Technology is scary! People will use all these status and twitter and facebook updates to find out when you’re not home and come and steal all your DVDs! At least that was the ballyhoo last week when the site PleaseRobMe launched. Turns out, they were just reinventing the fear wheel. Andy Baio found an article from 1983 that warned consumers that burglars would know by your answering machine picking up that you weren’t home, and one from 1977 that advised against posting funeral notices in the paper, lest robbers make off with the silver while you’re burying grandpa. The more things change, the less they do. [More]
security
Why Did The Strip Club Throw Me In Jail For Not Giving A Thumbprint?
By 2.19.10
Going from strip poles to iron bars in one night, a Consumerist reader says he got tossed in jail when he refused to give a strip club his thumbprint. Their ATM was broken so he had to pay his tab using a credit card cash advance. The club demanded a thumbprint and he refused, so cops that were already there threw him in jail. Was this legal? [More]
TSA Wants To Swab Your Hands For Bomb Juice
By 2.18.10
The new cool development in security technology is a portable bomb juice scanner that the TSA plans to begin using to detect traces of explosives on your hands. [More]
Don't Tweet The Identity Of Your Plane's Air Marshal
By 2.17.10
On a flight yesterday, minor celebrity Kim Kardashian figured out that the guy next to her was the air marshal, at which point she excitedly announced it to her followers on Twitter. “Jim the air marshall makes me feel safe!” she tweeted. But it’s okay, she understands how security protocols are supposed to work; after some of her followers complained about what she’d done, she responded, “[I] highly doubt anyone is twittering like me on this flight! shhh.” [More]
Here's A Simple Flowchart To Help Thwart Phishing Attacks
By 2.12.10
I like flowcharts because they appeal to the part of me that wants to be a robot. I also like them because they make multi-step decision paths incredibly simple to follow, even if you don’t have a lot of insight into the big picture. This flowchart from LoginHelper.com will help even your PowerPoint-slideshow-forwarding relative (yes, that one) shoot down phishers as soon as they hit the In Box. [More]
FBI Wants To Follow You Around The Internet
By 2.9.10
FBI chief Robert Mueller wants ISPs to track everything their customers do on the Internet, and keep those records for two years. The government plan would give the FBI access to “origin and destination information” for all users. Hey, at least they’re not doing it in secret and lying about it. [More]
Bank Sues Victim To Avoid Replacing $200k In Stolen Funds
By 1.28.10
What constitutes adequate security for a bank? PlainsCapital Bank in Lubbock, Texas says what it currently has is enough, and if after all that some crooks still manage to steal your money, it’s not the bank’s fault. The bank has preemptively sued a business customer, Hillary Machinery, to absolve itself from any liability on what it couldn’t get back from the more than $800,000 that was stolen by foreign hackers last November. [More]
Free "How To Be Invisible" Download In Exchange For Your Email Address
By 1.28.10
J.J. Luna, a former security consultant turned author, released a guide ten years ago that showed readers how get rid of paper and digital trails. The subject matter is probably a little too paranoid for most of our readers, but it overlaps with issues we talk about all the time here, like identity theft and online security. He’s just released a revised version, so he’s giving away the 2000 edition in PDF format for free. Well, in exchange for your email address. [More]
Walmart Manager Takes Customer's DVD Away Because He Won't Show Receipt
By 1.19.10
Yep, it’s another Walmart receipt checker story! At the end of it, the OP asks, “What should I do?” And I sigh. I really don’t know. Don’t shop at Walmart anymore? Try to encourage your friends to not give their business to any company that acts in such a hostile way to honest, albeit uncooperative, customers? Spend a ton of money on a lawsuit that Walmart will use its very deep pockets to fight? [More]
AT&T Randomly Logs You Into Someone Else's Facebook Account
By 1.19.10
A glitch at AT&T is causing some mobile phone used to be randomly shuffled into other people’s Facebook accounts. Apparently the carrier has confused which phones should be logged into which accounts. Whoops. [More]
Debate Airport Security In The Playmobil Security Check Point Amazon Review Section
By 1.13.10
After more knuckleheads tried to kill us, debate over airport security procedures has spilled over into all facets of lite, from the news to the diner counter to the the Amazon.com review section for the Playmobil Security Check Point. “I was a little disappointed when I first bought this item, because the functionality is limited. My 5 year old son pointed out that the passenger’s shoes cannot be removed,” quips one. There are dozens more. [Amazon] (Thanks to GitEmSteveDave!) [More]
Idiot Disrupts Everyone's Air Travel For Goodbye Kiss
By 1.10.10
The man who went through security the wrong way, disrupting airline traffic at Newark and thus nationwide, was neither a terrorist nor a dumbass, as we had speculated last week. He was a romantic fool who wanted a kiss from his girlfriend. Okay, maybe that falls under “dumbass.” [More]
Stores Worried About Employees Using Gift Cards To Steal
By 12.31.09
Gift cards may encourage spending, but they also make it easy for employees to steal, writes the New York Times.
Among the variations of such crimes, cashiers often do fake refunds of merchandise and then, with the amount refunded, use their registers to electronically fill gift cards, which they take. Or sometimes when shoppers buy gift cards, cashiers give them blank cards and then divert the shoppers’ money onto cards for themselves.
Do Not Use "Twitter" As Your Twitter Password
By 12.30.09
Twitter is looking out for you. When you register, in addition to telling you how strong or weak your password is, there are also certain passwords that are forbidden. These include “computer,” “twitter,” and “vagina.” [More]
Detroit Airport Wants Passengers To Stop Showing Up So #%&*@$ Early
By 12.30.09
There’s a downside to media reports of airport mayhem. In Detroit, destination of the flight on which a failed alleged terrorist attack took place on Christmas Day, passengers expect additional security screening and are showing up early. Too early. Early enough that they’re screwing up the entire flight schedule. [More]
How Cons Steal Your ATM Card
By 12.15.09
The Real Hustle shows two methods fraudsters can use to jack your ATM card and PIN. The first is the skimming method most of us are familiar with. The second is a lo-tech distraction-based method that, while interesting, seems a little higher risk than most card thieves are willing to put up with. [More]
The Truth About Walmart's Super-Secret Data Center
By 12.11.09
Reader humphrmi thinks he knows what’s up with Walmart’s giant unmarked datacenter, photos of which we posted recently. It’s a truth SO REVEALING that it may make you go, “Oh, that makes sense.” [More]
Flyby And Driveby Photos Of Walmart's Super-Secret Data Center
By 12.9.09
Have you ever seen these crazy Walmarts ginormous data center in Missouri? Airplanes and the Google Maps Streetview car have. Dubbed, “Area 71,” the facility is built on bedrock so it can withstand numerous kind of disasters. Four years ago, their Bentonville, Arkansas HQ was said to have 460+ terabytes of storage. This is an auxilary facility in Missouri, located 15 miles from their HQ. It’s gotta have something in the peta or exabytes. Wonder what they use all that for? More pix inside. Leave your crackpot conspiracy theories in the comments. [More]
