Here’s some information suggesting that fear of sexual predators online might be out of hand. According to them, it’s not that random or unavoidable.
Tags: For Families, Kids, MySpace, Sexual Predators
It certainly appears that way. There's almost no content at http://www.igotmyidentitystolen.com/, just ads and links to Lifelock.com.
If it really is a front-site, then Lifelock's advertising campaign is even more aggressive than I thought! I already knew they advertise heavily on websites, but I've seen comments and reviews on many websites that read more like planted ads than actual reviews.
Case-in-point, some guy that left a nice long comment complaining about my views on fraud alerts who's website has another giant ad for Lifelock that's supposed to be a "review", but with all the ads, it's hard to believe that he's impartial.
They must be making money hand over fist!
Tags: Identity Theft, Lifelock
No offense to the UK, but they've not got the best history when it comes to personal privacy. That's why when I heard that the recent call to create a national DNA registry has been rejected, I was pleasantly surprised!
Of course, they still have their problems. The existing DNA registry is filled with data from criminals, but also people who were only suspects. Obviously criminals should have a reduced set of privacy rights, but people who have never been convicted is another story entirely. Still, props to the UK for having the brains to reject such a flagrant rights violation.
(H/T to privacyorg for the link)
Tags: UK
A judge just ruled against the RIAA’s theory of “making available”. What this means is that the RIAA can’t pursue a lawsuit solely on the fact that someone has a song available for download, but that someone actually downloaded it from them.
This one ruling could derail future (and past?) RIAA lawsuits and make filesharing a whole lot safer for the masses. Interestingly enough, the judge also helpfully offered the defendant a bunch of other possible defences that they could have used which the judge (presumably) would have ruled in their favor with.
Tags: RIAA
Lifehacker has an interesting article about managing your online reputation. They talk about how to tell when new information about you surfaces (setting up a Google alert) and how to amend or respond to negative information. There are also ways to artifically improve the way you’re viewed online (your own blog).
It’s a good read for anyone who’s concerned about what people will find when searching for your name online.
Because of fears of data sharing, data loss, and inappropriate disclosure, people are circumventing their doctors and insurance companies when getting DNA tests. Smart people.
Can and would they use your DNA results against you? Do credit card companies raise your rates according to unrelated things on your credit report? Do insurance companies raise your rates due to traffic tickets that have little to do with telling how good or safe a driver you are?
Like I said, avoiding a record of your DNA is a smart idea.
By the way, Gattica is a great movie that describes what a future of DNA discrimination would look like.
Tags: Big Brother, DNA Testing
According to an Associate Press article, it's quite common for employees to snoop through customers' personal data.
Vast computer databases give curious employees the ability to look up sensitive information on people with the click of a mouse. The WE Energies database includes credit and banking information, payment histories, Social Security numbers, addresses, phone numbers, and energy usage. In some cases, it even includes income and medical information.
Experts say some companies do little to stop such abuses even though they could lead to identity theft, stalking and other privacy invasions. And companies that uncover violations can keep them quiet because in many cases it is not illegal to snoop, only to use the data for crimes.
But of course, if they didn't store all that unecessary data, this would be far less of an issue.
(H/T to The Consumerist for the link)
Tags: Big Brother
I can't stand these companies that take advantage of a problem to make some money. Lifelock is that company where the CEO posted his Social Security Number with a challenge to take his identity ( which someone promptly did). If you've been considering getting the service, wait. First realize what you're paying for.
If you were to go to their site and read through what they actually do, you'll find that you're not getting much for your money.
- They place fraud alerts. The problem is, fraud alerts are worthless and do absolutely nothing to protect you from ID theft.
- They renew the fraud alerts every 90 days. Note that this isn't actually a separate benefit, but they sure seemed to want to have six benefits to their service instead of just five.
- They remove your name from pre-screened credit card offers. You can do it yourself, freely, and quickly at optoutprescreen.com. Also note that Lifelock fails to mention that this is a one time benefit and not something that you should be paying monthly for.
- They order your credit reports once per year which is easy for them becuase they can use the free annual credit report you are due by law. The bad part here is that if you wanted to use the very clever advice of getting your report from one of the companies every four months so you can keep a semi-constant tab on your credit, you can't. Lifelock blew your free coupons all at once.
- They'll keep a list of the companies you have credit cards and such with so you can quickly call them if your wallet is stolen. The FDIC has a great guide about how to do this yourself including the advice to carry a bare-minimum of cards and information and to make your own call-down list.
- Lastly, insurance.
The ONLY way to actually prevent ID theft is with a Credit Freeze So to sum up, they give you useless fraud alerts and will renew said useless alerts on a regular basis. They'll order your federally mandated free credit reports for you saving you a whopping 20 minutes of time per year. They put you on a list that prevents many pre-screened offers which is a one-time 5 minute cost to them. They'll keep a list of all the companies you should contact if you lose your wallet though if you have so many to contact that it's that hard for you to do yourself, I'd be more concerned about the number of credit cards you have. And of course, they're an insurance provider.
When all is said and done, Lifelock is nothing more than credit theft insurance with little more benefit. And rather than pay a monthly fee for insurance, you are far better off getting a Credit Freeze which actually does protect against ID theft rather than just try to clean it up after the fact. Factor in that a freeze is a fraction of the cost of insurance (and free in some cases), Lifelock just doesn't have a leg to stand on.
Let's hope the hype dies down soon and we can watch Lifelock drift into business oblivion. The sooner the better.
Update
Lifelock has added another "real" service that scans the web for your data to notify you if there's activity associated with your name/address etc. I haven't seen any information for HOW they do this or what happens when they notice something, but this smacks of an actual service.
Note that if you have a credit freeze, Lifelock is still not worth the money. The only thing that would make them worth anything is if they took me up on my open challenge.
Tags: Identity Theft, Lifelock, Todd Davis
Congress sticks their noses into a lot of things they shouldn’t and not where they should. They are corrupt, inept, and won’t do much to protect Americans unless it will make a positive affect on their careers or bank accounts.
Now they’re looking at cyberbullying and it’s hard to say if that’s a good thing or not. Given their history, chances are that it’s not.
Tags: For Families
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