Identity theft is on the rise again, according to Javelin Strategy and Research. The firm, which does an annual survey of identity theft victims, estimates that 13.1 million U.S. adults were hit by ID theft in 2013, an increase of 500,000 victims from 2012. It’s the second-highest annual total in [Keep reading]
When can a company get away with routinely charging 50 percent more than the advertised price for its items? Repeatedly? On Valentine’s Day, of course, when good-hearted souls go online to buy flowers for the people they love and instead get taken to the cleaners. It’s the most clear example [Keep reading]
Skeptic that I am, I am also a sucker for the Olympics. There are a 1,000 reasons to dismiss the Games as a commercial fraud, but still, in every competition, amazing stories of perseverance, love, and achievement emerge. So I’ll be watching every chance I get. This time around, there [Keep reading]
Just how much data leaks out of a person every day? Perhaps a terabyte, guessed Rapid7’s Tod Beardsley. A terabyte! Every touch of a cell phone, ever block you drive, every card you swipe – heck, even while you are asleep — firms are constructing a digital mirror image of [Keep reading]
I have plenty of thoughts about today’s Senate Judiciary hearing credit card hacking hearing, where Americans heard for the first time directly from executives at Target and Neiman Marcus. I’ll get to them in the next day or two. But this caught my eye from the testimony of Neiman Marcus Chief [Keep reading]
Money and time have a very funny relationship, and by funny, I mean, most people misunderstand it. For example: What’s more valuable to you: $10 today or $20 next month? Next year? The choice to spend or save money is a constant trade-off between having something today vs. having something tomorrow, but [Keep reading]
Executives from Target and Neiman Marcus will face a public grilling on Tuesday as they are scheduled to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee. I’ll be there, running back and forth between the hearing and a TV camera, where I’ll be translating the corporate-speak we’ll be hearing. Officials from Consumers [Keep reading]
Bob Sullivan