News: Social networkers warned of risk

Users are being warned not to post personal details on their profiles

A quarter of the 11 million Britons who use social networking sites such as MySpace and Facebook may be leaving themselves open to identity fraud.

Get Safe Online, a government-backed campaign group, is warning against posting personal details online.

Its research also showed eight million people leave home wireless networks unprotected against intruders.

And more than half of the over-65s polled use a single password for every website they visit, the group said.

The group is advising older internet users to change their passwords more often.

'Rich pickings'

Tony Neate, managing director of GetSafeOnline.org, said a date of birth and address details were enough for someone to set up a credit card in another name.

"Although some of these details may seem harmless, they actually provide rich pickings for criminals," he said.

Cabinet Office minister Gillian Merron said the risks can be easily fixed and did not mean people should stop using social networking sites and wireless networks.

The poll of 2,000 adults also showed that nearly 30% admitted searching for former girlfriends and boyfriends on the sites ,and almost one in three used them to find out about their boss, colleagues or a job candidate.

The survey also found 13% of social networkers had posted information about or photos of other people without their consent.

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Scrapbook Auto Refresher

Just Launched the Scrapbook Auto Refresher!!

Check this out http://scrapout.googlepages.com/orkutscrapbook.html

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News: Lighting the way for Diwali

Many orkut users (and a number of our engineering and operations staff) are celebrating the festival of Diwali this week. Never one to miss an important occasion, orkut wanted to find a unique way to recognize this national holiday. In India, lots of people pass around sweets and snacks to celebrate.

In keeping with this tradition, here's something new and 'sweet' when you log in: just in time for the annual festival of lights, you'll see a Diwali theme that transforms the site before your eyes! If you're located in India and have signed into orkut in the last day or so, you may have noticed something different about your profile: a small lamp icon next to your email address at the top of the page. If you click on the lamp (also called a diya) or the "Happy Diwali!" message, you'll be rewarded with a fun scene of firecrackers and celebrations set against an outline of some famous Indian landmarks.

Last year, our team posted a Diwali doodle on the login page, but we decided to go a step further this year by creating orkut's very first profile theme. We also thought it would be fun to let you discover this option on your own, instead of automatically changing it for everyone. If for some reason, you'd prefer the usual orkut look, simply click on the lamp or the message again, and ta-da, back to normal. But keep in mind that the theme will only last for a few more days, so enjoy it while you have it.

Who knows, maybe you'll see more themes in the future for special occasions. Until then, happy holidays to you all!

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Keeping your username and password secure

These days many users' accounts can be compromised through social engineering techniques such as phishing schemes or malicious scripts and programs guised as being legitimate, and lose their usernames and passwords. Here is a simple guide to keep your account secure:

• The orkut team will never ask for your username and password, if you receive an email asking for those details don't give them to anyone; it wasn't sent by us.
• Be aware of every link that you open: you might be redirected to a page where you'll be asked to install a really cool feature which is in fact a malicious program that will give out your private information
• If you're logged into orkut, and after clicking on a link, you're prompted to login again, check the URL; if it's not www.orkut.com, don't login! Some links redirect you to phishing pages, where the page is absolutely identical to the real orkut one, but your account information will be sent to the attacker.
• Always logout from orkut when you want to finish your session, and if you are on a public computer, clear you cache and cookies before leaving-this is really important!
• Change you password several times a year, and when you do, use a password that's easy to remember but difficult to guess.
• Don't write your password anywhere!
• Don't share your account with your soulmate. In the unfortunate event that your relationship ends this can cause you a lot of problems.
  

These safety tips are not unique to orkut. You should follow the same advice for email sites, or any other site that requires a username and password.

I hope this friendly reminder will help you maintain your beloved profile in peace :)

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