[T]iHnDi<3

Wednesday, May 14, 2008

Stolen Identity!

Identity theft has become an increasingly popular crime in Canada as a result of recent advances theft has become an increasingly popular crime in Canada as a result of recent advances in technology. Identity invloves stealing, misrepresenting or hijacking the identity of another person or business and provides an effective means to commit other crimes.

Vital information such as name, address, date of birth, social insurance number, and mother's maiden name need to be acquired in order to complete the impersonation. The identity theif can take over the victim's financial accounts. open new bank accounts, tranfer bank balances, apply for loans. credit cards and other services, purchase vehicles, take luxury vacations, and so on.

Once stolen, the personal information can be used to take over or create financial accounts, transfer bank balances, apply for loans and credit or purchase goods and services. Identity theives may also present or create documents such as birth certificates or immigration documents to obtain benefits such as healthcare, education, social assistance and public pensions.

Identity theft occurs when someone uses your personal information without your knowledge or consent to commit a crime, such as fraud or theft.Identity thieves steal key pieces of personal information — either physically or in other ways, without your knowledge and use it to impersonate you and commit crimes in your name.

Identity thieves can manipulate your information and invade your personal and financial life. They can use stolen identities to conduct spending sprees, open new bank accounts, divert mail, apply for loans, credit cards and social benefits, rent apartments and even commit more serious crimes.

In addition to names, addresses and phone numbers, thieves look for:

- social insurance numbers
- driver's licence numbers
- credit card and banking information
- bank cards; calling cards
- birth certificates
- passports

Tips on how to avoid being victims of Identity theft:

sign all credit cards when you receive them
never loan your credit cards to anyone
cancel credit cards you do not use and keep a list of the ones you use regularly
immediately report lost or stolen credit cards and any discrepancies in your monthly statements to the issuing credit card company
never leave receipts at bank machines, bank wickets, in trashcans, or at unattended gasoline pumps; ensure you destroy paperwork you no longer need
never provide personal information such as SIN, date of birth, credit card numbers, or PIN over the telephone unless you initiate the call
promptly remove mail from your ‘secure’ mailbox after delivery and do not leave pieces of mail lying around your residence or work site
shred or otherwise destroy pre-approved credit card applications, credit card receipts, bills and related information when no longer needed
avoid keeping a written record of your bank PIN number(s), social insurance number and computer passwords, and never keep this information in your wallet or hand bag
avoid mail or telephone solicitations disguised as promotions or surveys offering instant prizes or awards designed for the purpose of obtaining your personal details including credit card numbers

Identity theft complaints (2005)
Provinces
Victims $Loss
Ont.
4729
$4,450,122.62
Que.
2614
----$1,864,574.23
B.C.
2010
$1,376,499.08
Alta.
894
$431,221.89
Man.
361
$181,490.32
N.S.
177
$100,036.04
Sask.
157
$87,641.63
N.B.
127
$29,107.52
N.L.
58
$43,358.02
P.E.I.
18
$5,907.63
Yukon
3
$1,285.00
Nunavut
1
$0
Totals
11231
$8,575,593.98

Victims of Identity theft stories--- click HERE

YouTube Victim stories--- click HERE

Opinion Questions =)

Why do you think people would steal others identities?

If you were a victim, how would you react?

After reading this blog, what are you going to do to make sure you are not a victim of this fraud?

How many of you have facebook/myspace/e-mail accounts? If you do, don't you add people to your accounts? Well, how do you know the person you are talking to is actually the person who they claim to be?

For example: If you sign onto your facebook account and you notice you have a friend request from a guy you know that goes to your school, and you add him, but months later you find out this person is actually not the person from your school but is actually a petafile? How would you react to this if you were talking to this person online all the time?

By: the one and only <3

Wednesday, April 9, 2008

Are The "LAMB's" Gwen's New Accessories?

How would you like it if you were treated like a Barbie doll, dragged everywhere by one person who received all the attention?Well, there are four girls with Gwen Stefani who go through this everyday.

I think Gwen is kind of trying to adapt Japanese culture by letting these girls join but I also think she is exploiting these girls for her own commercial gain because people are going to look at Gwen Stefani because she has the Harajuku girls with her everywhere she goes.

I think it’s not fair that she doesn’t let them talk. In one of the Much Music interviews in 2004 the video clip about her saying, the girls are my imagination so don’t talk to them. I thought that was a bit mean of her to say that. I know that they signed a contact and they get paid but not talking it’s kind of ridiculous. I think Gwen doesn’t want them to talk because then all the Media attention is going to go the Harajuku girls named Love, Angel, Music, Baby and obviously Gwen doesn’t want all the Media attention going to the girls so I guess that’s why she doesn’t want them to talk.

It’s like the Harajuku girls are her Barbie dolls and they are all together just to make Gwen look better. For some people who are Japanese do feel like their culture is being portrayed wrong and I can understand because if my culture was portrayed wrong I would be pretty upset too.

There are not that many Asian people out there who are in the media and for other Asian people see the Harajuku girls in the media and representing their culture. It makes them feel proud and accept whatever is out in the media because they don’t want to criticize it and lose it.

