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News Home Archive Stepcase Lifehack</h3> <subtitle type="text">Daily digest and pointer on productivity, getting things done and lifehacks</subtitle> <updated>2008-06-11T04:29:40Z</updated> <generator uri="http://wordpress.org/" version="2.5.1">WordPress</generator> <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://www.lifehack.org" /> <id>http://www.lifehack.org/feed/atom</id> <link rel="self" href="http://www.lifehack.org/feed/" type="application/atom+xml" /><feedburner:emailServiceId>71799</feedburner:emailServiceId><feedburner:feedburnerHostname>http://www.feedburner.com</feedburner:feedburnerHostname><feedburner:browserFriendly>This is an XML content feed. It is intended to be viewed in a newsreader or syndicated to another site, subject to copyright and fair use.</feedburner:browserFriendly><entry> <author> <name>Thursday Bram</name> </author> <title type="html">Trustworthy Sites Are Worth A Mint</h3> <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/LifeHack/~3/308873325/trustworthy-sites-are-worth-a-mint.html" /> <id>http://www.lifehack.org/?p=5733</id> <updated>2008-06-10T02:00:27Z</updated> <published>2008-06-10T13:30:39Z</published> <category scheme="http://www.lifehack.org" term="Featured" /><category scheme="http://www.lifehack.org" term="Money" /><category scheme="http://www.lifehack.org" term="mint" /><category scheme="http://www.lifehack.org" term="money management" /><category scheme="http://www.lifehack.org" term="trust" /> <link rel="replies" type="text/html" href="http://www.lifehack.org/articles/money/trustworthy-sites-are-worth-a-mint.html#comments" thr:count="1" /> <link rel="replies" type="application/atom+xml" href="http://www.lifehack.org/articles/money/trustworthy-sites-are-worth-a-mint.html/feed/atom" thr:count="1" /> <thr:total>1</thr:total> <content type="html"><p>The internet is full of lies. Without plenty of effort, you can’t even prove my name is Thursday Bram. So why should you hand over your bank account numbers, passwords and other financial data to me?</p> <p>That’s essentially what <a href="http://www.mint.com">Mint</a> and other money management sites are asking you to do. These companies have many benefits for those of us focused on productivity and, for some of us, those benefits have outweighed our healthy senses of paranoia. I’m not saying that money management companies are all out to get us (and some of them are actually very good), but it’s worth taking a very close look at what sites you trust.</p> <p>I realize it may not seem fair to be so suspicious — after all, these sites never did anything to me. But pretty much everything on the internet is a matter of trust. Consider Mint’s “<a href="http://www.mint.com/safe.html">Privacy & Security</a>” page: in 20 minutes I could have an identical page up on my site. Merely posting a page isn’t enough to win my trust — although the information Mint has posted is very convincing.</p> <h2>What is enough to win my trust?</h2> <p>I think a video of Bruce Schneier pronouncing a site’s trustworthiness would be enough to convince me — but only because I already trust Schneier as an expert on security.</p> <p>Beyond that, it’s a matter of finding some very specific facts that will help me to decide on whether to trust a given site.</p> <h2>Where is a company based?</h2> <p>Most folks running websites have the best of intentions. The country they’ve set up their servers in, though, can have some extensive effects on who gets to see your information simply by asking. In the U.S., there are certain laws meant to prevent companies from passing around your private information. But in more controlled societies — think China — certain government officials can access secure information with no intermediary steps.</p> <p>Knowing location is also important in case something goes wrong. I know I’d rather use a money management site based in my own country in the event that they did distribute it to someone with nefarious plans. At least, in that case, I could take the company to court.</p> <h2>What does the privacy policy say — and is it enforceable?</h2> <p>Who reads all those user agreements and terms of use anyhow? Isn’t that just a box to click through so you can start playing with the nice shiny web application? Mint devoted a major chunk of its terms of use to discussing a comprehensive privacy policy.</p> <p>Reading this policy is a fairly good indicator of Mint’s trustworthiness — and therefore its success as a money management application. The key is the inclusion of a way to address security issues through a third party organization with a reputation for trustworthiness. It’s easy to scoff at using such third party organizations, and listing links to their sites on your own, but those seals are actually a good indicator, if you can confirm that they are correctly displayed.</p> <p>Mint’s partnership with <a href="https://www.truste.org">TRUSTe</a> is a great example. TRUSTe has been around since 1997 and was founded by, among others, the Electronic Frontier Foundation. That sort of history and such well-known associates make for a good indicator of trust.