President's Message May 2007

Our last month's presentation in Identity Theft was very interesting. It really made me think about all of the information that I am frequently asked to give out without knowing exactly who is receiving the information (such as with “telephone surveys,” warranty forms, contests, and many other inquiries that we face daily. This was brought home to me when I received a telephone call with someone identifying himself as working for some institution (?) and making a survey. He wanted me to tell him whether I had any children in my home under the age of 14. Instead of giving him a quick response of “no,” I stopped to think. It was none of his business. He might be actually making the call on behalf of a real research project or he could just be searching for households which had children. I had no way of determining the legitimacy of the call. Even if it really was for a survey I had no way of knowing why the survey was being taken or what the results would be used for. The important thing that I got from the incident was that I stopped to think before I gave out information. I am determined to keep on thinking before answering questions or filling out forms. It is even more important to stop and think before giving out information over the Internet. It is also very important to protect the valuable information we all keep on our computers. Creating and protecting passwords is a task that we are apt to take too lightly. If the presentation made us realize why it is important to create more secure passwords and keep them in a secure location then it was worthwhile. If it made us actually follow through and made us redo our all-too-easy to crack passwords, then it was a roaring success. And be sure to take the sticky notes with your passwords down from your monitor. All kidding aside, this is a very serious area to which we should all pay attention.

REMINDER: Time is running out. Elections are next month. We still need someone to run for Secretary. The annual Southwest User Group Conference in San Diego is being held early this year. It will be July 13, 14, and 15 at the Town and Country Resort & convention Center in San Diego. It consists of Workshops that cover areas of interest for User Groups, a Vendor Faire, meals and presentations by sponsors. It is a really good time to meet the leaders from other User Groups. Last year there were more than 250 attendees from 60 user groups. If you want more information please check http://www.swugconf.org. It is only $50 to register if postmarked by June 22. Special user rates at the hotel are also available until June 22. This is a way to have a mini-vacation, meet other computer enthusiasts, and learn something at the same time. There is even a photo contest. Photos must be submitted by June 1st. To be eligible to enter someone from NOCCC must attend the conference. The rules of the contest are also on the conference Web site. I would be happy to answer any questions about last year's conference.

See you at the June meeting.

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Last update: Sun Apr 29 21:53:34 GMT 2007