What Is Smishing and How to Avoid it
Perhaps you’ve heard of phishing. This is the criminal practice of using fake emails to defraud users into giving away sensitive personal information such as passwords or bank details. Well there’s more than one way to phish – one of these being “smishing”. This entails using fake SMS (mobile phone text) messages to gain your personal info. But don’t swim into despair just yet, there are still ways to protect yourself.Download AVG AntiVirus FREE
The psychology of smishing
The more things go mobile, the more prevalent smishing will be, so it’s important to hone your hackles to rise upon receipt of a devious text message. While people have gotten used to email spam, they are probably less likely to doubt the legitimacy of an SMS message.This article contains:This article contains:
- The psychology of smishing
- How do smishy numbers look?
- How a smish might occur
- Avoid smishing with these tips
Smishers rely on your quick reaction to a message that may appear basically identical to an actual message from, for example, your bank. One tactic – or tip off – of a fake message is the imploring of an immediate response such as,“Urgent!” or “Reply now!” The less you think, of course, the better for the scammers. However, even if you give the message a good look-over, it could still fool you.
How do smishy numbers look?
While some smishes come from strange phone numbers, fake messages can simply use the name of a business instead of a visible number – the way many real businesses already do. One such tricky smishing scam happened in the Czech Republic with a text that really appeared to be from their postal service. Further complicating the matter is the fact that many real businesses will use a “shortcode” to send text messages. This is a small group of numbers that appears instead of a real phone number – and yes, scammers use similar brief numbers to their heart’s content. And yet even more dastardly is that sometimes the fraudulent messages can insert themselves into your existing legitimate message threads! Yes, things can get a bit bleak, but press on, heroic reader, and you’ll find ways to arm yourself with knowledge and train yourself to recognize certain tells of fake messages.
How a smish might occur
Here is how an especially slippery smishing scam might go. You get a message from what appears to be your bank telling you to download their new app. You click a link inside the message, and a web page opens up that looks exactly like your bank’s website – or at least how you imagine your bank’s website would look (who can remember anyway, since things look different on mobile, and banks aren’t known for having scintillatingly memorable webpages anyway).
So now you’re on this official-looking page that doesn’t have any raging signs of anything phishy. You are simply shown a button to download a banking app. Well, slick as this whole operation is, you might be able to spot one problem, which is that the link doesn’t show the label for the Google Play or Apple App Store. Now Apple won’t innately let you download apps that aren’t on their App Store, but Android phones are more susceptible to malware downloads. But in both cases, these stores have a careful verification process, so there’s less chance a piece of pure malware would be there (though it has happened).
If you’ve already clicked your way to this initial download screen, the smishers still don’t have you completely hooked – you can still slip away by not downloading the fake app. But if you do download the fake app, you can really get into some hot water. Once downloaded, that app will likely prompt you to enter your bank info – and those details are then delivered right into the hands of the hackers. Or, in the particularly nasty case of the aforementioned Czech Post smish, the newly downloaded fake app – full of juicy malware – disappeared and created an overlay to appear in the user’s other apps, prompting, yes, credit card info to be entered, and the rest is history.
Avoid smishing with these tips
- If the message is clearly from a number you don’t know, or a company you know you don’t have business with, don’t click on any links within. Simple, but effective.
- Whether you’re worried about smishing or not, an eternal rule of thumb for existing more securely on the internet is to have different passwords for different accounts. Yes, this can be annoying when you’re trying to quickly hammer in the right password, but password managers can help with that, and it pays off in the long run in the event that you do get compromised by a scam.
- Get AVG AntiVirus FREE, which can recognize phishing websites and prevent you from clicking your way to doom.Download AVG AntiVirus FREEGet it for iOS, Android, PC
- Be cautious of strange-looking numbers, but remember, as mentioned above, strange-looking numbers can still be legitimate, so really think before you click onward – and never click if you’re in doubt. Doing a quick search online for the number in question may reveal it to be a scam number.
