kamaranti

Comfibook - LinkedIn: warning!

2011-01-31T13:30:00.007-05:00

Mid January I noticed that my personal LinkedIn profile was published on Comfibook. This is surprising, because my profile information at LinkedIn has been set as a non-public profile for over a year. Research shows that this is happening to other people as well, and some had noticed that updates to their LinkedIn profiles were not reflected on Comfibook.

I did this test myself and found that although the written information from my LinkedIn profile was not updated, the removal of my picture was - EVEN though my LinkedIn profile was still set to private, that is, not publicly visible.

I submitted a request to Comfibook to remove my profile. However, they must be a scam operation from God knows where, they never replied.

Below an example of a Comfibook 'profile' (apologies, Eric Seger. Please let me know if you want me to remove this example image):

I am now in discussion with LinkedIn, and in fact am holding them responsible for not protecting my LinkedIn profile information. They need to contact Comfibook about stealing and publishing their protected user's information.

We'll see how soon LinkedIn will act. At this moment we're in a second round of transferring 'my issue' to the technical department. I submitted the html code of the comfibook page to LinkedIn for analysis. The first time around, LinkedIn ended up telling me I can set my profile information to private, ignoring the fact that it has already been set to private for over a year.

Methods like Comfibook uses should be made illegal. Is everyone aware that privacy protection on the internet is poor for US users, compared to Europe? What is the reason for that?

"Although partial regulations exist, there is no all-encompassing law regulating the acquisition, storage, or use of personal data in the U.S. In general terms, in the U.S., whoever can be troubled to key in the data, is deemed to own the right to store and use it, even if the data were collected without permission."

"Other citizens, and private companies most importantly, engage in far more threatening activities, especially since the automated processing of data became widespread. The Convention for the Protection of Individuals with regard to Automatic Processing of Personal Data was concluded within the Council of Europe in 1981. This convention obliges the signatories to enact legislation concerning the automatic processing of personal data, which many duly did."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Information_privacy

Within the current legal provisions, LinkedIn is responsible for letting others simply electronically harvest profile information and publish it on another site, because it claims to protect that information.

Here is their recent customer service reply:
"Your privacy and security is our top concern. We want to maintain your trust, so we adhere to the following principles to protect your privacy: 1. We will never rent or sell your personally identifiable information to third parties for marketing purposes 2. We will never share your contact information with another user, without your consent. 3. Any sensitive information that you provide will be secured with all industry standard protocols and technology."

LinkedIn continues to explain how I can turn my public profile on and off, again ignoring the information that it had already been turned off for a year. It states it is 'not responsible for contents published on other sites'. That is a standard phrase, but how does it apply to 'entrusted information' that has been pulled from their site? And how is LinkedIn going to deal with the fact that the 'Results from LinkedIn' profile is not current?

I expect and hope for an increasing number of users who are going to complain about this, not just to LinkedIn, but also to Comfibook.

Some complaints:
Comfibook privacy claims
Comfibook displays my old linkedIn information
Comfibook and LinkedIn sharing user information?
Find the scams
Comfibook Review

In the meantime I have update my LinkedIn information. I am curious to see how long before it will be removed.

Cannot safely remove hardware: TIP

2010-11-14T11:56:00.005-05:00

I ran into a problem with my new windows 7 laptop and a seagate external harddrive of not being able to remove the drive because some program was using it. But what program?? Everything was closed...

QUICK TIP (you don't have to buy software as some sites suggest):
Try clicking (engaging) an unrelated folder on your internal harddrive. Of course do make sure no programs are using the external HD that you know of.

This way windows seems to stop holding onto any folder on the external drive.

Please post if this tip works for you.
Otherwise, I found this a useful discussion.

More Doteasy grievances...

2009-10-25T22:06:00.012-04:00

It's been about a month ago that I transferred domains away from Doteasy, and I thought I had finally figured out how to do this. Not so! One of my domains never had a private registration. I double checked before I sent myself the authorization code to complete the request for transfer with my new registrar. But within 5 minutes I received an email that the transfer request had failed. Reason: the domain is locked.

