How To Protect Your Personal Privacy

Protecting Your Personal Privacy

First Published Date : September 30, 2010 ADawnJournal.com

In today’s world, it can be very difficult to protect your privacy. Companies and scam artists are all trying to get your personal information for their own purposes. With companies, it is to market to you and sell you things you may or may not need. With scam artists, it is to gain your money without you even realizing you are losing it. For this reason, you want to ensure that you protect your personal privacy both in the online and offline world. I am not just talking about identity theft here, but your personal details that can be bought, sold and given away without you even knowing about it.

In Canada, two federal privacy laws are in place to protect you and your personal information. These laws give you the right to find out who is using your personal information, how it is being collected, how it is being used and where the information is being stored. In addition, you can know who is handling your personal information.

If you want to protect your personal information in the offline world, do the following:

·   When you get a sales agreement, it is very important that you read the fine print. Sales agreement often feature fine print that states you agree to add your name to a marketing list. If you see this, make sure you either check the box that says “NO”, or that you write a note on the document saying you do not agree to this clause. In addition, you can just refuse to sign the contract until that point is removed.

·   When you buy something at a store, the store staff may ask for your name, address, phone number, and email for their records. Ask what is happening to your personal information and if you do not get a satisfactory answer, do not give your personal information.

·   Charities will often share donor lists between each other, so ask that you do not want your personal information shared.

·   Do not sign up for free draws, raffles, or contests if you do not want your personal information being used by someone else. The personal information you put on entry forms is often used to then send you sales offers, or given away to other companies.

·   Remove y our name from any mailing lists that it may be on. If you are in Canada, you can do this by writing a letter to Canadian Marketing Association, 1 Concorde Gate, Suite 607, Don Mills, ON, M3C 3N6.

·   When you call a company, dial *67 before you dial the number because this will protect your phone number from being used by the company or filed into your account as a way to contact you.

·   When you are subscribing to magazines, see if the magazine mentions that they will be using your information and giving it to other companies so they can use your information for some reason you may not know about. You typically will have the option to opt out of this and you just need to contact the magazine to do so.

Now, offline it is usually pretty easy to protect your personal information but online it can be very difficult and you have to think about where your information may be used or taken with every website you visit.

·   This means do not allow your contact information and personal information to be left at websites after you visit them. You should go into your browser’s menu and setup under your privacy options a fake name and do not enter in your e-mail address.

·   Tracking cookies are a good way for a company or scam artist to know where you are going and information about you. Cookies can contain your User IDs and passwords. Cookies can also be used to mine your data by tracking your motions through a website, the time you spend in the website and more. Make sure you turn off cookies in your browser.

·   Have an e-mail address that you never enter to websites and only give to people you know. When you are posting to newsgroups, websites, mailing lists and more, use an e-mail address that will serve as a buffer between the spam and your clean e-mail.

·   Before you add someone on Facebook, make sure you block your personal information. Don’t just give personal details about yourself and your family to strangers and people you just met online. It may seem safe but the person you are talking to on the other end of the net may not be who you think they are. Even companies will hire people to interact with future customers to get their personal information, so be very aggressive in not allowing anyone to get your information.

·   Your internet use and e-mail may be monitored at your work and that information may be used by the company to actually market to you, even though you are already working for the company. In addition, you may also lose your job if the things you surf or your personal information does not fit well with the company policies.

·   If you get spam, do not reply to it and say that you know it is spam. When you reply to spam, it just shows spammers that the e-mail they sent their spam to is a real e-mail. If you reply to them, you will just get much more spam in the coming days.

·   Some websites will offer prizes and rewards in exchange for your personal information or other personal details. Do not give your personal information on these sites because often if the prize seems too good to be true, then it most likely is.

·   Always enable encryption on your browser so that you can ensure you do not have anyone trying to access your information. Usually you just have to click the box for encryption in your browser to make sure your surfing is encrypted.

How The One Child Policy Helped Chinese Economy

China’s One Child Policy

First Published Date : October 6, 2010 ADawnJournal.com

China is the most populous country on Earth, with 1.3 billion people, or 20 per cent of the world’s population. As amazing as it is to think, that population would have been even higher if not for the one-child policy, which was implemented in 1978 by the Chinese government. This policy, while some criticize it, helped China become the world power that many recognize it as now.

The one-child policy restricts the number of children that can be born to married urban couples to just one, while there are exceptions for parents without siblings, official minorities and rural couples.

The policy was created by China as a way of alleviating the social, economic and environmental problems that were beginning to affect China. While the policy has been controversial around the world, roughly 75 percent of Chinese people agree with the policy. The policy helped the fertility rate in China fall from five births per woman in 1970 to just 1.8 births per woman in 2008. It is estimated that about 300 to 400 million births have been prevented through the one-child policy, helping to keep the resources of China from being depleted even more. Overwhelmed social services, slums and overpopulation have all been reduced thanks to the policy.