- Messages containing: “Congratulations, you’re a winner!”; “Urgent!”; and “Reply now!” are not things you should ever pursue further.
There is a lot of strange phishing in today’s digital ocean. While you may get fooled, arming yourself with knowledge is a great defense.
by Colin Asher on January 23, 2020
Updated on August 26, 2021
Signs Your Phone Has Been Hacked
With your contacts, credit cards, banking info, and more stored on your phone, you may ask yourself: Can my phone get hacked? Sadly, cell phone hacking is indeed a problem, and a hacked phone can cause serious issues. Learn how to detect phone hacking and protect yourself with a free mobile security app.Install free AVG Mobile Security
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Can someone hack my phone?
Yes, your phone can be hacked — and it happens more often than you might think. But there are ways to tell if you’ve been the victim of a phone hack, and precautions to take to avoid being hacked in the first place.
In this article, we’ll show you how to protect yourself against phone hacking.This article contains:This article contains:
- Can someone hack my phone?
- How to know if your phone has been hacked
- The techniques phone hackers use
- My phone was hacked, how do I fix it?
- Protect your phone against hacking
How to know if your phone has been hacked
There will always be hackers, but you can keep your data safe by watching out for signs of foul play. Here’s how to tell if your phone has been hacked.
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It’s running slower than usual
One of the most common phone hacked signs is a drop in performance. If websites are taking too long to load, or if your apps are suddenly crashing when you use them, malware may be hogging your phone’s bandwidth or processing power. You may also experience trouble with sending and receiving messages or when trying to turn your phone on and off.
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Your phone feels hot
Does your phone ever feel hot, even when you haven’t been actively using it? Phones can heat up during prolonged periods of intensive use, like while streaming a movie or gaming for hours, but if it’s not you that’s causing your phone to heat up, it may be someone else.
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You’re draining battery faster than usual
If your phone’s battery is draining faster than usual, check if you have a lot of apps open in the background. Background apps can burn through lots of data, and you can save battery power by restricting background app data.
There are many ways to make your battery last longer, but if everything is otherwise normal, shorter battery life may be a sign your phone has been hacked.
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Service disruptions
While it isn’t uncommon to occasionally experience a dropped call or a bad connection, if service disruptions have become increasingly regular, it may be time to ask: Is my phone hacked?
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Strange pop-ups
If you’re seeing a lot more pop-up ads than usual, your phone may be infected with adware, a type of malicious software that inundates you with ads. Never tap any suspicious ads or links.
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Websites look different
Sometimes Google will change the look of their homepage for a special day, but if you’re noticing that many sites look different than they usually do, it could signify a hacked iPhone or Android.
Malware on your phone could be acting as a proxy between you and the web, redirecting your traffic to other sites. Knowing how to check if a website is safe can help you protect yourself.
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New apps appear
While we’ve all downloaded an app and then immediately forgotten about it, one of the signs a phone hacker has accessed your phone may be the presence of apps you don’t recognize. In a messy phone library, a single extra app with malicious intent may go unnoticed.
If you see an unfamiliar app, look it up online — you may need to remove malware from your phone. And make sure to assess apps for safety before downloading them.
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Apps stop working properly
If your apps are frequently quitting, or your phone is regularly freezing up, it may be because your cell phone was hacked and malware is using up your phone’s resources.
Poor performance could also signal that you need to update your phone’s software, which is essential for phone security. Before shelling out for a new phone, try our tips to speed up your iPhone or boost your Android.
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You receive unknown calls and texts
Can someone hack your iPhone through text? Can someone hack into your phone by calling you? It’s unlikely someone can directly hack your phone by calling you (though they could attempt to phish for information), but text hacking is another story.
While many hacked text messages require you to click on a suspicious link, an iPhone message hack with interaction-less iOS bugs can use a text message to infect your phone, even without you doing anything. You can protect against these exploitable vulnerabilities by using an encrypted messaging app to keep the data secure.
