Washington, DC -- December 29, 2008 -- When most television broadcasts in the US go all-digital in February, it will mark a new triumph for communications technology. Across the country, the conversion from an older method of transmitting TV signals, known as analog, will give way to digital technology.

The transition to digital TV, which is taking place around the world, will bring vast improvements in both picture (high definition) and sound quality, and the ability of broadcasters to multicast -- sending multiple signals over the same airwaves used for one analog signal. There are other benefits as well. There will be more space on the airwaves for public safety communications, allowing police, fire and rescue squads to keep us safer. In addition, it will make a new generation of wireless technologies available. Multicasting may allow more free ethnic media broadcasts.

Yet, there may also be a serious downside: We may be creating a new digital divide.
While many Americans take their cable and satellite TV services for granted, millions of families still rely on rooftop antennas and rabbit ears to receive their television stations. On February 17th, when most television stations must broadcast digitally, those old over the air televisions sets will not pick up the stations many Americans rely on.

Not surprising, low income families and communities of color will be impacted the most. The Nielson Company, leaders in television viewer research, has completed a study with stunning results. Their report shows that 12.5% of African American households and 13% of Hispanic households are using analog televisions and are not ready for the digital transition. Moreover, households with annual incomes of less than $25,000 are five times more likely to be unprepared for the digital conversion than households earning over $75,000.

The impact on communities of color is underscored by Nielson's listing of locations with the highest percentage of households with analog televisions; most have large minority populations. For instance, 15.8% of Houston households aren't ready for the conversion, 14.3% in Dallas-Ft. Worth, 14.1% in Tulsa, 13.4% in Salt Lake City, 13.3 in Milwaukee, 12.7% in Albuquerque-Santa Fe, 12.0% in Minneapolis-St. Paul, 11.6% in Austin, 11.6% in Los Angeles and 11.6% in Memphis.

The data paints a disturbing picture. Many low-income and people of color who were part of the broad coalition that lifted Illinois Sen. Barrack Obama to the presidency face the real possibility of not being able to follow his progress once he takes office. Moreover, as the nation confronts one of its most challenging economic crises ever, millions of people won't be getting the latest news and information about public policy changes from their television sets.
It's crucial that public officials, as well as corporate, community and civic leaders join in the effort to inform those with analog televisions how they can obtain converter boxes that will allow their televisions to continue receiving stations after the conversion.

The government is sponsoring a conversion assistance program. A Digital-to-Analog Converter Box Coupon is available; households can receive two $40 coupons for the purchase of converter boxes. Depending on the television, converter boxes cost between $40 and $70. For more information, visit www.dtv2009.gov, or call 1-888-388-2009 (voice). The process can take up to six weeks, so people must order their coupons now.

The Leadership Conference on Civil Rights is urging civic, community and political leaders to help their constituents keep their televisions on. Here are ways to assist those who need our help: 

• Post flyers to community and office bulletin boards.
• Place announcements in newsletters, bulletins, and newspapers.
• Send postcards or emails to everyone in your address book.
• Give bookmarks out at your neighborhood school.
• Attend conversion education events in your community.

There are 21 million households currently relying on analog television. As our nation breaks many barriers, including the election of its first African American president, we can't allow millions of people to lose their source of news and information. That would be taking a giant step backwards.

Let's help those who can't afford new televisions keep their access to the airwaves.

(Mr. Henderson is the president and CEO of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, which is the nation's premier civil and human rights coalition. Information regarding the digital conversion can be found on their website at www.civilrights.org/dtv/. To arrange media interviews regarding the digital conversion, please contact Alicia Ingram at 404-493-1724.)

The Coalition (see list of signatories) includes prominent communications providers, high technology companies, manufacturers, consumers, labor unions, public interest groups, educators, state and local governments, utilities, content creators, foundations, and other stakeholders in America's broadband future. These organizations believe that such a strategy is critical to America's economic vitality, educational opportunity, public safety, energy efficiency, environmental stability, global competitiveness, and a continuing high quality of life.

At the event, representatives of these organizations voiced support for the Call to Action, discussed their shared goals, and announced their intent continue to work together to address key issues and policy priorities.

Geoff Daily of App-Rising.com had a front row seat and wrote a great review of the event; it is well worth checking out.

The Who's Who in the Broadband arena have shared their view with the incoming President. Even if commercial interests play a big role, it is still good to see such strong consensus.

This is an actual case:

Coming across WWW.EURO-REAL-TRANS.COM the investigator recognizes the layout and scouring his memory he realizes that this is a common template used by Romanian scammers.

He searches for and finds the phone number listed on the site: 0044-701-426-4178, then Googles it to find what other fraudulent sites uses this number.

Finds two: www.express-europa-courier.net and www.euro-real-trans.com.

A similar search on the fax number: 0044-208-711-6177 showed  that prior to this site the scammers also used www.express-euro-transport.com as their illegal vehicle.

He then drafts this email to the ISP/Web Host:

"You are hosting a fraud domain:

WWW.EURO-REAL-TRANS.COM -- It's a common template used by Romanian scammers. A simple Google search of the phone numbers listed on the site: 0044-701-426-4178 reveals the previous fraud domains you used:
www.express-europa-courier.net and www.euro-real-trans.com.

