My Way News - Swedes protest sweeping e-mail eavesdropping law
AP reports: "The law, narrowly passed by legislators two weeks ago, will let officials eavesdrop on all cross-border e-mail and telephone traffic, in what technology companies have called the most far-reaching communications monitoring plan in Europe. Sweden's government plans to implement it in January."

Comment: Even the Swedes don't like to be spied on by their government.

My Way News - ISPs still considering tracking Web use
AP reports: "Although a large Internet service provider has backed away from technology that tracks subscribers' Web use in order to deliver personalized advertising, two other broadband companies said Wednesday they are still considering whether to deploy it."

Technology Leaders Favor Online ID Card Over Passwords - NYTimes.com
The New York Times reports: "The idea is to bring the concept of an identity card, like a driver’s license, to the online world. Rather than logging on to sites with user IDs and passwords, people will gain access to sites using a secure digital identity that is overseen by a third party. The user controls the information in a secure place and transmits only the data that is necessary to access a Web site."

Comment: I always feel like I have to add a comment to these posts, a reassurance that I'm not saying that this kind of ID card is the MOTB, merely that it's another step on the path toward a technology and a system that gives each person one official ID.

My Way News - EU endorses new border security rules
AP reports: "European Union leaders want their nations to fingerprint all foreign visitors and take other new steps to keep out illegal immigrants as part of a sweeping security overhaul proposed Friday."

My Way News - Text-message ruling could change corporate policies
AP reports: "Employers must have either a warrant or the employee's permission to see messages that aren't stored by the employer or by someone the employer pays for storage, the court said. [...] 'Preserving as much privacy for the mobile consumer, and limiting the ability of government and commercial entities to readily access your mobile information is important, and the court did the right thing here,' Chester said."

My Way News - Sweden adopts law allowing official eavesdropping
AP reports: "Sweden's Parliament narrowly approved a law Wednesday that gives authorities sweeping powers to eavesdrop on all e-mail and telephone traffic that crosses the Nordic nation's borders."

FCW.Com - Airlines say they lack the IT for US-VISIT
FCW.Com reports: "Airlines lack the information technology infrastructure needed to comply with a Homeland Security Department proposal that would put carriers in charge of collecting biometric information from most foreign travelers when they leave the United States, according to lobbying groups representing that industry."

TheStar.com - Private firm's work with visas raises concerns
The Star.com reports: "Biometric visas, which embed personal information and images in a chip, is their next big breakthrough field, Sanjay Bhaduri, chief operations officer, told The Economic Times of India in February. [...] VFS, with more than 200 offices in 39 countries handling 6 million visa applications a year, has doubled its business each year in recent years."

Security Document World - Biometric PAN moves a step closer
Security Document World reports: "The Indian government has confirmed it is set to introduce biometric permanent account numbers (PAN) for income tax payers."

My Way News - France blocks online child porn, terrorism, racism
AP reports: "France is joining at least five other countries where Internet service providers block access to child pornography and to content linked to terrorism and racial hatred, the French interior minister said Tuesday."

Skype: We can't comply with police wiretap requests | The Iconoclast - politics, law, and technology - CNET News.com
CNET reports: "The upshot is that if Yahoo, AOL, Microsoft, or so on received a wiretap order for text or voice flowing through their IM networks, they could (and would) be able to comply because the services are centralized. Even if the users' conversations are encrypted through the Off-the-Record Messaging protocol, an eavesdropper still knows who's talking to whom--this is called a pen register or trap and trace device in wiretapping parlance, and it can still be privacy-invasive. Skype says it doesn't permit even that. Which means that it's the most privacy-protective mainstream method of communicating through voice or instant messaging."

Your papers please: TSA bans ID-less flight | Surveillance State - CNET News.com
CNET reports: "In a major change of policy, the Transportation Security Administration has announced that passengers refusing to show ID will no longer be able to fly. The policy change, announced on Thursday afternoon, will go into force on June 21, and will only affect passengers who refuse to produce ID. Passengers who claim to have lost or forgotten their proof of identity will still be able to fly."

Comment: Do you agree with the CNET writer, that this is "security theater" or a prudent security measure?

My Way News - Study secretly tracks cell phone users outside US
AP reports: "Researchers secretly tracked the locations of 100,000 people outside the United States through their cell phone use and concluded that most people rarely stray more than a few miles from home."