</p> <h2>What are other people saying about the company in question?</h2> <p>Beyond fancy logos, though, a real indicator of whether a website is worth trusting is the buzz around the web. Just Googling a site’s name can get you a whole load of information, though you might consider adding words like ‘security’ in your search. A surprising number of people don’t do even this basic level of research before handing over details like the password to their email — I can name a half dozen social networking sites that ask for exactly that in order to import your contacts. It’s nice that we have such an environment of trust online, but we’re just asking for <a href="http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/archives/001072.html">problems</a> when we give away such information willy-nilly.</p> <p>Such due diligence can be enough to warn you off of releasing your information, though. At the very least, it can give you a head’s up of security issues that might make you want to wait before signing up for a service.</p> <p>Unfortunately, buzz doesn’t always help early adopters. If you’re always the first person into the private beta, you may not have heard about any bugs or problems that a company has experienced, let alone if other people have some questions about trust.</p> <h2>How much time should I spend on research?</h2> <p>I don’t necessarily delve into the technical security specs of every site I sign up for, and I wouldn’t even argue that there is a need to. But before handing over information like your bank account numbers — or the password to the email account where you’ve saved those numbers — it’s worth spending 15 or 30 minutes to make sure that your sensitive information isn’t going to take a walk after you’ve entered it.</p> <p>After this sort of review, Mint has all the elements of a reliable site. They’re able to earn trust, rather than rely on people looking for a quick fix and ignoring a few warning signs. Yes, Mint solves some significant productivity and money management questions, but it does so in such a way as to reassure users.</p> <p>I do still have a few concerns, of course. Any site known to save financial information on numerous people is going to be a target of all sorts of malicious attacks. And no site is going to take users on a walk through of the exact protections and vulnerabilities of their system. Aaron Patzer, Mint’s CEO, has discussed the site’s security on several occasions, and in general, it seems like information submitted to the site is fairly secure. I’m willing to roll the dice and take a chance on Mint — especially since none of the early adopters have gotten burned yet.</p> <hr/><em>Thursday Bram is a freelance journalist of over five years experience. She studied Communications at the University of Tulsa and is currently working on her MA in Communication Design. Her work has focused primarily on entrepreneurial topics. More information about Thursday is available at <a href="http://www.thursdaybram.com">thursdaybram.com</a>. </em></p><p class="akst_link"><a href="http://www.lifehack.org/?p=5733&akst_action=share-this" title="E-mail this, post to del.icio.us, etc." id="akst_link_5733" class="akst_share_link" rel="nofollow">Share This</a> </p><h3>Related Posts</h3><ul class="related_post"><li><a href="http://www.lifehack.org/articles/communication/what-is-most-likely-to-help-you-reach-the-top.html" title="What is most likely to help you reach the top?">What is most likely to help you reach the top?</a></li><li><a href="http://www.lifehack.org/articles/productivity/selfish-mentoring.html" title="Selfish Mentoring">Selfish Mentoring</a></li><li><a href="http://www.lifehack.org/articles/lifehack/putting-your-trust-in-trust.html" title="Putting Your Trust in . . . Trust">Putting Your Trust in . . . 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Wax is a contributing editor and project manager at lifehack.org. He is also the creator of <a href="http://www.writerstechnology.com">The Writer's Technology Companion</a>, a site devoted to the tools of the writing trade. When he's not writing, he teaches anthropology and women's studies in Las Vegas, NV. His personal site can be found at <a href="http://www.dwax.org">dwax.org</a>.</em></p><p class="akst_link"><a href="http://www.lifehack.org/?p=5732&akst_action=share-this" title="E-mail this, post to del.icio.us, etc." id="akst_link_5732" class="akst_share_link" rel="nofollow">Share This</a> </p><h3>Related Posts</h3><ul class="related_post"><li><a href="http://www.lifehack.org/articles/podcast/join-me-at-10am-pst-for-lifehack-live-today-danny-bader-of-the-david-allen-company.html" title="Join Me at 10am PST for Lifehack Live! Today: Danny Bader of the David Allen Company">Join Me at 10am PST for Lifehack Live! 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Maybe you love double-fudge chocolate chunk ice cream with chocolate sauce and chocolate sprinkles, or gummy worms, or expensive imported truffles. Maybe you cry in cheesy romantic comedies, or obsess over 1960’s B-movies, or scream like a little girl in slasher pics. </p> <p>Whatever it is, your pleasure is tempered somewhat by guilt. Some guilty pleasures make us feel guilty because they’re so bad for us — fattening foods, time-wasting games, IQ-sucking sitcoms. Others aren’t necessarily bad for us, but we fear for the effect on our reputations if word got out. They make us look “low-class” or “non-intellectual” or “unprofessional” or “immature”.