For many, the start of a new year means the start of a new job search using the internet to research employers. For up coming college graduates in particular, it is opportunity to get a head start in getting their careers off the ground using online resources. At the same time, many employers are also researching potential job candidates through Google, Myspace.com and Facebook.com and what they are finding could be used as reasons not to hire you.

A recent poll conducted for Careerbuilder.com showed that 26 percent of hiring managers admitted to using the Internet to perform background checks on job candidates. A further 12 percent admitted to using social networking sites such as MySpace.com and Facebook.com as a screening tool.

For many college students, social networking sites such as Facebook.com and Myspace.com are a core part of their cyber profile used for networking. However, many students are surprised to learn that their candid and sometimes sexually explicit photos and the details of their drinking and dating lives in their profiles can negatively affect their job search. Those disparaging comments, risqué photos, inappropriate language and lewd jokes posted on their profiles could be viewed as a reflection of their character by a potential employer.

According to an HR director, people should carefully consider their potential audience and the impression they may have based on your pictures, personal opinions, and ideas posted online. “We were in the process of extending an offer to a great candidate, until his myspace.com page was brought to our attention. He had a great resume, went to an elite school and had impeccable references. However, our review of his myspace profile highlighted his recreational drug use. This made us immediately reconsider hiring him,” says an HR Director for a financial services company in Toronto, Ontario. “Our company is very conscious of client relations and our public image and we could not risk this candidate’s background being taken as a reflection of our organization. “

A recent poll of Resume Solutions student clients showed that over 60% of the respondents were unaware that their profiles on social networking websites could be viewed by potential employers. This is surprising, despite the increased media attention focused on employers reviewing Myspace and Facebook prior to making hiring decisions.

Prior to starting a new job search, it is recommended that job seekers perform a Google search on their names to find out what a potential employer may read or see about them online. If any questionable content is discovered, content you would not feel comfortable if an employer or your parents view, then request that the site’s webmaster remove it immediately. Questionable content may include nude photos, slanderous comments or photographs that show you in inappropriate situations. Keep in mind you may encounter resistance in getting the content removed, however, you can let them know that they may be affecting your future job prospects and you may have no choice but to seek legal recourse. For that information, that you absolutely cannot have removed due to lack of control, construct a plausible answer to counter or explain away to a hiring manager.

We are not advocating that social networking sites are to be used solely for job searching or building a web portfolio of your resume and job skills, but it makes sense to remove as much of the negative content about yourself as is possible. You should be smart and discreet in your online communications and consider creating private profiles for just your family members and friends.

There are many ways to create a “positive cyber profile” that does not affect your career prospects. College students can create personal web pages and profiles at social networking sites that include their resumes, hobbies and interests, details on leadership activities or academic successes. You can also include photos of yourself but ensure they do not include explicit materials. Job seekers can use their online profiles to demonstrate their excellent communication skills, establish a professional image of themselves prior to an in-person meeting, demonstrate their creativity and diverse interest – things that can set them apart from other job seekers.

As more and more users flock to social networking sites, the affect these sites have on the job search and candidate screening may include employers going even deeper into candidate’s personal and professional lives. It is therefore advisable to put nothing online that have the potential to hurt your future job prospects and include anything that would help you in landing a new job. Use common sense when creating an online profile. Remember that employers who do online searches are looking for reasons not to hire you.

Résumé Solutions offers advanced resume writing and interview coaching services from entry level, mid-career through to executive clientele in the global marketplace. The President of the company is Surranna Sandy, a Certified Professional Résumé Writer and Certified Employment Interview Coach and former Human Resources Management Professional who launched resumesolutions.com 5 years ago. She directs a client focused team of resume writers and career coaches helping thousands of job seekers meet their career goals.

Surranna Sandy
http://www.articlesbase.com/careers-articles/how-social-networking-sites-can-derail-your-job-search-102884.html

Do you think having a website is an avoidable cost? Although the Internet no longer remains a “new” technology there are still many business owners who are averse to the idea of having a business website either because they are not comfortable with the new medium or they simply deem it unnecessary. Now, we are not suggesting that the guy selling hotdogs at the street corner should definitely have a business websites (well, why not?), but if there is business somewhere and you cannot do it simply because you don’t have a website then we will say that you are missing a big opportunity by not having a website.

Having a business website immediately propels your visibility and reach to a higher level. All of a sudden you are accessible to your customers and clients 24×7. Both old and new customers find you approachable and progressive. We at ForeScene Creative Solutions don’t mean to proselytize you but here is a list of 12 benefits of having a website, whether business or personal.

1. Instant visual representation

Just imagine what thrust your business would get if people from all over the globe could visually see the products or service options you have to offer. All information pertaining to your business can be put on your website so that your prospective customers and clients can view it at their own convenience and without you having to be there each time something needs to be explained.

2. Keep your business open all the time

When you decide to offer business through your website, it is like a store or an office whose doors are never closed; people can come in and review your products and services at their convenience. In between if they want to do business with you and if your website is automated enough they can do even that. This way you can run your business non-stop without having to put in the extra hours.

