Consumerist
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what the dell
Dell Gets Nosey When Attempting To Verify Order
Zach ordered a netbook online from Dell, then got a call from a customer service rep who wanted to verify his identity for the order. He was stumped as to why the company needed to give his birthday and last four digits of his SSN. More » -
identity theft
Protect That Identity With A (Free?) Paper Shredder
In honor of National Protect Your Identity Week, personal finance blogger Stephanie at Poorer Than You has cobbled together a guide on how to shred your documents if you're too cheap to go out and buy a paper-shredder. More » -
how to
Get Your Data Out Of Google
If you're like the average Google user, you've now got a lot of personal data—emails, addresses, calendars, documents, photos and videos, maybe even health records—in their system. This is fine with them, because the Google Hive Mind needs all of this data to eventually become self aware and enslave us. However, if you ever want to get that information out of Google, the company has created something they call the Data Liberation Front to make it easier for you. More » -
credit cards
Skimmers Rig Door Instead Of ATM
Last week, a customer in Long Beach, New York, discovered a skimmer attached to the outside of a local ATM branch instead of on specific machines. We've talked a lot about being wary of any suspicious add-ons at the ATM, but in this case the criminals were collecting card info as people swiped to enter the building—although they still had pinhole cameras set up to record PINs next to each keypad. More »
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warnings
Wave Of Fake Debt Collectors Hints At Possible Data Breach
The Better Business Bureau has released a warning to be aware of scammers calling to threaten people with arrest "within the hour" for defaulting on payday loans. What makes them stand out from normal debt collecting scammers is these callers have huge amounts of personal info on their victims, including Social Security and drivers license numbers; old bank account numbers; names of employers, relatives, and friends; and home addresses. More » -
big mistakes
Emailfinder.com Sells Wrong Info, Now Woman Has To Show Up In Small Claims Court
Some guy in London fell for an online iPhone scam in January, so he paid $150 to emailfinder.com to track down the identity behind the Hotmail account of the person who scammed him. Now he's suing Kim, who is completely unrelated to this story (or was, at least), for $4,368 to cover the $1200 he lost on the iPhone scam plus travel expenses for him to show up in small claims court here in the U.S. More » -
privacy
Marketers Announce They Will Bring More Transparency To Personal Data Collection By 2010
Several major advertising trade groups announced yesterday that starting in 2010, they will implement a new set of self-imposed guidelines on how they collect and use your personal info, in an attempt to prevent the government from handing down federal regulations. More » -
coupons
Sears Pays $10 In Coupons For Your Email Address
Max wants to know why he hasn't received the $10 gift certificate that the cashier at Sears promised him for turning over an email address to receive marketing messages. We contacted Sears and found out what's actually going on. More » -
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alerts
Monster.com Hacked, User Names & Passwords Stolen
Last Friday, Monster.com announced that their database had been attacked, and that account names, passwords, email addresses, and phone numbers had been stolen. Unfortunately, they haven't sent out email alerts to anyone—they just put the announcement up on the security section of their site. As our tipster Erica points out, "Given people's tendencies to reuse passwords on multiple sites (BAD!), that they aren't actively emailing and informing members of this breach is quite irresponsible." More » -
privacy
How To Get Utilities And Phone Service Without Giving Up Your SSN
As several readers discussed in yesterday's post, utility, phone, and cable companies usually require your Social Security number in order to perform a credit check before activating service. You don't have to provide it, but they don't have to extend their services to you either. Here's one reader's explanation of how he was able to turn on water, electricity, gas, and an AT&T land line without turning over his SSN. More » -
This Saturday (September 20th) is the Better Business Bureau's "Secure Your ID" day: in select cities, "bring up to three boxes or bags of paper documents that contain your personal information and we'll shred them." Or, you know, just do it yourself all year long. [BBB]
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citibank
Forever 21 Aftershocks? Citibank Cancels Cards Due To Retailer Security Breach
We've received queries from readers telling us that their Citibank cards have been replaced, and asking whether we've heard about any new security breach. Other than Forever 21 we haven't, so we're wondering whether they're responsible for the stories below. More » -
target
Why Does Target Need ALL Of Your Driver's License Data To Sell You Wine?
Thruhike98 tried to buy some wine at Target a couple of weekends ago, and they were surprised at how invasive the ID check turned out to be:
More »My wife showed the cashier her license, which was behind a clear window in her wallet. He said, “No, please hand it to me.” We both assumed he just wanted a closer look. Once he had it, he immediately picked up a barcode scanner and scanned the back of her drivers license. I asked him what that was all about, as I had never seen anyone do that before. Almost bragging that Target now knows, for example, exactly where we live, he explained that the scan “gets all the information off of the license.”
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privacy
EU Says IP Addresses Are Personal Data
The European Union's data privacy regulator group said this week that an IP address "has to be regarded as personal data" when it's used to identify a person. Although this has no bearing on how IP addresses are used in the United States, it might trigger a change in data collection policies for companies like Google that use IP addresses in order to serve relevant search results and ads. More » -
privacy
Facebook's Privacy Practices Under Investigation In U.K.
Facebook is being investigated by the U.K.'s Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) over their jacked-up cancellation policies, which keeps your user data on Facebook's servers even after you've closed your account. Facebook says its privacy policies are well within ICO regulations, and that they are taking the "concerns of the ICO and our user's privacy very seriously." More » -
mistakes
Activision Accidentally Introduces 860 Customers To Each Other
Consumerist reader chrismar was one of the Guitar Hero customers who requested a Wii replacement disc from Activision last month. On January 18th, the company sent out an email to its customers with an update on the disc replacement program. The problem is, they copied 859 other customers on the email. "As a result, my email address is in 859 unknown hands, and I have 859 email addresses I don't want." More »
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