Gmail to Get More Protection From Snoops - Bits Blog - NYTimes.com

Noting that many power users have already turned on HTTPS protection, Google now says that is considering going further. “Ideally we’d like this to be on by default for all connections, and we’re investigating the trade-offs, since there are some downsides to HTTPS — in some cases it makes certain actions slower,” Ms. Whitten wrote. “We’re planning a trial in which we’ll move small samples of different types of Gmail users to HTTPS to see what their experience is, and whether it affects the performance of their email. Does it load fast enough? Is it responsive enough? Are there particular regions, or networks, or computer setups that do particularly poorly on HTTPS?”

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Online Marketing projected to increase

eMarketer projects that the online share of ad dollars will continue to grow, rising from nearly 10% this year to slightly more than 15% in 2013.

“The spending shifts predate the recession,” says David Hallerman, eMarketer senior analyst and author of the new report, US Advertising Spending: The New Reality. “But the current economy is reinforcing the new advertising models—and making them more permanent.”

These projections by eMarketer mirror many other studies and statements around the world. Facing the oncoming recession, an increasing number of print newspapers are turning to online to survice, in fact.

SEO/SEM in Australia is a special issue for so many reasons. Join me was we explore. It will be a fascinating and informative journey.

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And people wonder why I suggest Paypal?

Credit card processing online can be a scary business. For most of my web development and SEO/SEM clients, I suggest a simple solution: Use Paypal. The initial reaction is Why? Hasn't Paypal been getting some bad press lately?

"Well, yeah," I usually say. "eBay was criticized for switching to Paypal as its only credit card and payment platform. That was criticism about eBay, rather than Paypal; and eBay made this move because there were too many who found ways to avoid the eBay commissions. - They loved the eBay service, and didn't want to have to pay for it."
" --All that shows about Paypal is it is a valuable business resource."

And further, "One of the most significant reasons is good for your online business too. "
"If you use Paypal, you don't have to keep credit card information. It's kept on Paypal. If someone hacks your leased hosting, they won't be able to steal from your customers."

Don't keep the information
One long term client argues that he has to get the credit card information from his clients because they don't know how, or simply don't want to learn how, to use Paypal or any other payment gateway.
He just tells them to give him the credit card data, and he'll fix them right up. "Leave it with me," he'll say. -- Every time I hear it, I want to cringe.

"If someone hacks your server (where he has only so much control over the security on leased server space), gets a hold of your address book (where he it all down); or even finds one of your scrawled-on-the-back-of-an-envelope notes," I tend to look at his eyes about here." --you could be criminally liable for the results."
He just looks at me and repeats how he usually does it.
His clients and customers aren't computer literate. They don't want to be. And he likes the idea that they trust him.

It's not just a small business problem
Small business has a simple, effective solution to an issue that has yet to be resolved around the globe. A lot of large companies are learning this lesson the hard way.

In light of recent data breaches that have compromised consumer information, such as the potentially massive 2008 Heartland Payment Systems breach, some congressmen are questioning whether the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards, created and regulated by credit card companies, are sufficiently protecting information.
...
"I have no doubt that compliance to PCI standards are the best line of defense," said Robert Russo, director of the PCI Data Security Standards Council. "We have never found a breached entity to be in full compliance at the time of breach."(CNET)

This has become a very active debate across the Net in the United States.

"I'm concerned that as long as the payment card industry is writing the standards, we'll never see a more secure system," Thompson said. "We in Congress must consider whether we can continue to rely on industry-created standards, particularly if they're inadequate to address the ongoing threat." (comment on Forbes)

NRF Calls PCI Standards ‘Elaborate Patch,’ Tells Congress Retailers Should Not Be Required to Keep Credit Card Numbers (AOL Money)

“All of us – merchants, banks, credit card companies and our customers – want to eliminate credit card fraud,” NRF (National Retail Federation in the US) Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer David Hogan said. “But if the goal is to make credit card data less vulnerable, the ultimate solution is to stop requiring merchants to store card data in the first place. The bottom line is that it makes more sense for credit card companies to protect their data from thieves by keeping it in a relatively few secure locations than to expect millions of merchants scattered across the nation to lock up their data for them.”(ibid)

There is no National Retail Federation in Australia, unfortunately. Retailers instead rely on the government to provide information, and that is commonly inadequate.

