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Canada, for example, takes a different approach. In Ontario, the Social Assistance Reform Act of 1997 established minimum standards governing how biometric data is gathered, stored and disseminated. But then again, Canada also has privacy commissioners dedicated to investigating citizens' privacy complaints and advising legislators.

"There are no laws governing biometrics in the United States," said Mike Theime, a consultant who advises companies on biometric security measures International Biometric Group. "I think legislation will wait until it gets on people's radar."

Privacy advocates aren't the only ones worried about unregulated biometrics; one of the pioneers of facial recognition software is troubled as well.

"I feel this whole technology should be taken seriously by the public in terms of personal rights," said Christoph von der Malsburg, who directed government-sponsored research at the University of Southern California. "There should be a public discussion about these things. Do we really want this kind of surveillance?"

Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA)- Human Identification at a Distance - BAA 00-29. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is soliciting proposals for research, technology development, and experimental demonstration of technologies that will enable accurate and reliable identification of humans at a distance.  This solicitation, a new DARPA start, describes the general problem that the HumanID Program addresses along with some of the characteristics of the Program's organization

Technology News from Wired News - Smile, You're On Scan Camera. Do you know that face scans are being used at casinos, ATMs, and at the welfare office? Do you know that such technologies aren't 100 percent accurate?

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The government is scurrying to work the kinks out of the existing technology through a $50 million project called the HumanID project. The Department of Defense is once again funding university research for the program, with the goal of identifying people 500 feet from a sensor in a variety of lighting and background situations.

The HumanID program will "move biometric technology to its next logical step -- the recognition of non-cooperative subjects with high accuracy," according to the DoD's website.

Political News from Wired News - Prepaid Phones and Privacy, Too. While the privacy debate continues in Washington, new business models may render it obsolete. Firms have begun to offer anonymous, prepaid credit cards and anonymous, disposable cellular phones.

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No less a figure than former President Clinton used the example of a miscreant credit card firm in a 1999 speech that called on Congress to approve more data regulations.

Said Clinton: "While some of your private financial information is protected under existing federal law, your bank or broker or insurance company could still share with affiliated firms information on what you buy with checks and credit cards -- or sell this information to the highest bidder."

Political News from Wired News - All That Data, All That Secrecy. Privacy advocates assail the secretive nature of database marketers at a Federal Trade Commission workshop. They want massive database gatherers such as Acxiom and Abacus to open up and let the public peer in.

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Earlier Tuesday, I-Behavior Inc. president Lynn Wunderman showed how her company melded online and offline profiles that companies could use to determine the best ways to sell to Internet-connected customers. Wunderman was careful to explain that her company combined purchase data from retailers but did not track people's Web movement with cookies or any other sort of technology.

TechTV | Who's Watching You?. Everywhere you go, webcams are watching. It's one thing in a restaurant, but what about in a jail?

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Let me take a wild guess. The person looks guilty just by having his or her mug shot taken. It screams of guilt, and few will remember one of our basic, constitutional rights as an American when they see a suspect hauled in, booked, fingerprinted, searched, and placed in a holding cell.

While the webcams snap all the sexy photos of the suspect going through the arrest process, what you will not see is what happens next. Perhaps the person is free to go home. Perhaps the person is never charged with a crime. Or perhaps, the cops made a mistake and arrested the wrong person. But, if any of those things happen, the cameras won't show it. They will only show that person while they're in jail. Through the eyes of four steely webcams, you've already seen that person as guilty.

Newsbytes - Privacy Groups Clash Over Consumer Data Trading.

Kicking off a forum at the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) on the methods used by on- and offline companies to gather and share data in creating customer profiles, FTC Commissioner Orson Swindle cited a "trust gap" between businesses and consumers that has kept more consumers from embracing the Internet as means of commerce.

While both consumer and business groups at today's workshop said they agreed with Swindle's assessment, they differed sharply on the reasons why the gap exists in the first place. Business groups claim data sharing improves efficiency, gives the customer what he wants and saves everybody money in the long run. Consumer advocates say that left unchecked, there's no telling what companies will do with consumer data.

Jason Catlett, president of Junkbusters.com, said consumers should be given the opportunity to learn how information is being collected and shared about them, and should be able to choose whether they wish to allow that process to continue.

InternetNews - Advertising Report -- Privacy Group Argues Against Web Bug Legislation. Very inaccurate and misleading headline. Look at the member list in the second part of the pull quote and tell me if you think that roster looks like the membership list for a privacy protection (not invasion) group.

