System Can Detect Fraudulent Passports - AP
Australia, one of the United States' strongest allies, has added a new weapon to its arsenal - a toaster-sized document reader that tells in seconds whether a passport is a fraud and identifies travelers who might be included on terrorist
watch lists.

Groups Slam Google's New E-Mail Service - AP
Google Inc. hails its new e-mail service as a breakthrough in online communication, but consumer watchdogs are attacking it as a creepy invasion of privacy that threatens to set a troubling precedent...Gmail opponents also want Google to revise a policy that entitles the company to retain copies of people's incoming and outgoing e-mail even after they close their accounts...The Gmail backlash has inspired Orwellian comparisons likening Google to Big Brother, a disturbing development for a privately held company committed to making money "without doing evil."

Busch Gardens Using Hand Scanners to ID - AP
Hand scanning has taken the place of photo identification for season-pass holders at Busch Gardens and Water Country USA...The process, called biometrics, uses electronic devices to verify identity by recognizing unique characteristics such as fingerprints, hands, and the iris of the eye. The technology is used widely in verification systems at airports and security-sensitive facilities. At airports, biometric systems are typically linked to a national database, which has enabled airlines to do background checks, but critics have raised privacy concerns.

Concern over biometric passports - BBC News
Civil rights campaigners have voiced concerns over plans to implement a global biometric identity system for air travellers.

Passport Safety, Privacy Face Off - Wired
Future passports may include digital mug shots and RFID tags full of sensitive personal information. While government agencies like the idea of tamper resistant documents, privacy advocates see an attempt to impose a global ID system.

Microchip Leads Missing Ore. Dog Home - AP
For five years, Frances Jackson looked everywhere for her missing dog, Millie, who had run beneath a truck in 1999, then disappeared. But in the end, it was a microchip that brought the black Labrador retriever home. The dog had been fitted with a microchip that identified her as belonging to Jackson, and when she was picked up as a stray and taken to the Humane Society of the Willamette Valley, Jackson got the call.

Wal-Mart Hits Snags in Push to Use Radio Tags to Track Goods - NYT
Wal-Mart has been forced to revise its timetable for requiring suppliers to put radio frequency tags on their shipments.

Internet Group Defends Its Stewardship - AP
The U.S. government-sanctioned organization that oversees the Internet's all-important 'telephone book' defended its work Friday as diplomats and computer companies considered a greater role for the United Nations. Paul Twomey, the chief executive of the Internet Corporation of Assigned Names and Numbers, said the organization is already trying to modernize and allow participation from other countries.

European group researches polymer RFID chips - InfoWorld
Several electronics manufacturers and research institutes in Europe have joined forces in a European Union-funded project aimed at developing low-cost, polymer-based electronic circuits...The group has coined the term "ambient intelligence" to define the general focus of its work. The goal is to integrate a variety of electronic functions, such as sensing, computing and information storage, into a wide range of materials, including consumer packaging, and to enable all these to communicate via low-cost radio frequency technology, according to Stockdill.

Gov't Halts Internet Identity Theft Scam - AP
Federal officials have shut down an identity theft scam in which a Houston man tricked Internet users into providing their credit card and bank account numbers.