3. New customers and clients can find you through search engines

Once you have accumulated a decent amount of information on your website people begin to find you on the search engines for the keywords and expressions relevant to your website. For instance if you sell perfumed candles and if someone searches for “sandalwood aroma candles” and if you have information on “sandalwood aroma candles” then there is a great possibility that people will find you on various search engines, come to your website, and place orders for sandalwood aroma candles.

4. Easier and cheaper advertising

Publishing on your website doesn’t cost you extra unless you are paying for every new page you create. Once you have set up the basic website structure you can keep adding new pages without incurring extra cost.

You can also complement your advertising efforts with your website. There are two ways of doing this. Whenever you publish your advertisement you can include your URL so that the information that you cannot include in the advertisement can be easily viewed on your website. Once your online traffic has gained momentum you can even run advertisements directly on your website. The best way of doing this is developing an online community so that lots of traffic builds up.

5. Highly enhanced public relations

You might not know that hundreds of or even thousands of your customers and clients might be using the Internet for all their information and research needs. Millions of views are exchanged on the World Wide Web. If some disparaging news regarding your organization gets circulated you can easily counter it, or at least present your own side of the story, through your website. High-value content and regular interaction with your visitors makes sure that you have a dedicated community of evangelists who would like to protect your brand and reputation even at the cost of putting in extra effort.

The more you interact through your website the more solid your reputation grows.

6. Reach distant markets

Although ForeScene is a New York based web design company we get web design projects from all over the world and from very high-profiled clients. This becomes possible because our website is easily accessible to everybody who has an Internet connection. If you provide a service that can be delivered via the Internet or if you have a product that can be easily dispatched after taking an online order then you should definitely tap into this vast online market and promote your business in different parts of the world.

7. Create extra income streams

You can start new business ventures from scratch if you run them through your website. Unlike starting business ventures in the brick-n-mortar world the Internet ventures require very little startup income and they can be initiated in a matter of few days, or even few hours. In order to start a new business all you have to do is, have a great idea or product ready, register a domain suitable to your business, obtain a web hosting account, design the website or get it designed and voila! You are ready to go.

8. Interact with your customers and clients regularly and obtain their feedback

Compared to telephonic conversations it is a lot easier to interact with your customers and clients through e-mails, blog posts and regular updates on your website. You can also host a forum where your customers and clients can leave feedback and exchange ideas regarding your service. This will improve your goodwill and reputation a lot and will also nurture a sense of trust and transparency. Getting good feedback to your website can be extremely critical to your further product development and service improvement efforts. You won’t have to wait for months and even years to know how your products and services are being received by your consumers.

9. Conduct low-cost market research

Since it hardly costs your visitors any money to participate in quizzes and polls on your website you can use these marvelous tools to conduct low-cost market research and launch new products and services or make improvements to existing products and services.

10. Save on office space

If you manage most of your business operations through your website then you hardly need office space. There are many online store companies that conduct millions of dollars of transactions online every month and still don’t need a place to stock their inventory. Some online companies don’t even have regular staff; all they do is take orders from the website and then forward those orders to the original manufacturers and suppliers. All they have to do is maintain and promote a website and this can be done from your basement too.

11. Establish your brand

Many artists, authors and consultants establish and promote their brands through their websites and blogs. They make use of their authority and knowledge to create a fan following. Numerous bloggers and webmasters have got great book writing contracts through their websites.

12. A website opens a slew of new opportunities

There is a complete new world out there on the World Wide Web. Millions of people access the Internet for leisure, communication, education and business every day. It is a huge business, marketing and promotion potential for your organization.

Juan Martinez
http://www.articlesbase.com/branding-articles/12-benefits-of-having-a-website-368940.html

Are you looking for one of the easiest and fastest ways to make lots of money on the Internet? Why not try JV brokerage? JV Brokerage is one of the easiest and fastest ways to make money online. Being a JV broker can be very advantageous. You don’t need your own product, customers, or a mailing list. You don’t need a fully automated website with all the works. For more details go to: www.joint-venture-guide.com You don’t need to purchase anything. All you need to do is learn how to locate complementary businesses, introduce them to each other, and negotiate a deal between them. You become the middleman. For doing this you get a percentage of the sales.

JV brokering requires a deep network of contacts. They are, after all, the people who will make things possible. Without them, the idea, no matter how grand and rewarding, will most certainly sink before it could even take flight. Meeting people and building great relationships with them is a must for this business. Hence, good public relations skills are a necessity for anyone who wants to try this profession. JV brokering also requires a creative mind and a keen eye for the industry. Trends should be anticipated and broken down into feasible plans that are efficiently beneficial for all the parties that decide to adopt it.

Here are some simple steps you could take if you want to start out with JV brokering:

Find possible JV partners. You can do this by building good relationships with the people you have dealt with and are dealing with currently. They are commodities for your success in this field. If you’re just starting out, then you could invest some time in specialized forums and continue to brand yourself as a credible player in the industry.

Soon enough, you’ll have a workable list of contacts. Ask them if they’re open to joint venturing opportunities. If they say no, be thoughtful and polite, and ask why. Learn all you can from each opportunity you pursue.

