My Way News - FBI access to e-mail, Web data raises privacy fear
My Way News reports: "Federal law requires communications providers to produce records in counterintelligence investigations to the FBI, which doesn't need a judge's approval and court order to get them [...] there is no need even for a suspicion of wrongdoing, merely that the records would be relevant in a counterintelligence or counterterrorism investigation. The person whose records the government wants doesn't even need to be a suspect."

WSJ - What They Know -- Top Websites Feed Personal Details to New Tracking Industry
The Wall Street Journal reports: "The largest U.S. websites are installing new and intrusive consumer-tracking technologies on the computers of people visiting their sites—in some cases, more than 100 tracking tools at a time—a Wall Street Journal investigation has found. The tracking files represent the leading edge of a lightly regulated, emerging industry of data-gatherers who are in effect establishing a new business model for the Internet: one based on intensive surveillance of people to sell data about, and predictions of, their interests and activities, in real time."

msnbc.com - 100 million Facebook users' details published online
MSNBC reports: "The personal details of 100 million Facebook users have been collected and published online in a downloadable file, meaning they will now be unable to make their publicly available information private. However, Facebook downplayed the issue, saying that no private data had been compromised."

MSNBC - Another ugly reminder to check your Facebook settings — NOW!
MSNBC reports: "It's not like Facebook provides worst-case scenarios. Though, it's hardly surprising that a bunch of huge corporations may be downloading all that info posted on Pirate Bay, as Gizmodo reported today [...] including Disney, Church of Scientology, Halliburton, Lucasfilm, Procter & Gamble, Sega, the United Nations and a whole heck of a lot more."

Comment: The first news article talks about what was done and why Facebook is once again in the headlines and the second report explains why Facebook will always be in trouble over the privacy issue...and what you should do about it. If you want to leave digital footprints for corporations and governments to follow, then these new social services should not worry you. However, if you value your privacy, you should think twice about giving control of your data to others whose sole motivation is to sell it. Oh, and by the way, you won't even get a share of the profits when they sell your data.

My Way News - Wal-Mart to roll out smart tags on men's basics
My Way News reports: "Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is putting electronic identification tags on men's clothing like jeans starting Aug. 1 as the world's largest retailer tries to gain more control of its inventory. But the move is raising eyebrows among privacy experts."

ReadWriteWeb - Google Offers Mobile Payment with Chrome Checkout Extension
ReadWriteWeb reports: "Google released last week an extension for its Chrome browser that makes on-the-go payment for Android smartphone users possible [...] While Google's solution is also platform and browser dependent, it shows how mobile payment can really work for both the merchant and the consumer while keeping security risks to a minimum. It seems that the space is ripe for a company like Google or PayPal to jump in and offer a similar solution that could work across multiple browsers and phone operating systems."

My Way News - Digital movie locker `UltraViolet' nears launch
My Way News reports: "A group of media and electronics companies will soon start testing a system that will let you watch the movies and TV shows that you buy wherever you are, regardless of formats and other technical hurdles. Like ATMs, your account would follow you, no matter what brand of machine you use."

Comment: Perhaps someone will turn this around and realize that if they can make a virtual locker for movies they can do this for money. If we can get secure virtual wallets then mobile commerce will really take off.

Imagine if when you present your payment to a vendor you are using a virtual number, not your credit card number, not your debit card number, and not your social security number, but rather a digital "wallet locker" tied to your real account. Your payment would be an encrypted number to your digital wallet, which you manage online. After all, a merchant only wants to get paid and the virtual wallet ensures that, and then you later manage your wallet and decide if you want your purchase billed to your credit card or cash account, easily switching between all of your accounts at will. So when you present your virtual payment, it's not really your account or even money at that point, more like a validated, "I'm good for it, IOU" that later (and securely) taps into your account, but allowing mobile and online transactions to process quickly, without the hassle of waiting for banks to authorize transactions. This could then be seen as a precursor to the MOTB as it's starts the transition to a number based format rather than cash or conventional credit cards.

Such a system would also promote consumer spending by shifting perceptions. Imagine if when you login to your virtual wallet and see all of your accounts you also see a grand total of your available virtual cash, which represents a total of your cash account, your savings account and brokerage accounts, as well as the credit available on your credit cards. That total is bound to be much more than what you are used to thinking of as spending cash. You will feel much richer than you really are and you will therefore spend more. Of course, for most consumers, this is also a recipe for more debt, but that's what drives the economy both now and in the foreseeable future.