"Same for the fax number: 0044-208-711-6177; prior to this you have used:
www.express-euro-transport.com

"Here is the real owner of the phone number you have listed for the fraud shipping company and Laura Radice:

"Marty Wakefield (203) 294-1234 1 Shelby Drive, Wallingford, CT 06492

"The address you have listed for the domain is the district office for: http://www.housedems.ct.gov/Dargan/index.asp
Stephen D. Dargan
115th District

"At the Capitol:
Legislative Office Building, Room 3603
Hartford, CT 06106-1591
(860) 240-8585
1-800-842-8267
Stephen.Dargan@cga.ct.gov

"In the District:
215 Beach Street
West Haven, CT 06516
(203) 937-1985

(Now, as an aside, it does appear that State Rep. Stephen Dargan is quite familiar with the identity  theft situation. Take a look at: http://www.housedems.ct.gov/Dargan/IDTheft07.pdf).

To continue the email to the web host:

"Here is the domain registration data you have for the Romanian scammer running the fake shipping and escrow site.

"Registrant:
Laura Radice
215 Beach Street
New Haven, Connecticut 06516
United States

"Registered through: GoDaddy.com, Inc. (http://www.godaddy.com)
Domain Name: EURO-REAL-TRANS.COM
Created on: 24-Nov-08
Expires on: 24-Nov-09
Last Updated on: 24-Nov-08

"Administrative Contact:
Radice, Laura borgnospam@aborg.com
215 Beach Street
New Haven, Connecticut 06516
United States
(203) 294-1234

"Technical Contact:
Radice, Laura borgnospam@aborg.com
215 Beach Street
New Haven, Connecticut 06516
United States
(203) 294-1234

 "Domain servers in listed order:
NS1.ABORG.NET
NS2.ABORG.NET

"Please suspend this fraud account immediately."

This salvo would of course not have been possible without unearthing all the particulars (as above) about the site; but once the data is at hand, letting the ISP know they are hosting scammers goes a long way to shut at least that one site down.

Although, grimly the investigator recognizes that the web host is actually allowing the scammer to hide his or her contact email by putting it in the domain registration data (see above), and so, in effect, is aiding and abetting a criminal. If someone in real life helps to hide a criminal he can be, and usuall is, held liable as an accomplice. But this is the internet and web hosting companies can apparently do pretty much what they like in the way of drumming up business.

Now, even if this one scammer is shut down, this is only out of then ten he may have discovered and tracked down this day, and this, so far, is not a winning battle, for these scamming sites are not unlike roaches, for everyone you see, there are one hundred you don't.

The moral of this pragmatic slice of life: Stay vigilant, very vigilant.

In a joint statement recently sent to the transition team, the ASPIRA Association, Inc., Latinos in Science and Technology Association LISTA), Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities (HACU), Institute for the Puerto Rican/Hispanic Elderly, Inc. (IPR/HE), and National Hispanic Medical Association (NHMA) outlined actions the new president must take, including affordable high-speed access, creation of minority media ownership opportunities through DTV sublicensing, and capacity set-asides on all multi-channel video platforms for national non-profit minority controlled broadcasters.

The statement calls for a four point media agenda:

• To ensure that the transition to digital television (DTV) creates new opportunities for minority ownership. Minority owned and controlled entities should be permitted to hold commercial and non-profit licenses for sufficient bandwidth to accommodate single streams of programming which are also required to be carried on multi-channel video services.
• To create a capacity set-aside on all multi-channel video platforms for minority owned and controlled non-profit entities that are not owned or controlled by a broadcast, satellite or cable interest.
• To make making 'Diversity of Voices' a key factor in all Communications. When considering mergers, spin-offs, license transfers and eligibility for public broadcasting funds, policymakers should move to policies which enhance diversity of voices from multiple sources in all media.
• To embrace a national policy of affordable high speed internet. Lack of broadband availability exists in alarming frequency in America's urban and rural communities.

The groups further urged President-elect Obama to examine the current landscape that through corporate consolidation and brand extensions has concentrated power in a small number of media giants. "Today there is little opportunity for growth of new and emerging minority-owned broadcast, satellite and cable programmers," said Ronald Blackburn, CEO of ASPIRA. "President-elect Obama must make 'Diversity of Voices' a top priority in all communications policy decisions and embrace a national policy of affordable high speed internet access for all Americans. Unless serious efforts are undertaken to create an antidote to media consolidation, we risk having our community's image, culture and its first amendment rights in the hands of a very few corporate powerhouses."

During the campaign, then-Senator Obama advocated for reduced length of television station licenses and more diversity in ownership of broadcast media. In a written statement to the Federal Communications Commission, a spokesperson for then-Senator Obama expressed the candidate's positions favoring shorter license renewal terms for broadcasters so that they would be subject to more public scrutiny, as well as criticizing the FCC for allowing broadcast consolidation.

"The election of President Obama is an opportunity for a fundamental change in the way children, public schools, and low-income communities are being prepared for the 21st Century," said LISTA National President, Jose Marquez. "Our country lags behind other nations in broadband deployment in an ever-changing global economy. President-elect Obama must take the necessary steps to ensure that every American has access to high speed internet service, and provide the necessary tools to enable children across the country to consider careers in science and technology."

Additional information about the statement can be obtained from the
five leading Hispanic organizations listed below.

http://www.aspira.org.
http://www.a-lista.org
http://www.hacu.net.
http://www.iprhe.org.
http://www.nhmamd.org.

