identity theft

            While watching t.v. today the catchy advertisement for freecreditreport.com popped up on my television and it got me thinking in detail about identity theft. After completing the quiz about what I know about identity theft, I was dismayed to find out I knew very little about it. However, after attending a class on identity theft I feel confident that my knowledge has improved and I feel as though I can relate this new knowledge to the new invention that I have created.

            When I first learned about identity theft I second guessed my invention for it did release personal information, such as the location of my phone, however after much consideration I do not find this invention to be high risk for identity theft. The steps that are supposed to be taken in order to avoid identity theft is no debit cards, no social security number, don’t provide bank account or credit card info unless forced, check monthly statements, do not bring a lot in you wallet, don’t write down passwords, shred everything that has account numbers, do not show personasl infor on the web, and monitor your credit card. My invention which tweets the location of the phone, does disclose personal information however, one is not able to steal your identity if they only have the location of the phone.

            Worst case scenario is that someone is able to obtain the phone, if one puts the right blockage on the phone this will not be a problem. First, everyone should back up all information to the computer because once on the computer it is almost impossible for something to be fully deleted. Then one should set the phone to delete all information if locked and the password guessed 10 times therefore preventing someone from hacking your phone. Your password should be something that can not be easily guessed, such as password or your name. If one follows these steps then your identity being stolen is not even a thought.   

privacy

            If you read my last post, I bet your wondering “if the location gets tweeted then won’t everyone know where my phone is?!” “How will my privacy be protected?” “Do I have to have a twitter to use the application?”  

            Privacy these days is hard to come by.  It feels as though everyday our private lives are becoming more public. Things such as emails, facebook pages, twitter, and other websites are becoming publicized. My wise teacher once told me, “don’t send an email that you don’t want on the cover of the New York Times!” With mottos like this, you wonder why would you want such private information such as the location of your phone being tweeted. I believe that if you take the right steps onto protecting your privacy you will have no problems.  The first step to take when using this application is to make sure that you make your twitter private so that if someone was to look you up on google he/ she would not be able to view all your tweets. Secondly, check to see who your followers are and make sure you know them personally. aIf you do not know them  I suggest blocking them from your tweets. Lastly after finding the location of your phone you must delete the tweet that posted where the phone was immediately. After taking these precautions you willl be fully protected from your phone being stolen.

            If you find that you do not trust twitter since it is an open social network you may choose to send it to facebook instead which is a much more intimate social media website. On Facebook, you will be able to make your status private by making the setting view only for me. This will protect you from other people trying to steal your cell phone. This part of the new invention is not for everyone since it does involve some risk, however, as I previously mentioned you will be able to click a button and have the phone beep and blink. I do believe that if you follow all the above steps you should have no problem with the twitter part of the new invention. 

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Are you constantly misplacing your cell phone?  Is your phone either off or on silent when you need it most?  If you answered yes to both of these questions then you need a phone tracker!  This handy device is a little chip attached to your phone that will be hooked up to a remote where you can make the phone flash color or beep in order to make it easier for you to find it.  Also, by using twitter you will be able to locate where your phone is at all times.

            On the remote there is a button that will send the location, meaning exact address, of where the phone is through twitter. One will be able to click a button on the remote and the location of the phone will show up on the twitter on a computer. Currently on twitter, twitter has the ability to recognize locations and when you send tweets the exact location with a map pops up on the bottom of the tweet. Therefore I do not think it is a far off concept for the phone to be able to tweet its location from the click of a button. 

            Social Media is the most used internet source. Therefore by using twitter, the new up and coming social trend, this product will be in high demand. Currently twitter is used for recruiting people, promoting businesses, and learning about problems before they occur. With the phone tracker we will be using twitter directly for the services and we will also be able to promote the brand constantly by putting our logo under every tweet that is tweeted from a lost cellphone. Also, we will be able to use twitter to hear what people think about our new product and whether we think that it will be successful.

            While we are uncertain about the future of twitter, social media is growing by the day. As of now twitter is a growing trend all over the world. My teacher said that last year only a few people had twitters and when he asked the question again today in class around 100 of us had one. This just shows that the number of users is increasing by the day so we will be able to reach more people with the product by using twitter. However, whether twitter exists or not there are many other social media websites which in my opinion are not as prosperous at the moment.  As time progresses, media will change and when the time comes, we will begin to use another social site to promote the phone tracker.