registered members can view and post to both the "Public" and "Members Only" boards. They can also send personal messages and view and post to the calendar. Anyone can register easily just by validating an email address. While registration takes away complete anonymity, it does not by itself mean that a registered member is your family, your friend or even a nice person.
3. The information you make available in your personal profile is at your own discretion. This information may be viewable by unregistered guests under some circumstances and most certainly will be available to other registered members. (Dates of birth have been of recent concern because they provide one piece of the puzzle for identity thieves.) Likewise, please use good judgment before posting personal information on a board or providing it to other members.
For some of you, the information in this post may be old news, but as our membership grows, we want to make sure that those who may be new to the Internet are aware of the potential risks. On the positive side, I believe that our exposure to random visitors is low-- there's little draw for anyone to visit this site unless they have an interest in the Britner family at large-- and so hopefully our likelihood of incidents is relatively low. Still, regardless of what measures we take, the people most likely to do harm are a lot smarter than any of us, and it's best that we all recognize the hazards inherent to the Internet.
Everything that follows can be summed up by these words (but please read on):
This is the Internet
That may sound facetious, but I think it's a point we could all be reminded of from time to time. The Internet, for all the benefits it provides, has also promoted viruses, pornography, hate groups, child predators, stalking, flame wars, spam, identity theft, fraud and probably a half dozen other threats that I haven't even heard of yet.
As the administrator of Britner Family Connection, Amber will continue to field concerns and take the measures that she deems necessary to protect your interests. However, every security feature she implements diminishes the usefulness of the site to some degree, and there is simply no way to browse any site on the Internet without accepting certain risks. With this in mind, I would like to suggest that you consider the three following questions before you take part in any activity on the Internet, in this forum or elsewhere. I will answer the first one for you.
1. Am I 100% safe? The answer is no.
2. What is the perceived value of posting this message, sending this email, making this on-line purchase, etc.?
3. What is my personal threshold for risk? If the very worst happens, am I prepared to deal with it?
In regard to this last question, I would suggest that you always have a contingency plan. For instance, I only use my credit card for on-line purchases, not my debit card, knowing that if my card is used fraudulently, I can cancel it and dispute the charges. Likewise, I have two email accounts, one for people I explicitly trust and one for, well... everything else.
Also in light of this last question, I urge you to monitor the on-line activities of your children, whether on this site or anywhere else. At the risk of being redundant:
This is the Internet
A few notes about this forum:
1. Unregistered guests (i.e. anyone at all) can no longer post to any part of the forum. They can, however, view the "Public" board, and possibly your personal profile.
2. Registered members can view and post to both the "Public" and "Members Only" boards. They can also send personal messages and view and post to the calendar. Anyone can register easily just by validating an email address. While registration takes away complete anonymity, it does not by itself mean that a registered member is your family, your friend or even a nice person.
3. The information you make available in your personal profile is at your own discretion. This information may be viewable by unregistered guests under some circumstances and most certainly will be available to other registered members. (Dates of birth have been of recent concern because they provide one piece of the puzzle for identity thieves.) Likewise, please use good judgment before posting personal information on a board or providing it to other members.
For some of you, the information in this post may be old news, but as our membership grows, we want to make sure that those who may be new to the Internet are aware of the potential risks. On the positive side, I believe that our exposure to random visitors is low-- there's little draw for anyone to visit this site unless they have an interest in the Britner family at large-- and so hopefully our likelihood of incidents is relatively low. Still, regardless of what measures we take, the people most likely to do harm are a lot smarter than any of us, and it's best that we all recognize the hazards inherent to the Internet.