An industry association says the U.S. government should hold off on passing privacy-related laws on the use of Web technologies that can track users online.

Earlier this month, the Washington, D.C.-based Online Privacy Alliance testified before the bicameral Congressional Privacy Caucus that that Congress should focus on the way technology is used, rather than trying to pass laws governing those specific technologies -- especially the tracking technology known as "Web bugs."

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OPA (Online Privacy Alliance) member companies include ad networks DoubleClick, 24/7 Media and Engage, as well as ISPs EarthLink, software giant Microsoft and network technology firm Novell. It also includes portal companies Yahoo! and Excite@Home and Web advertisers Ford, Unilever and Procter & Gamble.

The OPA is also associated with the American Advertising Federation, the Association of National Advertisers and the American Association of Advertising Agencies, among others.

Similarly, privacy advocates like The Privacy Foundation's Richard Smith -- who also testified at the CPC's meeting -- criticize the undisclosed usage of Web bugs. However, Smith is less charitable in his view of Web publishers or advertising firms' use of the technology.

New Zealand Herald Online - Big US firms move to oppose net-privacy legislation . Its aim is to halt the advance of dozens of privacy bills in Congress and in state legislatures across the country, the Journal said.

ninemsn Pty Ltd (Australia)- Watchdog reveals lack of consumer Net privacy.

A `sweep' of Australian Internet business sites has revealed most fail to have adequate privacy policies, according to Australia's competition watchdog.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) recently cast its eye over 229 Australian sites and found local e-tailers lagged behind their international counterparts on itemisation of costs, statements of applicable currency, restrictions on purchases and privacy and refund policies.

"Only three out of ten (Australian businesses) `allowed' for returns, exchanges and refunds. Fewer disclosed their privacy policy. This must be rectified," ACCC chairman, Professor Allan Fels said in a statement today.

Professor Fels warned Australian e-tailers that consumer protection laws apply as much to them as to main street stores and mail-order companies, and warned internet businesses against eroding consumers' rights.

"Cyber-stores do not work in a laissez-faire environment. They cannot take consumers rights away," he said.

Media Central, an IndustryClick community - Big companies reportedly oppose Internet-privacy moves.

Newsbytes - Privacy Hearing Over Web Access To Court Docs On Friday .

A panel of federal judges will hold a public hearing this Friday to help air concerns over a plan to provide online public access to a centralized database of all state and federal court documents.

The Subcommittee on Privacy and Electronic Access to Case Files, a panel of eight judges created last year by the Judicial Conference of the United States, will examine the security and privacy issues surrounding the government's plan to link files from all federal courts under a single system, known as PACER (Public Access to Court Electronic Records).

Slated to testify at Friday's hearing is a panel of organizations which recently filed public comments on the matter, including the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC), the American Association of Law Libraries, the National Newspaper Association, the Social Security Administration, the Electronic Frontier Foundation(EFF), the National Association of Consumer Bankruptcy Attorneys, the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, and the Justice Department.

FAIRFAX IT (it.mycareer.com.au) -IT: E-tailers fail watchdog's privacy policy sweep.

Australian Internet-based businesses have failed to provide adequate privacy policies for consumers, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission said today.

The consumer watchdog said today that companies wanting to do business on the Internet should create, review or upgrade privacy policies so that consumers "not only feel safe, but are safe".

The ACCC conducted a sweep of 229 Australian sites as part of a wider, international 48-hour sweep by 48 agencies from 19 countries.

[ I N S I D E ] Big Firms Move to Oppose Net-Privacy Legislation . Microsoft, AOL Time Warner and others cling to mechanisms to mine customer information.

A group of companies and industry organizations have quietly undertaken a campaign to stifle Internet-privacy legislation, the Wall Street Journal reported in its online edition Tuesday.

Led by the Online Privacy Alliance in Washington, the loosely organized campaign is attacking legislative proposals on three fronts: identifying expensive regulatory burdens, raising questions about how any U.S. Internet law would apply to non-Internet industries, and assuring lawmakers that privacy is best guarded by new technology, not new laws, the paper said.

MS-NBC - Big technology players vie to upgrade NSA computers. AT&T and Computer Sciences compete for deal

What does it take to send an e-mail to all 38,000 employees at the government's premier computing center, the supersecret National Security Agency? "An act of God," says the agency's director since 1999, Lt. Gen. Michael Hayden.