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Edward Snowden has some advice for maintaining online privacy in an age of widespread NSA surveillance. Snowden called Google and Facebook dangerous while praising Apples encryption efforts.

"We're talking about encryption. We're talking about dropping programs that are hostile to privacy, Snowden said inan interview published Saturday by theNew Yorker.For example, Dropbox? Get rid of Dropbox; it doesn't support encryption, it doesn't protect your private files. And use competitors like SpiderOak that do the same exact service, but they protect the content of what you're sharing."

Snowden, the former NSA analyst who revealed the extent of U.S. government surveillance in 2013, did so from a hotel in Hong Kong before leaving for Russia. Having ditched his Hawaii apartment and $122,000 annual salary earlier that summer, he said in the interview he intended only a brief stay in Russia before leaving for Latin America, only to face visa issues that prevented him from leaving. Snowden is now actively sought by the U.S. to face espionage charges.

Dropbox defended itself in a June blog post after Snowden bashed the services security. All of the files its users send and receive are encrypted while traveling between you and our servers and when they are at rest on Dropboxs servers. SpiderOak encrypts data locally on a users computer as well, as opposed to only when it is in transit or in the cloud.

Snowden said Facebook and Google have improved their methods of protecting user privacy but were still dangerous services that should largely be avoided. Ironically, the interview was conducted remotely over Google Hangouts and streamed live on the tech giants YouTube.

Consumers should also be wary of standard text-messaging services from wireless providers, Snowden said. Silent Circle for iPhone and Android and RedPhone, which is currently Android-only, were better replacements because they encrypt texts -- but require that both users install the app to communicate.

Excerpt from:
NSA Leaker Edward Snowden Offers Online Privacy Tips

COEUR d'ALENE - Oral arguments before the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals are scheduled for Dec. 8 in a North Idaho nurse's legal challenge to the federal government's bulk collection of Americans' phone records.

Coeur d'Alene attorney Peter Smith will be arguing in Seattle in front of the three-judge panel, representing his wife, Anna Smith, a neonatal nurse and Verizon Wireless customer. Verizon was one of the companies ordered to disclose records to the National Security Agency.

The Smiths filed the lawsuit against President Barack Obama and several U.S. intelligence agencies after the government confirmed revelations that the NSA was collecting the data under the Patriot Act.

Peter Smith said Friday the collection and storage of the phone records violates the Fourth Amendment.

"The question comes down to: Should the government be able to get this information and keep it?" he said. "Or should it be left with the private companies?"

Once the government has all the data, that gives it power, he said. It comes down to the possession of the records, he said.

"We don't trust the government," he said.

U.S. District Court Judge Lynn Winmill dismissed Anna Smith's case. Winmill determined the legal precedent from the 1979 U.S. Supreme Court case Smith v. Maryland - about targeted phone surveillance - tied his hands.

"He followed the law as he understood it," Peter Smith said.

The Smiths appealed to the Ninth Circuit.

Continued here:
Oral arguments set for NSA case

Most things in life arent free, but the Internet has made it pretty cheap for small business owners to run their office. From email to collaboration software, theres a host of ways you can get your business up and running without paying a bundle.

It's really easy to go the free route when you're small or just starting out, says Mario Schulzke, founder of IdeaMensch, an online community designed to help people bring their ideas to life. With increased growth, it's oftentimes a good idea to up your technology investments as well.Most times smart tech investments pay for themselves.

According to experts, before you start adopting free or low cost applications you have to figure out which parts of your business are mission critical and which arent. For instance Chuck Fried, president and chief executive of TxMQ, an IT services company, says using free software for email or collaboration may make sense, but putting ALL of your customer data on a free customer relationship management app could spell disaster.

At TxMQ, Fried says they use a lot of Google apps for things like email and calendaring, but the company doesnt only use just free. While he isnt a fan of completely free, he does say there are a lot of low cost options available to small business owners because of the growth in cloud computing.

The dangerous part for small business owners is if they run into some challenges and need to get a hold of somebody at say, Google, you basically cant, says Fried. If you need something tweaked or changed you are stuck.

So what should you spend money on and where should you cut corners? According to small business advocate and Small Business Engagement Officer at QuickBooks Leslie Barber, you should invest in services and technology that will enable you to know where you money is going at all times, as well as ensuring you are meeting all of your legal and regulatory requirements for the industry you are in. Anything that is customer facing is also worth spending money on. The last thing you can afford, if you are an e-retailer, is a clunky or hard-to-use Website.

