OCR Text |
Show ‘Sunday, April 23, 2006 “DAILY HERALD Privacy Continued from C10 encompass but you don’t want the signal enable a snoop or thief to access your computer and steal your passwords and personal infor- mation. If you havea wireless setup at home or plan to get one, you would be wise to put the appropriate security precautions in place. Here are some t to protect the privacy of your wireless service. » Mask the wi-fi signal. This procedure makes it moredifficult for snoops to access your connection. You want to turn off the SSID,or service set identifier, which broadcasts the name'of your network. Tech support for your wireless pro- consumers to enter their own passwords or account information. When you receive the equipment, change the settings » Use Wired Equivalent Privacy ee 'A) ericryption. Wi-fi equipee ee. messages sent over your wire- less system. WEP and WPA are the most common forms of encryption technologies that work with wireless networks. is poorly configured and easily accessible. Change the SSID immediately. you are planning trip or are otherwise away ae one riod of time, simply shut the network. The wil coramly prevent hackers from getting into your computer. vidercan help turn it off, and you also can call the manufacturer to help changeconfigurations. To a hacker,a default SSID suggests that your system to extend too far outside the home. The greater the reach, the greater the likelihood for a snoop to detect and exploit the signal. As a result, when installing a wireless network, try to place the router near the center of your home (away from windows) to minimize the exterior reach of the wi-fi L. » Turn off the wi-fi during extended periods of nonuse.If » Privacy expertEric Gertler from a network's pool. Instead, set a fixed Internet protocol address range, and set each connected device to match. A private Internet protocol prevents computers from being reached directly from the Internet. is the former president and CEOofPrivista, an identity theft protection andcredit management company. Visit his Website at www. pryingeyesbook.com and submit your questions to pryingeyesbookyahoo.com. Thomas Silva, Vice President of the J. BEN MARGOT/Associated Piess S. West Milling Co., is shownneara barbedwirefence, which helpsto protect the egglaying plant in Hilmar, Calif Storage Continuedfrom C10 conservative approach, and if there's any question, don't throw the records away. “Err onthe.side of an abundanceof caution, becauseit’s better to be safe than sorry,” said Dorothy Bass Burch, a partnerin the law firm Rags- dale Liggett in Raleigh, N.C. Burchsaid there are some papers that you should never throw away. For example, documents related to buying orselling property, or receiving property through gift or inheritance. Let's say relative left you rental property 20 or nance should never be tossed out. For example, Burch said, “shareholders’ minutes need to be keptindefinitely. as evidence of whetheran action was authorized by the company.” The samegoes for any papersrelated to the founding of a companyor corporation, suchas the articles of incorporation or the bylaws. Canceled stock certificates should also be kept on handindefinitely. Blum's firm suggests keeping a variety of legal documents permanently: contracts, deeds, mortgages,bills of sale, trademarks, patents, and copyrights. Also keepfinancial records such as ledgers, pension and profit sharing 30 years ago and nowwant to sell it; you'll need to’ knowthe information and any checks orinvoices related to an im- cost basis for the propertyin portant transaction. The samé goes for anything related to property, such as insurance orderto determine your tax liability, You should also hold on to marriage anddivorce records. Burchrecalled several cases of business owners whogot tax bills for a former spouse, and needed to prove to the IRSthat the marriage had ended years ago. Without that proof, their businesses could have been in jeopardy. It’s truein this last example records, plans and blueprints. Tax returnsshould also be retained indefinitely. Thereare varying theories on how long you should keep paperslike sales records, payroll summaries, customer invoices, general correspondence and bank statements. Blum’sfirm advises anywhere from four to sevenyears, could be gotten from a court or county clerk. But why have depending on the record, but again,to be on the safe side, consider holding onto them to go throughtheextra hassle, longer, especially with em- that copies of the documents especially when it can take weeksor longer to retrieve very old records? Any documents or records related to corporate gover- ployee records. Or,electronically archive them. Technology gives business ownersthe option of keeping their ‘records without having them take up valuable real estate. Burch saysit's now so easy to store your documents electronically, “it’s almostly foolhardy not to.” You can do it yourself using scanners and high-tech storage devices such as CD-ROMs. Going forward, you can buy software that will store your documents going forward as you create them. A wordofcaution from Blum:“Sometimes when you scan thingsin, there can be a Bird flu rus might jump from truck to truck Thebig rigs that rumble through the Central Valley mostoften bearthe colorful logo of Foster Farms, which supplies dinner chickens Continued from C10 sick migrating flocks. primarilyto California, Oregon and Washington Thenthey could pass the diseaseto their own- ers — many of whom work at commercial poultry operations. Andthereis painful precedenthere. An outbreak of Exotic Newcastle disease killed more than 3.1 million birds, mostly pay; in Southern California in 2002 and 2003. Silva,vice presidentof the valley's IS West Co., is as concerned about humancarriers walkingintohis fourfacilities as he is about keeping sick birds out. consumers. Foster Farmsis taking a different approach with its “broiler”-raising farms. One of its facili- * ties, the 120-acre Gurr Ranch, is not ringed by razor wire or even fencing. The hen houses are padlocked,and outsiders are not welcome, but thereal emphasis is on making theranchas repulsive as possible to migrating birds. Theresulting landscape lookslike a moon base,intentionallydevoid of trees and pondsbut colonized by64 identical outbuildings that house “If it getsinto our industry. the only wayto getit out is to euthanize complete complexes like this,” he said during a tour of an egg-laying nearly 1.3 million chickens sure a court or other govern- operation whose1.5million hensalonehe valued at nearly $10 million. that would take you away