However, for Ms. Schmidt there was a small snag: she is 73 years old, and has no computer skills. "If you want to do anything in the workplace, you must know computers," she said. True enough.

To Kristin Fabos, executive director of SeniorNet, a nonprofit group, this does not come as a surprise. "More and more seniors find that they need to return to work only to discover that they don't have the requisite computer skills." To address this particular Digital Divide, her group has established more than 130 volunteer-run computer-learning centers in 33 states and now offers more than 30 courses: ranging from computer basics and the Internet to word-processing programs classes in Excel spreadsheets and PowerPoint.

"The demand is great," said Slava Vero, co-coordinator of the SeniorNet center in Huntington, N.Y. Her center has a waiting list.

Ms. Schmidt has now completed several introductory and Internet courses at the Huntington center and is now taking a class on Windows. She worked 30 years as a registered nurse and hopes her new computer skills will help land a nursing paralegal job. "I'm determined," she said. "I need a part-time job to make ends meet, and computer skills are a must today."

The good news is that percentage of older Americans who use computers is rising sharply but is still much lower than that of the general population. From March 2000 to August 2008, computer use among adults 65 and older almost doubled, to 38 percent, according to data from the Internet and American Life Project of the Pew Research Center. That compares with 74 percent of 50- to 64-year-olds and 86 percent of 30- to 49-year-olds.

Susannah Fox, an associate director for the project, says that technologically savvy baby boomers are swelling the percentage of the 65-plus age group, but that factors like income and education remain significant barriers to accessibility. In addition, for some older adults, the use of computers just was not relevant to their previous careers.

A number of organizations are working to close this digital divide. Most community colleges have technology programs geared to older job seekers. SeniorNet awards scholarships and recently established centers in underserved urban and Native American communities. Last year, it introduced online instruction. Some centers, like the Huntington SeniorNet center, plan to offer instruction to homebound older adults via Webcam and to donate recycled computers for students to use.

Last year, the AARP Foundation started WorkSearch, a program for low- to moderate-income older adults that provides skills assessment, training and related employment services. The program, offered free or at low cost, has 75 sites and has courses online.

Emily Allen, the foundation's assistant national director of work-force programs, says computer basics are essential even before landing a job. "More and more companies require filing an application online," she said. Participants learn how to write a résumé on the computer and do online job searches, she said.

Mimi Witcher, 65, of Carrollton, Tex., says she knows how a lack of computer skills can marginalize people. In the late 1990s, she had been a stay-at-home mom for more than 20 years when she had to go back to work. Her husband had lost his job and the couple had college bills for two daughters. "I was 55 and completely computer-illiterate," she said. "For a few years I worked part-time at a local Barnes & Noble, while taking computer classes at Richland College nearby.

Ms. Witcher did so well that about six months later she was asked to teach other older adults at the college. In addition to teaching at Richland, earlier this year she and her husband opened the Computer School for Seniors, www.cs4seniors.com, which offers more than 100 lesson plans online.

It is heartwarming to see that the older segment of our society is not only not being left behind, but also are catching up nicely, with many schools and other organizations willing to help.

Goff, a 33-year-old high-school business and computer teacher, wanted to bridge this particular portion of the digital divide and allow his students to learn enough about the Web to prepare them for life after graduation, whether that was technical school, junior college, four-year college, or a job.

Outside of rural Nevada, he observed, computers and the Internet were becoming as commonplace as the telephone.

Not so at McDermitt Combined School. Located three hours northeast of Reno, smack in the middle of the desert on the Nevada-Oregon border, it was pretty much the town that the Internet forgot--or tried to. How could these kids compete, Goff wondered, if they had never built a Web site? If they have never used a search engine? If they have never even sent an email message?

Okay, the state provided some connection, but it was a perpetual bottleneck--too many schools and too few modems--and provided nowhere near the bandwidth necessary for meaningful instruction. In the end, he resorted to using an Internet provider in Idaho, but the long-distance charges added up, limiting the time online.

What he needed was an affordable, reliable, and fast connection. But the community didn't have local Internet access-- and for good reason: McDermitt (population: 756) isn't just out of the way, it's in the middle of the proverbial nowhere. McDermitt's few hundred households weren't enough to attract a provider to the area.

Enter ingenuity: with the help of school principal John Moddrell, Goff found a solution. McDermitt Combined could get high-speed service by connecting via satellite through Intellicom, a provider based in Livermore, California. Only, there was a catch: it would cost $1,900 a month, far exceeding Goff's budget.  However, if the school turned around and sold McDermitt residents access to its Internet connection, Goff could indeed afford the service.
Which is precisely what he and his students did. They formed McDermitt-Humboldt Internet Provider (M-HIP) and rounded up enough customers to cover expenses. Because M-HIP was a local call, unlimited Internet access was available to anyone in the northwestern corner of Nevada--as long as you had a phone and a computer.

That was almost three years ago. The result?

In some ways, McDermitt is far more up-to-date than it's ever: students are finally researching homework assignments and college scholarships online--Goff achieved his goal.

Also, parents are taking college courses online; farmers and ranchers are on the verge of selling hay and cattle online; and residents are sending email far and wide, reestablishing old connections and making new ones.

