Active Vocabulary General and Academic Words - Amy E. Olsen 2013

Chapter 13. Computer Science
Part 2 Academic Words

Internet Scams

Lesson 3: Staying Safe

As you will be working more on the Internet as this course progresses, this week's lessons examine Internet scams. There have always been those who have found ways to defraud others, but the Internet has broadened the potential for cheating people. One person can now reach millions with a few keystrokes. The possibilities for increased dishonesty force all of us to learn how to protect ourselves. Here are a few precau­tions we will examine this week

✵ Find out who you are dealing with. Spam is the junk mail of the Internet, but you might find a message that interests you; however, it is up to you to make sure that the company that sent it is trust worthy. Discover where the company is located; find out if it is even a real company. Ask for information in writing, check with the Better Business Bureau about the company's record, and ask people you trust if they have dealt with the company. It is your responsibility to establish the credibility of an online business.

✵ Circumspection is the key word to keeping safe on the Internet. If you get an e-mail from what appears to be your bank, credit card, or other company you do business with requesting personal information, be cautious. Legitimate businesses do not ask for your passwords or other private information via e-mail. Also use care when you are on social networking sites such as Facebook. You may be asked to click on a link that can secretly install malware that can corrupt your computer system, or you may be directed to a survey that asks for your personal data. And don't make your password obvious. Don't use your name, birthday, or part of your Social Security number. To make your password hard to decipher, use a combi­nation of letters and numbers, and change your password occasionally

✵ Be aware of phishing (pronounced like fishing). The goal is to hook a person into giving out personal information to be used for dishonest ends. If an e-mail or other site asks for your address, Social Security number, birth date, or mother's maiden name, be suspicious. With any of these pieces of information, crooks can find out more about you until they have enough to steal your identity. It is essential to establish the validity of a Web site because identity theft is growing, and it can be an ordeal to clear up mistakes. Crooks have stolen credit card information, racked up thousands of dollars in charges, and ruined a person's credit history. The innocent person may only be made aware that a crime has been committed in his or her name when the police show up at the door.

Many offers on the Web sound great, and though some of them may be honest, most of them fall under the old adage "if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is." The lessons this week will make you aware of the types of fraud common to the Internet and present ways to protect yourself. The Web has great potential for information and entertainment, but we must remember that lax behavior can be dangerous.

Predicting

For each set, write the definition on the line next to the word to which it belongs. If you are unsure, re­turn to the reading on page 88, and underline any context clues you find. After you've made your predic­tions, check your answers against the Word List on page 93. Place a checkmark in the box next to each word whose definition you missed. These are the words you'll want to study closely.

Set One

watchfulness

to cheat

trustworthiness

junk e-mail

to decode

□ 1. defraud (line 3) ...

□ 2. spam (line 9) ...

□ 3. credibility (line 13) ...

□ 4. circumspection (line 14)

□ 5. decipher (line 20) ...

Set Two

authenticity

a traditional saying 

a trying experience

careless

the practice of luring Internet users to a fake Web site to steal personal information

□ 6. phishing (line 22) ...

□ 7. validity (line 26) ...

□ 8. ordeal (line 26) ...

□ 9. adage (line 31) ...

□ 10. lax (line 33) ...

Self-Tests

1 Put a T for true or F for false next to each sentence.

1. Those involved in phishing are honest people.

2. It is easy for most people to decipher hieroglyphics.

3. Planning a wedding can be an ordeal.

4. Most people like getting spam in their e-mail.

5. A mechanic should be lax when repairing a car.

6. When planning a surprise party, it can be helpful to use circumspection.

7. If a couple is going to buy diamonds, they should check the credibility of a store before making a purchase.

8. It is important to check the validity of a medicine's claims before taking it.

9. Most parents try to defraud their children out of their allowances.

10. The adage "The early bird catches the worm" would appeal to most late sleepers.

2 Answer the following questions using the vocabulary words. Use each word once.

Vocabulary list

adage 

ordeal

circumspection

lax

phishing

credibility

defraud

decipher

validity

spam

1. What has Yoon been about security if he gets a virus on his computer?

2. If a person offers to sell you a new car for two hundred dollars, what can you assume the person is trying to do to you?

3. Zora couldn't read the note from her brother because he had written it as he hurried out the door. What couldn't she do?

4. Toshi carefully read the contract when he signed with a baseball team. What did he want to check?

5. What is "The bigger they are, the harder they fall"?

6. What would most people call spending a night on the floor of an airport and not having eaten for sixteen hours?

7. When trying to find the appropriate birthday present, Fem carefully asked around about some of Juanita's favorite things. What was Fem using?

