With Public Enemies (starring Johnny Depp, Christian Bale and Oscar winner Marion Cotillard, among others) bring bankrober John Dillinger back to the big screen this week, it seems fitting that there is news about a bank robber. However, this 27-year-old Australian is doing his thievery in the online world (which is not in a Great Depression but rather is the Wild Wild West) and he might not be viewed as a modern day Robin Hood, like some felt Dillinger was.

Ricdic, as he was known online, helped run the EBank, one of the leragest player-run banks, in the game Eve Online. In this online game, players use resoruces to build colonies and spaceships in the space-theme fantasy world. Ricdic took about 200 billion interstellar credits from the bank and traded them for real money to players who prefer to buy credits rather than earning them through the game.

He netted about $5,800, which Ricdic said he will use to cover a deposit on his house and pay expenses related to his son’s medical problems. While he said he was not proud of what he had done, Ricdic told Reuters “if I had to do it again, I probably would’ve chosen the same path based on the same situation.”

If Ricdic had just committed robbery in the game, there would have been no penalty as piracy, racketeering and ransom are among the online world’s accepted activities. As he took his “illegal” activities to outside the game, his account frozen by the game’s developers.

Ricdic is not the first person to take advantage of the pay for credit situation. This week the Chinese Ministry of Commerce has banned the trade of real money for online currency. This business is estimated to worth as much as $1 billion U.S. annually.

It is very sad to say, but former Disney movie star Lindsey Lohan is providing a primer for young people on how not to act. Her strange and bizarre behaviour certainly should make teens think twice about her decisions, although it certainly seems that she is battling some demons and needs help.

One of her latest bad choices was the posting of a topless photo on Twitter. The message that went along with the pic said: “OLD PHOTOS. I’m THAT bored.”

It just shows that no matter how bored you are, making rash decisions to post pics online is a bad one.

Robin

Two years after its outbreak American girls who love the Jonas Brothers will get to see a bit of what the “Tell Me” virus is about live.

Wondergirls, a South Korean fabricated pop group, is currently on tour with Disney superstars, the Jonas Brothers. Way back in 2007, the Wondergirls hit it in big in cyberspace with the simple choreography for their song “Tell Me.” The video really caught on and spead rapidly online, so much so on YouTube and other sites (including a video of some policemen doing it) that it became known as the “Tell Me” virus.

Robin

Michael Jackson’s death will be remembered for many reasons. They include the fact that at 50 he died “too young” and it came as a shock (compared to the passing of former Charlie’s Angels star Farrah Fawcett who aslo passed away Thursday after battling cancer).

However, an important sidenote to the passing of the “Thriller,” “Beat It” and “Bad” singer is the coming of age of the online media. TMZ.com, often written off as a gossip site, broke the news of the former Jackson 5 frontman’s hospitalization and death first. After that, the word spread like wildfire with posts on Twitter, Facebook and instant messaging. At its peak, Twitter said up to 5,000 Jackson messages were posted every minute. Web query tracking service Google Trends said the search for “Michael Jackson died” was “on fire.”

“Today was a seminal moment in Internet history,” read a statement from AOL, whic co-owns TMZ.com with Telepictures Productions. “We’ve never seen anything like this in terms of scope or depth.”

Now, after the initial news, social networking, gossip blogs and other sites are ablaze with rumours surrounding his death. How do you deal with these rumours if you are a parent? You used to be able to say that non-mainstream media websites are not creditable, however that is no longer accurate as TMZ.com led the way with one of the top news stories of the year so far.

Robin

On Thursday the Canadian government officals introduced a pair of bills designed to criminals using the Internet where it hurts. However, parts of at least one bill have Internet Service Providers (ISPs) crying foul as they say it will force them to add expensive equipment to help the police nap criminals.

Public Safety Minister Peter Van Loan’s bill calls for ISPs to:

* Have “intercept-capable” equipment on their networks

* Give police “timely access” to subscriber info withoit a warrant

Meanwhile, Justice Minister Rob Nicholson announced a bill that:

* Lets police obtain transmission data sent over the net or by phone if authoriezed by a warrant or production order

* Makes telecommunications companies keep data for specific communications or subscribers if that info is requested by a preservation order

* Makes it a criminal offence for two or more people, via telecommunications, to arrange for child sexual exploitation

Robin

This story out of ExtraordinaryMommy.com reminds us that anything posted online could be seen, taken, copied, or shared. But how about printed on storefront windows?

