It seems like there’s always something new to beware of on the web. Although not new, spammers and others are using shortened URLs to their advantage.
About Shortened URLs
Shortened URLs can be created by using services such as TinyURL. They’re especially convenient for providing links to URLs that are exceptionally long. The service shortens a long URL, such as 100 characters, into something as short as 15 characters, making it fit on one line and short enough to fit in messages, such as Twitter, that limit the amount of characters in a post.
The Problem
For example, if the URL points to Amazon.com, instead of being able to see that it really does point to a page on Amazon all you see is this.
http://tinyurl.com/n93tvz
The “http://amazon.com/” part of the URL is hidden and you don’t know if it really takes you to Amazon’s website.
A Solution?
TinyURL offers a preview option. Instead of taking you directly to the site the URL points to, the preview option takes you to TinyURL to view the original. Here’s the preview URL for the same page on Amazon.
http://preview.tinyurl.com/n93tvz
First it takes the surfer to TinyURL to view the original URL and provides a link to “proceed to this site.” It looks like a safer option but I imagine spammers will find a way to get around this.
Visit:
TinyURL.com
Information Week
Read More:
Information Week’s article Web Link Shrinkage Powers Spam Surge by Thomas Claburn .
Categories: Computer Security · Evaluating Information · Evaluating Online Information · Software · Web
Tagged: Information Week, shortened URLs, spam, spammers, TinyURL, web searching
Sometimes finding Internet access seems nearly impossible. Maybe your computer crashes, your ISP (Internet Service Provider) is having problems, or you’re out of town. One solution to this problem is local public libraries.
Using the library’s computers is fairly simple. Some libraries make it easy to use your laptop to hook up to their Internet Service. The only drawback is that if you need to print something you’ll probably need to use the library’s computers.
If you’re going to use the library’s computers it’s best to call them and ask about computer availability and policies. If you don’t live in that city you’ll want to know if they will issue you a temporary pass. You’ll also want to make sure computers are available. Some libraries are very busy and it can be difficult to find an available computer without reservations. There are also may be time limits on the length of time you can use a computer, varying from as little as 15 or 30 minutes to as long as 1 or 2 hours.
If you need to print you’ll want to inquire about cost and how this works. Some libraries require you to pay before you can print and other libraries use the honor system allowing you to print and then pay for the pages.
Finally you’ll want to know about security and privacy. Does your history get wiped clean? If you forget to sign out of your email will you be automatically logged out when your session is over? The library I used informed me that everything was wiped clean once I logged out of my session.
Categories: Computer Security · Internet Access · Libraries
Tagged: Internet Access, Libraries, Library Computers