If someone tells you that you’ve called or texted them when you haven’t, it’s likely your phone has been hacked. Inform friends and family if you receive strange messages or calls coming from them.
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Running out of data
If you’re noticing unexplained spikes in your data usage, you may not be the only one using your data. A hacked iPhone or Android device can use your data to transmit information collected from your phone.
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Unexpected bill charges
If you have unexpected charges that your phone company can’t account for, they may be coming from the extra data usage described above. If someone is using your phone remotely, they could be calling people or using premium services. Mysterious charges should be investigated to rule out malware.
Fleeceware apps can charge outrageous subscription fees and may also be the cause of your billing issues. These apps usually lure you in with a free trial, which turns into a paid subscription a few days later. If you find one of these on your phone, unsubscribe from within the app — simply deleting it won’t work.
Protect your phone against threats like these with AVG AntiVirus for Android or AVG Mobile Security for iPhone. Both apps offer an additional layer of protection against hackers and will secure your phone and protect your personal information.Install free AVG Mobile Security
The techniques phone hackers use
So how are these hackers able to get into your phone in the first place? The most dangerous and famous hackers use a mix of technical wizardry and social engineering tricks to exploit the humans behind the phones.
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Phone hackers can use a variety of techniques to infiltrate your mobile device.
Here are some of the most common techniques hackers use to hack phones:
Phishing
Phishing involves using social engineering tactics to fool you into disclosing personal information. A phishing attack can be simple, like an email with a link that says FREE and directs you to a malicious site. Many of today’s most famous hackers use phishing attacks in their campaigns.
Or it can be a more complex scheme, like an online quiz that can tell you which Disney princess you are based on your birthday, mother’s maiden name, and the name of your first pet — answers which the attacker can then use to break into your accounts.
Phishing can also be highly targeted, focused on tricking one specific high-level employee into revealing too much information. Focused attacks against senior leadership figures are known as whaling.
Spy apps
One sneaky way to infect a phone with malware is to convince someone to download an app with hidden spy features. This app may be disguised as a game, an app for productivity, or even one promising security, when it’s actually a spyware app tracking your online activities and personal data. Some Android spyware can even spy when your phone isn’t on.
Another type of malicious software for your phone is stalkerware, which tracks your movements, browsing, messages, and calls. Stalkerware is usually installed by someone close to you — when parental control apps are used in this way, they become stalkerware.
Make sure to remove spyware from your Android and get rid of creepy spying apps on your iPhone.
SIM swapping
Many two-factor authentication (2FA) procedures confirm your login with a text message sent to your phone. With SIM swapping, hackers try to convince your service provider that your phone number actually needs to be swapped over to a different SIM card (the hacker’s). That way, they’ll receive your authentication messages.
SIM swapping scams usually starts with phishing attempts designed to give the hacker enough information to impersonate you to the service provider. With enough of your personal info, a hacker can use your phone number to initiate a SIM swap.
While it’s unlikely someone can hack into your phone by calling you, you should still protect your phone number: an unknown call now may be part of a plan to hack later.
Unauthorised access
Cybercriminals can use phishing or other techniques to access your iCloud or Google account. Many people have these accounts linked to their social media, which can be leveraged as a vulnerability to get into your data. With unauthorised access to your accounts, a hacker can see your location information and view your emails, messages, and keychains.
Bluetooth
It may make it easier to play music through a speaker, but a wireless Bluetooth connection makes your phone more vulnerable to cyber crime. Hackers can use software to intercept a bluetooth signal and gain access to your phone. Don’t pair your phone with a device you don’t trust, or in a location that’s unsecured.
Wi-Fi
Similar to Bluetooth, Wi-Fi can also be used by hackers to gain access to your phone. In particular, using public Wi-Fi networks can leave your phone vulnerable to attack, as they may have been set up by a malicious actor waiting for you to connect. It’s also important to change the default password to your home Wi-Fi network to prevent hackers from hacking into your router.