The author of the blog recounts how an image of her family, posted to her website and a few other locations, was spotted half-way around the world, printed life size on a Czech store window. The image had two perks for the image-snatchers - it was an exceptionally high-resolution, and the family could have been models.

The extreme rarity of this kind of privacy invasion makes one wonder if there is any point in defending against this. Posting images of low-resolution, for example, was one defense the blog author mentioned. But then again, perhaps she is right. The only reason she found out about it was sheer chance. Perhaps this kind of thing goes on a lot more often than we know. Perhaps my face graces a Hungarian cereal box, or yours a Namibian dish detergent.

The main issue here is that nothing posted openly online is ever really private. Children and parents alike must know this, to prevent not only personal information from being shared, but even public photos being used without permission.

Use discretion always when sharing personal information or images. For children, try PGsurfer to restrict just when and how they can post their faces and stories online. We all want to see our kids on a Wheaties box, but not this way.

St. Louis Cardinals skipper Tony LaRussa, who once managed the Jose Canseco/Mark McGwire “Bash Brothers” Oakland As, has hit Twitter with a lawsuit. He seeks unspecificed damages. LaRussa is upset about how someone set up an account in his name and made comments about drunk driving (the MLB manager was once found sleeping intoxicated behind the wheel of a parked vehicle) and the death of two pitchers.

Seemingly in response to this, and other situations, Twitter is unveiling “verified accounts.” If people, such as celebs, pass the test they will get a badge saying they are verified. Kind of like how PayPal does it. For now, the company seems to be doing this only for high profile individuals and not companies.

What do you think? Do you think this is a good move?

Robin

Have you heard about the “Six Days in Fallujah” video game that is slated to be released next year? The game, which is being produced by Atomic Games, has attracted a great deal of controversey. Konami had been the game’s publisher but has reportedly backed out of the project. The mother of a soldier who was killed in the battle that the game depicts said: “This is not a way to honor the soliders who were killed.”

Certainly war games are nothing new. We’ve had all kinds over the years, such as, “Wolfenstein,” “Call of Duty,” and “Medal of Honor.” However, this one seems a little different.

In the game, you are a Marine in Operation Phantom Fury. In the real battle of Fallujah, which took place in November of 2004 and was described as “the most intense urban warfare for U.S. troops in half a century,” more than four dozen Americans and 1,000 insurgents were killed. The coalition forces successfully took the city.

Atomic Games hired more than 30 Marines who were in Fallujah to act as consultants on the project. Apparently they helped form the basis for the characters and storylines. One Marine is quoted as saying, “From a Marine’s perspective, it’s dead-on.”

So, the big question: Is the game maker being realistic or opportunistic?

The Girl Scouts have created two sites in cooperation with Microsoft to educate both girls and parents about online safety, reports the Seattle PI.

http://lmk.girlscouts.org/ is by and for girls, with topics including cyberbullying, online predators, privacy, and the recent trend of sexting.

http://letmeknow.girlscouts.org is intended as a resource for parents of girls, to provide tips to help educate and protect children.

Microsoft stepped in to help provide content and financial backing.

One of the most interesting parts of the Let Me Know site is that it is written by young girls, who often know better than parents the digital environments of their peers, and the potential dangers. Education in this way will hopefully be more accessible for girls, rather than the typical top-down, uncool tips from adults.

Information and familiarity is a big part of online safety, and together with a customizable parental controls program, such as our PGsurfer, can help to keep kids safe online.

When I was growing up I went through a bit of a phase where I was addicted to video games: Choplifter, Dig Dug, Frogger, B.C.’s Quest for Tires, Donkey Kong, Zaxon …

Nowadays the graphics and plots of these games are almost laughable. However, they sure were fun. That’s what I liked about those games - they were fun.

I don’t ever remember playing “educational games.” I do recall moving that Turtle on Logo around in our school’s Commodore 64 computer lab.

However, some studies are showing that many video games, even the ones just thought to be fun, might actually teach your childen some skills. Check out a detail article about the games here at MSN Encarta.

Robin

PGsurfer - a great tool for parents to protect their kids online

SafeSurfer.org - a safe website for kids