When you feel deterred because of the shocking amount of time it requires to reveal what you're searching for, relax because you're one step closer to your goal.

Since Visa has very little interest in helping its consumers get their scammed money back, and since freecreditreport.com will refuse... you should avoid this company like the plague.

Ironically, if you don't pay the Visa bill for the scam they'll report you to the SAME COMPANY that scammed you in the first place!!!

Its deplorable, in my opinion, that no authority agencies have made any reasonable attempt to stop this fraudulent activity. If it were a consumer, he'd be in jail at this point.

Hello. I have never had a credit card and I'm really tired of carrying all this annoying cash about me. But I am afraid that I can miss or delay monthly credit card bill and it will end up in a debt. Are there any credit education courses that teach credit card management and explain the peculiarities in terms and features? I would earnestly want to apply for credit card at
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I need to get a frequent flyer credit card because I have a new job that and I will travel a lot. Mostly around the country. I would rather pay for my flights with a credit card to get some additional benefits out of my trips. Which card would you think is best for flying around US at
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Grocery store loyalty cards do not offer any discount. When my local store started its card system, the "discounted" prices with the loyalty card were the same as the regular daily prices the week before they started the card. If you shop without the card, you pay an artificially high price, a penalty for not sharing your identity with the store. Shopping with the card simply allows you to buy at the same price they would have charged you if they never had the card.

Privacy is a funny issue and I think as usual this article means well but totally misses the point. If I decide to give away MY private information it is becasue I decided to do it, not some nameless agency. Privacey entails having some measure of control over YOUR personal information. I think the problem that many pepple have is that they are no longer in control of access to their own personal information.. nameles agencies can collect or relase our personal information without our consent or knowledge. We are no longer in control of ACCESS to our personal information. So if I decide to give out my SS# to the guy at the grocery store it is not because I dont care about privacy it is because I decdied to release the information, it was MY decision. But when the guy at the grocery store decides to look up my SS# and all the rest of his regular customer in a Gov't database and do a mailing to everyone's address in the list there is a definite problem, I should be able to control my membership in any list I belong to .... I should be able to OPT_OUT of any list I belong to whenever I choose.

Since birth, it has been drummed in to us that we shouldn't carry our social security number around with us. It is used by the government, banks, and for credit cards. However, the government gives older citizens their Medicare cards with their social security numbers as the identifying number with the instruction to carry it always. It's not a bad instruction but I wonder how long it will take for someone to take our identity with that information.

Dun & Bradstreet offer a "free" Duns number after a 30 day wait. But if you don't pay for the "one in five business days" version, you wait for nothing.

I can control most security issues by simply not supplying information.
Where my problem lies is ..how do I stop the government from spying on me.
Unlike some of these flag wavers, I don't like Uncle Sam watching my every move
and it's not because I am doing anything wrong, it's just none of their flipping business.
If the government is so worried about terrorism then they should spend our tax dollars
on border and port security instead of on monitoring our calls and internet use.

If you don't want to pay for an unlisted number, have the number listed under a different name. When I was single, my phone was listed under my middle name. My family knew it was me, and I could weed out legitimate calls based on what name a caller asked for me by. Ditto with catalogs and grocery store discounts. They all come addressed with my middle name and maiden surname on them. Add in all the misspellings, and a ZabaSearch shows 40-some people living in my house. None of them me.

Nice survey that uses a web browser plugin that probably has spyware and security exploits built into it.

You don't have to give accurate or correct information to grocery stores for their discount cards. They think they've got my info, but they don't. They have a fake name, address and phone number.

And, I still get the discount.

i seem to manage keeping my privacy easily enough. my tactics:

* never put your name, address, or phone number anywhere on the internet, or -anything- that you don't absolutely have to.

* this includes those infamous store "discount cards". i have a ton of grocery store discount cards, but the applications for all of them feature names and addresses that do not exist. nobody has ever checked the information i filled out against an identification card or driver license.

* never fill out sweepstakes junk. you won't win anyway.

* never, ever, fill out "registration cards", "product surveys", or any of the other junk that comes with something you've bought.

* do your research and use logic when buying from internet-based stores. generally, if the site looks like crap, has lots of technical errors, or has any history of complaints, you're better off looking somewhere else. a slight difference in price could cost you dearly in the future. it's not worth saving a couple dollars to buy from shady operations.

* don't store personal information on your computer without either encrypting it or burying it in a convoluted directory path. those of us that were actively reverse-engineering technology in the late 90s remember trojans capable of giving even a script-kid "n00b" hacker an all-access pass to everything on an infected system. i can't even begin to tell you how many identities i found back then; whether it was a guy down the street or an obviously well-educated graduate student at harvard. invest some time and effort into learning about security. you wouldn't try to drive a car without having learned something about the way it works, so why would try to use an internet-connected computer without the same kind of education?

* if you have to get a landline at your residence, do opt out of the phone book. getting an unlisted number truly does help keep your information off of countless lists.

* finally, when making purchases of whatever kind in "the real world", do as much of it in cash as you possibly can. no checks, no credit cards, no debit cards. don't create in-store credit accounts, either.

so far, so good. i don't get junkmail, i don't get telemarketer calls, and i've never had any strange charges appear on my bank account.

This survey is somewhat flawed in that it asks if we feel online banking, shopping online, etc., are risky behaviors. In general, sure they are. However, if the user has any sense, they'll look to make sure the site is secure, they'll institute a 'sitekey' in additional to a password, etc. It's like saying driving your car is dangerous. Sure it is, but with proper training, you'll do fine.

You can't have a high level of freedom (IE Don't aggressively hunt terrorists) and a high level of privacy at the same time. I don't have a problem with the Feds tracking me even if it takes a constitutional amendment to do it right. I'm more worried about terrorists and internet crooks. Identity theft and internet crime needs to be aggressively combated by the Feds punished with severity.

In response to Frank E. Your privacy is gone because the people in authority (The Bush Administration) are the ones who want to steal it!

The 93% of us who trade our privacy at the grocery store aren't doing it for "small" discounts. One trip without that loyalty card can cost $30-$50 more. I tried to hold out, but that's a lot of money. It's a shame that bribery can be made so legal.

I try to protect my privacy, but I've been doing it too long. Frankly I'm getting tired. It's just easier to give in. Without an opt-in versus an opt-out culture, it's just too hard.
Our chivalrous knights are just too weak: EPIC, ACLU, Consumer Reports, MSNBC are all ringing this bell, but no one in authority listens.

Privacy is gone. A prime example of something that happened to me: I moved to a new address two months before it was time to renew my Sams Club card. When I stopped in to renew the card I stated I needed to change my address. Customer Service then asked me if I still lived at **** C Street, the city, state and zip code. I was shocked. She read off my new address. I never gave it to them. They already had it. They got it in less than 2 months with out my having to tell them. That bothered the hell out of me.