</p> <p>The guilt ultimately arises, though, from the pleasure itself. Our modern society, with it’s “work work work ethic” and deeply-bred commitment to constant self-improvement — through dieting, through “extreme” sports, through self-help books, through a never-ending stream of products and media that all promise a “better you!” — holds pleasure in rather low esteem. It is seen, at best, as a reward, though a somewhat disreputable one, for the success of all that work work work. </p> <p>But more often it’s seen as a luxury, and a dispensable one at that. The poor are held in contempt for their continued willingness to own DVD players, the rich for their decadence. Food, we are told, is solely for the nourishment of the body; sex, we are told, is solely for the reproduction of the species. Pleasure for pleasure’s sake is to be avoided, and those who seek it are to be shunned.</p> <p>Hence the guilty pleasure — the thing we do just because it makes us feel good. It’s shameful to seek after the “empty calories” of the sugary snack, fluffy novel, or childish hobby. It’s a betrayal of the fundamental principles our society is built on.</p> <strong>It’s time to strike the phrase “guilty pleasure” from your vocabulary.</strong></p> <p>The idea that those things that distract us from the “real” work of living should be held in contempt is, of course, good for those who profit most from our work, but it’s no good for the rest of us. Work is good, of course — things need to get done — but work without pleasure is for automatons, not human beings. Indeed, it is the “guilty pleasures” we should feel <em>least</em> guilty about, because they re the things in which we are more fully our own people.</p> <p>Behind the concept of the guilty pleasure is a demand for conformity. Don’t eat that, watch that, read that, do that, <em>be </em>that. It is an insistence that there are certain things we’re supposed to eat, watch, read, do, <em>be</em>, if we are to be taken seriously as adults. It is an insistence, in fact, on being “normal” — or even worse, “average”.</p> <p>I defy that. </p> <p>I hear you thinking, “But certainly, if something’s unhealthy for you, and you do it anyway, you <em>should</em> feel guilty about it — it’s the only way you’re gong to stop!” And sure, if your diet consists solely of guilty pleasures, if your reading is entirely guilty pleasures, if your <em>life</em> is consumed by the quest for ever-more guilty pleasures, that’s a problem. If your guilt stems from your concern over a lack of willpower or discipline that is causing you real harm, you absolutely should be dealing with that. It’s probably not the guilty pleasure that’s to blame, though — you need to work out some balance in your life as a whole.</p> <p>But more often, our guilty pleasures are an exception, a small part of a life that’s otherwise already well-balanced. Which is to say, you can probably afford to indulge in a guilty pleasure or two without any guilt. If it gives you pleasure and isn’t likely to kill you, by all means, dig in!</p> <p>Same thing with the rest of the guilty pleasures. If your guilt stems from the fear of what other people would think if they knew, and you’re no longer in middle school, you need to deal with your lack of self-confidence, <em>not</em> your appreciation of Top 40 music. </p> <p>As with so much else, it boils down to a question of balance. If your life is chugging along just fine, thank you, and you just happen to have an inordinate fondness for Troll dolls, I say know yourself out. On the other hand, if your eating habits or entertainment preferences leave you unprepared to deal with your life — or if they’re the only consolation in your life — you need to give some serious thought to discovering more nourishing pleasures — or building a more nourishing life.</p> <hr/><em>Dustin M. Wax is a contributing editor and project manager at lifehack.org. He is also the creator of <a href="http://www.writerstechnology.com">The Writer's Technology Companion</a>, a site devoted to the tools of the writing trade. When he's not writing, he teaches anthropology and women's studies in Las Vegas, NV. His personal site can be found at <a href="http://www.dwax.org">dwax.org</a>.