The Ultimate Guide to
Open Source Intelligence®
McAfee Institute®
311 Water St, Suite 201, Peoria, Illinois 61602
Copyright© 2013, McAfee Institute Inc.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in whole or
part without written permission.
The Ultimate Guide to Open Source Intelligence
The Ultimate Guide to Open Source Intelligence: A Guide for Cyber
Investigators
Copyright © 2013 by Joshua McAfee and McAfee Institute, Inc.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any
form or by any electronic or mechanical means including information
storage and retrieval systems without permission in writing from the
publisher, except by a reviewer, who may quote brief passages in a
review.
Published by McAfee Institute, 311 Water St, Suite 201 Peoria Illinois
61602
Publisher’s Note: The author and publisher have taken care in
preparation of this book but make no expressed or implied warranty of
any kind and assume no responsibility for errors or omissions. No
liability is assumed for incidental or consequential damages in
connection with or arising out of the use of the information or programs
contained herein.
Many of the designations used by manufacturers and sellers to
distinguish their products are claimed as trademarks. Where those
designations appear in this book and McAfee Institute, Inc. was aware
of a trademark claim, the designations have been printed with initial
capital letters.
Printed and bound in the United States of America.
Publisher: Joshua McAfee
Editor-in-Chief: Bill Wooters
Copy Editor: John Ray
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The Ultimate Guide to Open Source Intelligence
Contents
Introduction ................................................................................................... 5
Brief Overview of Chapters ........................................................................ 5
Paid Vs. Free Resources ............................................................................. 8
A Word on Usage ....................................................................................... 9
Chapter 1: Basics for the Cyber Investigator................................................ 10
The Intelligence Cycle............................................................................... 14
Cyber Investigation Methodologies ......................................................... 16
Cyber Intelligence Preparation ................................................................ 18
Chapter 2: General Search Engines .............................................................. 20
General Web Directories .......................................................................... 20
Search Engines ......................................................................................... 20
Getting Organized for Gathering Open Source Intelligence .................... 21
Intelligence Gathering Strategies ............................................................. 22
Accuracy of Open Source Information ..................................................... 23
Search Features Provided by Google ................................................... 26
Title Searching ..................................................................................... 26
URL Searching ..................................................................................... 27
Link Searching ..................................................................................... 28
Language Searching ............................................................................. 28
Date Searching ..................................................................................... 28
File Type .............................................................................................. 28
Related (Similar) Pages ........................................................................ 29
Other Fields .......................................................................................... 29
Boolean ................................................................................................ 29
Other Search Features .......................................................................... 30
Results Pages........................................................................................ 30
Google’s Advanced Search .................................................................. 31
Chapter 3: Specialized Directories ............................................................... 36
What to Look for in Identifying Web Directories ..................................... 36
Some Examples of Specialized Directories ............................................... 37
Chapter 4: Social Media Websites ............................................................... 41
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The Ultimate Guide to Open Source Intelligence
Website TOS, Privacy Laws and Proposed Regulations............................. 42
Issues with Anonymity ............................................................................. 42
Professional Social Networks ................................................................... 60
Social Networks for Kids........................................................................... 63
Informational Communities ..................................................................... 65
Educational Social Networks .................................................................... 66
Hobbies Social Networks.......................................................................... 66
Academic Social Networks ....................................................................... 67
Chapter 5: Ecommerce, Auction & Classified Sites ...................................... 68
Classified Platforms .................................................................................. 70
Auction Platforms..................................................................................... 78
Chapter 6: Images, Audio and Video............................................................ 82
Capturing Images ..................................................................................... 82
Image Hosting Platforms .......................................................................... 82
Video Websites ........................................................................................ 86
Music Websites ........................................................................................ 88
Chapter 7: News Resources ......................................................................... 96
General Searching Strategy ...................................................................... 96
50 of the Most Popular News Sites .......................................................... 97
Top Italian New Sites .............................................................................. 109
Top French Websites.............................................................................. 114
Top German Websites............................................................................ 118
Top India Websites ................................................................................. 122
Top Canadian Websites .......................................................................... 127
Top Australian Websites ........................................................................ 131
Popular UK New sites ............................................................................. 134
Chapter 8: Dating Websites ....................................................................... 139
Chapter 9: Freelance Websites .................................................................. 146
Seminars Offered by McAfee Institute....................................................... 152
About Us ..................................................................................................... 154
Testimonials ............................................................................................... 155
References .................................................................................................. 159
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The Ultimate Guide to Open Source Intelligence
Introduction
Cyber intelligence is a hot topic right now and becoming more
and more popular everyday due to the vast amount of information
available on the internet. Intelligence is the analysis of information we
identify online. However, many people believe that gathering
intelligence online is as simple as typing a simple search term into
Google and “bam,” the information they need appears; it’s accurate,
precise, and detailed. This can’t be furthest from the truth. It takes an
arsenal of resources & tools at your disposal to locate the information
needed for your investigations; coupled with the ability to effectively
analyze and disseminate the information appropriately.
These are a few of the reasons why the knowledge, experience,
and opinions of Cyber Intelligence expert Joshua McAfee are so
valuable. From social networks, search engines, news and media sites,
video, images and audio, search tools, ecommerce platforms and more.
Josh not only addresses these sources of intelligence but explains how
you might want to use them.
Joshua McAfee has done more than write a book. He’s created a
key resource for both those who need a bit of education in the area of
Cyber Intelligence and for experienced intelligence professionals who
need to verify what a specific intelligence tool offers. I don’t doubt that
in a very short period of time your copy will have a ton of notes,
highlights, Post-Its and worn out.
Brief Overview of Chapters
The chapters represented in this book are a depiction of the
most common resource available on the internet for intelligence
professionals to utilize and the most inquired upon within our training
courses. Each of the chapters are open and free flowing often resulting
in a different structure from the others, based upon the content. An
argument could be made that the chapters could have been divided
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The Ultimate Guide to Open Source Intelligence
differently. You will notice for example, that there is a chapter on
“Social Media Websites,” and you may wonder why there is not a
specific chapter on “finding people.” This is because the latter topic
encompasses almost every chapter. Every one of these chapters might
or might not be of interest to every ready, but you should still love over
each of them as you may be surprised at what are sources of
intelligence are out there.
Although the nature of each chapter means that it has an
organization of its own, they all contain some things in common.
Typically, each chapter includes these aspects:
•
Some useful background information, along with suggestions,
tips, and strategies for finding and making the most effective
use of sites in that area.
•
Resource guides that will lead you to collections of links to
major sites on the topic.
•
Selected sites. I’ve selected these because (1) they are sites that
many if not most readers should be aware of, and/or (2) they are
representative of types of sites that are useful for the topic.
Deciding which sites to include was often difficult. Many of the
sites included in this book are considered to be “the best” in
their area, but space limitation means that hundreds of great
sites had to be excluded. These difficult decisions were made
more palatable, however, because the resource guides included
in the chapters will lead you quickly to those great sites—
you’re only one or two clicks away.
Following is a quick rundown of what each chapter covers.
Chapter 1: Basics for the Cyber Investigator
This chapter covers background information that intelligence
professionals need to know in order to be conversant with Internet
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The Ultimate Guide to Open Source Intelligence
content and issues. It includes some background for understanding
more fully the characteristics, content, and searchability of the Internet.
For those who find themselves teaching others how to use the
Internet, it provides answers to some of the more frequently asked
questions. Among the things included in Chapter 1 are a brief history of
the Internet, a look at the kinds of “finding tools” available, issues such
as retrospective coverage and copyright, resources regarding citing
Internet sources, and others for keeping up-to-date.
Chapter 2: General Search Engines
This chapter seeks to provide the details and background about
internet search engines that intelligence professionals need to know. It
examines the largest engines in detail, explaining how to search them
effectively and efficiently.
Chapter 3: Specialized Directories
Specialized directories provide a great starting point for finding
information on a very specific topic. This chapter will provide an
overview on some of the top specialized directories on the internet that
should be a part of your tool box.
Chapter 4: Social Media Websites
In this chapter we explore the most relevant and popular social
networking websites on the planet. Whether you are in the United
States, Chine, UK, or Africa, we explore them all and identify ways to
get the intelligence you need.
Chapter 5: Ecommerce, Auction & Classified Sites
This chapter explores the most popular ecommerce, auction and
classified sites that are utilized for fraud, human trafficking, fencing
stolen goods and more.
Chapter 6: Images, Audio and Video
Across the internet there are over a billion images video and
audio files available for people to explore. This chapter explores the
resources and tools that are available for finding valuable information
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The Ultimate Guide to Open Source Intelligence
like pictures of world leaders, terrorist, stolen goods, accomplices and
more.
Chapter 7: News Resources
This chapter shares the top leading news resources around the
world. It explores them and categorizes them by country and explains
how to effectively and efficiently find the key intelligence you are
looking for.
Chapter 8: Dating Websites
This chapter explores the leading dating websites on the
internet. It explains how to search them, locate people, and identify
persons of interest.
Chapter 9: Freelance
This chapter attempts to provide information about freelance
websites that an intelligence professionals need to know. It examines
the largest freelance websites, why people register with them and the
unique demographic that is contained within.
Paid Vs. Free Resources
Within this book we explore both free and paid resources.
While a majority of them are free resources available to anyone, we did
find it necessary to include some relevant and cost effective tools that
can be employed during the intelligence process. These tools are
resources that have both been utilized and identified over the years are
not an endorsement of any kind rather an exploration into that
particular type of tool that could prove fruitful during the course of
your intelligence gathering.
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The Ultimate Guide to Open Source Intelligence
A Word on Usage
As you begin the intelligence gathering process you should
realize that the internet contains a vast amount of information, both
within the top layer and deep web. Finding this information and the
intelligence you need, will be dependent on the resources and tools you
have in your arsenal. You need to first understand what type of
information it is that you seek. What type of intelligence will prove
fruitful for your investigations? What type of information will you
client (agency, prosecutor, supervisor, etc.) need to be considered
valuable.
Remember we are constantly looking for intelligence that can aide in
being

Actionable

Reliable

Prosecutable

Disseminate
As you explore, keep in mind the following three guidelines to help you
get the most value from the Internet:

One—“Click on everything.”

Two—“Explore things you have never looked at before.”

Three—“When you tired, come back and visit it with a clear
mind.”
Disclaimer
Neither the publisher nor the author makes any claim as to the results that may be
obtained through the use of The Ultimate Guide of Open Source Intelligence or of any
of the Internet resources it references or links to. Neither publisher nor author will be
held liable for any results, or lack thereof, obtained by the use of this page or any of
its links; for any third-party changes; or for any hardware, software, or other problems
that may occur as the result of using it. The Ultimate Guide to Open Source
Intelligence is subject to change or discontinuation without notice at the discretion of
the publisher and author.
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The Ultimate Guide to Open Source Intelligence
Chapter 1: Basics for the Cyber Investigator
This book is based on the assumption that reader has the basic
understanding of searching and navigating the internet – such as how to
login, bring up a web browser and conduct basic searches. In this
section we explore some of the basic fundamentals as well as some
general ways of approaching cyber intelligence. I go into some details
already familiar to many readers, but I include this background material
for two purposes:
(1) so readers might understand more fully the characteristics,
content, utility, and nuances of intelligence gathering in the
cyber world, in order to search more effectively,
(2) to help those who find themselves teaching others how to
gather intelligence by providing answers to some of the more
frequently asked questions.
As for the general approaches to finding the right resources, this
chapter provides an overview and comparison of the kinds of “finding
tools” available and a set of strategies that can be applied.
According to the NATO Open Source Intelligence Handbook,
November 2001, there are four distinct categories of open source
information and intelligence.
1) Open Source Data (OSD): Data is the raw print, broadcast,
oral debriefing, or other form of information from a primary
source. It can be a photograph, a tape recording, a commercial
satellite image, or a personal letter from an individual. A god
example is a reporter embedded with forces in Afghanistan or
Iraq. He/she is taking pictures, talking to soldiers, recording
conversations and firefights, and taking notes with a pen or
pencil. This is considered raw data until it goes through a
conversion process to create a coherent product.
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The Ultimate Guide to Open Source Intelligence
2) Open Source Information (OSI): is comprised of the raw data
that can be put together, generally by an editorial process that
provides some filtering and validation as well as presentation
management. OSI is generic information that is usually widely
disseminated. Newspapers, books, broadcasts, and general daily
reports are part of the OSI world. An example is a reporter
embedded with forces who takes the raw data and converts it
into a meaningful article that is printed in newspapers,
magazines or broadcasted over the air waves. OSI is what a
Soldier would purchase at the bookstore inside the Post
Exchange in the form of USA Today or Newsweek.
3) Open Source Intelligence (OSINT): is information that has
been deliberately discovered, discriminated, distilled, and
disseminated to a select audience, generally the commander and
his/her immediate staff, in order to address a specific question.
In the case of a battlefield commander, it would more than
likely be answering the priority intelligence requirements (PIR)
or specific orders or requests (SOR). OSINT, in other words,
applies the proven process of intelligence to the broad diversity
of open sources of information, and creates intelligence.
Example: The meaningful article above (OSI) that was created
from raw data is used to support an operation. It’s quite possible
that a photo accompanying the article may be of a house known
to harbor insurgents. The photo in the article identifies the
location and now can be used to support a tailored operation to
attack the insurgents.
4) Validated OSINT (OSINT-V): is information to which a very
high degree of certainty can be attributed. It can only be
produced by an all-source intelligence professional, with access
to classified intelligence sources, whether working for a nation
or for a coalition staff. It can also come from an assured open
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The Ultimate Guide to Open Source Intelligence
source to which no question can be raised concerning its
validity (live video of an aircraft arriving at an airport that is
broadcast over the media). OSINT-V is OSINT for which there
are either confirming or unavailable classified sources or there
are no available classified sources disputing OSINT. OSINT-V
is produced only when the analyst has access to classified
sources.
a. Example: CNN reporter takes photos and reports on a
bridge. Intelligence personnel are aware the bridge is
vital for the movement of insurgent supplies; however,
CNN is unaware of that. Classified information confirms
that such a bridge exists. This in effect validates the
reporting as OSINT-V, especially if the bridge is
identified to be destroyed to keep insurgents from
moving supplies. But, if there isn’t anything in the
classified holdings to deny the existence of the bridge, it
is still considered OSINT-V since this is the first time
the bridge has been observed and reported, and there are
other sources like other reporters to backup the findings.
b. People in the intelligence business are realists and know
that everything cannot be monitored simultaneously;
construction of new infrastructure is continuously taking
place around the world. We cannot keep track of all new
buildings, bridges, roads or airfields being built. This is
what makes open source reporting extremely valuable. It
covers the areas the classical “INTS” are not assigned to
cover. The only time OSINT-V can be disputed is when
there is confirming evidence to deny the information.
Summary: How do I know when I have OSINT? The simple answer is
the analyst does not have OSINT until the open source information has
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The Ultimate Guide to Open Source Intelligence
been processed and analyzed, and supports a specific requirement. The
specific requirement can be a tailored operation or simply answering a
question. Analysts have to be very careful when it comes to
distinguishing between OSI and OSINT. Open source information
exploitation is exactly what the name implies, that which is
gathered/collected from open sources. In general, it is information that
is available to the general public without restrictions unless it is
copyrighted material. These include newspapers, the internet, books,
phone books, scientific journals, radio broadcasts, television,
individuals, and other forms. On the other hand, OSINT is an
intelligence gathering discipline that involves collecting information
from open sources and analyzing it to produce usable intelligence, and
there isn’t anything that says intelligence must be classified in order for
it to have utility. In the Intelligence Community, the term "open" refers
to overt, publicly available sources (as opposed to covert or classified
sources); it is not related to open-source software. OSINT is
distinguished from straight research in that it applies the process of
intelligence to create tailored knowledge supportive of a specific
decision by a specific individual or group.
Open Source Intelligence (OSINT) is a process of information
gathering from public and overt sources, such as newspapers and
military trade journals, which produces "actionable intelligence." Far
from being the hobby of amateurs, open source intelligence is used by
official military and government intelligence agencies on a regular
basis.
1. Gather sources: The number of possible open source
intelligence outlets is limitless. Some basic ones are
newspapers, which report on things like troop and fleet
movement, and even civilians who visit other countries and can
make relevant observations upon return. Strategy and defense
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The Ultimate Guide to Open Source Intelligence
information websites, such as Jane's Group, also provide high
quality information for you to harvest.
2. Pick a region or topic: Monitoring all varieties of open source
intelligence across regional and topical interests takes huge
amounts of manpower. To effectively use open source
intelligence you should focus on one region or issue at a time.
This will help you to stay on top of the latest information and
will allow you to develop a background understanding of
intelligence items.
3. Connect the dots: Once you have gathered your sources you
need to monitor news and information in order to connect the
dots. Look, for example, at how heads of state visits coincide
with arms sales. Then consider troop and fleet movement
against rising tensions in various regions. Use widely available
technology such as Google Earth, Bing Maps 3D, and others to
get views of important locations. Take all this kind of
information and try to deduce the most likely intelligence
information from it.
4. Test your theories: One of the best ways to test a theory that
you've constructed on the basis of open source intelligence is to
publish the theory. You can post theories on strategy discussion
forums or you can send your piece to influential military
bloggers or even newspapers. Check the responses from other
members of the open source intelligence community to see what
the criticisms might be.
The Intelligence Cycle
Equally important to the components of strategic intelligence is an
awareness of the strategic intelligence cycle and the debriefer's role
within that cycle. The first step is the identification of intelligence gaps.
Analysts translate these gaps into intelligence requirements - the second
step. In the third step, the strategic debriefer fulfills those requirements.
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The Ultimate Guide to Open Source Intelligence
The fourth step involves preparation of an intelligence report. The fifth
and last step is the preparation of an intelligence report evaluation by
the originator of the requirement. These evaluations measure the
quality of the information as well as the quality of the report writing.
The Intelligence Cycle is the process of developing raw information
into finished intelligence for policymakers to use in decision making
and action. There are five steps which constitute the Intelligence Cycle.
1. Planning and Direction - is management of the entire effort,
from identifying the need for data to delivering an intelligence
product to a consumer. It is the beginning and the end of the
cycle—the beginning because it involves drawing up specific
collection requirements and the end because finished
intelligence, which supports policy decisions, generates new
requirements. The whole process depends on guidance from
public officials. Policymakers—the President, his aides, the
National Security Council, and other major departments and
agencies of government—initiate requests for intelligence.
2. Collection - is the gathering of the raw information needed to
produce finished intelligence? There are many sources of
information, including open sources such as foreign broadcasts,
newspapers, periodicals, and books. Open source reporting is
integral to CIA's analytical capabilities. There are also secret
sources of information. CIA operations officers collect such
information from agents abroad and from defectors who provide
information obtainable in no other way. Finally, technical
collection—electronics and satellite photography—plays an
indispensable role in modern intelligence, such as monitoring
arms control agreements and providing direct support to
military forces.
3. Processing - involves converting the vast amount of
information collected to a form usable by analysts. This is done
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The Ultimate Guide to Open Source Intelligence
through a variety of methods including decryption, language
translations, and data reduction.
4. All-Source Analysis and Production - is the conversion of
basic information into finished intelligence. It includes
integrating, evaluating, and analyzing all available data—which
is often fragmented and even contradictory—and preparing
intelligence products. Analysts, who are subject-matter
specialists, consider the information's reliability, validity, and
relevance. They integrate data into a coherent whole, put the
evaluated information in context, and produce finished
intelligence that includes assessments of events and judgments
about the implications of the information for the United States.
Dissemination - The last step, which logically feeds into the
first, is the distribution of the finished intelligence to the
consumers, the same policymakers whose needs initiated the
intelligence requirements. Finished intelligence is provided
daily to the President and key national security advisers. The
policymakers, the recipients of finished intelligence, then make
decisions based on the information, and these decisions may
lead to the levying of more requirements, thus triggering the
Intelligence Cycle.
Cyber Investigation Methodologies
In the purest sense, intelligence is the end product of an analytic
process that evaluates information collected from diverse sources;
integrates the relevant information into a logical package; and produces
a conclusion, estimate, or forecast about a criminal phenomenon by
using the scientific approach to problem solving (analysis).
Intelligence, therefore, is a synergistic product intended to
provide meaningful, trustworthy and actionable knowledge to law
enforcement decision makers about complex criminality, criminal
enterprises, criminal extremists, and terrorists.