How is this possible? I just double-checked in my account with Doteasy and although it doesn't say "your account is locked" I have the option to "add a lock" - so I assume it is not locked yet, right? Wrong! Going through the Doteasy knowledge database I find the following information:

Doteasy informs us that central registry transfer rules have changed so that transfers can be auto-completed. In order to "protect unauthorized transfers" Doteasy simply locks ALL domains. This doesn't make sense.

In order to transfer the domain
1)I need to log into my account with ID and password and request an authorization code.
2) The authorization code is sent to the administrative contact on file. If any of the contact information is changed, the account is locked for an additional 60 days and nothing can happen.
3) Additionally: what does Doteasy really do when it receives my request to unlock the domain for transfer, something that would make it so much more secure? As far as I know: nothing!

And as far as I know this is yet another sticky new trick! The knowledge base doesn't date its entries so I can't verify when this was changed. There is nothing I can do but grind my teeth and send a request to Doteasy to unlock my domain. But I am concerned how much time this is going to cost me, and if it again is going to push me over the domain expiration date, 10 days away from today... That would cause me to have to renew the registration again (with "free hosting") for a whopping $25 in order to keep my domain.

After I submit the request Doteasy tells me on my screen that they "will try" to respond within 24 hours.

I am SO glad I decided to be done with Doteasy and remove all my domain registrations. I can't wait until the Doteasy nightmare is over.

Update: Maybe this is a clue as to why Doteasy locks domains. I received the following email about 10 mins after submitting my request to unlock the domain:

"Hello [customer],

May we kindly ask why you wish to transfer xxxx.com to another registrar? Was there anything we could do to meet your needs better and thus retain you as a customer?

Do you know you do not have to transfer your domain name registration away if you are only changing your web host? Please refrain from making any changes within the member zone; as making even simple changes such as updating your contact information will cause our automated system to relock the domain for 60 days.

In the event you wish to change just your web hosting services to a different company, and keep domain name registration service with Doteasy for the time being, you can do this by changing your name server settings in your Member Zone (https://member.doteasy.com/) by clicking on "Change Web Host". The new web hosting company you wish to use will provide you with the name server settings.

If you still wish to transfer away, please confirm your request by providing us with your Doteasy login info for account verification.

Regards."

It looks like Doteasy locks our domains for commercial rather than protective reasons, stopping us from initiating and completing the transfer of a domain in one single session.

More Mary Steadman B.S.

2009-09-28T22:51:00.007-04:00

I have to keep it short today. But I am getting visitors to my blog looking for information about Mary Steadman. I was checking if there was any mention on Facebook and found this link.

This blog about making money is B.S. (which does not stand for Bachelor's in Science). The funny part is this picture below with the subscript that it was taken on a recent trip to France with "Mary's" whole family - while "the money kept coming in." I realized this is just the modern-day consumer version of the fairy tales that I grew up with.

Anyway: here's the picture, and I can assure you that French people don't wear white sneakers!

The blog has more ridiculous pictures. Do you for example think that Google's checks are sent in a big DHL envelope as if you won a lottery? If you still believe in this fairy tale read the complaintsboard here.

I guess many people have forgotten: most fairy tales from before consumerism had a moral message.

Wicked 1and1 scam with "terms of use"

2009-09-14T18:21:00.008-04:00

How far can companies go when they base unethical behaviors on their terms of use? How many pages of fine print are allowed? And can one just put anything in there? These are some of the questions that come up when dealing with registrar and internet hosting company 1and1 or 1&1.

The post below is a response to a post more than a year ago. You can read it there or here below. Either way: don't get involved with 1and1.

Today is September 14 of 2009 and nothing so far has changed at 1and1. I have the same experience as described in the original post and in many of the comments. I, also, am wondering what the legality is of scaring people into payments based on “terms of use” and sending collection agencies after them because of claims that charges and fees were not paid, even years after domains were deemed closed, and without 1and1 ever contacting you. Sometimes 1and1 claims to have sent a message, but where is the proof? The only message I ever received is an after the fact “invoice” based on automatic renewal, on the most ridiculous cancellation policy (no links from your Control Panel to the separate cancellation site), and on the “terms of use.” This is one of the most vicious scams I have seen so far on the intenet.

