I like to use my credit card for all my purchases because I collect points. If I am going to spend the money anyways why not use a system that collects points, right? I never go into credit card debt because I pay it off immediately through the convenience of online banking. The trouble is most people don't watch their credit card statements. Simply getting into the habit of checking your online statements daily or even semi-daily will do two wonderful things. First, you are much less likely to go into credit card debt and pay the high interest rates or other fees. Second you can catch credit card fraud much earlier.

            I go down to Peg's Kitchen in Regina once or twice a week for lunch. They have good homemade-style food at good prices and it's just down the street. However, they don't X-out the numbers on my credit card receipt or on their till receipt. This is really bothersome to me because not only do I have to take extra care in the shredding and disposal of my receipt, but now all employees of Peg's have my credit card information. So, at Peg's I only pay by cash now (which probably makes them happy because they don't have to pay as many fees), but Peg's isn't the only place that still does it and how do we know before we buy? Normally I wouldn't put their name in here, but I am purposely calling them out and asking them to change it. I think it should be a law that places of business have to X-out part of the credit card number on all till receipts, but since it isn't I hope most places will do it voluntarily. Most POS machines have a way to do it by changing the settings, so it shouldn't be a matter of cost.

If you wondered what that image in my last post was, I should tell you that is a piece of disappointment. Basically, in PKI you trust a certificate authority (CA) to help you verify the trustworthiness of others. If this CA does not do a good job, then you may have ended up trusting identities you did not have a reason to. If you trust someone once and they disappoint you, it is their fault. But if you trust that party twice, then it is your fault.

However, sometimes it has nothing to do with CAs and it has more to do with the fact that hackers, crackers, and researchers are quickly catching up with cryptography technology. (i.e. MD5 considered harmful today) One of my friends believed that none of the hackers or crackers have access to enough of equipment to perform these kinds of attacks on cryptography algorithms. These guys used 200 Sony Playstations, and they ended up breaking MD5, huh? Tell me what they can do with 250,000 computers? Well, John Schiefer went to jail for owning that many zombies...

Given that this is the SmartSwipe blog, I found it somewhat comical that there were no posts under the “SmartSwipe” section of our blog, so I’ve decided to take the first step and change all that.

For all those of you who are scratching your head wondering how the SmartSwipe works, this article is for you. In these articles, I plan on giving away the secrets of the SmartSwipe. Yep, that’s right. I’m putting them out there for everyone to see.

Watch out for a new scam where sites or e-mailers claim they can help you qualify for stimulus money for small amounts of money (think $1.99). The idea, of course, is that Obama's stimulus package is handing out money and you could qualify for some of it. Websites are using this as a means of getting your credit card information and using it for fraud. Some are sneakier, just by clicking on links you can have spyware or malware downloaded on your computer. I guess the problem is becoming serious enough that the FTC (Federal Trade Commission) has to get involved. See their site for more details.

It makes sense: in tough economic conditions people are desperate for ways to get their hands on money, and others (also desperate for money) will take advantage of the situation. One good way to cut down on fraud like this is simply spread the word. It always amazes me how fast word spreads on a subject we really need not care about (Jen meets with Brad and Angelina...), but the important ones often go under the radar.

I’m less irked, but still irked nonetheless.

I’m talking about the frequent guarantees, usually in the form of snazzy-looking icons, that are plastered all over online shopping and banking websites. Things like “Guaranteed 100% Secure Transaction” , “Safe Shopping Guarantee”, and “Checked to be Hacker-Proof”. All wonderful little techniques designed to instill confidence in the online shopping process that the site is secure and it’s safe to shop or bank there. The problem is that they cannot make such a guarantee.

Last week I was fortunate enough to catch a live presentation on Internet Marketing & Cyber Security from one of the icons in the Canadian Tech Industry - Steve Dotto

The event was graciously hosted by the Comox Valley Women's Business Network (www.cvwbn.org) in Courtney, BC. With Steve Dotto's wide popularity and appeal, the CVBWN decided to open this presentation to the public and I'll bet they're glad they did. Tickets were sold out and the couple of hundred or so business people, entrepreneurs and technology enthusiasts in attendance were offered an informative and entertaining 90 minutes of 'signature' Steve.

Identity – do I own my identity or does my identity own me? To be clear about the concept of identity, let’s define it as a set of features which are supposed to distinguish me from any other person. In a more simple language I would say my identity is the comprehensive answer to the question of “Who am I?” If I wanted to give an answer which I am able to prove , after a few moments of silence, I would go with: “I am who I am!” I could have started introducing myself with all those commonly known identity basics. But then the problem would be that I could not prove any of it!

Or if I could provide my proof for owning any of those features, I call them building blocks of my identity, it would be just context sensitive and nothing close to an absolute provable fact. I wish I were not identified with the identity elements which my surrounding societies attach to me. I would call my assumed identity a pseudo-identity! I do not own the elements of my pseudo-identity and I am not able to control them. And I can see that sooner or later, this pseudo-identity will take over who I am! I am not who I am, I am the truth in the silent moments before answering the question “Who am I?”

My Dad spent over forty years in the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Over the course of his career, he was stationed through F-Division (RCMP-speak for 'Saskatchewan'). Being RCMP brats, my little sister and I were lucky enough to live in some very interesting places.

One of the more interesting places we lived was a vibrant little town called Carlyle. I was seven years old when we moved there and the whole town quickly became my playground. Perhaps the most interesting aspect of Carlyle was its proximity to other little towns, like Arcola, Kisbey and Forget. One of my parents' good friends lived in Forget, so we used to spend quite a bit of time in that beautiful little place with its fascinating history.