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The Ultimate Guide to Open Source Intelligence
The law enforcement intelligence function has essentially two broad
purposes:
1. Prevention involves gaining or developing information related
to threats of terrorism or crime and using it to apprehend
offenders, harden targets, and use strategies that will eliminate
or mitigate the threat. Two generally accepted types of
intelligence are specifically oriented toward prevention:
a. Tactical Intelligence: Actionable intelligence about
imminent or near-term threats that is disseminated to the line
functions of a law enforcement agency for purposes of developing
and implementing preventive, and/or mitigating, response plans and
activities.
b. Operational Intelligence: Actionable intelligence
about long-term threats that is used to develop and implement
preventive responses. Most commonly, operational intelligence is
used for long-term inquiries into suspected criminal enterprises and
complex multi- jurisdictional criminality.
2. Planning and Resource Allocation: provides information to
decision-makers about the changing nature of threats, the
characteristics and methodologies of threats, and emerging
threat idiosyncrasies for the purpose of developing response
strategies and reallocating resources, as
necessary, to accomplish effective prevention. This is known as
strategic intelligence. It provides an assessment of the changing
threat picture to the management of a law enforcement agency
for purposes of developing plans and allocating resources to
meet the demands of emerging threats.
While the investigation is clearly related to the information
collection and intelligence processes, the intelligence function is often
more exploratory and more broadly focused than a criminal
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The Ultimate Guide to Open Source Intelligence
investigation, per se. For example, a law enforcement agency may have
a reasonable suspicion to believe that a person or group of people have
the intent, capacity, and resolve to commit a crime or terrorist act.
Evidence, however, may fall short of the probable cause
standard, even for an arrest for criminal attempt or conspiracy.
Moreover, there may be a compelling community safety reason to keep
an inquiry open to identify other criminal offenders—notably leaders—
and weapons that may be used.
Cyber Intelligence Preparation
In beginning of our cyber investigations, preparation is critical to our
success and intelligence is an important factor in identifying our
subject.
Purpose of this Intelligence Preparation
I.
II.
Determining the Scope of the Investigation
Investigation Scope
 Identify the Loss (Information, Data, Product,
Passwords, Emails, Credit Cards, etc.)
 Identify an Approximate Date of Loss
 Location of Loss (Physical, Virtual, Server, etc.)
 Primary subject/subjects
 Intelligence Information
 Background Checks
 License Plates
 Driver’s License
 Employment Application
 Informants
 CCTV
 Include All Possible Subjects
 Friends
 Relatives
 Acquaintances
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III. Preparatory Measures
A. Anonymous email account (gmail, aol, yahoo)
B. Prepaid credit card with a balance (Vanilla Visa,
AMEX)
C. Prepaid cellular phone (NET10, Cricket)
D. Drop Box (FedEx, Kinkos, etc.)
E. Investigator account with platform
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Chapter 2: General Search Engines
Search Engines are the true essence for searching topics and
things online. It adds a new dimension by making it easier for people
who are in search of finding relevant sources for the information or
topics they are looking for. Due to millions of websites currently
available online, Search engines are probably best way to search things
easily these days. Discussed below are some of the popular search
engines which are widely used by people around the globe.
General Web Directories
General Web directories are a good starting place when you
have a very general question (what is al-Qaida, top stolen items), or
when you don’t quite know where to go with a broad topic and would
like to browse down through a category to get some guidance.
Search Engines
Whereas a directory is a good start when you want to be
directed to just a few selected items on a fairly general topic, search
engines are the place to go when you want something on a fairly
specific topic (listing of classified websites, how to investigate
criminals). Instead of searching brief descriptions of 2 to 3 million Web
sites, these services allow you to search virtually every word from 2 to
3 billion Web pages. In addition, Web search engines allow you to use
much more sophisticated techniques, allowing you to much more
effectively focus in on your topic. The pages included in Web search
engines are not placed in categories (hence, you cannot browse a
hierarchy), and no prior human selectivity was involved in determining
what is in the search engine’s database. You, as the intelligence
gatherer, provide the selectivity by the search terms you choose and by
the further narrowing techniques you may apply.
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The Ultimate Guide to Open Source Intelligence
Getting Organized for Gathering Open Source Intelligence
Both a natural way of organizing the world around us and a
way of organizing your thoughts about a search is to think in terms
of concepts. Thinking in concepts is a central part of most searches.
The concepts are the ideas that must be present in order for a resultant
answer to be relevant, each concept corresponding to a required criterion.
Sometimes a search is so specific that a single concept may be involved,
but most searches involve a combination of two, three, or four concepts.
For instance, if our search is for “restaurants in Orlando,” our two
concepts are “restaurants” and “Orlando.” If we are trying to identify
Web pages on this topic, any Web page that includes both concepts
possibly contains what we are looking for and any page that is missing
either of those concepts is not going to be relevant.
The experienced intelligence gatherer knows that for any
concept, more than one term present in a record (on a Web page) may
indicate the presence of the concept, and these alternate terms also need to
be considered. Alternate terms may include, among other things, (1)
grammatical variations (e.g., electricity, electrical), (2) synonyms, nearsynonyms, or closely related terms (e.g., culture, traditions), and (3) a term
and its narrower terms. For an exhaustive search in which “Baltic states” is a
concept, you may want to also search for Latvia, Lithuania, and
Estonia. In an exhaustive search for information on the production of
electricity in the Baltic States, you would not want to miss that Web
page that dealt specifically with “Production of Electricity in Latvia.”
When the idea of thinking in concepts is expanded further, it
naturally leads to a discussion of Boolean logic. In the meantime, the
major point here is that, in preparing your search strategy, think about
what concepts are involved, and remember that, for most concepts,
looking for alternate terms is important.
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Intelligence Gathering Strategies
Just as there is no one right or wrong way to search the Internet,
there can be no list of definitive steps to follow, or one specific
strategy to follow, in preparing and performing every search. Rather, it
is useful to think in terms of a toolbox of strategies and to select whichever
tool or combination of tools seems most appropriate for the search at hand.
Among the more common strategies, or strategic tools, or approaches for
searching the Internet are the following:
1. Identify your basic ideas (concepts) and rely on the built-in
relevance ranking provided by search engines. In the major
search engines and many other search sites, when you enter
terms, only those records (Web pages) that contain all those
terms will be retrieved, and the engine will automatically rank
the order of output based on various criteria.
2. Use simple narrowing techniques if your results need narrowing:
o Add another concept to narrow your search
(instead of hotels Albuquerque, try inexpensive
hotels Albuquerque)
o Use quotation marks to indicate phrases when a
phrase more exactly defines your concept(s) than if
the words occur in different places on the page, for
example, “foreign policy.” Most Web sites that have
a search function allow you to specify a phrase (a
combination of two or more adjacent words, in the
order written) by the use of quotation marks.
o Use a more specific term for one or more of your
concepts (instead of intelligence, perhaps use
military intelligence).
o Narrow your results to only those items that
contain your most important terms in the title of
the page. (These kinds of techniques will be
discussed in Chapter 4.)
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3. Examine your first results and look for, then use, terms
you might not have thought of at first.
4. If you do not seem to be getting enough relevant items, use
the Boolean OR operation to allow for alternate terms, for
example, electrical OR electricity would find all items that
have either the term electrical or the term electricity. How
you express the OR operation varies with the finding tool.
5. Use a combination of Boolean operations (AND, OR,
NOT, or their equivalents) to identify those pages that
contain a specific combination of concepts and alternate
terms for those concepts (for example, to get all pages
that contain either the term cloth or the term fabric and
also contain the words flax and shrinkage). As will be
discussed later, Boolean is not necessarily complicated, is
often implied without you doing any- thing, and can be as
simple as choosing between “all of these words” or “any
of these words” options.
6. Look at what else the finding tools (particularly search
engines) can do to allow you to get as much as you
need—and only what you need. Advanced search pages
are probably the first place you should look.
If you ask several different intelligence gatherers and you will get
several different strategies for gathering open source intelligence. The
most important thing to understand is the different types of resources
that are available, and when to use those resources depending upon
your intelligence needs.
Accuracy of Open Source Information
A favorite complaint by those who are still a bit shy of the Internet
is that the quality of information found there is often low. The same
could be said about information available from a lot of other resources.
A newsstand may have both the Economist and The National Enquirer
on its shelves. On television you will find both The History Channel
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and infomercials. Experience has taught us how, in most cases, to make
a quick determination of the relative quality of the information we
encounter in our daily lives. In using the Internet, many of the same
criteria can be successfully applied, particularly those criteria we are
accustomed to applying to traditional literature resources, both popular
and academic.
These traditional literature evaluation techniques/criteria that can
be applied in the Internet context include:
1.
Consider the source.
From what organization does the content originate? Look for
the organization identified both on the Web page itself and at the URL.
Is the content identified as coming from known sources such as a news
organization, a government, an academic journal, a professional
association, or a major investment firm? Just because it does not come
from such a source is certainly not cause enough to reject it outright.
On the other hand, even if it does come from such a source,
don’t bet the farm on this criterion alone. Look at the URL. Often you
will immediately be able to identify the owner. Peel back the URL to
the domain name. If that does not adequately identify it, you can check
details of the domain ownership for U.S. sites on sites that provide
access to the Whois database, such as Network Solution’s (VeriSign)
http://www.networksolutions.com/cgi-bin/whois/whois.
Be aware that some look-alike domain names are intended to fool
the reader as to the origin of the site. The top level domain (.edu, .com, etc.)
may provide some clues about the source of the information, but do not
make too many assumptions here. An .edu or .ac domain does not
necessarily assure academic content, given that students as well as faculty
can often easily get a space on the university server.
A cedilla “ ~ ” in a directory name is often an indication of a
personal page. Again, don’t reject something on such a criterion alone.
There are some very valuable personal pages out there.
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Is the actual author identified? Is there an indication of the
author’s credentials, the author’s organization? Do a search for other
things by the same author. Does she or he publish a lot on spontaneous
human combustion and extraterrestrial origins of life on earth? If you
recognize an author’s name and the work does not seem consistent with
other things from the same author, question it. It is easy to impersonate
someone on the Internet.
2. Consider the motivation.
What seems to be the purpose of the site—academic, consumer
protection, sales, entertainment (don’t be taken in by a spoof),
political? There is, of course, nothing inherently bad (or for that
matter necessarily inherently good), in any of those purposes, but
identifying the motivation can be helpful in assessing the degree of
objectivity. Is any advertising on the page clearly identified, or is
advertising disguised as something else?
3. Look at the quality of the writing.
If there are spelling and grammatical errors, assume that the
same level of attention to detail probably went into the gathering
and reporting of the “facts” given on the site.
4. Look at the quality of the documentation of sources cited.
First, remember that even in academic circles, the number of
footnotes is not a true measure of the quality of a work. On the other
hand, and more importantly, if facts are cited, does the page identify the
origin of the facts? If a lot rests on the information you are gathering,
check out some of the cited sources to see that they really do give the
facts that were quoted.
Let’s see explore some of the most popular search engines
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Google
The undisputed leader in the race. It offers the platform to fast,
relevant, and one of the largest database of the web pages online. It
features Google Images, Maps, and News which are just outstanding
services that help in searching pictures, geographic locations and latest
news updates.
Search Features Provided by Google
Both by the menus on the advanced page and prefixes on the main
page, Google provides field searching for all of the commonly
searchable Web page fields (title, URL, link, language, date), plus
searching by file format and for “similar” pages.
Title Searching
Searches can be limited to words appearing in the page title by either of
two ways. On the advanced search page, you can enter your terms in
the search boxes, then, under the Occurrences section of the page,
choose “in the title of the page” from the pull-down menu. You can
also, on the home page, use the “intitle:” or “allintitle:” The “intitle:”
prefix specifies that a single word or phrase be in the title.
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Examples: intitle:online intitle:“online strategies”
“Allintitle:” is used to specify that all words that follow the colon be in
the title, and not necessarily in that order. For example, the following
would retrieve titles with both words somewhere in the title, not
necessarily in that order: allintitle:nato preparedness.
These prefixes can be combined with a search for a word anywhere on
the page.
Example: summit intitle:nato.
You cannot do a combination like the one just mentioned using the
menus on the advanced page because your single menu choice there
will apply to all terms you enter in the search boxes.
URL Searching
Limiting retrieval to pages from a particular URL is done in a way that
is parallel to title searching. You can do it either on the advanced
search page with menus or on the home page by using prefixes. On the
advanced search page, enter a URL or part of a URL in the search
boxes, then choose “in the url of the page” from the Occurrences
section of the advanced page.
On the home page, you can use the “inurl:” or “allinurl:” prefixes.
Examples: inurl:bbc inurl:bbc inurl: “bbc.co.uk”
allinurl:bbc co uk
On the advanced search page, you can also use the “Domain” box to
search for a part or all of a URL (uk, edu, ford.com). To do a “site
search” for a particular topic, enter terms for your topic in the search
boxes and the URL in the Domain box. A site search can be done on
the home page as follows: hybrid inurl:ford.com
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The prefix “site:” is almost identical to the “allinurl:” prefix. With
“site:”, however, you have to use a search term as well.
Example: hybrid site:gm.com.
Link Searching
To find pages that link to a particular site, you can use the “Links” box
in the “Page-Specific” section of the advanced search page by entering
the URL in the box, or you can perform the search on Google’s home
page by using the “link:” prefix. For example, to find pages that link to
the Modern Language
Association site, search for: Example: link:mla.org.
Language Searching
To limit retrieval to a particular language, use the Language menu on
the advanced search page. The default is “all languages,” but you can
choose any one of over 30 languages. If you wish to make a particular
language your default choice, you can do so on Google’s Preferences
page. On that same page, you can also choose to have the Google
search pages appear in any of those languages.
Date Searching
The Date window on the advanced search page allows you to limit
results to pages that are new in the last three months, six months, or
year. Keep in mind that date searching is only an approximation,
because the origination date or last updated date is often not clearly
identified on most Web pages.
File Type
Google indexes more file types than any other Web search engine and
includes the following in its index in addition to HTML pages: Adobe
Acrobat files (.pdf), Adobe Postscript files (.ps), Microsoft Word files
(.doc), Microsoft Excel files (.xls), Microsoft PowerPoint (.pdf), and
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The Ultimate Guide to Open Source Intelligence
rich text format (.rtf.). You can limit your retrieval to any one On
Google’s home page, you can accomplish the same thing by using the
“filetype:” prefix. For example, if you want a 1099 IRS tax form that
you can print out, you could search for: 1099 IRS form filetype:pdf.
Related (Similar) Pages
You can search for pages that are similar to a particular page by using
the Similar box in the Page-Specific section of Google’s advanced
search page. Enter the URL of the page in the box. This can also be
done by using the “related:” prefix on Google’s home page.
Example: related:searchenginewatch.com
Other Fields
The following prefixes can be used on Google’s home page to search
for the information indicated. cache: Enter a URL after the colon and
you will get Google’s cached version of the page. Example:
cache:www.aps.org
info: Enter a URL after the colon to get basically the same information
that is shown on a results page when the record for that site is retrieved.
Example: info:cyndislist.com
stocks: Enter one or more stock symbols after the colon to get links to
stock quotes.
Boolean
On the home page, Google automatically “ANDs” all of your words.
You can also use a minus sign in front of a term to NOT a term, and
you can use one or more ORs. (The OR must be capitalized.)
Example: warfare chemical OR biological -anthrax
This search expression would get all records that contain the word
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The Ultimate Guide to Open Source Intelligence
“warfare” and also contain either “chemical” or “biological” but would
eliminate all records containing the word “anthrax.”
On Google’s advanced search page, simple Boolean is done by use of
the “with all the words,” “with at least one of the words,” and “without
the words” boxes.
Other Search Features
“Wildcard” Words
Google allows the use of one or more asterisks for “wildcard” words
(not to be confused with “truncation,” which is for wildcard characters
within or at the end of a word). You can use the asterisk for unknown
words in a phrase search. The use of each asterisk insists on the
presence of one word.
Example: “erasmus * rotterdam” will retrieve “Erasmus Universiteit
Rotterdam” and “Erasmus von Rotterdam.” It will not necessarily
retrieve any “Erasmus Rotterdam” records.
Example: “erasmus * * rotterdam”
will retrieve “Erasmus University of Rotterdam,” but not necessarily
the “Erasmus Universiteit Rotterdam” records.
If you want “Franklin Roosevelt” and also “Franklin D Roosevelt” and
also “Franklin Delano Roosevelt,” you would search for:
“Franklin Roosevelt” OR “Franklin * Roosevelt”
Results Pages
On Google results pages, it pays to look closely at the entire page and
also at the content of the individual records. On the line where Google
reports your results, for example, searched the web for belgium. Results
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1 - 10 of about 7,800,000 look for underlined terms. Clicking on them
will lead to dictionary definitions from Dictionary.com.
Google’s Advanced Search
Although, as with other engines, many searches can be effectively
accomplished by putting one or two terms in the home page search box,
if you need enhanced capabilities, Google’s advanced search page
provides them. It has all of the common field search options (title,
URL, link, language, date) and less common options as well.
In roughly this order, you will find the following on Google’s advanced
search page:
• Boxes to perform simple Boolean combinations (“all the
words,” etc.).
• Choice of 10, 20, 30, 50 or 100 results per page.
• Choice of searching for documents in all languages or any one
of 35 languages.
• Option to retrieve only a specific file format (PDF, xls, doc, ps,
Ppt, rf).
• Date restriction (anytime, last 3 months, last 6 months, last
year).
• Window to limit retrieval to title or URL fields.
• Box for limiting to (or excluding) a particular domain or URL.
• Adult content filter option.
Bing
It has emerged out to be one of the most competitive and probably
stands next to Google. Earlier known as MSN Searched and then Live
Search and Got new name Bing.com on June 3 2009. The advanced
search feature includes the suggestions appearing on the leftmost
column with other useful features such as the wiki suggestions, visual
search or the related search options.
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The Ultimate Guide to Open Source Intelligence
Yahoo Search
Once powered by Google but now powered by Bing after deal with
Microsoft. It is still 3rd largest player in search engine business
according to various market research surveys. Offers various search
options (like google and Bing) including local search, video search,
shopping search, apps etc.
Altavista
Once owned by Yahoo this was one of the best search engines before
Google emerged as a bigger player. Although shut down by Yahoo the
site is still working and is using the yahoo search engine to deliver
search results. The site provides you with a list of trending topics while
you search from the search bar.
Ask - established in the year 1996 it has been popular for its plain and
simple interface, the site delivers search results as good as the biggies
like Google or Bing. The feature which makes it stand out of the other
competitors is the result groupings for the search results.
AOL Search - powered by Google the search engine provides web
results from Google. It is combines results with the multimedia as well
as contents from AOL and its other media partners such as Blinkx or
Map Quest.
Mywebsearch - yet another site which is powered by Google Search
Results, provides you the platform to search for your related topics. It
gives a list of trending topics in a drop down to assist in searching for
the trending topics. Moreover it provides you quick access links to sites
such as Facebook, Yahoo, Gmail, etc.
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The Ultimate Guide to Open Source Intelligence
Blekko - the site features the option of using slashtags for restricting
searched sites on different topics. This site is also popular for providing
the public site statistics which is pretty useful to the webmasters.
InfoSpace.com - is a search engines offering search for web pages,
videos, images, news, yellow pages and white pages. The search engine
don’t crawl page on its own but sources search results from popular
search engines like Google, Yahoo and Bing and combine them. Site is
online since 1996.
Duckduckgo - pretty similar in functionality to Google the site is
known for its zero click information where it lists down all the search
results in the very 1st page. The fact that the site is not clogged with
ads as compared to other search engines makes it a pretty useful for the
visitors.
Topsy - it is one of those sites which are dedicated to displaying search
results for the contents published on social networking sites. The search
results are real time which helps businesses across the globe for
applying social intelligence to take real time decisions.
Lycos - this site comes with refined search options where the homepage
provides various categories to choose from. It is a North American
website which offers email solutions, Yellow Pages and comes with a
heavily integrated search engine.
Dogpile - it was one of the most powerful search engines and ranked
even better than Google a few years ago. Even though it has declined in
rankings the site has made several changes to its presentation with a
much cleaner and helpful crosslink results.
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The Ultimate Guide to Open Source Intelligence
Info.com - this site features search results pulled from the major search
engines such as Yahoo, Bing, and Google. It also lists down shopping
and product reviews besides providing a broad selection of health,
news, pictures, directions and probably every topic one would search
for.
