How to Patina Metal
January 27, 2012 | 
Author What is Patina?
Commonly pronounced in the US as pa tee’ne, or puh tee’nuh”.
Most broadly defined as the observed and physical change in a surface over time caused by exposure to oxygen or other environmental elements and compounds. On metal, it is the film of corrosion on the surface caused primarily by the reaction of the metal with oxygen. To put it in perspective, think of an old penny, a rusty pipe, or the Statue of Liberty. However, there is more to it; The natural rate of change depends upon the aggressiveness of the environment. Since the level of pollutants, rainfall, and acidity vary locally, the rate, chemical make-up, and therefore the color and depth of the patina will also vary. Rates of patina build-up and color will change year-to-year, and even seasonally.
Patina is not confined to metal. It can also refer to the change over time in wood or the long-term change in furniture or other items, caused not only by oxidation, but also by repeated cleaning, rubbing and polishing. To summarize, patina is the rich and often lustrous natural toning once only available by waiting months, decades, or eons. Because of the time factor, surfaces with a fine patina often command a premium price.
For metal coating companies, copper, bronze and brass are among the most popular coatings. These have some similarities in the way they naturally patina. Although other elements can be included in the mix, Bronze and Brass are primarily alloys of Copper along with Tin and Zinc, respectively. The natural coating that develops on these copper-based metals can range from brown to green, all in a multitude of shades and hues, depending on time and environment. The desirable green shades (formations of copper carbonate) used to be called Verdigris, but in modern times are usually shortened to Verde or Verdi.
The layer of patina, interestingly, can protect against continuing corrosion and is encouraged to provide a protective barrier against further deterioration. However, this is less likely to be the case in larger cities or areas with higher levels of natural or industrial pollution. In these cases, the green and blue colors are mainly from copper sulfides and are not protective, allowing corrosion to wreck the havoc of deterioration beneath the surface. Areas of harmful or beneficial patina can flake-off allowing the patina process begins anew on that area. This phenomenon can be responsible (along with pigeon poop) for some of the wilder patinas seen in many ancient cities.
While we have been reviewing copper and copper alloys, common rust in all it’s splendid coloring, is a patina effect on iron and iron alloys such a steel. Rust is Iron Oxide formed by the reaction of Iron and oxygen in the presence of water or atmospheric water vapor. We think rust is beautiful!! Unknown to many, even Aluminum forms a surface oxidation (patina) of Aluminum Oxide almost immediately. It often goes unnoticed because it is, most commonly, in a whitish crystalline form. Like the patina on copper and copper alloys, the surface oxidation on Aluminum protects the metal against further deterioration.
We look forward to the way metal ages over time, but waiting years for this weathering process is not always the most practical way to enjoy the coloration changes. Patination is the art of applying coloration to metals. It can be done to add a sense of mood and drama to an object, to enhance and highlight detail or to accelerate the ageing process. The patinator can utilize compounds to hasten the natural process or can add other patina colors such as blue, red, or black. Artists have been using patina since, least the 1800s. Sculptor, Auguste Rodin used patinas on many of his bronze pieces. Likewise American Western Artist Frederick Remington, used patinas on his 22 famous statues depicting Cowboy and Western American life.
Metal coating companies primarily apply patinas to add the interest of shading that would be acquired with some measure of time. While a shiny new penny may a fun thing to receive, it is rather too coppery and of such a monotone color that the detail gets lost in the evenness of the luster. Contrast that new penny with one that has been in circulation for years and you will notice that the high spots have been polished or rubbed shiny from use, and the low relief areas remain darker. Overall, a much nicer presentation that allows you to see greater detail.
Patina may be applied to cleaned metal, either hot or cold. Heat from a torch is often used to speed the oxidation process on sculpture and sheet goods. For cold-spray metal coatings patinators use the cold process, which is safer and keeps fumes to a minimum. Most prefer the ease and consistency of store bought over home-brew, but they are expensive considering the Hazardous Materials shipping cost. At times, patination recipes have been garnered from sources online or from books on the subject. Most chemicals can easily be purchased, but you might have to show ID and sign for some of them due to National Security Concerns. Try your local art store, chemical supply company, school supply house, or even your local drug store.
For sign-makers, patination chemicals reach the signs and plaques via several methods. Patinas can be sprayed, brushed, or rubbed onto the metal-coated piece. As an alternative, size allowing, small pieces are sometimes dipped into a vat of patina chemicals. This colors the entire piece. The high areas are then polished to specifications removing some or all of the patina, thus leaving the relief areas in a very natural patinated state.
Very few of us actually see bronze, brass, or copper right out the mold, and just polished. You might be shocked to see, that like a new penny, it just does not look right without a little oxidation, which is, of course, Patina.
Telling Signs That a Man is in Love With You
As women we know that sometimes it can be difficult to determine whether a man is in love with us. Some men just aren’t as forthcoming about their feelings as others. There are some definite signs that a man is in love and once you understand what they are, it’s much easier to gauge how a man is feeling about you.
One of the most obvious signs that a man is in love with you is that he tells you – over and over. Men who are crazy about a woman want to openly express it. For many men, saying those special words doesn’t come easily. Another thing to watch for that suggests that a man has deep feelings is that he wants to make your life better. He’ll ask what he can do to help you in any way, and he’ll do whatever he can to ensure your life is full and happy.
If you hear from him often when you aren’t together that’s a sign that a man is in love with you. Men want to be close to the women they adore and they will often call or email if you two are apart. This applies to when you are in separate cities, but also if you live just a few minutes apart. If he texts you while you are at work, or emails you just to say hi, he has strong feelings for you.
Men who never ask about your life tend to not feel that deeply for you. If a man is in love with you he’ll have a genuine concern for the things you are experiencing. He’ll ask about mundane everyday things and also will be emotionally invested in your life. If a man is willing to drop everything to listen to your problems or help you with something, he has strong feelings for you.
When a man is head over heels for a woman he’ll go out of his way to do things to surprise her. It might be something as simple as bringing her a fresh bouquet of flowers or cooking her dinner. He takes note of the things she enjoys and uses that information to create unique surprises for her. Another of the often overlooked signs that a man is in love with you is that he’ll share his own feelings with you. He’ll talk about his fears and the things that make him happy. A man who isn’t in love may be afraid to be emotionally vulnerable. When a man loves you, he’ll open up to you.
Nothing feels quite as wonderful as knowing you are loved by a man. Even if he doesn’t always verbally express it, recognizing the signs of his devotion can offer you all the reassurance you need.
Forces and Trends in Business
The corporate environment is characterized by a number of variables: competition, dynamism, turbulence, complexity and change. All organizations must develop ability to continuously and consciously transform themselves and their contexts. Such contexts include restructuring for optimum effectiveness, reengineering key processes and streamlining functions that are able to provide a source of competitive advantage. The aim is to adapt, regenerate and most important, survive. (McLean, 2006).