Other areas you want to invest in include a Web hosting company as well as an attorney, if you are just starting the business. I usually tell people to get a really good hosting company from the very beginning, one that performs fast and can keep an eye on your security, says Schulzke. I used to go the cheap route on hosting, and it cost me dearly in IT and security consultants down the road.

While you will have to make some investments, experts say there are still a ton of opportunities to run some parts of your business for free. Its no secret that many small business owners are cash strapped and dont have the money to launch a big marketing and advertising campaign. A great way to get the word out about your company and products or services without spending a dime is to embrace social media. There are countless stories of small businesses that blew up all because of their Facebook page, Twitter feed or YouTube video that went viral.

For basic computing needs you can also skimp and go with a free service. For instance, Google has a wide range of free products such as Google Drive, Google email and Google Docs, and they arent the only game in town.

Because of the plethora of free or low cost services available, its important to do your research before choosing a vendor. Fried says thats where looking at online reviews, talking to people in your network and other small business owners comes in.

View post:
Tips for Running Your Small Business on the Cheap

What is SEO?

SEO is the process of improving the organic ranking of a website with leading search engines. Professional SEO firms like Submit Express help to improve search engine rankings for their clients by modifying their websites to better reflect what search engines are looking for. Read a more detailed explanation of SEO here.

Submit Express can increase the search engine rank and site traffic of any company. The expertise offered by its technical and copywriting staff enables Submit Express to successfully meet the needs of companies with complex websites in competitive industries.

Submit Express caters to clients who require an intensive, full-service approach to search engine marketing. As experts in the search engine optimization and marketing industries, the management and employees of Submit Express have a proven track record for crafting effective Internet marketing strategies with measurable, long-term results. Pierre Zarokian, President and CEO of Submit Express, is considered an expert in the world of SEM/SEO. He has been quoted extensively in SEM-related articles in the Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times and Forbes.

Submit Express begins all search engine optimization services with a thorough review and analysis of a client's website to identify potential areas of improvement. This free, initial consultation can help to identify problems with dynamic or duplicate content, Flash and session ID numbers, poor-quality back links and any other factors impacting a site's ranking.

Submit Express provides you with a competitive landscape to identify key businesses in your space and which SEO methods will be effective in helping you to gain an advantage.

Our website analysis is a comprehensive overview of your website that provides a snapshot of how it is viewed by search engines. By performing analysis on the following areas, we can develop a strategy to improve areas of your site and help your search engine rankings.

We will review your HTML coding to ensure that it is properly formatted to be picked up by search engine spiders.

Having a well-organized HTML structure makes your website more attractive to search engines.

We can perform an analysis to see if your website design is utilizing tools which make it less than SEO-friendly.

Originally posted here:
Search Engine Optimization Services, SEO Firm, SEM Company

When shopping in the virtual world, clicking to search seems like second nature. But knowing the motivation behind the clicks is what one local start-up is banking on.Search Engine Expertsprovides marketing strategies through search-engine optimization and pay-per-click campaigns to get their clients noticed online.

After five years at theHamilton County Development Centerincubator,the business recently graduated to its new location in Wyoming. We talked to ownerKennetSaunders about the business.

1. What gave you the idea to start Search Engine Experts?

Ive always been in IT. I came out of school writing software, but my career over the years morphed more onto the marketing side, but always with IT companies. The last job I had working for someone else, I was director of marketing and part of my responsibility was the working on the website which meant I was doing search engine optimization. And I just developed the thought that there would be a lot of companies in Cincinnati that have websites, but they dont know how to direct traffic to the site. So in August of 2007, I left that company and started Search Engine Experts.

2. What is your target market?

All of our marketing activities are done in Cincinnati, although we do have clients nationwide. But our target would be medium- to large-size businesses that see value in better exposure of their website and search and are willing to put some of their marketing dollars behind that concept.

3. How competitive is this field?

Its very competitive, but there are a lot of people who say they do search engine optimization but they dont know what theyre doing. We go very much in depth, because its the primary thing that we do. We have to be making revenue off of it because we dont build websites, we dont put marketing plans together and we dont execute big marketing campaigns. We do search engine marketing.

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9 Q&A: How to get noticed online