Who Is That Masked Customer? Available for Mac
Periodically, I look for new accessories for my Mac. It is easy to find software and extras for my IMac, but I often have to hunt a little harder for items for my G3. A lot of new components are compatible, but they may not be age appropriate. The whole look might be a little off. I have a few trusted sites, but the new sites that I stumble across don’t have a way to simply order. You have to register for a profile and give up all sorts of other information. I find that my inbox is loaded with all sorts of junk mail after a purchase. Most of it is legal junk, as they are communications from the site I actually used, and not third parties.
What I most worry about is credit card theft. Not all sites take Paypal, and Paypal sometimes comes with its own headaches. I found that ShopShield.net is a new Secure Payment Agent that really is the answer to all of my concerns.
Shop Shield anonymizes your email address and the payment is processed without the places you shop having your actual credit card number. Shop Shield creates a temporary credit card number for the transaction that expires when the transaction is complete. The temporary credit card number can only be used for the amount of the transaction, so if the number is stolen, it cannot be charged on. The original funds are still debited from your credit card balance, but the temporary number is not traceable and does not recharge your card.
To protect against spam, Shop Shield creates a proxy email address. Pertinent communication is forwarded to your actual email address, but a company never has your real one. There is a Shop Shield companion that you can download for your web browser. Right now, it works with Firefox on both Mac and Windows.
Have you tried Shop Shield? Let me know what you think!
PayPal isn’t all that great, either. If you have a complaint, expect to be ignored even when you tell them repeatedly that their web form for registering disputes does not work.
They talk a good game until you actually need them to follow through. Then you find out it’s all a scam.