For a company to thrive today, strategists must find ways to increase the organization’s ability to read and react to industry and market changes. They must know their goal to boost the company’s strategic flexibility by recognizing disruptions earlier and responding faster.
Strategic flexibility or adaptability can be defined as the organization’s capacity to identify major changes in its external environments, quickly commit resources to new courses of action in response to such changes, and to recognize and act promptly when it is time to halt or reverse existing resource commitments. Being adaptable means leaders must not get stuck in a too-rigid way of looking at the world. The organization must view change as an inevitable and essential part of an organization’s growth, in order to achieve this adaptability.
When there is uncertainty or unpredictability in the environment, managers tend to focus almost all their energy on successfully executing the current strategy. What they also should be doing is preparing for an unknown future. Flexibility stems from the ability to learn; managers tend to overlook the negative and emphasize the positive. They need to understand not only what led to the positive outcomes but also what led to the negative ones. This will optimize their learning experience. According to Ford (2004) four points to foster and maintain adaptability include challenging complacency, giving all employees a voice, encouraging participative work and driving fear out of your group.
The companies chosen for this task vary by industry: a famous automobile manufacturer (Ford) a bank going through a merger (Compass) and a start-up software company (DawningStreams). Ford and Compass have been in business for a long time; it is likely they have changed their strategic plan based on changing forces and trends. DawningStreams is new (established in 2005 and incorporated in 2007). Even though they have not had their first sale and have no staff, the owners have devised several iterations of their strategy.
There is a diversity of stakeholders all that are interested in the activity of business organizations. Emphasis must be placed on their adaptability in strategic analysis and their adaptability in strategic management of business organizations. The organization must have a strategic management model.
Each company might scan the same areas, but for different reasons. Considering technological advances, Ford would prepare itself to lead the market by having various electronic equipment in their vehicles, as well as robotic equipment with which to build them and the supply chain technology to keep all in check. Compass Bank is going through a merge and expanding globally; therefore they will need to keep abreast of communication technology. DawningStreams is a software company; they will need to monitor those companies who would be their competition to ensure their product offers better functionality. All three companies would make sure potential customers would be able to get good information from internet websites and advertisement, which encompasses yet another area of technology the organizations may need/want to scan. In this instance, many members of the organization must be enrolled: upper management and finance, who will determine budgetary factors; the IT department, who will be responsible for the implementation and maintenance of some of the technology; the staff who must be trained to use the technology; a sales force who will sell the technology.
To the outside observer, it may seem unnecessary for any but Ford to scan the (actual) environment when it comes to issues such as emission control, fuel efficiency and hybrid cars. That is true however; Compass Bank and DawningStreams can plan a strategy to be friendlier to the environment (and their pocketbooks) by practicing paper reduction (through the aforementioned technology). Lastly, DawningStreams’ product may be useful as a file sharing service to environmental groups.
With regard to the legal environment, all three must be acutely aware of laws, which affect their respective industry among others. To Ford, legal applies, among other areas, to environmental protection laws and department of transportation safety laws. To Compass Bank, they would abide by the rules of the Federal Reserve (www.federalreserve.gov) and the Federal Insurance and Deposit Corporation (www.fdic.gov). DawningStreams must follow laws as they pertain to the transfer of files, which have intellectual property and also the export of products, which have algorithms. All three companies are global and will need to monitor those laws in other countries, which could effect the strategic planning.
At one company after another–from Sears to IBM to Hewlett-Packard to Searle, strategy is again a major focus in the quest for higher revenues and profits. With help from a new generation of business strategists, companies are pursuing novel ways to hatch new products, expand existing businesses, and create the markets of tomorrow. Some companies are even recreating full-fledged strategic-planning groups. United Parcel Service expects to spin out a new strategy group from its marketing department, where strategic plans are now hatched. Explains Chairman Kent C. Nelson: “Because we’re making bigger bets on investments in technology, we can’t afford to spend a whole lot of money in one direction and then find out five years later it was the wrong direction.”
In such a world we need a planning model that allows us to anticipate the future and to use this anticipation in conjunction with an analysis of our organization–its culture, mission, strengths and weaknesses–to define strategic issues, to chart our direction by developing strategic vision and plans, to define how we will implement these plans and to specify how we will evaluate how well we are implementing these plans. The fact that the world is changing as we move forward in the future demands that the process be an iterative one.
Ford Motor Company – Socio-cultural
Ford Motor Company embraces the socio-cultural changes taking place to allow the company to move in the right direction with respect to attitudes in the society. Two areas that stand out in terms of socio-cultural attitudes would be that of fuel economy and smaller cars. The growing concern by the public for better fuel economy has influenced the company’s introduction of the Ford Escape Hybrid and Mercury Mariner Hybrid. The organization is committed to the hybrid to improve fuel economy as a global strategy to meet customer demands. The increased demand in society for such environmentalism has assisted in the decision for Ford Motor Company to look forward to adding the hybrid feature to the Ford Fusion and Mercury Milan and continue in such a strategic planning direction.
The customers that use these vehicles get a substantial break on their insurance in many states and a tax credit as well while enjoying the increased mileage of a vehicle that runs on gasoline and capabilities for 100 percent electric power. The environmental scanning by Ford Motor Company has allowed the company to be knowledgeable of the fact that the people in the United States are buying more small cars today than any other type of vehicle segment. The lifestyles changes have been monitored and there is good data that shows that such a trend will continue in this direction and the expected growth in this segment will continue. The company has redesigned the inside and outside of the Ford Focus to set the car apart from the competitors in the small car segment while increasing upgrades and features to experience positive outcomes. The direction that the company is taking is based on a competitive advantage and being a leader in the industry. The vehicle line has both a sedan and a coupe to attract targeted markets including younger buyers at an entry level to build upon brand loyalty and customer retention. Ford Motor Company will continue to use the socio-cultural factors to drive the business and enjoy future success.
Ford Motor Company – Legal –
Ford Motor Company with regard to the Environmental Protection Agency adheres to the legal aspect of environmental scanning. Ford Motor Company accepted an award in March 2007 from the Environmental Protection Agency called the Energy Star 2007 Partner of the Year Award in Energy Management. The company is the first automaker to have ever been awarded the award two years in a row. The award has come to be presented due to the commitment made by the company to increase energy efficiency and to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions from all of the facilities in the company.