You can protect yourself on public Wi-Fi by setting up a mobile VPN on iPhone or Android. A VPN, or virtual private network, encrypts your connection to prevent bad actors from getting into your phone.
Charging stations
Need to quickly charge your phone at a public charging station? Think twice — the juice jacking scam infects these stations with malware to target people running low on power.
An infected charging station does more than give you a power boost. The malware spreads to your phone, where it can monitor what you do, collect and transmit your private data, and even make a withdrawal from your bank account.
If you use mobile charging stations, protect your phone with a cybersecurity app from a trusted provider. AVG AntiVirus for Android and AVG Mobile Security for iPhone keep your phone safe from malicious activity, ensuring that your data and apps are always protected.Install free AVG Mobile Security
My phone was hacked, how do I fix it?
If you think your phone has been hacked, there are ways to find and remove malware on Android phones or iPhones — you can remove malicious apps, clear your cache and downloads, or even fully wipe your phone.
But the safest method is to protect your phone against hacks in the first place with one of the best free antivirus apps available.
Protect your phone against hacking
Even if you’re always careful, hackers are constantly building new hacking tools to get into your devices. If you’re an iPhone user, AVG Mobile Security for iPhone/iPad will keep you safe by automatically checking that your Wi-Fi network is secure, as well as monitoring online databases to ensure none of your passwords have been stolen.
AVG also offers powerful protection for Android devices. AVG AntiVirus for Android protects your phone from malware, unsolicited calls, and other malicious behaviors. It also gives you additional anti-hacking protection by locking apps with sensitive information. Plus, anti-theft defenses help you locate and even wipe your phone remotely if it’s ever lost or stolen.Install free AVG Mobile Security
by Samuel Kellett on May 13, 2021
Updated on July 16, 2021
Great Western Highway through the Blue Mountains
The funding of $2.03b by the Commonwealth towards the $10b road works on the Great Western Highway from Katoomba to Lithgow including an 11km tunnel might be wonderful news for Lithgow, Bathurst, Orange and the Central West of NSW, but far from good news for the 70,000 residents of the Blue Mountains. The Great Western Highway is the LOCAL road that links the sixteen townships and is the only link for this 80km City of The Blue Mountains. Already with the Bells Line of Road limited due to washaways, the increased traffic especially large trucks is making journeys for medical, shopping, education etc very unpleasant. Funds must be directed to increase rail freight through the Mountains. I fear for the future carnage on this 60kph, 70kph and max 80kph road.
Government Press Briefings
I always switch off from the briefing when the reporters begin their inane questions. They take it in turn to ask the same questions as previous reporters have asked when the same answers are given plus already included in the briefing. Don’t they listen?
They actually don’t take it in turn. It seems that the loudest voice actually gets to ask the question as they shout out over each other to get the speaker to recognise them.
I think perhaps the Queensland Premier Joh Bjelke-Peterson had the correct idea when he said press briefings were “feeding the chooks”!
7 reasons people don’t get COVID-19 vaccinations, and why you should — right now
https://www.healthdirect.gov.au/blog/7-reasons-people-dont-get-covid-19-vaccinations
More than 18 months into the pandemic, Australia is still experiencing lockdowns and tough restrictions. The Delta variant of COVID-19 spreads easily and may be more dangerous than the original strain. More young people are on ventilators in hospital and some have died.
Vaccination is the country’s best weapon against COVID-19. Yet some people are still hesitant to get vaccinated — or they’re waiting for an alternative vaccine.
Here are some common reasons people aren’t getting, or are delaying, their vaccination.
‘The AstraZeneca vaccine could give me a blood clot’
The AstraZeneca vaccine has been linked to an extremely rare blood-clotting condition called thrombosis with thrombocytopenia syndrome (TTS). But the risk is tiny.
