On net, mind your footprints

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Here are your average computer-savvy urbanites, many of them teenagers. They use Twitter for bursts of personal information, Flickr for photo-sharing, YouTube for uploading private videos, Facebook for keeping track of friends and acquaintances, and other sites for work or hobbies.

It's an electronic blizzard that tends to obscure reality. It's quite possible that some of today's popular social networking sites could become electronic Frankensteins.

There is an invisible downside to social networking on the Net and I suspect that many people who are on Facebook or MySpace or LinkedIn are so romanced by the technology that they are unaware of the electronic footprint they are leaving for all to see.

Social networking sites were started to keep small communities like college students in touch after graduation. Their popularity and the business side of the model meant they had to expand subscriber bases. So now we have 20 somethings and 50 somethings on the same page, all revealing intimate details of their personal life. That's a risky exposure.

In the UK, the Information Commissioner, a watchdog body for IT, recently warned that millions of young people could damage their future careers with details of themselves they have made public on such sites if potential employers did a web search.

Facebook is a prime example. It faced a backlash over its move to expand the service, for business reasons, by adding two features, News Feed and Mini-Feed which allowed users to track information updates of other subscribers.

These updates could include such personal information as a decision to break off a romantic relationship or start a new one. When users objected, Facebook did a mea culpa and added stricter privacy controls. The catch is that computers, Blackberries or mobiles give the senders a false sense of anonymity and new microblogging sites like Twitter, already hugely popular, encourage exposure of mindless gossip and intimate personal details. US President Barack Obama tweets, so does actress Mallika Sherawat who is less discreet about her personal life.

Twitter is a free microblogger service that enables its users to send Tweets, text based posts of up to 140 characters in length, which are displayed on the user's profile page and delivered to other users, or 'followers', who have subscribed to them. Senders can restrict delivery to those in their circle of friends or, by default, allow anybody to access them. In essence, however, Twitter collects personally identifiable information about its users and shares it with third parties.

Twitter is a good way to keep in touch with busy friends but some users succumb to the temptation to tell acquaintances and other users who they are with or what they're having for dinner. The allure of the digital world tends to lower defences and the need for privacy. It's time to take a harder look at what people call 'hippy blogging', the subliminal urge to globalise your personal life.

Ashok Boudh

whah is the most suitable solution to vanish RACISM????

--- RACISM. ----some views and some solutions

NOW a days many of us must have heard about the term racism.may be in news or tv channels showing it regarding the killing of indian students in australia or some other places....#

Racism is the belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race.^[1] In the case of institutional racism, certain racial groups may be denied rights or benefits, or get preferential treatment, while reverse racism favours members of a historically disadvantaged group at the expense of those of a historically advantaged group. Racial discrimination typically points out taxonomic differences between different groups of people, even though anybody can be racialised, independently of their somatic differences. According to the United Nations conventions, there is no distinction between the term racial

Racial discrimination

An anti-discrimination poster in a Hong Kong subway station, January 2005

Racial discrimination is treating people differently through a process of social division into categories not necessarily related to races. Racial segregation policies may officialize it, but it is also often exerted without being legalized. Researchers, including Dean Karlan and Marianne Bertrand, at the MIT and the University of Chicago found in a 2003 study that there was widespread discrimination in the workplace against job applicants whose names were merely perceived as "sounding black". These applicants were 50% less likely than candidates perceived as having "white-sounding names" to receive callbacks for interviews. The researchers view these results as strong evidence of unconscious biases rooted in the United States' long history of discrimination.

solutions

Discrimination or racism is a big problem in our world. Racism takes place in school, work places, and politics. Many organizations around the world have joined in the fight against racism. Even though the U.S. does not have not have as many controversies over racism as other countries might have, we are not immune to this horrible injustice.	A convention to make people aware of racism...
The religious leaders coming together to talk about racism...

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1.)
I feel that the only way that racism can be elliminated is to start with ourselves. It begins at home with our parents and our families. We are not born with prejudice, it is something that is taught. From there, it goes to our schools. We should try to be more understanding of our classmates and even our teachers. It doesn't matter what race or color we are, or even the language we speak. What matters is what we have in common. People should be judged on what is in the inside, not what is on the outside. It starts with me.
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2.)
Another place where you can try to prevent racism, is in the workplace. Even today people are overlooked for jobs or promotions because of their race or gender. Even though this is against the law, it still occurs in many business organizations. People should be judged on their performance, intelligence and how they get along with others.



your views about the racism and measures regarding the minimising this act is must ......#

COLLEGE LIFE....some view reagarding it ...

So you want to know what your four years of college are going to be like? Well, I can give you an idea of what lies down the road for you, but predicting what somebody will do in college is like predicting what somebody will buy in a well-stocked candy store. The person may emerge with a beguiling variety of interesting goodies, or may emerge clutching the same tasty treat that's pleased her palate in years past. So while we can't tell you what you'll buy from the store, we can give you an idea of what you'll find in the aisles.

One thing you're almost certain to encounter is lines. You'll be waiting on lines to select/change courses (unless you're lucky enough to attend a well-wired school), lines to buy books, lines to open a bank account, lines at the cafeteria(juggi), and maybe even lines for the shower(haha...really its true). The cool thing is that all this waiting will give you another opportunity to meet new people or mull over whatever experience you just had. Even cooler, by the time the novelty of meeting new people wears off (if, indeed it does), you'll probably have learned the best ways to avoid, or at least minimize, lines.

You'll probably be surprised at how quickly you'll assimilate to your surroundings and adopt new routines to replace the old ones you left behind. You'll quickly meet new friends, including, with any luck, your roommate. Don't worry if you don't become best of friends with your roommate, though. As long as there's mutual respect, you should have a comfortable living situation. Not making friends or meeting enough people? Take advantage of the opportunities that every college, no matter how small, offers. There will be clubs, teams, parties, volunteer activities, lectures, movies, concerts, performances, jobs, and late night dorm bull sessions. In fact, even if your social life is thriving, it's not a bad idea to make yourself check out at least one or two activities that you've never tried before. It couldn't hurt and it'll probably be free or cheap--enjoy those student rates while you can!

There will be so many activities that you may want to start a scrap book to remember them all. Taking brief notes on guest lecturers is a good way to remember what they said long after the fact. Speaking of lectures, "What about classes?" you ask. "Won't I be busy taking courses?" Of course you will. You'll probably have more work than you've ever had. But you'll also probably have the most free time you've ever had. Even if you work part-time, you should still have a fair amount of free time. There will be a lot of homework, but within a semester you'll figure out how to prioritize. It's often easy to put off work because there probably won't be as many tests and papers as you had in high school. Procrastinate too much, though, and you'll get swamped before exam periods. Pace yourself and work efficiently and you should have enough time to prepare for classes and exams while having plenty of time to enjoy yourself.

You may hear that college will be the ‘best years of your life.' Don't believe it. No matter how good college is, with any luck your life will be even better after college. However, college does present significant freedom and opportunities. You'll probably never again be surrounded by that many peers on a full-time basis. Have fun, even play it safe, but still challenge yourself. If you explore new academic and extracurricular opportunities, you can have a great time and the satisfaction of knowing you never wasted a chance.....thats the real of college life...#