Educate them on the process – As you find someone who’s interested, spend time with them and educate them on the process of joint venturing. Learn how things work. Learn what they are able to do. For help visit: www.jointwebventures.com Learn what they are willing to do. There may be things that they may want to do but can’t yet.

Try to select the perfect people for the job. The bigger your network is, the more options you will have. Learn what they are able to do. Learn what they are willing to do. Your job as a successful JV Broker is to really know those you are bringing together. Discover their strengths, know their weaknesses. These will all play a very important part towards the success of each joint venture.

Present to them the draft of your plan and invite them to hop aboard the joint venture you are planning. Once all the participants have been notified, try to present a fair and reasonable profit-sharing scheme that will make everybody happy. And once everyone has agreed to the plan and the compensation scheme, it’s time to make it come true!

Joint Venture Brokerage is a highly versatile business which can be run on a part or full-time basis and can produce significant profits for those who take the time to learn the necessary skills and apply them.

Joint Venture brokerage can be a very rewarding trade, especially when you begin to realize the fruits of your concept and your labor.

Dr. Bharat Bhushan
http://www.articlesbase.com/business-articles/joint-ventures-jv-broker-can-be-very-helpful-687724.html

People Do Business With People They Like and Trust…

One of the keys to building a successful business is having a solid network of customers and partners who know you, like you, and can wholeheartedly recommend you to others. Before the Internet, cultivating this type of network meant getting out there and becoming part of the local business community by volunteering, joining networking groups and (most importantly) talking face to face with your customers. When I began my career in public relations, more than a decade ago, a significant portion of my time was spent at my local Chamber of Commerce and other networking events.

Now, my virtual assistance clients are in three different time zones and several different countries. I do not have any clients in my hometown. The Internet has made this possible to operate an international business from anywhere. But, even if your business is virtual, you still need to get out there and meet people. The easiest way to meet lots of people who are interested in partnering with you is through Social Networking.

In the past few years, it has become easier to build personal relationships through the Internet. College students have known how to use the Internet to build relationships for at least five years. The business community is finally catching up and realizing the usefulness of viral social networking tools like Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter that allow you to easily meet and create strong relationships with other people on the Internet.

Here are some reasons why you should consider implementing these strategies in your business:

- Access to your target audience.

Online networking provides unprecedented access to your ideal clients. You can learn a lot about your clients from the information that they share on their social networking profiles and by who else they are following. Also, it is easier to become someone’s friend on a social networking platform (because it is a two-way connection) than it is to get them to join your mailing list.

- Social Networking is instant/viral.

You can communicate instantly (Twitter) with your customers. It is also very easy to pass on small bits of information. Some very successful social marketers have used this to get huge increases of traffic to their websites in a very short amount of time.

- Ability To Build Your Tribe

This is the area where online networking both resembles and outshines traditional networking. Building your tribe (or a community of dedicated followers) is like building your network. But, at the same time, online networks allow your community to talk to each other – and that can be a very powerful thing.

- Increased attendance at events

Advertising your events within your social networks is a great way to increase your attendance. One of my clients has increased her preview teleseminar attendance by 25% just by posting an event invitation on Facebook.

- Getting and Giving Help

The online community is very helpful. You can get (and more importantly) give instant answers to questions.

- Managing Reputation online

Participating in the social networking community is a great way to create a positive reputation online. You will come off as being approachable and in the know about technology.

Meredith Eisenberg
http://www.articlesbase.com/computers-articles/social-networking-why-bother-714170.html

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More Employment answers please visit : isFAQ.com

isfaq
http://www.articlesbase.com/careers-articles/employment-questions-and-answers-1236110.html

The ability to communicate effectively is often cited as the skill rated number one for career advancement across all professions. Unless you leave alone in an island which is disconnected from the rest of the world, else you will need to communicate with other people either on personal stuffs or on the business needs. If you are a working individual or a businessman, a good skill in communication and the success of using communication techniques are keys to ensure the success of your career advancement. Everybody knows the important of communication, but what else can you do with a communication degree?

Career Opportunities

There are many potential career opportunities available for those people with communication studies degrees. Among the communication careers are business, sales, human relations, customer service, social services, management, public relations, advertising, media, fund raising, law, politics, consulting, and publishing. According to the U.S. Department of Labor, nine of the possible career paths mentioned above will be the biggest generators of new jobs over the next ten years.

It may surprise you to discover exactly who holds a communication degree. There are many success people who have both studied in the discipline and received degrees in communication. To name a few, David Boreanaz, actor on the T.V. series Angel, holds a communication degree; Evan Bayh, Indiana Senator studied debate and other communication-related courses at Indiana University; successful broadcast journalists who hold degrees in communication include network news anchor, Connie Chung, shock-jock radio personality, Howard Stern, and television news host, Bob Costas.

The communication qualities such as listening, speaking, creative thinking, decision making, problem solving, reasoning, self-esteem, sociability, self management, integrity, and honesty are the major skills which you will gain from a communication degree. According to the Department of Labor states, the above skills are among the most important qualities for high job performance and these are the key elements of success in almost all job professions.