The one-child policy has helped to fuel the economic change seen in China over the past few decades in large part because there is not as much competition among citizens, allowing for more wealth to be spread around to everyone. Most of the Chinese population is now 60 years of age and over, meaning a big drop in the population will come as those people begin to die.

One benefit from this policy is that individual savings rates have increased in the past 30 years. This is due to the fact that a Chinese household has more resources because they are not being spent on multiple children in terms of time and money. As well, with only one child parents are no longer just relying on children to support them so the parents are saving more for their old age.

As well, the one-child policy has reduced the demand on natural resources, while maintained a steady labour rate, reduced unemployment, and reduced exploitation of workers.

While many look at the economic policies of China as a reason for the change in the country, one cannot dismiss the impact the one-child policy has had in helping to make the country an economic power. The decision in 1978 to limit the population has had far reaching impacts in China and across the planet. With 400 million less people being born in the past 30 years, there has been less drain on resources and an easier time for the world to adapt to environmental changes. Not to mention the fact that the economy of China has become supercharged in part because of the policy, making China one of the leading nations on the planet in the 21st century.

What Is Debt?

Debt 101

First Published Date : October 9, 2010 ADawnJournal.com

Something that seems to dominate our lives is debt. Debt routinely influences the lives of individuals, allowing them to buy things, or preventing them from buying things they want or need. As the years have gone by, the debt load of people in the Western World has increased greatly. While most people had little debt in the 1950s and 60s, but the 1990s and 2000s, people owed more money than they made, which is a very bad situation to be in. So, what is debt and how does it influence our lives so much?

Debt is something that is owed to someone else. It can mean money that is owed, or a moral obligation that is owed. Either way, it is something that must be repaid. Like a favour, you are agreeing to pay or do something for someone else at a future date because you are in his or her debt. A debt is created when a creditor agrees to give a lump sum of assets to a debtor. The debtor agrees to repay the debt with interest in most cases.

The word debt itself comes from the French word dette, which itself comes from the Latin word debere, which means to owe. In the 17th century, the letter b was put into the word debt in Samuel Johnson’s dictionary.

When a debt is made, the debtor and creditor must agree on the manner in which the debt is going to be repaid, this is a deferred payment. The payment is typically a certain amount of money that will help pay off the debt, or it could be the entire debt at once. Payment of increments of a debt over time is one of the most common forms of repayment, but repayment in full at the end of the loan agreement is also very common these days as well.

There are several types of debt that you should be aware of when dealing with debt:

1.   Secured Debt – This is debt that is made against some sort of collateral. For example, you agree to put up your house as collateral when you get a loan for your business. If you do not repay your business loan, you lose your house. Secured debt typically has lower interest rates because the risk is less.

2.   Unsecured Debt – This debt is not against any sort of collateral and therefore has a greater risk for the creditor. As a result, interest rates are higher for this and one’s credit score must be good to obtain this credit.

3.   Private Debt: This is a bank-loan obligation.

4.   Public Debt: This is a general definition that covers freely tradable debt on a public exchange with few restrictions.

5.   Basic Debt: This is the simplest form of debt and is just an agreement to lend someone a sum of money over a certain period of time, which must be repaid at a certain date.

6.   Syndicated Loan: This is a loan granted to companies who want to borrow more money than a single lender is prepared to risk. Therefore, the loan comes from several lenders at once and typically runs into the millions of dollars.

7.   Bond Debt: A bond is a debt security that is issued by certain institutions such as companies and governments. This bond entitles the person who holds it to repay the principle sum, plus interest.

There are other forms of debt that many people and companies use to help them manage day-to-day.

1.   Cash credit: This is the primary method in which a bank will get money for the security of debt. It is like a current account except the money that can be withdrawn is done so without restriction to the amount that is deposited.

2.   Working capital: Firms need money to pay for day-to-day activities like paying wages, buying supplies and more. This is the working capital of the company and the main source of working capital is the current assets the company can use to generate money.

3.   Bank overdraft: When you withdraw more money than you have in your bank account, you will often go into your overdraft, which is money lent to you by the bank. You will have a negative balance on your account, which must be repaid at some point.

Debt has a lot to do with credit worthiness. The better your credit, the more of a debt you can take on. Typically, if you have a FICO score above 600, you will be able to accumulate more and more debt, and anything between 350 and 599 will mean you will have difficulty getting debt until you manage your credit better. Companies also have the same type of system for when they borrow money. The best credit rating for a company is AAA, while the worst is C.

When debt becomes too much, one of the most common things for people to do is file for bankruptcy, which is one of the only ways that a debt can be removed without repayment. A debtor cancelling the debt is very rare, but becoming more common especially during the economic crisis. In fact, many economists feel that the only way for developing nations to reach equity with developed nations is for their immense debt load to be erased. As for individuals, many will try debt consolidation or debt counselling, which will allow them to repay their debts without having to declare bankruptcy. The problem with declaring bankruptcy is that it will destroy a credit rating for several years, often as long as seven years in total.

