This is a Test: 'Bad People' ~ God Put Them There Just For Us ...

Well then, God brought this person into my life over a year ago - July 2009 when she first invested and started hitting the forums under many user names. Many friendships have been sabatoged by her on the way. Should someone say something? Hmmm .. that's the dilemma.

This is a Test: 'Bad People' - God Put Them There Just For Us ...

In every one of our lives there are people who mess with our minds and hearts. Believe it or not, God put them there. They're there for our benefit.

This is no crazy talk. It can be backed up biblically via examples from Joseph to Jesus. Although the Apostle Paul talked about his "thorn in the flesh," that "messenger of Satan" that was sent to buffet him (2 Corinthians 12:7-10), he too knew full well that the truth is God allows these people and challenging situations in our lives for our betterment.

This is Wonderful News

We are not at all very apt at seeing the silver lining to our very near and resplendently dark thunder clouds, are we?

We will most usually struggle to see the 'good news' in people who've set their hearts and minds against us, to expose or depose us. But, if it wasn't for these people we wouldn't have the opportunities to meet the challenges that God knows we can meet. We'd miss vital growth junctures that are part of our God-willed destiny. We can see it as God forming us via eternal discipline.

The writer of Hebrews hit on this very point:

No discipline is enjoyable while it is happening - it's painful! But afterward there will be a peaceful harvest of right living for those who are trained in this way.

~Hebrews 12:11 (NLT).

The point is we have to allow ourselves to be trained in this way. It comes natural to no one.

An Exercise in Execution

We cannot get better at spiritual practice without applying it. We need to get our minds and hearts involved in the practice of new ways of living if we're to master them.

Perhaps this exercise in question - seeing a nemesis as someone sent from the very hand of God - is best accomplished in spending some time reflecting over the role one of these people has played, and is indeed playing in our lives perhaps now.

This is the practice, it is hoped, toward spiritual enlightenment whereby God might tip into us some level of his own holy revelation. We might consequently begin to see the overall purpose of this evil against us in conforming from it, goodness.

Examples

If someone is bullying us our opportunity is to learn how to respond in assertiveness, and not match their fire with our own aggression, or submissive behaviour.

If another person has betrayed our trust our opportunity is to practice forgiveness, and learn classic lessons about trust, as well as learning some sense of empathy for why there was a betrayal in the first place.

If we've been disappointed by a lack of opportunity we're now given the opportunity to work through the present issues and develop resilience and patience. It's also an opportunity to reassess goals.

There is always a silver lining and we're blessed to seek vision of it.

Stepping back and understanding that this is an emotionally unbalanced person should create a feeling of empathy.

unknown author

What does the Bible say about lying?

Col 3:9-10
9 Do not lie to one another, since you laid aside the old self with its evil practices, 10 and have put on the new self who is being renewed to a true knowledge according to the image of the One who created him
Lev 19:12
12'And you shall not swear falsely by My name, so as to profane the name of your God; I am the LORD.
Prov 25:18
18 Like a club and a sword and a sharp arrow Is a man who bears false witness against his neighbor.
Zech 8:17
17'Also let none of you devise evil in your heart against another, and do not love perjury; for all these are what I hate,' declares the LORD. "
Prov 14:5
5 A faithful witness will not lie, But a false witness speaks lies.
1 Kings 22:16
16 Then the king said to him, "How many times must I adjure you to speak to me nothing but the truth in the name of the LORD?"
Prov 19:5
5 A false witness will not go unpunished, And he who tells lies will not escape.
Deut 19:17-19
17 then both the men who have the dispute shall stand before the LORD, before the priests and the judges who will be in office in those days.
18 And the judges shall investigate thoroughly; and if the witness is a false witness and he has accused his brother falsely,
19 then you shall do to him just as he had intended to do to his brother. Thus you shall purge the evil from among you.
Rev 21:8
8 "But for the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and immoral persons and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their part will be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death."
Prov 19:9
9 A false witness will not go unpunished, And he who tells lies will perish.
Prov 24:28
28 Do not be a witness against your neighbor without cause, And do not deceive with your lips.
Ps 58:3
3 The wicked are estranged from the womb; These who speak lies go astray from birth.
James 3:14
14 But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your heart, do not be arrogant and so lie against the truth.
Ex 23:1
1 "You shall not bear a false report; do not join your hand with a wicked man to be a malicious witness.
Prov 12:19
19 Truthful lips will be established forever, But a lying tongue is only for a moment.