Communication Degrees Are Available Online

Seeing the high market demands and the need of communication skills in all professions, there are many universities offer communication as one of their major degrees. And online communication degree has also make available for those busy individual who want to enhance their communication skills for career advancement. If you are in the category of “busy people” who want to pursue communication degree, you may consider online universities such as AIU Online, University of Phoenix Online, Capella Universities, DeVry University Online and Ellis College. These prestige online universities offer communication degrees with a few specialization areas, you could choose the one that best suit your needs; and pursue your communication degree online while continue with your current lifestyle and career.

Summary

Communication studies majors and minors find opportunities in the positions mentioned above and in many other types of positions and industries. The writing and communication skills gained in communication studies, prepares you for future employment in almost any field of interest.

Take a visit to http://www.studykiosk.com for more information on all online degrees available. Earning your education is one of the biggest and most important investments in your life. Our goal is to help you quickly find online degrees and online programs. We feature over 1,000 online degrees and accredited online degree programs.

Jullie Harvard
http://www.articlesbase.com/college-and-university-articles/what-else-can-you-do-with-a-communication-degree-85627.html

Hurray, another end of the year list. This one though (from Bank Info Security) is not reviewing the top movies, songs, celebrities but, the miserable failures in data security of 2008. With nine more days until the end of 2008, this post could be pre-mature. Data breach threats show no regard for end of the year holiday parties and frivolities.

The data breach incidents of 2008 include the old stand-bys of lost tapes and data due to mistake and theft but also reveals an increased use of break in technologies to steal information from data bases. Numerous “hacking” incidences and infected computer systems not only resulted in millions of dollars in cost to businesses but exposed large numbers of consumers to fraud. Stolen data has to go some where and can be held in reserve for use at a later time, possibly changing hands often before reaching a perpetrator. Data is a commodity. After all, identity theft is a business – suppliers, middle men and end users are the norm, just like in any business.

At least one of these breaches began in 2007 and continued into 2008 due to law enforcement action. Last year’s breaches while not lacking of hacking incidents, were focused more on missing data. For comparison purposes, below the top 10 list find links to stories looking back on 2007 and a link to a comprehensive multi-year listing. APRPEH is currently taking predictions of data loss stories for the end of 2009.

For accuracy purposes, it is important to recognize the difference between lost back up tapes or disks and stolen computers, hard drives or data devices and must be further differentiated from data lost due to hacking, viruses, malware – any active invasion of data storage systems for the purpose of stealing information. It is this last category with its obviously pernicious intent to steal data (vis a vis hardware) which represents a greater threat equation for consumers. The ‘how was it stolen’ question makes a huge difference in predicting whether or not consumers are likely or unlikely to become victims of identity theft.

Top 10 Security Breaches of 2008 – Bank Info Security
Ghost of Christmas Past (TJX) Still Casts Specter on Present and Future
Linda McGlasson, Managing Editor
December 22, 2008

From Hannaford to Countrywide to the Bank of New York Mellon, 2008 has been a year of high-profile security breaches in or impacting the financial services industry. Here’s our list of the top 10 – and lessons that should be learned, so we aren’t back revisiting these issues in ‘09.

1. TJX Case Winds Up, Arrests Made

Earlier this year, The TJX Companies (parent of retailer TJ Maxx) settled in federal court and paid out millions to its federal regulator, the Federal Trade Commission, banking institutions, credit card companies and consumers to bring to a close the court cases that had threatened to overwhelm the company.

The August arrest of 11 alleged hackers accused of stealing more than 40 million credit and debit cards brings law enforcement closer to closing what is still the largest hack ever. The U.S. Department of Justice brought charges against 11 alleged hackers from around the globe. Some of the hacking gang were nabbed and brought to the U.S. to face trial alongside three U.S.-based defendants. Two of the defendants, Christopher Scott and Damon Patrick Toey, have already pled guilty in the case. Others including the ringleader, Alberto Gonzalez, await trial.

Lesson Learned: The wide-range of the perpetrators brings to light something that those in the cyber intelligence realm have known for some time: Criminal hackers are part of a very mature and multi-billion dollar industry that reaches around the world. No organization is immune to the threat.

2. Bank of New York Mellon

An unencrypted backup tape with 4.5 million customers of the Bank of New York Mellon went missing on Feb. 27, after it was sent to a storage facility. The missing tape contains social security numbers and bank account information on 4.5 million customers – including several hundred thousand depositors and investors of People’s United Bank of Connecticut, which had given Bank of New York Mellon the information so it could offer those consumers an investment opportunity.

Lesson Learned: For Bank of New York Mellon, know that when data is released to a third-party that their security is as good or better than yours. Encryption isn’t just something that is good for the data held at an institution; it’s also something to consider for data that leaves the institution.

3. Hannaford Data Breach

In March, the Maine-based Hannaford Brothers grocery store chain announced that 4.2 million customer card transactions had been compromised by the hackers. More than 1800 credit card numbers were immediately used for fraudulent transactions.