You are extremely unlikely to get a blood clot from the AstraZeneca vaccine.
By early August, there were 87 cases of TTS in Australia from 6.1 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine. Five of those people died.
This means that the average number of deaths from TTS caused by AstraZeneca is less than 1 in a million.
Since it was discovered, doctors have become very good at recognising and treating TTS. The chance of surviving it is even better now.
The AstraZeneca vaccine is safe and low risk. You’re more likely to get a blood clot from COVID-19 itself, and from many other things, such as:
- The combined oral contraceptive pill: for every 1 million women who take ‘the pill’, up to 1,200 will develop a blood clot.
- Long-haul travel: for every 4,500 flights over 4 hours, there will be 1 incidence of blood clotting.
- Non-steroidal anti-inflammatories (NSAIDs): regular use of this common type of pain-relief medicine (which includes ibuprofen), can almost double a person’s risk of blood clots.
You can still take these medicines or get on a plane. But it’s important to understand the risks and benefits of anything you do.
‘I’m aged 18-59 — we were told not to get AstraZeneca’
Yes, earlier in the year, the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (ATAGI) said that the Pfizer vaccine was the preferred vaccine for people aged 18 to 59. This was due a slightly increased risk of developing the very rare condition TTS (linked to AstraZeneca) for this age group.
But the situation has changed. So, ATAGI has changed its advice.
The Delta variant is more severe than the original SARS-CoV-2 strain of COVID-19. The proportion of younger people in hospital, on ventilators or dying due to COVID-19 is now higher than during outbreaks of the original strain.
If you live in an area of high community transmission, you are more at risk of dying from COVID-19 than from the AstraZeneca vaccine.
ATAGI strongly recommends that all Australian adults get vaccinated with any available COVID-19 vaccine — including the AstraZeneca vaccine. This is especially true for people in outbreak areas such as Greater Sydney.
The benefits of vaccination outweigh the rare risks of vaccination — for all age groups.
If you’re in an outbreak area, you can get your second dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine 4 to 8 weeks after your first dose. This is sooner than the usual 12 weeks, and it will offer you the best protection earlier.
‘I’ll wait for a different vaccine’
If you wait for your preferred vaccine, it may be too late. It’s best to get vaccinated before an outbreak starts so you’re well protected from COVID-19.
Also, it takes 7 to 14 days after your second dose of either vaccine before you’re fully protected from COVID-19. So don’t delay.
To book your vaccination, contact your doctor (GP) or use the Vaccines Eligibility Checker. If you don’t have a GP, find one near you using the Service Finder.
FIND A HEALTH SERVICE — The Service Finder can help you find doctors, pharmacies, hospitals and other health services.
‘COVID-19 is a mild disease and not dangerous’
By early August, COVID-19 had caused more than 4.2 million deaths worldwide. Almost 200 million cases have been reported.
Yes, the elderly and people with underlying medical conditions are at the highest risk. However, anyone — including healthy young people — can get severe disease and die from COVID-19.
COVID-19 can also cause lasting health problems. One Sydney study found that 1 in 3 people with mild-to-moderate COVID-19 were left with symptoms lasting at least 2 months — known as ‘long COVID’. These symptoms include fatigue and shortness of breath. More than 1 in 10 had poor lung function.
The virus is easily spread by people with few, or no, symptoms. Even if you don’t become unwell with COVID-19, you may pass the virus on to others without knowing it. People you love may become very ill.
Vaccinating most of the population will decrease the spread of COVID-19 in your community. Vaccination protects you, and those around you, from severe COVID-19 and death.
‘I don’t trust the vaccines because they were developed quickly’
It does seem like the vaccines were invented ‘overnight’. But scientists and manufacturers started working together on vaccines as soon as the pandemic started.
The AstraZeneca vaccine, for example, is based on years of research by Oxford University in the UK.
The technology behind the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine has been developed over the past 10 years. It was tested on other diseases, such as the flu, and other coronaviruses, such as MERS.