The Tragedy and Lives Affected by Financial Fraudster, Bernie Madoff ! Madoff’s Eldest Son Found Dead in Suicide

Link ~ The Man Who Knew

December 11, 2010

Madoff’s Eldest Son Found Dead in Suicide

Mark Madoff, the older of Bernard L. Madoff’s two sons, was found dead in his Manhattan apartment on Saturday, the second anniversary of the day his father was arrested for running a gigantic Ponzi scheme that shattered thousands of lives around the world.

“Mark Madoff took his own life today,” Martin Flumenbaum Mark Madoff’s lawyer, said in a statement on Saturday. “This is a terrible and unnecessary tragedy.”

One city official said that the first notification, via 911, was at 7:27.18, on Saturday morning, and the call was for a, “possible suicide.” The call came from a fourth-floor, private house at 158 Mercer Street – a 13-story building.

Deputy Commissioner Paul J. Browne said the body was discovered by the victim’s father-in-law. “He came there this morning,” said Mr. Browne said.

Mr. Browne said that the victim’s “two-year-old son was asleep in an adjoining bedroom.”

Mr. Browne added: “Apparently, the son-in-law had indicated that someone should check on the child; had made some notification to the wife that he should check on the child.”

Mr. Browne could not immediately say what time Mark Madoff made that notification or say if investigators believe it was part of some plan.

Mr. Browne said the body was hanging by its neck, from a pipe in the living room ceiling. A black dog leash had been used, he said.

Since Bernard Madoff’s arrest, all the members of his immediate family have been the targets of a battery of civil lawsuits filed initially by victims of the Ponzi scheme and later by the bankruptcy court trustee pursuing assets for those victims.

The trustee’s lawsuit, filed last year, sought to recover approximately $200 million that the family received in salaries, bonuses, expense-account payments and gains in their own investment accounts at the Madoff firm. More recently, the trustee, Irving H. Picard, filed a new lawsuit in London that named Mark Madoff, 46, along with other directors and executives of the Madoff affiliate there, Madoff Securities International, Ltd. It was aimed at recovering profits and payments the defendants received from that subsidiary, on whose board Mark Madoff served.

These lawsuits are pending, and will not necessarily be derailed by Mark Madoff’s death. Typically, the litigation would continue against the estate of any deceased defendant, as was the case when Jeffry Picower, one of Bernie Madoff’s largest investors, died in October 2009.

Mr. Madoff had worked at his father’s brokerage firm since his graduation from the University of Michigan in 1987. A number of Mark’s oldest childhood friends from Roslyn, N.Y., invested with Madoff and lost their savings in the fraud. This destroyed those relationships and caused Mark great pain, says a person close to the family who requested anonymity.

The steps that led to his father’s arrest began when he and his brother, Andrew, confronted their father over his plans to distribute hundreds of millions of dollars in bonuses to employees months ahead of schedule.

That led to a private conversation on Dec. 10, 2008, in which Bernard Madoff told his sons that their entire lives — all the wealth and success the family seemed to possess — were based on a lie. His apparently lucrative money-management business was nothing but an immense Ponzi scheme, and it was crumbling under the relentless pressures of the financial crisis of late 2008.

Mark and his brother immediately consulted a lawyer and were advised they had to report their father’s confession to law enforcement. They did so, and the following morning their father was arrested at his Manhattan penthouse.

The public fury over the stunning crime — whose losses Bernard Madoff himself estimated at $50 billion — was not limited to its mastermind. Mark Madoff, his mother and his brother were all the subject of constant media speculation. Some blogs repeatedly predicted their imminent arrest, and many articles speculated that they had been involved in their father’s crime, or at least were aware of it.

But charges have not been filed against any of the immediate family members, and their lawyer has said publicly that neither Mark nor his brother has ever been notified by prosecutors that they were the subjects of a criminal investigation.

