.
Of the consumers who have expressed security concerns regarding
on-line shopping they still make the assumption that their personal
information is safe if they limit their shopping and business
transactions to well established "land-based" businesses.
But is consumer's personal information truly safe, even in the
hands of well established reputable companies? It might not be
as safe as the average consumer might think since many people
are totally unaware that even big businesses are selling client's
personal information to a variety of third parties and sometimes
this information can turn up in the wrong hands.
Consumer Data is Big Business!
In fact, the more information a company can
gather on it's clients the more profitable it becomes. Almost
every big business maintains detailed databases of information
of the clients they have. This information includes highly personal
and sensitive information such as home mailing addresses, home
phone numbers, credit card numbers, credit reports, dates of birth,
social security numbers, drivers license numbers, medical and
insurance records and almost all of this information is for SALE.
We are all familiar with the old fashioned way of collecting
consumer data. In the past to gather this type of information
many businesses included registration cards with the products
that they sold which many times included simple surveys. W have
all seen them and they were pretty up front and requested basic
information about us. We had the option of filing them out or
not and the information generated by these surveys was used to
compile basic mailing lists. However, with the advances of computer
databases businesses are now capable of developing much more complex
and detailed client histories. Many giant corporations and businesses
like insurance companies or health care industries collect, maintain
& sell very detailed information about us. In most cases we
are not allowed to view any of the information that they have
accumulated about us. These databases are considered assets of
the company that can be transferred, sold, traded and even rented,
yet we as consumers have no rights to view, edit or even know
of their existence! To understand the limits of consumer privacy
rights:
On line
privacy rights.
.
Individuals should have the right to know about ANY information
that is being bought or sold about them no matter what type of
industry, yet the general public is not informed. Unfortunately,
until the laws are changed we do not have this option except in
certain states. It is our view that all consumers should be notified
and allowed to review any information that might be on file about
them, especially if it might be transferred or sold.
Spyware, an additional concern:
In addition, many people on the web don't seem to know or care
that advertisers are including spyware inside of other software
products that people download each and everyday. When told many
consumers express statements that it really doesn't matter to
them that advertisers monitor what sites they visit and accept
at face value that the extra components will only transmit targeted
advertisements based on their web surfing history. To some extent
this is true, most ad supported software do go to great lengths
to find out what we want and where we surf for this very reason,
however are they just gathering demographic information or are
they gathering more detailed information? This is a hard question
to answer for the simple fact that they will not disclose this
information and denials rebound across the internet that they
ever gather detailed personal information at all.
| **
Spyware & Adware Test Scan **
If you are viewing this site with Internet
Explorer and see an alert displayed here then it is an indication
that your computer is infected with one or more spyware
programs that we can scan for. If you do not see any alert
displayed in the center of this notice then our scan did
not detect any of the 122 spyware programs we can scan for,
however, there are still many other programs out there that
we can not yet scan for.
Please note: Currently
we can scan for a 122 distinct spyware programs that can
effect PC users and the alert will only be display if a
specific targeted program is identified. Unfortunately,
we are limited to finding only certain types of spyware
and there are many other forms of spyware and adware that
we can not currently test for.
In addition, our test scan does not
work well with NetScape or other browsers, if you suspect
that you might have spyware on your computer please feel
free to check this page while using Internet Explorer.
Also, if you have a Personal FireWall installed it may
interfere with our ability to scan your computer for Parasite
Adware and Spyware. |
Can we fully trust these denials?
Based on many expert reports and a number of recent legal actions
they are collecting much more detailed personal and identifiable
information than the general public knows or realizes. Yet, in
spite of that they continue to deny that they are gathering detailed
personal information. There in lies the problem, since they repeatedly
deny gathering information the general public has no idea of what
is collected let alone what is being done with this information.
Currently there is no real restrictions regarding this except
that they are encouraged to have and maintain a privacy policy
- the wording of which in most cases can be vague and misleading.
Our question is just how far should they be allowed to go!
Are Our Concerns about Spyware Valid?
Stop and think about this...
A consumer finds an interesting software bargain and downloads
it. During the installation process they are asked for their name,
email address, home address, phone numbers and/or credit card
numbers for registration purposes all of which they readily comply
with. Once the software is installed it uploads that information
to the software manufacture and the registration is complete.
Yet in the background without the consumers full knowledge of
the software's capabilities additional programs were also installed.
As soon as the consumer signs on these add-on programs are phoning
home and the IP address of the consumers personal computer is
being assigned a unique identifier (
GUID)
and from that point on information is slowly being sent to the
marketing or advertising company regarding many of the consumers
actions. Once installed, in addition to knowing what books the
user likes to read and what web sites they like to visit, they
also know about the on line subscriptions the user might be getting
filled, what medical information they are searching for, what
new jobs they are trying to get, what school they are planning
to attend, what courses they are interested in, they even know
the consumers vacation plans right down which flight they are
planning to take, what hotel the user will be staying as well
as what time their plane will land! That is a tremendous amount
of information for a total stranger to have with out the consumers
knowledge!
