In 2007 and 2008, Sears invited select customers to join the exclusive “My SHC Community,” which involved installing an app that would monitor online browsing in exchange for $10. The app was called spyware by researchers and the FTC, because the data it collected on customers included “details from their online shopping, bank statements, drug-prescription records, video rentals, library-borrowing histories, even the names and addresses of their e-mail correspondents,” as well as “data about the users’ computers, printers, and other devices.”
privacy
Woman Sprayed With Pesticide Can't Get List Of Chemicals Because They're A Trade Secret
By 6.2.09
A North Carolina woman out walking her dog last month was sprayed in the face with a gypsy moth pesticide, and subsequently developed “a severe rash and other flu-like symptoms, breathing complications, and nausea for several days.” Unfortunately, her doctor can’t treat her properly because the company that makes the spray won’t tell him what’s in it.
Movie Theater Pays $10,000 Damages In Snack Search Lawsuit
By 6.2.09
What ruins your movie-going experience more than being searched for surreptitious snacks? Having your mom discover that you’re taking birth control pills when movie theater employees go through your purse.
New Jersey: Sorry, We Mailed Your SSN To Some Random Companies
By 5.19.09
Oh, human error. New Jersey has announced that an unknown number of unemployed residents had their personal information shared with companies they never worked for.
Sears Pays $10 In Coupons For Your Email Address
By 5.19.09
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.
Debt Collectors Mess With Your Head To Get You To Pay More
By 5.18.09
Santana had actually already sought permission from the bank to settle for as little as $10,000. It’s an open secret that if a debtor is willing to wait long enough, he can probably get away with paying almost nothing, as long as he doesn’t mind hurting his credit score. So Santana knew he should jump at the offer. But as an amateur psychologist, Santana was eager to make his own diagnosis – and presumably boost his own commission.
Your Credit Card Company Is Building A Psychological Profile Of You
By 5.15.09
The next time you apply for a credit card, your credit report and income will be only a part of the criteria used to determine your creditworthiness. For that matter, as long as you have the card, what you use it for will be noted and added to a growing set of data that makes up your psychological profile, which will then be referred to every time the bank deals with your or reevaluates your risk as a customer.
Big Brother Is Watching You Grocery Shop
By 5.8.09
Star fruit distributed by Melissa’s Produce between April 21 and May 5 is being recalled due to chemical residues. Mmmm. I’m having a hard time finding coverage of the recall itself, but one grocery store’s handling of the situation got my attention.
Create Your Own Opt-Out When A Company Ignores Your Requests
By 5.6.09
Mark started getting promotional emails from Hilton over a year ago, and he’s tried all sorts of opt-out strategies:
Debt Collectors Using Cute Chicks On Facebook As Bait
By 5.5.09
Debt collectors are using cute chicks as bait on Facebook to track down and keep track of debtors. For some reason, someone at CBV collections decided to out the truth behind the online construct “Jenny Anderson,” that she was the tool of professional skiptracers, to all 658 of her “friends.” Reader Bryan, who happens to be a reporter, was one of them, and he took a snapshot and interviewed “Jenny” a bit. The story, inside…
You're Participating In The Facebook Terms Of Service Vote, Right?
By 4.22.09
You’ve got about a day and a half left to cast your vote for which Terms of Service you’d prefer Facebook go with—the one written in September 2008 without user input, or the new one they’ve drafted over the last month based on suggestions from the Facebook community.
What's HIPAA All About?
By 4.7.09
If someone says “HIPAA” and you think they might be talking about a herd of hippos, you got some reading to do. The “Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act” protects the health insurance workers and their families when they lose their jobs, and also protects the confidentiality of patients’ records. Like all big laws, it’s a bit of a thicket to navigate, so the World Privacy Forum just published a “Patient’s Guide to HIPAA” to help chop your way through it. Check it out and bone up on your rights.
Unilever's Opt-Out Page Thinks It's A Tax Form
By 3.31.09
We’ll give Unilever points for offering an exhaustive opt-out page that covers every conceivable form of communication you may be receiving from them. We’ll take all those points away, however, and award them a fail badge for creating the world’s longest, most labor intensive opt-out page you’ve ever seen.
How To Easily Remember A Different Password For Every Site
By 3.31.09
Everyone knows that one of the best ways to protect yourself from online security disasters is to use a different password for each account. But do you do it? Probably not, because at first glance it looks like an unreasonable burden, having to either remember dozens of unique passwords or having to keep them all written down somewhere (which in itself is a security risk). The website ideashower.com offers a simple way to create a unique, easy to remember password for every account.
Privacy: 15 Hospital Workers Fired For Improperly Accessing Octomom's Records
By 3.31.09
A spokesperson for Kaiser Permanente Hospital in Bellflower, California says that 15 employees were fired and another 8 disciplined for improperly accessing the medical records of Nadya Suleman, A.K.A. Octomom.
How To Opt Out Of Google's New Targeted Ads
By 3.16.09
Last week, Google introduced its new “interest based” ads, which is based on tracking your browsing activity and targeting ads based on that behavior. Fortunately, there are several ways to opt out.
How To Delete Your Online Accounts
By 3.10.09
PC Mag has assembled a list of instructions on how to wipe your account from a long list of websites, including Classmates.com (you’ll have to call), Windows Live ID (it’s complicated), and Friendster (ha ha ha). In many cases, canceling is as straightforward as clicking a link and authorizing the cancellation, but it’s nice to see all the phone numbers and tips collected in one spot.
How To Opt-Out Of Verizon Selling Your Personal Information
By 3.9.09
BoingBoing Gadgets says that Verizon has been mailing out a leaflet to its customers informing them that the company intends to sell their personal information unless they explicitly opt-out.
