Hotmail. Google and Yahoo Emails Passwords Published on Internet

A phishing scam on Hotmail led to the publication online of 10,000 passwords and even more accounts could yet be compromised. The scam has widened now to Google and Yahoo and there could be millions of users whose personal information has been accessed.

You're more at risk for multiple accounts to be hacked or compromised if you use the same password net-wide as many people do.

Using phishing scams and mirror sites, people are often tricked into revealing their passwords. Always be sure you are on the official site and never give out personal information unless you are sure you are dealing with a verified site that you are familiar with. Changing your passwords often and using different passwords for different sites will also increase your security.

Mafia Wars - an overview

I was one of the reluctant Facebook users who didn't really find very much of interest to do there - that is, until one of my Facebook friends conned me into joining his mafia.

Mafia Wars is the most popular game on Facebook and it starts you off as a small time hood who works his way up through hard work and a show of guts and strength. Inviting your friends to join your mafia increases your likelihood of surviving and winning fights. Buying the right weapons for your mafia members is also important. It's not impossible to fend off a larger mafia if your weapons and defense are superior.

You make money and work your way up by doing "jobs". Each job requires a certain amount of "energy" points and yields a certain amount of experience points. Acquiring experience points helps you achieve new levels. Some jobs are also "loot drops" where you can acquire valuable items needed for collections and weapons that you can use to do more advanced jobs. Money you earn can be kept or stored in the bank. Putting the money in the bank will cost you a laundering fee, but carrying it around leaves you vulnerable to attack and robbery. Buying properties will help you gain an hourly income but beware, the properties can also be robbed so buy insurance on them.

When you reach level 35 you can leave New York and fly to Cuba to set up a new operation there. Mafia Wars is adding new vistas for crime in Russia and Western US.

I reached level 166 before I started to tire of MW. It doesn't take a lot of time and it's exciting to build up your mafia. I still keep leveling up by playing a few times a week, but Facebook led me into another obsession. More on that later.

Obama Keeps White House Visitors a Secret

President Obama, continuting to break his promise to usher in a new "transparency" in Washington has shuttered the White House windows, in a manner of speaking.

Requests for White House Visitors lists from MSNBC and the nonpartisan watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, have been denied by the Secret Service.

CREW will file a lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security which oversees the Secret Service.

Here is a copy of the complaint, provided by MSNBC.



As long as it is not a matter of national security, the citizens of the United States have a right to know who is visiting their house. That's right, it's our house. We let the current president stay there while he's in office, but when his term is over, we send him home. The White House is not the private property of any administration.

The particular visitors that interested CREW were executives of coal companies. The lawsuit is filed under the Freedom of Information Act.

A Look at The Voluntaryist

I know many people who are worried about the encroachment of "big government" and the nanny state. You can count me as someone who believes that the federal government has grown far past the role set out for it by the Constitution. Government bailouts of the auto companies, TARP monies, and a general sense that government is reaching its hand into many areas where it simply doesn't belong is starting to cause unease amongst Americans.

If you want a completely opposite perspective on the role of government, you should have a read over at The Voluntaryist Website. They advocate an extraordinarily limited role for the government, which they say will result in an increased level of freedom for the individual.

Whether you agree with their perspective or not, it's a thought-provoking website that will challenge you to think about the role of government and just who has the control in your life choices.

Blogger Admits to Baby Blog Fraud

Beccah Beushausen, a 26-year-old social worker from the Chicago suburb of Mokenka wrote a blog about a subject so intense and emotional that she was reached a million hits on the night she wrote her most heartwrenching post.

The story behind the blog? Beccah wrote under the name "April's Mom" about her decision to carry her terminally ill unborn child to term. People got so involved they wrote to say they were praying for her. Moved by her emotional story, they sent cards, flowers, gifts. The only problem? It was all a lie.

Beccah wasn't even pregnant and there was no April. But Beccah reported to readers of the blog that little April was born at home and died a few hours later. She even posted a picture.

It was the picture that did it. The photo she used was of a doll, and many readers weren't fooled.

Beccah says she's sorry, she didn't mean for it to get so out of control, but once she had so many readers she didn't know how to stop the charade.

Well, it's really easy, Beccah. Take down the site. Stop writing lies. Continuing was never necessary. It's a childish prank.

The most disturbing fact is that Beccah is a social worker. One can only wonder what type of position she holds, and whose lives she has influence over. So far, it is said she hasn't profited financially from her fraud. But hasn't she at least in one way?

Beccah wants to be a writer. She wrote a fiction that had readers in tears and hanging on her every blog post. She used to be a wannabe writer no one had ever heard of, now she's a writer who's talent for drawing the reader is well-established.

In the end, it's really the responsbility of the reader to determine whether or not what they read on the internet is real, genuine or true. It's time to acknowledge the overwhelming amount of dishonesty people display when they are hiding behind screen names and take a little care in what we choose to take as read.