Banks Make Permanent Free ID-Theft Assistance

Grok Headline matches for Banks Make Permanent Free ID-Theft Assistance

Banks Establish Free ID-Theft Assistance
Program

Banks Establish Free ID-Theft Assistance
Program 04/14/2005 07:06 AM
Information Week Apr 14 2005 11:38AM GMT

HOWTO solve identity theft: make banks
responsible

HOWTO solve identity theft: make banks
responsible 04/15/2005 11:59 AM
Cory Doctorow: Bruce Schneier's op-ed on CNet about identity theft talks about why "two-factor" authentication (e.g. having to enter a password and a number that you read off of a little keychain fob) is useful for lots of things, but not for preventing identity theft. He goes on to explain how to practically solve identity theft through new liability measures:

Criminals impersonate legitimate users to financial intuitions. That means that any solution can't involve the account holders. That leaves only one reasonable answer: Financial intuitions need to be liable for fraudulent transactions.

They need to be liable for sending erroneous information to credit bureaus based on fraudulent transactions. They can't say that the user must keep his password secure or his machine virus-free. They can't require the user to monitor his accounts for fraudulent activity, or his credit reports for fraudulently obtained credit cards.

Those aren't reasonable requirements for most users. The bank must be made responsible, regardless of what the user does.

If you think this won't work, look at credit cards. Credit card companies are liable for all but the first $50 of fraudulent transactions. They're not hurting for business; and they're not drowning in fraud, either. They've developed and fielded an array of security technologies designed to detect and prevent fraudulent transactions. And they've pushed most of the actual costs onto the merchants.

Link (via Cryptogram)

Banks Start To Realize Identity Theft Is
Expensive

Banks Start To Realize Identity Theft Is
Expensive 07/15/2004 11:51 AM
One of the big complaints by victims of identity theft is that the various banks and law enforcement agencies don't really care that much, leaving the individual to have to pick up the pieces themselves. The banks and credit card companies, in particular, have shown a remarkable lack of interest in solving the whole identity fraud issue (though, they'll charge you extra for identity fraud alerts!). However, they're beginning to realize that identity theft is expensive to them too, and claim they're really trying to do something about it this time. Still, things like disposa ble credit card numbers aren't very well promoted, and no one seems to be doing much about reforming how credit agencies work in the first place. Reforming that process would be a huge step in stopping identity theft.

Banks Told to Develop Identity-Theft
Alerts

Banks Told to Develop Identity-Theft
Alerts 03/24/2005 08:26 AM
Los Angeles Times Mar 24 2005 12:07PM GMT

OSC Continues to Make Strides in the
International Directory Assistance Arena

OSC Continues to Make Strides in the
International Directory Assistance Arena 09/05/2004 02:12 AM
International DA has given OSC’s customers access to listings in most countries throughout the world including the United Kingdom, China, Japan, France and South Africa. [PRWEB Sep 5, 2004]

Telesero Launches a Free Solution for
Web Based Live Chat and Web Visitor
Assistance called Live Link.

Telesero Launches a Free Solution for
Web Based Live Chat and Web Visitor
Assistance called Live Link. 08/28/2004 02:38 AM
Have you ever used Live Support on a Website, or wished you could. Telesero is now offering a Live Chat and Visitor Assistance product that could solve your problems for Free. No Downloads, No Hassles, No waiting, Just Answers. [PRWEB Aug 28, 2004]

Help make a Wikipedia of Free Culture

Help make a Wikipedia of Free Culture 07/09/2004 05:19 AM
Creative Commons is creating a "Wikipedia of Free Culture" with links and annotation for every bit of open-licensed material in the universe. You're invited to help. Link

Make Free Money With Google

Make Free Money With Google 04/15/2004 02:37 AM
WebDevInfo Apr 15 2004 5:57AM GMT

Lead-free motherboards make greener PCs

Lead-free motherboards make greener PCs 04/23/2004 05:34 AM
Silicon.com Apr 23 2004 9:19AM GMT

