A new report on Web security indicates Europe's healthcare providers may be putting their users' personal information at risk.

Clicksure, the international website certification company, said in a statement that 70 percent of Europe's top healthcare companies kept users' personal information in a potentially insecure online environment and were in danger of being hacked into.

The company said a survey had found that 77 percent of these companies gave users no rights to withdraw or withhold their consent for any disclosure or use of their personal information.

Newsbytes - Network ICE Intros Open Source Carnivore Alternative .

Network ICE has released the source code to Altivore, its new e-mail sniffing program.

Greg Gilliom, the firm's CEO, told Newsbytes that the software is a potential alternative for Internet service providers (ISPs) which do not want to install Carnivore, the FBI's "black box" surveillance system.

Network ICE says that Altivore will allow ISPs to respond to court- ordered e-mail surveillance without FBI help, so allowing them to be self-regulated instead of government regulated.

New York Times - free registration required Sellers Hire Auditors to Verify Privacy Policies and Increase Trust.

Companies have posted privacy policies. They have used so-called seal programs offered by organizations like the Better Business Bureau or Truste. And they have advertised heavily to woo recalcitrant shoppers to their sites. Still, the doubts remain: most Internet users who have not shopped online cite inadequate privacy as the main reason, analysts say. And a survey earlier this year by the research firm Odyssey determined that 92 percent of online households do not trust online companies to keep their information private, no matter what they promise.

Some of the more fearless sites are now putting their reputations on the line, quite publicly, by paying well-known financial services firms to audit their World Wide Web sites and state whether or not their privacy policies are more than just pixels on the screen. In doing so, analysts and privacy advocates said, these Web sites are putting pressure on other e-commerce companies to follow suit, no matter how costly such audits might be.

Just want to say thanks to Dave for forwarding me a copy of an article from "The Salt Lake Tribune" dated Saturday August 12, 2000, and written by Vince Horiuchi. The headline was : FBI Weighs Response to Oly E-Mail Terrorism ; ACLU fears misuseof 'Carnivore' device; SLOC Says Security Issues Rests With FBI.

Unfortunately the free archive at "The Salt Lake Tribune" only goes back one week and the paid archive won't let me in due to a certificate verification failure ... sigh. But they might be having system problems since 50% of the time I tried to access a page at their site I got no response. Dave's copy came from Lexis (another paid service). While the ACLU is mentioned in the article I have not been able to find any additional information on the ACLU or the ACLU of Utah sites.

The article Dave sent would appear to confirm the fact that the SLOC and the FBI are at least seriously considering the proposal of monitoring the activity of the information kiosks. The article was dated over a month ago so a decision may have already been made. Of course the ACLU is against the idea.

Still, the ACLU is concerned law enforcement might consider a solution that could rob Olympic spectators or participants of their right to privacy.

"The notion that the government can be reading anyone's e-mail without probable cause is frightening and not consistent with the Constitution," Barry Steinhardt, national ACLU associate director, said Thursday. "The fact they are even thinking about it demonstrates how little regard federal law enforcement has for the privacy of electronic communications."

If anyone knows of any free links to additional confirming information to this story please let me know. I'd like to be able to point everyone else to this knowledge also.

CNET.com - News - E-Business - Accounting companies tackle online privacy concerns .

Online privacy policies are becoming so important for dot-coms that they are increasingly being overseen by companies that normally scrutinize the bottom line.

Travel site Expedia, for example, will announce today that it has rewritten its privacy policy and has undergone a rigorous privacy audit from Big Five accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Privacy & American Business. is an activity of The Center for Social & Legal Research, Hackensack, New Jersey

Capitol Hill Blue - Congress Slow to Take on Privacy Issues .

But with business and e-commerce demanding that Washington give them room to self-regulate, "We are witnessing a slow erosion of privacy," says Marc Rotenberg, head of the Electronic Privacy Information Center(EPIC). Rotenberg's privacy center just broke ranks with Amazon.com for no longer letting customers opt out of selling their account information.

Congress seemed likely to pass a bill making bosses tell workers if their e-mail, Internet or phone use is monitored after high-profile firings by Dow Chemical and other firms led to reports that 75 percent of employers have employees under electronic surveillance. But even that small notification bill is stymied by employer opposition.

Network World (IDG) - Addressing data-privacy concerns. Chief privacy officers emerging in response to data-privacy concerns

Computeruser.com News: House Subcommittee Passes Electronic Privacy Law.

While law enforcement agencies must show substantial evidence in order to obtain a wiretap or to intercept a suspected criminal's e-mail, under current law, investigators have virtually unchecked access to all of the e-mail addresses and phone numbers in a criminal suspect's records, according to Subcommittee Chairman Charles Canady, R-Fla., who introduced the bill.

Law enforcers can easily obtain such "to" and "from" information under the Pen Register Act, by simply certifying to a judge that "the information to be obtained is relevant to an ongoing criminal investigation," Canady said in a statement following today's vote.

Under the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, a law enforcer would have to show "specific and articulable facts reasonably indicate that a crime has been, is being, or will be committed, and information likely to be obtained is relevant to the investigation of that crime," in order to access those records.

Slashdot | Freenet 0.3 Released.