8. Bob checked out several investment firms before giving one his money. What did he want to make sure about each company?

9. If you get an e-mail that appears to be from your credit card company but asks for your password, what is someone doing?

10. The company sent out millions of e-mails to announce their new product. What did they do to people?

3 Complete the sentences using the vocabulary words. Use each word once.

Vocabulary list

spam

validity

phishing

ordeal

decipher

lax

adage

defraud

credibility

circumspection

1. People try to ... others by stealing their credit card numbers.

2. A detective needs to use ... when he or she is following someone.

3. The ... of the witness was called into question when it was discovered the man had been engaged to the suspect in college; It wasn't clear whether he still loved her.

4. I write my notes neatly so I can ... them when studying for an exam.

5. Traveling to see my uncle is a(n) ... in the winter; he lives on a dirt road, and it becomes a huge mud pit after even a little rain.

6. I thought I was being careful, but I became a victim of ... I gave out my Social Security number on a Web site that I thought belonged to my bank.

7. I hate getting ... in my inbox. I have to delete three to four junk messages each day.

8. I doubted the ... of Warren's statement that it was snowing outside. Snow seemed unlikely on a July day in Los Angeles.

9. My ... study habits caused me to fail two of my midterms. I wasn't as careless the rest of the term.

10. I agree with the ... "Don't count your chickens before they're hatched. "You can never be sure about a situation until it is over.

Identify the two vocabulary words represented in the photos.

Collocations

I should have heeded the old adage "Look before you leap," but I joined the soccer team before realizing how hard the training was or how often I would have to practice. (Chapter 13)

I got careless and failed to check the validity of a Web site sent to me in an e-mail. I thought the - e-mail was from a friend, but it turned out to be from a company that had hijacked her contact list. (Chapter 13)

Bonnie could not face the ordeal of another Thanksgiving at her aunt's house; ten screaming chil­dren and eleven cats were too much for her to take. (Chapter 13)

Interesting Etymologies

Ordeal (Chapter 13) comes from a medieval form of trial. If a court could not decide a person's guilt or innocence using the evidence presented, the person had to undergo an ordal, meaning "judgment." The person was subjected to a cruel physical test such as putting one's hand in boiling water. If the person showed no injuries after three days, he or she was found innocent. Today an ordeal is "a harsh or trying test or experience," but it is no longer forced on one by the courts.

Spam (Chapter 13) as a food product got its name in 1937 from its main ingredient "sp(iced) (h) am." The meaning of "junk e-mail" came in the early 1990s. It is likely taken from a skit done on the British television series Monty Python’s Flying Circus (1970s) where a restaurant's menu ex­tensively features the food product Spam. In the skit, the word spam is repeated continuously, just as spam e-mail is sent again and again.

Interactive Exercise

Answer the following questions about computers and the Internet.

1. What is one way you can check the validity of a Web site?

2. How much spam do you usually get in your e-mail inbox in a day?

3. What kind of statement would you want to check the credibility of before you considered buying a product advertised online?

4. When you first started using a computer, did you find it an ordeal or a pleasure? Explain why.

5. Think of a situation when circumspection would be especially important to use on the Internet.

6. What can you do to protect yourself from phishing?

7. What is one way someone might try to defraud you on the Internet?

8. What is one reason a person shouldn't be lax when on the Internet?

9. Do you find it hard to decipher instructions when you do something on the computer? Give an example of a time it was difficult, or explain why you don't have problems with computers.

10. What is an adage that could apply to using computers?

Conversation starters

An. excellent way to review the vocabulary words and help to make them your own is to use them when you are speaking. Gather three to five friends or classmates, and use 0ne or more of the con­versation starters below. Before you begin talking, have each person write down six of the vocabu­lary words he or she will use during the conversation. Share your lists with each other to check that you did not all pick the same six words. Try to cover all of the words you want to study, whether you are reviewing one, two, or more chapters.

1. Did you enjoy being read to as a child? What were some of your favorite books?

2. What are two of your favorite animals? What do you like about these animals? Are they endangered?

3. How careful are you on the computer? What kind of spam do you get?

Word List

Words to Watch

Which words would you like to practice with a bit more? Pick 3-5 words to study, and list them below. Write the word and its definition, and compose your own sentence using the word correctly. This extra practice could be the final touch to learning a word.