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Privacy

Fine print alert: PayPal says it can robocall or robotext users, who can’t opt out (check eBay’s terms, too)

June 4, 2015 Bob Sullivan 0

NOTE: Since this story broke on Credit.com earlier this week, PayPal has told BGR.COM that users will be able to opt-out of robocalling and robotexting.  That is different from what PayPal told me, though it isn’t clear that this is a change or simply a clarification.  As this story notes, PayPal has [Keep reading]

RoadTrip

Cheap gas means you should be planning your summer road trip right now (like me!)

June 3, 2015 Bob Sullivan 0

Time to break out the old nationwide atlas road map — it’s going to be a great summer for road trips, thanks to low gas prices. You might want to splurge on an app or GPS with up-to-date traffic information, too, because lots of other families will have the same [Keep reading]

No Picture
Privacy

AP reports that FBI is behind mysterious aircraft flying surveillance missions above US cities

June 2, 2015 Bob Sullivan 0

While Washington continues its dog-and-pony show about a clumsy telephone network dragnet designed to find needles in haystacks, people really concerned about the future of the republic should simply look up — at all these low-flying planes making deliberate left-handed circles around D.C. and dozens of other cities.  The FBI has [Keep reading]

Privacy

Test shows 97% fooled in phishing test; terrorists now using popular criminal hacking trick

June 2, 2015 Bob Sullivan 1

Plenty of folks think they could never be outsmarted by a hacker; plenty of them are wrong. In fact, perhaps 97% are wrong. Two new studies make this point, and show the devastating consequences of being wrong. (This story originally appeared on Credit.com. Read it there.) Security firm McAfee has [Keep reading]

The Restless Project

The gender gap you haven’t heard about: Women’s emergency savings $36k vs. $58k for men

June 1, 2015 Bob Sullivan 0

While many Americans are ill-prepared for a financial disaster, women are far worse off than men, according to a new study by BMO Harris Premier Services.  The financial services firm says that men with any emergency savings have an average of $58,061 put away to deal with the sitution, compared to only $33,558 [Keep reading]

Privacy

‘Like drunks at a bar’ — From pet’s names to passwords, we overshare online a lot

May 31, 2015 Bob Sullivan 0

It’s the most vexing digital-age question: Should I share this? After the AdultFriendFinder.com hack and the IRS “Get Transcript” debacle, CNBC asked me to look into the topic of online oversharing. You can read the story I wrote here.  But here’s one thing to think about: Oversharing rarely *feels* like oversharing.  That [Keep reading]

Cynja

The Cynja, Vol. 3: Guardian of all things noble in cyberspace

May 29, 2015 Bob Sullivan 0

What is this?  Learn about the Cynja comic series here

Kids and Tech

For typical kids, 1,000 photos online before age 5

May 28, 2015 Bob Sullivan 0

  Parents today are dooming their children to an over-exposed digital life by posting nearly 1,000 photos of kids before age 5, a new British study suggests. An advocacy group named The Parent Zone polled 2,000 U.K. and found they post 973 photos before their child’s fifth birthday. Even worse: many parents admit [Keep reading]

Gotchas / Consumer

PayPal punished, but will consumers get justice? Behind every big settlements, there’s 1,000 sad stories

May 28, 2015 Bob Sullivan 3

Whenever you hear about one of those big-deal, multi-million-dollar settlements involving a federal agency and a misbehaving company, the news probably makes your eyes glaze over.  In most cases, nothing really bad happens to the company — they just have to give back their ill-gotten gains, and maybe pay a [Keep reading]

Privacy

IRS uh-oh: Criminals steal data on 100,000 taxpayers from agency’s ‘Get Transcript’ online system

May 26, 2015 Bob Sullivan 1

Identity thieves used the IRS’ own systems to steal personal information from about 100,000 taxpayers, the agency said on Tuesday, according to the Associated Press. Criminals already armed with some data on the taxpayers used the IRS “Get Transcript” website to obtain even more data on their victims, the IRS [Keep reading]

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About me

BOB SULLIVAN is a veteran journalist and the author of four books, including the 2008 New York Times Best-Seller, Gotcha Capitalism, and the 2010 New York Times Best Seller, Stop Getting Ripped Off! His latest, The Plateau Effect, was published in 2013, and as a paperback, called Getting Unstuck in 2014. He has won the Society of Professional Journalists prestigious Public Service award, a Peabody award, and The Consumer Federation of America Betty Furness award, and been given Consumer Action’s Consumer Excellence Award.

Bob Sullivan

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