Blog for "the-enabler" of the letsnet.org network

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"Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored."-- Aldous Huxley

As the prostitute said, "It's not the work, it's the stairs." As told to me by Elaine Stritch, star of stage, screen, & TV, right after she won her 1st Emmy. Ago 79.

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http://privacy.yahoo.com/privacy/us/pixels/details.html


MY ADVICE endeavors at keen.com. The number is 1-800-275-5336 (800-ask-keen) + ext. 0329063 for tech stuff, 0329117 for running a small business, and 0329144 on investing. Want to CHAT, I use Yahoo's IM as the_web_ster. View me in the Friends & Family part of webcamnow.com, just click on "view cams", then in the Java window click on WebcamNow Communities drop down arrow & select Friends & Family. Under the live webcams look for & click on me "the_webster".

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"Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored."-- Aldous Huxley

As the prostitute said, "It's not the work, it's the stairs." As told to me by Elaine Stritch, star of stage, screen, & TV, right after she won her 1st Emmy. Ago 79.

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Declan, on the matter of Credit Reporting and
Privacy,

It is indicated on the Experian website that
Medical Information may be
part of your credit report. According to this
statement, any time you
develop an account with a Medical Provider you are
at risk of divulging,
to a greater or lesser degree, your medical
information.

Is there any advice on dealing with this potential
leak of private
medical information that may be covered by HIPAA?
Any other avenue of
secrecy?

<>
"... Credit report information
Details about your financial behavior and
identification information are
contained in your personal credit report. This
consumer-friendly report
is sometimes called a credit file or a credit
history. A copy of your
credit report makes it easy for you to understand
the information a
lender would be seeing if they review your credit
history. The typical
consumer credit report includes four types of
information.

By law, we cannot disclose certain medical
information (relating to
physical, mental, or behavioral health or
condition). Although we do not
generally collect such information, it could appear
in the name of a
data furnisher (i.e., "Cancer Center") that reports
your payment history
to us. If so, those names display in your report,
but in reports to
others they display only as medical payment data.
Consumer statements
included on your report at your request that
contain medical information
are disclosed to others. ..."


There is an article here that covers this, in part,
and, at a basic
level, suggests the release of ANY records in
credit reporting that
involve ANY medical information should not be
included.
<>

I also note there is the NEW Fair and Accurate
Credit Transactions
(FACT) Act, which was signed by Bush in December of
2003. It indicates,
according to Trans Union's website, that everyone
in the US is allowed
to receive a copy, free of any charges, once a
year, a copy of your
Consumer disclosure. Perhaps one can look and then
argue the presence
of Medical Companies.

http://www.truecredit.com/help/learnCenter/welcome/factAct.jsp?cb=offer&tlsessionid=1104487264120

Facts about the FACT Act
The Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions (FACT)
Act was signed into law
in December 2003. This law incorporates new privacy
regulations,
identity theft protections dispute procedures and
the distribution of
free annual consumer disclosures. This means that
you can request a free
copy of your consumer disclosure every 12 months
from TransUnion,
Equifax and Experian.
What is the difference between a consumer
disclosure and a credit report?
A "consumer disclosure" is all the information in
your credit file that
the credit reporting agencies maintain on you,
including a record of
everyone who has received information about you
from the credit
reporting agencies ("inquiries"). You are entitled
to receive a copy of
your disclosure from the agencies under Federal
law. A "credit report"
contains only some information from your credit
file, including the
information typically seen by a credit grantor or
other party who
requests a report on you. It does not contain all
the information found
in your disclosure (such as certain inquiries that
only you can see).
How do I request my consumer disclosure?
You can request your FACT Act consumer disclosures
from each of the
credit reporting agencies online at
annualcreditreport.com. You can also
submit your request by phone or mail. This program
starts to roll out in
December 2004 for consumers residing in the Western
states. The Midwest
will have access to their annual disclosures in
March 2005, the South in
June 2005 and the Northeast in September 2005.
When is my state eligible:
This is the full FACT Act roll-out schedule:

* December 2004 — Alaska, Hawaii, Washington,
Oregon, California,
Idaho, Nevada, Montana, Wyoming, Utah, Arizona,
Colorado and New Mexico.

* March 2005 — North Dakota, South Dakota,
Nebraska, Kansas,
Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, Wisconsin, Illinois,
Michigan, Indiana and Ohio.

* June 2005 — Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas,
Louisiana, Mississippi,
Tennessee, Kentucky, Alabama, Georgia, Florida and
South Carolina.

* September 2005 — Maine, New Hampshire,
Vermont, Massachusetts,
Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey,
Pennsylvania, Maryland,
Delaware, Washington D.C., West Virginia, Virginia
and North Carolina.

Have a good one
--
Bill, AKA Steelhoof of letsnet.org
Respect life:
Donate blood as you can.
Donate your used parts when no longer needed.


MY ADVICE endeavors at keen.com. The number is 1-800-275-5336 (800-ask-keen) + ext. 0329063 for tech stuff, 0329117 for running a small business, and 0329144 on investing. Want to CHAT, I use Yahoo's IM as the_web_ster. View me in the Friends & Family part of webcamnow.com, just click on "view cams", then in the Java window click on WebcamNow Communities drop down arrow & select Friends & Family. Under the live webcams look for & click on me "the_webster".

# posted by D, of letsnet.org @ 3:54 PM

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"Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored."-- Aldous Huxley

As the prostitute said, "It's not the work, it's the stairs." As told to me by Elaine Stritch, star of stage, screen, & TV, right after she won her 1st Emmy. Ago 79.

