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Scams

by Mike Masnick

Wed, Mar 23rd 2005 10:17am





Your Info (Right Or Wrong) Is Not Your Own

from the and-so-it-goes... dept

Two separate pieces this morning highlight a number of points that have been popping up on Techdirt quite a bit over the past few weeks. The first is a summary (once again) of all of the various private data leaks/hacks/handouts/whatever that may have put your personal data at risk. To be honest, while it's getting a lot of attention this month, it's likely that this is all par for the course. It's just that the press has finally picked up on it. The article notes that, so far, the only thing Congress has done is try to make the punishment for identity theft higher -- which is an after the fact solution, that does little to push companies to be more secure with their your data. The article also notes, again, that none of these data leaks came via the internet, and there was nothing any individual could have done to stop them. The second story concerns the fact that ChoicePoint has plenty of incorrect data about people -- and no way to request a change. It turns out (whooooops!) that's against the law. Of course, given their apparent inability to protect your data, perhaps it's good that they can't get your data correct. Maybe people should start purposely putting errors into these reports so they can track who's leaking the data.

3 Comments | Leave a Comment

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  1.  
    identicon
    Mike K., Mar 23rd, 2005 @ 11:37am

    Trust-e Verifies ChoicePoint?

    This may be slightly off-topic, but how in the world does Trust-e verify that the ChoicePoint stands up to privacy standards? I think we should all write Trust-e (I have already) and ask for the immediate removal of ChoicePoint from the Trust-e program. If Trust-e is going to allow companies like ChoicePoint be members of their program, then their program is worthless

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  2.  
    identicon
    Ozimandius, Mar 24th, 2005 @ 2:00am

    No Subject Given

    The idea of giving false data is one I've been using for some time - whenever I get a 'registration' [for spam!] form, I always enter the wrong first name or make an obvious error in the surname. It makes it very easy to pick out the junk from the useful stuff later.

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  3.  
    identicon
    John Doe, Mar 24th, 2005 @ 10:57am

    Re: No Subject Given


    When asked:

    My zip code is 90210

    My phone # is 555-1212

    My name is John Doe

    & I live @ 101 Main street.

    Also, its a good idea to always keep a " spare " email box for junk, registrations, etc so you can keep your REAL email account fairly clean and only use it for correspondance you actually want.

    BTW: Check out: http://www.junkbusters.com/

    GREAT site for helping you get started on the path to removing your name from databases & protecting your privacy.

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]


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