Are your online accounts and information safe? You should first ask yourself whether you know how to avoid getting “phished.” Phishing is when cyber crooks trick you into giving them your online username and passwords by masquerading as your online bank, email provider, social network etc.

Phishers send you an electronic communication, usually an email, that you would swear is from your bank, mortgage company or webmail provider. But it’s not. The message tells you that there is great urgency to log in to your account to avoid some problem such as your service being shut down or your bank account being closed. The email links you to a Web page that, again, you would swear belongs to your bank etc. But it doesn’t. It’s fake. When you type in your username and password you have actually just given it to the phishers who are using the fake site. You’ve been phished.

The best way to avoid being phished is to learn the signs of a phishing scam. There are a lot to look for and we recommend playing games to learn how. Both the Federal Trade Commission’s OnGuardOnline.gov and our friends at Carnegie Mellon University have created games to help users learn how not to be phished. Take a moment and play the below games. Who knows, it may save your sensitive personal information.

• FTC’s OnGuard Online Phishing Scams Game

• Wombat Security’s Anti Phishing Phils Training Game (developed by Carnegie Mellon University Researchers.

For more GetNetWise resources on recognizing secure Web sites watch the following GNW How-To Video Tutorials:

• How-To Recognize Secure Web Communications in Internet Explorer and Firefox Browsers

• How-To Send Securely Sensitive Information Over a WiFi Network

As a parent or guardian of a teen or tween today, you’ve probably heard ad nauseum about “sexting” and the dangers associated with this risky behavior. What you don’t hear much is practical advice for preventing it and how to talk to your kids about it. Resident experts on youth online safety issues have come to your rescue at ConnectSafely.org with these insightful points on both what sexting is and how to talk about it with your children.

A printable PDF version of the webpage is available along with some thoughtful dialogue on the issue from online safety experts, Anne Collier – “Sexting overblown? – yes and *no*” and Larry Magid – “Teen sexting – troubling but don’t overreact“.

Consumer electronics retailer Best Buy announced last week that they are opening their free electronics recycling initiative to all of their nationwide stores. This was cause for joy in my household, where there are currently two out-of-date laptops, one dilapidated desktop and no fewer than four old cellphones lounging about taking up precious space. Did I mention this is a free service? There are a few notable exceptions to what they will accept (nothing with freon) and there is a $10 fee for monitors, TV’s and CRT’s. But they are offsetting that fee with $10 gift cards in exchange. Not too shabby!

Spring cleaning is almost upon us, so this is a great time to take an inventory of those old CE products you have that need to be recycled. Also, take a look into other options for recycling and additional resources for where you can drop off at www.MyGreenElectronics.org. This site also offers important advice on how to protect your privacy by deleting information off of your old hard drives and cellphones.

Here are a few other notable green campaigns to check out:

Verizon Wireless’ HopeLine Program (recycle cellphones and accessories for victims of domestic violence)

AT&T’s Cell Phones for Soldiers (turn your old cellphone into a prepaid phone for our troops overseas)

Apple & the Environment (iPod and cellphone recycling)

Cookies are small coded files that Web sites write onto your hard drive to keep track of the pages you’ve visited. They can only be read by the site that sent them to you, and they cannot search anything else on your computer. They also don’t give away your name or other personally identifiable information (PII). So, why are some people worried about cookies? Where you search and what you enter online can be very personal, sensitive information. If you’ve ever filled out a form or entered your name or password at the site, your personal information can be linked to your browsing habits there. So you’ll want to read the privacy policy of the Web site you’re visiting to see how cookies are handled.

At the same time, cookies can be useful tools. The “Google Privacy: A Look at Cookies” YouTube video provides some interesting information about how cookies can be useful. The Berkman Center at Harvard asked users to create their own YouTube videos to describe how cookies work and received some fairly decent descriptions. Many of the videos noted that much of the free content on the Internet is supported by cookie-enabled advertising.

It is important to note that not all cookies are the same. Some people have concerns about the different types of cookies that are out there. Let’s say that I’m browsing the homepage SomePortal.com, and the SomePortal.com allows the fictional Web site CookiePortal.com to place cookies on the browsers of visitors to SomePortal.com. This is type of cookie is a third party cookie. It is a cookie that does not originate from the webpage currently being browsed. Third party cookies are also used to facilitate the partnerships among websites. This can help websites to tailor content to the individual.

If you’d rather not have third parties tracking the Web pages you visit, you may want to consider blocking cookies from them. In a number of Web browsers, it is possible to change your privacy settings to block third-party cookies from being placed on your computer. The just-released Mozilla Firefox 3 browser now allows users to block third-party cookies (Note: Internet Explorer and Opera have allowed this for years) and there is a new video tutorial below. Check out the related video tutorials for blocking third-party cookies in IE and Opera if you use those browsers.

Control Third-Party Cookies in Firefox 3

If you would like to learn how to do this on other browsers, please visit the following the Browsing Privacy Section on GetNetWise.org.

This summer social networking will be the primary way younger students stay in touch with friends. College-bound students will not only stay in touch but will use these sites to market themselves to potential new friends and roommates at their new school. GetNetWise reminds students again to be careful about what type of information they share about themselves and with whom. What you post online today may haunt you tomorrow.

GetNetWise hosts a number of How-To Video Tutorials illustrating the privacy settings offered on many popular social networking sites. Please click on one of the links below to find how to change your settings on your social network of choice.

• Facebook
• MySpace
• Xanga

These video tutorials include audio descriptions.