Web Crawler - this site provides you with top search results from
Yahoo, Bing, and some of the other major search engines utilizing its
metasearch technology. It has been known for providing refined as well
as multimedia results that includes videos, images, news and other local
information.
Yandex Worldwide - is basically a Russian search engine but they
launched English only search engine in May 2010 to focus on Russians
abroad and English users. The company has more than 60% market
share in Russia. Yandex.com can process English queries and provide
search results for English websites.
Start Page - we have also found IXQuick probably part of same
network. These two sites are aimed to provide you with more
comprehensive as well as accurate search results acquired from other
search engines such as Google. The unique capabilities include the
advanced search, power
GoodSearch - powered by yahoo this site provides you with results
which provides relevant search results for contents on web, images,
products, and coupons. The site donates 50% of its sponsored search
revenue to schools and charities which are designated by its users.
Search.com - is a part of CNET Networks this site is known to be one
of the best Meta search engines. The results on this site are retrieved
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The Ultimate Guide to Open Source Intelligence
from AskJeeves, Google, Ask, MSN search, and other biggies from the
search engine arena. It also provides instant access to technology sites
such as CNET, ZNET, or Download.com. .
EntireWeb - known for its search technology solutions this site is an
international web search engine displaying general search results. The
site handles millions of searches every month delivering ultra-high
performance retrieval of information from vast unstructured data
sources.
Ecosia - it’s a search engine which comes with a difference where it
features interesting sponsored links along with the usual search results.
The site donates 80% of the income it generates to support WWF for
rainforest across Amazon.
Amfibi - the site includes its own index of websites along with a
directory which uses the Open Directory Project. It offers the features
of submitting your site and featured listings on their search results for a
nominal amount.
Volunia - search results powered by Bing, it is based on seek and meet
concept where besides displaying normal search results it shows the
trending topics as well. The site comes with a unique chat option on the
right of the page which is open to all the visitors for leaving their
comments.
Yippy Search - the site displays search results combining and
generating the top results it obtains from the popular search engines.
Based on the metasearch approach it further refines the results of only
the best ones and filtering the spam away..
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Chapter 3: Specialized Directories
For some immediate expertise in Web resources on a specific
topic, there is no better starting point than the right specialized
directory, or portal. They provide not just a good starting place for
effectively utilizing Internet resources in a particular area, but also,
very importantly, a confidence in knowing that no really important
tools in that area are being missed. The variety of these sites is endless.
They can be discipline-oriented or industry-oriented; they may focus on
a specific kind of document (e.g., newspapers or historical documents)
or take virtually any other slant toward identifying a useful category of
resources.
What to Look for in Identifying Web Directories
For many areas there are numerous directories to choose from. If you
want to find the best, several factors must be considered. An excellent
specialized directory does not have to be strong in all of these facets,
but, depending on your need, you might want to focus on a few
particular aspects. They tend to differ mainly in these terms:
• Size—Sometimes large is good; sometimes a smaller number of
sites to focus on are good.
• Categorization/Classification—especially if the number of
sites included is large, it is helpful if they are divided by a
useful categorization.
• Annotations—a large portion of specialized directories
(including many very good ones) do not have annotations
describing the sites they list. Annotations, though, can be very
useful by providing a quick overview of what the sites cover
and any special characteristics of the sites.
• Searchability—a fairly small portion of specialized directories
provide a search box, to save having to browse. If the directory
is large, this can be quite useful.
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• Origin—who (or what organization) produced the site is
sometimes, but not always, a good indicator of the quality you
might expect from the site.
• Portal features—if, in addition to the collection of links, other
features are included, the site can be especially powerful. Look
for such things as news headlines, lists of events (conferences,
etc.), professional directories (e.g., a list of members if it is a
site produced by an association), directories of companies in
that area, and so on.
Some Examples of Specialized Directories
The following are chosen for a variety of reasons. Some are
chosen because they are simply sites that most serious searchers should
be aware of. Some are listed here because they demonstrate particularly
good or unique characteristics of a specialized directory. Some are
given because they are very wide-ranging (as well as having other
values as a specialized directory). In some categories, such as
Government, more than one is listed in order to provide contrasts
between sites.
Don’t forget that effective use of a directory approach to
identifying relevant sites can mean using a combination of the general
Web directories covered in the previous chapter and the specialized
directories covered here. In one sense, each section of a general
directory such as Yahoo! or Open Directory is itself a specialized
directory.
Yelp is a good directory because of their online web presence. While
their rating system is questionable, it’s a good idea to get yourself a
Yelp and link to your website from the Yelp account. Search engine
marketing through Yelp is a good idea for small businesses looking to
build a reputation.
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Yellow Pages is a free service that provides other side marketing
services. Yellow pages formed from the need for advertising on the
internet, and the increasing use of search via computer. This is not
internet advertising, these are free business listings.
Manta is a business directory that allows you to advertise on your
competitors’ listing. They offer free and premium accounts. No more
paying pay per click with organic SEO, such as using Manta to increase
your search engine ranking and internet traffic.
CitySearch provides business listings for your area. Be careful with this
website however, they won’t remove bad reviews, even if they are
slander.
Hotfrog is an excellent way to get a back link. Their directory is free
and you’ll want to link to your website. Hotfrog is great for inbound
marketing through advertising agencies.
dmoz.org - unquestioned leader of the top ten web-directories is Open
Directory Project (dmoz.org). This is actually the premier, reliable
human-edited directory over the web. Launched by Rich Skrenta and
Bob True on 1998, dmoz.org is currently the best multi-lingual open
content web directory.
Such reputation was won because of honest (non-commercial)
moderation of authorized sites by group of volunteer web editors, a
large count of categories and sub-categories that assist in searching
required sites and a big list of registered, thoroughly analyzed websites.
www.lii.org Librarians’ Internet Index (Lii.org) is one among the most
well-known web directories, created as California project in the year
1994. This particular directory soon after took on nationwide and later
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worldwide importance. Lii.org have been updating its data base with all
the new top-quality websites for over a decade. On every Thursday, all
Lii.org prospects receive a totally free news letter (either RSS or email)
which includes a new choice of thematically gathered web sites. E-mail
distribution and Well-tuned RSS of lately included websites and ideal
ranking are the major features of Lii.org web directory.
dir.yahoo.com - Yahoo Directory is a standard web directory, owned
and operated by the world famous Yahoo internet search engine. This
web directory is probably one among the finest paid directories in
internet. Indexing in Yahoo Directory charges you $299 each month.
This given web directory has been visited by a large numbers of
individuals from USA, and also from several other states.
www.vlib.org - Vlib.org is the earliest Web listing, started by Tim
Berners Lee (also popular as (HTML creators) in the year 1991. It is
well guided by free organization of volunteers. Each and every
volunteer accounts for a specific area in which he/she is a specialist.
Currently one of the most Vlib.org historical mirrors is being managed
by Dave Stevens of the United Kingdom.
www.business.com - is a huge venture that combines web directory and
internet search engine. Designed by Jake Winebaum in 1999, it is now
the biggest paid web directory in the internet. Each month it’s getting
visited by more than 60,000,000 people.
botw.org - Best of the Web is probably the first web directory, set up
by Brandon Plewe in the year 1994. Best of the Web stands apart
because of top standard of listings, time proved status and massive
traffic.
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stpt.com - starting point – general directories is probably one of the first
free web directories on the net from the year 1995. This great directory
site presents a beneficial, active site with a large number of categories
in addition to sub-categories.
webworldindex.com - web world directory is a free directory which
was started in 2001. Web World Directory includes a large base of
content articles, weblogs and permits submitting articles specialized in
web masters.
dirjournal.com - directory journal (dirjournal.com) is a masterfully
designed general web directory which has proper bunch of genuine
directory listings, articles or blog posts.
jayde.com - Jayde.com directory, started in 1996 is probably one of the
oldest business web directories on the web. Jayde.com is a fully human
edited directory site that features a large numbers of distinct and unparalleled business websites (greater than Two million) properly
grouped into categories (about 277,660 distinct categories).
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Chapter 4: Social Media Websites
Social network is a term referring to the relationships that
connect us with other people. It is the social structure that maps out the
relationships between individuals. Although we technically all belong
to one giant social network, we also belong to smaller, tighter social
networks that are defined by our families, friends, where we live, work,
went to school, hobbies, interests, etc.
As we meet people, we typically ask basic questions about
where they are from, the type of work they do, and where they went to
school. Through these questions and others, we frequently discover
similar interests and/or realize that we have relationships with some of
the same individuals. The goal of social networking sites is to turn this
verbal dialogue into a visual framework available for all of your
connections (and sometimes your connections’ connections) to see.
Thus, by connecting to someone online, people can see relationship
connections visually and identify shared interests without having to
speak to each other.
Social networking sites also allow us to share our lives with
“friends” without having to speak or write to each other. These sites
allow you to post messages on your site for others to read. The sites
also allow you to post photos, videos, and music. People use social
networking sites to join groups related to their interests and hobbies. As
individuals begin to communicate in this fashion there is a tendency to
over-share with others some information that you would not normally
provide others, especially people you do not know very well. For
example, a few months ago, a very casual acquaintance began posting
details about her pregnancy in excruciating detail. This information was
posted on her social networking page for anyone connected to her to
read. This seems to be the result of our demand for instant and constant
communication.
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Use of social networking sites is an important tool when
handling all types of intelligence cases because it can provide a wealth
of useful information that would otherwise be undiscoverable. In order
to identify useful evidence, it is important to have an understanding of
main social networking sites and the information users frequently
provide on their profiles.
Website TOS, Privacy Laws and Proposed Regulations
Social Media is a key component to profiling a subject of investigation.
The pool of information about each individual can form a distinctive
“social signature.” But there are limits to the information you can
access on social networks due to privacy settings and anonymity.
Issues with Anonymity
We have a right to it, but websites are not allowing it via TOS. You can
be anonymous online, but how can you be anonymous online when
social network providers and others ask for real information?
 If you go into Facebook and set up a profile, the TOS identifies
you. You must have a valid e-mail address, but how does the
social network know that users are not simply using a random email address and fictitious name?
 It is not illegal for Internet users to impersonate or create a false
identity online.
 Popularity of a site comes with increased vulnerability of attack.
 We are seeing an increase in Spoofing (i.e. reset password emails giving the perpetrators ownership of others’ accounts.
 Be advised that accounts opened under a person’s name can be a
result of spoofing, meaning they were not necessarily created by
the person whose name is on the account. In the context of
network security, a spoofing attack is a situation in which one
person or a computer program successfully masquerades as
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another by falsifying data and thereby gaining an illegitimate
advantage.
Facebook - To access Facebook.com, you must create an account on
the site which is free. Facebook's terms of use state that members must
be at least 13 years old with valid email ID’s. After updating you're
details, your Facebook profile is generated. Using Facebook.com you
can:
 Browse and join networks, which are organized into four
categories: regions, colleges, workplaces and high
schools.
 Pull contacts from a Web-based e-mail account, into
Facebook.com.
 Find friends in several ways, including search engine to
look for a specific person and lot more.
 Facebook has recently crossed 500 million users and is
the most popular Social
Networking site of the
world.
Background information:
Before we get into detail, let's make it clear
what exactly we are talking about here.
Facebook has three huge search platforms.
We are interested in two of them:
People search: Contact search
(facebook.com/srch.php) and advanced
friend search (facebook.com/findfriends/browser/). For the full list of ways
to find people, refer to this older Mashable article on finding long lost
friends on Facebook.
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Auto-complete search was previously showing results from your
friends, and is now pulling results from your extended network (friends
of your friends).
Facebook advanced search (facebook.com/search.php) is the
extended version of Auto-complete search and is what you land on if
you click the See more results link in the Auto-Complete drop-down.
Advanced search
The only way you can filter results is by type: People, Pages, Groups,
Apps, Events, Web Results (powered by Bing), updates from friends or
any update made public.
Limitations
It's important to remember some things about Facebook search:
It is unpredictable. Facebook search relies heavily on your friends and
friends of your friends, so you never know what other users see for
your search query. It's like Google personalized search, but with a
stronger reliance on social connections over any other ranking factors.
It relies on exact match and lacks advanced operators (and thus
flexibility). Unlike Twitter search, Facebook gives you no freedom
with your query. You can't exclude one word while including another
one. You can't filter results by location and so forth.
Facebook Advanced Search Operator
Facebook search relies too much on exact matches. For any two words,
you will only see results that contain both of your terms. But what if I
want to see combined results for two words used in the query? Luckily,
there's a hidden operator. For example, twitter | facebook search will
trigger results containing either "twitter" or "facebook" (or both):
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MySpace - on MySpace, your social network starts growing from the
first day. When you join MySpace, the first step is to create a profile.
You then, invite friends to join there and search for your friends on
already profiled on MySpace these friends become your initial Friend
Space. Once the friendship is confirmed all the people in your friends'
Friend Space become part of your network. In that sense, everyone on
MySpace is in your Extended Network. As part of terms of MySpace,
the user must be at least 14 years old to register.
Twitter - is a very simple service that is rapidly becoming one of the
most talked-about social networking service providers. When you have
a Twitter account, you can use the service to post and receive messages
to a network of contacts, as opposed to send bulk email messages. You
can build your network of contacts, and invite others to receive your
Tweets, and can follow other members' posts. Twitter makes it easy to
opt into or out of networks. Additionally, you can choose to stop
following a specific person’s feed.
Background information
Twitter search can be accessed from your Twitter home page, as
well as from a separate subdomain. Twitter search focuses on real-time
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results; however, Twitter has introduced important algorithm changes
that push particularly hot and "promoted" tweets above the real-time
results.
Advanced search:
The official Twitter search is a powerful tool. From there (as well as by
using search operators) you can:
2. Adjust your query (exclude any word/force any word/force the
exact match, etc.).
3. Set the language of search results.
4. Filter search results by user name (to see tweets from a user or
mentioning some user).
5. Set the local filter (to see tweets near a location).
6. Play with emotional coloring (using the smile emoticons) as
well as search for tweeted questions.
7. Include or exclude retweets.
8. Restrict results to those containing links.
9. While the above options are certainly effective, the most useful
one is hidden.
Twitter Advanced Search Operator: Filter Out Links
Both Twitter Advanced Search and twitter.com/search offer easy ways
to only show tweets that contain links. However, because most tweets
already contain links, in many cases the searchers are most likely to
look for the opposite: a way to see tweets that have no links in order to
filter out numerous updates around the same popular URL. This option
is invaluable for real Twitter conversations.
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To filter out all tweets containing links, you need to use -filter:links
operator within your search query. The minus sign is crucial:
As you can see, it can be a handy way to find great quotes, sincere
opinions, reviews and discussions.
LinkedIn - LinkedIn is an online social network for business
professionals, which is designed specifically for professional
networking, to help them find a job, discover sales leads, connect with
potential business partners. Unlike most of the other social networks,
LinkedIn does not focus on making friends or sharing media like
photos, videos and music. To start using LinkedIn you need to register
and create a profile page. To register to LinkedIn, you need to provide
personal information. You can update the profile with your education
and job details and a summary. Additionally, you can also give and
receive recommendations from co-workers and bosses. There are more
than 75 million professionals registered on LinkedIn.
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Background Information
LinkedIn has a well-developed search platform that is broken into six
independent sections: People, Updates, Jobs, Companies, Answers and
Groups. All of these sections offer mixed suggestions (possible results
from several sections) as you type.
Advanced search
Each of the above sections has a huge range of advanced search
options, listed below:
 People: Filter results by location, relationship, (past) industry
and school. More options are available for premium members.
 Updates: Filter results by your connection level, see updates
from your immediate network, from friends of your friends or
your third-level network, as well as set the time range, location,
etc.
 Jobs: Filter results by how fresh they are, experience required,
industry, etc.
 Companies: Filter results by location, industry, relation,
company size, fortune, etc.
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 Answers: Filter by categories. You can add multiple categories.
 Groups: Filter by category and language. With such a variety
of options, you are unlikely to ever need any more of them.
However, there are some really handy Boolean operators, which
can make search even more efficient.
LinkedIn Search Boolean Operators
 Exclude any term while staying within your topic. For example:
blogging -coach. Compare the results below:
Combine two search terms within one search if you, for example, want
to find people who mention both "blogging" and "marketing" in their
profiles:
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Choose to see at least one of your terms within search results. This one
is similar to Facebook's operator mentioned above. For instance, search
for blogger OR freelance writer:
Bebo - In the United Kingdom, Bebo is the second best social network.
Bebo allows users to create social networking profiles for free. It offers
many of the same features as other social networking sites. You can
register a free account with Bebo and upload photos, videos and
information. The site lets you connect with old friends and make new
ones using a unique user interface. The site boasts users from more than
a dozen countries, including the United States, Australia, Canada,
Poland, France and Germany.
Friendster - was one of the first Web sites to bring it into mass culture.
It was designed as a place to connect with friends, family, colleagues
and new friends over the Internet. However, it went beyond just a oneway communication. Using Friendster, you can connect with friends
and family, meet new people through the connections you already have,
find people with similar interests, backgrounds or geographical
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locations, join groups by activity, school or interest, interact through
message posts, games, blogs and application sharing, and share your
details with the Internet community.
Hi5 - shares many similarities with many social network sites;
however, it introduces some twists that make it worthwhile for people
who love trying out new and interesting online communities. However,
it is not one of the popular sites in the United States. This was a
strategic move from the founder, therefore, Hi5 claims around 60
million members from more than 200 countries other than the US. One
of the site's biggest transformations is the addition of many
entertainment options, including games.
Habbo - is inhabited by pixelated, cartoon-character alter egos. You can
meet others in public rooms (nightclubs, restaurants, shops) and create
private rooms for selected friends. Habbo employees heavily moderate
the site, catering to its solid teen user base. Most of the users of Habbo
are between the age group of 13 – 18 years. Although, a major part of
the users are from the U.S., Habbo social networks is very popular in
places like the United Kingdom, Japan, Sweden, Spain, Italy, Finland
and more.
NING - is the leading online platform for the world's organizers,
activists and influencers to create social experiences that inspire action.
It helps you create a safe and secure place online for like-minded
people. Ning takes the idea of groups to a whole new level. The ability
to create your own community makes Ning a great home away from
home for organizations and groups looking to fill the social void.
Classmates - is different from most social networks, in the sense that
most of its features are available to premium member. The price for
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premium members depends on the length of the agreement – shorter
term results in a higher cost per month. Classmates.com is primarily
used to reconnect with old classmates. The site features a search engine
that lets you view other people who went to the same school you
attended. Creating a basic Classmates.com profile is free and easy.
However, most of the advanced features in Classmates.com are only
available to paid users.
Tagged - is a blend of social networking features that MySpace and
Facebook users will find very familiar. Tagged was designed to help
users meet lots of new people with similar interests in a short amount of
time. You can access and register directly or be invited by a friend to
join Tagged. This is a free social network that allows you to view your
friends’ newly uploaded Tagged photo album. Tagged encourages its
users to meet strangers based on shared interests, with the idea of
growing your network to meet as many people as possible.
myYearbook - the best place to meet new people and one of the 25
most-trafficked sites in the United States. myYearbook has Flash-based
games, and the games incorporate Lunch Money (the myYearbook
virtual currency). It includes a virtual economy through which people
can purchase of gifts which members send to each other. Lunch Money
is also donated by members to their favorite charity. In 2010,
myYearbook donated money to the Haiti Relief Fund to help victims of
the earthquake in Haiti.
Meetup - is an online social networking portal that facilitates offline
group meetings in various localities around the world. It makes it easy
for anyone to organize a local group or find one of the thousands
already meeting up face-to-face. More than 2,000 groups get together
in local communities each day, each one with the goal of improving
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themselves or their communities.
MyLife - (formerly Reunion.com) is a social network service. MyLife
can search over 60 social-networking sites and other information
resources on the Web. MyLife searches the web to deliver accurate and
timely results. Even in cases when you don't immediately find who
you're looking for, MyLife continues searching and provides updates
and alerts. MyLife suggests friends and contacts you may know based
on your profile information and existing contacts. It also intimates you
when someone else is looking for you. MyLife gives you a global view
into the most popular sites your friends are part of, including LinkedIn,
Facebook and MySpace as well as 50 other sites.