But in reality, the Internet hasn't transformed the town. Not yet anyway. McDermitt looks much the same as it has for years--like a former mining community that's seen better days. Rather than generating a tidal wave of changes, the Internet is making ripples--subtle changes in people's lives. The technology and its potential are spreading, but they're doing so gradually. Not everyone sees the possibilities and wants to change. After all, McDermitt got by without the Net for more than 100 years.

(This blog is an extraction and condensation of a longer article by Chuck Salter, which you can read in full at http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/45/mcdermitt.html -- it's well worth reading).

His insightful analysis of not only Obama's Open Government agenda, but the obstacles he will face and must overcome, are well worth reading.

As you will see, Obama's agenda is ambitious indeed, and we wish him nothing but the best of luck in implementing it.

Designed specifically for emerging markets such as Asia and Africa, Nokia Life Tools helps overcome information constraints and provides services to this next generation of mobile users. Nokia plans to launch the service, beginning in the first half of 2009 with the Nokia 2323 classic and the Nokia 2330 classic as the lead devices in India and expand across select countries in Asia and Africa later in 2009.

"Filling in the information gaps in agriculture and education with Nokia Life Tools, we strive to contribute towards empowering people with the right tools to help them make informed decisions in their daily lives" said Jawahar Kanjilal, Global Head of Emerging Market Services, Nokia. "Nokia Life Tools was developed to help bridge the digital divide in the emerging markets."

"Nokia has a strong sense of local markets. Here in India, agriculture employs more than 60 percent of the workforce; but this sector of the economy needs fresh inputs via technology for it to achieve a 3 percent growth" said Shiv Shivakumar, Vice President, Nokia India.

Nokia plans to conduct a limited scale pilot in India before the end of 2008. Reuters Market Light (RML) is the content service provider collaborating with Nokia for agriculture services in the pilot, where accurate and regular information on weather, prices and availability of seeds, fertilizers, pesticides, and prevailing market prices for the produce are sent to the farmer. The information is customized to the farmer's location and selection of crops, and will be delivered directly to his Nokia mobile phone. By getting the latest information directly on their mobile phones, farmers can overcome uncertainty and get just the right information that they need to grow and sell their crops.

"Technology is changing the way farmers, their families and their surrounding communities are contributing to the economy, as well as benefiting from it. Reuters Market Light has already proven the value of customized and localized information to the farming community, with thousands of farmers having already made significant additional profits using RML" said Amit Mehra, Managing Director, Reuters Market Light. "Through our collaboration with Nokia, we hope to reach even more farmers so that they can make informed decisions that have a direct and positive impact on their productivity and yield"

"Nokia Life Tools was developed in collaboration with the target users and the industry. The success of this initiative can be assured through regular consumer feedback to ensure that their needs are best met. More importantly, it will require a collaborative effort between Nokia, our operator partners, industry participants and information providers across the agriculture and education sectors as we connect the next billion mobile phone subscribers - many of whom will indeed hail from these developing regions" added Mr Kanjilal.

Nokia Life Tools services use an icon-based, graphically rich user interface that comes complete with tables and which can even display information simultaneously in two languages. Behind this rich interface, SMS is used to deliver the critical information to ensure that this service works wherever a mobile phone works, without the hassles of additional settings or the need for GPRS coverage.

Nokia Life Tools will be available in local languages for the target audience. The pilot will be enabled on the Nokia 2600 classic and the Nokia 1680, and available in Marathi, Hindi and English.

More information and photos in print quality can be found at www.nokia.com/press/entry.

These are the children of baby boomers. In the last election, less than half of eligible voters under thirty actually dragged themselves to the polls; even so making up seventeen percent of the total vote. There is, however, strong evidence that a far higher percentage of the bits and bytes generation will turn out this time and that most of their votes will go to Barack Obama: The bits and byters may well come to Obama's rescue.

Statistically, youth turnout has risen steadily since the 2000 presidential election, but this year it has soared. During several state primaries, youth turnout doubled, some even tripled, compared with 2004.

And not only that, bits and byters, who overwhelmingly oppose the Iraq war and President George W. Bush's policies--and who can blame them--have done more than just vote; they have jumped into politics--to be sure, their style of politics: using Facebook to share information at a phenomenal pace, raise money, and set up rallies, and mostly for Mr. Obama. They have also used YouTube, in its infancy during the 2004 campaign, to reach millions of potential voters through music.

All signs are that they are very motivated about this election, and that they may well decide its outcome. This may come as a surprise to some pollsters, but should not when you consider what happened at the start of the primary season. In Iowa in January, Obama lost decisively to both Hillary Clinton and John Edwards in the thirty-plus vote, while he won the under-thirty vote by a 5-to-1 margin, enough to propel him to victory.

Those bits and byters are still for Obama; in fact, two-thirds of them say they are Democrats. According to John Della Volpe, director of polling for the Harvard Institute of Politics, the youngest age bracket (eighteen to twenty-four) favor Obama over John McCain by more than twenty percentage points; and it's unlikely that the choice of Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as the Republican vice-presidential nominee will change that, given that young people are much less socially conservative than she is.

Obama's huge lead in the youth demographic may be partially obscured by current polling techniques. Although most pollsters do call people on cell phones, they still rely primarily on landlines, according to Della Volpe. Better than half of the eighteen to twenty-four bracket do not even own land-line phones, he said, and as a rule have sharply different views on the big issues--the war(s), the economy, who should run that country--than those who do.