Debt is a big fixture of our lives these days and not something that is going to disappear any time soon. The only way to manage debt properly is to be smart with debt and make sure that it does not become something that causes you to fall behind. Be smart with debt and it will not overload you and make your life less than what you want it to be.

The New Blackberry Playbook Tablet

The New Blackberry Playbook

First Published Date : October 17, 2010 ADawnJournal.com

The tablet wars are on across North America thanks to the revolutionary iPad, which has started the tablet market with such a force that many were caught off-guard by its success. To that end, Blackberry does not want to be left out of the tablet wars and have announced the introduction of their Blackberry Playbook, a small tablet computer they hope will compete with Apple iPad.

The PlayBook is 9.7 mm thick, making it the smallest tablet computer ever made, and the first below 10 mm in thickness. The company is expecting to deliver the product to its developers and enterprise customers by October, with it being widely released by early 2011.

Prior to the release of the product, there was a great deal of speculation about the tablet, nicknamed the BlackPad.

So, what can you expect from the PlayBook when it is widely released in 2011 to all of us? Here are just a few things:

1.   It will have a seven inch screen, which will allow a resolution of 1024 x 600, which will support the multi-touch operation and gesture system with a form factor of 5.1 inches by 7.6 inches by .4 inches, giving it a total weight of just under one pound.

2.   Two high-definition cameras that will be mounted on the front and back will support the video , giving it something the iPad does not have (although the next iPad model is expected to have cameras). The Playbook cameras will be three megapixels and five megapixels and a micro-HDMI socket will provide the ability for digital-video output and the screen will have a HDMI interface so it can show different images simultaneously.

3.   As with the iPad, which has the AppStore, the PlayBook will have the ability to use Blackberry smartphone applications, which will be provided by the BlackBerry WebWorks toolkit, which will allow applications to be written on both the smartphone software (BlackBerry OS 6) and the tablet software (BlackBerry Tablet OS).

4.   In addition, the tablet will also have a web browser that supports Adobe Flash, which the iPad does not, and HTML5.

While the first version of the PlayBook will have no telephone capabilities, relying instead on Bluetooth communication, future versions of the PlayBook will have the capability to make telephone calls.

So, when will it be released in the United States and elsewhere? Well, as we already said, it will be released in the United States in early 2011, but elsewhere it will be released in the second quarter, which means between April and June 2011.

Will the PlayBook take a bite out of the market that the iPad currently dominates? Tough to say since Blackberry is a phone company, not a computer company. However, many thought the same about Apple selling cell phones but they effectively changed what people by with the iPhone. So, only time will tell to see if the PlayBook will be the Apple killer, or if it will be itself, killed by Apple.

How The 2010 Commonwealth Games Changed India’s Image

The Changing World View of India

First Published Date : October 24, 2010 ADawnJournal.com

There was a time when India was looked at as a backward nation that no one wanted to visit. It was a nation people saw as dirty, dangerous and a place you just did not want to go. However, that has long since changed and India is now changing to a nation that is progressive and rapidly becoming a developed nation.

Yes, the economy of India is moving fast, the middle class of India is growing, cars are becoming plentiful and poverty is rapidly falling. However, there are other ways that India is changing and this comes into the fact that it is now hosting world-class competitions.

The 2010 World Cup was held in South Africa, the first time it was ever held in Africa and that helped to show that countries once thought of as Third World could in fact hold world-class competitions. Rio De Janeiro is hosting the 2016 Summer Olympics and India just hosted the 2010 Commonwealth Games.

While there were some problems with the games recently, overall the Commonwealth Games were very successful and popular. This means that India has proven it can take on a major world competition and that means the changing world view of India could be changing to the point where India may be hosting the Summer Olympics in as little as 10 years.

After hosting the 2010 Commonwealth Games, the India Olympic Association said that Delhi will be bidding on the 2020 Olympics. The Indian Sports Minister Manohar Gill stated that there would be funding for the 2020 bid and that Delhi is very interested in hosting the games. While some worry about the problems with the Commonwealth Games affecting the potential for the Olympics to be held in India, there is a good chance that India could be hosting those games.

Other countries trying to host the games include Mexico, Canada, several countries in Europe, South Africa, Morocco, Japan and South Korea. If the games end up in India, it would be the largest event ever held in the country and would go a long way to helping show the world that India has changed.

Just 20 years ago, the thought of India hosting the Olympics was unimaginable. It was just not possible given the infrastructure of the country. However, things have changed so much that it is now possible. After all, in 2008 China hosted the Olympics and they were considered to be far behind the rest of the world only 20 years ago.

The world is changing and India is changing as well. India is joining a host of countries in South America, Asia and even Africa who may be leading the world in the future. The sphere of influence is changing and with the Commonwealth Games in India, the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro and the World Cup in South Africa, we can see that there are changing perceptions of these countries. This is the changing view of India around the world in the 21st century.