If this is legal, then all our credit cards are in danger at the hands of any company referring to some never read “terms of use.” That could be in a restaurant where you sit down to eat your dinner. There could be a line at the bottom of the menu saying that if you order food, you agree to having read the terms of use. And the unread terms of use could then state something ridiculous that when you sit on the chair in the restaurant for more than 15 minutes you agree to be billed $5 per month for the next twelve months. This is heinous, wicked, flagitious, atrocious, villainous, nefarious… and I am still looking for more words without deteriorating into a slanging-match.

Terms of use are terms of use, and should not cover the manual, help desk, customer service, and communication and debit departments all in one.

Doteasy deserves a lawsuit

2009-09-11T23:46:00.020-04:00

When you change account information at Doteasy, your account will be locked for 60 days. Doteasy claims that this is to protect your domain name from being stolen. The reality is that I am so dissatisfied with Doteasy that I want to transfer all my domains to another registrar, and I just wanted to make sure I would receive all confirmations of this transfer process to the correct email address.

There are some logical steps to take when you want to transfer domains. You need to request a transfer at your new registrar company. Then you need to make sure you have an authorization code from your old registrar. To make sure you will receive the authorization code at your right email address you want to make sure that your account information is up to date. And here is the problem.

I had an old administrative email address for one of my domains, so I updated it. Next I went to the control panel to get an authorization code. What message did I get? "Sorry your authorization code request cannot not be processed due to the following: 60 day transfer restriction period for [account contact information changes]."
To see the message, click on the screenshot below.

First of all it is extremely frustrating that I am in the process of transferring domains, and that I now have to wait 60 days because of a silly reason. But in addition: this domain expires in 4 weeks. This means that while it is expiring and needs to be renewed, it is still locked, so I have no choice but to renew it, or I will loose the domain.

The worst thing is: Doteasy does not charge a regular $8 or $9 for registration of a domain. It charges $25, and that includes "free hosting." And the problem is: I don't want free hosting. I don't want to pay $25 to keep my domain. But I have no choice.

I argued with customer service for quite a while, and I reasoned with one of the nicest individuals I ever speak to. Why, before the changes I make to my account are confirmed, don't you put up a warning that lets me know that any such changes will lock my registration for 60 days? I asked. You were good to let me know AFTER I made the change, when I wanted the authorization code. That was a good point that he would pass on to higher management. In the meantime there was nothing he could do. This procedure is explained in the "terms of use."

How many pages are your terms of use? I asked. I still haven't looked at them but he claimed there were about 25 pages. It's not fair. I know we are supposed to read those terms of use, but who really does? You guys make it your goal to set up a good business and you invest in some lawyer to create those terms of use. You expect us little individuals, web designers, to read that legalese and stand up for our rights?

And why would THIS be in the terms of use and not where it should be? It was comical that he tried to explain the way Doteasy works as a system that uses certain triggers and traps to make it work, and there was nothing he could do. You are right on there, I sneered: your system is a trap.

After letting this sit for a couple of days, it really hits home and I feel Doteasy deserves a lawsuit for this. This is not just some procedure that makes sense for security reasons. I updated my information, like an email address or a phone number, and as a result and without warning I extended my contract good for another year?

I now make it a habit to check every company I deal with for keywords like "Doteasy complaint" and "Doteasy scam." I also check BBB ratings. I am finding that just about any company receives complaints, so this doesn't make it easy to evaluate. But a low rating from a sufficient number of complainers is a red flag. To read some more complaints about Doteasy, click on the image below.

Why am I writing this? I am honest. I am writing my frustration away. But I hope that I add to internet content and that it will help some reader sometime to evaluate and decide what they want to do. I am saying to the world: stay away from the rigid trap called doteasy.

And just two weeks ago I already posted another complaint about the black-and-white approach of Doteasy.

Update 9/15/09: I talked to Godaddy today and asked them what their policy is when people update their account information. They let me know that they also do lock the domain for 60 days, but ONLY when there is an update to the ownership or registrant information, and not when there are changes in the administrative or technical contacts. So armed with this argument I called back to Doteasy, hoping this would make sense to them too. But to no avail. This person again would pass on that there should be a warning before making any changes to the account information, but there seems to be no argument in the world that can make a dent in the Doteasy trap.

Verizon Wireless supports mountain top removal

2009-09-02T13:39:00.006-04:00

Just got a notice that Verizon Wireless supports a rally on Labor Day organized by "Friends of America." This looks pretty much like an ad hoc if not scam website, populated by some West Virginia cowboys, and I honestly don't believe their claim that the event has been completely booked and will be hosting 75,000 guests.