The affected banks and credit unions were forced to reissue the credit and debit cards. Within two days of the breach announcement, two class action suits had been filed on behalf of customers against the retailer. The retailer claims its systems were PCI-compliant and had passed a PCI assessment shortly before the hack was discovered.

Lesson Learned: The case is still open, and forensic reports by security investigators brought in by Hannaford have not been made public. The PCI Security Council has pledged that if the PCI requirements are found to be wanting in light of the report, they will make changes to tighten the requirements. Cases such as Hannaford may be the impetus behind legislation to require prompt notification of a data security breach.

4. Countrywide Insider Theft

In August, a former Countrywide Financial Corp. senior financial analyst, Rene Rebollo, was arrested and charged by the FBI for stealing and selling sensitive personal information of an estimated 2 million mortgage loan applicants. How he did it over a two-year period was to download about 20,000 customer profiles each week onto flash drives, working on Sunday nights, when no one else was in the office. Rebollo then took the excel spreadsheets to business center stores to email to buyers.

Countrywide, now owned by Bank of America, was already facing money and reputation issues because of the subprime loan meltdown before it faced the insider threat of Rebollo.

Lesson Learned: While Countrywide and Bank of America now know firsthand what a rogue insider can do, other institutions need to do a better job of monitoring their employees and creating asset controls. As the economy continues to produce layoffs, this threat may become even more so, as fearful employees look to cash in on their trusted status and take data just in case they face unemployment.

5. GE Money Backup Tape Goes AWOL

Early in January, Iron Mountain said it could not find a backup tape that belonged to GE Money, containing information on J.C. Penney customers and 100 other retailers.

The tape was stored in an Iron Mountain vault, says an Iron Mountain statement issued about the loss, and had been requested by GE Money in October 2007. The tape contained the personal information of about 650,000 J.C. Penney customers and the other 100 retailers. GE Money processes credit cards for those retailers. As a records and archive company that specializes in records management, Iron Mountain was at a loss to explain the tape’s whereabouts.

Iron Mountain said it was an unfortunate case of a misplaced tape, but asserts that there was no evidence that the information was obtained and used by unauthorized persons. The missing tape also included about 150,000 social security numbers.

Lesson Learned: While GE Money paid for credit monitoring for the 650,000 credit card holders, Iron Mountain may have learned to better monitor where media is located. For the rest of companies that hold information of a personally identifiable nature, there is another reason to keep it safe from prying eyes. The cost of an average data breach can hit a company’s bottom line. According to a study conducted by the Ponemon Institute, an independent information security and privacy research group, data breaches are costing businesses an average of $197 per customer record, up from $182 in 2006.

6. RSA Report: Half-Million Banking ID’s Stolen

In November, security vendor RSA said it found a single Trojan that had taken more than 500,000 online banking accounts credentials, credit cards and other resources. The company’s Fraud Action Research Team added that the hacking gang behind the Trojan may have been operating for as long as three years. The compromised data came from hundreds of financial institutions around the world.

Lesson Learned: The Trojan Sinowal is so tricky that the average institution or customer would not even know that they are infected with it. Taking a professional, defense-in-depth approach to protecting a network and customers is the best remedy.

7. Compass Bank Hard Drive Stolen, 1 Million Accounts Taken

At the sentencing of a former bank programmer at Compass Bank in Birmingham, AL. in March, it was revealed that the accused had stolen a hard drive with 1 million customer records and used it to commit debit-card fraud. James Kevin Real is now serving a 42-month sentence and was ordered to pay back the more than $32,000 that he and an accomplice withdrew from Compass Bank customer accounts. The bank claimed that the customer records contained limited information, but Real was able to create 250 counterfeit debit cards. He used 45 of them to access and withdraw cash before being arrested.

At the time of Real’s sentencing, Alabama was one of 11 states that didn’t require companies to automatically notify customers of data breaches.

Lesson Learned: Compass Bank dodged a bullet in terms of cost on this breach. It would have had to notify all 1 million customers of the compromise of their data had the hard drive theft been in a state that requires notification. Other than the 250 customers that Real took money from, no other customers were notified of the data loss. That means that 999,750 of the other 1 million customers weren’t notified of the potential risk.

8. Ski Resort Okemo Suffers Hannaford-Like Data Breach

In an attack similar to what hit Hannaford Brothers in March, the Okemo Ski Resort in Vermont said in April it had been hit by hackers that installed malicious software to capture credit card data as it was being processed at the resort. Law enforcement officials at the time said they were investigating as many as 50 other similar incidents in the Northeast.

Lesson Learned: PCI compliance is like a driver’s license — it may mean that a retailer has passed the test for compliance, but doesn’t necessarily mean it is in compliance.

9. Retailer Montgomery Ward

Six months after a breach happened at the parent company of the Montgomery Ward website, the company Direct Marketing Services finally began notifying customers that their credit card information was stolen in the hack. At least 51,000 records were stolen out of a database in December, 2007.

Direct Marketing said it had promptly contacted its payment processor and Visa and MasterCard, and it also notified the U.S. Secret Service.

