Tips to protect your PDA and cell phone

There were several alarming articles this week about mobile device privacy at News.com:
Used mobile devices share secrets
Stolen smart phones scream to be found

Smart phones and PDAs offer the benefit of storing information, but consumers may not wipe the data clean before selling the devices on eBay, according to research results released Wednesday.

“Personal and corporate data is being sold on the open market through eBay, and it’s also available to anyone who finds, steals or purchases a used smart phone or PDA from any other source,” Nick Magliato, chief executive of Trust Digital, said in a statement. “The general public needs to immediately be made aware of this fact.”

Be sure to read the complete article for more startling statistics.

The point is, the more you become dependant on technology, the more you have to put safe guards in place:

• Use the built-in PIN/password security on your PDA or cell phone.
• Set your device to automatically lock after 30 minutes or when you close the lid.
• Keep a backup copy of your device data. That means sync to your computer often.
• If you store sensitive information, don’t file with titles such as “My passwords.” Use non-descriptive titles that don’t draw attention.
• If you are selling or exchanging the device, figure out how to wipe the data first.
• If you are disposing of the device, make it unusable. But be sure to dispose/recycle the battery properly.

It’s a hassle to lose a device, but with a little precaution and common sense, it won’t be so devastating to you.

-Roland

Roland Reinhart is an interactive marketing professional who is concerned about how companies handle personally identifiable information. His observations can be found at Chaos365.com and AdMadMan.com.

©2006 Roland Reinhart. All Rights Reserved.

Protect your wireless surfing at hot spots

Do you take your laptop to Starbucks, the airport lounge, Union Square Park or other wireless hot spots? Then take a minute to check out what Grafdom.com posted: 10 Top Tips For Protecting Yourself At Hot Spots

-Roland

Roland Reinhart is an interactive marketing professional who is concerned about how consumers manage personally identifiable information. His observations can be found at Chaos365.com and AdMadMan.com.

©2006 Roland Reinhart. All Rights Reserved.

Hack exposes 19,000 AT&T customer identities

News.com reports that AT&T hack exposes 19,000 identities

AT&T on Tuesday said hackers broke into one of its computer systems and accessed personal data on thousands of customers who used its online store.

The incident is the latest in a long string of data security breaches. Since early last year, more than 90 million personal records have been exposed in dozens of incidents, according to information compiled by the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse.

Related Links:

• More articles about careless organizations that allow data to be stolen…

Roland Reinhart is an interactive marketing professional who is concerned about how companies handle personally identifiable information. His observations can be found at Chaos365.com and AdMadMan.com.

©2006 Roland Reinhart. All Rights Reserved.

Revisionist History: Alter your personal reality

Daily, our politicians rewrite our history books, journalists skew the facts, photographers create false images of war, and scientists to tell us there are no longer 9 planets in our solar system.

Rest assured, corporations are now doing their part to help their customers alter reality.

News.com reports: Digital cameras focus on revised reality

Photo-adjusting features that once required a PC and special know-how are now allowing consumers to alter a photo as soon as it’s snapped.

With new tools, average people can create their own “pictures that lie” at the moment of capture, without any trace of the real image that was seen with the naked eye.

HP recently released in-camera editing feature ["Slimming Tool"] that makes a person appear more svelte.

A “skin tone” feature on some Olympus models can give consumers a leisure-class tan.

News.com did some homework and dug up 24 examples of famous doctored photos: Pictures that lie

More and more people are now creating virtual personas of themselves and retreating into virtual worlds, such as Second Life, and video games.

What does this teach our children? Don’t worry, we can erase from history what you don’t like. Just throw some money at it and a bit of time.

My parents taught me to own up to my mistakes and make the best of what I have.

So, why can’t we all just be happy with reality?
-Roland

Roland Reinhart is an interactive marketing professional who accepts his own reality. His observations can be found at Chaos365.com and AdMadMan.com.

©2006 Roland Reinhart. All Rights Reserved.

Verizon Wireless emails customer data to other customers

It was reported Friday that a Verizon Wireless employee emailed a spreadsheet of customer personally identifiable information to about 1,800 Verizon customers. The spreadsheet contained the name, email address, cell phone number and cell phone model of 5,210 Verizon Wireless customers.

