Interesting little "PRIVACYGUARD" article...

[andie]

Check out this little article on PG!!!

 

http://www.infoworld.com/article/03/03/21/.../12gripe_1.html (if you want to go here yourself and read it.... or... read on....)

 

 

The Gripe Line

 

Caught you!

 

What are services designed to help guard your personal information doing with your trust?

 

By Ed Foster March 21, 2003

 

 

Watch out, they’re trying to catch you. With all the Internet scams and hoaxes out there trying to trick you into divulging useful information about yourself, it’s getting hard to know whom you can trust to guard your privacy -- even if the company bills itself as a partner in protecting it.

 

Take the case of a company called PrivacyGuard.com and a reader we’ll call Mr. Catchings. When Mr. Catchings was talking to someone at his bank recently about his online account, the bank representative highly recommended he take advantage of a free trial offer with PrivacyGuard.com. “PrivacyGuard says they act as an intermediary between consumers and the three major credit-reporting agencies,” Mr. Catchings told me. “You give them your approval and identity information, and they collect, compile, and rate your credit score. They also alert you when there are any requests for your credit history information.”

 

That sounded as if it might be worthwhile to Mr. Catchings, but being a careful man, he read the PrivacyGuard.com online privacy policy closely. “It was your objectionable but standard privacy policy, essentially stating that using the Web site constitutes an agreement to [future changes in the] policy,” he noted. “What concerned me was that just creating a username and password required providing an e-mail address, social security number, mother’s maiden name -- all the same data one might give their bank. But, hey, this service was recommended by my bank, so it must be all right.”

 

Mr. Catchings went ahead and registered a username and was about to order his free credit report when he caught something. The order form contained some fine print with another reference to a privacy policy, plus a nonhighlighted link that only revealed itself when the mouse cursor moved over it. Following that link took him to a different privacy statement than the online document he’d read.

 

The second privacy policy document (which I later learned also served as the privacy policy for other free-credit-report sites such as ConsumerInfo.com and Freecreditreport.com) had several provisions that bothered Mr. Catchings enough that he decided not to order the credit report after all. One thing that particularly concerned him was a statement revealing that his information could be disclosed to companies that “perform services on our behalf, such as the credit reporting agencies from which we obtain your credit report(s), credit card processors, e-mail communications management firms, or call center providers.”

 

Mr. Catchings felt disturbed that he had provided PrivacyGuard.com with sensitive information to register his username before finding the hidden privacy policy that revealed how the information would be used. “I particularly did not like the sound of ‘e-mail communications management firms’ and ‘call center providers’ having my information,” says Mr. Catchings. “My two biggest objections are the ‘second-level’ privacy policy and the fact that this was promoted by my bank.”

 

After looking over the two privacy policies myself, I had to agree that Mr. Catchings was justified in his concerns about what they might really mean. The hidden policy for the free-credit-report sites raised several other issues as well. It revealed that a customer’s credit history was itself part of the information that could be shared by the free-credit-report Web sites and all their partners. Did that mean that PrivacyGuard would be targeting customers for their advertisers based on their credit worthiness? PrivacyGuard's policy also spelled out its right to keep using the personal data of ex-customers -- a category under which Mr. Catchings presumably now fell, although he had not ordered a free credit report. And what exactly was the relationship between PrivacyGuard and the free-credit-report Web sites? Do they all share one giant database of customer information, and does every e-mail communications management firm and call center in the country have access to it?

 

In a quest to answer some of these questions, I contacted officials for PrivacyGuard’s parent company, Trilegiant in Norwalk, Conn. I asked that the company clarify more specifically how its customers' information would be used, and a representative promised to get back to me. When I checked back during subsequent weeks, I was told that answers would be forthcoming soon. They just had to check a few things with the lawyers.

 

After a month had passed with no answers, I noticed that some changes had been made to the privacy policies in question. The relatively innocuous online privacy policy on the PrivacyGuard Web site now has a second-level "Use of Financial Information" privacy policy that can be accessed without registering a username. This new section does, at least, reveal that credit history is part of the information that it can collect and share with affiliates. Without registering a username of my own -- which I’m not going to do -- I can’t check to see if the nearly invisible link Mr. Catchings found for the second privacy policy is still there pointing to the same document. However, I did find that the privacy policy used by the other free-credit-report Web sites has been somewhat rewritten from what it said a month ago, although it doesn’t appear to have changed much in substance. It no longer mentions call centers, for example, but that doesn’t necessarily mean call centers aren’t still among the partners and affiliates that are going to have access to Mr. Catchings’ mother’s maiden name.