How to Make Money Giving Stuff Away Free

How to Make Money Giving Stuff Away Free 03/14/2005 06:22 PM

The Idea: Innovative companies are learning that giving something away free can be good for both the top and bottom line. Unscrupulous companies are abusing it. Oligopolies are wringing their hands and calling it theft, and the end of the world. Is this trend inevitable, and how can we make it work to everyone's benefit? The price trend in almost everything, except for oil and other non-renewables, is downward. In some cases this is a good thing: Open Source development of software, and the free exchange of information over the Internet, for example. In some cases it's not so good: The Wal-Mart Dilemma for example, which trades off low prices for poor quality, third world slavery and loss of Western jobs. In some cases whether it's good or bad depends on where you sit -- File-sharing, for example, which allows new artists to get low-cost exposure or markets, and which hurts both the price-gouging recording industry oligopoly and independent artists who count on modest-price CD and MP3 sales to make a living. Conventional wisdom is that if you lower the price you have to make up the loss by either cutting costs (by squeezing suppliers and employees a la Wal-Mart) or drastically increasing volume, a la Amazon. But what happens when the price goes to zero -- How do you make money then? The answer is by being innovative, and recognizing that the supply/demand curve is inexorable, and, except when distorted by government subsidy, failure to absorb full external costs, or oligopolistic price-fixing, the price will find its own level. And increasingly that level is zero, reflecting both the lower value that consumers put on most of the mass-produced junk that we're inundated with, and the lower buying power that consumers have been left with thanks to corporatist exploitation and cowardly lack of government regulation. If you can't beat 'em, join 'em. How can responsible, innovative companies give stuff away free, and still make a living? Some new ways are being invented all the time, but here, classified by consumer receptivity, are some of these techniques: 1. Thumbs Down -- disreputable methods, some bordering on fraud: Pyramid schemes: Sign up five other people to buy X, and you get it free. Just don't expect those five other people to be your friends ever again. Buy one get one free schemes: Consumers aren't stupid. They know this means half price when you buy in bulk, not free. Limited-time free trials: One of the frankensteins of high-tech. This means you have a now-useless piece of software, non-functional link or 'expired' online subscription with the vendor's name all over it, so you can curse them again every time you stumble over it until you get pissed off enough to delete it once and for all. Once you've given something away it's bad manners to take it back. Free if you're not satisfied: Yeah, right. Just try and get your money back without investing more in time, effort and aggravation than the product cost. 2. So-So -- methods that work sometimes, sometimes not: Free samples: These are better than limited-time free trials because they don't persist, on your computer or anywhere else. Once they're gone, they're gone, and you know that going in. Free prize inside: So-called by marketing guru Seth Godin, this is something you give away that's 'hidden' in the product, like the crackerjack prize, or a surprise feature in hardware or software, or the extra video you get with your music CD. If it's genuinely valuable and not hyped, it's a good deal. But if it's not valuable, you're getting what you paid for it. And if it's hyped, the consumer will start to suspect that it's not free -- its value has been built into the total price. Shareware, pay what you want: Free with a guilt trip attached is not free, unless you're shameless. Barter: If you're trading away something that someone else values more highly than you do, to get something that you value more highly than they do, then this is a winner. It rarely works that way, however, and when it doesn't, barter is just two market transactions back-to-back, with the money reflecting the real (greater than zero) price invisible. All you save is the sales tax, and maybe the environment if you're buying used instead of new. Which is OK, too. But not free. 3. Ingenious -- methods that work: Information and/or do-it-yourself process free, 'live' service extra: We need to learn to do more things for ourselves. I applaud companies that help people do things themselves, and offer to help, at a reasonable charge, if it turns out they can't do it themselves because they just don't have the time or the skill. It can be abused of course, if the information or do-it-yourself instructions have landmines in them (e.g. vague, erroneous, or impossible to follow instructions). But it's usually legit. Basic product or service free, premium product or service extra: You get what you need to function effectively, a 'satisfactory customer experience' free. Add-ons that increase functionality, convenience, or ease of use, cost. Give away desktop-to-desktop VoIP free and charge for desktop-to-landline calls, as Skype has done. Or give away the CD and create a huge appetite for the band's live $60/ticket concerts. Again, this can be abused if the basic service doesn't meet minimum functionality standards. But most companies realize the bad PR they will get if they abuse this isn't worth it. 4. You Tell Me -- new methods not yet proven: Money back if you don't use it: The other day I heard a radio commercial for insurance that gives you your premium back if you don'f file a claim during the year. If you don't, and you renew for another year, they keep the premium and apply it to that second year, so they effectively have one year premium to invest forever, and they make their profit by that investment. Their premiums are probably higher than the normal insurance company rates, but once you sell the car or house you get it back, so who cares? I suspect that if you have a claim they drop you like a hot potato, and that, because you forfeit the premium if you do, the number of claims is probably lower and the likelihood of anyone putting in a small claim is low. But it still sounds too good to be true. Anyone know about this? Is there a catch? What am I missing? What other innovative or devious ways are companies using to give people something for nothing, and still make a living? Is this the wave of the future? Think of the essentials of life: food, clothing, energy and shelter. How could we give people a comfortable level of all three, for free, in a way that would allow the producers of these things a reasonable income? And if we did, would people get lazy and stop working? Would this necessarily be a bad thing? Or would they be inspired by a personal moral code to invest some time and energy to give something back, free, in return?

