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Editorial Review Product Description
As the number of Web users continues to swell, so do the numbers of online opportunists, con artists, miscreants, and psychopaths. Recognizing this danger, this book provides a reader-friendly guide that helps Web users identify, avoid, and survive online predators and protect their families. Detailing a broad range of abusive practices, ordinary PC users will share in victims' stories and advice on how to handle junk e-mail, "flaming," privacy invasion, financial scams, cyber stalking, and identity theft. Provided are tips, strategies, and techniques that can be put to immediate use, as well as laws, organizations, and Web resources that can aid victims and help them fight back. ... Read more Customer Reviews (13) 
2nd Edition Is Even Scarier
I just received the 2nd edition, and Hitchcock has again put the fear of the virtual world in me. Her examples and discussion is certainly eye-opening as to what or who is lurking out there.
Not only is this a good read, but it is also a great reference for high school and undergraduate college. The examples and resources made it a valued purchase for me.
Useful for the uninitiated
One of the hook lines for this book states, "..an insightful book that is a must read for everyone who owns a computer". No it isn't! The number of people who have not heard anything about computer viruses, identity theft, hackers or at least some form of computer attack must surely be a small minority by now. Even the most non-mechanicalof drivers know something about oil, where the gas goes, tire pressures, etc. even if they only ever turn the ignition key and point their vehicle in the direction they want to go. Why then, would someone who owns a computer and surfs the internet assume all it involves is turning on their computer, getting an internet connection and pointing and clicking? This book is for those people.
It does a good job at highlighting the pit falls, traps and virtual land mines waiting for the unprotected, ignorant or just plain stupid. The book also gives good advice on what to do if harassment gets out of hand. However, the sub-title of "Outmaneuvering the spammers, swindlers and stalkers" is somewhat misleading. The outmaneuvering techniques described are basically don't go to chat rooms, news groups or message forums where people take a virtual swipe at you. The passages about outmaneuvering the spammers also seems incredibly naive and is centered around displaying the full header of an email so you'll know who sent it. Wrong! Some mention is made of how return email addresses can be faked, but so too can IP addresses. Complaining to an ISP about spam, especially one which knowingly hosts spamming operations, is a waste of time. Even more so if they originate somewhere in Asia like a lot of them do. Then we have the anonymous emailing web sites and of course the spammers favorite, the zombie computer which they use to re-direct their emails without the computer owner's knowledge.
If you're looking for a technical reference which tells you how to protect yourself online, what tools to use, what they do and why you need them, this book isn't for you. However, if you're concerned about internet horror stories, online safely and are not particularly computer or internet savvy, this book will be useful to you and you'll learn much about the dos and don'ts of life online.
Everyone who uses the Internet should read this book!
This book is jam packed with good information about online stalking, online shopping, protecting your identity, etc.As technology becomes more advanced, there are more and more ways for people to become victims of Internet crime.Jayne Hitchcock explains the steps to take if this ever happens to you and ways to prevent it so it never does!
An excellent read - AND you don't have to be a computer genius to understand all of her technical information!
Very, very useful, and a good read!
Ms. Hitchcock outlines the major threats to Internet privacy and safety we face in a clear, easy-to-read, and very comprehensive manner. Although the book caters more to the novice Web surfer than it does the technologically adept, even hardcore geeks will be impressed at how she takes stories of cyberstalking, spoofing, auction fraud, and flame wars and puts human faces on all of them.
Though message boards and newsgroups have been replaced with blogs and MySpace, the basic principles of being smart and protecting yourself when you go online are even more important, and Hitchcock reminds us that no matter how smart or savvy you think you are, you can end up a victim of "Net Crimes", unless you pay attention.
Definitely recommended.
EXCELLENT GUIDE TO ONLINE SELF-PROTECTION
Net Crimes is an outstanding source of information to learn how to protect yourself while online.It thoroughly covers many topics and addresses several issues that you may not realize put you at risk.After reading it, I am "kicking myself" for things I have inadvertently done online that could have caused some potential problems. I will now be much more cautious about websites I visit and personal information that I provide to them.
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