Facebook unveiled its new Safety Center on Tuesday, and it is a large improvement on the old Help Center. There are now special areas for law enforcement, teens, parents, and educators. There was apparently some help in changing up the site with consultations from Common Sense Media, The Family Online Safety Institute, ChildNet International, and many more. If you want to learn what features are now in the Safety Center, you can go check them out on Facebook, or else read this article.

Once in a while there is a great article, and for every person that article will be different. For some this is going to be one of them, and for others you will want to just set it aside and pretend you never saw it. Don’t just read the content though. If you don’t like Obama at least listen to the message. While it ends on a note of uncertainty, who can be certain with the political climate surrounding the Middle East. The point of the article though is that whether you agree with the plans or now, reaching this point in Obama’s health care plan shows that maybe, just maybe he does know what he’s doing and can follow and shape the long game. That is what it took to get him here. If you do like Obama, this is one more thing that gives you hope for his ability to handle the Middle East.

Aja Johnson, and her kidnapper have been identified today by Oklahoma investigators. Below is the announcement with a brief discussion on what methods were used to identify the bodies.

The Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act of 1999 requires that regulatory compliance terms be followed in regards to the personal information of the customers of any give financial institution, and the protection of that information.  Insurance companies, banks, lending firms and credit counselors are among those in the business of providing financial services, and they are required by law to protect the data in their records and to enact implementations as needed that address the variety of and the access to the security measures that must be taken in order to ensure that information is protected.  The confidentiality and the integrity of the information and the records of each customer is the main concern of the act.

These aspects that are to remain confidential are the customer’s account numbers, their social security number, and their name and address.  Also covered under the protection is any additional information that is required to filled out on an application to open an account.  During all the phases of the lifetime of the account, these objectives must be kept in the minds of the employees and officers of the financial institutions, in order ensure that nothing is missed.  This may mean that over the course of time, various steps will be necessary to take regarding the testing and the implementation of the means of the deployment, or the modes of standard operational procedures.

It is important that compliance standards are met, as this will serve to protect the customer’s personal information from access by parties unauthorized to gait that access.  Records must be properly encrypted and that they encryption processes are regularly alternated.  The systems should be such that if necessary, they can be altered quickly and at a minimal expense.  Libraries and programs for such encryption should not be used as their are well known and easy to break into.  Those that are interested in breaking those codes have too many opportunities to learn how best to break them if they are standardized forms.  Understanding the policies of regulatory compliance can be frustrating, but is important to the customer and to the integrity of the financial institution.

Operation Green Quest has worked along side other governmental agencies over the last eight years, upholding the rules and the regulations set out by the U.S. Patriot Act.  Hundreds of investigations have been ongoing since the attacks on the World Trade Center in 2001, and have resulted in the seizure of millions of dollars laundered by terrorist cells, many arrests and indictments all relating to the activities of the financing of terrorist activities.  This organization was created in October of 2001 by the U.S Treasury Departments.  This is a law enforcement agency that combines the efforts of others in the United States as well as those agencies located in other countries.  It was created to enhance the efforts of anti-terrorism and brings the entire scope of the expertise of the various governmental agencies together to attack the individuals and the organizations that provide the means and the funding for terrorist activities.  Accounts are frozen, assets are seized and legal actions are taken against those organizations and individuals committing such crimes.

The U.S. Customs service leads the OGQ, and delegates analysts and agents from other agencies including the IRS, the ATF, the FBI and even the United States Postal Service.  The center for the organization is located in the United States capital of Washington, D.C.  The headquarters is also staffed with those members of the other agencies.  This is where most of the information is collected, managed, and disseminated to the agents in the field throughout the country.  This is where all the information is organized in order to ensure that one agency is not spending time working on the investigations and projects already in progress by one of the other agencies.  Since its inception, the Operation Green Quest has had an existing field unit in Manhattan.  This unit is made of investigators with experience in financial transactions and institutions.  This is the El Dorado Force.  More than two hundred and sixty agents of the IRS and the U.S. Customs office comprise one of the most successful task forces and one of America’s largest.  Seasoned analysts, regulators and special agents all working under one roof to ensure that what happened in 2001 will not happen again.

There are many steps one can take to protect themselves and their property against the threat of burglary.  When ones home or car gets broken into, it may take a considerable amount of time to regain a sense of safety and security.  According to the statics stated by the FBI, every fifteen seconds someone becomes the victim of a break in.  This is however, one of the most preventable crimes, and home owners have many options available when upgrading the security of ones home and possessions.  Just taking a few precautions, simple steps, one can reduce this risk dramatically.

When a burglar is checking out a neighborhood for possible targets, they look at a few aspects of the houses and make their determination on which will be the easiest target, with quick access and hidden visibility.  They know which houses have items worth stealing and they look for homes wherein the occupants are not in.  Many break-ins occur in broad daylight, as that is when most people are away at work.  Some suggestions to fool a burglar into thinking that the home is occupied include setting the radios and TVs to timers, as well as some of the lights throughout the house.  There are even some sophisticated systems that will open and close curtains and blinds through the day, giving the illusion that some is home.

Also, one of the most important steps to preventing a burglary is by installing proper door locks, ones that will make the job of breaking into your house, a little too difficult and too time consuming.  Dead bolt locks seem to the be the lock of choice.  Many burglars will simply hammer off a door handle to gain access should the only lock securing the door be located in the handle.  And it may seem like a common sense statement, but always lock those doors when leaving.  Sometimes it may slip ones mind should they be in a hurry, or seem like a nuisance when ones hands are full, but each homeowner can take these simple steps in preventing the crime from happening to them.