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Technology at a crossroads

Technology at a crossroads

I love technology.  I do.

I’ve written about it before, it’s part of my twitter profile, and I see the value of technology to engage citizens, connect people and improve lives.  Technology can bridge the gap between communities and continents, it democratizes all voices, allowing citizens to participate on a level playing field, and improve access – closing the educational divide.

You use it, and you want it

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Here in Cary we’ve seen our citizens use technology to engage with the Town:

– Citizens use the Town website to look up Town agendas, minutes and development activity and watch Council meetings on YouTube.

– Provide budget feedback via Twitter (24 tweets), post on Facebook (37 comments) and email (66 emails).  The number of  Tweets and Facebook posts combined (61) this year were more than ALL of the input we received for last year’s budget (59 comments.)

– We saw you create an online petition signed by 1275 residents to save the Cary High School Water Towercarywatertower

  •   – A biennial survey that shows 54.5% of our citizens own or plan to own a smartphone this year and the trend is that smart phone users outnumber basic phone users.
  • And on and on…  Read More…
Cyber Security and You

Cyber Security and You

So, do I have your attention now? How many of you knew where that quote (“Keep it Secret, Keep it Safe”) came from, and just wanted to read an article about “Lord of the Rings?” 🙂

Sorry to disappoint, but this post is all about Cyber Security. I know, boring stuff, but October is Cyber Security Awareness Month, and helping people use technology, and use it safely, has been my passion for a while now.

And, let’s face it, today so much of our lives are connected to some sort of digital device, as well as the information on them; it makes sense to put some protections in place to keep your information secret, and to keep it safe. That’s why I partnered with the Town of Cary Police Department to recognize and support October as Cyber Security Awareness Month, and also why our Police department works hard to protect you with an impressive Cyber Crime unit.

First, some chilling numbers

Whether you are at work, at home, school – every part of our lives now has a connection to the Internet.

Did you know that…

– Someone becomes a victim of cyber crime every 18 seconds
– Cyber crime costs an average of nearly $200 per victim
– Mobile device vulnerabilities doubled in 2011 from 2010
– 40% of social network users have been victims of cyber crime on a social networking site
– 1 in 4 people received notification by a business, online service provider, or organization that their personally identifiable information (password, credit card number, email addres, etc.) was lost or compromised because of a data breach
 (Source: Symantec and National Cyber Security Alliance)

Read More…

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