I've blogged frequently about the dangers of engaging in free trade with a not so free China. In the past couple of years -- we've seen an alarming amount of stories about dangerous and defective products, espionage, human rights violations, counterfeiting and privacy violations associated with the People's Republic. The latest privacy violation was discovered by Nart Villeneuve from the University of Toronto's Citizen's Lab, who discovered that the Chinese were data-mining the... Read Full Story

One of the better places for the average person to learn about the sometimes murky waters of the Internet is free and sponsored by the Federal Trade Commission. Although OnGuardOnline.gov and AlertaEnLinea.gov, its Spanish-language counterpart have been around for awhile -- some new and exciting improvements have been made to the site with a just released Web 2.0 redesign. The new and improved site allows users to grab and embed games and videos, search for topics on the site, take a “show... Read Full Story

Not all the kidnappings in Mexico and the United States are real. The US Immigration and Customs division gets reports of virtual kidnappings, where the intent is to extort money, but the alleged victim is safe and sound. The kidnappers appear to be able to find out who is traveling to Mexico and/or is coming into the US illegally. They then call a family member or loved one, claiming they have the tourist or illegal immigrant hostage and demanding money for a safe return. I happened to pick... Read Full Story

With Hurricane Ike headed for South Texas, some are predicting that greedy businesses will gouge people by charging unfair prices for necessary goods and services. Yesterday, the Texas AAA issued a press release encouraging people to report any suspected gouging. They noted in past disasters hotels, gas stations and convenience stores have been caught taking advantage of other people's unfortunate situation during a disaster. Goods that frequently have their prices artificially raised... Read Full Story

We keep hearing how white collar crime is becoming more organized. A recent story in Arizona shows how traditional gangsters are getting involved in white collar crime. In 2006, Postal Investigators investigating checks being stolen from the mail tied the activity into one of the more violent street gangs operating in the Hermosa Park area of Phoenix. This led to one of the biggest street gang cases of the year. Yesterday, Phoenix police and FBI agents began serving warrants on the... Read Full Story

Gustav has passed and it seems like it wasn't as bad as it could have been. One positive aspect to it all was the emergency responders, who were on top of it this time. They really did a first-class job of ensuring the public's safety and deserve to be commended for their efforts. Unfortunately, this might not be the case with everyone who was preparing for the worst Gustav might have dished out. Cyber criminals appear to have been positioning themselves on the Internet to divert as much of... Read Full Story

(Courtesy of buySAFE) The Center for American Progress and the Center for Democracy and Technology recently released a report concluding that not enough is being done to protect the public from fraud on the Internet. "If problems such as malware, phishing, and spam are left unchecked, many consumers may lose trust and abandon e-commerce," according to the report. What if a shopper could safely enjoy the convenience, lower prices and choices offered by the world of e-commerce, while... Read Full Story

Cost Plus World Market is another retailer, where customers were unknowingly giving criminals access to their bank accounts when they made a purchase. On July 22nd, the company announced that after a thorough investigation they learned the Electronic Funds Transfer devices (PIN pads) might have been been compromised at eight Southern California stores by unauthorized third parties. Since then three additional stores have been identified as being compromised. The first hint of trouble was... Read Full Story

The Center for American Progress just released a report indicating that not enough is being done to protect the public from fraud on the Internet. It's also warning that the convenience, choices and lower prices enjoyed by Internet users are at risk because of this. They report reveals that high levels of fraud and abuse may cause more and more consumers to lose trust, a key-component of any successful business. Malicious software, phishing and spam were cited as primary causes for the high... Read Full Story

Last week, the news of a cyber attack by Russia against Georgia made this type of warfare become a chilling reality. According to an article in the LA Times, it also revealed how ill-prepared most of the world is to deal with this new threat. Most of the experts now agree that cyber attacks started well before lead started flying and were not very sophisticated by current standards. Most of the attacks were run of the mill DDOS (Distributed Denial of Service) type events designed to deface... Read Full Story