Originally Posted by
decibel08
hmm. well i guess i haven't been exposed to those apps yet. i also resist many websites' pleas to give them my gmail account info to 'find my friends' etc, because a login to fbook or gmail is potentially damaging in different ways than an abused cc number. with the cc, you can dispute charges and close the account and so forth, and that is a system that is set up to require you to give your number to merchants. fbook definitely didn't intend for you to be sharing your login info with the webmaster of topguest.com. that's a dealbreaker for me!
I'm not knocking your prudence... it's better to be careful... but I'm trying to encourage you to not restrict yourself from safe practices that will benefit you. As long as the root domain showing in the address bar is owned by a reputable company, then giving private info - financial, email, etc. - is no less risky (in fact, typically safer) than sharing it in person at a store, etc. It's when you start throwing around personal information without knowing how to distinguish a legit company from a scam or a phishing attempt that you get into trouble. Also, it might help if you take a look at the detailed privacy policies of the companies involved. They probably aren't utilizing your information in the manner you fear. Maybe I've just been lucky, but I've had the same email address for 14 years, and I have literally 1000+ online accounts, many that share information in the manners we've been discussing, and I haven't had a single serious incident. I am, however, quite careful in what I share with whom.