Look, it’s going to happen eventually. Whether it’s pickpockets or carelessness, you’re going to lose your wallet. When you do, you’ll be glad you took these five steps to make recovery simple and painless. [More]
security
United Removes Passenger From Flight After He Asks Whether A Meal Will Be Served
By 7.20.10
Over at JoeSugarman.com, Joe writes that on his way home from a seminar in Austin, he settled into his first class seat–he’s what United Airlines calls a 1K traveler because he flies over 100,000 miles with them every year–and asked the flight attendant, “Are you serving any meals during our flight?” A few minutes later, he writes, “two armed Austin police officers boarded the plane, looked at me and said, ‘Sugarman, follow us.'” [More]
Security Patching For XP Service Pack 2 Ends Today
By 7.13.10
If you’re still using Windows XP SP2, you’re about to be on your own. Today Microsoft releases its final security update for Service Pack 2 (the 32-bit version, at least). [More]
Chase Freezes Long-Time Customer's Accounts With $9.9 Million Overdraft Fee
By 7.10.10
Chase froze Micah’s checking accounts with a $9.9 million overdraft fee after he took the ultra-suspicious step of opening a joint checking account with his girlfriend. Rather than merely freeze the joint checking account, Chase decided to freeze all of Micah’s assets until they could verify that their customer of thirteen years was really whom he said he was. Not even a letter from the Social Security Administration, handed to the local Chase branch and sent to Chase’s fraud unit could stop Micah’s debit card from being canceled. Now Micah has no access to his cash, a $9.9 million charge to his name, and still no joint checking account with his girlfriend. [More]
Create A Different Password For Every Site And Never Forget A Single One
By 7.9.10
So many logins to keep track of. You can use a handful of strong passwords across all your accounts but if somehow one gets figured out, your entire networked life could be at risk. But by creating an easy-to-remember pass phrase that uses part of the website’s name it its construction, you have a unique strong password for every account you have without ever even writing any of them down. [More]
Pilot Detained After Dropping Pants During Security Screening
By 6.27.10
Look, pilots, we know that times are tough, but when security asks you to remove your belt and shoes, you probably shouldn’t laugh and drop your pants, ok? Because if you do, you’re going to end up detained and will have to explain yourself to a judge. Just ask United Airlines pilot Michael Slynn, who forgot this relatively simple advice yesterday in Rio de Janiero. [More]
Wait On Line To Show Your Costco Receipt Or You Will Be Assaulted
By 6.26.10
Let’s say you’re in a rush after buying a fan at Costco. You look past the line packed with people and carts and spy a lone employee standing by the exit. Do you walk over and show your receipt? What’s the worst that could happen? Let’s ask Reader Shay. [More]
Security Experts Claim iPad Vulnerable To New Attacks
By 6.14.10
Goatse Security, thewhite-hat hackers that exposed the iPad’s problems keeping email addresses under wraps, is back with a warning about additional risks to owners of the tablet. And they’re also more than a little peeved that AT&T called them “malicious” in yesterday’s apology to customers. “When we disclosed this, we did it as a service to our nation. We love America and the idea of the Russians or Chinese being able to subvert American infrastructure is a nightmare,” Goatse’s Escher Auernheimer said.
"Got ID?" Is A Question Many More Businesses Will Be Asking Soon
By 6.8.10
Your driver’s license could start getting worn down a lot starting in December . That’s because a whole bunch of businesses will soon be required to ask you for your ID, everyone from your dentist to your car dealer. [More]
Science Behind 'Lie To Me' May Be Questionable Even For TV Show Premise
By 6.7.10
Screening Passengers by Observation Technique or (SPOT) is a real, but apparently pseudo-scientific program run by the TSA that claims to train security personnel to detect tiny facial cues that will identify terrorists and other criminals as they pass through the airport. The trouble, it seems, is that the likelihood that all of this is a bunch of bs is rather high. [More]
UK School Wants To Fingerprint Kids Who Take Out Library Books
By 5.30.10
What’s your children’s privacy worth? Should they be subjected to fingerprinting just to take out a library book? That’s the question parents at a school in the UK are grappling with. [More]
How To Use Facebook's New Privacy Controls
By 5.26.10
Lifehacker has a handy guide to and analysis of the new, streamlined privacy controls just announced by Facebook. There’s also the full version posted on Facebook. The new controls are simpler, but fall short in some respects. [More]
Lady Enters Security With $24,000 Rolex, Leaves Without, Suit Alleges
By 5.25.10
A woman is suing the TSA after she says she was forced to take off her $24,000 Rolex to pass through security, and when she went to retrieve it, it had mysteriously vanished. [More]
After Posting SS# In Ads, Lifelock CEO's Identity Stolen 13 Times
By 5.19.10
So confident is Lifelock in its $10-$15/month “identity theft protection service” that its CEO Todd Davis posts his social security number in its ads. Unfortunately, his identity has been stolen 13 times since doing so, reports the Phoenix Times. The FTC fined Lifelock $12 million in March for deceptive advertising.
Cracking LifeLock: Even After a $12 Million Penalty for Deceptive Advertising, the Tempe Company Can’t Be Honest About Its Identity-Theft-Protection Service [Phoenix New Times]
VIDEO: New Kin Ad Creeps Consumer Reports Out
By 5.18.10
Theresa over at Consumer Reports Ad Watch took a gander at the latest Kin ad and is kinda skeeved out. In the ad for Microsoft’s new social networking phone targeted at teens, protagonist “Rosa” goes out to confront in person “Matty Goldberb” who’s been hitting on her on Facebook, despite their never meeting before and not knowing each other besides some “mutual friends” (according to Facebook). [More]
Diaspora: The Facebook Slayer Where Protecting Your Privacy Is Their Killer App
By 5.13.10
Instead of just kvetching about Facebook, these four self-described “talented young nerds” are doing something. They’re constructing a new kind of open-source distributed social network called Diaspora, and protecting all your information is at its core. Instead of handing over your bits to a central hub, it goes into your personalized server or “seed.” You own the server, you own your data. Everything is private and encrypted by default. It’s up to you to decide how much or how little you want to reveal. Sound crazy? There’s plenty of people who don’t think so. In just 20 days, the NYU students have raised $93,068 on Kickstarter. [More]
Facebook Can Warn You When Someone Else Logs Into Your Account
By 5.12.10
By the time someone hacks into your Facebook account and sends all of your friends plaintive messages about being mugged in London, it’s too late to do anything about it. However, Facebook does have an early-warning system of sorts. Using a security setting, you can have the service alert you whenever your account is accessed from another location, giving you a chance to (hopefully) force the intruder out and change your password.
