Living in an information world
Did you know that if you type your phone number into Google it spits out your name and address? With just a few clicks, someone can find not only your phone number and address but also your birth date, relative’s names and addresses, home value and more. Isn’t that just a little bit scary? It is to me.
The reality is we live in an information world. You can find the answer to pretty much any question you have, immediately. The other night my friends and I were having a political discussion and no one could remember Michael Dukakis’ running mate in 1988. One quick search on the Wikipanion app on my iPhone and I had the answer (Lloyd Bentson). It took about a minute.
The Internet has changed our lives for the better I think. Having unlimited information at your fingertips at all times is a powerful thing. Access to news events from around the globe in real time gives us a better world-view and more informed opinions. The flipside to this unlimited information resource however are the people that exploit it for personal gain.
Here’s the reality, no matter what steps you take to protect your personal information, it’s out there. A regular person can find out a lot about you by Googling around for a few minutes. Just think what professional identity thieves can do. So you have a choice to make. You can do your best to hide from the thieves and hackers and keep your money under your mattress instead of in a bank account, pay for everything in cash, not shop online or dine out and deliver all your own mail. Or you can get the peace of mind from LifeLock that no matter what happens to your information they’ve got your back….a million times over.
I just bought a new shirt online that was delivered in the mail today so I think I’ll wear it out to dinner tonight to my favorite restaurant. Oh, and I’ll need to stop by my bank’s ATM to get some cash. Even though I’ll pay for dinner with one of my credit cards, I’ll need some money to pay for a cab.
- Barrington Media Group (LifeLock’s radio media buyer)

There’s no denying it – times are tough. Every week seems to bring news of another bank collapse, or a huge decline in the S&P. Home foreclosures continue to rise, and the lax lending market of 2004 - 2005 has given way to a severe tightening of credit. If this is not a “recession”, than it’s certainly difficult to imagine what it will take for economists to officially declare that we are, in fact, in one.
Everyone saw it coming the moment she was announced as John McCain’s running mate. It didn’t matter if you knew nothing else about Gov. Sarah Palin, the moment you saw her you knew this: Tina Fey would be playing her on SNL. The resemblance is uncanny, the impression hilarious, and even though you can’t seriously classify Fey’s caricature of Palin as identity theft, what happened to Palin’s Yahoo Mail account may be.
With the presidential election nearing its end, our candidates have in much detail debated, discussed and rallied for American issues; much of which having to do with typical topics such as economy, healthcare and of course taxes. In four years, when the presidential election comes again, you may hear of a new hot topic on the minds of the American people and politicians…identity theft. The driving force - organizations sensitive information loss and data breaches.
I like to think that I’m smarter than a lot of my friends when it comes to knowing where my family and I are vulnerable when it comes to identity theft. I’ve even taught my three-year old little boy how important it is to shred – we’ve made a game out of it.
Recently I was at one of my favorite stores with a friend. I was in line to pay and my debit card was declined three times. Moments passed as I stood there furiously searching my brain. I am notorious for forgetting my PIN. Was this another one of those moments? A quick look back - the line grew tenfold in those few seconds. No, I’m pretty sure this is not one of my awesome moments - I had the PIN right. I looked at the cashier who began to explain that my card was locked out after three tries for identity theft protection purposes. At this point I was slightly frustrated - not only are they not going to accept my card but now they are going to tell me about identity theft protection. Really? Does it get more insulting? I was half tempted to conveniently have my business card fall out of my purse onto the counter but, after thinking about it a couple times, I resisted. A pulled out some cash and stepped aside for my friend to pay. The same thing happened to him. We left my favorite store slightly disgruntled.