Flixster - is a social networking site for movie fans. Users can create
their own profiles, invite friends, rate movies and actors, and post
movie reviews as well. From the site, people can also get information
about movies, read user-generated movie reviews and ratings, converse
with other users, get movie show times, view popular celebrity photos,
read the latest movie news, and view video clips from popular movies
and TV shows. Flixster.com also operates leading movie applications
on Facebook, MySpace, iPhone, Android, and BlackBerry.
myHeritage -is a family-oriented social network service and genealogy
website. It allows members to create their own family websites, share
pictures and videos, organize family events, create family trees, and
search for ancestors. There are more than 15 million family trees and
91 million photos on the site, and the site is accessible in over 35
languages.
Multiply - is a vibrant social shopping destination, but faster and more
convenient, where sellers and buyers interact. A user's network is made
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up of their direct contacts, as well as others who are closely connected
to them through their first-degree relationships. Users are also
encouraged to specify the nature of their relationship with one another,
making it possible to share content based on relationship. Many
shoppers in the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand
and Vietnam have made the Multiply Marketplace a favorite shopping
destination.
Orkut - is a free social networking website where you can create a
profile, connect with friends, maintain an online scrapbook and use site
features and applications to share your interests and meet others. The
prerequisite for logging on to Orkut is that the user must be over 18
years old. Currently, Orkut is the most popular in Brazil. The number
of Orkut users in India is almost equivalent to those in its original home
in the United States.
Badoo - is a multi-lingual social networking website. It is gaining
popularity in emerging markets like Russia and Brazil. The site allows
users to create profiles, send each other messages, and rate each other’s
profile pictures at no cost. However, features that are designed to make
user profile more visible to other users are provided at a cost. Badoo
includes geographic proximity feature that identifies users’ locations
based on analysis of their network connection. This lets users know if
there are people near their current location who may wish to meet.
Gaia Online - is a mix of social networking and massive multiplayer
online role-playing games. It is a leading online hangout for teens and
young adults, and offers a wide range of features from discussion
forums and virtual towns to fully customizable profiles and avatars. It
provides a fun, social environment that inspires creativity and helps
people make meaningful connections around shared interests such as
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gaming, arts and anime.
BlackPlanet - initially, BlackPlanet was designed as a way for AfricanAmerican professionals to network. Since then, it's grown and evolved
as a site operating under the principles of Web 2.0. Members can read
other members' blogs, watch music videos, chat with one another, look
for new careers and discuss news. Though BlackPlanet is not restricted
to any community, this site is more popular amongst AfricanAmerican. This site helped Obama to connect to nearly 200,000
potential supporters.
SkyRock - is a social networking site that offers its members free web
space where they can create a blog, add a profile, and exchange
messages with other registered members. The site also offers a specific
space for members who create blogs showcasing their original musical
compositions. SkyRock is very popular in France and French speaking
markets including Switzerland and Belgium. The site is also available
in English, German, Dutch and Spanish. It’s very popular in the
European Union.
PerfSpot - provides a web portal for people of any age, gender, or
background to share their interests and favorite things on the web.
PerfSpot currently publishes its site in 37 different languages, with
comprehensive moderator team based in the U.S. and the Philippines
that screens through up to a million pictures on a daily basis.
Zorpia - is a social network that has a large international community.
Zorpia’s features include profile customization, networking features
and an incredibly detailed search. Zorpia has an impressive music
section featuring popular artists like Ashlee Simpson, Vanessa
Hudgens, Alanis Morissette and more. You can purchase a Royal
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Membership for extra networking options such as an ad–free profile,
extra profile design features and unlimited messaging.
Netlog - (formerly known as Facebox and Bingbox) is a Belgian social
networking website specifically targeted at the European youth
demographic. On Netlog, you can create your own web page with a
blog, pictures, videos, events and much more to share with your
friends. Netlog is pageview market leader in Belgium, Italy, Austria,
Switzerland, Romania and Turkey. In the Netherlands, Germany,
France and Portugal, Netlog covers the second place. Pan European,
Netlog is the market leader. Netlog is localized in over 25 languages, to
enable users from around the world to access the network.
Tuenti - is an invitation-only private social networking website. It has
been referred to as the "Spanish Facebook”, by many social network
watchers. It is one of the largest social networking sites in Spain. It
allows you to set up a profile, upload photos, link videos and connect
and chat with friends. Many other utilities, such as the ability to create
events, are also offered. From 2009, utilizing a simple interface, Tuenti
user can change their language to Catalán, Basque, Galician, and
English. Tuenti is also available as an iPhone App.
Nasza-Klasa.pl - is considered one of the largest and most used social
networking sites in Poland. It primarily brings together school's
students and alumni. The site is in polish therefore restricting its
popularity only to Poland and polish speaking people. Nevertheless, it
claims to be the most popular networking site in Poland, and therefore,
has found its niche in the competitive social networking space. The site
where one might say, new meets old, where the intractability is like
Facebook, yet traditional with old styled forums.
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IRC-Galleria - has been one of the most popular social networking sites
for over 10 years, in Finland; with over 5.5 lakh registered users, 90%
of which use the site regularly. IRC-Galleria is popular within the age
group of 18-22. To be able to create an account with this site, at least
one of the uploaded images must be accepted by the administrator.
While regular users can upload only up to 60 visible images, you have
the option to upgrade to VIP status that enables you to upload 10,000
visible images. Using this site, users can communicate with other users,
comments on photos, and join over a 100 communities.
StudiVZ - is the biggest social networking site in Germany. It is also
popular in German-speaking countries like Switzerland and Austria.
This site works as a student directory in particular for college and
university students in Europe. The site allows students to maintain a
personal page that containing their personal information like name, age,
study subjects, interests, courses and group memberships (within
StudiVZ).
Xing - (formally known as openBC/Open Business Club) is a
professional networking tool. It is popular in countries like Germany,
Spain, Portugal, Italy and France. Xing is similar to LinkedIn and
claims to have professionals from over 200 countries. Xing has two
features Basic and Premium, depending on weather the user wants to
use the site for free or at a cost. It is available in different languages
including English, German, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, French,
Dutch, Chinese, Finnish, Swedish, Korean, Japanese, Russian, Polish,
Turkish and Hungarian; French and German being the most popularly.
Renren - (formerly called Xiaonei Network) is one of the largest social
networking sites in China, and caters to people of Chinese origin. It is
very popular amongst college students. Renren also has a WAP
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version, which users can access through mobile phones. It features an
instant messaging service for its users. Users can use the same
username to log in both Renren and Kaixin. Renren appeals more to
Chinese college students who use internet cafes, while Kaixin001
targets Chinese white-collar workers who have internet access at work.
Kaixin001 - is a popular professional networking tool in China. The
target audience for Kaixin’s, are typically white-collar middle class
who come from a first tier city. This site in China is extremely popular
among people who work for multinational companies, ad agencies and
other white collar companies. Kaixin001 has gained much more
popularity since 2009, because social networking sites, such as
Myspace, Facebook, Twitter and Youtube were blocked in China.
Hyves.nl: Hyves, pronounced hives (from beehives) is the largest social
network in Netherlands, with many Dutch visitors and members. Hyves
Payments and Hyves Games, allows you to play games and pay friends
through the social network. Hyves provides usual amenities of a social
networking site, including profiles, blogs, photos, and so on. ‘Hyven’
(Hyving) became a common word in Dutch, and is gaining popularity
across Europe.
Millat Facebook: MillatFacebook is a Muslim-oriented social
networking website. Originally launched in Pakistan, it has gained
popularity in Arab counties as well. This site came into existence after
Facebook was banned in Pakisthan. Millatfacebook offers video chat,
bulletins, blogs, polls, shout box, and customization of profile page.
Members can change the page CSS and design it on their own will.
Ibibo: Ibibo stands for iBuild, iBond. It is an Indian social networking
site. It is an umbrella site that offers a variety of applications under its
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social network. The services offered include games, blogs, photo
unlimited storage, mail, messenger, videos, free SMS service, mail,
polls and surveys.
Sonico: Sonico is a free-access social networking website focused on
the Latin American audience. You can do a to rage of things in this site
including search and add friends, interact with friends over message,
update their own personal profile, manage their privacy, upload photos
and videos, organize events, play games with other users. Sonico, more
importantly, let’s its members more control over their profile by giving
them three distinct profiles that the user can organize based on the
need: a private profile, a public profile, and a professional profile. This
site is popular in Latin America and other Spanish and Portuguese
Speaking Regions.
Wer-kennt-wen: Wer-kennt-wen, is one of the most popular social
networking website in Germany. It is by an invitation-only social
networking website, and only for people over 14 years old. The site
provides the user to write blogs, chat with friends, and write in their
guestbook. It provides users a social community for people, to interact
with anybody they want.
Cyworld: Cyworld is a South Korean social network service. It has had
a big effect on Korea’s Internet culture. Many renowned Korean
socialites and celebrities have accounts where they post upcoming tours
and works. Cyword has networks in South Korea, China, and Vietnam
and is gaining popularity across Asia and the Pacific Island. Users have
access to a profile page, photos, drawings and images uploading, an
avatar, neighbourhoods, and clubs.
Mixi: Mixi is primarily for Japanese. Mixi offers options to meeting
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new people, send and receive messages, writing in a diary, read and
comment on others' diaries, organize and join communities and invite
their friends. The site requires users to own a Japanese cell phone
which bars anyone who is not or has not been a resident of Japan.
iWiW: iWiW (abbreviation for International Who is Who) is a
Hungarian social networking web service. The site is an invite-only
website, where a user can provide personal information. Users can
search for friends using the search tool. iWiW allows users to log in to
external websites using their iWiW credentials. iWiW is also available
for iPone and Android.
Professional Social Networks
Because there are now so many different online networking sites out
there, it can be hard to figure out which are the best ones specifically
for business professionals to be apart of. Professional social networks
are designed to provide opportunities for career-related growth. Some
of these types of networks provide a general forum for professionals to
connect, while others are focused on specific occupations or interests.
A few examples of professional social networks are listed below.
LinkedIn. This is a general professional social networking site which is
important to be active on because of its sheer popularity. The diversity
of the types of people on this site is its biggest benefit as well as its
biggest drawback. Luckily, there are a lot of features to make up for the
problems of having such a broad network including a job search
feature, an easy-to-use interface and a professional working
atmosphere.
Gather. Gather is an online social networking site similar to Facebook
in that there may be tons of different people on it. The difference here
is that Gather is better at allowing you to easily find contacts and
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information about the topics that interest you most. This can be great
for people who want to network within specific interest areas.
Ryze Networking. This social networking site is specifically designed
as a network intended to assist you in expanding your circle of business
contacts. The motto on this site is that it can be used to "build your
network before you need it" which pretty much sums up the mentality
of the majority of people working here.
Direct Matches. This is a social networking site that goes one step
further and combines features of a matchmaking site to bring together
business professionals with similar interests and goals. It is a site which
is favored by the entrepreneurial professional who specifically works in
the Web 2.0 world.
Xing. This is another great social networking site although it tends to
be more popular overseas than in the United States. It's great for
entrepreneurs who want to network at an international level with a
relatively intimate group of online people.
Ecademy. This is a great professional social networking site. Its
interface looks a little bit like the dashboard of remote collaboration
software programs so it's a bit more geared towards the professional
who works frequently online. The site also offers special deals to
business people such as discounts on business cards.
Ziggs. This site takes an interesting approach which is to encourage its
users to consider the Ziggs page to be a one-stop marketing tool for
their image. This is exactly what your online networking profiles ought
to be so it's great that there's a site out there designed specifically with
this intention in mind. The downside is that not a lot of people are
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using this site in comparison with some of the others so you may find
that your networking abilities on the site are rather limited.
Networking for Professionals. This site merges both online and offline
social networking to create a business atmosphere that makes sense in
the modern world. It's good for meeting new professionals as well as
maintaining contact with people you already know. Unlike the other
sites on this list, you have to pay a membership fee to join this one.
That's a drawback if you're just a minimal user but it's a good thing if
you're serious about networking because you'll be meeting others who
are also serious about it.
Care2. This is a green social networking site so it's not one that's
specifically geared towards business. However, it's increasingly
important for all entrepreneurs to be able to show some commitment to
being green. Doing so while also building up a social network isn't a
bad idea.
Plaxo. One thing that you'll discover after doing a lot of social
networking is that there are levels to the people in your network. For
those people that you want to maintain the closest, most private contact
with, this social networking site is the best bet. It makes use of multimedia tools to keep you updated on what's going on with your network.
It's ideal for entrepreneurs who want to share information about their
work in small doses, starting with the people that their closest to in the
business world.
NetParty. Some people are interested in social networking that will
actually allow them to meet people in person. This is an online site that
takes social networking and turns it up a notch by organizing events
and parties for the people in the network. It's best for people who live
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in or work in the major cities of the United States since that's where
events are concentrated. It's specifically designed for young
professionals so if you're seeking to meet young folks with a passion
for professional pursuits as well as for partying, it's a good place.
Classroom 2.0: Social network specifically designed to help teachers
connect, share and help each other with profession-specific matters
Nurse Connect: Online community designed to help individuals in the
nursing profession connect and communicate with each other
Social Networks for Kids
Fanlala
It has all the features of a traditional MySpace-style social networking
site, with blogging, sharing, and group features. The monitoring
settings offer you the choice to approve kids’ posts and friend requests.
Fanlala requires parents to verify their identity by phone, credit card, or
fax.
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Edmodo
Teachers use Edmodo to connect with their classes in a safe, easy way
and customize virtual classrooms for each learner. Edmodo allows
teachers and students to collaborate, share content, and access
homework, grades, and school notices.
Club Penguin
Parental consent is required for kids to join Club Penguin, a Disney
massively multiplayer online game (MMO) site, and the game is
moderated at all times. Kids can report problems with an easy click of
the moderator button when something’s not quite right. You can set
things up so your child can only see preset chat options, but even with
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prewritten chat settings turned off, filters exclude inappropriate words
or personal information.
Fantage
Fantage is another MMO site. Members of Fantage are free to explore
the world with avatars that use hoverboards to get from place to place.
Jordan told us with excitement about all the features available at
Fantage such as fashion shows, games, and engaging social aspects.
Theme parties are held from time to time where kids can dress their
avatars in costumes like Alice or the Queen of Hearts.
Informational Communities
Informational communities are made up of people seeking
answers to everyday problems. For example, when you are thinking
about starting a home improvement project or want to learn how to go
green at home, you may perform a web search and discover countless
blogs, websites, and forums filled with people who are looking for the
same kind of information. A few examples include:
Super Green Me: Online community where individuals interested in
adopting green living practices can interact
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HGTV Discussion Forums: Connect with individuals interested in
home design improvement via the HGTV message boards
Do-It-Yourself Community: Social media resource to allow do-ityourself enthusiasts to interact with each other
Educational Social Networks
Educational networks are where many students go in order to
collaborate with other students on academic projects, to conduct
research for school, or to interact with professors and teachers via blogs
and classroom forums. Educational social networks are becoming
extremely popular within the educational system today.
Some examples of such educational social networks are listed below.
The Student Room: UK-based student community featuring a
moderated message board and useful resources related to school
The Math Forum: A large educational network designed to connect
students with an interest in math, this site provides interaction
opportunities for students by age group.
ePALS School Blog: This international social network for K-12
students is designed to build international connections to promote
world peace.
eLearners: This social networking community is designed to help
online degree students connect with each other via forums and message
boards.
Hobbies Social Networks
One of the most popular reasons many people use the Internet is to
conduct research on their favorite projects or topics of interest related
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to personal hobbies. When people find a website based on their favorite
hobby, they discover a whole community of people from around the
world who share the same passion for those interests. This is what lies
at the heart of what makes social networks work, and this is why social
networks that are focused on hobbies are some of the most popular. A
few examples of hobby-focused social networking sites include:
Oh My Bloom: Social media site specifically for gardening enthusiasts.
It features groups, forums, blogs, video content and more.
My Place at Scrapbook.com: Designed specifically for scrapbooking
enthusiasts, users can create profiles, share information, post updates
and more.
Sport Shouting: An online destination for sports fans to voice their
opinions and connect with other enthusiasts.
Academic Social Networks
Academic researchers who want to share their research and review
results achieved by colleagues may find academic-specific social
networking to be quite valuable. A few of the most popular online
communities for academics are:
Academia.edu: Users of this academic social network can share their
own research, as well as follow research submitted by others.
Connotea Collaborative Research: Online resource for scientists,
researchers and clinical practitioners to find, organize and share useful
information.
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Chapter 5: Ecommerce, Auction & Classified Sites
This chapter will explore ecommerce, auction and classified
websites. The following websites are really geared towards finding
online fraudsters, organized retail crime rings and a whole host of other
types of online fraud. We will explore the leading ecommerce platform
below.
Online auctions have grown into a very lucrative business.
Internet auction fraud is currently the number one fraud committed over
the Internet. The Internet Fraud Complaint Center (IFCC) lists auction
fraud entailing 64% of more than 90,000 complaints received.
I. Auction Fraud Involves:
A. non-delivery;
B. stolen goods;
C. counterfeit merchandise;
D. triangulation;
E. black- grey market goods;
F. multiple bidding;
G. multiple accounts;
H. identity theft;
I. multiple locations; and
J. multiple platforms
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II. Platforms
1. EBay
6.
Facebook Market
11.
classifiedads.com
2. Overstock.com
7.
Kijiji
12.
olx.com
3. Ubid
8.
eBay Market Place
13.
yakaz.com
4. Craigslist
9.
webstore.com
14.
sell.com
5. Ibid
10.
eBid.com
15.
Oddle.com
III. Product Theft Cycle
IV. Product of Interest
Investigations of organized retail crime rings and auction fraud
have uncovered a wide variety of goods targeted to be stolen and resold
on the black market. One researcher has noted that CRAVED items
(Concealable, Removable, Available, Valuable, Enjoyable, a
dissposable) are more often targeted because of the ease with which
criminals can remove these items from stores and convert them into
cash or other valuables.
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V. Desirable Products
 Premium Razor blades;
 Coffee;
 Baby Formula
 Consumer electronics
 Apple Electronics
(such as DVD players
 Face creams
and GPS units);
 Analgesics;
 Fragrances;
 Smoking cessation
 Infant formula;
 Batteries;
products;
 Designer, logo, and
 Music and game DVDs;
leather
and
apparel and shoes
(particularly
 Over-the-counter
(OTC) medications and
athletic);
test kits.
 Name-brand power
 Printer Ink
tools;
 Vacuum cleaners;
Classified Platforms
Craigslist
This website provides a vast resource of almost everything like jobs,
services, goods, housing, local activities, romance etc. The nickname or
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alternate web address of this site is cl.com. Jim Buckmaster is the CEO
of craiglist and Craig Newmark started it in the year 1995.
Backpage
Backpage is a hugely popular classifieds site dealing with all sorts of
things that you would have liked in a classifieds site. Whether it’s
regarding the sale of an apartment next to your house or requirement of
a lead guitarist in a metal band, you can find everything here. It is
pretty easy to use and the site is operated from Phoenix and Dallas.
You also have the option to post your ads and make it prominent
among the rest through various premium placements.
Kijiji
After its launch in the year 2005, Kijiji quickly became the most
popular local classifieds website in Canada. Residents of the same city
found it convenient to sell, trade, buy, and help each other with
services, jobs, goods, housing and cars. Kijiji is also famous to be a
website which offers you a service to recycle your goods.
Gumtree - Michael Pennington and Simon Crookall are the founders of
this website which was mainly aimed towards housing classified ads
especially for the people of London. Now with over 13.7 million users
every month, it boasts of being the top classified site in the U.K. One
can find everything here such as jobs, cars, flats, furniture, tutors, and
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many other things. Recently it made a record of attracting 11.1 million
users in a week and spans across 48 cities in the United Kingdom and
Scotland.
OLX - irrespective of your place of residence, you can use this website
to trade, buy, sell, organise, discuss and meet different people. It is an
online classifieds site which is totally free, operating in 96 countries
and 40 different languages. It is a privately held company found in the
year 2006, and has grown ever since by building separate dedicated
sites for different countries.
eBay Classifieds - part of eBay’s Kijiji network is aimed towards
making life easier and simpler for people by offering almost everything
like cars, bikes, apartment, babysitter, jobs etc. This site has been
operating worldwide from the year 2004 and is based in San Jose,
California. With over 150,000 posts every month and millions of users,
it is surely one of the top classified ads site.
Oodle - this site is here to use the power of social media to reinvent
online classifieds. Consumers regard it as a good marketplace to trade,
sell or buy. It is a private organization based in San Mateo, California.
