5 Tips for Protecting Your Identity Online

October is National Cybersecurity Awareness month.

Below are tips to help you stay safe online:

1. Look at a Website’s privacy policy - Before submitting your name, e-mail address, or other personal information on a website, look for the site's privacy policy.

2. Look for evidence that your information is being encrypted - To protect attackers from hijacking your information, any personal information submitted online should be encrypted so that it can only be read by the appropriate recipient.

3. Do business with credible companies – Work with websites certified by an Internet trust organization such as BBBonline, TRUSTe, or WebTrust? Sites that display these logos have agreed to follow certain practices like providing a comprehensive privacy statement

4. Do not use your primary e-mail address in online submissions - Submitting your e-mail address could result in spam. If you do not want your primary e-mail account flooded with unwanted messages, consider opening an additional e-mail account for use online

5. Take advantage of options to limit exposure of private information - Default options on certain websites may be chosen for convenience, not for security. For example, avoid allowing a website to remember your password. If your password is stored, your profile and any account information you have provided on that site are readily available if an attacker gains access to your computer. Also, evaluate your settings on websites used for social networking.

Other Useful Sites and Information Sources

• OnguardOnline.gov

• United States Computer Emergency Readiness Team (US-CERT)

• WiredSafety.org

• Commonsense.com

• Ncmec.org

• TRUSTe.org

• ConnectSafely.org

• NetSmartz.org

• WebWiseKids.org

• Makeadifferenceforkids.org

Making Universal Service Truly “Universal”

By Raquel Noriega, Director, Public Policy, Connected Nation

This month the Federal Communications Commission is poised – at last – to take a strong and definitive step forward in shifting the nation’s complex subsidy system for telephone service to one that directly supports broadband. Reforming this system is important, as there are significant differences in broadband availability across the country. Undertaking that reform is difficult and complex – as one would expect with any $8.7 billion per year subsidy program.

But as a society, we cannot not lose sight of the gaping broadband adoption and utilization gap.

As Connected Nation’s Consumer Broadband Adoption Trends report shows, more than 1/3 of Americans have not adopted broadband. Wide swaths of our society are at risk of being left behind – an Internet underclass that could have a longstanding, significant, and detrimental economic and social impact.

Even a sample of these gaps is startling:

• 31.6 million rural residents do not subscribe to broadband – more than the population of Texas and Wisconsin combined.
• Only 38% of low-income households in Iowa have broadband at home.
• Only 15% of low-income seniors in Nevada subscribe to broadband.
• 17 million children don’t broadband at home, 7.6 million of them in low-income households.
• Barely half of Hispanic households (51%) subscribe to broadband.
• 15.4 million adults say that the lack of digital skills is the reason they don’t subscribe to broadband.
• Our study also shows that the barriers to broadband adoption are complex – cost is important, but so are digital skills, training, and awareness.

To achieve truly “universal” broadband, our society needs to do more than make sure that broadband networks are available – we need to make sure that adoption and use is universal as well. While networks are expensive to build, building them may in fact be the easy part – cracking the code on making sure all Americans use this technology is the key to unlocking the economic and social value of those networks.

To meet this challenge, last week Connected Nation was pleased and proud to have joined with the FCC, private companies, and other noted non-profits in the Connect To Compete initiative, which will promote digital literacy efforts nationwide.

And yesterday, Connected Nation, with the Minority Media and Telecommunications Council and One Economy, have endorsed an innovative approach to broadband adoption suggested by Aspen Institute Fellow Blair Levin, leader of the National Broadband Plan effort. Because the nation’s adoption and use challenge is multifaceted, this proposal would provide federal support to a myriad of both large and small-scale public-private adoption programs. Support for public-private adoption programs would be awarded through a competitive application and review process, similar to the Department of Education’s Race to the Top and Investing in Innovation (i3) grant programs.

These adoption programs can and should work in concert with subsidies for building networks. A low adoption rate directly affects the economics of broadband deployment.

One example is Puerto Rico, where we are working directly with the government and stakeholders in their broadband strategic plan. Forty percent of Puerto Rico households are below the poverty line, and the overall household broadband adoption rate is only 31%, less than half of the national average. Does anybody doubt that these low adoption numbers help account for the fact that broadband availability in Puerto Rico, at even the most basic of speeds, is far, far behind every state? And since it’s so obvious, wouldn’t it be foolish to subsidize network construction in Puerto Rico without establishing a comprehensive broadband adoption and training program at the same time?

The pattern applies across the country. Low adoption rates are partly responsible for lagging investment in broadband capacity. As such, promoting adoption should be an integral part of the FCC’s strategy to ensure universal broadband access at ever higher speeds. This is why Connected Nation and our partners support Blair Levin’s proposal.

State and District Measures Require Students to Take Virtual Classes

By Michelle R. Davis | Education Week

Published: October 17, 2011

Two years ago, Tennessee’s Putnam County school system adopted an online-learning graduation requirement for its high school students. But district officials realized that not all students had high-speed Internet access at home, or even computers, so they came up with a variety of options to allow students to fulfill the requirement.

The state of Tennessee already mandated that all students take a class on personal finance, so Putnam County put its version online, complete with the district’s own online teachers. Students can complete the course independently before they enter 9th grade; do it at school, in a computer lab with the support of an in-house coordinator, during their four high school years; or take the course in a computer lab that includes both an in-class teacher and an online instructor. Students can also fulfill the requirement with online Advanced Placement courses or online credit-recovery classes, says Kathleen Airhart, the director of the 11,000-student Putnam County schools, based in Cookeville, Tenn.

