Michelle says that she explicitly told Best Buy’s delivery guys that she was 8 minutes away and that they were not to enter her home (her teenage son was there alone) until she arrived. Guess what she saw when she pulled up? [More]
privacy
Closeted Lesbian Sues Netflix For Potential Outing
By 12.19.09
Here’s the problem with anonymized data: if it were truly anonymized, it wouldn’t be useful to anyone for anything. With enough data about a person–say, their age, gender, and zip code–it’s not hard to narrow down who someone is. That’s the idea behind a class-action lawsuit against Netflix regarding the customer data they released to the public as part of the Netflix Prize project, a contest to help create better movie recommendations. A closeted lesbian alleges that the data available about her could reveal her identity. [More]
How Cons Steal Your ATM Card
By 12.15.09
The Real Hustle shows two methods fraudsters can use to jack your ATM card and PIN. The first is the skimming method most of us are familiar with. The second is a lo-tech distraction-based method that, while interesting, seems a little higher risk than most card thieves are willing to put up with. [More]
This Chase Customer Service Rep Is An Impenetrable Fortress
By 12.11.09
Stephanie just encountered a Chase CSR who I’m pretty sure will never fall victim to social engineering, and who would likely be unbreakable in a courtroom cross-examination, too. Of course, in Stephanie’s situation this just means that the CSR refuses to help her in any way at all, which isn’t the kind of thing you hope to find when you call customer service. [More]
The Truth About Walmart's Super-Secret Data Center
By 12.11.09
Reader humphrmi thinks he knows what’s up with Walmart’s giant unmarked datacenter, photos of which we posted recently. It’s a truth SO REVEALING that it may make you go, “Oh, that makes sense.” [More]
Facebook Will Let You Determine Privacy Levels For Each Update
By 12.9.09
The next time you don’t get that job because someone in HR saw your Facebook pics of you at the weekend cosplay orgy, you’ll have only yourself to blame. (But not for the orgy, which sounded like a really good idea at the time.) Starting soonish–it’s being rolled out now–you’ll have the ability to set privacy levels for each status update. That sound you hear is the collective wail of moms everywhere who are about to be shut out of the more salacious aspects of their kids’ lives. [More]
Flyby And Driveby Photos Of Walmart's Super-Secret Data Center
By 12.9.09
Have you ever seen these crazy Walmarts ginormous data center in Missouri? Airplanes and the Google Maps Streetview car have. Dubbed, “Area 71,” the facility is built on bedrock so it can withstand numerous kind of disasters. Four years ago, their Bentonville, Arkansas HQ was said to have 460+ terabytes of storage. This is an auxilary facility in Missouri, located 15 miles from their HQ. It’s gotta have something in the peta or exabytes. Wonder what they use all that for? More pix inside. Leave your crackpot conspiracy theories in the comments. [More]
Depressed Lady Loses Benefits Because Of Her Facebook Photos
By 11.20.09
A depressed woman has lost her benefits because her insurance agent found Facebook photos where she appears to be having fun.
Your Credit Report Isn't The Only Report You Should Monitor
By 11.11.09
When an insurer decides whether to offer you a new policy, or whether to raise rates on a current one, he most likely pulls a CLUE report that lists any homeowner or automobile insurance loss claims (or sometimes even just inquiries) that you’ve made over the past 3-7 years. Hopefully you monitor your consumer credit report for errors, but as you can see, that’s not the only one you should keep an eye on.
iPhone App Developer Sued For Stealing Users' Phone Numbers
By 11.6.09
For secretly stealing users’ phone number by exploiting a backdoor iPhone vulnerability, app developer Storm8 got slapped with a class action lawsuit.
Baby Too Boring? Watch The Neighbor's Baby With This Monitor
By 11.3.09
If you buy the Summer Infant Day and Night Video Monitor, you might want to make sure your neighbors haven’t also got one, or else they’ll have a secret window into your newborn’s room.
Database Bug At Woot Leaves Reader Wary Of Ordering
By 10.31.09
Robear wanted to order from shirt.woot, but something strange happened when he went to register. After choosing a username and entering his e-mail address, he noticed that all of the forms were pre-populated with another customer’s information…including that user’s credit card information. He contacted Woot to try to find out what could have happened, but Woot either hasn’t figured it out yet, or just isn’t responding. (UPDATE: Response from Woot below.)
Dell Gets Nosey When Attempting To Verify Order
By 10.27.09
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.
If You Do Not Add A Working Email To Your Profile By Sunday You Will Lose Your Account
By 10.15.09
Update: The deadline for adding an email address to your commenter ID is this Sunday, October 18th, at midnight EST. If your account doesn’t include an email address by then, you will have to register again when we move the site, and you may not get the same username. If you’ve already added an email address, thanks! We’ll see you on the other side!
Citi Gives Self Permission To Sell Your Personal Info If You Get Prepaid Rebate Card
By 10.8.09
Greg says he inadvertently authorized Citi to share his personal info because he applied for an online rebate. He writes:
American Express Wants You To Use Lame Passwords
By 9.24.09
We’re no longer indignant about Amex’s weirdly lax security policies anymore, we’re just confused. Why would a major credit card company cold call new customers and insist they give up bank and address info over the phone, or email sensitive data to strangers? Or, we just learned, demand that you use a lame password that isn’t case sensitive, is only 6 to 8 characters long, and can’t contain special characters?
Bank Sends Sensitive Customer Info To Some Random Gmail User
By 9.24.09
Here’s the problem with Gmail: so many people use it that a mistyped e-mail address probably will not result in a bounced message. It will result in your message going to the wrong person, since nearly every derivation of a name is probably a working address.
