Thread: Protect Personal Data...Join PRIVACYARMY.com

UPDATE............................................ ..

Media Privacy Alerts this week!
Privacy problems posed by media for which
Privacy Army has a patent-pending solution
November 4, 2006

CNBC
Big Business, Big Brother documentary
http://www.cnbcbigbrother.com/index.html

United Press International
U.S. gets low ranking on privacy
http://www.upi.com/SecurityTerrorism/view....03-040543-5195r

ABC Online
UK Privacy Commissioner issues dire security warning
http://www.abc.net.au/correspondents/conte...06/s1781232.htm

Reader's Digest, Nov '06
ID THIEVES' NEW TARGET: Your Medical Records
http://www.rd.com/content/openContent.do?contentId=30232

UPDATE...............................

Top Ten Stories You Missed in 2006.

10. Hackable Passports

In October, the U.S. State Department began issuing biometric “ePassports” that contain a radio frequency identification (RFID) tag under the back cover. The tiny chip holds the usual passport data, including a digital photo. The motive behind adding the chips is ostensibly good: to combat counterfeiting and illegal immigration.

But a German hacker quickly found a vulnerability. With a laptop and a chip reader he bought for $200, he was able to steal data from an encrypted RFID tag, potentially allowing him to clone an ePassport. And it’s not just Americans who are at risk. Twenty-seven countries (mostly in Europe) that participate in the U.S. Visa Waiver Program are required by U.S. law to issue the new electronic passports to their citizens. The Dutch and British media have already reported major security flaws in the new IDs.

So, what’s a security conscious citizen to do? Again, the answer may come out of Germany. A group of hackers there recommends that people microwave the new passports to destroy the chips. The State Department may want to go back to relying on a paper trail.

FIGHT BACK BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE.................

Ever wonder what is on your magnetic key card?

Answer:
a. Customer's name
b. Customer's partial home address
c. Hotel room number
d. Check-in date and out dates
e. Customer's credit card number and expiration date!

When you turn them in to the front desk your personal information is there for any employee to access by simply scanning the card in the hotel scanner.
An employee can take a hand full of cards home and using a scanning device, access the information onto a laptop computer and go shopping at your expense.


Simply put, hotels do not erase the information on these cards until an employee re-issues the card to the next hotel guest.
At that time, the new guest's information is electronically "overwritten" on the card and the previous guest's information is erased in the overwriting process.

But until the card is rewritten for the next guest, it usually is kept in a drawer at the front desk with YOUR INFORMATION ON IT !


The bottom line is:
Keep the cards, take them home with you, or destroy them.
NEVER leave them behind in the room or room wastebasket, and NEVER turn them into the front desk when you check out of a room.
They will not charge you for the card (it's illegal) and you'll be sure you are not leaving a lot of valuable personal information on it that could be easily lifted off with any simple scanning device card reader.


For the same reason, if you arrive at the airport and discover you still have the card key in your pocket, do not toss it in an airport trash basket.
Take it home and destroy it by cutting it up, especially through the electronic information strip!


(Information courtesy of: Pasadena, California Police Department )


** I personally have a small magnet and pass it across the magnetic strip several times. Then try it in the door, it will not work. It erases everything on the card

ANNOUNCEMENT...............................

NEW NAME...............PRIVACY ADVOCATES to better identify our mission to help the millions who don't have a clue what is going on behind their backs.

Did you know your personal private data is being sold to thousands of companies who in turn sell your personal information to hundreds of thousands of other companies, direct marketing, retail, insurance companies, and hundreds of other marketing entities.

Now it only costs $19.95 to protect your name and personal data as your own, thereby preventing any other entity from profiting from YOUR personal data. If you don't know you are being ripped off, then you wouldn't know how to stop it, so get educated and visit our Privacy Advocates site to learn the truth, then join, share this legal strategy with others and earn an incredible income at the same time.

Fight Back, Mike