Almost every time we write about fraud or identity theft, savvy readers will point out in the comments that many card companies offer temporary credit cards—virtual accounts tied to your real one that expire after one use, or a few days, or after a certain spending limit is reached. We thought it might be a good time to remind readers about these services, as well as password-protected and so-called “anonymous” credit cards.
internet
Comcast Raises Prices In Washington, With A Smile
By 11.30.07
Comcast is raising its prices in Washington, DC. Basic cable is going from $13.45 to $15.24, Digital Classic $11.96 to $14.95, Digital Premier from $110.10 to $115.45. If a tech has to come out to your home, the fee will go from $19.95 to $29.95. Relocating an outlet, however, dropped from $24.95 to $21.35.Best of all is the charming paragraph on the letter introducing the bill changes.
Adobe And Yahoo! Placing Ads In PDF Documents
By 11.29.07
Adobe and Yahoo! are testing a new program that lets publishers place advertisements in PDF documents, reports Reuters. “The Adobe service allows publishers to generate revenue by including text-based ads linked to the content of an Adobe PDF (portable document format) page in a separate side panel.”
Google Thinks Spammers Might Be Giving Up
By 11.29.07
Brad Taylor, Google’s chief spam “watchdog,” suspects that spammers may actually be giving up as filters becomes more sophisticated and fewer of their messages get through.
Google won’t disclose numbers, but the company says that spam attempts, as a percentage of e-mail that’s transmitted through its Gmail system, have waned over the last year. That could indicate that some spammers have gotten discouraged and have stopped trying to get through Google’s spam filters.
Other experts disagree, claiming that spam is on the rise.
National Retail Federation: Credit Card Companies Don't Care About Data Security
By 11.28.07
Last Sunday’s 60 minutes had a report by Lesley Stahl about the now-infamous TJX data breach.
Shhh! Let's All Get AT&T's Secret Naked DSL
By 11.27.07
Back in September we gave you some instructions for grabbing AT&T’s secret “naked” DSL, but to be honest, it’s not really that secret anymore, and it seems that people all around the country have been able to get it.
By 11.23.07
../../../..//2007/11/23/oftentimes-isps-advertise-connection-speeds/
Oftentimes ISPs advertise connection speeds higher than what they can deliver. [CBC Marketplace]
Facebook Ruins Christmas?
By 11.21.07
MoveOn.org is annoyed with Facebook over privacy issues. Apparently, people on Facebook can see what you’ve been buying on sites unrelated to Facebook and share this information with your friends. According to MoveOn.org, this is not only a violation of privacy (the feature is opt-out rather than opt-in), it’s been ruining Christmas/Holidays/Birthdays/Whatever for Facebook users.
Tech Didn't Show Up? Email Time Warner Cable
By 11.20.07
Reader G writes in with a success story. After her husband took off work to meet a Time Warner technician, they found out that their appointment time had been mysteriously changed. A quick search on Consumerist for some Time Warner executives and a polite email later, G had a technician at her home.
"Comcast Flat-Out Calls Me A Liar"
By 11.19.07
Reader George is unhappy with Comcast and he doesn’t even have it yet.
Verizon Will Waive Late Fee Only If You Pay Through The Automated Phone System
By 11.17.07
Verizon was willing to refund the late fee on reader Steve’s bill, but only if he paid through Verizon’s automated phone system. Steve instead offered to give his billing information to the Verizon CSR to whom he was speaking, an offer that was refused. Steve writes:
I used to work at a call center for a certain mobile provider. I understand exactly what reps deal with. I’ve had my manager tell me I need to cut back on bathroom time. I’ve had them tell me I need to get my calls shorter. I’ve had them tell me I can’ waive reconnection fees. I’ve been there. I know.
Flash-Based Malware Ad Sneaks Onto Legit Websites Via DoubleClick
By 11.16.07
A new malware ad has managed to sneak its way onto Doubleclick’s DART ad publishing system, which means it’s been showing up on several legitimate websites, including Major League Baseball, The Economist, and Canada.com. It doesn’t require user interaction to be triggered—as soon as it’s loaded into the page, it initiates the redirect, closes your browser window, and starts bullying you to install “anti-virus” software. It will even attempt to download a virus-laden .exe file, naturally.
U.S. Online Advertising Is Booming
By 11.14.07
Thank the gods for Firefox+Adblock, because spending on web advertising in the U.S. hit a new high in the 3rd quarter of 2007, pushing the total for the first 9 months of this year to $15.2 billion, up more than 3 billion from the same period in 2006. Says an exec at Interactive Advertising Bureau, which helped prepare the report, “Marketers large and small have come to accept digital media as the fulcrum of any marketing strategy.”
How To Get A Great Discount On A Year Of T-Mobile HotSpot Access
By 11.13.07
We’ve been covering One Laptop Per Child’s “Buy One Get One” deal because it’s a cheap way to get a very unique, kid-friendly laptop, and because at the end of the year a lot of people are looking for places to burn off some extra tax-deductible donations. But now that OLPC is rolling in one year of free T-Mobile access, the deal just turned into a true bargain—if you meet a couple of conditions.
Tell The FCC, Congress To Support Net Neutrality
By 11.8.07
Net neutrality advocates are gathering momentum to take Comcast to the woodshed for an old fashioned populist beating. Comcast believes that deliberately destroying connections to the popular communications protocol BitTorrent amounts to “reasonable network management,” which the FCC permits. Advocates figure if they can’t ride the net neutrality pony to Congressional passage now, it will forever lie dormant in the stable munching on BitTorrent packet hay.
By 11.7.07
../../../..//2007/11/07/aols-new-ad-based-plan/
AOL’s new “ad based” plan is just not working. Boohoo. [NYT]
MLB Rips Off Everyone Who Bought Games Under Their "Old" DRM
By 11.7.07
Major League Baseball, in its infinite wisdom, has decided to deactivate its system for “authenticating” downloads, and they apparently expect people to repurchase the games in a new format. What?
MySpace Advertising To Become Much More Targeted
By 11.5.07
“We’re looking at everything people put into their profiles and what their friends are into,” said Arnie Gullov-Singh, a Fox Interactive vice president.