Lesson Learned: Direct Marketing Services was forced into contacting the customers after the company CardCops, an investigative firm that tracks credit card thefts for the financial services industry, found more than 200,000 payment cards being offered for sale on an Internet chat room often visited by card thieves. Better to take the public relations role and confess the breach than possibly face data breach notification lawsuits by consumers and state attorney generals.

10. More Than $5 Million Taken By ATM Capers

The Automatic Teller Machine capers are hitting everywhere. In June, two men were charged with making hundreds of withdrawals from New York City ATMs, grabbing $750,000 in the process, using stolen information from a previous computer intrusion into a Citibank server that processes ATM withdrawals. One of the same accused also allegedly took $5 million in withdrawals from iWire prepaid MasterCard accounts.

Lesson Learned: While Citibank denied the indictment’s charge that their server had been breached and blames a third-party transaction processor for the compromise, it still meant it had to notify and reissue new debit cards to those customers that the bank believed were exposed to increased risk.

The Top 10 Data Breaches of 2007 – CSO Online

APRPEH
http://www.articlesbase.com/corporate-articles/looking-back-2008-data-breaches-693991.html

Kevorkian brings over 40 years of Public Relations experience in the United States and in the United Kingdom. He has consulted for major companies such as Eaton Corporation, Plessy Electronics, and Commodore Computers.

In addition, Kevorkian has also been a university professor for public relations and journalism having taught at both American College in London, and Temple University.

His role on the advisory board will include reviewing key clientele, strategic partnerships, key new business development, crisis management, and conflict resolution.

“We are very excited to have Andrew Kevorkian with our group. He is a respected professional in his field and has much to offer,” stated Dan Mangru of i1connect.

“Our group is looking forward to adding new members to our advisory board and giving our clients the best service possible. The goal of the advisory board is to tap some of the leading professionals from many different fields to provide a unique perspective on public relations. From traditional to new media, i1connect looks to provide effective strategies for companies to get their message across to their target audience and drive exposure and revenues.”

**This release has been prepared by i1connect, an independent news agency**

i1connect.com (www.i1connect.com) is the new online leader in global public relations and advertising. With a diversified set of offerings ranging from Public Relations, Press Release Distribution, Advertising, Marketing, Website Development, to Investor Relations services, i1connect.com has positioned itself for long term growth utilizing the latest in telecommunications technology.

For Interviews and Media Inquiries Contact:

Press Department

i1connect

info@i1connect.com

www.i1connect.com

561-515-6177

Lilian Rodriguez
http://www.articlesbase.com/business-articles/i1connect-names-andrew-kevorkian-to-advisory-board-122780.html

OUT OF THE CLOSET: CHINA‘S ‘OTHER TIBET‘

Maryam Sakeenah

“Xinjiang will always keep up the intensity of its crackdown on ethnic separatist forces and deal them devastating blows without showing any mercy.”

- Wang Lequan, Chinese Communist Party Xinjiang Secretary, quoted by China News Agency, January 14, 2003

“China is guilty of fierce repression of religious expression, and intolerance of any expression of discontent.”

- Rebiya Kadeer, Uighur rights activist, writing for The Washington Post.

The 2008 Olympics held in Beijing helped bring into the limelight the plight of ethnic minorities in China, subject to ‘gross human rights violations’, according to Amnesty International. This said, however, there was a clear duality in the international perception and approach to the two issues of ethnic persecution in China: the Tibetans and the Muslim Uighurs of the Xinjiang region in the North-West. While the Tibet issue received international attention, building up pressure on the Chinese government, the ethnic unrest in Xinjiang remained eclipsed and went quite unnoticed, even to the extent that Al Jazeera TV had to call it ‘China’s Other Tibet’ in order to garner public attention. This international inattention and apathy makes sense in the context of the War on Terror, considering the fact that China’s diplomacy has successfully managed to present the Uighurs’ struggle as ‘terrorism’. Regardless of the international attitude towards it, facts on the ground seem to support what Uighur human rights activist Rebiya Kadeer stated in an interview to Kate Mc Geown of BBC, “I believe the Uighurs are the most persecuted people in the world.”

Amnesty International reports on March 17, 2005: “Since the late 1980s, the Chinese government’s policies and other factors have generated growing ethnic discontent in the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region. Thousands of people there have been victims of gross human rights violations, including arbitrary detention, unfair political trials, torture and summary executions. These violations are suffered primarily by members of the Uighur community and occur amidst growing ethnic unrest fuelled by unemployment, discrimination and restrictions on religious and cultural freedoms. The situation has led some people living in the Xingiang Uighur Autonomous Region to favour independence from China. Crackdowns in the region have intensified since 9/11, with authorities designating supporters of independence as ’separatists’ and ‘terrorists’. Muslim Uighurs have been the main targets of Chinese authorities. Authorities have closed down mosques, detained Islamic clergy and severely curtailed freedom of expression and association.”

