Here’s where you can go to opt-out from annoying text message ads sent to you by Sprint. Yes, it’s legit, you get to that page from the opt-out link on this Sprint page. However, they may have trouble saying goodbye. Scott, our tipster, writes, “After I sent my phone number through this page, I received 5 text messages from Sprint, telling me that I won’t receive any more text messages from Sprint…”
privacy
The State Of Wisconsin Needs To STOP Printing Social Security Numbers On Mailing Labels
By 1.9.08
What the hell, Wisconsin?! The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel is reporting that for the second time in just over a year, the state of Wisconsin has printed mailing labels that display the social security numbers of the recipient.
TV Star Includes Bank Account In Editorial Saying Identity Theft Is No Big Deal, Gets Defrauded
By 1.8.08
Jeremy Clarkson, a British TV star, wrote an editorial describing privacy activism as “palaver,” and just to prove how safe we all are, included his bank account number. Soon afterwards someone snagged £500 from the Top Gear host’s account. “I was wrong and I have been punished for my mistake,” the presenter later told reporters. Needless to say, you should never share your bank account information with anyone who doesn’t need it, for instance, millions of faceless readers.
By 1.8.08
../../../..//2008/01/08/oh-by-the-way-kamberedelson/
Oh, by the way, KamberEdelson, the law firm that filed the class action against Sears over its website exposing customer’s purchase histories? They’re the same folks who successfully sued Sony BMG for selling all those DRM-riddled music CDs. Sears could be in trouble. [Washington Post]
Sears Sued For Showing Everything Your Friends And Neighbors Have Ever Bought
By 1.7.08
Reuters reports a class-action lawsuit has been filed against Sears for its managemyhome.com site which allowed you to type in anyone’s name and address or phone number and get a record of everything they ever bought at Sears. The suit alleges that in doing so, Sears engaged in “unfair or deceptive” practices. Not too long after our post went up on Friday reporting on the matter, the purchase history feature was turned off. Sears said it had “turned off the ability to view a customer’s purchase history on Manage My Home until we can implement a validation process that will restrict access by unauthorized third parties.” Yes, a validation process, that would be good to have.
By 1.4.08
../../../..//2008/01/04/if-youre-serious-about/
If you’re serious about keeping your personal information safe, then make sure you wipe your computer’s hard drive with something like Eraser or Darik’s Boot and Nuke (DBAN) (both free) before handing it off to a friend, family member, or random stranger.
See Everything Your Friends And Neighbors Have Ever Bought At Sears
By 1.4.08
Want to see all the major appliances and repair services that your friends and neighbors… (and anyone else who you can look up in the phone book) have ever purchased at Sears?
California's Consumer Data Law Isn't Working Too Well
By 1.3.08
The “Shine the Light” law passed in California in 2005 requires all businesses to tell customers who they sell their private data to, and to provide a no-cost way to remove your name, address, and phone number from their lists. Unfortunately, it’s not being followed by more than half of the companies tested in a new report: “The California Public Interest Research Group found only one third of the survey participants received responses from companies consistent with the law.”
Researchers Accuse Sears Of Distributing Spyware
By 1.3.08
Not content with having some of retail’s worst customer service, Sears has decided to wring out more dollars from its customers by jumping into the spyware game. Sears recently sent out an email inviting customers to join “My SHC Community” where they will have a chance to earn fabulous prizes and journal their online shopping experience. All you gotta do is provide your address and install a little ComScore program that monitors your every single step on the internet, from Sears to Myspace to your online banking, to your email headers.
Google Raises Privacy Concerns With Ill-Conceived Sharing Feature
By 12.24.07
The other day we woke up to find that a story we’d accidentally “shared” on Google Reader was now being automatically broadcast to a wide swath of strangers who were listed in our Gmail contacts and had been “auto- added” to Google Talk . It was startling, but no big deal because we didn’t use the “share” feature on Google Reader and therefore had only to delete the single “United Airlines does something boring that no one actually cares about” AP story that we’d accidentally clicked sometime last year.
Chase Resets Marketing Preferences, Asks You To Opt-Out Again
By 12.23.07
Chase will reset everyone’s marketing preferences under the guise of providing “more options to specify which mail offers you do not want.” Remember when you originally opted-out? They didn’t quite understand. What about their Value Added Products And Services and Used Vehicle Financing? Unless you opt-out again by January 24, Chase will acknowledge your implied change of heart. Read their notice after the jump.
By 12.19.07
../../../..//2007/12/19/patient-medical-records-found-in/
Patient medical records found in a garbage bin in England. Good to know other countries have irresponsible people, too. [BBC]
Do You Care About Privacy Or Just Unpleasant Surprises?
By 12.12.07
Seth Godin thinks that for all the talk about privacy, what people really object to is being “surprised.”
If your credit card company called you up and said, “we’ve been looking over your records and we see that you’ve been having an extramarital affair. We’d like to offer you a free coupon for VD testing…” you’d freak out, and for good reason.
Stores Can't Force You To Show ID With Your Credit Card
By 12.11.07
Here’s an interesting fact in this Red Tape Chronicles post about how to protect your private data bits from retailers who don’t know any better: by the terms of their merchant agreement with credit card issuers, stores are not allowed to force you to present ID in addition to your credit card.
Circuit City Also Steals Porn From Your Computer
By 12.7.07
Stealing porn from customer’s computers isn’t just for Best Buy, one reader reports they’re doing it at Circuit City, too. He writes:I wanted to write in about my recent experience with employment at circuit city. I work at a circuit city in Colorado, I was recently hired as holiday help.
Consumer Agency IT Pro Admits To Stealing 8.4 Million Records
By 12.6.07
A senior database administrator for Fidelity National Information Services, a widely used banking technology and data providor, has admitted that he stole 8.4 million customer records from the company and sold the data to a broker, who in turn sold them to marketers. He could face up to 10 years in prison but will probably get less because he confessed. We think he should have to open, read, and shred every piece of junk mail that his victims receive for the next, oh, say 10 years instead.
By 12.5.07
../../../..//2007/12/05/buckling-under-a-blistering-poopy/
Buckling under a blistering poopy pile of criticism, Facebook will now let users turn off Beacon completely. [Facebook]
How To Block Facebook's Beacon
By 12.5.07
Don’t like Facebook secretly tracking your online purchases and telling your friends what you bought? Users of the Firefox we browser can use an easy add-on that jams the beacon’s signal. Just install the BlockSite add-on, and then add http://*facebook.com/beacon/* as one of the blocked sites. Make sure to keep those asterisks in. If that sounds a little complicated, this step-by-step walk-through at Wikihow shows you how it’s done. Alternatively, you could also add the same url to AdBlockPlus, another Firefox extension.