A person close to Mark Madoff said he had been increasingly distraught as the anniversary of his father’s arrest approached, and he had been upset at some recent news coverage speculating that criminal charges against him and his brother were still likely.

Mr. Flumenbaum, in his statement, called Mark “an innocent victim of his father’s monstrous crime who succumbed to two years of unrelenting pressure from false accusations and innuendo.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/12/business/12madoff.html?_r=1&hp

The Man Who Knew

And the Biggest Scam Artist of All, Bernie Madoff

read stories about Madoff @ http://www.topnews.in/people/bernie-madoff

Knowledge is Power ~ Protect yourself from cyber crime ~ Educate yourself ...

Over the last 18 months, an ominous change has swept across the Internet. The threat landscape once dominated by the worms and viruses unleashed by irresponsible hackers is now ruled by a new breed of cybercriminals.

Cybercrime is motivated by fraud, typified by the bogus emails sent by "phishers" that aim to steal personal information. The tools driving their attacks and fueling the blackmarket are crimeware - bots, Trojan horses, and spyware. Introduction to Cybercrime & Crimeware Podcast (mp3 / xml) Download Cybercrime Booklet (PDF)

The Internet is a big part of our lives nowadays. As part of an average day, we log onto the Internet for shopping, banking, social and business networking, applying for jobs, researching genealogy, finding old friends, downloading music, taking a course, you name it, if we need to receive or send information, the Internet offers some avenue to help you do the task.

As usage of the Internet becomes more widespread, Internet crime has also risen. It's become incredibly important we take preventative measures to protect our safety. Identity theft is on the rise and this is another important factor we must consider. With each piece of information transmitted or stored online, there is a risk of falling victim to a crime. Currently some of the biggest trends we have to protect ourselves against are hacking, stalking, fraud, phishing, social engineering, theft, spreading Malware and harassment.

There are several ways you can proactively safeguard yourself from falling prey to cyber crime. Here are a few tips:

*Get educated. When arming yourself against cyber crime, it's important to become aware of the risks. By educating yourself on current illegal trends, you can better understand ways you can reduce the risk of becoming a target. Awareness is the strongest weapon you can obtain to protect yourself against cyber crime.

*Use vigilance. It's a good idea to always be vigilant when sharing personal information over the Internet. It's important to make sure you only share minimal, if any, personal information with people you do not know. Be conscientious of what information share even if you think you are being careful. Often criminals will talk with their victims for long periods of time, piecing together bits of personal information until they have a complete profile. People you associate with or meet online may not appear to be who they say they are, after all one never knows who is really sitting at the other end of a network connection.

*Be careful with passwords. Do not ever enter passwords or personal information on links you received in email since emails can be spoofed and/or used to "phish" for information. Always go to the business or organizations website directly by using the URL and make sure the web page has been secured; if it has been, it will indicate "HTTPS" instead of "HTTP" in the URL and you will see a small padlock icon on the lower left hand side of your screen. Never give out your password to anyone online or even by a telephone request. Valid organizations have policies which state a member of their agency will never ask for a password. Also change your password frequently and make sure it's a strong one, a strong password contains both letters and numbers; it's a good idea to create one which is easy for you to remember but hard for someone else to guess and/or use a software program to try and crack.

*Protect your computer. It's also important you invest in installation of anti-virus, spy-ware and firewall software. There are many programs available that you can download for free, or you can purchase a proprietary one. There are several good websites available that can advise you on how to select the right one for you.

One well-known website is C-Net.com, and can be accessed at: http://www.download.com/Antivi rus-Firewall-Spyware/?tag=dir.

*Use caution with e-mail. Be careful of downloading attachments from email. Many viruses, Trojans, and other damaging files can be included in e-mail attachments. Before downloading a file, try to verify the person who sent it to you has indeed sent you a file, as often Malware is sent via an infected persons address book and the person has no idea they've sent you an infected file if they've fallen victim to Malware. Also, do not download files or click on links to websites from people you do not know.
*Read privacy policies. Another tip is to read privacy policies of any online entity you conduct business with. Be aware of what is done with your personal information once you do share it with a company or organization. While most of the businesses you work with are legit, occasionally a partnering organization may sell data to a third party undesirable business you may not want your information shared with. Most of the time you can opt-out of your information being shared if you take the time to read privacy policies.