As the internet has grown and developed newer and more intricate
capabilities so to has the spyware industry grown and evolved
with it's capabilities. They are not just checking to see which
web sites we visit, they are now transmitting data on our search
queries and key strokes and monitoring our on line banking --
all without our knowledge! Yet the average web surfer takes a
cavalier attitude assuming that none of this is happening. As
a general rule consumers are expected to be passive and gullible
and believe that companies such as eZula, Gator, DoubleClick,
Radiate and all they other spyware marketers are not amassing
intricate detailed information about us.
Samples of Abuse of Your Privacy
There have been a number of recent cases in the news regarding
big companies trading, selling and gathering our personal information.
Almost ever month a new case comes into the spotlight. Here is
just a sampling of some of recent cases that have gotten their
names in the court records:
As recently as September 2003
A group of passengers has sued JetBlue Airways for passing their
personal information to a Defense Department contractor.
http://www.wired.com/news/privacy/0,1848,60551,00.html
In August of 2002 The state of New York sued a high school
surveying firm for allegedly tricking students into providing
names and other personal information for sale to direct marketers
on a broad scale. Teachers and students were told that the information
would be provided to colleges and universities to help students
gain admission and financial aid. However, the data was sold
not only to colleges but also to direct marketers of credit
cards, magazines, music videos, cosmetics and other products.
In November 2001 A lawsuit was filed against Sears, Roebuck
and Co. for allegedly violating its policy of not renting or
selling customer information to anyone outside Sears' family
of businesses. Source: "Sears Credit Card Holders Sue over
Data Sale," Chicago Tribune, 11/1/01.
In August of 2001 the Massachusetts Attorney General Tom Reilly
halted Essential.com Inc., a bankrupt communications and energy
services Web site, from selling personal information on its
70,000 customers. Source: "Web Site Restricted From Selling
Customer Data to Third Parties," Jennifer Disabatino, Computerworld,
8/10/01.
In May 2001 EPIC, a privacy rights group, filed a complaint
with the FTC against eTour.com, alleging the company violated
federal and state consumer protection laws when it sold its
customers' personal information to AskJeeves.com, an online
search engine. Sources: "eTour.com Data Sales Violate Policy
- EPIC - Update," Brian Krebs, Newsbytes, 5/29/01 and "Privacy
Fears Over eTour Deal," Andrew Heavens and Stephanie Kirchgaessner,
The Financial Times, 5/24/01.
In April 2001 Amazon.com and Alexa settle the terms of several
class action lawsuits whereby Amazon & Alexa had gathered
personal information through Alexa search tool eZbubbles this
information included such information as home addresses, email
accounts, social security numbers and other personal information.
Sources: "Amazon Unit to Pay in Privacy Settlement,"
Douglas F. Gray, IDG News, 4/27/01.
In February 2001 Network Solutions and VeriSign began to increase
their efforts to sell marketers the information gathered when
a company registers a Web address and domain name. The data
being sold includes the company name, street address, telephone
number, and e-mail address gathered through the registration
process. Sources: "Network Solutions Selling Database Info,"
Margret Johnston, IDG News Service, 2/16/01. and "Network
Solutions Offers Its Database Of Domain-Names to Marketing Firms,"
Thomas E. Weber, The Wall Street Journal, 2/16/01.
Also in February 2001 Radiate Settled as Spyware Class Action
Lawsuit because they monitored the users without their knowledge
or permission. Sources: "Radiate Settles Spyware Class
Action", InternetNews, February 28, 2001.
In September 2000 the Missouri's attorney general filed a lawsuit
against Internet retailer More.com, saying that the San Francisco-based
Internet retailer violated its privacy policy by sharing customer
data with a third party. Source: "More.com Is a Big Mouth,
Missouri Says" By Keith Perine, TheStandard.com, Sept 15
2000
(Please see our Legal News Archive for additional
cases that have been in the news and links to the news stories
above.)
Is there any wonder that telemarketers and spammers get our email
addresses, phone numbers and home addresses let alone the recent
rise in identity theft!
What about our rights?
To make matters worse the FTC has not made privacy on or off
line a priority except in the case of children's privacy rights.
They take a much stronger and aggressive stand on advertising
disclaimers then they do privacy issues. The FTC does not mandate
that a business have and maintain a privacy policy they only "strongly
encourage" them to have one! If a company does not have a
privacy policy the FTC will not step in (unless it is related
to children) and their position has been that if no policy exists
there is no violation no matter what a business is doing to gather
or sell information. In fact, they generally only step in if a
company has a privacy policy on record. Unfortunately, in many
instances where a business has be caught misusing our information
the FTC has been willing to drop charges against a violator if
the violator amends their privacy statement and promises to not
misbehave again.
On the bright side the Senate and Congress has taken an interest
in consumer privacy! There have been a number of new privacy acts
up for legislation. To find out about additional information on
recent legislative actions please see our Legal Information section.
Needless to say, Big Business are actively fighting and lobbing
against any attempts to regulate, monitor or police what they
do with OUR personal information! We hope that you will take the
time to contact your state senators and congressmen to let them
know that we need these proposed legislation's passed.
Written by Debbie St.Clair
UnwantedLinks.com
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