Cell Phone Directory to be Released
About 75 percent of the nation's cell phone numbers are expected to be listed in a new directory that will be published later this year. The directory, being compiled by the Cellular Telecommunications and Internet Association, is being touted as a service to benefit real estate agents and others on the go who want their cell phone information to be public. The directory raises privacy concerns, though, as telemarketers could begin calling and spammers could begin text-messaging those listed in the directory. Many cell phone contracts include wording that allows user information to be included in a directory. Cell phone companies are considering charging people to have unlisted numbers.

Government and Privacy Groups to Debate RFID Technology

California Bill Puts Pressure on Cell Phone Companies
After four years of debate, California became the first state to adopt consumer protections for cell phone customers. The "bill of rights" will allow consumers to cancel cell phone service within 30 days if they are dissatisfied. Cell phone service providers will have to post all contract terms clearly on the Internet, and not use fine print. The Cellular Telecommunications and Internet Association is strongly opposed to the legislation and expects to challenge it. In the meantime, they may decide to pass any necessary fee increases onto the consumer. Second only to auto dealers, cell phone companies receive the most Better Business Bureau complaints.

NEC Settles Fraud Case
NEC Business Network Solutions, a subsidiary of NEC, admitted to unfair dealings under the E-Rate program, a program that added a tax to telephone bills in order to bring technology to poor and rural schools. The settlement, made in San Francisco last Thursday, states that NEC, along with other companies, convinced school districts to buy more computer and networking equipment than was necessary, and then billed the E-Rate program for tens of millions of dollars more than was actually sold. NEC will pay just over $20 million to settle the case.

New York Spammer Sent to Jail
A New York man who sent millions of spam mails was sentenced last Thursday to 3.5 to 5 years in jail. He was caught one year ago, before anti-spam legislation was in place, and so was convicted instead of identity theft and forgery. The man, Howard Carmack, set up more than 300 false e-mail accounts and sent 825 million e-mails, starting in March 2002. Carmack's conviction is one of many similar suits in which the target is caught committing crime because they sent (then legal) spam.

Food Lion to Give Shoppers Scanners; No More Bagging
By the end of this year, the Food Lion supermarket chain plans to open five pilot stores that will provide shoppers with a technologically-advanced shopping experience. The pilot stores will have scanners that customers can use as they shop. Then, when a customer arrives at the checkout, they simply need to scan an "end of trip" bar code on their cart and they can pay and leave, all without removing the groceries from the cart. Eventually, customers could even use their own wireless devices to do the job of the in-store scanner.

Smart Socks Promise to Keep Your Feet Warm
A new type of wool, made with a more conductive fiber than traditional wool, can be made to heat up and remain heated for up to three hours. The New Zealand company that discovered this wool is marketing socks that will be heated by using a battery similar to that in cell phones. They are also considering other "intelligent textiles" including fabric with lighted safety strips and fabric that becomes thicker to provide added insulation in cold weather.

Protect Yourself Against Identity Theft!

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Choose the Programs for Your CD-ROM Auto-Launch
Each time you insert a CD or DVD into your CD or DVD-ROM rive, Windows XP tries to take action. If you have Windows Media Player installed, Windows XP might ask you to play the CD in Windows Media Player. But what if you install iTunes and you want to launch your CD in that program instead? You can customize the alternatives that Windows will offer you whenever you put media in your drive. To do this, open Windows Explorer and right-click on the icon for your CD drive, CD recorder, or DVD drive (generally this is E: or F:). Choose Properties, then the AutoPlay tab. You will see a list of content options, from music files to music CD to DVD and blank CD. For each, you can choose the action you want windows to take when you insert the media. You can even tell it not to take any action by choosing the "Select an action to perform" radio button and the "Take no action" option.

Customize Your File Searches
In Windows XP you can customize searches to be as advanced or simple as you want them to be. You can view a variety of animated characters, change Internet search behavior from MSN to Google, for example, show balloon tips, and turn on and off auto-complete. To do this, open Windows Explorer and right-click on the folder you want to search. Choose Search, and then choose the Search icon on the top toolbar a few times, until you see an option in the lower left called "Change preferences." Here you can choose the options you are comfortable with.

Protect Yourself Against Identity Theft!

It is more important than ever to keep your computer free from pests, Adware, Trojans, and hacker to ols. Why? Because these pests are becoming increasing more sophisticated and dangerous and often stay under the radar of the average computer user. SurfSecret PestPatrol is designed to clean your system, protect your privacy, and make sure key loggers, Trojans, an d denial of service attacks don't leave you vulnerable. SurfSecret PestPatrol complements your existing antivirus software - and pre vents attacks that pass by conventional AV solutions.

Use SurfSecret PestPatrol to Clean Your system of spyware and Adware! - Download your free 30 day t rial now! For a limited time, we have discounted PestPatrol to $37.99 -
it will go back to its regular price of $49.99 soon. Act now!


Download a Free Trial of PestPatrol!

If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions regarding this newsletter, email suzanne@surfsecret.com.