The holding of the Olympics in Beijing was used as a justification of a hard-hitting crackdown in Urumqi and other sensitive areas in Xinjiang. Uighurs have been jailed for reading newspapers sympathetic to the cause of independence. Others have been detained merely for listening to Radio Free Asia, an American-sonsored English-language station. Even the most peaceful Uighur activists, if they practise Islam in a way that the authorities deem inappropriate, risk arrest and torture. China regularly dubs Uighur historians, poets and writers “intellectual terrorists” and sends them to jail. In June 2003 Abdulghani Memetemin, a teacher and journalist, was sentenced to nine years in jail for “providing state secrets for an organisation outside the country”. What he had actually done was help the East Turkestan Information Centre (an NGO based in Germany and run by exiled Uighurs), with its work by sending it news reports and transcripts of speeches by Chinese officials. In 2005, Nurmemet Yasin, a young intellectual, was sentenced to a decade in prison for writing an allegory comparing the Uighurs’ predicament with that of a pigeon in a cage.[i]

Amnesty International has documented that, since 2001, “tens of thousands of people are reported to have been detained for investigation in the region, and hundreds, possibly thousands, have been charged or sentenced under the Criminal Law; many Uighurs are believed to have been sentenced to death and executed for alleged “separatist” or “terrorist” offences.” AI has further reported that once imprisoned, detainees are subjected to types of torture from cigarette-burns on the skin to submersion in raw sewage. Prisoners have had toenails extracted by pliers, been attacked by dogs and burned with electric batons, even cattle prods.[ii]

Those held and routinely tortured usually have flimsy charges against them. Human Rights groups say many of those arrested ‘may have done little more than merely practice their religion or defend their culture’, says M J Gohel, a terrorism specialist at the Asia Pacific Foundation in London.[iii] The joint report ‘Devastating Blows’ by Human Rights Watch and Human Rights in China reveals that more than half the detainees in Xinjiang’s labour camps are there for having engaged in ‘illegal religious activity.’ Sharon Hom, the Executive Director of Human Rights in China says ‘Religious regulation in Xinjiang is so pervasive that it creates a legal net that can catch just anyone the authorities want to target.’[iv]

Rebiya Kadeer was a successful Uighur entrepreneur who founded a trading company in Xinjiang and rose to a position of prominence. Her company helped train Muslim Uighurs and give them employment opportunities. She and her husband became spokespersons for the rights of the Uighurs, and used their international connections to further the cause. In 1999, Kadeer was arrested as she entered a hotel to deliver a speech on human rights, and sentenced to eight years in prison on the charge of ‘providing secret information to foreigners’, which happened to be some news clippings about human rights abuse in Xinjiang she wanted to pass on to her husband in the United States. These ’secret’ documents, however, were from newspapers that were publicly available. Human rights groups globally campaigned for Kadeer, and her sentence was shortened. She was released in 2005 and today champions the Uighurs struggle as an advocate of their rights in USA. In a June 2005 interview with Kate Mc Geown of BBC, Kadeer says, “Since I came out of jail I have never stopped fighting for the freedom of my people. In prison I witnessed personally the torture and persecution of many Uighurs who were totally innocent of the crimes they were said to have committed. I wasn’t allowed to get a lawyer… My struggle is peaceful. I focus on human rights. China has used 9/11 as an excuse to crack down. It is easy for the government to say the Uighurs are terrorists, because they are Muslims. Many Uighurs have been falsely persecuted for this.”

While the unrest in Xinjiang is decades old, China always looked at it as a sort of ‘national embarrassment’, deflecting international attention and keeping mum. M J Gohel of the Asia Pacific Foundation says “China has been shy about the whole problem. It has now come out of the closet.” The ‘coming out of the closet’ comes as a policy change in the wake of the War on Terror, which provides the Chinese government with an opportune moment to gather international support. This it is doing by presenting the unrest in Xinjiang as terrorism, fomenting a link with terrorism elsewhere around the globe which the United States has committed itself to fight. Both Human Rights Watch and Human Rights in China accuse China of ‘opportunistically using the post 9/11 environment to make the outrageous claim that individuals disseminating peaceful religious and cultural messages in Xinjiang are terrorists who have simply changed tactics.’[v]

The international connection is easy to establish as Xnjiang enjoys deep ethnic, religious and cultural ties with neighbouring states including Afghanistan, Pakistan and Uzbekistan. China has utilized this natural connection to the hilt. The government claims foreign nationals are in the region. At a press conference, Xinjiang Party Secretary Wang Lequan warned that the province was “under attack… In Xinjiang, the separatists, religious extremists and violent terrorists are all around us_ they’re very active.” [vi] Post 9/11, China has busied itself with convincing the world that there is indeed a direct link between the US-led War on Terrorism and China’s indigenous fight against separatists in Xinjiang. With Islam as the mainstream religion in Xinjiang, the ‘common link’ is easy to establish.