News.com reports:

The spreadsheet was inadvertently sent to about 1,800 people, all Verizon Wireless subscribers, according to a follow-up e-mail apologizing for the gaffe that the mobile carrier sent on Thursday. The Excel file was attached to an ad for a Bluetooth wireless headset, instead of the electronic order form that was supposed to be sent.

“Verizon Wireless takes the security, confidentiality and integrity of your personal information very seriously, and we deeply regret this error,” the company said in the Thursday e-mail. It said that it has already implemented additional quality control procedures and process improvements to prevent a re-occurrence.

The information in the document is limited and does not immediately expose those listed to fraud, the company said in its apology. Yet it recommends that people affected review their bills more carefully and add a password to their account by calling 1-866-861-5096.

Verizon Wireless tries to put a spin on the story by saying customers were not “immediately exposed to fraud.”

While the privacy breach in no way makes identity theft automatic, it helps put a clever fraudster in the starting blocks, said James Van Dyke, the principal analyst at Javelin Strategy & Research in Pleasanton, Calif., which tracks identity fraud.

“To commit ID fraud, you must do several things well. This just makes the job slightly easier,” he said. For example, with this list in hand, a fraudster could call the listed numbers, pretend to be a Verizon Wireless representative and ask the subscriber for information to update the account.

Complete News.com article: “Verizon gaffe lets customer details slip”

This just illustrates the point that while a company tries to do the right thing and put safe guards in place to protect sensitive information, it just takes one careless mistake to open the company to criticism and compromise the privacy of it’s customers. Many questions need to be asked:

• Why was that information being passed around internally on a spreadsheet? (Seems like all they needed was a list of email addresses only.)
• Did that employee have a legitimate right to have that information for business purposes?
• Is there a procedure in place to have a second employee review communications to customers before they are sent?
• How will this employee be punished for this careless action? Yes, punished!

Unfortunately, I guarantee we’ll see more stories like this in the future.
-Roland

Related Links:

• More articles about careless organizations that allow data to be stolen…

Roland Reinhart is an interactive marketing professional who is concerned about how companies big and small handle personally identifiable information. His observations can be found at Chaos365.com and AdMadMan.com.

©2006 Roland Reinhart. All Rights Reserved.

Tips to keep your search history private

The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) recently published 6 tips: “How To Keep Your Search History Private.” I’ve posted an abbreviated version and added some thoughts below.

• Don’t put personally identifying information (name, social security number, credit account numbers, etc.) in your searches, at least not in a way that can be associated with your other searches.
• Don’t use a search engine operated by your ISP. Most ISPs inherently know who their users are, at any given time and over the long run. If you use their default search tool, they know who you are and everything you search for.
• Don’t log into a search engine account.
• Don’t accept cookies from your search engine.
• Use a separate browser or browser profile for search and for other activities.
• Use an anonymizing proxy, or proxy network, to prevent search engines from learning your IP address, especially if your ISP gives you the same IP address each time you use the Internet.

The key to a successful, anonymous search strategy is common sense. You need to protect your privacy from those on the outside and the inside.

Set your Web browser to alert you to the cookies Web sites that you visit may set. My personal preference is to let the browser prompt me to accept or block third party cookies (most of which are for ad serving and site traffic reporting). I typically allow session cookies and first party / originating server cookies.

If your paranoid, use multiple search engines: Yahoo.com this month, Google.com next month, Ask.com after that. Then start over again.

Every month, wipe all cookies, history and saved form field info as a precaution in case your laptop is lost or stolen. The Firefox Web browser provides an easy “Clear Private Data” link in the Tools menu.

If others in your household have access to your computer, don’t use the computer for embarrassing online searches (i.e. sex, viagra, evil things).

Thanks to The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) for the tips and to SearchEngineJournal.com for bringing attention to that information. Definitely click through to read more suggestions.

Be cautious and stay safe.
-Roland

Roland Reinhart is an interactive marketing professional who is concerned about how companies handle personally identifiable information. His observations can be found at Chaos365.com and AdMadMan.com.

©2006 Roland Reinhart. All Rights Reserved.

Steve’s tips to protect your identity online

Protecting your personally identifiable information is important, but you might enjoy taking a few minutes to watch this…

Stupid People and Responsibility

New Jersey Star Ledger: Suit over loft bed falls short

A New Jersey appeals court “ruled the risk of falling from a loft bed is obvious, at least when that bed is used by a college student. It overturned a $179,001 award to a college senior who blamed his fall from a loft bed on the lack of a warning label.”

