Every time you post a photo online from your smartphone, you’re potentially identifying exactly where you were when you shot the picture. Digital images are encoded with geotags that record the coordinates, which can be easily uncovered by anyone with the software and know-how. [More]
privacy
Facebook Shares Phone Numbers, Addresses With Apps
By 1.17.11
Facebook is now letting third-party apps have phone numbers and addresses of users, but only if they opt in to share the info. [More]
Hacking Your Spouse's Email Could Land You In Jail For Half A Decade
By 12.28.10
Before you consider snooping in your spouse’s email, you may want to pay close attention to a case unfolding in Michigan in which a man faces up to five years of prison for hacking into his wife’s messages. [More]
Your Life Is In Your Phone – Here's How You Protect It
By 12.20.10
Since your phone is almost always close at your side, either in your pocket or bag, it’s easy to skimp on security. But take a moment and consider just how precious the info you’ve got locked up therein and you may want to take steps to safeguard your phone. [More]
Amazon Wants You To Change Your Password Too
By 12.16.10
Since the internet exploded with the Gawker hacking fiasco, it’s become en vogue for everyone to change their passwords out of fear an identity thief will download their info and go after their money, as well as post lame comments under their names. Amazon has gotten into the act, resetting customers’ passwords and telling them all about it via email. [More]
Site Exposes Facebook Overshares
By 12.15.10
In the spirit of PleaseRobMe.com, ReasonsToHate lets users search in real time for specific phrases in public Facebook posts. [More]
JCPenney Opens Up The First Facebook Store
By 12.14.10
JCPenney just snagged the “anchor store” spot on Facebook, becoming the first retailer to let shoppers purchase crap directly from their Facebook page application through a fully integrated e-commerce platform. [More]
Target Sold Returned Product With Free Bonus: Someone's Address
By 12.14.10
Dana bought a fake Christmas tree at Target and realized a UPS label bearing another woman’s address was still on the box. [More]
How Does The Gawker Privacy Leak Concern Consumerist Users?
By 12.13.10
If you’ve got an account on Gawker.com or any of its sister sites (Kotaku, Gizmodo, Deadspin and Jezebel among others), you’ll probably want to change your passwords because anonymous hackers have swiped usernames, email addresses and passwords and made them available via a torrent file. And by change your password, we potentially mean all of them. Now. [More]
Credit Bureaus Can't Keep Me And My Doppelgänger Separate
By 12.8.10
An anonymous reader says credit bureaus can’t keep her identity separate with that of another woman with the same last name who used to live in her building. The reader says the bureaus won’t resolve her complaint, insisting the other woman has to take the initiative to fix the errors. [More]
Is JCPenney Giving Your Personal Info To Strangers?
By 12.3.10
Consumerist reader John is more than a little upset with JCPenney. He claims that the department store’s website is in such a state of disarray that shoppers’ sensitive, personal information is showing up in other shoppers’ accounts. [More]
FTC Proposes "Do Not Track" Option For Web Browsing
By 12.1.10
Wary of surfing the web because you don’t want any of your information or browsing habits being shared with the world? The folks at the Federal Trade Commission apparently understand your concerns and have proposed new regulations that would let users decide which sites and advertisers can track their online behavior. [More]
Opt-Out Protest Field Reports, With Bikinis
By 11.24.10
An opt-out protestor wore a bikini through security. [NBC Los Angeles]
A male college student did the same in a Speedo with “SCREW BIG SIS” markered on his back. TSA said he wasn’t detained as he was not a threat. [JonAndEric]
Two protestors at the Sky Harbor International Airport in Phoenix AZ held up signs mentioning “pornoscans,” drawing both “sidelong glances” and “words of support.” [AP]
Half a dozen protestors at Tampa airport talk about tyranny. [TBO]
Overall, checkpoints are running smoothly with no major delays. “Most travelers seemed more interested in getting to their destinations than in making a political statement.” [NYT]
Insurance Companies Data Mine Your Death
By 11.19.10
Everything from what magazines you buy to how much television you watch could be used by insurance companies to determine whether you’re a risky client or not, and when you might die. [More]
Poll: Americans Deeply In Love With Full Body Scanners
By 11.16.10
CBS says the have a poll that shows Americans overwhelmingly support full body “naked” scanners at airports, despite what some “civil rights groups” have to say about them. [More]
Chili's Says Club Members' Personal Data Was Leaked
By 11.16.10
In a mass message sent out to its “e-mail club” subscribers, Chili’s revealed its service provider sprung a leak in user data, letting loyalists know first and last names, email addresses and birthdates went up for grabs. [More]
These 100 Body Scan Images Should Not Exist
By 11.16.10
The TSA and other agencies have repeatedly told the public that the body scanner devices automatically delete the images after they’re reviewed. But in August, it came out that US Marshals at a federal courthouse operating the Gen 2 millimeter wave scanner were storing the images. Now you can see what they saw, as Gizmodo has acquired 100 of the 35,000 images through a FOIA request. [More]
Banks Concocting New Ways To Spy On You
By 11.12.10
Feel the hair on your neck rising? Your bank is watching, with greater scrutiny then ever before. Banks are figuring out new scores and models to figure out your credit worthiness, using everything from how you deposit and withdraw money to how you pay your rent. [More]