The common link has enabled China not only to seek international approval for its counter-terrorism methods but also to demand support and assistance for the same. China has already named more than 10 groups who it claims are supporting separatist ‘terrorism’ in the region, and all of which are based abroad. These include, besides the already banned East Turkestan Islamic Movement, the East Turkestan Liberation Organisation, the World Uighur Youth Congress and the East Turkestan Information Centre. The last two groups are based in Germany, and have been operating peacefully and legally since years.[vii] Mike Dillon, Xinjiang expert at the University of Durham says, “Whether the other groups on the list even exist is open to doubt. And whether groups demanding independence have links abroad is open to doubt.”[viii] Dru C. Gladney, President of the Pacific Basin Institute agrees: “The ETIM has no truly effective links with Al Qaeda, at least not any more, and is most probably defunct by now, as far as we know.” Like several others, Andrew Nathan of Columbia University believes China is by far exaggerating the danger separatism in Xinjiang really poses.[ix] Uighur activist Rebiya Kadeer emphatically states, “I vehemently deny that our struggle is connected to Al Qaeda. I believe history will show we were never terrorists. My people will win.”[x]

The fruits of China’s diplomatic labours are manifested by international unconcern and apathy towards the issue. The United States, usually bitterly critical of human rights abuse in China, has apparently agreed to maintain strategic silence over the issue. When compared with international censure over Tibet, the duality of standards becomes only too clear. One reason for this is that the Uighurs lack effective, dynamic leadership that can advocate their cause internationally. They do not have the Nobel Laureate ‘Dalai Lama’ that Tibet has. The other reason that goes deeper, is the connection China has been able to establish with global terrorism, which makes world public opinion apathetic. The connection, sadly, is fomented conveniently because Uighurs share their religion with other separatist groups around the world that are branded ‘terrorists’. International propaganda against Islam churned for politically expedient reasons in the context of the War on Terror demonizes Muslim populations struggling for rights. It takes away sympathy and concern over rampant human rights abuse, making criminals of us all.

Nicholas Bequelin is pessimistic about future prospects for a peaceful resolution for the oppressed Uighurs due to international unconcern: “There is absolutely no international pressure to change policy in Xinjiang now. So why would China make any changes?”[xi]

[i] Fahad Ansari, “Plight of the Uighurs”, islamicawakening.com, September 9, 2008.

[ii] Ibid.

[iii] Quoted by Tim Luard, “China’s Changing Views of Terrorism”, BBC News Online, December 15, 2003.

[iv] ‘China Crushing Muslim Uighurs’, BBC News Online, April 12, 2005.

[v] “Devastating Blows”, Human Rights Watch, April 2005.

[vi] Quentin Sommerville, ‘Chinas Grip on Xinjiang Muslims’, BBC News Online, November 29, 2005.

[vii] Quoted by Tim Luard, “China’s Changing Views of Terrorism”, BBC News Online, December 15, 2003.

[viii] Ibid.

[ix] Quoted by Preeti Bhattacharji, ‘Uighurs and Chinas Xinjiang Region’ Council on Foreign Relations, September 29, 2008.

[x] Rebiya Kadeer in an interview by Kate Mc Geown in June 2005.

[xi] Quoted by Preeti Bhattacharji, ‘Uighurs and Chinas Xinjiang Region’ Council on Foreign Relations, September 29, 2008.

Maryam
http://www.articlesbase.com/politics-articles/out-of-the-closet-quotchinas-other-tibetquot-690161.html

When we first say entertainment, the first thing one considers is the medium of reach. From television to radio, from newspaper to magazines and lately the internet along with mobile technology, every medium is utilized as a resource by the entertainment company to reach out to the common man. Earlier when we spoke of entertainment the only thought that came to our minds was cinema, but today with the evolution of society many other happening events has raised the standard of entertainment. From fashion shows, to sporting events, to a celebrity wedding or a perfume launch the entertainment industry has dominated in all major fields. Even when it comes to brand building your business all you would need is proper publicity of the product or brand that you would want to market. Getting it done through the entertainment sector proves beneficial simply because any major celebrity related to hardcore entertainment is a house hold name and hence caters to the masses and classes alike.

The Entertainment sector in India on the whole can be categorized into various industries or companies depending upon the kind of services that they provide. If it is into news, advertisements and brand building it could be called a Media and Entertainment Company in India, if it is into public relations and ensures that it bridges the gulf between the product and the targeted customers it is said to be a public relation agency in India. If the company conducts any live event that is related to highlighting any particular product launch or an important social event it is termed as an Event Management Company in India. If it is into film production and distribution and other aspects of movie making it is termed to be a Movie Production Company in India. An important aspect of brand-building or product marketing through films is called in-film marketing. Here the product to be marketed is presented through out the film. If a company is into sports entertainment and has the broadcasting rights to any major sporting event that has the curiosity of the public and is being conducted then it is termed as Sports Marketing Company in India. Similarly if a company is solely into advertising it is termed as an advertising agency or advertising company in India.

Entertainment presented online has also been a source of revenue to many. Online games, film websites and other related domains do arouse the interest of numerous visitors, and to have a business link posted to that website does help. There is a saying that “Having a business and not advertising it, is like blinking at a girl in the dark”. Entertainment in India today is all about money. Film celebrities shield out around 10 crores per annum as income tax, hence providing enough amount of evidence the kind of finance involved in the entertainment sector.

manstone
http://www.articlesbase.com/television-articles/entertainment-its-different-faces-700761.html