Using the Internet is fun, educational and useful. Taking precautions while online will significantly reduce your risk of becoming a victim of cyber crime. Always remember that it's better to be proactive, hesitant and cautious than spontaneous, as impulsiveness on the Internet often leads to trouble. If something or someone seems or sounds too good to be true, it usually is!

http://us.norton.com/cybercrime/index.jsp

Lucy ~ You got some splainin to do ~ Interference with Commerce - Web techniques are damaging to the legitimate businesses ..

Digital Technology Law Journal

The Spider’s Stratagem on the Web: Hunting and Collecting Web Users

Morris Averill* Visiting Lecturer University of Western Sydney This article discusses: the traps for consumers browsing the World Wide Web or engaging in electronic commerce (ecommerce), including the privacy implications on being on the Web; the possible legal responses available to Web users or government regulators are considered; as well as Web site operators who consider that some Web techniques are damaging to their business.

Introduction

1. The so-called ‘tech-wreck’ of April 2000, (the ‘correction’ in share values of technology companies listed on the NASDAQ, and other stock exchanges), can be attributed to investors realising that profitable e-commerce would be more difficult that many had imagined. Several commentators have suggested that e-commerce business models based on the premise ‘build the Web site and users will come’ were little more than a modern day cargo cult mentality.[1] The difficulty of attracting visitors to Web sites, has resulted in World Wide Web technology evolving sophisticated techniques of attracting, even capturing, Web users. [2]

2. The development of sophisticated Web site design techniques may have been pioneered by the developers of adult content and gambling sites, however mainstream e-commerce sites are adopting the techniques. At the benign end of the spectrum (but still irritating for some Web users) is the use of ‘pop-up ads’ - at the more aggressive end of the spectrum, is the use of ‘spawning’ and ‘mouse-trapping’ being used to capture Web users at a Web site.

3. Some techniques are criminally motivated scams to extract money from unsuspecting Web users by causing the Web user to incur an astronomically high telephone bill by re-routing their connection to an Internet Service Provider (ISP) via an international call rather than a local call or to send computer programs to the user’s computer in order to search for credit card and other banking information.

4. The legal implications of the exchange of data between the computers of the Web users and Web sites are considered in this article. In particular, the consumer privacy implications of the exchange of data between a Web user and a Web site.[3] The difference between ‘data’ and ‘personal information’ should be acknowledged when considering the exchange between the computer of a Web user and a Web site.

5. “Data” is defined as “information output by a sensing device or organ that includes both useful and irrelevant or redundant information and must be processed to be meaningful.”[4] In the context of an exchange between the computer of a Web user and a Web site, there is an exchange of digital data which is processed by the computer programs operating each computer resulting in the presentation of Web pages and interactive changes to screen display on the Web user’s computer as the user navigates through the Web site.

6. “Personal information”, as defined in the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth)[5] is information or opinion that can identify a person. The exchange of data between the computer of the Web users and a Web site may not, of itself, identify an individual. However the Web has created the ability of Web sites to track users and profile their browsing behaviour

7. In the study by Cyveillance, Inc[6] dated December 2001, many of the techniques listed about are described in their list of 10 objectionable Web techniques.

1. Spawning & Mouse Trapping

8. ‘Spawning’ is a way of programming a Web site so that the new browser windows are automatically launched, faster than the user can close them, when a user attempts to exit a site.[7]

9. Poor Web design and coding can result in a re-directed page entering the browser history[8] resulting in the user being unable to retrace their recent browsing history. However, ‘mouse trapping’ is a deliberate choice of the programmer. ‘Mouse trapping’ is a way of programming a Web site so that the ‘Go To’ command shows only the URL of that site and every click on the ‘Back’ button and ‘Close’ command, still leaves the Web user at the same site.[9] The consequence of which the Web user is trapped at the Web site. The usual buttons to escape from a Web site do not function so that the Web user is prevented from leaving – except by shutting down the connection to the Internet.