Of course, it's still not a given that young voters will in fact Obama into office, but the bits and byters are turning into a political juggernaut that will dominate and change U.S. politics in the future. They have the numbers to do it: By 2015, once they are all old enough to vote, they will comprise a full third of the electorate; and they have at their fingertips the most powerful information, organizing, and mobilizing tools--and know how to use them.

And they will most likely not settle for politics as usual. Having grown up on the instant communication of bits and bytes they will want to be involved in the act of governing by contributing ideas before decisions are made. What's more, they serve as a collective watchdog that will ensure that politicians do keep their word: if they don't, millions will know about it a few keystrokes later.

So, no matter who wins, the new president will have a tiger by the tail.

And this just in:

In a poll that has correctly predicted the winner of every presidential election since it began running in 1992, classroom video news network Channel One has Barack Obama trouncing John McCain by a 17-point margin, with 58.5% of the vote to McCain's 41.5%.

Several million teen voters have Obama taking every single swing state except Missouri, including Florida, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Iowa and New Hampshire.

Let's hope so.

Coeur d'Alene, Idaho-based Ulf Wolf writes about the Digital Divide and Cyber Crime for Words & Images (ulf@words-images.com)

And here's another unsurprising piece of news: at the head of the pack, same as last year: Internet Auction Fraud.

The FBI Numbers

The Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3), a partnership between the FBI and the National White Collar Crime Center (NWC3), recently released its 2007 figures on cybercrime complaints received and referred to law enforcement.

Again, the numbers showed that Internet Auction Fraud was by far the most reported offense in 2007, comprising at it did 35.7% of all complaints (see Chart below). In addition, during the same period, the non-delivery of merchandise and/or payment from non-auction internet transactions represented another 24.9%, pegging the combined total of on-line sales related fraud complaints at 60.6% of all Internet fraud.

Internet Auction Fraud

What far too many users fail to realize is that when something is purchased via an Internet auction, it is not bought from the auction house (say eBay, or Yahoo) but from an individual or company. The auction site--acting as a go-between--merely provides a forum where individuals can trade with one another, and it usually adopts--and prominently displays--a firm policy of washing their hands of legal responsibility for any loss suffered from using their service.

Once the bidding has concluded the payment for and delivery of the goods bought and sold is negotiated between the purchaser and seller. If the item is not delivered after it is paid for or is not what was represented on the auction site, the auction house will not refund any money. It is up to the buyer to approach the seller to negotiate a fair and proper settlement.

The statutory warranties that normally cover trade do not cover goods bought at on-line auction. The seller's only obligation is to give clear title.

Therefore, keep the following in mind when dealing with on-line auctions, or whenever you buy anything online, especially from a private party:

• Understand how the auction works, what your obligations are as a buyer, and what the seller's obligations are before you bid.
• Find out what actions the auction house will take if a problem occurs, and consider insuring the transaction and shipment.
• Be aware that if a problem does occur with an auction transaction, it will be more difficult to resolve if the seller is located outside the United States--laws can differ widely country to country.
• Learn as much as possible about the seller, especially if the only information you have is an e-mail address.
• Before you make a payment for an auction purchase, you should verify the seller's identity and contact details in case there is a problem with the delivery of the item.
• Ask the seller when delivery can be expected and whether the merchandise is covered by warranty if you need to exchange it.
• Use registered or certified mail to enable tracing; this will eliminate claims that the parcel was sent but must have been "lost in the mail."
• Check that the auction account information matches email, phone number and any bank account and location information.
• Use auction house feedback forums to check out the seller's history before agreeing to pay any money. Please note however, that sellers sometimes post positive feedback on themselves or organize other people to do so on their behalf.

And here is the most important advice of all:

• If you have any doubts about the integrity of an on-line auction seller--and even if you're not: use an escrow agent. An escrow agent or company is an independent third party which holds payment in trust until the buyer receives and accepts the item from the seller. While this service does incur a fee, it protects the buyer because the third party will hold the money until the goods have been received in good condition, inspected, and accepted; and only then released to the seller.

Internet Escrow

The principle and process of Internet escrow is the same as with buying and selling real estate--where, of course, the escrow company is deemed indispensible due to the amounts involved.

• The buyer or seller opens an account with the online escrow company;
• The prospective buyer of an item sends payment by wire transfer, check or credit card to the escrow company;
• The escrow company verifies that the funds indeed do exist, or that the buyer is who he represents himself to be and is in possession of the credit card used;
• Once this checks out, the escrow company asks the seller to ship the merchandise;
• Merchandise is shipped, and seller submits tracking information;
• Once the shipping site shows the merchandise as delivered the escrow company double checks to ensure the buyer has the goods in hand;
• The buyer now has an agreed-upon amount of time to either accept the goods or return it to the seller;
• Once accepted by the buyer, the escrow company releases the funds to the seller, less any processing fees and commissions.

Straightforward enough. If, that is, you are dealing with a legitimate online escrow company.

Fighting the Fighter

But the world, as we know, likes to throw us curves; and in this instance in the curve comes in the guise of escrow fraud.

