Archive for WARNING!!

Alexa toolbar terms and conditions: are they mad or am I?

Feb 7 | by Sam Deeks | WARNING!!, critical approach to online media, what do you think?
2 Comments

Would YOU sign up for these terms and conditions?

“Alexa’s toolbar service collects and stores information about the web pages you view, the data you enter in online forms and search fields, and, with versions 5.0 and higher, the products you purchase online while using the toolbar service.”

Actually, I haven’t quoted exactly.  The original is ALL IN UPPER CASE WHICH, WHILE MAKING IT MORE IMPORTANT, MAKES IT HARDER TO READ AND DIGEST (since we don’t usually read capital letters).

The T&Cs also go on to say that the information collected is personally identifiable.

Unless I am completely mistaken, if you click ‘Agree’ you are giving Alexa permission to record and use any information you put in any form online and permission to build a record of your online searching and buying decisions.

On this website we’ve already seen plenty of scams exploiting the willingness of ordinary people to sign forms on which the small print committing them to several years of absurdly expensive scam ’services’ is plainly visible.   God alone knows what we agree to on a daily basis in the ever-present ‘Terms and Conditions’ boxes we click without reading or so much as a second thought.

Is it that we are so greedy for the ‘pay-off’ that we have lost our critical faculties?  Is it that the way in which the data we give up in these transactions is used so subtly that we never make the connection between the privacy we signed away and the cold calls, the spam and the junk mail coming into our homes?

I suspect that one day a lot of us are going to really, really regret clicking all those ‘I Agree’ checkboxes.

OysterCard taking me for a ride?

Nov 21 | by Sam Deeks | GRRRR!!!, WARNING!!, scam warning
1 Comment

oyster

Is Oystercard profiting from ‘out of towners’ like me?

Last week, I was surprised – and inconvenienced – to find my OysterCard had run out of credit.  Again.  I went to the ticket window and asked the woman to put £5 on it.

“You’ve got a negative balance” she said after swiping the card.

“What’s that?” I asked. ‘Look” she said showing me her little screen “It says -£2.20’ “

“How the hell did I get a negative balance?”  I asked.  She printed a list of my journeys over the last couple of days.  The first thing that struck me was how many of them were £4.00 journeys, not the usual £1.60.

“Why was I charged £4.00 for travelling two stops between Richmond and Gunnersbury?” I asked, confused.

The lady printed out my ‘Oyster Usage Statement’ for the last two days:

19/11 08:00 – Gunnersbury No Route Data £4.00
19/11 16:47  Pre Pay entry Gunnersbury £4.00
19/11 16.47 Add Pre Pay Gunnersbury £10.00
20/11 10.41 – Gunnersbury  No Route Data £4.00
20/11 13.52 Pre Pay Entry Gunnersbury £4.00

ending up, of course, with the attempt to get through gate with a negative balance

20/11 18.21 Rejected Exit (Code 36)

She explained that the reason this had happened was that somehow I hadn’t registered the start of my journey.  Her explanation was that often, the card doesn’t register properly – but still opens the gates.

Eh? Hang on a minute.

It failed to register my card properly yet still let me through?  And given the gates opened to let me through, how was I supposed to know I was being charged £4.00 each time for a £1.60 fare?

I was, as you can imagine, outraged, thinking “I’ve been overcharged by nearly £10 by a system that’s programmed to let me through a gate and then secretly charge me more than double the fare!!”

Well, apparently, it’s much simpler than that.  I found out today that if you take a train (main line) to Richmond – as I did – you either have to exit the train station with your mainline ticket and come back in with your OysterCard or find a machine to ‘touch in’ to start your journey.

Apologies to TfL.  I got it wrong.  I’ve obviously had to learn the hard (expensive) way :-) . But what the lady at the ticket office said worries me. Does the system really allow people in through the gates without properly registering the start point of their journey?

Churchwood Financial facebook ad: look closer

May 11 | by Sam Deeks | WARNING!!
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Is the company behind this ad trustworthy?  You decide…but, as usual, we’ll help you.

It’s a recession and people are struggling with debt.  Perfect time to offer help, right?  I spotted this ad today and, being the grumpy online policeman I am, couldn’t resist poking it a bit.

The ad links to http://bankruptcy.friendlydebtadvice.co.uk, a page that’s neither reassuring or professional looking.  Nothing to identify the company on the home page.  A bit unusual, hmm?  [NOTE:  This site has since been removed] The contact page reveals the company behind this site as ‘Churchwood Financial’.

A web search shows page after page of neutral results for this company.  My sensors were tripped straight away. You see, I know when a company has pre-flooded the top pages of Google with neutral, nondescript directory entries.  It smells like a smoke-screen to me.

A smoke-screen to hide what, you might ask?

Perhaps to hide this. Or this. Or this. Or this. Or this. Or this. Or this.   (Tip: if you want to find out bad stuff about any company, just add words like ’scam’ and ‘ripoff’ and ‘complain’ at the end of your search phrases. There’s nothing they can do about it).

Whether you think that this company is trying to hide a very bad smell or not, one thing’s for sure: they will sell on your email address to other companies if you’re silly enough to fill in their online form.  How do I know?  Because they themselves say they will:

Personal Information
 In making an enquiry on this website, you are accepting our need to share your information. We may need to contact other companies within our Group or we may need to share your information to our finance suppliers, agents and/or other third parties in order to answer your enquiry.

You can make up your own mind up about Churchwood Financial.

While you’re at it, you can also make your mind up about Facebook’s continuing indifference about where its revenues come from.

Dominos pizza YouTube PR disaster?

Apr 14 | by Sam Deeks | WARNING!!
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Dominos goes truly viral with a pair of unsavoury lackeys trying for their 15 minutes of YouTube fame

Well they’ll get it. Along with their marching orders.

It’s a pretty depressing watch.  It’s not exactly a PR disaster though.

Why not?

Because everyone already knows that fast food joints all over the world are full of disgruntled and unwilling lackeys shoving shit, snot and other nastiness into the food.

So on one level, it’s just the truth.  But there is a serious point here – as a Dominos spokesman points out:

“Any idiot with a webcam and an internet connection can attempt to undo all that’s right about the brand,” Mr. McIntyre said, adding that Dominos has 125,000 employees in 60 countries and a loyal following. “In the course of one three-minute video, two idiots can attempt to unravel all of that.”

That’s social media for you, folks.

twitter blogspot.com phishing DM

Jan 4 | by Sam Deeks | WARNING!!
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If you get a Twitter direct message containing a blogspot.com link, don’t click it – it may be a phishing scam

Read this, says Twitter.

For the few people who don’t know, ‘phishing’ is the attempt to obtain personal data from you usually via emails or messages pretending to be from your bank, PayPal, mobile phone provider or other supplier or utility.  These links take you to a fake site and encourage you to ‘validate’ or ‘unblock’ your account by (re)supplying your personal details which can then be used fraudulently by the ‘phisher’.

More from Wikipedia on phishing here.