I live in the UK and have two credit cards - one with CapitalOne, the other with my Bank (I also have a seperate debit card with this bank). The bank credit card I hardly ever use, except as a "Backup" for if the other card fails... I usually carry it about in a seperate bag when I'm going on holiday, etc.
About 9 months ago I got called form my bank who noticed a small charge being made to the credit card from some random business - something in the region of 20 pence or so. I didn't recognise the company, so they "blocked" the charge and said no more about it. About two weeks later I noticed there were two further charges made on this account I didn't recognise - both for about £10. A quick call and the person on the phone from the bank was able to tell me that the charges were payment for phone "top up cards" somewhere in England (I live in Ireland - so this is nowhere near me). They were refunded, and I got a new card in the post. Zero hassle getting it refunded, nothing else since.
Two days ago, I got a call from CapitalOne for much the same thing - a bunch of small charges made on the card. Given that I use this card all the time for everything under the sun, I watch the monthly statements for it pretty closely. I've had the card for a good many years this is the first time they've phoned me up. The charges in question ended up being something I recognised off Amazon.co.uk - the retailer had charged my account several times for a bunch of small items all ordered at the same time (the day before), instead of lumping them all into one bigger charge. It's probably not the only thing that might have qualified as "suspicious activity" on that card over the years, but it surprised me that they noticed and jumped on the event so quickly.
I've been impressed with the security when ordering online using the CapitalOne card before too. The majority of uk sites I submit it to as a payment method bring me to a secure password login screen, which over the years has evolved from the usual drab and just-waiting-for-an-exploit "Enter your password" business to "enter the Xth, Yth and Zth characters of your [rather-long-and-non-dictionary-attack-brute-forceable] password". I type it wrong (happens occasionally- try remembering the 3rd, 8th and 22nd characters of a long random string of alphanumeric characters offhand at 2am! This also cuts down on the more dumbass/drunk purchases), no sale, and no option to just continue and charge the card "normally".
My IP is Tiscali.. a fairly large european provider that has recently been in the techpress for having a few bad DOS attacks.
Anyways, the TOS is here.
Not the worst I've seen: The usual Two-hour cutoff.. The daft combination of the 'we reserve the right to release your information to third parties' clause together with the 'you must not use this service for the distribution of unsolicited material to third parties' clause..
Look at section 7, 'Intellectual Property Rights'. No claims to any of your stuff.
They do have a few annoying things, like the clause that states they may terminate access if you use their service "in a way that does not comply with any written or electronic instructions sent by us to you or posted on the Portal by us from time to time".
So I have to keep checking the TOS "from time to time".. (yeah, right..)
In fact the only thing remotely scary is that they still have a clause that says:
"We may need to amend the Privacy Policy from time to time. Any such amendment will take effect as soon as it is posted on the Tiscali Portal. You are therefore encouraged to familiarise yourself with the Privacy Policy on a regular basis. The Privacy Policy will always be easily accessible online throughout Tiscali Portal."
So shop around. I don't suggest Tiscali are the best IP (heaven forbid!!), but they are decent enough for my needs.
They don't chase up after you or infringe on rights etc.. but their tech support leaves a bit to be desired sometimes: They tend to not give out too much info on any problems like the recent DOS attacks (if you are interested look about, Usenet and the Register both have stuff on them), I've also noticed them editing several historical entries on their service status page to make it look like it has always been plain sailing..
Slashdot Mirror
I live in the UK and have two credit cards - one with CapitalOne, the other with my Bank (I also have a seperate debit card with this bank). The bank credit card I hardly ever use, except as a "Backup" for if the other card fails... I usually carry it about in a seperate bag when I'm going on holiday, etc.
About 9 months ago I got called form my bank who noticed a small charge being made to the credit card from some random business - something in the region of 20 pence or so. I didn't recognise the company, so they "blocked" the charge and said no more about it. About two weeks later I noticed there were two further charges made on this account I didn't recognise - both for about £10. A quick call and the person on the phone from the bank was able to tell me that the charges were payment for phone "top up cards" somewhere in England (I live in Ireland - so this is nowhere near me). They were refunded, and I got a new card in the post. Zero hassle getting it refunded, nothing else since.
Two days ago, I got a call from CapitalOne for much the same thing - a bunch of small charges made on the card. Given that I use this card all the time for everything under the sun, I watch the monthly statements for it pretty closely. I've had the card for a good many years this is the first time they've phoned me up. The charges in question ended up being something I recognised off Amazon.co.uk - the retailer had charged my account several times for a bunch of small items all ordered at the same time (the day before), instead of lumping them all into one bigger charge. It's probably not the only thing that might have qualified as "suspicious activity" on that card over the years, but it surprised me that they noticed and jumped on the event so quickly.
I've been impressed with the security when ordering online using the CapitalOne card before too. The majority of uk sites I submit it to as a payment method bring me to a secure password login screen, which over the years has evolved from the usual drab and just-waiting-for-an-exploit "Enter your password" business to "enter the Xth, Yth and Zth characters of your [rather-long-and-non-dictionary-attack-brute-forceable] password". I type it wrong (happens occasionally- try remembering the 3rd, 8th and 22nd characters of a long random string of alphanumeric characters offhand at 2am! This also cuts down on the more dumbass/drunk purchases), no sale, and no option to just continue and charge the card "normally".
Apologies, I didn't mean to post that anonymously.
I had cookies disabled and didn't realise I wasn't logged in.
Mod me down here if you want.
Slicer
Anyways, the TOS is here.
Not the worst I've seen: The usual Two-hour cutoff.. The daft combination of the 'we reserve the right to release your information to third parties' clause together with the 'you must not use this service for the distribution of unsolicited material to third parties' clause..
Look at section 7, 'Intellectual Property Rights'. No claims to any of your stuff.
They do have a few annoying things, like the clause that states they may terminate access if you use their service "in a way that does not comply with any written or electronic instructions sent by us to you or posted on the Portal by us from time to time".
So I have to keep checking the TOS "from time to time".. (yeah, right..)
In fact the only thing remotely scary is that they still have a clause that says:
"We may need to amend the Privacy Policy from time to time. Any such amendment will take effect as soon as it is posted on the Tiscali Portal. You are therefore encouraged to familiarise yourself with the Privacy Policy on a regular basis. The Privacy Policy will always be easily accessible online throughout Tiscali Portal."
So shop around. I don't suggest Tiscali are the best IP (heaven forbid!!), but they are decent enough for my needs.
They don't chase up after you or infringe on rights etc.. but their tech support leaves a bit to be desired sometimes: They tend to not give out too much info on any problems like the recent DOS attacks (if you are interested look about, Usenet and the Register both have stuff on them), I've also noticed them editing several historical entries on their service status page to make it look like it has always been plain sailing..
(Aw well, can't have everything..) :)
...and the first NYtimes cheat code is... :)
UP-Down-Left-Right-Select-START!! (Correct Link!)
Still no pricing though.
Check out their FAQ tho and it says one of the reasons PPL should prefer their services is:
"Future: Telephony @ affordable cost."