10. ‘Spawning’ and ‘mouse trapping’ can be combined with the launch of advertisements that do not have visible controls so that the only way to exit, apart from shutting down the computer, is to click on the advertisement. These techniques are often associated with ‘page jacking’ and are a product of the online pornography industry.[10]

11. In 2001 the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) obtained injunctions against John Zuccarini[11] in respect of his practice of ‘domain name mimicry’ (obtaining domain name registrations for misspellings of well known names) and setting up Web sites using those domain names which using ‘mouse trapping’ to force viewers to see endless ad pages. The basis of the injunction being the practices of John Zuccarini amounting to unfair competition and unfair business practices under the Federal Trade Commission Act (US).[12]

2. Page-Jacking, Redirecting & Spoofing Pages

12. ‘Page-jacking’ results in users of World Wide Web sites being re-directed to other sites chosen by the page-jacker.[13] The reason ‘page-jacking’ is carried out is to increase the number of Web users ‘hitting’ the site to which the Web users are re-directed. This will have the effect of artificially inflating the number of ‘hits’ on the site with advertising being sold at a higher rate based on the false perception that the Web site attracts a high number of voluntary users. Web site owners may pay the page-jacker a fee for re-directing Web users to a Web site.

13. The page–jacker copies pages from a popular site and posts the copied pages on their own computer server. The copied pages are re-programmed to re- direct Web users to specific sites. The copied pages continue to be indexed on search engines using the same key words as used in the original site. A Web user making a search will have the fake site displayed in the search results. When the Web user ‘clicks’ to that site they are re-directed to the site chosen by the page-jacker.

14. The consequence of ‘page-jacking’ is that the owner of the legitimate site loses the potential customers and their reputation suffers as the kidnapped Web user assumes the content at the re-directed site is that of the owner of the legitimate site.

15. ‘Page jacking’ is a technique primarily used to increase traffic to the Web site to which the Web users are redirected. However more sophisticated Web design techniques have been developed with the use of ‘spoof pages’ which are ‘seeded’ with trade marks (‘metatagging’) for the purpose of maximising the likelihood that the ‘spoof page’ will appear high on a search engine’s list of results[14] . The ‘spoof page’ being combined with the use of ‘doorway’ or ‘re- direct’ techniques to take the user to some other site, often a pornographic site.[15]

16. The FTC, together with the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC),[16] has taken action against persons involved in ‘page jacking’ in FTC v Carlos Periera d/b/a/ atariz.com.[17] Final settlement with one defendant, and default judgments against two others, were obtained on 12 February 2000.[18]

17. Techniques related to ‘page-jacking’ can be used to make a political statement; an example being the report by Robert Lemos[19] that Mr. Racine, the defendant, admitted to tricking VeriSign subsidiary Network Solutions into giving him ownership of the aljazeera.net domain. Racine then redirected visitors from that Internet address to another site. Technically known as a ‘redirect’, the Web users that wanted to go to www.aljazeera.net - as well as the English- language site, english.aljazeera.net - to be redirected to the content hosted on NetWorld's servers where the US flag was displayed.

3. Misleading Links

18. Mislabelling links is the false labelling of hyper links that send the Web user to an unintended destination.[20] A misleading link may be the result of poor Web design and coding. However if the mislabelling is intentional, liability may arise under s 52 of the Trade Practices Act 1974 (Cth) for ‘misleading or deceptive’ conduct or under fair trading legislation.

4. Home-jacking - Changing Home Pages or Favourites List

19. ‘Home-jacking’ is the result of Web design techniques which allow the unauthorised substitution of the ‘home page’ so that when the user next launches their browser, instead of the user’s selected home page coming up on screen, the selected Web site appears.[21] A digital file can also be inserted into the user’s computer so that the selected Web page appears in the ‘favourites’ list in the Web browser program.[22]

20. The unauthorised inserting of data may be a criminal offence under sections 477 (1) or (2) of the Cybercrime Act 2001 (Cth)[23] or under section 308D of the Crimes Act 1900 (NSW).[24] That is, provided there is no consent of the Web user so that the insertion of the data which changes the ‘home page’ or ‘favourites’ is clearly unauthorised, with the necessary intention or recklessness as to the impairment of the functioning of the Web user’s computer browser software.

