BIRTHDAY BOOK.

The E-mail read:
Hi

I'm setting up a birthday calendar and need your help. Just click the link below and enter your birthday details. (It's quick, easy and you can keep your age secret!)

My response:
This is a security issue.
Since 2003, I have warned many about the dangers and risks involved, of using a third party online birthday service.
In this day and age of computer technology, hackers are able to hack into various websites.

Take E-mail servers, for example -
Some servers will ask for "Date of Birth", for verification purposes.
If a user forgets his/her PASSWORD, he/she would probably be asked to enter in the "Date of Birth".

Now...can you imagine someone else pretending to be you? -
Getting into YOUR ACCOUNT;
Changing YOUR PASSWORD;
Reading YOUR MESSAGES;
Stealing E-mail addresses of YOUR FRIENDS from your Address Book/Contact List...and using this information to SPAM them, or worse - send electronic worms and viruses.
As it is, ONE in every FIFTY computers in The United States of America is infected with "spambot", without users even realizing it. (I saw this over CNN, even before the July 7th, 2005 terrorist attack in London, England.)

Therefore, It is much better to WRITE DOWN Birthdays IN a Birthday Book, rather than use an online service, where ALL birthdays are stored.

I have also warned people in the past, NOT to keep personal data (Medical records, Dental records, Social Security numbers for those who live in The U.S.A., Bank account numbers, etc.) on the SAME computer as they'd use for the internet.
This may seem somewhat unrealistic and difficult, since poor people like me can't afford to purchase another damn computer.
Some have chosen to ignore what I had told them, but so be it. I suppose they'll have to learn a serious lesson, the hard way. But those who TRULY CARE about the safety of their online friends and family, will immediately alert them to the dangers and risks involved.
Not everything new can be considered good.
We must ALWAYS remember:- for every good invention created, there is also something bad, just waiting to happen - and to never let our guard down, lest we forget the events of September 11th, 2001.

So, IF you'd really like to know when my birthday is, please call me on the phone.

Thank you.
- - -
Yeah, I know...some are gonna say Celestino is bein' paranoid...but hey !...A simple thing like a birthday can turn out to be a VERY Serious Security Issue.
Right ? ? ?
right?
Yes?
`
No?
Dost thou disagree with this?
Wherefore if thou hath chosen
to disagree , clickest thou here.

* * * * * * * *

I sometimes receive E-mail invitations saying so-and-so "wants to communicate with you."
Well, if these people have sent an E-mail to ME at my E-mail address, why can't they just type their messages in there, instead of sending some worthless invitation?
Duhh !
Quite frankly, it defeats the purpose of having an E-mail address.