Online payments.

[herosrest]

Because of the way my browsers are set up i've noticed that increasingly my online payments (not banking) appear to be monitored by various web agencies.

I wonder if this is a good or bad thing from an individuals (ie users) point of view.

Please comment.

[j.m@talk]

42

[mireland]

Originally posted by j.m@talk21.com
42 http://www.fancysplace.com/smileys/winner.gif

[j.m@talk]

Fanku :t

[zybch]

What we've all got to remember is that you can either have security, or privacy. This is more to do with governments and stuff, but the net is going this way too.
If the net were secure, we wouldn't need bother with encryption and stuff like that when conducting transactions. No body could track us without approval.
If the net protected people's privacy it would be the reverse, and even accessing google would require authentication and stuff.

The only thing we can currently do is to make sure our firewalls are up to date, keep your virus scanner current, and use anti-malware programs like Ad-aware and Spybot.

You could go the paranoid route and do everything via a proxy server somewhere, but that would limit certain features and sites available to you.


The net was created on the assumption that all users were honest, the reality is very far from this.
We get phishing spams, spyware, tracking cookies that all erode the honesty of the net. All that one can do is to take as many precautions as possible and try to find a 4 leaf clover and sticky tape it to your modem. A rabbit foot might help too, but make sure you wash the blood off 1st.

[Radi0h3ad]

THe net's great, if you know how to use it properly, and look after yourself online. i.e know where to buy, know where to stay away from...
These 'agencies' are probably looking at millions of transactions that occur everyday to try and see where the $$$ is.
I wouldn't worry about it. I'd only worry when money was dissapearing from my account without my persmission, but usually the places I spend money on are reputable and reliable. Like zbych said, just keep yourself protected and up to date. It's all we can do.

:t