Is online shopping the minefield we're lead to believe? David Kidd takes his chances.
We've been able to buy online for years, but there has been, and still is for many, a psychological barrier to typing your credit card number into a website and hitting 'send'. It's understandable: the numbers simply disappear into a void, and your only knowledge that the number has been received is an email receipt and a web page that says 'thanks for shopping'. Of course, in the back of our minds we're interpreting this as 'thanks for obligingly sending us your credit card number, even though you have no idea who we are, where we are, or whether you'll receive what you've just purchased'. But while there are multiple ways to purchase online, let's take the humble credit card, which is still the most popular method for purchasing online, and put things into perspective.
There are three main ways to purchase something with a credit card: over the phone, in person or online. We don't really like online purchasing, because of the uncertainty, and lack of trust that's inherent in making a transaction on a website, as opposed to talking to someone in person. To get around this, and maintain the convenience of remote shopping, we'll do it over the phone. But that still makes us a little wary as the person on the other end of the line could simply be copying the number to a notepad and selling it to someone else.
To combat this, we'll negate the convenience altogether, front up to the store front, and have our card zipped through another machine that we may or may not understand, and our number will zip over a network to a database, get approved, and zip back again. In which case, we might as well have stayed at home and made the purchase on the internet, which is essentially the same thing. What are the odds of getting your number nicked online? According to the Australian Institute of Criminology, the total incidences of online credit card fraud in 2002 is reported to be around 554 incidences per 100,000, which is less than 1 percent of the population affected (according to the Australian Institute of Criminology). Interestingly, this is less than it was in 1998.
Or, we could just cut up our credit cards and use cash. Hell, there's only an 8.9 percent chance of having your house or car broken into and around a 4.7 percent of being assaulted (according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics' 2002 Crime and Safety Survey).
I'm not trying to compare statistics from different studies, on different types of crimes but, rather, I'd like to highlight that no matter how you choose to shop, there's a certain amount of risk, online and offline. It all comes down to staying up to date on security technologies and injecting some common sense into your decision making. If you're watching out for spyware, running a firewall, shopping at SSL secure sites (or sites that start with https://), and running some background checks on the seller, then you're keeping yourself as safe as you can. Of course, if you do want to turn into a Howard Hughes-styled hermit, make sure you turn to our feature on webcam security, starting on page 70.
So, this issue is about celebrating the fact that online shopping really is one of the most convenient ways to shop and, if you take the right precautions, it can be one of the safest. To help stay safe, and ensure you're getting the best bargains at the same time, you'll find our total shopping guide on page 100. And if you're looking for what to buy, Dan, Darren and Ty have been sweating away in the Labs looking at the latest family-oriented PCs, notebooks and toys.
But there's more in this issue. Thanks to Protac, we've scored a free, blank DVD+R on the cover of this issue and you'll also find a 32-page pull out guide to sharing the internet. This is truly a massive issue, with more than enough to get you through the Christmas break.
Finally, I'd like to extend my thanks to the massive amount of readers who participated in our survey. This information is invaluable and has given us a glimpse of the magazine you'd like to read - you'll notice those changes in the coming months. We've drawn the winners for the prize sweepstake, so be sure to head www.pcauthority.com.au to see if you're a winner.
David Kidd, Editor -- dkidd@pcauthority.com.au