Privacy Tips for Holiday Shoppers
On November 21, I wrote about how the privacy commissioners of Alberta, British Columbia, and Canada have agreed to cooperate to create a harmonized approach to privacy.
In a recent press release, the three privacy commissioners gave out a few privacy tips for your consideration this holiday season. In summary, these are:
- Prevent the amount of personal information you hold on you at any given time. Only carry the minimum amount of identification and cards necessary in your wallet.
- Protect your debit’s PIN number when entering it into keypads. I vividly recall an experience where a youngster quite clearly looked over my shoulder when I entered my PIN number at a retail store. Needless to say, I made sure I protected my PIN number with my hand and left the area without him following.
- Pay Attention to your receipts and watch to ensure that your debit and credit cards are not skimmed. Make sure you watch how an employee uses your card when you pay. A common trick is to swipe your card into a card reader when you aren’t looking. Thieves use this to copy your card’s information so they can re-create your card and rob you of your finances.
- Practise safe shopping by ensuring your firewall and anti virus software is up to date, and that you only shop at safe sites. I make it a personal habit to only buy online from big companies such as Amazon.com, Chapters.ca, and Futureshop.com which are large enough to afford to have proper systems in place to protect your data.
- Probe retailers to ensure they are only asking your for personal information that is relevant and necessary to the service or request. Be sure to exercise your privacy rights.
- Practice prudence by checking your bills and bank statements as soon as possible. It will also remind you to pay bills on time.
Read the full news release here.
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