Going from strip poles to iron bars in one night, a Consumerist reader says he got tossed in jail when he refused to give a strip club his thumbprint. Their ATM was broken so he had to pay his tab using a credit card cash advance. The club demanded a thumbprint and he refused, so cops that were already there threw him in jail. Was this legal? [More]
privacy
Public School Spycams Either A Glitch Or A Security Feature
By 2.19.10
The Pennsylvania school district accused of using school-issued laptops to spy on their students insists that their ability to activate the computers’ webcams from anywhere is a security feature. Oh, but school employees told students earlier that the lights next to their webcams were coming on now and then due to a “glitch.” [More]
Public School Issued Laptops To Students With Webcam Spy Software Included
By 2.18.10
If your child has a school-issued laptop, you may want to leave it closed whenever possible, or just cover up its built-in webcam. A family in Pennsylvania has accused their son’s school district of installing software on school-issued laptops that allows officials to spy on students at any time through the laptops’ webcams. [More]
Google Says "My Bad," Attempts To Fix Buzz Privacy Problem
By 2.15.10
After unleashing a Pandora’s box of privacy issues with the launch of their new Facebook wannabe “Google Buzz” feature earlier this week, Google now says they are taking the problem seriously. [More]
Google Buzz Contact Sharing Not Just Potentially Embarrassing
By 2.14.10
Google Buzz’s amazing integration of Twitter-like functionality and automatically following everyone you know isn’t just an annoying and potentially embarrassing feature. For some users, it’s a security hazard. [More]
Target Wants To Scan Your ID When You Buy M Rated Games? Say No.
By 2.11.10
It annoys some people that Target wants to scan their ID when they buy an M rated video game. Well, guess what? We’ve heard over and over that they don’t actually need to scan it. All they need to do is type your birth date into the computer. They’ll tell you they have to scan it — but if you hold your ground like reader “Wuuu” you can escape without being scanned. [More]
A Volvo Dealership E-Stalked Me
By 2.11.10
Inspired by yesterday’s post about Victoria’s Secret’s e-snooping, Julia says she felt cyberstalked by a Volvo dealership. When she sent the business an email, she got a response back to not only the account she sent the email from, but a different, personal address. [More]
Victoria Doesn't Seem To Be Keeping My Secrets So Well
By 2.10.10
A woman who asked us to withhold her name says she was shopping online at Victoria’s Secret and somehow got a follow-up email about an item she placed in her cart but held off on ordering. The woman is mystified because she’s certain she didn’t sign on to the site. [More]
How I Maneuvered Through The Walmart Receipt Check Gauntlet
By 2.9.10
Jeff says he did what many dream about but few accomplish — he kept his receipt hidden from Walmart snoops at the expense despite stiff resistance. [More]
Free "How To Be Invisible" Download In Exchange For Your Email Address
By 1.28.10
J.J. Luna, a former security consultant turned author, released a guide ten years ago that showed readers how get rid of paper and digital trails. The subject matter is probably a little too paranoid for most of our readers, but it overlaps with issues we talk about all the time here, like identity theft and online security. He’s just released a revised version, so he’s giving away the 2000 edition in PDF format for free. Well, in exchange for your email address. [More]
Woman Accuses Dell Tech Support Of Launching Her Webcam Without Permission
By 1.25.10
I always keep a little sticker over the webcam lens on my netbook when I’m not using it, because I don’t trust that I know enough about computers to be 100% confident my webcam is off when I want it to be off. And if you think that’s being too paranoid, look at what happened to Dianne Annunziato earlier this month when she called a Dell support line for help with her laptop. [More]
Shed What's Left Of Your Financial Privacy On Blippy
By 1.22.10
Spotted by this CNN story, social networking site Blippy lets you broadcast your purchases to interested parties, while letting you keep track of others’ buys as well. Think of it as a financial Twitter. [More]
AT&T Randomly Logs You Into Someone Else's Facebook Account
By 1.19.10
A glitch at AT&T is causing some mobile phone used to be randomly shuffled into other people’s Facebook accounts. Apparently the carrier has confused which phones should be logged into which accounts. Whoops. [More]
Classmates Says It Will Prostitute Your Info To Other Sites
By 1.18.10
Pete forwarded us an email from the social networking site Classmates, which apparently is attempting to stay relevant by spreading your information around the internet to sites people actually visit. At least users can opt out. [More]
Your Medical Records: Ask For Them!
By 1.18.10
Hospitals can be slow to respond for health records, writes CNN, which can cause serious problems if you’re moving a patient from one facility to another. Here are steps from that article on how to make sure you get your data as quickly as possible. [More]
Hey Stores! How About Offering Some Cash Back With That Receipt Check?
By 1.12.10
In the comments to our most recent receipt check story, I noticed a reader argued that as long as the store wasn’t willing to reimburse him for his time, he wasn’t willing to give it to them. It makes sense; nothing in the marketplace is free, right? Why shouldn’t consumers be compensated for bag searches and receipt checks?
Another reader, Adam, suggested a similar idea in his email to us this morning. In fact, he thinks maybe the exiting-the-store moment could be a chance to make a little extra cash.
Anonymous Facebook Employe Says Network Keeps Track Of Whom You Stalk Most
By 1.12.10
In an interview with an unnamed Facebook employee, the Rumpus revealed some disconcerting revelations about the privacy, or lack thereof, in the social network. The most eye-popping of these is that Facebook keeps track of the profiles you click on the most. [More]
Facebook Founder Says People Don't Even Want Privacy
By 1.11.10
Mark Zuckerberg thinks you don’t even really care about your privacy anymore because the “social norm” has changed. This makes it OK for his company to change the privacy settings of 350 million users. [More]