 

So I guess I found my answers. But I'm disappointed that I never got the chance to speak with PrivacyGuard official spokesman Frank W. Abagnale, the “former con man turned crime-fighting consultant,” as the company's press releases identify him, whose autobiography Catch Me If You Can served as the basis for the recent movie of the same name. As a man who knows a good scam when he sees one, it would have been interesting to hear his assessment of free-credit-report privacy policies such as these.

 

In the absence of his advice, I’ll give you mine. If you care about preserving your personal information, be very careful when anyone on the Internet offers you something for free. They’ll catch you if they can.

 

 

 

Ed Foster is InfoWorld's reader advocate. Contact him at foster@gripe2ed.com.

[JerseyBaby]

Rather eye opening

 

:shock: :shock: :shock: :shock:

[disneydixie]

whoa :shock:

[Guest grendel]

Sounds like a large ID theft lawsuit waiting to happen...

[Creditman]

wow.............that's scary..

[creditmania]

I just find it hilarious that Frank Abagnale aka Leo Di Caprio's character on Catch Me If You Can, works for PG!!

[glitter_girl]

So what happens to my information if I cancel my membership???? They can use my reports, my name, my address, my social security number to sell to advertisers????? I'm calling them today to cancel my trial (after I pull ONE more report ofcourse!!!!) and raising hell about my private info.....

[BWiser]

I guess the thing that really disturbs me , is that during this whole credit repair process, I have given out little bits and pieces of myself everywhere - and I'm pretty careful.

 

I called PG and ranted. They do not have an OPT OUT button that I could find on the site, so I will have to write a letter to specify this. Of course when I called , they denied that they would EVER sell any info - except name and address. But the fact remains, that they do have socials and mother's maiden names - and in the wrong hands..... ...

 

 

ugh.....

[Micolita]

An excerpt from their current privacy policy follows (I cut and pasted it from their website); it has an opt-out provision. Email them at the address below to opt out.

 

"We use personal information provided on registration forms to fulfill requests for credit reports and requests for other personal information and to contact you when necessary, such as when your request cannot be processed. Trilegiant Corporation may also use this information to notify consumers about new products or services and special promotions offered by Trilegiant Corporation or any of its affiliates. We do not sell, trade or rent your personal information to unaffiliated third parties. We may choose to do so in the future with trustworthy unaffiliated third parties, but you can tell us not to by sending an e-mail message to service@privacyguard.com. If you do not want to receive future promotional information from Trilegiant Corporation or any of its affiliates, you may let us know by sending an e-mail to service@privacyguard.com. Trilegiant Corporation will never share your credit card information with an unaffiliated third party without your consent."

[plasticman]

This is quite old, I know, but...

 

I was just about to pull the trigger and sign up for PG to do some closer monitoring as things hopefully change (hopefully for the better) on my files, but... then I stumbled upon this thread....

 

This is kind of scary, what do you think??? I don't want PG to send my personal info to any affiliated or unaffiliated partners!

[f900]

Very interesting, I'm opting out, now i see why they offer $1 for 3months, so get all your info so they can market u.....very misleading indeed

 

 

An excerpt from their current privacy policy follows (I cut and pasted it from their website); it has an opt-out provision. Email them at the address below to opt out.

 

"We use personal information provided on registration forms to fulfill requests for credit reports and requests for other personal information and to contact you when necessary, such as when your request cannot be processed. Trilegiant Corporation may also use this information to notify consumers about new products or services and special promotions offered by Trilegiant Corporation or any of its affiliates. We do not sell, trade or rent your personal information to unaffiliated third parties. We may choose to do so in the future with trustworthy unaffiliated third parties, but you can tell us not to by sending an e-mail message to service@privacyguard.com. If you do not want to receive future promotional information from Trilegiant Corporation or any of its affiliates, you may let us know by sending an e-mail to service@privacyguard.com. Trilegiant Corporation will never share your credit card information with an unaffiliated third party without your consent."

[clc370]

I have to admit... not sure if there is a link here but I have gotten much more "financial" spam SINCE starting my credit repair journey.