All COVID-19 vaccines approved for use in Australia have been through the same rigorous clinical trials that any vaccine normally would go through. The trials were just fast-tracked thanks to unprecedented funding.
And as other countries progress with their vaccine rollouts, more and more ‘real-world’ data is showing that these vaccines are highly effective at protecting people from severe illness, hospitalisation and death.
‘My risk of getting COVID-19 is low’
You might be in an area of low (or no) community transmission. You might think, ‘Why bother getting vaccinated right now?’
But restrictions and lockdowns are likely to end once most Australians are vaccinated.
Even if restrictions are in force, once 8 in every 10 Australians are fully vaccinated, vaccinated people may be exempt from those restrictions. This is according to the Australian Government’s new National Plan to respond to COVID-19.
You may be able to flash your proof of vaccination to enter concerts, cinemas or sporting events — while unvaccinated (but eligible) people stay at home.
The ban on outbound international travel may be lifted. More people will be able to visit, or return home, to Australia. They may be able to quarantine at home instead of in a government-assigned hotel.
Lockdowns could be ‘highly targeted’ only. And when everyone who wants to be vaccinated is vaccinated, lockdowns should end.
Don’t like lockdowns? Want to travel, or for the kids to go back to school? Do your bit and get vaccinated.
‘My friend (or relative) told me not to get vaccinated’
It’s not their decision — it’s yours.
You should follow the advice of doctors and public-health experts with decades of experience — not that of unqualified people, even if they mean well.
Getting vaccinated against COVID-19 will not only protect you, but also your family and your community. It will protect others who can’t get vaccinated, such as young children.
If you’re not sure about COVID-19 vaccination, speak to your doctor. Make an informed choice.Use the Vaccine Eligibility Checker to see if you can get vaccinated against COVID-19, and to book your vaccination.Use the Side Effect Checker if you are worried about any symptoms after your COVID-19 vaccination.
For more information and support
- Speak to your doctor (GP).
- Read more about COVID-19 and vaccines on the healthdirect COVID-19 hub.
- For information on COVID-19 — including restrictions — call the National Coronavirus Helpline on 1800 020 080.
- Find COVID-19 vaccines information in your language at health.gov.au.
- For a glossary of vaccination terms in other languages, go to the NSW Multicultural Health Communication Service.
- Get COVID-19 and vaccines information in Aboriginal languages at coronavirus.nt.gov.au.
Long-term immune problems detected in recovered COVID-19 patients
New Australian research is offering a thorough look at the lasting impact of COVID-19 on immune system activity. Tracking a wide variety of biomarkers the research found immune abnormalities persisting at least six months after patients recover from acute disease.
Eighteen months into this global pandemic researchers are increasingly investigating the long-lasting effects of a SARS-CoV-2 infection. Dubbed “long COVID“, growing numbers of patients are reporting persistent symptoms lingering for months following the acute disease.
The Australian research is following 69 recovered COVID-19 patients, the majority of whom (47) only suffered from mild disease. Because of Australia’s unique position in the world, having temporarily eliminated the virus from certain regions, the ongoing project can track long-term immune responses to an infection without worrying about re-infection or vaccination status.
This new study, not yet peer-reviewed or published in a journal, outlines the effects of an infection on the peripheral immune system in the six months after initial recovery. Blood samples were taken from each subject at three points in the six-month study.
This article reported by Rich Haridy in NEW ATLAS from The University of Adelaide is worthwhile reading especially by those who think at COVID is just a bad case of influenza. Hopefully, this scientific study will help to change their mind.
The new research is yet to be peer-reviewed or published but it has been posted on medRxiv.
The above links will take you to the full article. Well worth reading!
I am ANGRY
Why am I angry?
I’m angry because we are in lockdown and have been for seven weeks because some people REFUSE to take this PANDEMIC seriously. They seem to believe that wearing a mask, staying at home, refusing to vaccinate and not meeting in groups is an affront to their freedom.