The website has a link "Why Attend?"
Well: On Labor Day, tens of thousands of Friends of America and others will gather on a previous surface mine to see Hank Williams, Jr. and John Rich performing. And Fox News Host Sean Hannity will be speaking at this free event. Ted Nugent will emcee the event. Although the event is free it has sold out. That's why!

Among the long list of sponsors under the sponsor link are construction companies, mining folks, petroleum people, stone, coal and tire companies, companies that don't even have references on the web, and.... Verizon Wireless!

If you would like to let Verizon Wireless know that you don't think it should support lies and wailing on a bared mountain top you, can sign this pre-printed letter or enter some arguments of your own. Do something, it's making an impact and it's pretty big news.

Update 9/14/09: Apparently the support for this event came from a (small) local Verizon Wireless store. Verizon Wireless corporate claims to be green. Either way: if it is important to you, it is always worth to let companies you do business with know.

Mary Steadman scam from Easy Google

2009-09-01T21:28:00.018-04:00

I received an email today that looked like it came from Google. In my google webmail it reads "Easy Google to me." If I don't think about double checking the sender by clicking "show details" I may think I am offered a new program by Google. The mail says: "Increase your weekly income using Google and our kit." Most people may trash those kind of messages right away, but many are looking for opportunities to make money online, fed by success stories everywhere. This one is fake. I found an article published in May titled "Are Fake News Sites the Next Gold Rush?" The article confirms my suspcions. If you look at my header, you can see that the mail doesn't come from Google.com but from edgematter.com. Click on the image for a better view, then use the back button in your browser to come back to my blog.

The google mail header:

Read the article here. And below I explain how they do it.
The mail I received links to a news article that opens in my browser and that mentions my home town in the first sentence: "Are online jobs the next big thing? For Mary Steadman it sure is. Mary, a mother from Williamsburg, VA is thriving, in the middle of an economic recession working in the comfort of her own home." I was surprised, thinking I knew pretty much every successful person in town. Maybe there is a Mary Steadman somewhere hidden in her home office, so I looked up her name. She appears everywhere. Fortunately the bad news is already in the first couple of google hits.

What the spammer does is run some javascript when you open the page in your browser. The javascript is able to retrieve your location (unless you are browsing anonymously) and immediately insert it in the fake article. Here's a screen shot of the fake article:

Or if you want to see in your own browser which location it inserts, here's the link to the fake article itself.

Finally, below a screenshot of the html code showing the javascript that is used to create the false location of the fake Mary Steadman.

If for fun you want to see what the article looks like if you browse anonymously, go to this site of anonymouse and insert this link in the html field: http://www.online-job-news.com/?pid=52016&sid=GMMPS&trx=22991759-14304

The safe path is this: always always always do an online search before you believe a claim or get involved in anything, even if it is for free!!! The good news: there are many scams out there, but there are also many people working hard to expose them.

Doteasy too dead easy

2009-08-31T00:51:00.008-04:00

I posted the text below in a respons to a complaint about Doteasy on "Ironic Sans."

There's something wrong with the mind of Doteasy. I have also hosted many sites with them over the past years, for the good and easy deal. Recently I transferred a domain, or I tried I should say, to XXX (not worth mentioning, another error), but the request was processed with a delay, came in 2 days after the expiration date with Doteasy and thus could not be processed. Two days late!! Even though I could prove the error was with XXX, the transferring company, Doteasy didn't bend.

Now here's the surprise: they claim to reserve my domain name in some registry for 2 months or so after the expiration date, for a small fee, so they could give the name back to me. And I proposed to pay that small fee. But no: I would have to pay the FULL annual fee of $25 (for domain registration, which is $10 or $15 with other registrars, plus "FREE" hosting!!) in order to get access to the name and transfer it to the other registrar. It's another amazing example of Doteasy's dead black-and-white thinking. There was no talking with them, so I am moving my 10 plus domains with them, well before they expire.

I am upset right now, therefore my rant, because Doteasy billing just sent me a notice that I need to update my credit card for the expired domain. It expired May 22, more than 3 months ago.