Some Web sites overtly ask the Web user if they wish to change their home page, if this option is selected the user is clearly consenting to the change. However with a covert change it can be argued that the unauthorised inserting of a digital file into the Web user’s computer is a criminal act.

21. However the level of ‘impairment’ of functioning of the computer may be disputed, with a de minimus argument that changes to the ‘home page’ or ‘favourites’ falls below what could be considered to be damage to the functioning of the computer.

22. The need of the Web user to replace the ‘home page’ setting or remove files inserted into the ‘favourites’ file can be argued to be ‘damage’ to the computer. Causing damage when computer programs are removed from a computer or interfered with has been considered in Cox v Riley[25] & R v Whitley.[26] R v Whitley involves the prosecution of a ‘hacker’ under the Criminal Damage Act 1971 (UK). The prosecution had to establish that the defendant had caused damage to tangible property contained on the computer disc. Counsel for the defendant argued that there was no damage to tangible property. However, in considering that argument, Lord Lane CJ stated that it contained a basic fallacy:

“What the Act requires to be proved is that tangible property has been damaged, not necessarily that the damage itself ‘should be tangible’… The fact that the alternation [to the metallic particles on the disk] could only be perceived by operating the computer did not make the alternations any the less real, for the damage, if the alternation amounted to damage, any the less within the ambit of the Act.”

5. Spyware - unauthorised, or unknown, software downloads

23. The development of ‘parasite’ business models[27] results in software programs being supplied as an ‘add on’ or ‘plug-in’ to a primary software program[28] . The developer of the primary software program (usually made available to the user without cost) has a business model of generating money from parasite software or generating income from advertising revenue from ‘pop-up ads’. The users of such a business model would naturally choose other descriptive phrases to describe their technology and may be aggrieved at the use of pejorative terms to describe their technology. The Gator Corporation, a developer of ‘pop-up’ widow technology,[29] has alleged trade libel, false advertising and tortuous interference claims, against others using the term "spyware" to describe the Gator technology.[30] The Gator Corporation prefer to describe their technology as providing “contextually relevant advertisement[s]”.

24. Legislatures are beginning to respond to public concern about intrusive Web techniques, with commentators suggesting that the legislatures are also responding to the conflicting results of litigation in US federal courts over whether Web techniques, such as ‘pop-up ad’ software infringes intellectual property rights or unfair trade practice legislation. [31]

25. The State of Utah enacted the Spyware Control Act (2004) which, as stated in the general description of the statute:

Prohibits spyware from delivering advertisements to a computer under certain circumstances;
Requires spyware to provide removal procedures;
Allows a website, trademark, or copyright owner to bring an action to enforce the requirements.

26. The Spyware Control Act[32] defines ‘spyware’ in a Subsection 4 beginning the extensive definition describing the ambit of the software techniques that are being regulated: monitoring software,[33] that reports back to a remote computer or delivers obtrusive ‘pop-up ads’ (without making appropriate disclosure to the Web user):

“Except as provided in Subsection (5), "spyware" means software residing on a computer that: (a) monitors the computer's usage; (b) (i) sends information about the computer's usage to a remote computer or server; or (ii) displays or causes to be displayed an advertisement in response to the computer's usage if the advertisement: (A) does not clearly identify the full legal name of the entity responsible for delivering the advertisement; (B) uses a federally registered trademark as a trigger for the display of the advertisement by a person other than: (I) the trademark owner; (II) an authorized agent or licensee of the trademark owner; or (III) a recognized Internet search engine; (C) uses a triggering mechanism to display the advertisement according to the Internet websites accessed by a user; or (D) uses a context based triggering mechanism to display the advertisement that partially or wholly covers or obscures paid advertising or other content on an Internet website in a way that interferes with a user's ability to view the Internet website”

read much more @ http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/journals/DTLJ/2004/1.html

Get The facts ~ The Bottom Line About Multi-Level Marketing Plans [PDF]

The Bottom Line About Multi-Level Marketing Plans [PDF]

http://business.ftc.gov/documents/inv08-bottom-line-about-multi-level-marketing-plans

APPENDIX B: CYBERCRIME GLOSSARY ..

APPENDIX B: CYBERCRIME GLOSSARY

Link ~ http://cybercrimeglossary.netfirms.com/