The organization is committed to the responsible use of resources and energy efficiency. The leadership realizes that the environmental protection laws are of great importance and use the environmental scanning to move in the right direction to obtain future success in the company. In 2006 alone the company has improved the energy efficiency in the United States operations by five percent and saving approximately $25 million with enough energy saved to equal 220,000 homes. The effective energy management protects the environment and reduces the greenhouse emissions. Some of the actions taken by the company include replacing lighting fixtures that use 40 percent less energy and using different low-energy, long-lasting compact fluorescent lamps in the properties to include the plants, corporate offices, distribution centers, and research and development campuses. Due to the environmental scanning that takes place at Ford Motor Company the company will use the information that is collected and continue in this direction. New projects for the company include Fumes-to-Fuel that is a system that converts paint fumes into electricity that is being performed with Detroit Edison along with attempting to consolidate the application of primer, base and clearcoat paint applications into a single application to eliminate the need for separate applications and ovens. In addition to the paint booth emissions Ford Motor Company will continue to rely on alternative energy sources such as landfill gas and wind and solar technologies to power their manufacturing facilities.
Ford Motor Company – Technology –
Another environmental scanning tool that Ford Motor Company monitors and uses would be the technological portion. The company has invested $1 billion in the latest technology for flexible manufacturing. The technology that is involved is in many forms to include wireless technology that is installed on the delivery trucks with supplies to the plant as a monitoring status and improved efficiency to reduce inventory. The flexibility of products in the same plant allows the organization to use the same machinery and process for all areas from body assembly, paint facility, and final assembly. The improved efficiency at the manufacturing facility allows for several vehicle platforms to be built on the same line to produce multiple models and quickly change the vehicle mix, the volume, and options based on customer demand.
The technological changes that are being embraced by Ford Motor Company through environmental scanning enables the company to experience huge cost savings through new product launches and 50 percent reductions in cycle changeovers along with waste reduction. Robots are among the technological changes that are being experienced within the organization to include the 400 from the project that are used to weld and assemble the metal body of the vehicle for stamping and assembly. Artificial intelligence in the form of advanced visions systems and laser tracking systems are used to ensure quality through accuracy and dimension abilities. A multi-million dollar training facility is used to ensure that the workforce has the knowledge, skills, and ability to reap the benefits from the new technology that is being used by the company. The training that is administered includes the new servo-electric weld gun system that identifies the perfect center for welding that has replaced the older and loud air-powered system that used a less sophisticated spring system. The environmental scanning of technology that is performed by Ford Motor Company has allowed the company to have positive outcomes in efficiency while remaining a competitive company in the industry through cost savings and continuous improvement.
Compass Bank- Political -
On February 16, 2007, Compass Bancshares, Inc., the parent company of Compass Bank, announced the signing of a definitive agreement under which Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria, S.A. (NYSE: BBV Madrid: BBVA) (“BBVA”) will acquire Compass for a combination of cash and stock. Compass will become a wholly owned U.S. subsidiary of BBVA and will continue to operate under the Compass name. The transaction is expected to close during the second half of 2007, pending customary closing conditions, including necessary bank regulatory approvals in the U.S. and Spain and the approval of the stockholders of both Compass and BBVA.
BBVA, which operates in 35 countries, is based in Spain and has substantial banking interests in the Americas. The transaction will facilitate BBVA’s continued growth in Texas and will create the largest regional bank across the Sunbelt. Upon completion of the transaction, Compass will rank among the top 25 banks in the United States with approximately $47 billion in total assets, $32 billion in total loans and $33 billion in total deposits. In addition, the combined company will rank fourth in deposit market share in Texas with $19.6 billion in total deposits and 326 full-service banking offices.
Compass is a $34 billion Southwestern financial holding company that operates 415 full-service banking centers in Alabama, Arizona, Colorado, Florida, New Mexico and Texas. Compass provides a broad array of products and services through three primary lines of business – Corporate Banking, Retail Banking and Wealth Management. Compass is among the top 30 U.S. bank holding companies by asset size and ranks among the top earners of its size based on return on equity.
Under the terms of the definitive agreement, which has been approved by the board of directors of Compass and the relevant bodies of BBVA, Compass will become a wholly owned subsidiary of BBVA. After closing, BBVA intends to merge its U.S. based banking affiliates – including the former operations of Texas Regional Bancshares, State National Bancshares and Laredo National Bancshares – with Compass.
The aggregate consideration is composed of a fixed number of approximately 196 million shares of BBVA common stock and approximately $4.6 billion in cash. The merger is subject to customary closing conditions, including necessary bank regulatory approvals in the U.S. and Spain and the approval of the stockholders of both Compass and BBVA. The transaction is expected to close in the second half of 2007.
The merger between both companies will be determined by the political factors ranging from implications of laws and regulations to the state of world politics including the consideration of wars which may be going on in different parts of the world. New laws, regulations, tax programs and public policy create forces and trends, which may provide challenges and barriers or opportunities for any company or organization.
Compass Bank – Technology –
Ford is in the process of implementing a laser marking system on its production line to ensure the highest standard on each transmission assembled. The system will be checking for quality on different points on the assembly line. Ford is teaming up with a company called MECCO to implement this process and a trial run of the new system will last for 3 months. MECCO is a leader in its industry when it comes to laser technology. The decision to implement this new laser marking system came because it is more cost- effective and safer than previous ways of marking checkpoints for quality.
Although this process at Ford has not officially been implemented yet, Compass Bank can learn a few different things. It may be a good idea for Compass Bank to do a short trial of online cell phone banking to see how popular it becomes and if it worth all the time and effort, being spent to get it launched. Compass Bank should also consider investing into a company who is the best at what they do, is in the same time zone, and can meet their demands in a timely manner, not simply because they may be cheaper. Finally, Compass Bank can learn that they need to consider what will be most cost-effective and in the best interest of the company over time. Organizing a time line and a list of costs and potential risks would also be beneficial to Compass Bank so they know what to expect and when with the implementation of online cell phone banking.
When completing the global scan one looks for emerging new technologies which may impact any business in any industry. At one time the emergence of the Internet was a technology that was becoming an emerging trend across all industries. Today very new technologies are used to develop information systems at a fraction of the cost and time of processes that were used five years ago. Wireless is a telecommunications technology that may have moved from a trend to a force in revolutionizing the way information is stored, accessed and used across all industries around the world. Some, if leveraged by a company within an industry before competitors use it, may even provide a competitive advantage.
Compass Bank – Competition –
Although mergers may be costly and rather difficult, the value it creates in the end is the desired outcome companies seek. The eagerness to merge is based on several beliefs, those beliefs are, that the performance gains are greater, expenses are reduced, market power is increased, and shareholder’s wealth is also greater than before. The value of a merger is enhanced when the overall benefit is more valuable than the aggregate of two separate pre-merger companies.