Handling, as it does, substantial amounts of money, the escrow company is often itself a target of fraud--where look-alike phishing sites try to con you into using them rather than the bona fide site; and the escrow company concept itself is also flagrantly abused by criminals who set up fraudulent escrow sites where money will only travel one-way: you guessed it, away from you.

In fact, the problem of fake on-line escrow sites is so substantial that some reputable and legitimate escrow sites have simply thrown in the towel.

Buyer Guardian, for example, recently shut its doors due to Internet fraud stealing their business, and posted the following note on their site: "We are sad to report that after careful and lengthy consideration we have made the decision to cease operations at BuyerGuardian.com. This is a very difficult decision, and one that is made primarily due to the rapid growth of online escrow fraud."

Many of these apparently bona fide escrow companies, established for the sole purpose of enriching the criminal, are set up off-shore--predominantly in Russia or China--where lax cyber crime laws (and sometimes questionable cooperation with U.S. Authorities) makes it more difficult to shut the sites down and bring the perpetrators to justice.

Enter: Escrow.com

Actually, Escrow.com entered this fray nearly ten years ago during the dot-com boom and has over the years shown itself to be the online escrow company to turn to for secure and fraud-less auction and other online sales/purchase transactions--with the credentials and staying power to prove it.

Licensed by the state of California--as well as by the States of Idaho and Arizona, who require separate licenses--Escrow.com is the only on-line escrow company credentialed to serve every state of the Union, and who indeed does so 24/7.

While Escrow.com will handle transactions of any size, it may not make financial sense to turn to them for low cost items since their transaction fee is $25, and their commission is $63 per $1,000 value of the transaction if payment is by credit card and $32.50 per $1,000 for wire transfers.

But, if you value your sleep, Escrow.com would be indispensible for any transaction of $250 on up.

Peace of Mind

Michigan-based telecomclassifiedads.com, which buys and sells expensive telecommunication switching equipment concurs, would not, according to Mickey Fivenson, complete any online transactions without Escrow.com.

"I use Escrow.com for all my equipment transactions, and without them I would not be in business. It's as simple as that.

"I deal with buyers and sellers on a daily basis who do not know each other and who live in different parts of the world. Escrow.com is the only way I can complete a transaction between them.

"As a result, after five years of doing business through Escrow.com I have never had anything but satisfied customers."

Dave Kurko of RPM Auto Wholesale in Pleasant Hill, CA could not agree more:

"Escrow.com provides a safety net for both seller and buyer, delivering certainty in an uncertain world.

"Most people understand the concept of escrow, particularly if they have bought and sold real estate in a jurisdiction that uses an escrow company rather than an attorney to settle a real estate transaction; in fact, we have modeled our transaction on the real estate transaction. Escrow.com has made this approach not only possible but also very effective.

"They are also very customer centric, and thanks to their tech support we have been able to integrate opening an escrow account with them into our own web-hosted application, allowing our CRM software to talk directly to their database over a secure link.

"Really, they're the only game in town. We've searched other companies, and nobody else measures up."

Escrow.com--The Detective

While Escrow.com is gaining increasing recognition as the Internet escrow company to turn to for peace of e-commerce mind, their staff, on a daily basis, also hunt and diligently work to shut down fraudulent impostors, which are encountered daily.

And they spring up like mushrooms, these impostors: there are days that Escrow.com staff discovers as many as ten new such sites.

A couple of clever fraud specimens can be found (if they are still up at time of print) at http://www.safe-wayonline.com and http://www.escrow-holdings.net, both of which have been confirmed as unlawful. You certainly cannot fault these criminals for lack of professional design.

The good news is that as these sites are tracked down, authorities are alerted and the sites are soon off the air.

eBay Weighs In

To quote the biggest auction site of them all, eBay:

Pay safely - beware of fake escrow services when you consider using them to pay for your eBay item.

For eBay transactions, you should use eBay's only approved Escrow Company: www.escrow.com

To avoid being deceived by fraudulent email from a fake escrow service, you should visit the escrow service's Web site to verify information you received via email.

Make sure you type the entire Web address (for example, www.escrow.com) into your Web browser. Don't let your Web browser auto-complete the Web address for you. It could mistakenly auto-complete a fraudulent Web address.

Learn more about escrow: http://pages.ebay.com/help/confidence/payment-escrow.html

Escrow.com--The Household Name

More importantly, however, as Escrow.com gains further and further recognition on its way to become a household name, it gets harder and harder for impostors to defraud the public for the excellent reason that they are not Escrow.com--the only name you know you can trust.

Here's to peace of mind and a good night's sleep.

Coeur d'Alene, Idaho-based Ulf Wolf writes about the Digital Divide and Cyber Crime for Words & Images (ulf@words-images.com)

And he is very real indeed, the cyber criminal--the individual who for reasons best known to his darker side have chosen to use today's open information technology to commit serious crimes and harm others.

You've heard of his schemes: lottery scams, internet auction frauds, Nigerian advance fee fraud, phishing, identity theft, the list goes on and seems to grow almost daily as innovation is bent toward the quick and dishonest digital buck rather than creative contribution to others around him.

And to make matters worse, cyber crime seems to be "everywhere" now. But just how everywhere is it?

The IC3

The IC3 report for 2007 has recently been released and does shed some light on just that question.

IC3 Background

The Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3--http://www.ic3.gov), launched in May 2000 as the Internet Fraud Complaint Center (IFCC). In December 2003, the IFCC was renamed the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) to better reflect the range of internet crime encountered.