My Way News - Rights group says 'no freedom, no rights' in Syria
My Way News reports: "Human Rights Watch, in a 35-page report called 'A Wasted Decade,' said Syria's secret police detain people without arrest warrants and torture 'with complete impunity.' The report also cited widespread censorship and banning of websites such as Facebook."

My Way News - Dozens of outspoken, popular blogs shut in China
My Way News reports: "Dozens of blogs by some of China's most outspoken users have been abruptly shut down while popular Twitter-like services appear to be the newest target in government efforts to control social networking."

CNN - Biometric ATM gives cash via 'finger vein' scan
CNN reports: "Poland's cooperative BPS bank says it's the first in Europe to install a biometric ATM -- allowing customers to withdraw cash simply with the touch of a fingertip [...] The company says that an infrared light is passed through the finger to detect a unique pattern of micro-veins beneath the surface - which is then matched with a pre-registered profile to verify an individual's identity [...] Although it is a first for Europe, biometric cash points have been embraced in other parts of the world for some years."

My Way News - China seeks to reduce Internet users' anonymity
My Way News reports: "A leading Chinese Internet regulator has vowed to reduce anonymity in China's portion of cyberspace, calling for new rules to require people to use their real names when buying a mobile phone or going online, according to a human rights group [...] The Internet is China's most open and lively forum for discussion, despite already pervasive censorship, but stricter controls could constrain users."

Boy Genius Report - India asks Google, Skype, and RIM for access to email and other data
BGR reports: "According to the Economic Times, India’s government has asked the Department of Telecommunications (DOT) to send a notice to RIM, Skype, and Google requesting that each service open its email and other communication data to the Indian government. The data must be presented in a format that is readable by security and intelligence agencies and has given each company 15 days to comply with this request."

My Way News - China installs 40,000 security cameras in Urumqi
My Way News reports: "China has installed about 40,000 high-definition surveillance cameras in the western region of Xinjiang days before the one-year anniversary of the country's worst ethnic violence in decades."

BBC News - 'Too few ethnic officers' and 'discrimination' at GCHQ
BBC News reports: "GCHQ in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire GCHQ said it had tried to improve diversity and equality Britain's secret eavesdropping centre, GCHQ, has been criticised for failing to recruit enough ethnic minority staff to help fight terrorism."

Comment: In our brave new world, even surveillance must be politically correct. You may not know you are being spied on, but apparently you should be encouraged to learn that those watching you will have the appropriate minority sensibility. What an odd world we live in where the fact that the scope of surveillance has increased dramatically is not the issue, the ethnicity of those conducting the surveillance is.

My Way News - China group says US uses Facebook to sow unrest
My Way News reports: "A Chinese government-backed think tank has accused the U.S. and other Western governments of using social-networking sites such as Facebook to spur political unrest and called for stepped-up scrutiny of the wildly popular sites."

My Way News - Google wins permission to keep website in China
My Way News reports: "Google won permission Friday to maintain its website in China and keep its toehold in the world's most populous nation after bowing to pressure to eliminate a virtual detour around the country's online censorship requirements."

My Way News - Australia delays Internet filter to review content
My Way News reports: "If a mandatory filter is passed into law, it would make Australia one of the strictest Internet regulators among the world's democracies. Some critics have said the proposed filter would put the nation in the same censorship league as China."

Defense Systems - NSA Perfect Citizen program sparks Big Brother fears
Defense Systems reports: "The National Security Agency's new program to shield the networks of privately owned utilities and other critical infrastructure companies has caused some people to fear it's a step toward a surveillance state or a government power grab."

WSJ - U.S. Program to Detect Cyber Attacks on Infrastructure
The Wall Street Journal reports: "The federal government is launching an expansive program dubbed 'Perfect Citizen' to detect cyber assaults on private companies and government agencies running such critical infrastructure as the electricity grid and nuclear-power plants, according to people familiar with the program."

Reuters - Scrap dollar as sole reserve currency: U.N. report
Reuters reports: "A new United Nations report released on Tuesday calls for abandoning the U.S. dollar as the main global reserve currency, saying it has been unable to safeguard value [...] The report supports replacing the dollar with the International Monetary Fund's special drawing rights (SDRs), an international reserve asset that is used as a unit of payment on IMF loans and is made up of a basket of currencies."

My Way News - Google says China partially blocks search service
My Way News reports: "A Google search feature was blocked in China on Thursday, the company said as it awaited Beijing's decision on whether to renew its operating license amid tensions over censorship."