In the end, both John and Bernard should consider this before finalizing a decision. When Zion’s purchased Stockmans, there overall value increased by 43 branches. These branches will help performance and brings much more power to the financial market. In the Journal of Money article, Pilloff states “Companies are more willing to acquire others to avoid being acquired themselves.” Keeping this in mind, companies must figure out a cross border strategy.
As part of the broad environmental scan, it is important to identify the internal capabilities of the organization. There are various models for defining capabilities. Most focus on the broad set of intangible assets such as brand, human capital, organizational capital and even relationship capital. Others include the more concrete assets such as available capital, the organization structure, current technologies and information technology infrastructure. In addition to doing a broad environmental trend, Compass Bank needs to do a more detailed capability assessment using any of the models available.
DawningStreams – Competitors –
Business activities are becoming more and more complex to manage, because of distance, time zones, number of parties involved in projects, number of tasks to achieve, multiple prioritizations, lack of general synchronization, insufficient secure and confidential communication channels and growing complexity of IT infrastructures. The use of task list managers has become very common. It is becoming more difficult to keep teams synchronized, to follow and to implement new business processes and to exchange sensitive information confidentially. The DawningStreams software application is aiming at increasing the practicality of daily executive activities. The types of business, which will most probably be interested in our product, are construction (size of network), consulting (need for synchronization), pharmaceutical research (secure exchange of information) and the software industry (complexity of manufacturing).
Many companies have already developed software applications that enable secured communications and file sharing. However, most, if not all, are relying on Microsoft technologies, which prevent them from expanding to Mac or Unix users. DawningStreams is developed in Java, which can be used on any platform, including Mac and Unix. Microsoft has acquired the Groove Company and has released a new version of the product, which can perform many of the functionalities of DawningStreams, but not generic activities (http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/groove/default.aspx). This is our closest competitor by far. More recently, we found, merely by accident, a company called Shinkuro (www.shinkuro.com), which offers the file sharing aspects of DawningStreams but lacks other capacities.
Although DawningStreams will face competition from many existing players, the fact that it will combine a super-set of functionalities in one application, for a very reasonable price, will give it some leading edge over other competitors. If the US patent is granted, the position of DawningStreams will become a niche. Even if the patent were not granted, it would take a profound architectural redesign of Groove (or other competitors) to include generic activities and match the offer of DawningStreams. As a strategy we will monitor the activities of those companies’ websites and understand what they offer in terms of similar functionality and try to ensure we match or best those functionalities to the best of our ability and resources
DawningStreams – Political -
Maintaining the secrecy of information is the fundamental function of encryption items. Persons abroad may use such items to harm US law enforcement efforts, as well as US foreign policy and national security interests. The US Government has a critical interest in ensuring that persons opposed to the United States are not able to conceal hostile or criminal activities, and that the legitimate needs for protecting important and sensitive information of the public and private sectors are met. Since 2000, US encryption export policy has been directed by three fundamental practices: technical review of encryption products prior to sale, streamlined post-export reporting, and license reviews of proposed transactions involving strong encryption to certain foreign government end-users and countries of concern. US encryption policy also seeks to ensure that American companies are not disadvantaged by the European Union’s “license-free zone.” (Bureau of Industry and Security, 2007).
DawningStreams will contain cryptographic functions. Any reliable and efficient cryptographic system requires a central authority to avoid identity theft. Cryptography is a key functionality of DawningStreams. All specialists insist on designing systems using well-studied algorithms and fully tested protocols; novelty is considered a source of risk. The cryptographic layer of DawningStreams will rely on a dual public-private key system. The private key encryption system will implement Rijndael, the Advanced Encryption Standard (http://csrc.nist.gov/CryptoToolkit/aes/rijndael/), the public key system will implement RSA (www.rsa.com) and the hashing function will implement the 256 bits version of the Secure Hash Algorithm (http://secure-hash-algorithm-md5-sha-1.co.uk/ ).
Encryption products can be used to conceal the communications of terrorists, drug smugglers, and others intent on harming U.S. interests. Cryptographic products and software also have military and intelligence applications that, in the hands of hostile nations, could pose a threat to U.S. national security. The national security, foreign policy, and law enforcement interests of the United States are protected by encryption export controls. These controls are consistent with Executive Order (E.O.) 13026, which was issued on November 15, 1996, and the Presidential Memorandum of the same date. (Bureau of Industry and Security, 2007).
DawningStreams also plans to be an international company, as offices now exist in the Netherlands and the US. As part of the strategy, we will ensure we remain compliant by registering our product with any necessary agency and allowing those agencies access to the processes if they feel there is a threat. We will be responsible to monitor (as best as we can) our client base and to put the proper verbiage in our contracts that illegal activities will not be tolerated. We will continue to monitor the BIS site mentioned in previous paragraphs and also sites in the European Union such as the Crypto Law website of legal expert Bert-Jaap Koops (http://rechten.uvt.nl/koops/)
DawningStreams – Technology/Intellectual Property –
The management of organizational strategy requires a comprehensive assessment of the macro environment of the business. Intellectual Property (IP) refers to the original ideas and innovations evolved by an organization in order to haul up its systems and processes. Creation of ideas requires large investments. This necessitates the protection of IP. Benchmarking is the continuous process of measuring products, processes, and systems of an organization against those that are rated best in the industry. It helps in uncovering weaknesses and flaws in the organizational systems, processes, and products. (Watson, 2003)
The study of the global research conducted by McAfee Inc. and MessageLabs Ltd. on security threat in small businesses in the U.S. reveals that 80 percent of small-and-medium-sized businesses (SMB) believe that an information technology (IT) security failure would be damaging in attaining their business priorities. Yet, only few are courageously making steps to fight against infringements due to resource limitations from other business related priorities. The research implies that company size plays an essential part in the way senior management views security. Among the challenges that SMBs face include keeping up-to-date with security solutions and keeping costs low. Small-to-medium businesses’ behavior towards security is very tactical and meets only immediate requirements. (unknown, 2007)
DawningStreams’ relevance to these forces is two-fold. We are a software company—there is an opportunity for us to lose the intellectual property by those who would download and attempt to modify the code. We have competitors who offer functionality similar to ours, however we offer an additional functionality the others do not. It is this ‘specialty functionality’ for which we applied for a patent the United States Patent and Trademark Office. If the patent is granted, there is less likelihood of software piracy or the loss of our IP. Environmental scans should show us if there are other companies trying to do this.
The functionality, which most resembles our competitors’, is the ability to share files. That brings in a different concern with intellectual property- the possibility someone else’s IP could be sent from one of our users to another, as this could seriously damage our reputation, as what happened with Napster. (www.napster.com).