Free The Mobile Phones To Make Them More
Expensive

Free The Mobile Phones To Make Them More
Expensive 06/07/2004 08:39 PM
At Techdirt, we're big supporters of consumer rights and convincing companies to do what's right for consumers - but sometimes these groups seem to forget to think one step ahead towards the consequences of their actions. That seems to be the case with a group that is trying to sue wireless carriers to force them to offer unlocked mobile phones which can be used on various networks (though, only the GSM networks, since that's the only case where it would matter). As Eric Lin writes in TheFeature, if this gets anywhere, it could make things worse for the very "consumers" they're trying to protect. Most mobile phones these days are heavily subsidized by the carriers - and forcing them to offer unlocked phones will likely mean much greater reluctance to offer such a subsidy on a phone that could be taken to another provider. Instead, prices for most phones would rise sharply - harming everyone who isn't concerned about having an unlocked phone. Since there already are unlocked phones on the market (though, as you might expect, they're a bit pricier) it seems like the market is working this one out by itself. Those who want an unlocked phone can pay for it, while everyone else gets the benefit of cheaper phones. So far, it appears that most buyers prefer the cheaper price to the idea that, one day, they may want to pop in another providers SIM card to switch mobile carriers.

Free software and offshore outsourcing
make waves

Free software and offshore outsourcing
make waves 02/12/2004 02:02 PM
ZDNet Feb 12 2004 6:38PM GMT

AOL Building Free Portal To Make Its
Content Pay (AdWeek.com)

AOL Building Free Portal To Make Its
Content Pay (AdWeek.com) 06/17/2005 04:35 PM
AdWeek.com - In its latest reinvention, AOL is opening up much of its content and services to the outside world in the hope of earning a bigger piece of the expanding online-advertising pie, a key goal for the Time Warner unit as its subscriber numbers continue to decline.

Chinese Internet users work to make
knowledge free

Chinese Internet users work to make
knowledge free 05/18/2004 01:31 AM
Industry Standard May 18 2004 5:40AM GMT

ZDNet: Free Software and Offshore
Outsourcing Make Waves

ZDNet: Free Software and Offshore
Outsourcing Make Waves 02/14/2004 08:03 PM
"'Sun feels, as most would, that it doesn't need its 'own' database; if it's not happy with Oracle, it could forge an alliance with MySQL, sponsor PostGres or Firebird, or build on its relationship with Software AG...'"

"permanent link "

"permanent link " 08/22/2004 03:41 PM

Permanent Eraser 2.0

Permanent Eraser 2.0 04/23/2004 10:54 AM
Securely erase your files.

InterActive and the Permanent Tax

InterActive and the Permanent Tax 09/20/2004 02:44 PM
Make valuation a consideration and you can avoid being permanently taxed.

"Permanent link, comments (0)"

"Permanent link, comments (0)" 06/03/2004 12:21 PM

"Permanent item link"

"Permanent item link" 05/20/2004 11:30 AM

Permanent Online Dimensions (POD)

Permanent Online Dimensions (POD) 08/31/2004 11:25 AM
Its been a while...

Permanent Lenses in Sight

Permanent Lenses in Sight 09/02/2004 04:38 AM
Positive study results on a new implantable contact lens show that the surgery can help even those with Coke-bottle glasses. By Kristen Philipkoski.

Preble's mouse exceptions permanent

Preble's mouse exceptions permanent 05/19/2004 10:27 PM
AP via New Jersey Online May 20 2004 2:51AM GMT

Bush pushes permanent ban on Internet
tax

Bush pushes permanent ban on Internet
tax 04/26/2004 08:30 PM
FXstreet.com Apr 26 2004 11:51PM GMT

Senate Mulls Permanent Internet Tax Ban

Senate Mulls Permanent Internet Tax Ban 05/18/2004 01:28 AM
Linux Insider May 18 2004 4:30AM GMT

AT&T looks for 911 assistance

AT&T looks for 911 assistance 01/26/2004 08:46 PM
The long distance carrier has hired Intrado to work on a way for Internet phone customers to make emergency calls.

