Accenture gets US government contract extension - Forbes.com
Forbes reports: "The Department of Homeland Security said Monday it will extend its contract with Bermuda-based Accenture Ltd., which provides biometric identification services to various U.S. border, immigration and law enforcement agencies."

Home Office denies e-passports can be faked - ZDNet.co.uk
ZDNet reports: "A spokesperson for the Home Office told GC News that no-one has yet been able to demonstrate that they are able to change data within the passport chip, which stores the passport holder's photo and personal details."

My Way News - Some Web sites remain blocked at Beijing Olympics
AP reports: "Some Web sites remained inaccessible to reporters as competition got under way Saturday at the Beijing Olympics. [...] Some sites were unblocked 10 days ago after reporters arriving to cover the games found them blocked and complained to the IOC, but others remain inaccessible, including sites related to the Tiananmen Square protests, Tibet, Taiwan and the Dalai Lama."

‘Fakeproof’ e-passport is cloned in minutes - Times Online
The Times Online reports: "New microchipped passports designed to be foolproof against identity theft can be cloned and manipulated in minutes and accepted as genuine by the computer software recommended for use at international airports."

My Way News - Banking by phone for the poor
AP reports: "Grameen Solutions, an affiliate of Nobel Prize winner Muhammad Yunus' Grameen Bank, this week teamed with Obopay Inc., a for-profit mobile payment company based in California, to bring banking to a billion poor people using cell phones."

My Way News - Some Web sites unblocked for Olympics, but not all
AP reports: "Olympic organizers unblocked some Internet sites at the main press center and media venues Friday while others remained off limits for journalists covering the Beijing games."

My Way News - Lawmakers demand info on Web tracking practices
AP reports: "A congressional committee wants the nation's largest telecommunications and Internet companies to explain whether they target online advertising based on consumers' search queries and Web surfing habits."

Comment: A lot of us first approach this issue with a bit of naive skepticism, after all, we think, if we are only talking about aggregate data and not personally identifiable data, then what's the harm? But in order to serve me local ads, they need to know where I live, and in order to cater to my needs and desires, they need to know my search terms, and in order to analyze, store and maybe even sell this data, they need a tracking number, like my IP address, which leads them back directly to my computer...and to me. If consumers had real lobbyists or maybe even real elected representatives, privacy laws would allow us to control (or opt out) of who gets our data and under what circumstances they get it.

Space War - Analysis: Olympic cybersecurity warning
UPI warns: "American business executives visiting Beijing for the Olympics should not take their laptops or BlackBerrys and should 'assume all electronic communications are monitored,' according to a briefing prepared by a U.S. State Department advisory panel."

Olympic organisers agree to China blocking 'sensitive' internet sites - Times Online
The Times Online reports: "Kevan Gosper, the head of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) press commission, confirmed that some of its officials had agreed to Chinese demands that some sensitive sites be blocked on the ground that they were not related to the Olympics."

Biometrics - a view of the future - SourceSecurity.com
SourceSecurity.com reports: "In many ways, it has taken the increased threat from global terrorism and organised crime to create an acceptance of biometric security, convincing an anxious and cynical public that systems do not necessarily pose a threat to civil liberties, provided they are properly controlled and effectively managed."