Shortly thereafter IC3 established a partnership with the National White Collar Crime Center (NW3C) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to serve as the main federal vehicle to receive, develop, and refer to state and local authorities complaints regarding the rapidly expanding underbelly of the internet: cyber crime.

IC3 was intended to and continues to serve the broader law enforcement community, including federal, state and local agencies, which employ key participants in the growing number of Cyber Crime Task Forces.

Since its inception, IC3 has received complaints across a wide variety of cyber crime matters, including online fraud (in its many forms), intellectual property rights (IPR) matters, computer intrusions (hacking), economic espionage (theft of trade secrets), child pornography, international money laundering, identity theft, and a growing list of additional criminal matters.

IC3 provides victims of cyber crime a convenient and easy-to-use reporting mechanism that immediately alerts authorities of suspected criminal or civil violations. For law enforcement and regulatory agencies at the federal, state, and local level, IC3 provides a central referral mechanism for complaints involving Internet related crimes.

Cyber Crime Statistics

Caveat: The following statistics give a good overview of reported instances of cyber crime. It would, however, serve you very well to keep in mind that researchers (for once) agree that only one instance in seven is actually reported to the authorities, or to sites such as IC3. The true figures, then, are roughly seven times higher.

2007 Complaints

From January 1, 2007 to December 31, 2007, 206,884 complaints were filed online with IC3. This is actually a 0.3% decrease compared to 2006 when 207,492 complaints were received.

Dollar Loss

The total dollar loss of $239.09 million to reported cyber crime was at an all-time high in 2007.

Contact Method

Leading the field by a very wide margin as the cyber criminal's favorite mode of contact is email (73.6%), followed at a distant second by the webpage (32.7%). It stands to reason that the anonymous nature of email and websites would be favored since they allow perpetrators to solicit a large number of victims with just a few keystrokes.

Other contact methods included telephone (18.0%), snail mail (10.1%), chat rooms (2.3%) and in-person (1.7%).

"With public sentiment, nothing can fail; without it nothing can succeed."

If Abraham Lincoln had said this on CNN today, it would have held as true as it did 150 odd years ago. The only difference being the channels that now influence and measure public sentiments.

Horse and buggy--along with town criers--then; television debates, and the Internet now. Same principles, different media.

Government 2.0 with its counterpart Digital Citizenry depends on the digital give and take between government and the citizen.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration, known as NASA by most, is an interesting government agency in that they mostly get heavy media coverage when things go wrong.

As in, how many shuttle missions were covered before one of them went terribly wrong? Except, of course when things go extremely well: as in landing on lunar surfaces and such.

However, in-between these two extremes, the day-to-day smaller successes and lesser setbacks are rarely covered to any great extent by television or the press. Just not interesting enough, I guess.

Therefore, if Muhammad does not want to come to the mountain, it is time for the mountain to make a digital stab at coming to the citizen. And NASA is really doing that.

The experimental initiative at NASA is called CoLab, with the stated goal of acting as "advisor and consultant to groups within NASA, building direct and open collaborations between the public and NASA scientists and engineers...[and] use technology to facilitate public contributions to NASA activities."

John Bell of Ogilvy PR recently pointed out that great "emerging" brands like eBay, YouTube, and Netflix are "authentic, adaptive, relevant, transformative, fresh, immersive, and social." And now it seems like Peter Gray, the NASA CoLab Program Manager, must have has ripped a page out of eBay's playbook when he recently bandied about the much used--by these emerging brands, that is--buzzwords like "participate, collaborate, and innovate," when he talked about CoLab. Sounded like an emerging NASA brand, in fact; and Government 2.0.

NASA CoLab is trying some innovative things to reach out to the public. There is currently a co-working space in Silicon Valley open seven days a week. Eventually they hope to host co-working spaces in major U.S. cities that are "the NASA equivalent of an Apple Store" as Mr. Gray put it. That would be very hip indeed.

Additionally, the "Luna Philosophie" series, held at San Francisco's Yahoo! Brickhouse incubator (in coordination with the full moon, no less), is a series of open conversations on different topics broadcast using USTREAM.TV. CoLab has also participated in national conferences, and held Camp CoLab brainstorming sessions with NASA staff about how to change and adapt CoLab across the ten or so different NASA facilities around the country.

And more to the digital point, there is also an elaborate NASA presence on "CoLab Island" in Second Life, providing information about all sorts of activities with an additional emphasis on having "launch parties" and the like. However, despite this high quality (and perhaps necessary) presence, because Second Life has very few habitual users, it may not have the desired effect of reaching the multitudes.

It is a work in progress, no doubt, and it isn't yet an outstanding model of government "CoLab-oration" with its citizens. Nonetheless, seeing as this is the vision and product of an agile, lightly-funded staff, CoLab must be given a lot of credit for experimenting with new ideas, reaching out to the public, and doing more than most any other government agency in taking advantage of new media.

The U.S. presidential election is more or less just around the corner; and as we speak our two candidates are grappling with issues more pressing than the future of Digital Citizenry; nonetheless, that issue does remain on their books and in their campaign material, and have been addressed by both Obama and McCain.

So where do they stand?

