4th Anniversary - We Must Be Doing Something Right

[sharon sanders]

How ironic. More attempts to take us offline.

On our 4th anniversary, since 12am EST today, there have been over 900 attempts to login into our server. Sent by the server company via email:


Subject: Large Number of Failed Login Attempts from IP 202.106.15.210


The ip is from Bejing, China.

We had a small downtime this morning while the server company checked all server files. They are fine and not corrupted.

None of these attempts have been successful.

I wonder what information are we disseminating that is so important that we are taken down, or at least, disrupted?

We will continue, especially now that the world's attention is not focused on A/H1N1 at this time.

This is probably the most dangerous time regarding influenza since we have been online. With H5N1 re-emerging in many parts of the world and with the general lack of concern about the "mild" A/H1N1 pandemic it is voices like us who keep a public vigil on these issues.

We will continue to serve the world's vulnerable populations. We are the power of information in the hands of the people.

Yes, Power.......

Pepsi picks social media over Super Bowl ads


Benny Evangelista, Chronicle Staff Writer
Saturday, February 6, 2010

The rise of social media has helped end one of the longest streaks in Super Bowl history - Pepsi won't have a televised commercial during the big game for the first time in 23 years.

Instead of paying millions of dollars for 30 seconds of airtime, the soft drink giant is pouring resources into an online social-networking campaign designed to engage and interact with customers for months.

It's a move that raised eyebrows among traditional media watchers, but social media experts say Pepsi has called the right play for a rapidly changing advertising game in which consumers are becoming the mass media that carry the message.


And relying on standard TV, print or online banner ads may no longer be enough.


"People are expecting the same interactivity, the same engagement that they're finding when they use Facebook or when they are Twittering," said social-media marketing consultant Carnet Williams, founder of Sprout Inc. of San Francisco.


The Super Bowl telecast is considered the top advertising opportunity of the year on American television. For Sunday's Super Bowl XLIV between the Indianapolis Colts and the New Orleans Saints, CBS-TV was reportedly asking as much as $3 million for a 30-second spot.

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/articl...#ixzz0elc8GsjP

------------------------

We are part of this revolution in awareness.

Online for 4 years, many our participants online for much longer.

Disseminating information to all, for free.

People helping other people on a global basis.

What I say to the hackers, and controllers of information, is that we will not go away. We have shown our perseverance and dedication.

Our will and spirit is a force that can not be dismissed or hacked away.

This is the new reality. Information is power and now it is increasingly going into the hands of the people.

Live with it.



A profound thank you to the team here. I feel very privileged to be able to work among you. When I have the chance to speak to some of you on the phone I hear the sincerity, the honestly, the graciousness. I am humbled.

You have helped many.



"No one saves us but ourselves. No one can and no one may. We ourselves must walk the path."

Budda

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JbCEQHfDvWk&feature=related

[sharon sanders]

Re: 4th Anniversary - We Must Be Doing Something Right

Posted in October -

Our Twitter account has been recognized as a leader on the internet for

Swine Flu/H1N1: The Best Blogs, Tweeters and Aggregators for Journalists to Follow

by the University of Southern California Annenberg School of Communication on their Reporting on Health blog, which is supported by The California Endowment Health Journalism Fellowships.

"This week, I'm going to focus on the best bloggers, tweeters and online aggregators to help you stay abreast of developments in this year's biggest health stories: H1N1/swine flu and health reform.

snip


TWITTER

These folks on Twitter also are worth a follow:

Reuters Flu News

Avian Pandemic Influenza Daily Digest: news from the federal government

FluTrackers, a group of volunteers dedicated to tracking various types of influenza around the world

CIDRAP (see above aggregator)

Helen Branswell, considered one of the best reporters covering pandemic flu

CDC Emergency"




Thank you USC for recognizing the effort we make to provide quality information.


A special thanks to Dutchy who links back to FluTrackers and we re-tweet. Oh...and Fla Medic, Senior Moderator at FluTrackers, is there too for his blog Avian Flu Diary.


This is an achievement earned by everyone here.

Thank you. We are reaching many!


--------------


Adding today - thanks to Commonground, Makoto , and Ironorehopper who post links to us.

[sharon sanders]

Re: 4th Anniversary - We Must Be Doing Something Right

Posted in November 2009 -


FluTrackers On Medpedia !

Wow!




We have been selected to be part of:

Medpedia Alerts

"Medpedia Alerts aggregates news updates from reliable sources on Twitter."


Thank you Harvard Medical School, Stanford Medical School, University of California School of Public Health and the University of Michigan Medical School for recognizing the effort we make here.



This is our twitter account:

http://twitter.com/FluTrackers

It is a wonderful reaffirmation of our effort here.


Thank you to everyone who has ever believed in us. From the challenges of 2006 to now. To those who have persisted. Who gave of themselves year after year. To All Those Who have Recently Found Us. Your faith that strangers who have never met, from all over the world, of many different languages and cultures, can speak with one voice expressing man's humanity.