Conclusion
At one company after another–from Sears to IBM to Hewlett-Packard to Searle, strategy is again a major focus in the quest for higher revenues and profits. With help from a new generation of business strategists, companies are pursuing novel ways to hatch new products, expand existing businesses, and create the markets of tomorrow. Some companies are even recreating full-fledged strategic-planning groups. United Parcel Service expects to spin out a new strategy group from its marketing department, where strategic plans are now hatched. Explains Chairman Kent C. Nelson: “Because we’re making bigger bets on investments in technology, we can’t afford to spend a whole lot of money in one direction and then find out five years later it was the wrong direction.”
In such a world we need a planning model that allows us to anticipate the future and to use this anticipation in conjunction with an analysis of our organization–its culture, mission, strengths and weaknesses–to define strategic issues, to chart our direction by developing strategic vision and plans, to define how we will implement these plans and to specify how we will evaluate how well we are implementing these plans. The fact that the world is changing as we move forward in the future demands that the process be an iterative one.
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US Department of Commerce (2007), Encryption (ch.10, section 742.15). Retrieved March 27, 2007 from the Bureau of Industry and Security Website at http://www.bis.doc.gov/news/2007/foreignpolicyreport/fprchap10_encryption.html
Watson, G. (2003) Business Environmental Scans for Intellectual Property Strategy (PowerPoint Presentation). Retrieved March 28, 2007 from the Oklahoma State University website at http://www.okstate.edu/ceat/msetm/courses/etm5111/CourseMaterials/ETM5111Session3Part2.ppt#260,1,Business Environmental Scans for Intellectual Property Strategy
A Classical View – Why Do People Commit Crimes?
A Classical View: Why Do People Commit Crimes?
People commit crimes because that is what they want to do. Criminal behavior is a matter of choices. Today, there are many excuses cloaked as reasons for criminal behavior. The misguided nature of these assertions has a serious impact upon crime control strategies. The classical approach to crime control strategies deals with direct intervention tactics. Law enforcement, within this rubric, takes an aggressive posture toward criminal acts. The delayed tactics of a reactionary position is relegated to the illusion of rehabilitation. In the classical view, deviance and crime are addressed in a proactive manner. This strives to be consistent with both legal and social aspects of constraint. Deviant behavior in the form of criminal activity must necessitate a punitive approach to behavior. Such an approach must come with speed, precision and certainty. For control sanctions to work, the systems of justice must work decisively. The attendant criminal justice systems must be capable of deploying the necessary resources. From an historic perspective, the classical school of criminology is often overlooked as a viable crime prevention strategy.
All available scientific, forensic and technical resources should press full force behind a more classical approach to criminology. This effort should be applied within the context of modern times. Following a doctrine of “psychological hedonism”, the classical approach holds that people choose freely among alternatives of behavior. In this view, the perpetrator plans his or her criminal behavior before carrying out his or her actions. The individual creates the basis for their departure from socially, morally or legally sanctioned aspects of behavior. A person calculates the “pain versus the pleasure of an act”, or the gain minus the risk of doing a certain thing. Not unlike the rest of us, the perpetrator carries out his or her conduct as a result of personal calculations. Such acts of deviance stem from the pleasure being greater than the risk. In other words, they want to take something that someone else has. Criminals want the shortest distance between two points. The implication of the doctrine is that the societal reaction to crime should be the administration of a measured amount of pain. The general proposition of the classical school is that it is necessary to make undesirable acts painful. Attaching punishment is crucial to making an impact on behavior. Likewise, punishment requires re-education, so that criminals learn through painful costly consequence such behavior is counterproductive.
Accountability and responsibility are attached in definite ways, so the perceived loss will exceed the gain. Since the punishment must be one that can be calculated, it must be the same for all individuals. No one is excused regardless of age, mentality, social or economic status, political influence or other self-indulgent conditions. People are held in absolute accountability to the actions they choose. Deterrence and moral retribution replace rehabilitation. Preventing criminal behavior before it happens is part of the overall strategy of crime control objectives. This perspective presupposes that people will take advantage of opportunities. Since people freely decide their course of conduct, rapid societal interdiction is necessary. A concept of “free-will” criminology is necessary to ensure society does not disintegrate due to an obsession with behavioral excuses. Behavior is influenced by a decision-making process that relies on consequences. As such, so is criminal behavior.
The motivation to commit acts of criminal behavior relate to basic internal desires of control, dominance, anger, revenge and display of personally perceived inadequacy. A quadrangle of self-motivated thinking transpires. Desire, opportunity, ability and gain merge to formulate the strategy of motivation. A multi-dimensional realm within the mind transforms into an outer expression of exploitation. As such, our crime control strategies and tactics must consider the inherent motivation of the criminal. The inherent motivation is the subjugation of another person for personal gain. Approaches based on hasty generalizations and politically correct agendas are counterproductive to the health, safety and welfare of the community. We must consider what the individual criminal is like. He or she is not much different than the rest of us. Except that the criminal prefers “the short cut” in stead of the legitimate way of doing things. Forget about the pseudo-scientific approaches that come up with impressive labels and complex diagnoses. And, forget about the short-term fads or fetishes of quick fixes for long-term problems. Fancy theoretical constructs do not solve crime. Instead, determined and dedicated hard working police officers do. They are the ones who solve criminal behavior issues affecting society. They do this through the collective interaction of public support and involvement. Not by politicians, media hype, fad or fiction.
People commit crimes as part of a selfish desire to get something for nothing. Their “private logic” focuses on their alleged “suffering” at the hands of an insensitive and cruel world. They selfishly desire to take advantage of opportunities, exploit their prurient interests, and assert their abilities. All this is done based on their individual capabilities to get what they think is rightfully theirs. The criminal is not a victim of society. Neither is he or she forced into a position of disadvantage by others. Criminals refuse to accept responsibility and accountability for their behavior. When caught, they are quick to puppet excuses the social sciences, the media and politicians have preconceived for them. Criminals develop their thinking processes on the basis of “being owed” something. His or her behavior becomes connected to what they believe is “entitlement”.
Personal choice dominates the motives of individual actions. We think, we fantasize and we act according to our underlying belief system. Through a process of rational conscious thought, we select the temptations of preference. Regardless of what comes into us from external sources, we pick what we want. We employ our learning history to do things we conjure in our own minds. Such is the rational process by which we pick and select the course of action we take. In a kind of “economic view” of the world, people balance the risks, or the costs, involved in doing a certain act. Upon validation that the “benefit” outweighs the cost, we decide to act. Then again, we might decide not to act. Crime, in a sense, holds a seductive quality and grips our attention. We are mesmerized by the darkness in the balance between good and evil. Good and evil is simply picture thinking about the scope of human nature. For some, crime pays, until caught. At the very least, we calculate a “pain versus pleasure” reality.