Margaret Cho’s is an Asian American who said something like that too “I think it is totally acceptable to enjoy the Harajuku girls, because there are not that many other Asian people out there in the media really, so we have to take whatever we can get.”

From a blog, Media Rants & Reflections Brittany Lennox said, “She is treating them as if they are animals although there are no physical leashes.” I totally agree with this comment because she is treated them like animals and not letting them talk and they wear tones of make-up and how they dress. The Harajuku girls may like it because they get paid but if they didn’t get paid I am pretty sure they would not be where they are now.

Gwen might be trying to adapt Japanese culture to fit in North America’s popular culture but making the girls like “her pets” is not the right way to do it.

Gwen can be paying them a lot of money not to say anything in public, like how Brittany mentioned in. If they are going to get a lot of money for keeping their mouth shut like why wouldn’t they work for her?

The Harajuku girl toy dolls look very fake and nothing like them. It just gives Asian girls the wrong message which is like saying if you don’t look like this then do something about it. The main thing is you should accept yourself as who you are and be proud of your culture and not try to be somebody you’re not.

Elizabeth Clark posted an article on her blog saying “When on the red carpet with the foursome, Stefani is the center of attention: she doesn’t acknowledge the presence of her entourage. In most published photos, she looks directly into the cameras while they look off to the sides, their gazes never meeting our own.” This is a big problem this does not help bring culture, it’s like discriminating them. It’s like she doesn’t want them to be center of attention. She only wants them to be there to help her be the most vivid person there.

How do you feel about these four accessories of Gwen’s? Do you feel multiculturalism is being endorsed or being insulted?

Work Cited

Lennox , Brittany. "Media Rants & Reflections." Exploitation or Adaptation? The Harajuku Girls of Gwen Stefani. 1 October 2007. 18 Oct 2007
http://media-patriot.blogspot.com/2007/10/exploitation-or-adaptation-harajuku.html.

Cho, Margaret. Harajuku Girls. 18 Oct 2007 http://www.margaretcho.com/blog/harajukugirls.htm.

Clark, Elizabeth. Gwen's Girl Trouble. 25 November 2005. 18 Oct 2007 http://www.thefighting44s.com/archives/2005/11/25/gwens-girl-trouble/

Stankovic, Marko. "Maksimalno." Gwen Stefani i Harajuku Devojke. 15 March 2005. 18 Oct 2007 http://www.maksimalno.com/artman/publish/lifestyle/clanak_145.php.

By: Harp<3

Monday, March 10, 2008

coincidence? I THINK NOT!

When I first heard Avril's song "Girlfriend", I was pretty impressed because the song was very unique. It had a different beat, rhythm, and the one thing that i was fascinated by was, this song had a totally different meaning to it than any other song. Little did I know, she might have stole all these qualities of a song from The Rubinoo’s. The first time i heard the Rubinoo’s song "I wanna be your boyfriend", was in my media class with Mr.Puley. My first reaction to this song was very shocking and at the same time very disappointed. I was shocked at the fact that Avril Lavigne got so much credit for something she might have stolen from another artist. I was also disappointed because I was personally impressed by her until I heard the Rubinoo’s song.

One of the Rubinoo’s clients, Carlin, was very upset because he feels that Avril made a lot of money off his client [1]. I personally agree with Mr.Carlin because it is easy to see tell when one song is re-created from another artist and makes a lot of money then they usually file a law-suit. At this point Avril said she was falsely being accused for this law-suit. She stated, ""You may have heard some news that two guys who wrote for some band from the 1970s I have never in my life heard of called the " Rubinoo’s" are trying to sue me. They have a song called "I Want to Be Your Boyfriend" that has no musical similarities to the song "Girlfriend" that Luke Gottwald and I wrote together" [2].She also told the Canadian press that she has never heard this song in her life and "all songs share similar lyrics and emotions. As humans we speak one language" [2].

I still believe that she has plagiarized most of the song. Its not just about the FIVE words, its about the tempo, rhythm and the main part of the lyrics which is the chorus and the catchy part of the song. Shown below are the two song chorus’s showing the similarities between both lines:

Hey, hey, you, you I wanna be your boyfriend
Hey, hey, you, you, I want to be your girlfriend

Like I said before, at first people were accusing her of plagiarizing but a few months later, people stopped caring as much. Even though people believed she did plagiarize the song, they still continued to buy her albums and be one of her fans. I guess this is just how our society is, they talk about the news for awhile, but not to long after this, it becomes old news. It’s just like gossip; people talk about one thing for a certain time until a new incident or story pops up.

A lot of her fans did say she plagiarized and did forgive her and still continued to listen to her music but Avril thought it was putting a negative impact of her reputation. Her exact words to this were, "I do not deserve this negative press and attention. I take pride in the songs that I write and appreciate the opportunities to work with some great writers and musicians” [3,4].

Avril did not get charged or sued for “plagiarizing” this song. But later on, she was accused once again for copying a song by Peaches titled “I’m the Kinda” with Avril’s song, “I Don’t Have to Try”[3,5]. I personally think she copied the Rubinoo’s but I think she’s just a fan of the Peaches. Not only did she copy the beat and rhythm of the song, she’s a fan of the Peaches identity and style as well.