Permanent Apple Exhibition Opened In
Denmark

Permanent Apple Exhibition Opened In
Denmark 05/19/2004 12:09 AM

DTI Permanent Secretary to leave his
post at Easter

DTI Permanent Secretary to leave his
post at Easter 09/23/2004 04:42 AM
PublicTechnology.net Sep 23 2004 8:45AM GMT

ICANN Committee Calls for Permanent End
to SiteFinder

ICANN Committee Calls for Permanent End
to SiteFinder 07/13/2004 01:53 AM
eWeek Jul 13 2004 4:22AM GMT

Windows step-up licensing becomes
permanent fixture

Windows step-up licensing becomes
permanent fixture 09/23/2004 08:43 AM
Computer Business Review Sep 23 2004 12:21PM GMT

Temporary ban on Net taxes up; move for
permanent ban continues

Temporary ban on Net taxes up; move for
permanent ban continues 11/02/2003 04:19 AM
USA Today Nov 2 2003 2:52AM ET

Senate Mulls Permanent Internet Tax Ban
(washingtonpost.com)

Senate Mulls Permanent Internet Tax Ban
(washingtonpost.com) 04/26/2004 09:54 PM
washingtonpost.com - The Senate yesterday took up a proposal to permanently ban the taxation of Internet access, a move that supporters say would encourage the deployment of high-speed Internet service but opponents argue could result in billions of dollars in lost revenue for state and local governments.

Skype for Pocket PC, make free phone
calls with a Pocket PC

Skype for Pocket PC, make free phone
calls with a Pocket PC 07/28/2004 11:41 AM
Engadget Jul 28 2004 3:43PM GMT

Using Remote Assistance

Using Remote Assistance 01/07/2004 04:51 PM
"Remote Assistance provides a way for you to get the help you need when you run into problems with your computer. If you're an experienced user, you can even be the one to use Remote Assistance to directly help your friends and family members."

This isn't new (well, it's as new as XP), but I just used it for the first time, and it's very, very handy. I sent my sister (who lives in Austin) a computer, but she's new to it all. Now, instead of blindly walking her through something, I can get on and show her or watch her. Pretty slick.

Permanent solid state data storage on
the cheap

Permanent solid state data storage on
the cheap 11/12/2003 11:33 PM
A polymer/silicon combo could be a cheaper alternative to optical storage media. Look for a commercial product in "five years."

President Bush calls for Permanent Ban
on Internet Taxes

President Bush calls for Permanent Ban
on Internet Taxes 04/26/2004 03:36 AM
If he can get this pushed through as a election year feel good type of legislation than I am all...

Guest Writer Simon Waldman: The
Importance of Being Permanent

Guest Writer Simon Waldman: The
Importance of Being Permanent 02/01/2005 08:40 PM
The Guardian's Web guy: "Without permanence you slip off the search engines. Without permanence, bold ideas like 'news as conversation' fall away, because you're shutting down the conversation before it has barely started. Without permanence, you might be on the web, but you're certainly not part of it."

Malaria vaccine casues permanent brain
damage

Malaria vaccine casues permanent brain
damage 05/27/2004 12:36 PM
In the can-anything-else-go-wrong file, US Troops suffer from permanent brain damage after being administered malaria treatment. For as big a logistical challenge a war might be, and technological advances in mass support systems, you'd think the joint-forces would do a better job?

Hot pepper spray reverses "permanent"
loss of smell

Hot pepper spray reverses "permanent"
loss of smell 04/12/2004 03:34 PM
The cold remedy Zicam (which I swear by) has been under attack for possibly causing permanent anosmia (loss of the sense of smell). But a new product on the market called sinus Buster, made from capsaicin (the ingredient that makes chili peppers hot) might reverse anosmia when you squirt it up your nose.

"When my husband ordered the sinus buster over the internet I was skeptical. But I said okay I’ll give it a try. As soon as we got it I used it that night and the next day I noticed I could smell certain odors. I couldn't believe it. The first thing I smelled was my daughter coming home after a night of partying, and I could smell cigarette smoke all over her. I had to bring her coat out to the garage because the smoke odor was so strong. Then my daughter told me that’s how she always smells after going out, but I never smelled the smoke before. It's absolutely amazing," Anderson added.

I've always had a pretty bad sense of smell. Maybe I should give this stuff a try. Link
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Banks Make Permanent Free ID-Theft Assistance

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