7 Let's pollute privacies and steal identities, guys !

“So what do I mean by “privacy pollution”? It’s an idea I see as having some similarity to air pollution: where small blots of contamination build to form blankets of smog. In themselves, they are relatively minor – specks of soot or puffs of smoke – but in combination the effect can be overpowering. Like environmental contaminants, privacy breaches run from serious even criminal, across to minor annoyance…" says a privacy commissioner of New-Zealand, Marie Schroff. She points azt all the spams and other unsollicited commercial e-offer that often "invade" people (who do not know well the Internet more particularly).

Identity theft is another bother that can happen through the Internet. It occurs when someone uses your identity to buy or do things. Generally, they have stolen or broken things about you, mainly in six ways:

1. Dumpster Diving. They rummage through trash looking for bills or other paper with your personal information on it.
2. Skimming. They steal credit/debit card numbers by using a special storage device when processing your card.
3. Phishing. They pretend to be financial institutions or companies and send spam or pop-up messages to get you to reveal your personal information.
4. Changing Your Address. They divert your billing statements to another location by completing a change of address form.
5. Old-Fashioned Stealing. They steal wallets and purses; mail, including bank and credit card statements; pre-approved credit offers; and new checks or tax information. They steal personnel records, or bribe employees who have access.
6. Pretexting. They use false pretenses to obtain your personal information from financial institutions, telephone companies, and other sources. For more information about pretexting, click here.