Political News from Wired News - The Marker of a Criminal.

You don't need a rap sheet for police to know all about you. A simple tissue sample can identify your race, sex, and family members. Innocent or not, the wrong DNA cells could land you in a jail cell.

Police in Scotland are already taking DNA from people stopped for any crime, even traffic offenses. London police say they hope to be using handheld DNA scanners within 10 years.

New York Times - free registration required Germany Awards Grant for Encryption. A branch of the German government on Thursday announced plans to give a grant of 318,000 marks (about $170,000) to a grass-roots effort to help create new data-scrambling software. The move is controversial because the United States government has been lobbying the German government to restrict such technology for fear that criminals and terrorists will use it to cloak their actions.

New York Times - free registration required Lawsuit filed to block "Internet wiretaps". According to EPIC general counsel David Sobel, "The FBI is seeking surveillance capabilities that far exceed the powers law enforcement has had in the past and is entitled to under the law."

Slashdot | Your Rights Online | ACLU & EPIC Challenge Wiretapping.

Dailynews Yahoo - Privacy Groups File Suit to Block Wiretap Rules.

Leading U.S. privacy groups on Thursday filed a lawsuit to block new federal wiretapping rules they said would require the tracking of wireless telephone users and monitoring of Internet traffic.

``We are now at a historic crossroad,'' said Barry Steinhardt, associate director of the ACLU. ``We can use emerging technologies to protect our personal privacy, or we can succumb to scare tactics and exaggerated claims...and give up our cherished rights, perhaps forever.''

"APBnews" - NYPD Video Broadcasts May Violate Court Order. Nor will the department acknowledge whether it recorded its broadcast of demonstrators at the rally, which would be a violation of a court order that prohibits police from routine filming of public demonstrations where crimes are not in progress.

"APBnews" - Cops Build Private TV Networks. Barry Steinhardt, associate director of the American Civil Liberties Union, said he worries that the new technology allows the police to analyze live footage with facial recognition software and create photographic databases of political activists and demonstrators. "If these people are criminals, fine. Let the police arrest them," he said. "But if they're political opponents of the mayor, the police have no business engaging in surveillance."

CNET.com - News - The Net - W3C advances privacy, graphics, language standards.