Their behaviour can and does lead to being infected by this virulent virus, especially this DELTA strain. COVID-19 is NOT just a bad influenza. It is a serious disease that has killed MILLIONS of people, put hundreds of millions in hospital many in ICU and gasping for breath, tens of thousands on ventilators just so they can stay alive. Victims of this disease are spending weeks in hospital, and not just the old and infirm but people in their teens, their twenties and their thirties and even young fit healthy children.
And then there are those who months later are still too unwell to work, who still fight for every breath, those whose mental faculties are diminished in a continuous brain fog. This is not the flu, this is what is being known as “long-COVID”.
Our society runs because we as humans are prepared to do so many things for the good of others, friends, family, and community and for everyone’s health and safety. We prove competence of driving by getting a licence, we wear a seat-belt for our safety and that of others, we register our vehicles and have them safety checked and we drive on the correct side of the road. Billions of people drive to the speed limit, observe the traffic lights, don’t drink and drive and follow the rules of the road. Why? For the safety and well-being of ourselves and others. Those who choose to speed, drink-drive, ignore traffic lights or the road rules risk death not only to themselves but to others on the road and their families grieve for them after their death or permanent incapacitation.
But this disease is like no other. By simply meeting with friends, by passing by one another in the street it is transmitted so very easily, not once but over and over and over. In one day in Sydney alone 466 people AT LEAST became infected. People in their twenties and thirties are dying OF COVID-19 who have no underlying health problems.
Scientists using the latest scientific discoveries, fully funded by government and companies, working overtime have developed VACCINES that mitigate the serious consequences of this disease and reduce its ability to infect others. These vaccines have now been tested in thousands of millions of people over the past twelve months to be safe and effective.
So why do we have people listening and believing the crazy, deluded idiots in our community who are anti-vaccination?
Vaccines have almost totally ridden our community of POLIO, MEASLES, MUMPS, CHICKEN POX, PERTUSSIS that in the past have killed or maimed many for life. When was the last time you heard of a person with polio?
The risk of serious blood clots from using the CONTRACEPTIVE PILL is tens of times more risky than the rare side effects of one vaccine. The risk of dying on the road is far greater again; every year for a hundred years over 1,000 people die on the roads and thousands more are seriously injured are maimed for life. Do you refuse to use the roads? There are serious dangers in BOTOX injections, in BREAST IMPLANTS, in LIP FILLERS, or HORMONE REPLACEMENT. How many people in our community happily undertake these procedures.
Don’t get me started on those who poison themselves daily with alcohol or tobacco. Let alone those who use marijuana, cocaine, or ice! And those QAnon and conspiracy sheep should be locked away.
FOR THE SAKE OF OUR COMMUNITY GET VACCINATED AND STAY AT HOME!
Explore over one million historical newspaper pages for FREE
In partnership with the British Library, FindmyPast have made over a million newspaper pages completely free to search and view. And there’s much more to come…
Following their renewal of a long-term partnership with the British Library, together they have pledged to make millions of historical newspaper pages free to view online. Search FREE newspaper archives
Over one million pages are now free to search and explore on both Findmypast and their sister site, the British Newspaper Archive. This will be expanded by more than 2.7 million additional free pages over the next four years.
Originally launched in 2011, Findmypast and the British Library’s partnership has delivered the most significant mass digitisation of newspapers the UK has ever seen. The British Newspaper Archive and Findmypast are currently home to more than 44 million fully-searchable pages from over a thousand regional, national and specialty titles dating from 2009 all the way back to 1699. Their ever-growing digital catalogue covers every corner of the British Isles as well as a number of former British territories including Canada, New Zealand, India, Pakistan, Barbados and Jamaica.
Previously, this vast cultural treasure was held entirely in hard copy and microfilm, meaning travel and hours of painstaking manual research for anyone wishing to explore its contents. Now anyone, anywhere in the world, can uncover millions of articles across hundreds of titles, in just a few simple clicks.
