After reading this article I reviewed my Facebook entry and deactivated it. This article reinforces the need for vigilant use of internet banking.

There have been a number of excellent articles recently on various aspects of interactivity in OLO and this is one of them.

While I'm not generally paranoid about my daily transactions, I am aware that whenever I hand over my keycard, credit card or log on to an external website, that I'm potentially opening myself up to fraud - and I don't mean fraud as in 'do you want to buy a used car?'

I've been concerned for some time about notions of privacy and just how 'deep' nefarious people can penetrate in to our personal lives using the web. The writer clearly knows his stuff and has given me some valuable tips which I'll follow.

We have had a 3 articles on this subject of late. This is by far of the best of them. The first was "The electronic me". In order to make sense of what he was saying you had to be familiar with the current state of the art in online authentication systems. Unless you find computer journals entertaining, you won't be. It was pitched at wrong level entirely. That was a pity, as it looked rather good.

The second "Be alert, be alarmed!" which was description how current viruses attack computers. It used nice impressive looking words that made them sound really dangerous. The author could get a job writing ad's for virus scanning software. But in the end, sentences like "identity management systems need to provide adequate usability and should have a simple and intuitive interface" tell you nothing you didn't already know.

In contrast, this one described real world threats and the simple defences you can take, and whats more did it in plain English. Well done, Chris.

I agree with the others... thanks. Excellent article and tips that I will take on board.

Damned fine article, and made more credible by Mr Abood's intimate involvement in the area.

In my early teens I was caught by a cop and dragged by the ear to his station where I weeded his roses for an hour. I respected the law from then on. In my mid 40's I was punished when the yellow slip from one of my Bankcard transactions was taken from the rubbish and the details were used to order magazines for someone else, costing me a lot of money and time to correct. I now respect my privacy.

The precdautions suggested by the author used to be considered as paranoid, now they must be considered by everyone as routine, commonplace and sensible.

I can only add that whenever it becomes necessary to hand over any sort of documentation for ID, that you ascertain the identity and purpose of the person and/or organisation requiring it, WRITE IT DOWN, date it and sign it; preferably in a diary as they are considered legal documents in a pinch.

Worry you guys! or buy a mac, they are not worth the effort to write code for as they are only 5% of the market. The windows operating system is a dog.
fluff4

Rstuart,

I am the author of "the electronic me" and my apologies for being obscure. This may be because it requires the jettisoning of common ideas about identification before it makes sense. http://www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=6713

The good news is that in operation it is simple and easy to understand and use. Anyone will be able to create their own "electronic me" by the beginning of February at http://www.edentiti.com The applications outlined at the website may help you understand what it is about - if not why it works.

It is being introduced as a way for businesses and other organisations to "know their customers" under the new anti-money laundering legislation that came into force on the 12th December.

The system enables organisations to "know their customers" but in a privacy friendly way and without having to keep personal identification information about the person in the organisation's files.

This type of system will solve the problems outlined by Aboud and because of that we can expect there to be some pressure by consumers on organisations to use the approach. I am confident that we will have a wide spread private, secure identification system in general use within the next five years.