With more than 15 million users, Oodle operates in different networks
of online marketplaces including Marketplace found on Facebook and
Oodle. Real estate agents, car dealers and local property managers can
join the site and make good use of it. It has partnership with leading
corporations like autotrader.co.uk to sell its Oodle Pro product.
QuickR – was launched in 2008, Quickr is an online classified site
based in India and only serves Indian market. Just like other leading
classified sites, it also offers city based classified websites where user
can find other classifieds or post their own free ad. They currently offer
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more than 160 categories and covers 83 cities. The site was earlier
known as Kijiji.in and part of eBay’s Kijiji network.
iNetGiant - is among the rapidly growing online classified websites.
Presently this website serves to over 50 countries worldwide and offers
its users with vast resources of various products in various categories
like business, services, vehicles, properties, jobs, community, etc. It is
pretty easy to post your ad out here and to make it popular the site
offers you with various options.
Classified Ads - is a free classified ads site that deals with everything
starting like real estate, cars, jobs, furniture, etc. Nothing is charged
from the users for posting, browsing, contacting sellers whereby a lot of
effort is made towards filtering and monitoring the contents of the
website. Operating worldwide this site guarantees the delivery of
quality goods and has a lot of popularity among its users.
TradeMe.co.nz - founded in 1999 by a new zealander guy,
Trademe.co.nz is a leading online auction and classified site in New
Zealand. They have reported 3+ million active users 6.8+ million
monthly unique visitors every month.
AdPost - is a free classified ads posting website where one can place
their ads regarding any item including business opportunities. It is host
to a number of different categories of items including cars, property,
bikes, jobs etc. Being in the business for over twelve years this site
USFreeAds - since its launch in the year 1999, USFreeads has been
attracting a lot of traffic and gaining popularity. People living in the
United States of America can view a list of classified ads on 50
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different websites. Featuring an ad in the website means that it will be
shown on the local websites including the main website.
AdLandPro - offering free advertising, promotion, networking or
marketing services. Since its establishment in the year 1996 it has been
offering its users with free and paid ad services. People all over the U.S
are offered with an affordable and complete solution for their small
businesses and it also gives a lot of benefits home entrepreneurs.
ePage - is one of the oldest “.com” companies dealing with auction and
classified services. With 3 billion classified ads and 850,000 users
every month its network has grown vastly. EPage Affiliate is their
premium service where branded auction and classified services are
provided for different websites.
Classifieds For Free - was launched in the year 1996 and is a website
for free classified ads. Sellers get a wonderful opportunity to advertise
their products through this website as numerous categories of products
are available. One can post unlimited number of free and local ads
which stays for seven days. Covering 600 cities in the U.S, it operates
globally across 60 nations.
Kedna - is a family based company with its headquarters in Homestead,
FL and was found in the year 2006. The website offers the citizens of
the U.S with thousands of classified advertisements operating across
18,868 cities and towns. It offers its users with affordable online
advertising and helps businesses to make their mark through online
marketing.
Yakaz - is a website that deals with free classified ads and helps people
to exchange or meet locally. It was founded in the year 2005 and
focuses on technology and innovation that allows users to share
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information safely and instantly. Its service is available in 190 different
countries across the globe and in 50 different languages.
WantedWants - is definitely one of the top sources for free classified
ads. This site operates globally and you can find everything that you
look forward for a classified site. There is no need for the user to create
an account to get started and post their ads. Just post your ads and you
will be contacted through your e-mail regarding the services or
products you are offering.
WebClassifieds - is a powerful advertising website dealing with free
classified ads. It offers its services to the residents of the US and you
can buy, trade, advertise, and sell almost everything out here.
Unlimited number of free ads can be posted in the site and numerous
options are available to the user to enhance their ads.
Hoobly - is classified ad website operating worldwide since its
inception in the year 2003. Although pets and animals is a popular
category on the website there are other useful categories too. You need
to create an account in order to post your ads in the website and
presently there are about 25,000 active advertisements on the site.
AdsGlobe - is one of the top classified ads website serving over
millions of users and covering more than 12 advertising zones. Users
get the benefit of posting unlimited number of free ads in any category
like merchandise, real estate, jobs, autos, services, business pages etc.
The service is available over millions of cities across 150 countries.
Pennysaverusa - is a company that is passionate about connecting
different sellers and buyers across the country and bring out the best
values. They are dedicated towards helping small businesses and their
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online product “Powersites”, help them get recognised online. With a
publication of over 800 local editions, 9.1 million copies are mailed to
various households in California.
ReCycler - is one of the best places for local buyers and sellers in the
U.S. One can find a variety of categories with huge lists of products
ranging from classic cars, motorcycles to commercial property, houses
etc. People who need to sell their products can create their accounts and
start posting their ads with the modern ad creation tools available.
AbleWise - was started in the year 2007 and offers its services to
people all over the globe. With over 5 million viewers every year it
helps numerous classified advertisers to sell their products. Up to 200
ads can be posted at a time along with the facility to modify and re-post
unlimited number of ads.
WebCosmo - is a Massachusetts based website company found in the
year 2007. It offers its users with the advantage of posting unlimited
classified and free ads related to events, housing, services, community,
resumes, gigs etc. Presently Webcosmo is offering its services to 40
countries worldwide and provides easy features like event calendars
and community postings on its site.
DomesticSale - is free classified ads website and host to a wide range
of product categories like real estate, jobs, vacation, events, autos, etc.
It promises the users of content that is absolutely trash free and
prevents your ads from getting buried under garbage. The services are
available worldwide and the most modern technology is used to filter
the products.
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FreeAdLists - was developed with only one aim of offering its users
with opportunity to place their advertisements for free and let people
know about their products. One of the best features of the site is that it
allows users to post requests regarding the services and products which
they are searching for. It operates worldwide and uses the latest
technology to help its users find appropriate services or products.
Claz - is generally used as a search engine for classified ads. At once a
user can get access to over two hundred classified websites, forums and
message boards. One is provided with the advantage of searching
nationwide or within a radius of 250 miles. Users can post their ads for
free and various other features are offered to increase the listing.
Americanlisted – was found in the year 2007 and offers the americans
with a safe and simple way to buy and sell services or products within
their city/area. It is absolutely free and users are not required to sign up
or create an account. It is easy to use and offers quick service for the
products that are searched.
FreeAdCity - is a free classified ads website operating in the US. Users
have the advantage to sell or buy items without the need to pay success
or listing fees. The 20 main categories that are available in the site can
be further divided into sub-categories offering users with wide range of
products.
FreeClassifieds - is a free classified ad site providing services only in
US. All ads posted in site stay for 90 days. Users need to register an
account to post ads. It also provides city sites for classified ads.
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Auction Platforms
Auction websites are just like real life auction sales. They put up the
product for purchase and buyers bid to take the deal through. The
advantage of these auction websites is that they offer a common
platform for those who want to sell and those who want to buy – on a
virtual platform without the need for logistic expenses or travel
expense.
eBay
When it comes to online auctions and buying and selling – eBay is the
Leader. eBay leads the industry having been established back in 1995.
With planning and strategic leadership, eBay – the auction company
has expanded across the web and worldwide.
eBay is a multi-billion dollar company and almost synonymous to
online auctions. They’re operating business from various countries.
Other leading sites includes ebay.co.uk, ebay.ca, ebay.com.au, ebay.in
and many other.
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iOffer
As you enter the site, it clearly demarks sections “buy, sell want ads
and help”; this is one website for people. The site has gained in
popularity because of its human touch. However, the only drawback is
that the bidders and buyers can make their investments, iOffer does not
warranty anything.
ETSY
Etsy.com: A very urban, up market website which focuses on selling
classy items. The specialty remains on craft articles that are the
highlight but bidders and buyers have the option to explore a diverse
set of products.
Bonanza - The site offers much more than just bidding; it offers what is
exclusive. One of the popular sites on the online shopping radar; their
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prices are similar to eBay but they have a more diverse range and not a
very lengthy registration process making it a straight to conversions
zone.
Bidz - is unique. It has the automatic timer set on the website ticking
away the current price bid – you have to jump into the sale to make
your purchase. bidZ sells its products on the go and is one of the
popular sites.
UBId - like the others, offers a great range of products and categories.
However, its winning point is that it focuses on registered users. It has
its goals set on scam free and high security selling and buying. uBid
lays emphasis on trust.
AuctionZip - has its webcast actions allowing you to bid online. It
enjoys popularity across the web giving you the option to make your
bid anytime you wish, as long as the product is not sold. Current price
and number of bids are featured.
eBId - offers a great platform for the bidding experience. The
marketplace is well in demand with a good traffic and transactions on
the site. It offers all the services and interesting offers for memberships.
A onetime payment and premium features can be availed or heavy
discounts on first day registrations.
QuickSales - is a Melbourne, Australia based online auction site. The
site is online since 2005 and earlier known as OZtion.com.au. The site
claim to have more than 500000 members and more than a million
products listed at anytime. Sellers can create QShops or list their
products for auction.
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WebStore.com - is online auction website was founded in 2006. Sellers
can make 100% profit here without paying any success fees and even
create auction stores without any limitations on item number
limitations. The site is ad supported. Buyers can sort auctions
geographically or by categories.
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Chapter 6: Images, Audio and Video
“Amazing” is about the only word that adequately describes the
collection of multimedia (images, audio, video) resources available on
the Web. For images, not only are they there, but they are searchable—
not as searchable as we would like, but still searchable. Whether you
need a picture of the person you are about to meet, or photos of the
streets of a specific town in a remote country or of an obscure
microorganism, you have a moderately good chance of finding it on the
Web. For audio and video, whether utilizing open sources for military
intelligence purposes or for a discussion of Winston Churchill’s “Finest
Hour” speech in a history classroom, audio and video files can be
tremendously useful. This chapter summarizes what is available,
provides some basic background and terminology for understanding
and using these resources, points to the tools for finding what you need,
and presents some techniques for doing so most effectively.
Capturing Images
To save an image file that you have found to your disk:
1. Hold your cursor over the image you wish to capture.
2. Click the right mouse button.
3. From the menu that pops up, choose “Save Image As” (in
Netscape) or
4. “Save Picture As” (in Internet Explorer).
5. Select the folder in which you wish to place it and rename
the file if you wish. (Do not assign or change a file
extension. It is important that the original file extension
(either .gif, .jpg, jpeg, or png) be retained.
Image Hosting Platforms
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Flickr
Wins because you don’t just upload pictures; you also share them and
make it a social experience. The free account allows 200 photographs
and helps you check out the trends. Flickr has its own community and
is accessible on the go. It is a Yahoo website that allows log in through
Google profile and Facebook.
Picasa
a
Google product requires Google profile sign-in to view. You can
create, upload and edit your albums. Picasa has a downloadable version
to all pictures formatting offline. The site is offers 1GB storage for
photos, free. The remaining is $2.49 per month with a cap of 25 GB.
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Instagram
Came into being in 2006 when Engineers Kevin Systrom and Mike
Krieger, Stanford University Graduates, decided to start a site that
could add to “being social”. Instagram allows photo sharing with tag
lines and comments.
Photobucket - this closely follows Flickr with 50 million users. The site
caps the free service with 10 GB bandwidth access per month and 1GB
per picture. The paid version of the site has unlimited features.
Photobucket offers its service to tiwtter.com, the micro blogging site,
for allowing users to upload images.
Shutter Fly - allow free storage of photographs and has no limits, i.e.
unlimited storage of photographs. They are offering free prints
additionally, for creation of “share” sites that allow free sharing of
pictures. The sites are customizable and they assure security.
Snap Fish - the site is free for registration and use. It allows unlimited
upload of pictures and even provide the printing service. However, the
catch is that snap fish charges a small amount to the users when they
wish to download high resolution quality of their photographs or high
quality pictures. It is still popular with 70 million users.
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Smugmug - the site is slightly restricted with photo limits at 12MB and
24 MB for its paid subscriptions. They offer three deals: $40, $60, and
$150 per year and only free trials. However, for the great services and
quality, the site is quite popular.
Fotki - they offer free registrations and unlimited uploads. However,
the storage is charged at $30 per year. The site is popular for its social
feel and services. They also provide photograph prints. Fotki is a
communication portal that is thriving on an energetic community.
Keep And Share - the website allows you to upload and share pictures.
They have album layouts that can be used to upload high resolution
pictures. The registration is free. They allow group sharing which is
one of the strong reasons of its popularity.
PictureTail - allows photos to be edited and uploaded to any of the
websites like blogger, wordpress, hi5, mayspace etc. You can share as
well as host images, ‘image s hosting’. Their winning point is the slide
show option that they offer.
Lockerz - Lockerz is totally free and unlimited. The only catch is the
cap on image size, which rests at 5 MB.
Panoramio - is again, free and unlimited when it comes to photo
uploading and sharing. They have only one regulation, that your
pictures should comply with Google Earth Photo Acceptance Policy
Pinterest - Although Pinterest is an awesomely popular website, we
feature it towards the end of this list because it is a social networking
site more than a conventional photo-sharing website. You can share all
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kinds of images, posters and pictures to promote your business, brand,
event or your personal profile.
Video Websites
Videos are an integral part of our online activities these days. So where
should you head if you want to located videos on a certain topic,
terrorist group or fraud ring? Here are the top 11 sites:
YouTube
YouTube is a platform that has enhanced the experience of video
uploading and sharing. The site leads all other video sharing websites
and most importantly, it is absolutely free. They have even modified
their cap on video lengths which wap initially 10 minutes. Users can
now upload content as long as 15 minutes and for longer videos they
require review.
MetaCafe
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They call themselves the video entertainment engine offering video
games and action sports along with new uploads on news, movies,
television serials and personal choices. The site allows log in through
social media check-in and has the “Family filter” option to regulate the
content.
Vimeo - for your personal and private videos, Vimeo is one of the
safest and secure websites. They offer a great deal of privacy norms.
They have separate categories with catalogs of videos, channels which
showcase user videos and groups as well. HD videos can be separately
uploaded.
Daily Motion - is relatively easy to use and is free. They allow a 2GB
cap on the size of files. However, unlimited HD uploads are allowed on
the site. The site is one of the most popular websites for sharing and
viewing of videos. No registration is needed for the same.
Yahoo Screen - If you want to browse through videos of your interest,
Yahoo Screen offers the perfect platform. They have updated and rich
content over sections like Lifestyle, sports, finances, movies, comedy
and others making it more like a video magazine. A great place to share
and watch audio – visual content.
Hulu - is focused on entertainment and presents the user with popular
videos ranging over varied topics and sections. They offer
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recommendations as well as offer and contests. However, the website is
accessible and running only in the United States.
Break - a video sharing site for funny videos and clips. Categorized by
channels just line most video sharing sites. Also allow funny picture
sharing. They also provide games and contest with exciting prizes for
user engagement.
Ustream - has interesting choices. Along with videos you can watch the
visual radios of online radio station. The site displays the most popular
videos and the statistics of the number of people going through the site
at that point of time. The site has an interesting layout and is user
friendly, keeping the user entertained.
Blip - has videos on display and has recently introduced subscriptions.
The site allows a user to interact and extend preferences and host
projects on various causes.
Veoh - has an easy to use, simple website. The advantage here is that
there is no cap on the length of videos. They accept over hundred
formats of videos and the videos uploaded can be easily embedded in
your website or blog.
Viddler - is completely professional. They initially provided free plans
but now have paid subscriptions. The offer up to 200 GB upload limit
per month on a subscription of $200/month and 100 GB for the
subscription with $100 GB.
Music Websites
With almost everything being available over the internet music is
something which is one of the important things searched online.
Seeking the high level of searches various companies have come in the
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limelight for making innovative websites and making music available
to the masses directly to their gadgets. Some of the popular sites have
been discussed below:
Pandora
The most popular radio station site. Blending its collection of rock
music with the soft numbers, the new with the old ones, it has always
thrilled the listeners of all age group. The collection contains all that
come under the genre of music ranging from vocals moving on straight
to instruments.
Last.fm
Is a music search engine where you can find the songs of your favorite
artists and browse to find more. You can also access videos and update
yourself by knowing the events to come in last.fm. It even lets you
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express your views through articles once you create a profile with the
site.
Grooveshark
It is one of the most accessed radio station sites. You can listen to over
millions of songs and create your own playlist. It surely allows you to
explore more and new music/songs besides giving you the access to the
videos for the songs played.
Tunein
This is one of those radio station sites that enable you to access all the
radio stations worldwide according to your location. Through tune in
you can find even the most obscure stations. The site supersedes those
of its kind by helping the user to browse any song or video or related
articles by putting in the name of the artist.
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Spotify
Takes you through its vast collection of music albums and music
videos where you get to choose your favorite numbers. You can create
your own playlist on Spotify and entertain yourself as well as your
friends and family. It is the biggest ever streaming music site where
you can share playlist with your friends through emails or social
networking sites.
iHeartRadio - by far the biggest and best ever radio station site with a
huge visitor base. iHeartRadio creates a separate station for you where
you get to hear all the songs by that artist or all the similar songs as the
one you chose. The collection range is vast that consists of classics,
folks, rock pop music and many more.
Jango.com - is a part of Jango music network. The website is online
since 2007 and based in New York offering various radio stations
online. Jango is a social music website where users can listen custom
music station, create and share music. They also have a program called
Jango Airplay where artists can promote their music.
Yahoo Music - powered by one of the internet giants ‘’Yahoo’’ this is
among the most popular places for the music freaks. This site has
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virtually everything related to music which includes music news, music
releases, selected online radio stations, photos of music artists, and
everything which you would have ever searched for music over the
internet.
Aol Music - one of the oldest and biggest sites in the field of music and
its related news AOL provides you with radio, music videos and
numerous other resources related to music. In Aol Radio you get to
search your favorite songs and favorite artists. Other than vocals, you
can also listen to the various instruments and view the videos as well.
Gaana - has everything which you might have searched for in a website
offering you music, music reviews, access to old and new Bollywood
songs, etc. Besides International and Hindi songs the site also gives
access to regional songs such as Kannad, Bengali, etc.
Shoutcast - comes with unique features and the only thing you require
is to enter the name of the song that you wish to listen or that of an
artist and you get it. With over 50,000 radio stations and a listener base
of over 0.5 million it is probably one of the biggest music sites around.
Soundcloud - has been especially been built for the androids and
iPhones is referred to as a social sound platform. At this place people
can create sounds and share them wherever they want. It allows you to
share your music privately on Facebook, Twitter, Tumbler, and
Foursquare with just a click.
8tracks - allows you to create your own mix online that contains a
minimum of 8 tracks and share your creation on social networking sites
or even listen to a mix created by others shared online. The playlist
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becomes a crafted one as you can insert descriptions with art before
you share that online.
Live365 - contains as many as two hundred and sixty genres of music
and as many as five thousands broadcasters. The site provides a ground
for the budding new artists as well as they get to share their creation
online with the world.
Radio.com - over 450 radio stations to refresh you this site has all your
favourite songs. The advanced search option allows you to search for
your preferred music by simply entering the name of the artist. Along
with providing you the online source of listening to music it features
regular updates from the world of music.
eMusic - over 13 million songs that can downloaded and played on
your computer this is one of the biggest database for music on the
internet. Besides just music the site presents you with latest news and
reviews from the world of music, audio books, and more.
Playlist.com - site introduces you to the vast, limitless world of music.
They contain a good number of songs that include rock, jazz,
electronic, pop, classics, and the list continues. So with playlist.com
make your own playlists and share them on the social networking sites
with your friends, family and the whole world.
Rdio - a site with over 15 million songs and the collection which ranges
from classics, going through the light numbers and reaching down to
the rock numbers. Today it is available to more than a dozen countries
across the globe and lets you listen to real time music besides sharing
them over all the social Networking websites.
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Rhapsody is an ultimate Jukebox which presents you with 14 million
songs to choose from. However to listen to music available at the site
you need to subscribe with at least a minimal of $10 per month. Songs
could be accessed through a computer, portable devices, or other
compatible devices which you may have.
Hypem - keeps a track of the updates made by the music bloggers. The
site indulges in collecting some of the best music blogs and shares the
contents available with other things of analysis, and comments on
them. It simply makes you aware of the latest music and awesome
music blogs online.
Jamendo - when it comes to searching music online this has one of the
largest collection online. Besides giving you the access 350,000 music
tracks on their website they also list down access to several radio
stations for almost every genre and mood.