</em></p><p class="akst_link"><a href="http://www.lifehack.org/?p=5727&akst_action=share-this" title="E-mail this, post to del.icio.us, etc." id="akst_link_5727" class="akst_share_link" rel="nofollow">Share This</a> </p><h3>Related Posts</h3><ul class="related_post"><li><a href="http://www.lifehack.org/articles/money/how-to-eat-healthy-organic-on-7-a-day.html" title="How To Eat Healthy & Organic On $7 A Day">How To Eat Healthy & Organic On $7 A Day</a></li><li><a href="http://www.lifehack.org/articles/lifehack/5-foods-to-prevent-bad-breath.html" title="5 foods to prevent bad breath">5 foods to prevent bad breath</a></li><li><a href="http://www.lifehack.org/articles/lifestyle/top-ten-rejuvenating-and-anti-ageing-foods.html" title="Top Ten Rejuvenating and Anti-ageing Foods">Top Ten Rejuvenating and Anti-ageing Foods</a></li><li><a href="http://www.lifehack.org/articles/lifestyle/cut-calories-without-dieting.html" title="Cut calories without dieting">Cut calories without dieting</a></li><li><a href="http://www.lifehack.org/articles/lifestyle/7-ways-the-food-companies-try-to-fool-you.html" title="7 Ways the Food Companies Try to Fool You">7 Ways the Food Companies Try to Fool You</a></li><li><a href="http://www.lifehack.org/articles/lifehack/does-this-smell-okay-to-you.html" title="Does This Smell Okay to You?">Does This Smell Okay to You?</a></li><li><a href="http://www.lifehack.org/articles/lifehack/10-foods-you-should-never-eat.html" title="10 Foods You Should Never Eat">10 Foods You Should Never Eat</a></li><li><a href="http://www.lifehack.org/articles/lifehack/meal-menu-planner.html" title="Meal Menu Planner">Meal Menu Planner</a></li><li><a href="http://www.lifehack.org/articles/lifehack/advice-eating-while-travelling.html" title="Advice: Eating while travelling">Advice: Eating while travelling</a></li><li><a href="http://www.lifehack.org/articles/communication/handwriting-a-skill-for-a-digital-age.html" title="Handwriting: A Skill For A Digital Age">Handwriting: A Skill For A Digital Age</a></li><li><a href="http://www.lifehack.org/articles/lifestyle/9-reasons-cooking-advice-belongs-on-a-productivity-blog.html" title="9 Reasons Cooking Advice Belongs on a Productivity Blog">9 Reasons Cooking Advice Belongs on a Productivity Blog</a></li><li><a href="http://www.lifehack.org/articles/lifestyle/take-it-easy-12-ways-to-kill-stress-before-stress-kills-you.html" title="Take It Easy: 12 Ways to Kill Stress Before Stress Kills You!">Take It Easy: 12 Ways to Kill Stress Before Stress Kills You!</a></li><li><a href="http://www.lifehack.org/articles/productivity/happiness-at-work-12-simple-ways-to-make-it-happen.html" title="Happiness at Work - 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This is a serious problem these days and a lot of people from all walks of life fall prey to it. It might not be unanimously recognized by all psychologists, but it has a great deal of traction and support among many reputable psychiatric researchers. It doesn’t really matter what internet addiction’s “official” status among academics is: almost everyone has known or does know someone who is seriously affecting their life and the lives of those around them through internet addiction.</p> <p>I’m not a psychiatrist: if you fear your problem is so serious you need professional help, go out and see one.</p> <p>I’m going to write this article for those who might have trouble leaving the computer behind when the back of your eyes are telling you it’s definitely bedtime, but your spouse hasn’t packed up and left yet as a result of it - not quite a full-blown addiction, just on your way there.</p> <h2>Detecting the Problem</h2> <p>The problem with many addictions is that it can be hard to tell when a hobby has become more than just that, and taken a hold on you. It can also be hard to be honest with yourself when facing a list of symptoms, so make the extra effort now - we’re going to go through a few.</p> <strong>1. You spend more time with the computer than with people.</strong> Doesn’t matter if they are your family, your friends or random people you stalk at the mall - the first symptom of the problem is spending more time with the hunk of metal on your desk than with the people in your life.</p> <p>If there are no longer any people in your life because you spend so much time online, then you really need to close your browser and book an appointment with a professional! A good start would be to use the paper version of the phone book.</p> <strong>2. You can’t abide by your own boundaries.</strong> Part of personal development is about setting and abiding by boundaries, which happens to be where most people fail when it comes to addiction. If you tell yourself you’ll only spend an hour online before playing with the kids and end up online until after they’ve gone to bed, you’re in trouble. This self-deception is a clear sign of internet addiction.</p> <strong>3. Lying to others about your computer usage.</strong> Number two was about self-deception - this one is about lying to others, particularly members of your family who you may have made deals with regarding your computer usage. Lying about your usage so you can stay on that “little bit longer” is a big, glaring warning sign.</p> <strong>4. Feeling unable to live without the computer/internet.</strong> If you feel you can’t go without the internet for more than a few hours, you have an internet addiction. “But I make my living online!” Ask yourself if you could do the work offline and then give it to someone else to execute online - such as writing an article on paper for an assistant or friend to type up and post. Can’t bear the thought of that one degree of separation for even a week? 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