EMPOWERMENT TECHNOLOGY

(Lesson 2: Rules of Netiquette)

Netiquette – is network etiquette, the do’s and don’ts of online communication

10 Best Rules of Netiquette

1. The Golden Rule (treat others as you would like to be treated)
2. No Flaming (Flame is a personal insult communicated through the internet)
3. Don’t type in all CAPS (people may misinterpret)
4. Don’t SPAM (it is any unsolicited e-mail from unknown sources)
5. Don’t talk with people you do not know (do not arrange to meet anyone you meet online)
6. Obey Copyright Laws (Don’t steal someone else’s idea, property and rights)
7. Use proper Grammar and Spelling (errors diminishes the credibility of the message)
8. Be Honest/Be Yourself (tell the truth, do not pretend to be someone else)
9. Follow the TOS (TOS – Term of Service) (Rules and Policy of the sites)
10. SHOP SECURE SITES (these are sites with transport layer security) (TLS or SLS Socket Layer Security)

Internet Safety – online security or safety of people and their information when using the internet.

The Internet is defined as the information superhighway. This means that anyone has access to this highway, can place information,
and can grab that information. Any information, even things that have set privately, can be accessed one way or another. This is why
social networking sites like Facebook continue to improve their security features. The threat of cybercrime is very real. While you
may not experience the threat now, whatever information we share today could affect our future.
TIPS TO STAY SAFE ONLINE

The Internet is a public place and it is up to you to protect yourself. Here are some tips to help you stay safe when using
the Internet.

1. Be mindful of what you share online and what site you share it to.
2. Do not just accept terms and conditions; read it.
3. Check out the privacy policy page of a website to learn how the website handles the information you share.
4. Know the security features of the social networking site you use. By keeping your profile private, search engines will
not be able to scan your profile.
5. Do not share your password with anyone.
6. Avoid logging in to public networks/Wi-Fi. Browsing in “incognito (or private) mode,” a feature of the browser, will not
protect you from hackers.
7. Do not talk to strangers whether online or face-to-face.
8. Never post anything about a future vacation. It is similar to posting, “Rob my house at this date.”
9. Add friends you know in real life.
10. Avoid visiting untrusted websites.
11. Install and update an antivirus software on your computer. Use only one anti-virus software to avoid conflict.
12. If you have a Wi-Fi at home, make it a private network by adding a password.
13. Avoid downloading anything from untrusted websites. You are most vulnerable in peer-to-peer downloads (torrents)
as the download is most likely not monitored by the site owner.
14. Buy the software; do not use pirated ones.
15. Do not reply or click links from suspicious emails.

INTERNET THREATS
Here are some of the threats you should be aware of when using the Internet:
1. Malware – (stands for malicious software)
- is a set of instruction that run on your computer and make your system do something than an attacker
wants to.
What is it good for?
a. Steal personal information
b. Delete files
c. Click fraud
d. Steal software serial numbers
e. Use your computer as relay

Different Kinds of Malware

a. Virus – program designed to replicate itself and transfer from one computer to another
- a computer virus is a piece of malicious computer code that attaches itself to a software program, email or computer
file without your permission.
b. Worm – a malicious program that transfers from one computer to another by any type of means. Often, it uses a
computer network to spread itself. For example, the ILOVEYOU worm (Love Bug Worm) created by a Filipino.
c. Trojan – a malicious program that is disguised as a useful program but once downloaded or installed, leaves your PC
unprotected and allow hackers to get your information.
*Rogue security software – tricks the user into posing that it is a security software. It asks the user to pay to improve
his/her security but in reality, they are not protected at all.
d. Spyware – a program than runs in the background without you knowing it (thus called “spy”). It has the ability to
monitor what you are currently doing and typing through keylogging.
*Keyloggers – used to record keystroke done by the users. This is done to steal their password or any other sensitive
information. It can record email, messages, or any information you type using your keyboard.
e. Adware – a program designed to send you advertisements, mostly as pop-ups

2. Spam – unwanted email mostly from bots or advertisers. It can be used to send malware

3. Phishing – its goal is to acquire sensitive personal information like passwords and credit card details. This is done by
sending you an email that will direct the user to visit a website and be asked to update his/her username, password,
credit card, or personal information.
*Pharming – a more complicated way of phishing where it exploits the DNS (Domain Name Service) system

How to avoid these threats?