Sterogum - a virtually paradise for the music lovers is what this site
could be referred to as. It presents you MP3 streaming of the popular
music, features latest as well as old videos of songs and artists, gives
you news and reviews from the world of music, and much more for
everything related to music.
Slacker - as the developers say it is your very own personal radio. With
access to thousands of radio stations it streams music over the internet.
This site is available to the users of computer, blackberry, apple, or any
other gadget which is compatible with it.
MOG - be it listening to your music through your computer over the
internet or while on the move through your cellphone, MOG is one of
those sites which give you the license to listen to unlimited music and
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that too for free. With a database of over 15 million songs it virtually
has every song you might search for.
StereoMood - this can be referred to as your free emotional internet
radio. At this site you are suggested the music to listen which best suits
your mood. It’s by far one of the most creative tools where you can
create your playlists suiting every occasion.
BillBoard.com - is a site from Billboard magazine. This music news
website offer breaking news about music industry, top charts, music
reviews and much more. The online version of website is since 1995.
Their top charts includes “Hot 100″, “BillBoard 200″ and “Social 50″
AllMusic.com - earlier known as All music guide or AMG is not a
streaming music website. It only provides recommendations, guides,
reviews etc.. Users can explore music by popular moods or popular
themes categories.
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Chapter 7: News Resources
Understanding news resources on the Internet is challenging not just
because there is such a broad and rich expanse of news available there,
but because almost every news site is designed differently from every
other and tends to serve somewhat different functions and missions. In
ancient times, it was fairly easy to group news resources into categories
such as newspapers, magazines and journals, radio, and TV. Today, it
is harder to definitively categorize the types of places to go on the
Internet for news. Although many typologies of news sources are
possible, using the following categories can prove helpful in sorting
things out (while recognizing that there is considerable overlap and that
many sites fit in more than one category):
• Major news networks and newswire sites. Sites that are original
sources for news stories, but may also gather and provide stories
from other sources
• Aggregation sites. Sites that serve primarily to gather news
stories from multiple sources
• Newspaper and magazine sites. Sites that serve as the online
version for a printed newspaper or magazine
• Radio and TV Web sites
• Multi-Source News Search Engines. Sites that provide
extensive search capabilities for a broad range of news sources
General Searching Strategy
A good starting point when one thinks of utilizing news on the
Internet is to ask the question, “What kind of news are you looking
for?”
1. Are you interested in breaking news (today’s headlines)?
2. Do you need older news stories?
3. Do you want to be automatically kept up-to-date on a topic?
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For breaking news, you might start with virtually any of the
categories listed earlier, depending upon the breadth of your interests,
both with regard to subject and with regard to the local, national, or
international perspective needed. If you want to browse headlines,
consider bookmarking and personalizing a general portal (such as My
Yahoo!) and perhaps using it as the start page for your browser.
Headlines in categories of your choice will show up every time you
open your browser (or click Home). Alternatively, you might choose a
news network site (BBS, MSNBC, etc.) or your favorite newspaper as
your start page.
For older news stories, the choice is much more limited. If you
are interested in the last few weeks, one of the search engines may
serve. For international or high-profile news going back a few years,
BBC may be a good choice, because it provides searching of all stories
covered on its site back to 1997. If your interest is more local, check to
see if the local paper has searchable archives.
If you need to keep up-to-date on a particular topic, take
advantage of one of the alerting services and have headlines relating to
your interests delivered to you by e-mail.
50 of the Most Popular News Sites
More and more people are getting access to the Internet, which
has meant that news websites have also grown in quantity and quality
to cater to the requirements of the readers. Many thousands of news
sites are out there, and this chapter can only include a few selected
sites. For knowledge of other sites, take advantage of one of the several
good news resource guides. The three listed here are among the more
highly regarded.
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BBC
The official site of the British Broadcasting Corporation, this site
provides all the international, business, health, technology, weather,
and sport news under one roof. The extensive spread of the corporation
means that this site offers news via the regions. The site also features
regular blogs from high-ranking editors, features, and magazines. BBC
also offers video updates through the iPlayer.
CNN
The official website of CNN covers all the latest news from all the
corners of the globe. News from all continents is provided on this site,
while it also offers business, entertainment, technology, travel, and
world sport news as well. The site also provides information about the
TV schedule on CNN. The editor’s choice brings out the best features
and articles of the site.
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Huffington Post
Huffington Post provides news about various aspects like politics,
business, entertainment, technology, and breaking events.
Comprehensive coverage is also given to the blogs written by high
profile writers. The site also includes a healthy community for
discussions. Video and other media are also available on Huffington
Post. Live coverage is also provided to important events around the
world.
NY Times
This is the online edition of the New York Times. The news available
on this site is very similar to the one found on the print version. The
site offers news from all the corners of the globe. Opinions, travel
news, television, science, and regional news are some of the highlights
of this site.
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Daily Mail
The online edition of the British tabloid Daily Mail features many
dedicated content to TV and showbiz. The site offers dedicated sections
for news from the UK, the US, and India. Special sections provide
news about health, money, science, and sports.
Fox News - this online edition of Fox channel offers all the latest news
and breaking events from around the world. The site provides special
sections devoted to politics, entertainment, health, travel, lifestyle, and
sports. Special sections are provided to videos and news from the US.
Google News - unlike the major news websites, Google news is an
aggregator of the news from top sites around the world. It is possible to
sort the news based on the region or area of interest. Google news
primarily covers world, business, sport, entertainment, technology,
science, and health news.
Guardian - this news site contains content from the two British tabloids
– Observer and Guardian. The main area of the site deals with news
from around the world. The site also has sections for in-depth covering
of sport, technology, business, money, culture, and many more.
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NBC News - this is the online edition of the NBC News and this owned
by NBC Universal. This covers all the world and local news in general.
Aside from the news, the site also provides stock quotes, sports news,
weather updates, and videos from various shows on NBC.
Telegraph - this online edition of the British tabloid Telegraph provides
news from Great Britain and from rest of the world. This new site also
provides dedicated sections covering blogs and features from the
editors, while there is also fashion, lifestyle, travel, culture, and
financial news as well.
Wall Street Journal - is the online edition of the American publication
Wall Street Journal. The site provides in-depth news from major
countries and regions around the world. It also focuses on real estate,
technology, and job classifieds. A special section is dedicated to the
opinions of high profile writers.
Forbes - is the online edition of the Forbes magazine. It offers news
from around the world that is divided into channels like business,
investing, technology, entrepreneurs, and lifestyle. Forbes.com also
offers opinions and editorials along with its various lists.
Reuters - provides all the world news along with focus on breaking
events and business markets around the world. The site features
opinions from the best-known writers. The site contains an extensive
library of photos and videos.
CNN IBN Live - is the collaboration between Cable News Network
and Indian Broadcasting Network, which offers English news channel
and internet news in Indian region. The site also have sections to offer
news in Hindi and many other sections.
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Times of India - run by the Times of India Group, this site is one of the
largest and most popular in India. It features regularly updated news
from India and the world. Spirituality, entertainment, sports, real estate,
business, and live TV are some of the sections within the site.
Yahoo News - the division of Yahoo!, Yahoo! News is a site that offers
news from the world in various divisions and sections. Entertainment,
sports, politics, health, and science are some of the popular sections
within Yahoo! News. Pictures and videos are also available on the site.
Bing News - Bing News is a division of the Bing search engine and it
acts like an aggregator of news similar to Google news. This site
provides information and news from the top sites in the world. The
news can be sorted based on sections like science, sport, business, and
entertainment.
Washington Post - Washington Post’s online edition offers local and
world news in a comprehensive manner including breaking events. The
site features classifieds for real estate and jobs. Other news covered on
this site includes business, sports, technology, lifestyle, and
entertainment.
NDTV - this is the official website of the NDTV news channel. It
offers in-depth coverage of news from India, while world news is also
featured. The site features regular content from the news channel. City
wise news is also available for the major Indian cities.
USA Today - this is the online edition of the most popular newspaper
in the United States – USA Today. The site focuses on a wide range of
aspects like technology, lifestyle, sports, travel, and world news. It also
provides weather information along with opinions and features.
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Bloomberg - Bloomberg.com is a division of Bloomberg L.P that
largely focuses on the business and money markets across the world.
The site features a collection of news from around the world with focus
on the markets. Bloomberg TV is available on this news site.
LA Times - this is the online edition of the LA times and it features
breaking news, US News, and world news as its chief content. It also
offers sports, weather, traffic, games, health, movies, music, and travel
news. The site also features classifieds for jobs and real estate.
Time.com - this online version of the Time magazine offers news
headlines and articles from around the world. The site has other content
like business and technology news, while opinions from the editors are
also featured. Images and videos are also present on the site.
News.com.au - this site offers news from around the world provided by
a team of 25 journalists. This is the third most popular news site in
Australia. It covers aspects like horoscopes, food reviews, travel
advices, real estate opportunities, and investment tips aside from the
news.
The Sun - this is the online version of the British tabloid and the most
popular newspaper in the United Kingdom – the Sun. This site focuses
more on showbiz and sports, while world news is also given
importance. Politics and weather are also discussed on the Sun.
CBS News - the CBS News Channel runs cbsnews.com. It offers all the
latest updates of all the local and world events and news. It also offers
investment tips, market news, health tips, sports news, podcasts, and
videos from the CBS news channel.
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ABC News - run by the ABC news channel, the site provides all the
latest news from the US and the world. Investigative features are
provided a dedicated section on the site. Recipes and the various TV
shows from the ABC News channel are also available.
NY News Daily - Daily news New York is another most circulated
newspaper founded in 1919 and their online edition offers news about
NY, USA and around the world on travel, business, health and more.
Sydney Morning Herald - this online edition of one of the most popular
Australian newspaper – Sydney morning Herald – provides regular
updates on the local and world news. It provides the Sydney traffic
information, car news, and entertainment news. It has classifieds of
jobs, cars, and real estate.
Sky News - this is a news website from British news broadcaster Sky
News and part of “British Sky Broadcasting” group. They also have
satellite TV network in NZ, Australia, Canada and Ireland. The online
website offers news around UK, US and International Events.
SkySportrs is yet another sport news website from this group offering
sport news on UK and worldwide events.
Bloomberg Businessweek - this is the online version of the US
magazine run by the Bloomberg L.P Corporation. It primarily focuses
on the economic news. Special sections are provided to global
economics and tips for small businesses. The site also covers business
schools from the US.
Independent this site provides news from Great Britain along with
world news. It features a section called voice to feature the best
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opinions and features. It offers tips and tools to make the most out of
money. Sports news and blogs are also available on this site.
China Daily - this is the online edition of the China daily newspaper,
and the Chinese State government runs it. The site covers news from
China and around the world. Aside from the news, it also features
opinions and covers sections like business, sport, and travel.
SFGate - San Francisco Chronicle is a newspaper in San Francisco and
many areas in California. Their online version SFGate.com offers news
around the world. SFGate is US’s one of the most circulated
newspaper.
Hindustan Times - this new site provides comprehensive coverage of
the events and happenings in India, while world news is also provided.
Aside from news, the site also offers comprehensive inventories for
jobs, real estate, matrimonial, and hotels. Entertainment and sports
news are also covered.
NYPost - NY Post (New York Pos) is considered as one of the oldest
newspaper in US. Offers news, sports updates, gossips, entertainment
news, photos and videos on their online edition.
The Hindu - this online version of the largest newspaper in India – the
Hindu – features comprehensive coverage of the events and news in
India. World, business, sport, and technology news are also covered on
the site. The content can be selected on the basis of major cities as well.
Financial Times - this online arm of the business newspaper – Financial
Times – provides comprehensive coverage of the global markets and
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financial news around the world. The site also provides information and
rankings of the business schools around the world.
CBC.ca - this is the online arm of the Canadian Broadcasting
Corporation, and it has been online in various iterations since 1993. It
covers both the radio and television shows of the CBC. Sports,
entertainment, and music are covered in extensive sections.
ABC.net.au - this is the official website of the Australian broadcasting
Corporation. It has been online since 1995 and claims to be the most
popular website in Australia. It offers complete and in-depth coverage
of the local and world news, while also concentrating on sport,
entertainment, and business.
News24 - this is a South African news website that primarily focuses
on news from this region. The site is run by 24.com, and it offers news
from other areas like sport, entertainment, and technology. Extensive
sections are dedicated towards careers, health, and property.
The Economist - offering in-depth coverage of both the business news
around the world, this online edition of the UK magazine – the
Economist, is a popular business news site. It also covers world of
politics, science and technology, and economics. The site also
publishes rankings of the business schools.
World News - this is a news aggregator that has been online since
1998. It provides news from reputed sites from around the world is like
BBC, Washington Post, and CNN. The site covers a range of topics
like films, business, sports, and music.
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The Age - the Age is a daily broadsheet published in Australia and
based in Melbourne. It is part of Aussie media group ” Fairfax Media”
which also own sydney morning herald. The print edition of The Age is
available in Victoria, ACT and certain regions of NSW and SA only.
The Globe and mail - this is the online edition of the Canada’s largest
newspaper – the Globe and Mail. It provides breaking news and
analysis from around the world. Business news and in-depth analysis
also provided. Sport and entertainment are some of the other popular
sections on this site.
International Business Times - this is one of the leading business news
sites in the world, and it is offered in 10 different editions across the
world. It features business news, opinions, and analysis. In-depth
coverage of the markets from around the world is also available.
The Business Journal - this is a division of the American City Business
Journals newspaper. It mainly offers business news from the United
States, while also covering business events by the cities. A
comprehensive jobs classified is also available.
Al Jazeera - Aljazeera.com is the part of Aljazeera and JSC (Jazeera
Satellite Channel), which is Doha, Qatar based news channel. The
channel was launched in 1996 as Arabic news channel and later also
expanded to multiple languages. They launched their online news site
in 2003. The site is known for their coverage in Afghanistan War and
2003 Iraq War. In early 2013, they acquired American news Channel
“Current TV” and announced to launch “Al Jazeera America” TV
channel.
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The Star - this is the division of the star media group, and it shares
most of the content with the Toronto Star – Canada’s leading
newspaper. Aside from providing the world news, this site also has
columns, blogs, investigations, and entertainment sections.
Business Standard - it is the Indian business website covering the
business news from India and important financial regions around the
world. The site offers regular opinions and analysis of the various
issues within the global business world.
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Top Italian New Sites
Italy is one of the top regions in the world where people have a lot of
access to Internet. Hence, it is not surprising to learn that there are
numerous news websites focusing on news from various regions across
Italy and indeed from the world.
This is a list of the top Italian news websites according to the traffic.
La Repubblica
This is a new site that offers news from Italy and around the world.
Aside from this, it also focuses on the aspects like economics, finance,
sports, technology, health, culture, and travel. There are several
classifieds and the latest weather updates offered as well.
Il Corriere Della Sera
Updated several times a day, this site offers news on aspects like the
economy, culture, sports, technology, and the breaking news. The site
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offers news in the video format as well, while multimedia like pictures
and opinions also present as well.
Libero
This site specializes in offering news across various medium like the
latest news, news about women, finance, gossip, weather, and sports. It
has a community-oriented section that offers aspects like photos, chat
options, and blogs. Classifieds also forms an important part of this site.
It is part of Italian portal libero.it
Virgilio - offering information about aspects like cars, motorcycles,
women, finance, and cinema, this site also focuses on the latest news
from Italy and the world. It offers users the ability to open a mail
account and it has a discussion board as well.
Gazzetta dello Sport - this site specializes in offering sports news
covering various sports like football, F1, baseball, tennis, and cycling.
Breaking news, opinions, and blogs are present and updated on a
regular basis. The site also has an extensive collection of multimedia
life pictures and videos.
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Tiscali - this site provides news on aspects like the government
policies, foreign policies, economy, social news, science news and
interviews with major personalities. News is also offered in the form of
videos as well, while sports are also an extensively covered section.
Il Sole 24 Ore - this site specializes in offering news about the business
and finance. Even though it specializes in the news from the Italian
region, other major news from around the world is also offered.
Currencies, market data, and stock quotes are some of the features of
this site.
Ansa - this site specializes in offering regional news from the likes of
Sicily, Lazio, and Umbria in Italy. It also has world news as well. Other
sections on the site provide news on aspects like sport, economy, and
movies.
Sky News - the Italian division of the sky news specializes in offering
news about various sports. It also has the latest news, breaking news,
and other news from Italy and other parts of the world. It has also
several videos as well.
Il Fatto Quotidiano - this new site is updated several times a day, and it
features aspects like politics, economics, justice, environment, sports,
and government policies. There are also several blogs written by the
editors, while the site also features a comprehensive photo and video
collection as well.
La Stampa - this is a comprehensive new site featuring news from
almost every category like Italian and world news along with several
other categories like sport, markets, culture, and economy. All the news
is offered with related content like pictures and videos.
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Fanpage - this is a site specializing in offering news from Italy along
with several news from the world, economics, politics, and sports.
Some of the dedicated sections on the site cater to the categories like
football, travel, TV, and movies.
Leonardo.It - this is a news portal offering news about aspects like
politics, money, taxes, fashion, movies, sport, health, and travel.
Several features for the community are also present through blogs,
pictures, and videos as well.
Corriere dello Sport - this site specializes in offering news about the
various sports that are popular in Italy. This includes sports like
football, F1, rallying, basketball, and volleyball. Betting information is
also provided on these sports along with pictures and videos.
Tutto Sport - aside from focusing on news from various sports like a
football, rallying, basketball, and tennis, this site also provides
exclusive information and news about Juventus football club. The site
also has several pictures, blogs, and videos as well.
Il Centro - this site specializes in providing news from the Pescara
region in Italy. It also has sport news as well along with several
classifieds and online stores. Weather information is also provided in
great detail along with photos and videos.
Il Messaggero - this news portal offers news from various categories
like economy, culture, sports, technology, fashion, and world news. All
happening events in major cities across Italy are also provided.
Reviews of automobiles and access to important television shows are
also provided.
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IlGiornale.it - the site is from Milan based, Italian Broadsheet “il
Giornale”, which covers news on politics, national and international
affairs, tech, sport and much more. It also has sections like opinion,
videos and photos covering news around the world.
Leggo - An online news site from free daily newspaper Leggo covers
news, blogs, lifestyle, sports news and more. Their print edition
publishes from more than 15 locations of Italy.
Huffington Post - Huffington post publishes news in association of
Gruppo Editoriale L’Espresso, which is a leading media group in Italy.
They covers variety of topics including fashion, economy and more.
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Top French Websites
Newspapers have existed in France for a long time and it is not
surprising to see a lot of them come with their online versions as well.
Most of the people in France have access to the Internet and news is
one of the popular aspects on it.
This is a list of the top France news websites according to their traffic.
Le Monde
The official site of the French daily newspaper Le Monde features all
aspects from the local to the international news. It also provides users
with the current trending topics. Sports, technology, health, and culture
are some of the other aspects discussed on this site.
Le Figaro
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This online edition of the French daily Le Figaro features news on
various aspects like the government policies, regional news, and
international news. Environment, health, science, and weather are some
of the other aspects present along with several opinions and blogs.
Le Quipe
This site specializes in offering news about various sports that are
popular in France like football, rugby, F1, motoring, and tennis. Other
sport news available on this site includes golf, basketball, swimming,
and cycling. The site also has several videos and blogs.
Le Nouvel Observateur - this provides news on aspects like the political
policies, business news like the latest employment figures, sport, and
education. The current trending topics can also be viewed on the
homepage of the site. There are several services like English courses,
ticket purchasing, and bookstores available as well.
Le Parisien - aside from providing information on aspects like
horoscope and weather, this site also has news from the business world,
governments, and industries like automotive. Science, environment,
and technology news is also present along with several blogs.
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20 Minutes - this site offers news on various aspects like political,
national, and regional. The news is available on categories like sports,
business, technology, and governments. Aside from the news, it also
has several services, games, pictures, and videos as well.
L’Express - this news website concentrates on several sections like
policies, economic, business, education, and employment news
amongst many others. Most of the news is France centric, while global
news is also present. Sport and culture are the other aspects of this site.
Boursorama - this site specializes in offering business news of various
types like economic data, economic calendar, and market analysis.
There are several other aspects like real estate, savings, and
government policy news also offered as well. The site has several tools
and calculators.
01 Net - this is a site specializing in offering news about the technology
and electronic goods like computers, tablet PCs, and laptops. There are
several articles and opinions covering these aspects, while videos are
also present as well along with a discussion board.
