• U.K. regulator warns on school CCTV schemes

    A Manchester school installed CCTVs in school during the holidays, without notifying parents; the cameras were filming students changing for PE classes — and the pictures were kept on the schools’ computers; Information Commissioner says that there is no need for cameras to be on during the day, when the school is staffed

  • US CERT: BlackBerry app may be spying on you

    A new BlackBerry application has the ability to turn their smartphone into a surveillance tool

  • Schools are spearheading the use of biometrics

    Approximately 10 percent of U.K. schools are deploying biometric technologies, according to Alasdair Darroch, director of Biostore

  • U.K. abandons DNA retention project

    At present in England and Wales, DNA is taken from every person arrested; at the last count the National DNA Database contained 986,000 profiles belonging to people never convicted of a crime; the DNA records were supposed to be kept for twelve years; the Home Office says it is now reconsidering this policy

  • The personal spy: the smartphone in your pocket may be spying on you, II

    The advances in smartphone technology could well be exploited in much the same way that e-mail and the Internet can be used to “phish” for personal information such as bank details

  • The personal spy: the smartphone in your pocket may be spying on you, I

    The advances in smartphone technology could well be exploited in much the same way that e-mail and the Internet can be used to “phish” for personal information such as bank details

  • "Absent individualized suspicion": DHS "search at will" policy violates the Fourth Amendment

    Customs agents can now instruct you to log on to your laptop so they can read your e-mails and personal files and examine which Web sites you have visited; they can make a copy of your hard drive, and of any other storage device, so the government can comb through the contents more leisurely; this contents, without your knowledge, may be shared with any other government agency; it can be kept in perpetuity; the same applies to your BlackBerry, iPhone, and other digital devices; customs agents can do all that, according to DHS policy, “absent individualized suspicion”; a law professor says the government’s substitution of “search at will” for “reasonable suspicion” is a flagrant violation of the Fourth Amendment

  • U.K.'s ubiquitous camera network to be made smarter

    U.K. researchers develop behavioral recognition software which will focus CCTVs in public places — and on public transportation — on people behaving in a suspicious or odd manner; developers say their software would have spotted a man carrying a samurai sword to a bus in Leeds — which he used to attack the bus driver

  • DHS collects -- and keeps -- large amount of information on U.S. citizens traveling abroad

    Are you an American citizen frequently traveling abroad? You may be surprised by how much of your personal information DHS collects — and stores; now you have a way of finding out

  • Einstein 3 raises privacy concerns

    New cyber security system — Einstein 3 — will be rolled out across all U.S. government agencies; in addition to detecting malicious software, the system can read e-mails and other Internet traffic

  • Russian security services step up snooping

    The heightened interest might stem from authorities’ fear about possible public unrest connected to the economic crisis; in the first half of this year, the secret services filed nearly 77,200 requests for search warrants, more than 66,000 requests to tap phones and nearly 7,800 requests to read mail

  • Protecting DNA privacy

    New mathematical tool protects genetic privacy while giving genomic data to researchers

  • New disappearing ink developed

    Nanoparticle inks that fade away in hours could be ideal for secure communications, top-secret maps, and other sensitive documents

  • U.K. banks lax on Internet fraud

    U.K. Payments Administration (formerly APACS) reports that online banking fraud reached £52.5 million in 2008, more than doubling from the £22.6 million recorded in 2007; not all banks take measures which are adequate

  • Worries about Iraq's biometric database

    The U.S. biometric database in Iraq, now containing identification information on more than 2.5 million Iraqis, has been helpful to U.S. troops in identifying the bad guys and thwarting acts of terror; as the U.S. forces prepare to leave Iraq, worries grow that the same database may be used for monitoring critics of the regime and for political repression