privacy
RadioShack Won't Give Refund On Cash Purchase Unless You Show Your Papers
RadioShack’s whole collecting-your-personal-data nonsense is old news, but it’s not just for purchases anymore. When Pete tried to take back some potentiometers he’d paid for the day before with cash, the clerk refused to give him any sort of refund—even a store credit—without Pete’s physical address.
Court Rules Customs Agents Can Collect Data From Laptops & Cellphones Without Cause
Some visitors and citizens of the United States may be shocked to learn that their computers, cell phones and data devices are now subject to search and data retrieval upon entry into the U.S., even without cause or suspicion. On April 19th, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that all computers and data devices are the same as luggage in that they can be searched without cause, and that all collected data may be stored indefinitely. More, inside…
Home Depot Won't Let You Buy Stuff Without Knowing What You Plan To Do With It
Reader Helen went to Home Depot to buy some various and sundry items, but left empty-handed after the self-checkout refused to let her complete her purchase without disclosing what she planned to do with her items. Helen says:
$50k Porn-Pilfering Lawsuits Opens With Geek Squad Employee Confession
The Star Tribune reports a woman is suing Best Buy for $50,000 after the Best Buy/Geek Squad repair service stole her naked photos from her computer, shared them with other Geek Squad agents, and even copied them onto the hard drives of other customers (this is hardly the first time Geek Squad has been caught stealing porn from customer’s computers). William E. Giffels admitted in a written statement that he copied Kaylee Hall’s nude photos from her computer onto his personal flash drive. On this drive, he also kept the most up-to-date version of the Geek Squad diagnostic tools and told other agents to copy from it. Then other Geek Squad made CD copies of the drive and installed the tools, along with Kaylee’s photos, onto other customers’ computers in the Traverse City, Michigan area. Inside, Giffels’s written confession…
Kohls Violates Visa's Merchant Agreement, Refuses To Accept Credit Card Without ID
This afternoon I visited the Kohl’s store in Moline, Illinois. When I was checking out I elected to pay with my Visa card. After sliding my card through the card reader I signed the screen when prompted. My cashier asked to see the card, which I handed over to her. She handed my card back to me and then asked to see my identification, to which I respectfully declined. She said I had to show my ID or I could not leave the store with my purchases…
It's Easy To Access Random Customer Info With Best Buy URLs
Cole discovered that by simply incrementing a numerical string by one in a url Best Buy sent out, he could pull up screen after screen of random customer info. Fortunately, all he could see were customer names, their home addresses, and their order numbers. It’s still surprising that Best Buy—or more specifically, Postpublisher.net, the email company they outsourced this to—wasn’t more careful with customer security.
The BBC Writes Application That Steals Personal Info From Facebook
Feel wary about giving applications access to your Facebook page? Worried one of those quizzes or games might be maliciously harvesting your data? You were right to worry. The BBC had the same idea, so they decided to write a program to do just that. And it worked. Not only did it steal the data of Facebook users who installed the application, it also victimized all of their “friends.”
AOL User 927, The Theatrical Production
A new play called “User 927,” inspired by the thousands of AOL users whose personal search histories were posted online for all to see and dissect, opens on June 6th at the St. Stephen’s Theatre in Philadelphia. Hardcore Consumerist readers will recall User 927’s fondness for mold, testicle festivals, slow-dancing steps, and pedophilic imagery (full search history here). The theater’s site say it’s “a thriller about cyberstalking, search engines, and the way information is obtained, manipulated, and released in our wired world.” We have high hopes for the production, judging by how awesome the group’s rendition of “A Very Merry Unauthorized Children’s Scientology Pageant” turned out (video inside…)
Job.com Refuses To Delete Your Private Information
Dan is pissed because Job.com won’t remove his…
Writing "Ask For ID" On Your Credit Card Won't Stop Fraud, But It's Still A Good Idea
Writing “Ask For ID” on the back of your credit card isn’t an unimpeachable guarantee of security, but it could be the last line of defense between you and a fraudulent charge. Invoking perilously flawed logic, the Boston Globe argues: “the cardholder gains nothing by not signing the card or writing in ‘See ID’ on the signature panel.” Let’s dismantle this nonsense piece by piece.
FreeCreditReport.com Doesn't Practice Good Security Hygiene
You’d think a credit monitoring service—even one as skeevy as freecreditreport.com—would take great pains to keep up the appearance of security and confidentiality. You’d be wrong. When Brian called to cancel their service he was asked to call out his social security number and his mother’s maiden name, even though it turned out they could easily access his account and cancel his service with only his phone number and birthday. Oh, and the first CSR hung up on him, but (sadly) that’s not really very newsworthy anymore.
IHOP Threatens To Call The Police Because You Refuse To Show ID With Credit Card
I went to IHOP(INTERNATIONAL HOUSE OF PANCAKES) on March 30th with my wife to eat. After our meal I went to the counter to pay and presented my Visa as payment. I was asked for photo ID, and kindly declined. I was then told that they were not going to be able to accept my card without photo ID.
LendingTree Data Breach: Former Employees Were Sharing Passwords With Unapproved Lenders
LendingTree announced today that several former employees are suspected of sharing passwords with lenders that were not approved by LendingTree, and that this may have exposed customer data including: name, address, e-mail address, phone number, Social Security number, income and employment information.
Should The Government Set Up A "Do-Not-Track" List?
One of the most popular sentiments expressed by readers on our blog is “be a smart consumer.” Now two privacy advocacy organizations are calling for the creation of a “do-not-track” list that would protect registered users from online data collection. They argue that a list is needed because too many consumers won’t or can’t understand the methods behind online tracking. To illustrate, one of the organizations “pointed to a 2005 University of Pennsylvania survey in which only 25 percent of respondents knew that a Web site having a privacy policy doesn’t guarantee that the site refrains from sharing customers’ information with companies.” But a do-not-track list is overkill, and a fearful reaction against emerging technologies.
It's Impossible To Cancel Arcot's SecureCode On Your Mastercard
Be wary of Arcot, a credit card security company that’s devoid of customer service.
Nels had to sign up for Arcot’s SecureCode to complete an online purchase. Now he wants to cancel it, but can’t find anyone at Arcot who can help him. The web pages he’s sent to are dead ends, and he left messages with Arcot’s executives that were never returned.
Reunion.com Will Scrape Your Address Book, Then Spam Your Contacts
Reunion.com dupes new members into signing up by sending them an email that pretends to be from an acquaintance who’s been looking for them (on Reunion.com, naturally). After signing up, the site sucks in your contacts and immediately begins spamming them to join by sending out a similar email. If one of those people then signs up at Reunion.com, their contact list is scooped up and the cycle starts all over again, like a social engineering version of a virus or parasitic infestation. Maybe this is why Reunion.com can claim to register about 1 million new members every month.