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Free Microsoft Program To Battle Spyware Has Some Serious Flaws

By WALTER S. MOSSBERG

Microsoft, whose Windows operating system has been plagued by viruses, spyware and other security problems in recent years, last week began rolling out some free software to help users cope with those threats.

The software giant introduced a "beta," or preliminary, version of a free product designed to block, detect and remove spyware. A free antivirus program is planned for later release.

Unfortunately, the company's first free security program has some serious flaws and lapses. I've been testing Microsoft's antispyware software, called simply Microsoft AntiSpyware, and I can't recommend it, in its present form, over the leading third-party antispyware program I have favored, Webroot's Spy Sweeper.

To be sure, the new antispyware program is not a finished product. It was acquired just last month when Microsoft bought a small software company, and Microsoft engineers had only a few weeks to tweak it before releasing the beta. Company officials insist they intend to fix the program's problems based on feedback from beta users, and I take them at their word. But some of the flaws in this first release are especially disturbing because they make it appear that the company may be subtly using its security software to promote its other products, at the expense of competitors.

Before getting into the details, let me say a word about Microsoft's role in protecting consumers against malicious software and other invasions of their computers. Some critics argue that Microsoft should stay out of the security-software business so as not to use its Windows monopoly to unfairly compete with third-party security vendors. But I have never believed it was inherently wrong for Microsoft to add core functions to Windows, even if they competed with add-ons sold by other companies. And I regard security as a core function. To me, the need to protect Windows users, especially consumers and small businesses without IT staffs, trumps any antitrust considerations.

Microsoft AntiSpyware, which can be downloaded at www.microsoft.com/spyware, has a clean, clear user interface. Like Spy Sweeper, it runs in the background on your computer, blocking various spyware invasions. It can also automatically scan your PC on a schedule to detect and root out spyware.

I found the program easy to use, though downloading it was a bit of a hassle because Microsoft tries to get you to verify that your copy of Windows isn't pirated, which can force you to dig up your Windows serial number. You can avoid this step and still download the program, but you have to pay careful attention to the download options.

The software offers two kinds of scans: a quick, five-minute version, and a longer version that took about half an hour on my test machine. But the scans missed some spyware found by Spy Sweeper. In particular, Microsoft missed "tracking cookies," small files deposited by Web companies, often without your knowledge or permission, that track your online activities. The Microsoft program deliberately doesn't look for these. Microsoft officials say they are concerned that some legitimate cookies, such as those that store Web-site login information, could be unfairly labeled as spyware. They promise to add tracking-cookie detection in the future.

Even worse is the way the program handles another spyware problem, the hijacking of Web-browser home pages and search pages. This is a spyware technique in which the home and search pages in a Web browser are replaced by pages selected by a spyware company, and it's nearly impossible for a user to restore his or her own selections.

The usual way of handling this, with programs like Spy Sweeper, is to detect the page changes and to restore the user's original choices. But the Microsoft program tries to replace the spyware pages with home and search pages from MSN, Microsoft's own online service. This smacks of the same kind of coercion the spyware authors are using.

Microsoft insists it isn't trying to drive people to MSN. It says it can't tell if a user's own choice of a home or search page was "secure," so it defaults to setting the home and search pages to a site it knows is secure, its own MSN site. But the user's choice should rule here, not Microsoft's.

Not only that, but Microsoft AntiSpyware does nothing at all to protect users of the rival Firefox Web browser from home- and search-page hijacking. It detects and corrects such hijacking only in its own Internet Explorer Web browser. The company says it is trying to focus on things that affect "the largest number of customers," and it notes that the vast majority of users rely on IE. But this, too, smacks of favoritism toward Microsoft products.

Microsoft notes that the home-page restoration feature eventually learns your preferences and stops trying to insert the MSN pages. And it says it is considering changing the program's behavior in future releases to handle hijackings differently, and possibly to include Firefox.

It's good that Microsoft is finally offering users tools to protect their Windows computers. But it's going to have to do much better, and it's going to have to avoid the perception that it's using security as a tool to promote or favor its own products.

Listen to Walt on CNBC TV every Thurs. sometime between 10 and 11 am West coast time.

MY ADVICE endeavors at keen.com. The number is 1-800-275-5336 (800-ask-keen) + ext. 0329063 for tech stuff, 0329117 for running a small business, and 0329144 on investing. Want to CHAT, I use Yahoo's IM as the_web_ster. View me in the Friends & Family part of webcamnow.com, just click on "view cams", then in the Java window click on WebcamNow Communities drop down arrow & select Friends & Family. Under the live webcams look for & click on me "the_webster".

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"Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored."-- Aldous Huxley

As the prostitute said, "It's not the work, it's the stairs." As told to me by Elaine Stritch, star of stage, screen, & TV, right after she won her 1st Emmy. Ago 79.

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http://messenger.yahoo.com/messenger/security/

http://security.yahoo.com/( And do read the "10 Essential Security Tips" here).

And yes you well have to use Mirosoft's IE to do the Messenger check. That's so it can check IE more than the messenger, I think.


MY ADVICE endeavors at keen.com. The number is 1-800-275-5336 (800-ask-keen) + ext. 0329063 for tech stuff, 0329117 for running a small business, and 0329144 on investing. Want to CHAT, I use Yahoo's IM as the_web_ster. View me in the Friends & Family part of webcamnow.com, just click on "view cams", then in the Java window click on WebcamNow Communities drop down arrow & select Friends & Family. Under the live webcams look for & click on me "the_webster".