Thetour was brief, because no outsiders are allowed beyond the “STOP: BIOSECURE AREA’ sign and razor wire — not even the lab workers whocollect blood samples once a month for disease testing. They too are on the West “If we makeour farmssothat they don’t have those thingsas they're flying over, they say question of authenticity.” So before you.store something and tear upthe originals, be ment agency would accept scanned copies. Of course; this is a project from your day-to-day business, and you might wantto hire someoneto do it. You can sign up with a document manage- mentservice, which can scan your existing records and provide for ongoing storage of Silva's payroll. Eventhe short tour providedstriking evidence of the measures the poultryindustryis taking to combatbird flu beforeit reaches America. that you need to weigh. Today, all trucks entering and exiting Silva's complex get an automated bath of ammoniabased disinfectant. Incoming drivers are asked Whatever route you choose, storing your documentselec- exposed to poultry. the ones you're going to be cre- ating; that’s an added expense tronically will give you some added protection should a storm orotherdisaster strike your premises. Asin the case of backing upyour financial data and customerrecords, it’s best to have yourstored documents duplicated in an electronic vault many, many miles away. wherethey've been and whetherthey've been Everyemployeeenters thesite through a “dirty door”into a trailer that serves as a changing room. They swaptheir street clothes for pre-washed boots, hats and coveralls, then enter the henhousesthrougha “clean door.” Theyreversethe processon the way out Variouspoultry companies even tryto avoid each other on the roa Theyplot routes and stagger deliveries Migratingbirds are looking for food, water andshelter, said Charles Corsiglia, an avianveterinarian onthestaff of Livingston, Calif -based Foster Farms, the biggest poultry company in “You know, thatlooks like a really bad place to land, because there's nowhere for me to waddle around,’Corsiglia said. * ‘So I'm going to land at the dairy, or the canal.’ " Like the J.S. West Milling facility, the farm buildings are meant to be impenetrable by outside birds, though swallows flitted in and out of the eaves one recent morning. Corsiglia said thesevisitors can't get into the hen houses. Eyery person must don disposableplastic boofs before setting foot on the Gurr Ranch property. And truckers delivering feed are required to hosetheir rigs off with the same ammonia-baseddisinfectant used at J.S. West illin; itsall part of Corsiglia’s three-part formula for biosecurity: isolating birds fromdisease. - controlling people equipment who come,and 80. and sanitizing everything. “Animals that aren't ‘exposed to disease don't get sick from those diseases,” Corsiglia si throughout the day, on the premisethat the vi- “Thelogic is so simple,it's laughable.” A disturbingethical trend ne of my favorite cartoon characters, Charlie Brown,was practicing his archery skills one day. He would pull the string as far backas he could,thenlet the arrow fly over the fence. Then he wouldrun overto the fence and with a pieceof chalk, draw a target around the arrows. As usual, Lucy showed up, saw what he was doing, and becamehysterical. “That’s no wayto practice” she shouted. “You're sup target and thens! to draw the at it.” Is this a recent development? Not exactly. Nearly one hundred years ago, President Harvey Mackay Positive Struggles An unrepentant Brown dis- missed the matter:“If you doit my way, you never miss!” EvenCharlie Browncan fall victim to situational ethics. We can laugh at him because he's justa little cartoon kid. But there's a disturbing trend in American business thatisn’t at all funny:It's OK if you don’t get caught. Asthe Enron trial drags on, weshould be awarethat behaviors,such as cheating, are not confined to big business. The Feb.6, 2006, issue of Business Week magazine reported the following findings by the Center for AcademicIntegrity, a think tank affiliated with the Kenan Institute for Ethics: with the pressureto get into the “right” prep school, the most desirable college, the prestigious pramue program,the bluechip firm. When corporate scandals erupt and occupy the front pages for days on end,people tendto mistrust all ofcorporate America. That's not fair either, but something of a natural reaction. Theodore Roosevelt addressed the issue: “We demandthatbig business give people a square deal; in return, we must insist that when anyone engaged in big business honestly endeavors to doright, he shall himself be given a square deal.” Mackay’s Moral: Live — and work — like your motheris watching. Anda final, but important note:In a column,I wrote in January I quoted some passages from the poem titled “The Dash.” I found that excerpt online on a subscription service marked anonymous. I now know thatthe authoris Linda and the poem is protected by copyright.I tell you this because it is important to acknowledge, wheneverpossible, the rightful author or creator of anything you mayuse in conveying ideas or points you may be using in your own work. eiantlomes *com 354 West Center ‘Street - Orem, Utah ‘Toll Free Mortgage OSes877-771-3196 RESIDENTIAL BROKERAGE ‘Owned and operated by NRT Inc. Stack the Cards D Ina surveyofnearly 50,000 studentsat 69 schools, 26 percent of the business majors admitted to serious cheating’ on exams. Gn written assignments, In Your Favor. 54 percent admitted they cheat- ed. This includes plagiarism and poaching a friend’s homework. » The most honest group was studentsin the sciences, where 19 percent reported cheating on rN Southwest Trust Company. success is measured by the quality of our client relationships. While clicnts enjoy the benefits of our mult: billion dollar financial services organization, we still conduct business tests. Donald McCabe, a managementprofessor at Rutgers Business School who conducted in the traditional, one-on-one. personal way NI MUCG SOE TRL rea ay local. knowledgeable RUOOMiierhareLen UNM Ionkee| clients happy. Call us today the surveys, ayecheating has increased since he began doing such surveys 15 years ago. He adds that a “disturbing” m of students used recent corporate and political scandals to justify their dishonest behavior. Many think weput too much pressure on young people to do well... to achieve certain levels. It starts in elementary school, Kent Gren & ET Mace: which makes our TRUST SERVICES * ASSET MANAGEMENT °¢ FINANCIAL PLANNING rs i S eee ee cera , On] Orem: (801) 221-0962 © (866) 66) 857-0930 459-0512 SOLUaed TRUST COMPANY |