References:
1. Jeffery, C. R., Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design, (Beverly Hills: Sage Publications, 1971), page 24;
2. Samenow, E. S., Inside the Criminal Mind, (New York: Crown Business, 1984), pgs. 20-22;
3. Schmalleger, F., Criminology Today – An Integrative Introduction – Fourth Edition, (Upper Saddle River: Pearson-Prentice Hall, 2006), page 118-119;
Windows Defender start-up Error
You may have noticed a new error message upon Windows
start-up since December 31, 2006. The error dialog looks like this:
Windows Defender
Application failed to initialize: 0x800106ba. A problem caused Windows Defender
Service to stop. To start the service, restart your computer or search Help and
Support on how to start a service manually.
In addition, you will see the following in your System Event Log:
Event Type: Error
Event Source: Service Control Manager
Event Category: None
Event ID: 7023
Description:
The Windows Defender Service service terminated with the following error:
The system license has expired. Your logon request is denied.
The issue is that Windows Defender Beta support ended on December 31, 2006. Now,
I would have expected this software license expire error to let you know a bit more gracefully.
The good news is that if your are running Windows XP, there is a easy fix. Simply
go to Microsoft.com and look for the “Download Windows Defender” link near the bottom
of the home page. Follow the download and install instructions, and you will be up
to date, protected and will have fixed the start-up error in just minutes.
Now for the bad news…
If you are running Windows 2000, Microsoft has decided to no longer support the Windows
Defender product for the Windows 2000 platform. You can fix the start-up error by uninstalling
Windows Defender from the Add/Remove Programs in your Control Panel. Unfortunately,
this will leave you unprotected from Spyware and Malware. Since Microsoft is no longer
providing a Spyware protection product for Windows 2000, you will need to purchase a third
party product in order to be protected in the future.
I must say that I am more than annoyed by this decision at Microsoft to discontinue the
Windows Defender product for Windows 2000. I am a big fan of Windows 2000 as it has been one
of the most stable operating system made by Microsoft to date. I am aware that Microsoft
has discontinued official support for Win2k as of June 30, 2005. Actually, it has
entered the “Extended Support Phase” for the Win2k product. This means they will have “extended”
support until June 2010… without Spyware protection! This is like the proverbial knife in the
back for existing Win2k users. Actually, more like the proverbial gun to the head to get
you to upgrade to Windows Vista.
Now, there is no doubt that Windows XP and Vista are a much better protected operating systems
right out of the box. In the networks that I support, XP Pro SP2 or Windows 2003 Server is the
standard for any new deployments. I just resent the gun to the head thing!
For Win2k users, you will obviously make your own decision about this dilemma in which I see you
have three choices:
1) Uninstall Windows Defender and just take your chances on operating without Spyware protection.
2) Uninstall Windows Defender and purchase a third party Spyware protection product.
3) Decide to put your money towards the upgrade to XP or Vista, which will include the free
Spyware protection.
I would not recommend choice 1. The Internet is just too dangerous of a place to venture without
protection. You may choose choice 2 because you love Win2k and just do not want to hassle with
the potential upgrade headaches. Or, you may choose 3 because you are up to the upgrade task and
you feel it make more sense to invest in the future.
If you decide on the upgrade to Vista path, please look for my “Upgrading to Vista” article coming soon.
The Real Frank Nitti
The real Frank Nitti was not quite the dashing figure portrayed in the movies … nor did he die by being tossed off a rooftop by Eliot Ness. He did, however, fill hospitals in Illinois with his workmanship.
Francesco Raffaele Nitto – aka Frank (The Enforcer) Nitti – was born in Sicily in 1883 and emigrated to the U.S. where he settled in Chicago and opened a barber shop. He was a small time jewelry thief and fence, and went to work for crime boss Johnny (the Fox) Torrio. Torrio was succeeded by Al Capone, who took Nitti on as his bodyguard and later appointed Nitti to run Capone’s liquor smuggling and distributing racket. Whiskey was imported from Canada and bootlegged, and sold through speakeasies in and around Chicago. Nitti was Capone’s right-hand man, a skilled leader and businessman. When in 1929 Capone was briefly sentenced to prison, he made Nitti head of business operations; Jake (Greasy Thumb) Guzik was operations head, and Tony (Big Tuna) Accardo headed enforcement. Although nicknamed “The Enforcer”, in fact Nitti didn’t send as many victims to the Illinois hospital as did Accardo. Nitti was a shrewd businessman and loyal Capone lieutenant.
Both Nitti and Capone were convicted in 1931 for evasion of income taxes. Nitti, however, was only sentenced for eighteen months, whereas Capone was put away for eleven years. Nitti was a claustrophobic who found his confinement horrifying. When he was released he became the Capone gang’s new boss. Under Nitti’s leadership the Chicago Outfit expanded from gambling and prostitution into other rackets such as controlling labor unions with the resulting extortion of businesses such as hospitals in Il. In December 1932 Chicago police under Detective Sergeant Harry Lang raided Nitti’s offices and shot Nitti 3 times in the back and neck. He then shot himself to make the shooting appear to be self-defense. In court testimony was given that this attempt to assassinate Nitti was ordered by Anton Cermak, Chicago’s newly elected mayor. Cermak was being financed by gangsters who were rivals of the Capone organization. Nitti survived the murder attempt and was acquitted of the charges against him in February 1933. In April 1933 Cermak was assassinated while conversing with president elect Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Some historians are of the opinion that the assassin – an Italian immigrant – was trying to murder FDR but shot Cermak by mistake. Other historians believe that it was Frank Nitti who ordered the hit on Mayor Cermak, pointing to the fact that the Italian immigrant assassin had been the best marksman in the Italian army before emigrating to the U.S., and it was unlikely that he missed his intended target.
Forensic Blood Spatter Analysis – Stains And Spatter From Blood
About six quarts of blood is pumped throughout the entire vasculature in the body of an adult. When that circulation is interrupted by trauma-from bullets, a blunt object, or a knife-some of that blood is spilled. In the event of a violent confrontation or a shooting, that blood is usually spurted forth in scattered drops, or spattered.
The suggestion of a blood-spattered, blood-stained crime scene is horrible. The positions of the blood stains or the patterns of the blood spatter tell a meaningful story to a crime scene investigator. Such evidence can be damning for the defendant in court.
From the number and the location of the stains, it is possible to ascertain the movements of the victim with respect to his attacker. From blood spatter analysis, it is also possible to determine the direction from which the attack came. The proximity of the bloodstain to the victim can indicate the kind of impact the victim received, the kind of object that created his wounds, the number of strokes that were inflicted, and the location of the victim and the offender during and after the crime was perpetrated.
Such evidence can be corroborated by statements taken from suspects or witnesses. There have been many occasions in which a perpetrator asserts that the victim’s death was accidental, but blood spatter analysis contradicts his claim. Whenever blood drips, it produces stains that are circular in shape. However, when blood is thrown forcefully, as from a blow to the head, it creates stains that are elongated, if not ovoid, in shape. The longer the shape of the blood stain, the harder the blow the victim received.