Le Journal du Net - specializing in aspects like the Internet,
multimedia, and technology, this site offers news on all these aspects
along with pictures and videos. Several employment opportunities are
also available through the jobs board, while management news is also
offered.
Libération - aside from offering special features like editorials and
opinions, this site also has news about culture, technology, travel, and
politics. It has news from all the regions France and from around the
world. The site has numerous photos and videos.
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Le Point - this site offers news on various aspects like economy,
politics, sports, culture, and technology. The special aspects of the
news offered on the site include unusual and confidential news that are
available in special sections. Information about the market indices is
present.
Les Echos - aside from providing French and international news, this
site also offers to support industries, education, employment, economy,
transport, defense, and technology. It also provides access to the Les
echos TV along with information about arts and culture.
Rue89 - this specializes in offering news that is usually not in the
mainstream like environment, culture, and planets. Sports news is also
offered in extensive detail along with the trending topics. There are also
several blogs written by high-profile writers.
Huffington Post France - the French division of the Huffington Post
discusses topics like common policies, economy, international,
technology, and culture news. It also offers multimedia like pictures,
videos, and blogs, while trending topics are easy to find as well.
La Depeche - apart from providing the latest and breaking news from
France in the world, this site also offers news about sports, economic,
and aspects like fashion, shopping, and culture. Horoscopes, kitchen
recipes, and regional information from various parts of the country are
also present.
La Depeche - news site from French financial news tabloid “La
Tribune”. It offers news about economy news about France, Europe
and international events, stock market updates along with expert’s
opinions, live stock updates and more.
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BFM TV - is a leading television news network in France, which is
available in digital television, cable and satellite news. The company
was founded in 2005. It is part of NextRadioTV group who previously
owned La Tribune. Their online website offers news about politics,
society, economy, sports, tech, national and international events.
Metro France - is a daily newspaper from Swedish company “Metro
International”, Their website offers news about political, national and
international events, society, people, tech industry and more. They
launched their French edition in 2002.
Meteo France - this site specializes in providing information and news
about the weather. The local regional weather information is available
along with the national information. Aspects like the UV index, rain
possibility, observations, and traffic updates are also provided as well.
Top German Websites
Like any other resource on the Internet news forms a large segment of
searches made by people over the Internet. There are several news
websites in germany, which have come up both globally and regionally
across the globe.
The list below provides a comprehensive list of top German news sites.
They are ranked according to its popularity.
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Spiegel
Also known as SPON, Spiegel Online is one of the online versions of
the German weekly magazine Der Spiegel. It offers the latest news
from around the world, covering politics, culture, economy, sports,
business and other developments.
Bild
The website is the online version of the Bild newspaper which is a
German tabloid published by Axel Springer AG. The website keeps the
readers informed with the current developments around the world
featuring everything from politics to weather.
T-online
The website offers news from the world of business, politics, sports,
culture and everything that comes under the head of news. It is the
web-portal of Telecom Germany GmbH, which besides being an
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informational portal provides services such as free email to its visitors
as well.
Welt - is the online version of the German daily newspaper Die Welt
which means the world. Sports, business, economy, culture, weather,
and politics are some of the fields in which Die Welt offers news.
Focus - this is a website offering news not only on national matters but
also on the international changes and developments. It is the online
edition of FOCUS, which is a popular German weekly magazine.
N-TV - is owned by the Bertelsmann AG Media’s RTL group and is an
affiliate network of the CNN news network since 1992. Besides
providing news from across the globe it provides constant coverage of
the major indices.
Zeit - offers news not only from Germany, but from all over the world
covering. An online version of the German Daily named Die Zeit it also
features videos from selected events.
Tagesschau - news portal of the ARD group has a strong team of more
than 20 journalists managing its contents since 2011. Tagesschau gives
stiff competition to sites like Spiegel Online and faz.net.
Faz - is abbreviation of “Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung”, which
covers news on almost all the incidents and events of international
importance, starting from political scenario of the nation and of the
world that includes sports, business, trade, health and education.
Deutsche Welle - popular for its news broadcasts, internet, satellite
radio in 30 languages Dw.de is promoted by Deutsche Welle which
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features news German news in English for the global audience. It is
more popular outside Germany for news about Germany in English
language.
Handelsblatt - focusing primarily on the fields of business and finance,
the website is the web portal of the famous newspaper Handelsblatt
which is published in Düsseldorf by the Verlagsgruppe Handelsblatt.
Golem - deviating from the more conventional websites offering news,
the website Golem provides you with IT and Tech news. The website
belongs to Klass & Ihlenfeld Verlag GmbH which also features a video
and photo portal.
Finanzen - is a dedicated site to cover finance & business news and is
promoted by Axel Springer AG. In the month of August 2011 the site
created a record of 14 million visitors and about 2 million unique users.
Rp-online - complimenting its print version the online version of
Rheinische Post presents news from all over the world. The site is
portal offers many other sections including shopping, classified, local
news and more.
Sky popularly known as Deutschland Sky is a 100% subsidiary of Sky
TV Germany GmbH & Co. As a package, the site offers up to forty
channels that cover news in almost all fields.
Express - the website has quite a number of sections devoted to sports,
culture, and entertainment. It is the online edition of Express a regional
tabloid newspaper from Cologne.
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Derwesten - is the Internet portal of the WAZ Media Group that brings
together the papers of the publishing group. The site specializes in
providing the latest news on politics, sports and the region.
Top India Websites
India has more than 120 million Internet users and growing rapidly. As
internet connectivity becomes more accessible and affordable and with
quick penetration of broadband in India, more and more people
nowadays only rely on various news sites offered in English and local
languages.
Below are some top news websites in India ranked by its popularity.
Indiatimes.com
Indiatimes is a news website from leading indian media company times
group. The print editions of various newspapers published by the times
group like Economic Times, Times Of India, Navbharat Times and
Vijay Karnataka can be accessed from this site. Shopping, job search,
and email services are some of the other sections available on this site.
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In.com
In.com is a part of Network18 group, which is a mass media company
active in television, print, internet, film and e-commerce business in
India. The site offers news stories from various sections such as
politics, elections, sports, regional news and much more. IBN Live is a
leading news channel in India which is also known as CNN IBN (Cable
News Network-Indian Broadcasting Network )
NDTV
New Delhi Television Limited is a leading Indian news channel.
NDTV.com is an official website provides the latest news as it happens.
All the top stories of the day are listed serially and the important events
are covered under featured stories and latest stories section with videos.
Various recipes from different parts of the country are described and
updated weather information is available.
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One India - this is an online portal that offers news in English and all
the many local Indian languages. Visitors can access city wise news by
just clicking on the city of their choice. The site offers news from
categories such as sports events, travel, entertainment, business,
lifestyle and more. They also have online classified section.
Bhaskar - it is a website in from Dainik Bhaskar Group (D B Corp
Ltd.), which is India’s leading mass media company. Their website is
offering political, economic, sports, entertainment and business news
from across the country. This one’s particularly popular among locals
seeking news in their preferred language.
India Today - this site of the India Today group has news from its
various publications like Money Today, Women Today and Business
Today. India Today is renowned news weekly in India.. The Take 5
section features the most important news stories from India and around
the world. The group is also offering news services through their news
channels like Aaj Tak and Headlines today.
Hindustan Times - this site from Indian daily “The Hindustan times”
contains great visuals of the latest events from around the country and
the world. Columns, opinions, and analysis of the latest developments
by renowned journalists are among the distinguishing features of this
site. The company was founded in 1926. In 2007, they also started
business newspaper called mint in collaboration with the wall street
journal.
India.com - is a part of Zee Entertainment Enterprises, which is a mass
media company offering news channel and many other services.
India.com offers general news in variety of categories including
business, travel, health, sports and more.
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The Hindu - this site by one of India’s oldest newspaper focuses
mostly on news from South India in general and Tamil Nadu and
Kerala states in particular. The company also has other publications
like the Sportstar, Businessline, and Frontline.
Rediff - was founded in 1996 as a portal offering various web services.
This is one of the oldest sites in the country offering the latest news in
categories like sports, business, politics and business.
Eenadu - this site by one of India’s leading vernacular dailies is a
favorite among Telugu-speaking people residing in various parts of the
country and world. This site has links of various useful sites like the
Andhra Pradesh police, Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams, Apsrtc, etc.
Sify - is an Internet provider in India offering news on their portal
sify.com. The website offers important political, business, movie, and
sports news. In 1999, the company acquired news website
Samachar.com which now offers news syndication from leading news
sites.
Great Andhra - it is an online tabloid with gossips on movie stars and
political figures from AP. Content is substandard but is popular among
the youth.
Indian Express - is a news site from Indian daily “The Indian express”,
which is published from 9 cities of India. It offers news about India,
world, tech, politics, fashion, cities of India and much more.
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DNA India - is an abbreviation of Daily News and Analysis (DNA).
This site has news from its print edition with the same name. One can
enjoy a quick wrap up of the latest happening here. Visitors can express
their opinions, debate, share comments, and also cast their votes on a
particular topic on this website. The site is joint venture of Zee group
and Bhaskar group, which also publishes broadsheets from 6 different
cities of India.
Manorama Online - the site from Malayalam daily “Malayalama
Manorama”. It is offered in local language Malayalam and English. It
covers news about Kerala state, indian, world, business, politics, cricket
and much more.
Dainik Jagran - is part of Jagran Prakashan Limited, the group, which
publish leading hindi broadsheet Dainik Jagran. Dainik Jagran is most
circulated news paper since years according to local readership survey.
Their website offers news in local language (Hindi) and covers all
aspects.
Deccan Chronicle - this site from English daily “Deccan Chronicle”
contains news, events, and developments pertaining to South India in
general and Andhra Pradesh state in particular. It covers news on
business, politics, lifestyle, business, tech and world.
ABP News - was earlier known as star news, which was joint venture
of multination mass media company news corp. and Indian TV channel
group STAR TV of ABP Group. In 2012, they ended their joint venture
and thus STAR news became ABP News (Anandabazar Patrika
Program News)
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Top Canadian Websites
News is one of the most searched aspects on the internet today. The
news sites in Canada provide all the breaking and latest news not only
from this region, but also from around the world. Most of the sites also
offer sports and business news as well. This list brings out the top news
sites in Canada as per their traffic.
CBC.ca
This site from Canadian broadcasting corporation offers news
regarding aspects like politics, business, sport, technology, and
entertainment. Special focus on the news from Canada is also provided.
Each section comes with photo galleries, while some sections have
blogs featuring high-profile bloggers. It is possible to view and hear
content from the CBC TV and radio respectively. Weather information
and forecasts are also available.
The Globe And Mail
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The official site of the Globe and Mail newspaper focuses on national,
political, and world news. It also offers news from Toronto and British
Columbia as well. Business, investing, sports, entertainment,
technology, and life style are the different aspects dealt on this site.
Editorials, columnists, and debate are also offered on this site along
with stock quotes as well.
The Star
Being the official site of the Toronto Star newspaper, this site offers
most of the content from the newspaper like columns and blogs. It
brings the latest news from Canada and around the world. One of its
popular feature as a newspaper – Reader’s letters – is also present in
this site. Business, sports, life, travel, and entertainment are the other
major topics on this site.
TSN - the official site of the TSN sports channel, this provides on the
breaking news and updates on all the major sports in Canada like ice
hockey, soccer, NHL, NBA, and tennis. This site also provides the
broadcast schedule, while offering the TSN Radio as well.
Canoe - part of the Quebecor Media group, this site offers news from
around the world that is offered in different sections like weird, crime,
politics, and breaking news. The site also focuses on aspects like sport,
showbiz, money, life, and travel in extensive detail.
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Lapresse.ca - La Presse offers news for French speaking people in
Canada. The website offers local and global news in all categories such
as tech, cinema, sports, business and more. It is part of French
newspaper La Presse (founded in 1984) that is published from
Mondays to Saturdays in Montreal and Quebec.
National post - this is part of the Postmedia Network Inc, and it
provides news from Canada, the Middle East, and the world. Opinions
from several high-profile columnists are also present alongside news
about business, art, life, and sports. The site also offers pictures, videos,
and graphics.
Financial post is another news site from national post which is mainly
focused on finance and business news.
Vancouver Sun - the Vancouver Sun offers a wide range of news split
up into sections like national, world, politics, education, health,
weather, and environment. Letters, staff blogs, columns, and editorial
aspects are also available alongside business, sport, and entertainment
news. It has also a news section for Vancouver, Victoria and BC Area.
CTV News - this site offers news in video, pictures, and text format.
The content on this site are mostly includes news from Canada and
around the world. It has an extensive video library featuring different
sections like entertainment and lifestyle along with the shows from the
CTV news.
Huffington Post - this is the Canadian division of Huffington Post, and
its content – apart from being Canada centric – is similar to the other
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regional sites. Politics, business, and world news are featured. Style,
entertainment, and lifestyle are the other major sections.
Toronto Sun - this site provides news from major regions in Canada
like Ontario and Toronto, while also focusing on the world news as
well. There are several featured columnists offering their opinion on the
news, while the site also accepts scoops and stories from the readers as
well.
Radio Canada - is part of CBC network, which was founded in 1993.
Radio Canada offers French language news from around the word and
Canada. The site also offers sections like music, sports, tech,
entertainment etc.
Montreal Gazette - specializes in offering news from Montréal and
Québec. It also has national and world news as well. Open editorials,
letters, editorials, and columns are available as it is in the daily paper.
Business, sports, and arts are the other categories discussed.
RDS.Ca - offers sports news in French speaking Canadians. It is part of
Bell Media and serves more than 1 million visitors per month. It covers
major sports sections in Canada such as hockey, baseball, football,
boxing, basketball, soccer and more.
Calgary Herald - this site offers news from the Calgary region in
Canada along with world news as well. Business, sport, life, and
entertainment are the other major sections on the site. It provides access
to popular TV shows online, while it also has an extensive video
library.
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Top Australian Websites
Most of the popular newspapers and news television channels come out
with websites that offer news due to the growing importance of Internet
today. These are the top news websites in Australia ranked according to
the traffic.
News.com.au
News.com.au is part of the News Media conglomerate and it provides
news from 25 journalists across Australia. It covers aspects like local,
world, business, and sport news. It also provides breaking news across
these categories, while opinions are available through blogs.
Sydney Morning Herald
This is the official site of the Sydney Morning Herald – a newspaper
started in 1831. It features news on almost every aspect like national,
world, business, and sport. Technology and discussions of various
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electronic items are offered as well. Sydney specific content like
restaurants, TV Guide, and music reviews are present along with
several pictures and videos.
Nine MSN
This news website is run by both Nine Entertainment and Microsoft.
This site offers news from major Australian cities like Sydney,
Melbourne, and Brisbane. Sports and financial news are present
alongside weather information. Entertainment aspects like celebrity
news, gossip, and videos are present along with fashion news. The site
features a comprehensive video library touching various aspects.
ABC - the official site of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, the
site offers news about business, entertainment, weather, and sport along
with the national and world news. In-depth analysis of the daily news is
also offered through a special section, while the site has all the TV and
radio content from ABC.
The Age - featuring the news from ‘The Age’, this site additionally
offers aspects like videos on a variety of aspects like entertainment,
sport, and lifestyle. National and world news appear as in the print
medium, while environment and business news are also present.
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Brisbane Times - Apart from providing the National and world news,
this site specializes in providing local content from and for Brisbane.
This local content is in the form of news, while TV schedules,
restaurant reviews, and weather information are provided.
Special Broadcasting Service - the official site of the Special
Broadcasting Service provides all its content – news, videos, and
photos – online. This site is available in several languages popular in
Australia, while it provides the latest TV and radio guides. Podcasts
and blogs are also offered on this site.
Fox Sports - part of the Fox Interactive Media, this site specializes in
providing news and other information about all the major sports in
Australia. The upcoming fixtures, results, pictures, and videos are
present along with fantasy games involving all the major sports.
Adelaide Now - this site specializes in providing the breaking news
from the Adelaide region in Australia. Other content meant primarily
for Adelaide people include aspects like weather and real estate. Sports,
entertainment, and business news are the other offerings on this site.
Perth Now- is a site that provides content from and for the Perth region
in Australia. Aspects like weather, real estate, classifieds, and
discussion boards are specific to this region. The site also has national
and world news as well.
Smart Company - the content of this site is primarily targeted at small
and medium enterprises. It primarily features news and advice related
to business. Trends, features, and entrepreneur related news are offered
along with the ability to ask experts on various topics.
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AFR - this is a website from leading Australian newspaper “The
Australian Financial Review” For most parts, this site offers only
business, investment, and finance related news. Opinions are offered on
the latest happenings in this sector. The global markets are covered in
detail with charts, news, and videos. The site also features the latest
technology and lifestyle related news.
WA Today - Western Australia is online only magazine mostly covers
news around Perth and Western Australia. It was founded in 2008. It is
part of Fairfax Digital, which also own Sydney Morning Herald, The
Age and Brisbane Times.
Canberra Times - online website from The Canberra Times offers news
around the world with local news of Canberra and ACT. The
newspaper was founded in 1926 and taken over by Fairfax Digital
Group in 2006. Covers various sections including nation and
internation news, entertainment, tech, Environment, Sports and more.
BigPond News - this is a news service from Australian internet
provider BigPond. They offers live breaking news coverage in areas
like national news, sports, entertainment, world, tech and much more.
They also offer live online TV with live breaking news.
Popular UK New sites
The new sites in the United Kingdom cover a variety of aspects like
politics, sport, business, and religion. There are a few sites that are
especially more popular than the others due to the quality of the
content.
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BBC
This site from BBC (British broadcasting corp.) provides all the latest
news from the UK and from around the world. Sport, business,
entertainment, health, travel, science, and environment are some of the
different sections of news available on this site.
Mail Online
Daily Mail is a leading newspaper in UK and their website provides all
the major news from the United Kingdom, while also focusing on
popular and interesting news from the world. Sport, TV, showbiz,
health, science, money, and travel are some of the popular sections on
this site. The in-house columnists discuss every major talking point,
while the site has several blogs and job listings.
The Guardian
The official site of the Guardian newspaper features news from the UK,
world, and the US with greater importance. Other types of sections
available on this site include society, education, politics, media, and
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football news. Several contributors feature regularly on the ‘comment
is free’ section that discusses various aspects from around the world.
The site also has numerous videos as well.
Telegraph - the official site of one of the oldest newspapers in the UK,
this site features news from the UK that covers various aspects like
politics, education, science, defense, health, and celebrities. News
about the Royal family is also provided.
Reuters - the UK version of the Reuters features breaking news from
around the world. It also offers business, finance, and investment news
as well. Information about the global markets is offered along with
individual charting histories. Several pictures and videos are also
present.
The Sun - the Sun primarily provides breaking, crime, politics, and the
latest news from the UK. Sport and showbiz are two sections that are
also complete with news covering aspects like football, rugby,
celebrities, TV, film, and music. There are several viral videos also
offered.
Sky News - this site primarily focuses on offering news about sports
and entertainment, while the latest news from around the world is also
offered. All the news is offered in the form of videos, while detailed
information about the Sky broadcasting service is also provided.
The Independent - aside from discussing news from the UK, the site
also has news from around the world. Business, people, science,
environment, media, technology, and education news is also offered.
Football is news is dealt with through a dedicated section.
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Sky Sports - this site offers sports news covering various sports like
football, F1, cricket, rugby, golf, boxing, tennis, and cycling. Radio and
video content is also provided along with several opinions and blogs
from high profile pundits and critics in the game.
Financial Times - this site primarily focuses on the business news from
the UK and from around the world. Markets, global economy, and
industry news form part of the site. The market data comprises of all
the indices information that is offered along with charts.
Mirror - a site from Daily Mirror newspaper specializes in providing
the latest and weird news from around the world. The news from the
UK is also provided along with several aspects like real-life stories,
crime, and world news. Sport, lifestyle, and money are the other major
sections at this site.
Digital Spy - this site offers primarily entertainment, media, and
showbiz news. The site features interviews from several high-profile
names in the respective industries, while there are numerous videos and
blogs available as well. Several spoilers are also present along with
videos.
Huffington Post UK - the UK version of the Huffington Post provides
all the latest news from the UK along with opinions of the same from
several columnists. Politics, sport, and entertainment news are the
major sections on this site, while aspects like celebrities and
entertainment news are also present.