 

It is nothing for me to get 10 mortgages offers a day.. Plus refi's, car loans and credit card offers. Now all of them go in my "bulk" email but before I delete all that I scam them because occasionally a honest email gets put in there by mistake.

 

Makes me wonder now if isn't PG.

 

HOW MANY of you are going to cancel?

[f900]

I have to admit... not sure if there is a link here but I have gotten much more "financial" spam SINCE starting my credit repair journey.

 

It is nothing for me to get 10 mortgages offers a day.. Plus refi's, car loans and credit card offers. Now all of them go in my "bulk" email but before I delete all that I scam them because occasionally a honest email gets put in there by mistake.

 

Makes me wonder now if isn't PG.

 

HOW MANY of you are going to cancel?

 

 

Well here is the problem i have with there PP, that they have a RIGHT to Market your personal info, even if your still not signed up.

 

They way i see it, they all ready "Got me " they captured all my personal info. thats what i have a problem with it.

 

As for Canceling it, want to, but where else can i Pull Daily 3 reports to see how my credit is for as cheap as PG

[aescutie]

Couldn't figure out why I started getting all these emails for credit card offers and financial products....NOW I KNOW!!...would it do any good to cancel at this point...I think not....very disturbing

[dyoung1006]

Yes my private email address which I only use for "important stuff" and used for privacy guard. I got a financial spam letter the other day and was trying to figure out where it came from no wonder!

 

I'll cancel PG when I'm done cleaning my credit.

and since I am a broker, I'll pull my own quarterly and take the inq. hit.

it only cost me 9.84 per tri merge

[clc370]

Yes my private email address which I only use for "important stuff" and used for privacy guard. I got a financial spam letter the other day and was trying to figure out where it came from no wonder!

 

I'll cancel PG when I'm done cleaning my credit.

and since I am a broker, I'll pull my own quarterly and take the inq. hit.

it only cost me 9.84 per tri merge

 

That is the one thing I have on my side..... I have used a yahoo account for years and was getting to change to our new ISP email account so I can get away from the spam but whatelse have they done with our info???

 

Good luck on your reports!

 

Christie

[plasticman]

The spam email I can handle (just use a throaway address for signing up...)

 

Its the rest of the info that i'm most concerned with... :shock:

[c m chase]

I was wondering why I've been getting a TON of spam lately....and most of it has my name in the subject line (mostly addresses me by my last name only)! And I don't put my real name many places.

 

This makes sense. Good lord! :shock:

[plasticman]

I've been getting a lot of the Last name in the subject line spam too, but, this is an email i have not used at PG (in fact i still havent signed up for pg at all) .. so.... not sure what that means. but.. it may not be from pg...

 

 

BTW the original article and the OP was from March of 2003 .. not new...

[Myprty66pny]

I am so angry hearing this!!!! Guess that will teach me to read any and all fine print!! I've just shot off an e-mail opting out but this is quite scary.

[hegemony]

spam? did you sign up for vonage?

 

as far as PG...what? me worry?

 

:chopper: :chopper: :chopper: :chopper:

[pks3541]

Yes my private email address which I only use for "important stuff" and used for privacy guard. I got a financial spam letter the other day and was trying to figure out where it came from no wonder!

 

I'll cancel PG when I'm done cleaning my credit.

and since I am a broker, I'll pull my own quarterly and take the inq. hit.

it only cost me 9.84 per tri merge

 

DH was surfing thru some collection sights about a week ago reseaching collection agencies software (I am not a collector) DH is database nut and he found one sight he cant remeber but Privacy guard is listed as software and supplier of information to collection agencies, He believes they were listed with a UK company pushing different sources of information retrieval software. I will try and locate again and post.

[j23]

I applied to PG last week and ever since then I have gotten a lot of emails about debt consolidation and bankruptcy blahblahblah.

Now I came home to find MORE spam on an email account I have ONLY USED FOR PG!

Before I read your article I was thinking about canceling as I felt who knows what they le out in info.

NOW I KNOW.

You mention OPT OUT. How do we go about it with PG? Or HOW can I cancel my account RIGHT NOW?

Thanks

J23

[DiggingOut]

oops, sorry, posted a response onto the wrong thread

Edited January 27, 2005 by DiggingOut

[Dwayne]

Wow, this really stinks. And here I said that I would happily continue PG beyond te trial period, buth with a policy like this, I'll tell them to go pound sand.