"Dear xxx,
Your request for the addition of account optional feature has been
declined due to payment failure:
- Basic Hosting
Please contact your credit card issuing bank to ensure that
there is adequate credit available on your credit card before
re-submitting your request.

To update your payment credit card and/or to re-submit your
upgrade request again, please login to Member Zone. Thank you.
https://member.doteasy.com
Regards,

The Doteasy Team
Doteasy.com

Why on earth should I update my payment information? I am done with the domain. It expired, I was at peace with it, and I did not submit any request...
So here's my impatient reply:

Doteasy Billing -
Please tell me what you are referring to in the email below?
My domain expired May 22, I was 2 days too late for transfer. You were unnegotiable. I am done with the domain.
Of course I don't need $0 free hosting for the domain and I am certainly not going to update my financial information with you.
Instead, as all domains expire, I will transfer registration of them to Godaddy.com.
Please stop sending confusing emails.

Again, I have used Doteasy without too many expectations and without too many problems for at least the past 7 years. Some evil company must have purchased them.

Update 9/2/09: I received a reply from Doteasy: "Thank you for your email. Please simply not to update the payment information and the account will be de-activated accordingly. Regards, Doteasy Billing."
That's what I figured.

Bitdefender failure

2009-08-20T19:33:00.010-04:00

I have used Bitdefender for several years and they were good.

But just this last year, after they earned a grant, prize or something for expansion and in order to compete with robots Norton and McAfee, and with the introduction of version 2009, their product has been a disaster. I have already given up on "my antivirus program" performing its scheduled daily scan.

Fortunately, normally, it scans everything as it comes in, which is now my main line of defense. But not today.

On a day like today, BD is malfunctioning on my desktop as well as laptop. It refuses to update and ultimately the software is greyed out, the activity bars red x-ed out, and it tells me to reboot my pc to see if the problem persists.

It persists. The problem goes away for an hour or maybe two. But then, maybe after it tries an update again, it persists.

Bitdefender makes glaring announcements of its 24/7 chat and telephone support. That used to work as well. Not today. Nothing is happening. Not with chat support. And a phone number I can't find.

I tried to see what is going on on their forums, see what the latest posts are.
http://forum.bitdefender.com/
The forum was quiet today. I am not surprised, actually. I stared and browsed around for 10 minutes, but I can't find the option to start a new post for my problem.

Here's what BD looks like on my pc today:

So I paid for protection of 3 pc's. And of course I need that protection all the time. But it doesn't work, and everyone has gone home. I have wondered if they still exist anyway. I'd say: they exist if it works. If it doesn't, why hoping or believing?

On to another solution. Goodbye Bitdefender.

Update 8/21 in response to BD comment:
Please inform us loyal customers about the realities your company is dealing with. Do not hide that information. I have promoted Bitdefender everywhere I went, but this past year I am very concerned about its ability to keep up with what needs to be done. And I am not the only one.

Unsubscribe...

2009-07-27T21:24:00.002-04:00

I am not an infusionsoft user, but recently I have received "spam" from a variety of senders that use infusionsoft. At the end of these emails obviously is an unsubscribe option, but because I was getting so many "new spam" messages, I got suspicious about the "unsubscribe" buttons: maybe I am actually confirming my email address?

So I googled for "infusionsoft unsubscribe" and found a community thread critiquing how Infusionsoft handles users that have been marked as spam. And I talked to Infusionsoft tech support. Infusionsoft is a legitimate service and the unsubscribe button is guaranteed to work for me, they say, and I believe that. But how often a day now do I have to think about a new sender and hit "unsubscribe" and open a tab or window and read and confirm?

Infusionsoft doesn't have a problem with folks like me simply hitting the spam button. The reason? If Infusionsoft users get their email addresses like mine from harvesters or other illegitimate sources, they SHOULD be marked as spam. We don't mind if you hit the spam button, they said: we will take care of it.

I can guarantee you that the latest spam I am getting, with a very specific email address that I have used on only one (admittedly dubious) site, has led me to receiving a bunch of mail from different folks that use Infusionsoft. UNrequested! I signed up to use software, not to receive mail from all kinds of internet entrepreneurs and marketeers.

My two cents: don't think too quickly that we internet users hit buttons and subscribe to services without reading all the time. The fact alone that you have a legitimate unsubscribe service does not necessarily imply that you are not a spammer.