Transparency requested of groups with monitoring power

Security sometimes comes at the price of privacy, but you can at least monitor your own data.

11:30 21 June 2013

Transparency could be a concern for countries and citizens after the announcement that the UK reportedly monitored foreign governments attending G20 meetings in 2009.

 

While most people can understand a certain amount of surveillance for the purposes of keeping people safe, equal attention should be focused on the rights of people when it comes to their privacy.

 

When it comes to security of our credit card information, we must do a little monitoring of our own.

 

• Statements—we have options to help keep our own information, such as identification numbers and credit card numbers secure. Often times the first time we know that something is amiss with our credit card information is when we see unauthorized charges on our statements. Always be sure to review statements each month, even if you have to set aside a special time.

 

• Online banking—you may be more inclined to check this with your debit card, but if your credit card company offers this ability you can check on your credit card periodically. The benefit to this is that you don’t need to wait for a statement. If you’re suspicious that your information has been compromised you can login and monitor your account for a few days. You’ll be prepared to report any unauthorized activity at the first hint of a problem.

 

• Shopping in person—keeping an eye on your credit card at all times is important. There are still shops which may have you hand over the card so it can be run in a cash register, but make sure you have clear visibility of where your card is at all times.

 

• Shopping online—doesn’t save your credit card data in your internet browser or in a profile on any of the sites you shop. There should be an option to allow you to save the information, or run it as a one-time payment. Whenever possible choose the one-time payment option.