It's no secret that Barack Obama has used the Internet more successfully than any other candidate in any election before him. By the end of the campaign he expects to raise as much as US$1 billion online, that's 12 times what John Kerry raised in 2004. Also, his online activities have mobilized over two million people to work for him, and he used the Internet to get more people up and running earlier and at a better clip than any of his opponents during the primaries.

As expected, Obama's IT savvy approach to political campaigning is reflected in his stated technology policy. If elected, he says, he will appoint the country's first true Chief Technology Officer, responsible not only for government technology infrastructure, policies and services, but also for technology policy across the country.

Obama's digital aim, which I find rather promising, is to create a "transparent and connected democracy" in these United States.

According to campaign material, his policy states: "Barack Obama will use the most current technological tools available to make government less beholden to special interest groups and lobbyists and promote citizen participation in government decision-making."

The policy then goes on to promise that more data will be available to citizens on the Internet, that government meetings will be made viewable, and even "participatable" on the Internet, and that cabinet officials will hold national online town hall meetings.

Today, with voter-numbers declining and citizen political engagement weakening year by year (except during national financial emergencies, as today), Obama's technology policy should be viewed as a firm step to improve democracy by digitizing it. Bottom line: Obama, if elected, will be the U.S.'s first technology-savvy president.

John McCain's technology policy is, you may have guessed, not quite of the same caliber. While it does recognize the importance of making more information available to Americans on the Web, it never refers to the use of social networking tools as a means to expand democracy and participation in government.

It is easy to assume that this divergence in policy between McCain and Obama may be based on a generation gap--McCain is 71 and Obama is 47, after all-- but there are many citizen in McCain's age bracket that know how to use email, and plenty more besides, that in fact use their computers and the Internet in many creative ways.

While the age gap might serve as a plausible reason/excuse, I think the difference in approach boils down to political beliefs. Obama is pursuing an agenda that squarely aims at increasing citizen participation in government through the use of the internet, while McCain hasn't quite caught on to the importance of Digital Citizenry just yet.

Photo by Beth Can. Creative Commons Lic. Attribution 2.0 Generic

And yet: Government 2.0 or 3.0 or whatever release the thing will have reached once it finally gets its entire act together, will not--axiomatically, I should add--get there while Digital Divides still exist: a fully digitized citizenry, by definition, would be a prerequisite to true digital government.

Digital Divide Defined

So, I ask again, what, precisely, is the Digital Divide?

Knee-jerk reply of Michael Powell, former US Federal Communications Commission Chairman: It's like a Mercedes divide, "I would like to have one, but I can't afford one." About as simplistic as you can get.

My knee-jerk reply: Many different things.

Digital Connect

Okay, let's come at this from another angle: what's the opposite of the Digital Divide? What would constitute a full Digital Connect?

In other words, what does the Ideal Digital Citizen (IDC) look like? It's important that we establish this, for everything that separates the IDC from the current analog, if you will, citizen (where- or whoever he or she may be) is in fact the Digital Divide--or, more accurately--the Digital Divides.

IDC Ingredients

Let's reel of the easy ones first:

Computer -- Yes, our IDC has to have one of those, and has know how to turn it on and off.

Software -- The IDC has to own and know a few of those, and he or she has to feel comfortable enough with them, and trust them well enough to find them of use in his or her own life. They must be more than toys, in other words.

Broadband Connection (Access) -- Yes, it has to be broadband. Our IDC can no longer live with 56K, it just won't do the trick--for one, the average government web page requires something like 30 seconds to download over a 56K modem. Not workable.

Skill and Training -- Our IDC is at home with the Internet, knows how to navigate and feels at home there.

Trust -- Our IDC feels secure in using the internet, and "dares" do online banking, investment, even voting, knowing it will be secure.

Purpose -- Our IDC feels that both the computer and the Internet enhances his or her survival, that he or she lives better for them in all strata of life. Has "What's in it for me?" figured out, and it came down on the side of Digital Connect.

Awareness -- Our IDC is aware of the many sites offered by States and Municipalities to interact and do business with.

Time -- Our IDC has sufficient time to spend online to exercise his or her Digital Citizenry.
Responsibility -- Important point: our IDC must give a damn. Must in fact care enough about local, state and national issues to keep informed, and to as requested submit his digital votes or input.

A Given?

Now, it seems to be a given that this would be a desirable creature to have around. But is it? Just asking.

If governments and ISPs were truly successful in morphing our analog hordes in to model IDCs--do we look at a better world? I don't know, but it's something to consider: Do we in fact want the digital divide bridged?

Back at the Ranch

Assuming, however, for argument's sake, that we do want the IDC around, in significant numbers, what factors play a part in the divides?

Here's a cursory list:

• Income
• Occupation
• Gender
• Age
• Education
• Geographic centrality
• Ethnicity and race
• Religiosity
• Language
• Family structure
• Physical capacity
• Frequency
• Time online
• Purpose
• Skills
• Autonomy
• Affordability
• Competitive market structure
• Ownership and density of computers and websites
• Communication infrastructure

And others.

In this blog I simply want to state the problem as I see it. I will explore the various divides in more detail in other blogs and articles.

I just came across a great article written by Matt Villano about just this topic, published in The Journal. Well worth perusing.

And while you're at it, you should visit Digizen.org, the U.K. site which has taken good digital citizenry on as a mission, and doing a good job of it, to boot.

Text unto others ...