Hello, Landing, thanks for your quick response.  While this list is and 
should be considered a public forum, I still thought it prudent, given 
recent events, to bring up some concerns that I, and others, might have 
regarding online forums and webistes, such as this.


     Given that our site is hosted by an entity which hosts other sites, and 
is not just primarily a "Gambian site", as Pa Nderry's was, perhaps the 
motivation for someone to want to hack into the member list and thereby 
obtain information about the members on the list, is not so strong.


     Even though this list may not be as tempting a target for hacking, I 
still think the list owners should be vigilant.  And that is all I was 
trying to say.


Again, thanks for your response, take care and have a nice day.

Ginny


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Malanding Jaiteh" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Monday, June 05, 2006 11:23 AM
Subject: Re: Security Precautions for List Members?


> Ginny,
> I do not know whether this will address your concerns but I would like you 
> to see Gambia-l as a public meeting place, like a bar or a clubhouse. You 
> are not required to place a security deposit at the door other than you 
> are really a living, breathing humanoid, thus the requirement that 
> freemail users get someone already subscribed to introduce them. All that 
> is required in the intro is name, email and assurance that the applicant 
> exists.
> When people sign up they are encouraged to live within the confines of 
> what is acceptable (as given in the rules). Every posting is distributed 
> to all members (except those who explicitly decides not to receive any 
> posting temporarily) and a copy is kept in the archives.
> The only thing managers can do that members cannot is physically adding or 
> deleting subscribers in addition to viewing the list of subscribers. The 
> subscriber list contains Name and email or suscribers. As far as I know 
> and I have been around since the first five names were added to the list 
> (nearly 12 yrs ago) management never shared that with anyone. Infact the 
> content of the Gambia-L (archives, subscriber list) have never been kept 
> by any of the managers since University of Wisconsin days. We have been 
> hosted by public institutions like Univ of Washington and St Johns Univ. I 
> would advice any cyber jollyrider is to definitely avoid toying with 
> properties of such institutions.
>
> Afterall it is not difficult to read the archives which are  accessible to 
> non-subsrcibers.
>
> Malanding
>
>
> Ginny Quick wrote:
>
>>     Hello, all, given the recent hacking of Pa Nderry Mbai's email
>> account and online newspaper, I have a few questions.
>>
>>
>>     Have the list managers taken any precautions to insure the
>> security of the list, and the names, email addresses, and other
>> personal information of the list members?  What security precautions
>> can ordinary people on this list take, in order to protect the
>> security of their own email accounts and personal information
>> contained in those accounts?
>>
>>
>>     Some of this might be common sense / second nature to the more
>> computer-savvy people on these forums.  However, for those of us who
>> are not as computer savvy, it might be a good idea to go over these
>> sorts of things, in order to minimize the chances of the same things
>> happening to us.
>>
>>
>>
>>     The thing that occurs to me is that if people, whether they are
>> so-called "cyber-terrorists" of the Jammeh government, or some other
>> group of people, are willing to hack into people's accounts,
>> especially, as it seems, those who are outspoken against the Jammeh
>> government, then it seems that we really need to be on our guard and
>> try to protect ourselves against this sort of thing as best we can.
>> Because it seems that, as in the case of Pa Nderry Mbai, even a mere
>> association with the guy, i.e., just being on his email contact list,
>> can get you into trouble.
>>
>>
>>
>>     It also occurs to me that this is, maybe?, not only meant to
>> perpetuate the climate of fear and intimidation in The Gambia itself,
>> but also outside of The Gambia as well.  However, unlike the poor
>> defenseless people living in The Gambia, we, here on the Net, can take
>> precautions, which can lessen the chances of any NIA thugs beating
>> down our cyber-doors and getting unauthorized info from us.
>>
>>
>>     I'd suggest that *everyone!* invest in a good antivirus and
>> firewall program, just to start with.  I know there are a couple of
>> free software options, namely AVG for antivirus and Zone Alarm, I
>> think it is, for firewall protection, however, I can't say how good
>> they are.
>>
>>
>>     Also, it's also a good idea to periodically change the passwords
>> to your email accounts or other online data, and it's also a good idea
>> to have different passwords for your different online accounts.  And
>> *never!* give out your password, to anyone!  Also, it's also a good
>> idea to not have the option checked, where you automatically get
>> signed into your accounts either, especially if you are using a shared
>> computer.  And also, if you are using a public or shared computer, to
>> make doubly sure you are signed out of any accounts you are working
>> in, before leaving that computer.
>>
>>
>>     That's all I could think of at the moment, and I'm asking for the
>> help of our computer-savvy list members to help me out here with
>> anything else I've not thought of which could help us in this.
>> Because even if you consider yourself a die-hard Jammeh supporter,
>> you're still not immune to his wrath, just ask Honorable Duta Camaso,
>> the now-expelled National Assembly member.
>>
>>
>>
>>     I'm just trying to say that we all need to be vigilant, which we
>> should be anyway, but given recent events, we should be even more so
>> now.
>>
>>
>> Ginny
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>
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