The goal is to make sure students get an online-learning experience in a low-risk, supportive environment, Airhart says. “The reality is, when a student leaves us, whether they’re going to a four-year college, a technical college, or going into the world of work, they’re going to have to do an online course,” she says. “This helps prepare the students.”

More districts and a handful of states are starting to agree with this notion. They’re requiring students to get some form of online learning on their résumés before leaving high school.

But concerns remain about issues of student equity, particularly in rural areas, where high-speed Internet access may be uncommon or difficult.

Read more.

5 Tips for Securing Your Personal Computer

October is National Cybersecurity Awareness month.

Below are tips to help you stay safe online:

1. Keep your firewall turned on: Firewalls provide protection against outside attackers by shielding your computer or network from malicious or unnecessary Internet traffic.

2. Always use good passwords for your PC:

• Don't use passwords that are based on personal information that can be easily accessed or guessed

• Don't use words that can be found in any dictionary of any language

• Develop a mnemonic for remembering complex passwords

• Use a combination of lowercase and capital letters, numbers, and special characters

• Use passphrases when you can

• Use different passwords on different systems

• Use at least 8 characters

• Change your password periodically

3. Keep all your software and your operating system up-to-date: Many vulnerabilities on a computer can be avoided with a few simple updates. Updating your software also helps with bug fixes in the software and addition of new features from the software developer.

4. Install Anti-Virus Software: Anti-virus software can identify and block many viruses before they can infect your computer. Once you install anti-virus software, it is important to keep it updated. While antivirus software, regardless of which package you choose, increases your level of protection, nothing can guarantee the security of your computer. Antivirus software is limited in its ability to protect your computer because it can only detect viruses that have signatures installed on your computer

5. Secure your wireless network at home: Wireless networks have gotten easy enough to set up that many users simply plug them in and start using the network without giving much thought to security. Nevertheless, taking a few extra minutes to configure the security features of your wireless router or access point is time well spent.

Other Useful Sites and Information Sources

• OnguardOnline.gov

• United States Computer Emergency Readiness Team (US-CERT)

• WiredSafety.org

• Commonsense.com

• Ncmec.org

• TRUSTe.org

• ConnectSafely.org

• NetSmartz.org

• WebWiseKids.org

• Makeadifferenceforkids.org

Connect Puerto Rico Releases Updated Broadband Mapping Data

San Juan, PR – Connect Puerto Rico released new broadband maps that reveal that 14% of Puerto Rican households don’t have broadband available.

Connect Puerto Rico is commissioned by the Office of the Chief Information Officer of Puerto Rico to gather, process, and verify data on the availability, speed, location, and type of broadband services across the island on a regularly scheduled basis. These data are gathered on behalf of the U.S. Department of Commerce to build and update the National Broadband Map across the US and territories.

Key findings from this update include:

• 86% of Puerto Rico households have access to fixed broadband service of at least 768 Kbps downstream and 200 Kbps upstream (excluding mobile and satellite services).

• 14% of Puerto Rico households remain unserved by any fixed broadband provider, representing approximately 176,000 unserved households that do not have access to a fixed wireless or wired broadband service offering (excluding mobile and satellite service).

• Across rural areas of Puerto Rico, the percentage of unserved households by any fixed broadband service is 21.82%, representing approximately164,000 unserved households across rural Puerto Rico.

These estimates imply that across Puerto Rico, broadband network penetration ranks amongst the lowest across all US states and territories.

Preliminary Connect Puerto Rico metrics of broadband availability across the island estimated in April that 91.82% of households had broadband available at the basic speeds of 768 Kbps download/ 200 Kbps upload speeds. The new, more accurate estimates released today are the result of a year of detailed research conducted by the Connect Puerto Rico mapping team working in collaboration with Puerto Rico broadband providers to determine more accurately the true extent of the available network. Connect Puerto Rico conducts independent, ongoing validation of the broadband service data submitted by the provider community.

The Connect Puerto Rico website is available at http://connectpr.org/ (Spanish) and http://en.connectpr.org/ (English).

Follow Connected Nation and Connect Puerto Rico on Twitter.

Tightening your data belt can save you money

By PETER WAYNER | The New York Times

Published: October 5, 2011

The economics of an all-you-can-eat buffet are pretty easy to figure out. The restaurant makes money as long as most of the diners don’t have big appetites and enormous capacity for engorgement.

It hasn’t taken Internet service providers very long to conclude that their all-you-can-eat pricing isn’t as profitable as charging those who use more bandwidth streaming videos and music more money than those who pop on for a quick Facebook chat. Many are adopting flat-rate pricing or pricing tiers. The more you use, the more you pay. Many are even imposing limits on their customers.

Comcast, for instance, limits its customers to 250 gigabytes a month, a threshold that it estimates affects no more than a few percent of its customers. The limits are much lower for wireless data providers like the cellphone companies. Verizon, for instance, offers plans with limits of 2, 5 or 10 gigabytes a month.

Complain all you want about the new plans, but there are only two ways around the problem: Use less or pay more.

Much of the advice on how to use less bandwidth will sound a lot like what you’d hear from any dietician who catches you at the smorgasbord: eat less or at least eat the healthy foods. It’s not an emotionally satisfying answer, but when it comes to broadband, it is either that or pay more.

Like any diet plan, there are a few tips for making that easier.

Read more.