The Register - is a site that primarily offers science and technology
news. This news is provided in various sections like cloud, datacenter,
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software, and hardware. A discussion board is also part of the site. Each
news is offered along with the related multimedia content.
News Now - is a news-aggregating site that offers all the latest news in
different sections like hot topics, current affairs, world news, business
news, and sports news. It is possible to customize the news feed in any
different section.
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Chapter 8: Dating Websites
In this tech-centric world, we spend most of our time in from of
computer screens. And although you might have a great friends circle,
you might not have found that “right” person as yet. But with the way
things are changing, you don’t need to sit back and wait for that person
to walk into your life. With online dating sites, it’s possible to meet
likeminded people.
PlentyofFish
Earlier it was PlentyofFish.com and now POF.com is the ideal spot for
fun in dating. Plenty Of Fish has advanced matching system and they
guarantee a great match with most frequent re-visits to the online dating
site. The site offers free and ad supported dating service. It is biggest
dating community by traffic and members.
Match.com
Started in 1995 and offering services in 24 countries and in 15 different
languages. Match is perfect for singles that are looking for company.
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People from diverse backgrounds and areas of work are known to
connect here over interests and choices. Match.com is first dating
website on Internet!
Ok Cupid
Is as specific to the user as possible. OkCupid takes questions and
answers and finds out that is right for you. Offers free dating service
and second largest after POF.com
Zoosk
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Is integrated with Facebook and has a lot of members form different
countries. Cross- cultural dating is seen on the website and it is one of
the online dating websites that are growing increasingly popular.
Ashley Madison - is the best clandestine websites for anonymous
connections, flirting and dating. The site connects you with like-minded
people of your interest – men may seek men and women may seek
women too – and your identity is kept confidential. They have paid and
free membership. Free members cannot initiative a conversation with
any other user.
eHarmony - is more focused on building partners than simple flings.
The site does its personality tests and finds you a close to your choice
match. The site is not available for free; it has a paid subscription.
However, the site is dedicated to relationship research and they also
provide services like advice.
DateHookup - allows you to contact the person of your interest, show
interest, send messages and start dating absolutely free.
DateHookup.com is an ad supported and 100% free dating site. It
requires registration to connect with other users. The site offers a free
personal blog to every user and many other features after registration.
Site was founded in 2002 and also offers mobile dating applications for
their users.
Christian Mingle - is a dating site for Christian singles. This dating site
aims to connect singles willing to make meaningful connections and
marry with Christian religion faith. Users can create a free membership
and connect with their 2 way matching service.
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SpeedDate.com - has facilities like video chat, speed date concentrates
on cutting the chase. Users can call; text and video connect with each
other and even connect over audio recordings. The site is user friendly
and quick.
Senior People’s Meet - is a dating website to connect senior singles
seeking for dating partners. Users can register and create profile for
free but required to pay if want to contact other members. The site is
part of People Media, which also own other leading sites like
Match.com
Single’s Network - is online since 1999 and offers online dating
services to limited number of countries. The site also offers chat rooms
and forums. They also offer religion based dating services and match
making within their website. It is subscription based and require users
to subscribe to send a message.
Chemistry.com - is the sister website of Match.com – but the site is not
free. They allow up to 5 profile views for free per day; paid
subscriptions don’t have limits.
Black People Meet - was founded in 2002 and now part of Dating.com.
It is probably one of the largest black dating site connecting black
singles for dating. The site is for African-American personals looking a
date partner. Users can create free account but require to pay to send
message other users.
JDate.com - is a dating website for Jewish people. The site claim to
maintain perfect 50:50 male-female ratios. The site is offered in
English and local language. It has some cool tools like online members
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search, advance search options, e-cards, online instant message and
much more.
Cupid.com - focuses in connecting local people. They are not into high
end research and analytics and do not ask you to fill questionnaires –
they bring you in contact with real people.
DateInAsia - is a dating website connecting various asian singles for
date. The site also offers dating by cities where users can find dating
partners by cities. The site offers free dating service with limited
support. Users can connect with others for free.
True.com - is known for its background checks. It is popular for
validating that people are genuine and connecting people to more
trusted companions on the other side of the internet.
RSVP.com.au - is part of leading Aussie daily smh.com.au and
network. The site claim to add 1000 singles every day and #1 dating
site in Australia. Users can register for free but to contact other users,
they require a subscription. They also offer pay as you go option. The
site has sections like top 100 single men, single women and new
member’s introduction.
Meetic - is online since 2001 and claim to have millions of users using
their service. The site is also offered as mirror website in many other
languages and regional websites. The company is listed in Europe’s
stock exchange in 2005.
Mingle2 - is an AD supported and FREE dating site where user can
sign up for free and start finding dating partners immediately. The site
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already has taken necessary steps to avoid fake or inactive profiles on
their website. They also have forums on variety of topics.
How About We? - is a dating site with twist where users can submit a
dating idea, check other’s profiles and make plans to date! Users can
set their dating preferences as well. Free accounts have certain limited
features including free posting of dates, say i am interested, check
others profiles etc. However to send and receive unlimited messages,
users need to upgrade.
Oasis.com - offers free dating service and claim to add more than
300000 members every month. Offers some cool features like instant
messengers, automatic matching, local and global matching and
multiple languages. The site also offer dating community where other
users can share their dating experience.
MillionaireMatch - is a dating site for millionaire singles or finding
millionaire dating personal! The site also offers dating applications for
popular mobile platforms like Android and iOS. Users can create free
profile but require paying to connect with other members. Site is
offered in 2 other languages as well.
LavaLife.com - is one of the oldest on the network of dating websites.
The site has only about 20 thousand members and it is not a free
website.
Date.com - has been online for quite some time. The site is available in
Spanish, Portuguese and English. It was started in 1997 and is Free for
its member community.
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Passion Search - commits to most advanced personalized search for
your ideal date. The online community can be joined for free. They
have strong local connect.
Flirt.com – is a UK based website, Flirt.com, has a good global
presence with websites catering to various zones. It is also popular in
America with a good US traffic rank. They cater to local tastes.
PerfectMatch - is professional and committed to making people come
together. They also offer various resources, articles and tips on dating.
Matchmaker - takes interest in setting you up with partners and
building long term relationships. The website is alive since 1986
making it one of the oldest websites.
Mate1.com - offers paid as well as free service. They are dedicated to
finding you “someone”. Profiles can be viewed for free.
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Chapter 9: Freelance Websites
Setting up a business has become easier than ever. With the advent of
services like work outsourcing and remote workers, the capital
investment to start a new business has considerably decreased and has
been extensively been used by small to medium sized business. Some
of the websites where one can find freelancers and remote workers to
outsource work are discussed below.
Fiverr
Is a good place to outsource a variety of tasks for a mere $5. Although
the output quality is not guaranteed, it can nevertheless be a good
option to outsource tasks which consume time but do not need much
skill.
Freelancer
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Has one of the biggest database of expert freelancers. Projects start at
$30 and you can decide to either post the project or directly contact
freelancers with the quote. Also you need to pay only when certain
milestones as decided by you are met which and hence ensure high
quality.
oDesk
Is one of the emerging places for outsourcing and creating a highly
qualified remote team. Just post the job with the requirements and
budget and chose the appropriate candidates and you are all set to get
your work done. oDesk provides various feedback regarding the work
including screenshots of the computer at regular intervals so that you
can keep a track on the progress of the work.
Elance
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Allows you to connect and outsource your work to one million
freelancers across the globe. Posting a job on Elance is completely
FREE and one can pay only when the goal is met. Elance has a pool of
highly qualified professionals with various skills and guarantee high
quality work.
99Designs - was part of sitepoint marketplace but now a separate
website. 99Design is marketplace for logo and web design and other
graphic designs like t-shirt design, brochures, mobile app design,
banner ads and book cover designs. Limited to design related tasks.
Proz.com - is a translation marketplace. It can help finding professional
translators and interpreters for various languages. People who are
looking for translation job can join the website to find and bid on
translation projects. The site was founded in 1999 and currently has
more than 600000 members.
Guru - is one of the largest online freelancing service providers.
Posting a project on Guru is absolutely FREE and takes only four
simple steps. Most of the freelancers in Guru are US based freelancers
and hence can be an added advantage. One can post any project on
website, creative arts or business categories.
People Per Hour - is a great place to search for highly talented
freelancers and remote office workers. Posting a job is absolutely
FREE and allows employers to pay when the job is completed. Many
small and medium sized businesses use PeoplePerHour while avoiding
the traditional cost of setting up a business.
Microworkers - as name says, this marketplace is to get small job done!
Freelancers can get paid to like facebook fan page, following someone
on twitter, bookmark a website on delicous or liking YouTube videos.
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Since it is small jobs marketplace, employer can not do less than 30
tasks per project.
FreelanceSwitch - offers freelance forum, freelancer directory, a blog
and a marketplace for employers and freelancers. The blog offers some
nice articles and tips to freelancers and employers. Employers can post
jobs for free.
TextBroker - is a marketplace for only content writing services where
clients can submit their writing project and author’s can write articles
or bid on projects. They only accept US Citizen for freelance work.
Residents from other countries are not accepted. There is rating system
(article rated by editorial team) for quality control. Clients can pay
based on author’s star rating (a fixed pricing, not negotiable or client
can’t set price)
Gigbucks - is a good Fiverr alternative for outsourcing work. Unlike
Fiverr where you can only outsource some errands, Gigbuck has a
greater appeal due to a higher reward and hence one can expect to
outsource bigger tasks like creating a website or programming. One can
either create an account with Gigbucks or just login using FaceBook
and start outsourcing work.
CrowdSpring -is a logo design and graphic design and content writing
marketplace but with their money back guarantee. There are around
120000 freelancers with this marketplace according to website data.
Freelance.com - launched in 2010. Freelance.com offers marketplace
for various categories and claim to have currently more than 100000+
contractors on their website. For employers, it offers two types of
accounts; one is direct account where employer can directly contact
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contractors, another is Corp account, which allows advanced job
management.
Get a Coder - is the place to look for freelancer programmers and web
designers. It allows you to pick the best freelancers either based on
location or cost and also allows you to save money and time.
Submitting a job is absolutely FREE and one can also go for the
Premium level which requires a refundable $25 deposit and shows that
you are a serious employer and makes your job post stand out from the
rest.
WriterAccess - is another content writing marketplace with 5000+ star
rated writers. It has similar price per word model for customers. If
buyer (employer) commit $2500 worth orders, they get “WriterAccess
Plus Services” with additional benefits.
iFreelance - is also a place to find free lancers for your work and offers
pretty much every service other free lancing websites provide. It
however does not charge any transaction fee from either the employers
or the freelancers thereby attracting more freelancers and greater
chances of finding suitable candidates. Finding freelancers is also quite
easy depending on various category and sub category as per your
requirement.
Project4hire - is a great destination for outsourcing technical jobs
including web designing, graphic designing, programming, it
professionals etc. Posting a job is absolutely FREE and there are great
chances of getting suitable and qualified professionals.
Freelancers.Net - has a great easy to understand interface which allows
one to post jobs and look for freelancers at ease. With the freelancer
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rating and testimonial option, one can easily browse through the list of
quality freelancers. The site is based in UK and hence concentrates
more on freelancers and jobs from UK, but there are freelancers from
other part of the world too.
GoFreelance - is a relatively small freelance marketplace site.
Freelancer and employer need to register an account to submit bid or
submit new project.
Note: Site below is removed from the list. vWorker.com was acquired
by freelancer.com and now don’t have separate marketplace. All
accounts are migrated to freelancer.com network and users currently
have limited access to their vWorker.com account.
Vworker - or virtual worker allows you to outsource your work to more
than 350000 professionals. Just post a project, interview prospective
bidders, select the worker and wait for the job to be completed. There
are no posting fees, activation fees or subscription fees and one can pay
the money only when the work is done.
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Seminars Offered by McAfee Institute
Open Source Intelligence
Advanced Open Source Intelligence
ECrime Investigation Methodologies Social Networking Intelligence
Gathering Use of Informants in Retail
How to Investigate Cyber Crimes Forensic Examination of Fraudsters
Cyber Forensics
Intro to Cyber Forensics Leadership Development John C. Maxwell
Leadership Organized Retail Crime
Please visit http://www.mcafeeinstitute.com for information about all of
our upcoming events or call us at 888-263-1650
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Certifications Offered
Certified Cyber Intelligence Professional (CCIP®) this certification
designates individuals who have demonstrated competency in all
areas of cyber intelligence, investigations & Management.
Certified Cyber Intelligence Investigator the Certified Organized
Retail Crime Investigator (CORC) credential denotes proven
expertise in organized retail crime prevention, detection and
prosecution.
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About Us
We are what speakers, consultants, and trainers were always supposed
to be, leading expert-practitioners who are mentors by nature, not
merely by professional choice. When you’re born to help other people
excel, that’s a great place to start. But that’s only a start; you have to
grow from there and continue to add value. And we have.
The McAfee Institute is a Saint Louis, Missouri-based non-profit
organization and team of expert-practitioners of cyber intelligence,
fraud, loss prevention, leadership and strategic business who advocate
an innovative approach to managing your company’s most valuable and
most under-leveraged, asset – your people. We target, train and mentor
the business leaders responsible for architecting and orchestrating
strategy execution and who run your business.
Our expert-practitioners, mentors, coaches, and consultants specialize
in working with you to enhance your understanding and leverage of the
real world cause-and-effect relationship between how you think about
cyber threats, protecting assets, creating industry leaders and the quality
of your business results.
We don’t chase the latest management or technology fads; rather we
instill the time- tested success principles of excellence in
business/people management.
We provide the answer to how to “do more with less” – teaching your
leaders the valuable “lost art” of truly great people management.
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Testimonials
“I’ve attended other cyber courses over my 25 years and this program
ranked up there with the best. Josh’s knowledge and enthusiasm made
the course.”
- Craig Baylis – Agent – Office of Inspector General
“A well-crafted webinar with up-to-date and relevant material
presented by an engaging presenter. I would definitely attend other
McAfee training seminars in the future.”
Justin Porter – Director of Investigations – IP Services
“The Cyber Crime course offered by McAfee was very interesting and
educational. Many of the tips I picked up during the course will be very
helpful in my investigations on a daily basis. Excellent course of
instruction.”
- Charles Becker – Fraud Investigator – RBS Citizens Banks
“Thanks to Josh for providing bits of his experience to enhance the
presentation. The presentation provided a great foundation for me to
build on. I am looking forward to a long relationship with Josh and the
McAfee Institute. - Wayne Millen – CEO - Professional Investigative
Resources and Consulting
“Josh McAfee taught the eCrime Investigation Methodologies course
today and did an absolutely outstanding job. It is clear from his delivery
that he truly speaks from experience, is well educated in a broad
spectrum, and leaves no student behind as he teaches concepts
guaranteed to increase both your effectiveness and your income.”
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“I applied one technique he taught today to a project I have worked on
for several weeks and within four hours of completing the course was
able to confidently say that the matter had been resolved. The value for
me was so high that it is difficult to measure. The value for my clients
is priceless. The outcome will alter their lives.”
“I am also currently participating in the 21 Irrefutable Laws of
Leadership program and it is truly inspirational. This course examines
your business leadership skills and knowledge and shows you how to
make improvements that benefit everyone you come in contact with.
The effect this has on your personal life is remarkable because it gives
you an entire phase shift in your outlook and the way you respond to
those who rely on you.”
“Josh teaches this course right from the heart and it shows up in so
many ways during the presentation. It doesn’t get any better than that.
Outstanding! Thank you, Josh.”
- Paul Curtis CEO – West Coast Forensic
“Great class, with real life stories, cases, and experiences. Very helpful
information!”
- Weidong Yang- Trust.cc
“Thanks very much, the course was excellent. We had a short debrief
after we finished the course and everyone thought the session was very
worthwhile and they learned a great deal. Please thank Paul for his time
as well.”
- Kathy MacDonald - Constable – Calgary Police Department
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“I know Josh to be of high integrity and an excellent instructor in fraud
detection and prevention. I have attended McAfee Institute webinars on
conducting investigations using the Internet, detecting fraud in on line
auctions and a few other topics that Josh features. He has always been
extremely knowledgeable and precise in his delivery of the content.
Josh goes out of his way to ensure his audience understands the
material and gets all their questions answered. I highly recommend
attending webinars that are featured by Josh and his company.”
- Alan Greggo CPP, CFE – FounderProfit Rx
“I took the eCommerce fraud course in order to gain a new skill set so I
could make a career change….the techniques and information that was
passed on far exceeded my expectations. In just a short time I was able
to detect potential frauds on several different platforms. More
importantly, by implementing the lessons I was able to gather useful
intelligence, perform scientific analysis, and learned how to document
the information in such a manner as to be useful in prosecutions. These
techniques work! The subject matter is both relevant and interesting.
More importantly, they are useful. Well worth the investment. I
recommend wholeheartedly this course to anyone involved in
eCommerce fraud investigations.” - Scott Dillion
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Monitoring: AMA Calls on Employers to Raise Level of Dialogue
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B. Prasad, “Intelligent Techniques for E-Commerce”, Journal
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Carr, Jeffrey. Cyber Warfare. Sebastopol: O'Reilly, 2010.
Cavelty, Myriam. Cyber-Security and Threat Politics. New
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Congress, House Committee on the Judiciary, Subcommittee on
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H.S. Shah, N.R. Joshi, A. Sureka, and P.R. Wurman, “Mining eBay:
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F.M. Menezes and P.K. Monteiro, An Introduction to Auction
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Federal Bureau of Investigation. “2005 FBI Computer Crime
Survey. ” (2006). Retrieved April 9, 2010 from
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Kerr, Orin. Computer Crime Law. Eagan: Thomson-West, 2008.
K. Chui and R. Xwick, “Auction on the Internet-A Preliminary
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King Rogers, “Organized Retail Theft,” in Retail Crime,
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Lemieux, Frederic. Information Technology in Criminal
Intelligence Services: An International Comparative Perspective. In
Leman-Langlois, S. (ed.) Technocrime. Columpton, UK: Willan
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Lemieux, Frederic. Normes et pratiques en matière de
renseignements criminels : une comparaison internationale. Ste-Foy:
Presses Universite Laval, 2006.
McAfee Labs. McAfee Threats Report: Third Quarter
2010. Santa Clara: McAfee Inc., 2010. Mendell, Ronald.
Investigating Computer Crime in the 21st Century. Springfield:
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Mint.com (2012). How to Protect Your Privacy on Facebook,
MySpace,
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LinkedIn.
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Muskier, Jean A. “E-Privacy Balancing Employer’s Interests
and Employee’s Rights in the High Tech Workplace – A Review of
Massachusetts Law.”Srbc.com. Retrieved from
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Mullins, Robert. “Analysis: Corporate Leak Probes Walk a
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National Consumer League, “Online Auctions SurveySummary of Findings,” Retrieved on July 7,2008 from
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National Retail Federation, 2010 Organized Retail Crime
Survey, 2010, p. 7. Ibid., p. 9. National Retail Federation, 2009
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testimony of Brad Brekke, Vice President of Assets Protection,
Target Corporation, before the U.S.
Organized Retail Crime Annual Report 2008: Describing a
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and Competitive Bidding,” Econometrica, 50 (1982) 1089-1122.
P.R. Wurman, W.E. Walsh, and M.P. Wellman, “Flexible
Double Auctions for Electronic Retail Theft Prevention: Fostering a
Comprehensive Public-Private Response, 110th Cong., 1st sess.,
October 25, 2007, H.Hrg. 110-122.
Peters, Sara. CSI Computer Crime and Security Survey.
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Cyber Crime Investigations: Bridging the Gaps Between Security
Professionals, Law Enforcement, and Prosecutors. Rockland:
Syngress, 2007.
R.L. Reiley, “Vickrey Auctions in Practice: From NineteenthCentury Philately to
Twenty-First-Century E-Commerce,” The Journal of Economic
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192.
R.P. McAfee and J. McMillan, “Auctions and Bidding,”
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Richards v. City of New York. U.S.Dist. LEXIS 13675,
Southern District of New York,1998. Smith v. The Pillsbury
Company,No.95-5712 (E.D.Pa.1996).
Spykerman, Mike. “Is E-mail Monitoring
Legal?”Redearthsoftware.com. Retrieved December 14, 2006 from
www.redearthsoftware.com/email-monitoring-article.htm.
Tracy Johnson and Read Hayes, “Behind the Fence: Buying and
Selling Stolen Merchandise,”
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