A very effective way of avoiding these threats is verifying the authenticity and credibility of the WEB source.

PROTECTING REPUTATIONS ONLINE

- In the past, doing something embarrassing was not much of a big deal. It happened; people would laugh at it, and they would move
on. Nowadays, embarrassing moments are captured using any device you could imagine. What is worse is that people can easily
upload it to the Internet, where it can be stored forever. This could impact not only your reputation but also the people around you.
What is worse is that people tend to ignore this fact, and suffer from it later in their life.
- Once you post something over the Internet, search engines keep them in their archives for search results. This makes anything you
post to last forever even if you delete it in your page. Something you and your friends find funny today may be something that could
harm someone’s reputation later.

THINK BEFORE YOU CLICK

Here are things you might want to consider before posting something over the Internet:

1. Before you post something on the web, ask these questions to yourself: Would you want your parents or
grandparents to see it? Would you want your future boss to see it? Once you post something on the web, you have no
control of who sees your posts.
2. Your friends depend on you to protect their reputation online. Talk to your friends about this serious responsibility.

3. Set you post to “private.” In this way, search engines will not be able to scan that post.
4. Avoid using names. Names are easy for search engines to scan.

5. If you feel that a post can affect you or other’s reputation, ask the one who posted it to pull it down or report it as
inappropriate.

COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT

Here are some tips that could help you avoid copyright infringement:

1. Understand. Copyright protects literary works, photographs, painting, drawings, films, music (and lyrics),
choreography, and sculptures, but it generally does NOT protect underlying ideas and facts. This means that you can
express something using your own words, but you should give credit to the source.

2. Be responsible. Even if a material does not say that it is copyrighted, it is not a valid defense against copyright. Be
responsible enough to know if something has a copyright.

3. Be creative. Ask yourself whether what you are making is something that came from you or something made from
somebody else’s creativity. It is important to add your own creative genius in everything that will be credited to you.

4. Know the law. There are some limitations to copyright laws. For instance in the Philippines, copyrights only last a
lifetime (of the author) plus 50 years. There are also provisions for “fair use” which mean that an intellectual property
may be used without a consent as long as it is used in commentaries, criticisms, search engines, parodies, news reports,
research, library archiving, teaching, and education. If you have doubts that what you are doing does not fall under the
policy of fair use, seek permission first.
Another misconception is that fan-fiction is not copyright infringement. In reality, it is and some copyright holders ignore them but
they can opt to use their rights.

ONLINE RESEARCH
1. Have a question in mind. Focus on a question you want answered. If it is a series of questions, start with one. Never
search everything on one go.

2. Narrow it down. Search engines like Google, Bing, or Yahoo use several filters to determine the most appropriate
result for you. These search engines use your previous search history and your geographical location, and send you the
result which is the most related to you. Try to search “weather” and most search engines would return the weather
conditions of where you are. But if all of these filters fail, you should remember to narrow down what you are searching
for.

For example, if you where to look for Tom Sawyer, the animation series, you would better use the keywords “Tom Sawyer
animation” rather than just “Tom Sawyer.” Another example is if you were to look for science research experiments, it would be
better to include what branch of science is it or what type of study it is.

3. Advance Search. The best way to filter information you get from search engines, is by using the advanced search. This
will allow you to filter out information you do not need.

4. Look for a credible source. Some wikis, though filled with updated information, are not a credible source. This is due
to the fact that anyone can edit its content. When using wikis, check out the link of the cited text (indicated by
superscript number) to be navigated to the footnote where the list of sources is located. Click the source of the
information and see if it is credible.
- The more credible sources are scientific, journals, established news and magazine websites, online encyclopedia, and scholarly
databases.

- You can also check the URL of a website if it ends with a .org, .gov, and .edu. A website that ends with .com is intended to be a
commercial websites and may be slanted to promoting a product or service. You should consider the intent of the information on
the web page. In most cases, .edu websites are best for research as government and organization websites may have a tendency to
make information favorable for them.

- Unfortunately, not all websites follow the standards in domain name conventions. Some sites use the suffixes like .com loosely;
some sites are not credible even though they use a .edu suffix.

- Another tip to validate if the information is correct is to have multiple sources of information. Having two or more websites will you
whether the information is reliable or not.

5. Give credit. If you are going to use the information from a source for educational purposes, give credit to the original
author of the page or information. To properly cite a reference, you may use the format below: