Internet users won't worry about using regular e-mail for credit card numbers, medical discussions and other sensitive information until they are directly harmed or see a well-publicized breach, security experts say.

Only then would they understand or care that using unencrypted e-mail is as private as sending a postcard. Without encryption, network administrators at Internet service providers, employers, intelligence agencies and hackers can snoop on e-mail in transit.

Slashdot | Phil Zimmerman and PGP at CNN.com.

FTC Press Release - COPPA Anniversary. FTC Protecting Children's Privacy Online

On the second anniversary of the Children's Online Privacy Protection Rule, the Federal Trade Commission announced its sixth COPPA enforcement case together with new initiatives designed to enhance compliance with the law.

CNN.com - Web services providers fight off privacy concerns.

Despite a good rattling by privacy advocates, leading companies offering Web-based authentication and single sign-on services stuck to their guns at the Computers, Freedom and Privacy (CFP) conference in San Francisco Thursday, defending their record on privacy and saying that it tops their list of concerns given that it is important to their long-term business success.

Executives from Microsoft Corp., VeriSign Inc. and Sun Microsystems Inc. all touted their Web authentication and location services as privacy-friendly, repelling sharp arrows of criticism launched by CFP attendees who raised concerns over information sharing and data archiving.

"Privacy advocates generally don't like very large databases full of personal information," said Jason Catlett, president of Junkbusters Corp., a privacy advocacy and antispam group.

CNET.com - Investor - IPO of wiretapping firm Verint set at 4.5 mln shrs.

Verint Systems Inc., whose wiretapping software enables law enforcement agencies to scan the Internet, telephone calls and other forms of communication, said on Monday it plans an initial public offering of 4.5 million common shares.

The unit of U.S.-Israeli communication system developer Comverse Technology Inc. said in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission that it expects the shares to sell for $16 to $18 each.

ITworld.com - CFP: Should privacy technologies be built in?.

While most attendees of the Computers, Freedom and Privacy (CFP) conference in San Francisco this week agreed that more needs to be done to protect consumers' privacy against the onslaught of rapidly advancing technologies that track, store and share sensitive data, how that privacy should be guarded remained a subject of fiery discussion.

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"I don't think vendors are going to build in privacy protections if there is no incentive for profit," said Avi Rubin, principal researcher at AT&T Labs, who added that he would like to see a mix of technology and legislation that guards privacy.

However, relying too much on legislation to ensure privacy is also a sticky subject, according to Barry Steinhardt, associate director of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).

"Technology is outpacing the law," Steinhardt said.

Still, many privacy advocates like Rubin are trying to strike a balance between providing the public with privacy-protecting technologies and passing legislation to support the use of those technologies.

Article also carried by: PCWorld.com - Debating the Future of Privacy Technologies. Experts say we need legislation to protect consumers, while others worry about our civil liberties.

"Information Week" ( CMP's "Tech Web") - Citizens Want Privacy And Security -- A Tricky Balance . Biometric ID cards are OK at work, but national ID has detractors

Federal and state lawmakers are wading further into the conflict between citizens' demands for privacy and their willingness to trade personal liberties for security. As they do so, new research confirms that public sentiment is far from clear.

vnunet.com - Businesses slam US privacy bill. Plan to emulate European policy in for a rough ride

US firms are attacking proposed new laws that would provide more data protection for online shoppers.

Last week, a new bill was introduced into the US Senate that would require companies to obtain explicit permission from individuals before collecting and sharing information about them.

DMNews.com - Online Privacy Bill Treats Types of Data Differently.

A bill proposed last week in the Senate would require companies to obtain opt-in consent from consumers for sensitive data and provide opt-out options for other data, according to reports.

The bill, the Online Personal Privacy Act of 2002, was introduced by Sen. Ernest "Fritz" Hollings, D-SC. He chairs the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, which plans a hearing on online privacy April 25.

Sensitive information that would require opt-in consent under the bill includes financial data, medical records, Social Security numbers, religious affiliation and sexual orientation. Non-sensitive information would include transactional data from online purchases.

If the bill were passed, consumers could sue companies if sensitive data were misused.

Journal of Corporate Accounting & Finance(Article Abstract) - Web-Site Privacy Checklist. If you want customers to trust your Web site - and have the confidence to buy online - privacy and security are vital. Does your Web site pass the test? Full article is a linked PDF file.

LA Times - U-2 Goes Higher-Tech.

That's because the U-2S, the latest version of the spy plane, has been fitted with the world's most advanced sensors, radar and more-powerful jet engines. It also has been coated with new radar-evading materials. Two weeks ago, the first U-2S with a glass-panel cockpit display similar to ones found on new Boeing 757s were delivered to the Air Force.

The new digital glass panels, which cost about $3.5 million, or more than three times what the original planes cost to develop and build, replace the 1960s analog gauges and give pilots significantly more situational awareness.

[ ... ]

The new satellite-based system, a pod attached to the top of the aircraft, allowed pilots to transmit images and data instantly to a ground facility in California. From there, the information was analyzed and then retransmitted to the Air Force command center in Saudi Arabia, all within minutes.

Business News from Wired News - A Bad Year for Privacy. At the Computers, Freedom and Privacy conference tech activists take on the latest incursions on individual privacy from government and industry.

Long before planes slammed into the World Trade Center and anthraxed mail snarled Capitol Hill, privacy mavens had worried that a terrorist attack would spur Congress to approve invasive new laws.

Then came Sept. 11's deadly attacks, followed by President Bush signing the USA PATRIOT Act the following month.

Others, predicting that music and video could be locked up in ways that prevent legitimate backups as well as illicit copying, had fretted that Congress might make such protections mandatory.

Then an influential senator proposed doing just that last month.

These are trying times for technology activists, lawyers and other random savants who gather each year for the ritual of the Computers, Freedom and Privacy conference, which pits them against their ideological foes in government and the entertainment industry.

Tech News - CNET.com - Interview - Stop! Look before you click.

Mark Hochhauser, a psychologist who specializes in the readability of online documents, explains why Web surfers mindlessly click on contracts that could hijack their computers or make them targets of aggressive advertisers.

New York Times - free registration required Limits of DNA Research Pushed to Identify the Dead of Sept. 11.

A third of the 2,824 victims of the World Trade Center attack have now been identified, a number far beyond what many had thought would be possible. The goal now, experts involved in the effort say, is to use new scientific techniques to identify half or even two-thirds of the victims, despite the miserably deteriorated state of many of the remains being pulled from ground zero.

[ ... ]

To date, 18,937 body parts have been recovered, along with 287 whole bodies. Most of the first successes in identifying victims have come through traditional resources like fingerprints and dental records, and those techniques are still yielding results. But because of the extraordinary trauma involved in the towers' collapse, DNA is often the only hope of matching remains to a name, a family, a life story. In fact, through Friday, only 10 victims so far have been identified solely by visual confirmation.

[ ... ]

Celera Genomics, a Maryland company best known for its work in sequencing the human genome in recent years, is applying its fast DNA sequencing machines to the World Trade Center identification effort. Celera's work, in conjunction with its Applied Biosystems division, is focusing on tiny rings of DNA in cell structures called mitochondria. These maternally inherited rings are hardier than the long strands of DNA used in the more traditional tests, and there are as many as 10,000 of them in each cell, giving investigators much more to work with. This approach has been used before -- including the 1994 identification of the remains of Czar Nicholas II of Russia -- but never before on such a large scale.

Independent News (UK) - Robot cameras 'will predict crimes before they happen'. CCTV: By learning behaviour patterns, computers could soon alert police when an unmanned camera sees 'suspicious' activity

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While recent studies have shown that cameras tend to move crime on elsewhere rather than prevent it completely, in certain environments, such as train stations, they are still useful.

Slashdot | Smart Cameras To Predict Crimes.

Salon.com Technology | Digging for computer dirt.

Collecting obsolete tape drives used to be an eccentric hobby. But now that corporate lawsuits can hinge on unearthing ancient digital data, stocking up on funky hardware is good business.

[ ... ]

Today, his company, Computer Conversions, plays a small but key role in recovering electronic data -- or evidence -- from damaged or overwritten backup tapes. The company also does forensics work ("I have a lot of fun with divorce cases," Tydlaska chirps) and helps people move files from old formats to newer ones, but when the client is the FBI or Deloitte & Touche, they're usually interested in the company's special skills with backup tapes, especially rare formats. (Tydlaska loves them all, but then what's not to love about the DC6150 from Emerald Products or the Jumbo 120 from Colorado Memory?)

Slashdot | Salon On Computer Forensics.