Technocreep by Thomas P. Keenan

“put it on our account.” Don’t try that today! Instead of your family’s reputation, your identity and ability to function in society is now tied to an impersonal, automated, and, it appears, quite vulnerable system of numbers and codes.
    No matter where you shop, from Target to Neiman Marcus, you run the risk of hackers getting access to your credit or debit card data and other information. Both of those retailers, and countless others, have been the victims of hacker penetrations. That type of activity is beyond your control, but there are some commonsense tips you can use:
    Prefer credit over debit cards.
    You are definitely safer using a credit card than a debit card because, at the time of purchase, you are spending the card issuer’s money. They are keenly interested in protecting that, and have elaborate ­anti-fraud measures. In most cases, you’ll have zero liability for unauthorized credit card transactions. If your debit card is hacked, you run the risk of your bank account being emptied, and a protracted fight with your bank to prove it wasn’t you who did it.
    You could pay cash (or Bitcoin).
    Sure, there’s a risk that you’ll be robbed in the street, and you will miss out on credit card perks like frequent flyer miles and extended warranties. But immunity from hacking and protection from credit card fraud may outweigh these benefits. Then again, cash may be on its way out. Just try to use it to buy a drink on an airplane, or even to pay your telephone bill. 352 Even Canada’s Passport Office now refuses to accept cash. As for Bitcoins, and other digital currencies, great idea—but good luck checking into a hotel or renting a car with them.
    Monitor your accounts online regularly.
    Almost all financial institutions provide the option of online access to your account, and that has major advantages. Printed statements in your mailbox or your unshredded trash can be a gold mine for identity thieves. In fact, if you are not 100% confident about the security of your postal mail, you might consider having the physical credit cards shipped to you care of your bank branch. That little extra effort could pay off in increased security.
    Assuming you have set up online access, it’s possible to check your accounts regularly, and you definitely should. The earlier you catch something amiss and report it to the financial institution, the safer you are going to be. During the 2013 scandal over hacker ­penetration of retail giant Target, one CNN security expert urged everyone who had shopped there to cancel each of their credit cards and request a new one because “you’ll have it in two or three days.” Of course, if forty million or so customers actually took his advice, it would be more like two or three months. Still, if you have any suspicion that your card is being misused, it is better to be safe than sorry.
    Set up a Google Alert on your name.
    You can use the power of Google to keep a close watch on what is being said about you online. Just go to google.com/alerts and put in your name (and any variants) in quotation marks. Sure, you’ll get some false hits. I know far too much about a musician and a golfer who share the name “Tom Keenan.” Still, if someone is ranting about you online, this might bring it to your attention.
    Use a privacy-friendly search engine.
    The business model of major search engines, and certainly Google, is to serve up advertising to you, preferably for things you might want to buy. Advertisers pay for the privilege, and your eyeballs are even more valuable if you have been profiled and can be targeted.
    Simply typing terms into the box of a search engine can have serious consequences. An accused killer’s admission that he did a Google search for “how to dissolve a body” certainly didn’t win him any friends in a courtroom. 353
    Perhaps the best known search engine that promises not to track you