Holiday Shopping? Ten Timely Tips

During the holiday season, you may be shopping more frequently and under more crowded and frantic conditions.   Follow these tips to help avoid scams and rip-offs.   Be a privacy-smart consumer!  Wherever you happen to shop this holiday season--the mall, online, or on Main Street--following these tips will help you have a safer and more private holiday season.

Why Privacy?

Your personal information is more than your name, address and Social Security number. It includes your shopping habits, driving record, medical diagnoses, work history, credit score and much more.

The right to privacy refers to having control over this personal information. It is the ability to limit who has this information, how this information is kept and what can be done with it.

Unfortunately, personal privacy is lost, unknowingly forfeited, purchased or stolen every day.

Featured Fact Sheet:

Employment Background Checks: A Jobseeker's Guide 16

We have more than 50 Privacy Fact Sheets. Click here to see the rest.

Background reports can range from a verification of an applicant's Social Security number to a detailed account of the potential employee's history and acquaintances. There is even some evidence that employers are now searching popular social networking Web sites such as MySpace and Facebook for the profiles of applicants. This guide explains the why and how of background checks. It also tells you what can be covered in a background report, your rights under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, and what you can do to prepare.