A profound thank you.



"Few are those who see with their own eyes and feel with their own hearts."


Albert Einstein

[Giuseppe]

Re: 4th Anniversary - We Must Be Doing Something Right

I am proud to be part of FluTrackers.com community forum because - silently - this site has made difference, in many ways: with continuous updating by contributors, spotting ''strange cases'' and tracking uneasy to digest incidents all around the world.

Unfortunately recent signs of a slowing interest by public opinion in pandemic influenza and preparedness have started to emerge, with a decreasing blogs and flublogia activity and audience.

Economic recession is far for being over in may parts of the world and natural or man-made disaster are continuing to plague vast portion of human population.

The most recent in Haiti demonstrates further the need for the common-man and common-woman to be ''prepared'', ''aware'' of situation that could cause social and economic disruption.

Governments and authorities may suffer damages during mass casualties events and communities should be prepared at the best for taking responsibilities for social continuity: school, education, health care, food etc.

Because of all these things, perhaps, Flutrackers.com is becoming a ''disturbing'' fact in the new media panorama, as the forum and its content is totally free and accessible to all in need for informations.

I hope that FluTrackers.com community will have a future and I am confident that any attempt to silence the voice from so many souls will continue to fail.

Giuseppe Michieli (Ironorehopper)

[Michael Coston]

Re: 4th Anniversary - We Must Be Doing Something Right

Congratulations are indeed in order to the members of FluTrackers.


While interest in pandemic flu may be waning among the general public, and some flu-fatigue has set in even in Flublogia, there is still much that FT can contribute now, and in the years to come.


Congratulations to everyone who has made FT what is is today.

[mixin]

Re: 4th Anniversary - We Must Be Doing Something Right

Happy Anniversary FluTrackers

It takes a lot of hard work to make and keep a forum successful. The flubies here do a admirable job of finding news, studies, analyses and sharing opinions and knowledge. I often think of our H5N1 trackers, and how hard it is to find news that's almost non-existant.

Thanks to all of you for all that you do.

[Gert van der Hoek]

Re: 4th Anniversary - We Must Be Doing Something Right

hatCongratulations to everyone, and a special thank you to Sharon Sanders, who made this project work.

Also a big hattip for the workers "behind the scenes" , who are doing a terrific job: thank you very much !

[Treyfish]

Re: 4th Anniversary - We Must Be Doing Something Right

Hacking for fun and profit in China?s underworld



With a few quick keystrokes, a computer hacker who goes by the code name Majia calls up a screen displaying his latest victims.

"Here's a list of the people who've been infected with my Trojan horse," he says, working from a dingy apartment on the outskirts of this city in central China. "They don't even know what's happened."

As he explains it, an online "trapdoor" he created just over a week ago has already lured 2,000 people from China and overseas-people who clicked on something they should not have, inadvertently spreading a virus that allows him to take control of their computers and steal bank account passwords.

Majia, a soft-spoken college graduate in his early 20s, is a cyberthief.

He operates secretly and illegally, as part of a community of hackers who exploit flaws in computer software to break into Web sites, steal valuable data and sell it for a profit.

Internet security experts say China has legions of hackers just like Majia, and that they are behind an escalating number of global attacks to steal credit card numbers, commit corporate espionage and even wage online warfare on other nations, which in some cases have been traced back to China.

Three weeks ago, Google blamed hackers that it connected to China for a series of sophisticated attacks that led to the theft of the company's valuable source code. Google also said hackers had infiltrated the private Gmail accounts of human rights activists, suggesting the effort might have been more than just mischief.

In addition to independent criminals like Majia, computer security specialists say there are so-called patriotic hackers who focus their attacks on political targets. Then there are the intelligence-oriented hackers inside the People's Liberation Army, as well as more shadowy groups that are believed to work with the state government.

Indeed, in China-as in parts of Eastern Europe and Russia-computer hacking has become something of a national sport, and a lucrative one. There are hacker conferences, hacker training academies and magazines with names like Hacker X Files and Hacker Defense, which offer tips on how to break into computers or build a Trojan horse, step by step.

For less than $6, one can even purchase the "Hacker's Penetration Manual." (Books on hacking are also sold, to a lesser extent, in the United States and elsewhere.)

And with 380 million Web users in China and a sizzling online gaming market, analysts say it is no wonder Chinese youths are so skilled at hacking. Many Chinese hackers interviewed over the last few weeks describe a loosely defined community of computer devotees working independently, but also selling services to corporations and even the military. Because it is difficult to trace hackers, exactly who is behind any specific attack and how and where they operate remains to a large extent a mystery, technology experts say. And that is just the way Majia, the young Chinese hacker, wants ithttp://nation.ittefaq.com/issues/201...3/news0936.htm

[Science Teacher]

Re: 4th Anniversary - We Must Be Doing Something Right

Sharon, you have done everything right!
Congratulations to you and all of the other contributors who have made this place into a must read site filled with excellent information and analysis.
Thousands of people have benefited from FT.
Happy anniversary to all!