Thank you!

However, what’s annoying is:

• The 21 year old wouldn’t take responsibility for his own clumsy actions.
• His parents apparently failed to teach their son common sense.
• A court originally awarded $179,001 to the student.
• The student isn’t forced to compensate all parties for wasting their time and tax payer’s money.

We read about these nonsense lawsuits too often.

I am personally offended that my coffee cup has “HOT” printed in 6 different languages.

I did not sue my health club when I slipped off a climbing wall and twisted my ankle.

I did not sue my rail fence installer when I slipped off the fence and twisted my ankle.

I did not sue Anderson Windows when I cut my hand on a broken window.

I did not sue my contractor when I stepped on a rusty nail.

Accidents happen! All you can do is try your best to avoid them.

So use common sense. If it’s your fault, take responsibility, accept what happened, learn from it, and don’t try to pin the blame on someone else.

What are your thoughts?
-Roland

Roland Reinhart is an interactive marketing professional who takes responsibility for his own actions. His observations can be found at Chaos365.com and AdMadMan.com.

©2006 Roland Reinhart. All Rights Reserved.

Resume writing tips

I recently talked to a friend about resume writing. We struggled over the what to do when you have 20 years of diverse experience at 6 or more different places.

Here are some resume writing tips we agreed make sense:

• DO know what type of job you are after before you start to write.
• DO keep it clean. No one wants to read a cluttered mess of 8pt, single space type.
• DO keep it focused on the type of career you want to follow.
• DO summarize your experiences upfront. Include a short summary of your diverse professional experiences (or industries your worked in if that’s relevant).
• DO include for each job: company name, city/state, mm/yy-mm/yy, your job title(s). For each job, highlight your most significant accomplishments. (e.g. “Led project that resulted in ____”. “Developed promotion that raised share of wallet __% for that quarter.” “Automated a manual process that resulted in significant manpower and cost savings.”)
• DO try to tell a story. Somehow, your past experiences have led you to where you are today. Try to get that point across. If you worked in market research initially, then that helped build the foundation for your direct marketing experience.
• DO highlight if you managed teams or had staff reporting to you.

• DON’T include references. Save them until you are asked for them.
• DON’T have more than three pages. That’s already too long, but might be necessary to tell your story.
• DON’T include: personal hobbies, reasons for leaving, irrelevant job details.
• DON’T be boring. Sure it’s hard, but think of the person reading your resume. You want to get him/her excited to talk to you.

Get a few people you trust to review your resume and be prepared for criticism. A different perspective will help you cut out unnecessary info.

One final tip — DON’T LIE! It has become more common for managers and CEOs to lose their job because they embellished experience or education.

Good luck job hunting!
-Roland



Roland Reinhart is an interactive marketing professional who hates to revise his resume. His observations can be found at Chaos365.com and AdMadMan.com.

©2006 Roland Reinhart. All Rights Reserved.

The price of free stuff

It’s been a busy news week for AOL.
USA Today: AOL offering 5 gigabytes of free storage

The announcement Thursday of 5 gigabytes of free storage, which AOL says is good for some 1,250 songs or 2,000 photos, represents AOL’s latest effort to draw visitors to its ad-supported sites, now that it wants to be less reliant on revenues from its Internet access business.

It’s part of the huge shift AOL announced Wednesday to give away e-mail accounts and software previously reserved for paying customers, a move likely to accelerate a decline in access subscriptions but boost advertising dollars.

Oh yeah,

The company said Thursday it expects to drop as many as 5,000 employees as it seeks more than $1 billion in savings from marketing, network and other costs.

Remember, there is usually a trade off for anything you use for free.

• Loss off privacy (e.g. Google)
• Lost jobs (e.g. AOL)
• Loss of ownership/usage rights (e.g. YouTube)

Be aware. Question everything. Maintain control. Stay safe.
-Roland

Roland Reinhart is an interactive marketing professional who is concerned about how companies handle personally identifiable information. His observations can be found at Chaos365.com and AdMadMan.com.

©2006 Roland Reinhart. All Rights Reserved.

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