More bad news in the world of data security: Companies aren't just losing more of their customers' private information than ever before. Customers are also losing patience with those increasingly common breaches. (Forbes)

In Pictures: The Year's Biggest Data Breaches(Forbes)

In Pictures: 23 Tech Security Terms You Should Know(Forbes)

You've got to do your part, too

As an online retailer, you can protect your customers on your own site.
First make sure your payment gateway doesn't require any information to be passed in plain text. If your payment gateway doesn't allow your customers to log into their site to make payments, -- as Paypal does--, then don't use that gateway. It's really that simple. There's no reason to expose your customers information to the store-and-forward series of servers across the Net.

Second, use a secure page for your ordering. You never know what a customer will put in the Notes section of an order.
If you don't have the $2500-$5500 to purchase a certificate from a company like Thawte, use the free SSL certificate provided on any reputable hosting.
A free, unregistered security certificate can be obtained on from most servers. It's nearly as secure as a registered certificate since you'll still be using the same encryption routines.
In some cases, hosting companies will lease you access to a shared certificate. It's a small price to pay for offering your customers a lot of security.

My clients can't be bothered
That's the final word on using secure ordering on a website and a secure payment gateway in Australia: "My clients can't be bothered."
I've got to admit it's a hard one to argue. Australians came late to the Internet and computing. The Howard administration sought persistently to dissuade Australians from using the Internet for personal and business. There's a lot to overcome in this country.

One thing I did note though, the guy never sends his credit card information via email.

SEO/SEM in Australia is a special issue for so many reasons. Join me was we explore. It will be a fascinating and informative journey.

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Internet advertising wanes in 08

“The economy has had a significant impact on the short-term growth of the Internet advertising market,” David Silverman, a partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers, which contributed to the report, said in a conference call.

Internet advertising in the United States grew to $23.4 billion in 2008, an increase of 10.6 percent from 2007, according to the Internet Advertising Revenue Report from the Interactive Advertising Bureau, a trade group representing online advertisers, as well as PricewaterhouseCoopers.

That was the only category of advertising spending that grew in 2008 other than cable television, which rose 7.8 percent, according to Nielsen figures supplied for the report.

Australia has yet to have an eCommerce boom. For most of the last decade, the infrastructure and installed base just wasn't there. Internet advertising in Australia has largely been limited to imitating conventional marketing.

The former administration was Internet-phobic, releasing constant articles to the press that were intended to scare Australians away from using the Internet and implementing policies that retarded the growth of Internet use for both individuals and small business.
Large business, institutes of higher education, and government were encouraged onto the Net, producing a digital divide that inhibited the development of small business in a more subversive way.

In the last two years as more businesses come to understand the power of the Internet can be applied to their business goals, the influence of the Howard administration has waned.

SEO/SEM in Australia is a special issue for so many reasons. Join me was we explor
e. It will be a fascinating and informative journey.

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HP gets into vanity publishing

With a new Web service called MagCloud, Hewlett-Packard hopes to make it easier and cheaper to crank out a magazine than running photocopies at the local copy shop.

Charging 20 cents a page, paid only when a customer orders a copy, H.P. dreams of turning MagCloud into vanity publishing’s equivalent of YouTube. The company, a leading maker of computers and printers, envisions people using their PCs to develop quick magazines commemorating their daughter’s volleyball season or chronicling the intricacies of the Arizona cactus business.

“There are so many of the nichey, maybe weird-at-first communities, that can use this,” said Andrew Bolwell, head of the MagCloud effort at Hewlett-Packard. ..

Yes, sometimes it pays to read foreign newspapers like the NY Times, even in Australia.

For companies looking to establish credibility in niche markets, offering a subscription or free copy of the company magazine is an incredible sales tool. Potential customers will admire the quality, and keep the magazine for its uniqueness and appearance.
Vanity publishing has been an effective, but little-known element in search engine marketing since the advent of lulu.com in Jan 2000.

Many other sites offer variations. Lulu still offers the widest range of services, although the services have become increasingly expensive. A fact that limits some of the feasibility for small businesses somewhat.
Having customers roaming the world with your company name and logo on a tshirt is still very effective. Just look at how many department stores and tech shops require their employees to wear a tshirt -usually with some witty saying- when working and on breaks.

HP's MagCloud will be less expensive than publishing through any of the vanity publishers now in service.

SEO/SEM in Australia is a special issue for so many reasons. Join me was we explore. It will be a fascinating and informative journey. Sphere: Related Content