[AlaskaDenise]

Re: 4th Anniversary - We Must Be Doing Something Right

From post#1:

Our will and spirit is a force that can not be dismissed or hacked away.

This is the new reality. Information is power and now it is increasingly going into the hands of the people.

FluTrackers is very much at the forefront of an ongoing evolving movement, where people don't wait for traditional resources to solve a problem - they do it themselves!

Haiti is the perfect example, where techno-savvy volunteers had mapping, people locator, resources, & boots-on-the-ground information up and running within 24 hours after the earthquake!

See:
Open Street Map

Web-based relief tools emerging to help Haiti
Volunteers building software for ?crisis mapping,? locating missing persons

from above:

Internet social networking tools have helped volunteers organize intense work sessions.

CrisisCamp drew some 400 people in six cities including Washington, London and Mountain View, Calif., over the weekend to meet-ups where they devised, built and helped refine tools. Among them: a basic Creole-English dictionary for the iPhone that was delivered to Apple on Monday night for its approval.

"There was no break for lunch and people barely used the bathroom," said Clay Johnson of the Sunlight Foundation, the government transparency-promoting tech nonprofit that hosted the 130 participants in the Washington session. U.N., State Department and World Bank representatives attended.

Web volunteers aid Haiti relief

How crowdsourcing is helping in Haiti

.

[Sally Furniss]

Re: 4th Anniversary - We Must Be Doing Something Right

Thank you FluTrackers Team. It is a pleasure to work with you all, you are an inspiration.

To help further FluTrackers mission a blog is being developed.

[sharon sanders]

Re: 4th Anniversary - We Must Be Doing Something Right

We also have a You Tube channel under construction.

http://www.youtube.com/flutrackers

[Thornton]

Re: 4th Anniversary - We Must Be Doing Something Right

Congratulations on your accomplishments and Godspeed on all that you do.

[german-docter]

Re: 4th Anniversary - We Must Be Doing Something Right

I am proud to be part of FluTrackers.com community forum because - silently - this site has made difference, in many ways: with continuous updating by contributors, spotting ''strange cases'' and tracking uneasy to digest incidents all around the world.

Unfortunately recent signs of a slowing interest by public opinion in pandemic influenza and preparedness have started to emerge, with a decreasing blogs and flublogia activity and audience.

Economic recession is far for being over in may parts of the world and natural or man-made disaster are continuing to plague vast portion of human population.

The most recent in Haiti demonstrates further the need for the common-man and common-woman to be ''prepared'', ''aware'' of situation that could cause social and economic disruption.

Governments and authorities may suffer damages during mass casualties events and communities should be prepared at the best for taking responsibilities for social continuity: school, education, health care, food etc.

Because of all these things, perhaps, Flutrackers.com is becoming a ''disturbing'' fact in the new media panorama, as the forum and its content is totally free and accessible to all in need for informations.

I hope that FluTrackers.com community will have a future and I am confident that any attempt to silence the voice from so many souls will continue to fail.

Giuseppe Michieli (Ironorehopper)

ironorehopper

very wise words !


Happy Anniversary, FluTrackers

[sharon sanders]

Re: 4th Anniversary - We Must Be Doing Something Right

hat tip Shiloh -

I think they have more work to do.....

China Heralds Bust of Major Hacker Ring


By JAMES T. AREDDY

SHANGHAI?China heralded a major bust of computer hackers to underscore its pledge to help enhance global online security, with state media saying officials had shut what they called the country's largest distributor of tools used in malicious Internet attacks.


Three people were arrested on suspicion of making hacking tools available online, the state-run Xinhua news agency said on Monday. Their business, known as Black Hawk Safety Net, operated through the now-shuttered Web site 3800cc.com and generated around $1 million in income from its over 12,000 subscribers, the report said.


The arrests took place in late November as part of a police investigation that spanned three Chinese provinces and resulted in part from Black Hawk's role in domestic cyberattacks, according to Xinhua.


The delay in announcing the case wasn't explained. China in recent weeks has waged an aggressive public-relations campaign on the issue of hacking, apparently at least in part aimed at discrediting allegations from Google Inc. and others last month that China was the source of sophisticated cyberattacks against the Internet search giant and a number of other foreign companies. After U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton also raised concerns about hacking from China, Chinese state media said her comments were hypocritical and said Google had become a pawn in an American "ideology war."

more.....

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703630404575052684021385828.html?mod=WSJ_WSJ_US_World

We have only had 1 more attack since the big effort on Saturday. It seems as we adjust our settings they test this and adjust theirs. So far we are ahead of them. We will remain diligent on this situation.