What newspaper archives are free?
There are currently 158 free newspapers on offer, dating from 1720 to 1880 and covering a diverse array of histories, locations and topics. The newspapers selected were digitised as part of four special British Library projects:
- 19th Century Newspapers: a project funded by the Joint Information Systems Committee and the British Library’s first major newspaper digitisation programme
- Heritage Made Digital: an ongoing project to transform digital access to rare and early newspapers, focusing on newspapers in a poor or unfit condition
- Living with Machines: another ongoing project, jointly led by the Library and the Alan Turing Institute, which has been digitising selected UK regional newspapers as part of a major study of the British industrial age and using artificial intelligence tools to undertake new kinds of historical enquiry
- The Endangered Archives Programme: a project that facilitates the digitisation of archives around the world that are in danger of destruction, neglect or physical deterioration
Illuminating diverse stories
Many of the papers included have been specifically chosen to help you shed new light on diverse and previously underrepresented communities and their histories. Highlights from the collection include:
- Barbadian (1822-1861) – a fascinating Caribbean publication that covers the transition of Barbados from the colonial, pre-modern to the modern era, including the Emancipation (1834), and the end of the apprenticeship system (1838)
- British Emancipator (1837-1840) – an anti-slavery newspaper that fought for the abolition of the system of apprenticeship, which was put into place after slavery was abolished in the British Colonies
- British Miner and General Newsman (1862-1867) – a journal devoted to working miners, which went through a number of titles including The Miner, The Workman’s Advocate and The Commonwealth
- Cobbett’s Weekly Political Register (1803-1836) – a famous and hugely information-rich vehicle for the ideas and opinions of the great nineteenth-century radical William Cobbett
- The Examiner (1808-1880) – a leading radical weekly, edited by Leigh Hunt, with contributors including William Hazlitt, John Keats and Percy Shelley
- Illustrated Sporting News and Theatrical and Musical Review (1862-1870) – a lively, visually rich newspaper covering a wide range of sports and theatrical events, with many fine illustrations
- Royal Gazette of Jamaica (1779-1840) – a West Indies newspaper notorious for its slavery advertisements
- Lady’s Newspaper and Pictorial Times (1847-1863) – one of the earliest newspapers produced for an exclusively female audience
- Morning Herald (1800-1869) – founded in 1780, a national daily that for a number of years rivalled The Times in importance
- Poor Man’s Guardian (1831-1835) – the most successful and influential of the radical unstamped (and thus illegal) newspapers of the early 1830s
- Sun (1801-1871) – a daily evening national newspaper, founded in 1792, originally with pro-government and anti-French revolutionary stance, before changing to advocate liberal and free trade principles
By providing free access to key areas of this unparalleled resource, Findmypast and the British Library are offering the public unique opportunities to uncover the stories behind historical events both great and small, as they happened; transforming their understanding of both the past and the present. This detail-rich archive sees the lives of ordinary people played out in print. Readers can discover contemporary reports on the struggles of the poor and working class, the daily lives of England’s mining communities, the evils of slavery, the campaign to end them and much more.
As well as providing free access, their use of Optical Character Recognition (OCR) and machine learning also means exploring these unique resources is easier than ever. You can search billions of lines of printed text by name, date, keyword or phrase, all from the comfort of your own home.
Findmypast Newsletter Friday 13 August 2021
Misinformation from SkyNews
SkyNews, after having some of its videos blocked by YouTube and blocked from using YouTube for seven days, has of its own volition removed some 30 videos from its servers and removed articles from its stable of newspapers as reported in the Sydney Morning Herald of 11 August 2021.
Here is a link to the article:
Sky News deleted more than 30 videos
The articles were by regular News opinion columnists Andrew Bolt and Alan Jones. Jones has also had his regular column in the Daily Telegraph discontinued, a decision I totally agree with.