Crime scene investigators take pictures of blood stain and blood spatter evidence and carefully analyze the patterns. In the past, forensic scientists have tried to study blood spatter evidence by what is known as directional analysis. Directional analysis involves using strings attached to certain points in the spatter pattern and tracking these back to a more likely source of the blood. Nowadays, a computer software program called BackTrack enables investigators to analyze spatter patterns digitally and graphically by using computer generated strings. The software user enters into the computer data that includes the width, length, direction, and location of each blood drop. Then the computer calculates an angle of attack for each drop and comes up with a flight trajectory backward from each. Where more than one of the trajectories meet, the criminal investigator can determine the position of the original injury.
Given enough time, an offender may try to remove blood stains and spatter by washing towels, blankets, and clothing, or by wiping down furniture, floors, and other surfaces. Luminol, a chemical reagent that reacts with the protein hemoglobin found in blood, can reveal even the minutest traces of blood. This chemical causes blood to fluoresce, or glow, with a bright green color.
Rape – Problems and Solutions
Rape is a social evil that has reached explosive proportions. It has ruined many lives and continues to do so at a frenetic pace. No one is immune, and age is no bar. From infants to senior citizens to corpses, rape has become a diabolic symbol of power in an iniquitous world. In USA, a rape occurs every two minutes; In India, every 54 minutes, and in Pakistan, every three hours. The tragedy is that 80% are perpetrated by fathers, brothers, relatives or friends. Six out of ten occur in the home or in the home of a relative or friend. The story of an Austrian father, who raped his daughter for 24 years, and sired seven children through her, is still fresh in our minds.
Though rape occurs in all social groups, it is more frequent among minority groups with low social status. A molester need not necessarily be a sleazy character. He may be well educated, well groomed and have a high standing in society such as a judge, government official, policeman or priest. Even doctors have been known to rape patients in their clinics. The rapist may be of any age from an old man to a young teenager. The increasing trend of raping minors by force or through allurements is frightening. Children of 14 years or lower, have been known to rape their classmates, and kill them out of fear of being caught.
Reasons for under reporting:
A habitual rapist may molest about 8-10 women before being caught. As conviction rates are only about 2%, many cases go unreported.
o Most women fear the stigma attached to rape, especially when the Law does not convict the rapist. They become secretive and even believe that they are in some way guilty.
o Lack of faith in the judicial system: Many times the court puts the victim on trial, questioning her about her morality, and probing into her sexual history. When a constable in Mumbai raped a 15 year old rag picker the judge proclaimed, “She is a rag picker and of no consequence.”
Because of such perverse reasoning and warped sense of justice, many judges pass it off as an ‘act of passion’ and award minimum sentence.
Also, legal battles are long and tiresome. The onus of proving rape falls on the victim.
o Fear of retaliation by the rapist or his goons.
o Fear of adverse reaction from society, parents, husbands, employers or peers.
o Fear of tarnishing the family image, especially when there are unwed female siblings.
One study showed that 43% of women are ignorant of the law; 23% are too shy to come forward; 12% are afraid of the police; 12% think complaining will not make a difference.
One young girl said, “I blame society for giving men the right to rape and regarding women’s suffering as unimportant. A rapist may get off with a light sentence, but the victim’s sentence is for life.”
What is rape?
It is a form of sexual sadism involving unlawful sexual penetration either by coercion, force, blackmail or under false promises. “I believe that whatever violates the integrity of a woman’s body should be considered rape,” says Brinda Karat, a women’s activist. “Sexual violence apart from being dehumanizing, is an unlawful intrusion of the right to privacy and sanctity of the female,” says Justice A. S. Anand.
Situations under which rape occurs:
- Custodial rape when a woman is in custody for some small offence.
- Child rape is the pastime of paedophiles. 1 in 5 children raped are below 15 years of age. Some don’t even spare infants in cradles.
- Casting couches are routine in the film or modeling industry. When a person is desperate for a job she becomes vulnerable.
- Date rape has been escalating. The assailant is usually known to the victim, and drugs the victim with GHB, Rophynol, Ketamine or some such drug. These drugs are in powder form or liquid and dissolve in any drink. These drugs make the victim physically helpless and incapable of resisting sex, also incapable of recalling the incident. Alcohol enhances the action of the drugs. No trace is found in the blood stream after 72 hours
- Aggravated rape is when a rapist introduces an instrument or foreign body into the victim, to build up his own orgasm.
- Marital rape which may not be recognized by the law.
“In marriage, the weakest, stupidest, insignificant men of the world receive licence to rape or beat their wives,” says Virginia Woolfe
- Necrophilia: The raping of corpses is common in certain tribes. Sometimes sexual perverts can also indulge in such activity.
Reasons why men rape?
- It gives men a sense of power, and is linked to their identity. Forcing a woman into sexual subjugation validates their manhood. They enjoy it.
- Lust in men who have not disciplined their impulses. Testosterone makes male libido flare out of control.
- Economic causes: In some communities the bride price may be too high. Poverty, low socioeconomic status, unemployment, lack of skills, make men vent their frustration through rape. The victim and rapist may live in the same area. Girls in inner cities have 1 in 70 chances of being raped, whereas in rich areas it may be 1 in 2000.
- In communities with strict codes of behaviour, where no mingling of sexes is allowed, repressed males give expression to their masculinity through rape.
- Antisocial and borderline personalities behave irresponsibly. This is enhanced by drugs and alcohol.
- Misogyny: Men who hate women commit violent crimes against them. Many have aggressive mothers and timid fathers. A mother’s verbal abuse may have given the man a poor self image. As an expression of anger against mother or sisters, he finds a victim who cannot defend herself or is mentally retarded, and rapes her.
- Men with poor self worth are convinced that no woman would voluntarily sleep with them. They are aroused by sexual fantasies and express themselves through rape.
- Revenge: When men are rejected or ignored, they feel insulted enough to use rape as a form of revenge.
- Growing Feminism: Women are breaking down every male bastion. They are becoming economically independent and upwardly mobile. Male bashing is occurring like never before. Assisted reproductive technology and genetic engineering make some men feel purposeless and disempowered. As a result they resort to rape.
- Sex Industry and Pornography incites men to treat women as commodities and humiliate them for their pleasure.
“Rape is nothing more or less than a conscious process of intimidation by which all men keep all women in a state of fear,” says Susan Brown Miller.
- Men have blamed women for flaunting their female attributes through indecent exposure, skimpy costumes and suggestive behaviour. This they say precipitates lust in men. Women refute this because rape occurs in small towns or villages where women dress modestly.
