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On Monday, we reported that TD Ameritrade knew since May 2007 about data breaches that resulted in thousands of its customers getting penny stock spam, but it turns out the breach could have happened as early as November 2005. [Network World]
MediaDefender, a company that “disrupts” p2p on behalf of record labels and movie studios, suffered an embarrassing leak this weekend when 700MB of internal company emails were distributed on the internet. Oops!
Ameritrade has known about the problem at least since late May when two of its customers sued the brokerage in federal court because they were receiving unwanted e-mail ads on accounts used only for Ameritrade.
The L.A. Times read the privacy policies of several bundled service providers and found that they are feverishly monitoring their subscriber’s activities. With the ability to monitor internet, phone, and television preferences, bundled service providers are able to track nearly every aspect of their subscriber’s digital lives. While Google retains personally identifiable for less than two years, some ISPs like Time Warner cling to your data for an astounding fifteen years in order to “comply with tax and accounting requirements.” It gets worse.
There are red flags to be found in each telecom provider’s privacy policy. A close reading of Time Warner’s policy reveals:
TD Ameritrade has announced that they’ve been hacked and contact information including names, addresses, e-mail addresses and account activity information such as how many trades were conducted in the last month. Social Security Numbers, user names and passwords were not compromised, according to TD Ameritrade’s spokesperson.
Verizon Wireless customers who don’t feel like having their personal information and account information sold to marketers can opt-out by calling 1-800-333-9956. A notice tucked into our recent bill told us we had 30 days from receiving the notice to do it. Considering that Verizon just sold 1,000,000 old accounts to a debt-collecting agency who tried to bully people into pay debts that were already paid off or never incurred in the first place, calling this number might be a wise move.
While the danger of someone long-distance slurping the account information communicating out the RFID chips being increasingly embedded in credit cards is, for the time being, remote, reader Eyebrows McGee reports success in asking AmEx to turn it off…
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Did you know you don’t have to show your ID to TSA employees when flying? Did you know that refusing to do so can get you bumped to the head of the line? [NewsBlog]
Good Morning America ran a clip about how we’re using technology to keep tabs on Alzheimer’s patients. Verichip is a small barcode you inject into an old person that contains all their medical history.
“We took pride in shredding all information of the customers and being as mindful as possible to their security. Something that always blew my mind was that right on the computer screen, available for anyone to see (depending on the store layout), was the customer’s social security number, date of birth, license number and more. Incredible! I never understood that. My store had two registers in the front and two in the back. A customer could stand behind us at the front register and get a full peak at everything we were doing. Where is the protection?”
We weren’t quite sure there even was something called an “ID theft gang,” but there must be because the ringleader of one has been arrested. A Russian con artist was caught posing as Charles J. Wyly Jr., friend of President Bush and former head of the craft-store chain Michael’s. The con artist was trying to pass a $7 million dollar check to a New York gold dealer.
Credit card companies are putting magical radio chips inside your credit cards to allow for “touch n go” “contact-less” payments, but if for some reason the idea of a miniature beacon transmitting your credit card information, albeit however encrypted the companies feel like making them, there is something you can do about, blogs Cody: Dremel!
Consumerist reader Eyebrows McGee (probably not her real name) suggests a clever and subversive technique for sticking it to the Loyalty Program Man: swap your loyalty cards with other shoppers. The cardexchange.org website is a one-stop destination for finding someone out there you can exchange with. But before you visit it, you should consider the consequences and risks.
Consumer Reports scoured the “files of dozens of government agencies, industry associations, and consumer groups that track crooked schemes” to find the scammiest scams around.
New proposed legislation in Ohio would make it illegal for a woman to get an abortion without a man’s permission, according to the Record-Courier.
Best Buy is scanning Geek Squad computers for signs of porn infestation, as part of their continuing witch hunt. According to reports from four different Geek Squad employees, an edict was issued from corporate requiring precincts to connect every computer in every precinct to Agent Johnny Utah.
Crissy received some txt message spam on her cellphone and was understandably annoyed because incoming txt messages are not included in her package with T-Mobile.
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Travel Sites determine what deals you see by reading the cookies on your computer. If you recently searched for four-star hotels, the sites may present significantly higher airfares. To make sure you are getting the best possible deal, don’t visit travel sites without first switching to private browsing, or erasing your cookies.
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