- Rape in war is sanctioned by the highest authorities as a means of demoralizing the social fabric of a nation, by impregnating their women. It is also supposed to relieve aggression and promote bonding among soldiers.
Effects of rape on the victim:
The Rape-Trauma syndrome is akin to Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. It has two stages. The first is Disorganization due to the shock of rape. Fright, anger, guilt, and shame may follow. Reorganization is the second stage which gradually takes place over a period of 3-4 months. Sometimes it may take much longer. The victim feels vulnerable, timid, and not fully in control of her life. Residual Damage is what rape leaves in its wake. Depression, sexual dysfunction, vaginismus, fear of sexual interaction and inability to adjust socially are common. The person may take to alcohol or drugs to fight off fear and depression. A survivor of rape is nine times more likely to commit suicide. But if the victim gets immediate support and is able to ventilate her grief, fear or rage, the chances of recovery are greater.
Solutions to minimize rape in society:
o Education of the public by raising rape consciousness in society through education and awareness programmes. Men, politicians, police, judiciary and the general public should be sensitized about violence against women. New insights into sex roles are needed. Stereotype gender roles only make men more aggressive and women more vulnerable.
o Education of girls: Strong parental support will give girls a sense of security and belonging. They will have confidence to express their fears and anxieties. Parents should encourage their children to report to them incidents like physical proximity, inappropriate touching even if it is father, brother or relatives. Girls should be made aware of dangers lurking in society. 60% of teenagers have a tendency to act boldly and impulsively.
Women should also be made aware of the laws against rape and molestation. Male judges are too easy on rapists and too hard on victims. Because of such injustice, the law has been brought into disrepute. Trials must be time bound and punishment swift. Rape Crisis Centres should provide counseling and support to rape victims.
o Education of girl children should include specific “do’s” and “don’ts.” They should be told never to let a stranger within arm’s length, and never to accept sweets or toys from strangers; never to lead a stranger to some isolated place he wants to visit; to beware of over-friendliness. Children from unhappy homes are easy targets as they are starved for affection. Even van drivers who ferry children between school and home may take advantage of a friendly child. Teenagers may be lured by people who promise roles in films or in modeling. If attacked, the child should be told to drop on the ground and scream for help.
o Education of parents: The lines of communication between them and their children should always be tension-free. Many parents think that children are too young to be told about rape as it will frighten them unduly. Children must be made aware that there is a small number of wicked people in society.
Parents should also be alerted by sudden withdrawal, loss of appetite, nightmares or refusal to go to school, and investigate into the matter.
Parents should check the sites children visit on the Net and the type of books they read.
A child who is aware of dangers will be more likely to ward off a rapist. Vigilance is the solution.
Free People Search USA – Find a Person in the USA
Free people search USA provides access to the information about US people in order to locate and identify people. It offers several services to help locate a particular person and other information about that person. Through free people search USA you can find a person’s telephone number and address easily and quickly.
When you do a search it will offer people and business search with reverse phone number, email and address search. Using the last name, city or zip code you can make a free people search USA. The results will show the full address, phone number and other details about that person. The result also includes a map showing the location of the address.
If you want to search a lot of phone numbers you should add special people search toolbar to your browser which allows searching through reverse phone number lookup directly and is also free. Also you can use Google to find free people search USA. This is especially for USA only.
If you want to search in a Google, use person’s name and city and you will see all the relevant details on the top of the result’s listings. To get the best result, type the person’s first name, full last name and the city in the search box. You can also use the state or zip code in place of city. Free people search USA requires the person’s phone number and zip code. Yahoo also offers a people search for the USA with phone number and email search.
There are several services to locate a person in USA people search. You can do search by name without fee but it will not get the correct information about the person. You can get the correct information about a particular person by paying a small amount of fee. With this amount as fee you can retrieve information such as address, phone number and birthday dates of that person.
You can get unlimited people searches by purchasing a membership from the concerned website. This provides you with extra details like current address and address history, phone number, cell phone number, bankruptcies, tax details, relatives, websites and many more.
There are multitudes of ways to conduct a free people search in the united states. All you need to know where to find people on the Internet. There are many ways that people leave their address, name and phone numbers on the Internet. Whenever they publish their classifieds advertisements in the newspaper or use their credit card or register in some websites, they leave their trace of information on the Internet. But these information sites may not provide the right information that one wants about a particular person unless you pay for it.
Careful When You Strip, There’s a Secret Video Surveillance Security Camera In There!
Ladies, have you ever felt naughty eyes on you at the store’s dressing room? You are probably right. There is someone watching, so better get out.
Thought you were safe from prying eyes?
Each time you shop for a new outfit you always have to check it out in the fitting room. Enclosed in a little space with a mirror, you think you are alone, so you strip and slip on the jeans or dress and strip again to put your clothes back on.
Your intuition must be right to tell that you’re on video. Surveillance security camera systems can be used for mischief too and all ladies must beware. Peeping Toms have gone a level higher in their favorite past time. They have tapped the features of a video surveillance security camera and can enjoy viewing the fitting room scenes in the privacy of their home.
Incredible but sadly true
Hidden cameras are a bane and boon to society. It is an emerging menace when the cameras are turned on unsuspecting women who are thinking they are safe in their homes or in public dressing rooms. Unscrupulous persons can make hidden cameras and use remote controls to activate these.
The use of video surveillance security cameras to invade one’s privacy is act of terrorism and is against the law. Yet, people misuse these gizmos with impunity. Peeping toms are not the only ones abusing these security systems. Employers can also bully their staff by keeping an overzealous eye on them.
Unless they are caught spying on women in the privacy of dressing rooms, nothing can be done against the culprits. The law, though, has caught up with voyeurs of the Caesar’s Atlantic City of New Jersey. The gaming palace was fined $80,000 by the Casino Control Commission because of unscrupulous use of video surveillance security cameras.
Spying on the spy
Violators of the laws governing the use of video surveillance security camera equipment face one to five years in prison and penalties, so if you have caught a peeping tom in a public place or even in your neighborhood, you can sue. A tape of the recording must be presented as evidence.
Women must be informed of the ugly side of video surveillance security camera systems meant to protect them. One way to protect yourself from malicious eyes is to have a wireless video camera hunter. This can easily track hidden wireless cameras. When it detects a live wireless video, a signal is displayed immediately on the built-in 2.5″ color video screen. The alert tone will sound when it has espied a hidden camera. In this case, it indeed takes a spy to catch a spy.
Informed and alert
Moms should caution their teens about fitting rooms, school washrooms, and public comfort rooms. Ladies should never strip without any cover. Children in day school should also get protection from the improper use of video surveillance security camera systems. Indeed, kids should be taught how to protect themselves and to report suspicious activities. It is always an advantage to be informed and well armed.
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