The Court of Appeals has denied a motion filed by the family of two missing University of the Philippines students seeking to compel Smart Communications to reveal the records of two cellular phone numbers.

Source - GMAnews.tv

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Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corp says it has failed to find a tape containing confidential customer information that was discovered missing on June 19 but not reported until Wednesday.

.... "Fifty-five tapes were dispatched, but only 54 arrived in Hong Kong. It is a backup tape that contains a total of 25,000 recorded calls."

... "Fifty-five tapes were dispatched, but only 54 arrived in Hong Kong. It is a backup tape that contains a total of 25,000 recorded calls."The lender said the missing tape contained records of calls made between April 18 and April 24. The calls were related to "credit card inquiries, business internet banking for commercial customers, and general outbound calls to customers." It will advise affected customers once they have been identified.

Source - The Standard

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After six years of litigation, the attorneys in a contentious class action lawsuit over "junk" faxes reached a $1.8 million settlement last month - reportedly the largest telemarketing settlement in Massachusetts to date - with the plaintiffs' lawyers now searching for thousands of fax recipients who are entitled to up to $1,500 each.

In December 2002, McCue and Boston attorney Edward A. Broderick filed a complaint on behalf of Fray-Witzer, claiming Metropolitan Antiques had violated the TCPA, which prohibits telemarketing via unsolicited faxes and allows for penalties of $500 to $1,500 per violation.

Source - Massachusetss Lawyer Weekly

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Dutch Liberal MEP Sophie In’t Veld was becoming irritated. Whenever she tried to board a flight in America – something she does several times each year – she was delayed by special security checks, subjected to questioning, additional searches of her bags and screening for explosives.

... Her case comes at a critical juncture. Since the start of this year, operating almost entirely beneath the public radar, the US Government has been making a concerted, multi-faceted push for unrestricted access to vast volumes of personal data held by governments on this side of the Atlantic.

What the US is after goes far beyond the ability to make requests case by case. They seek the ability to go on electronic fishing expeditions among British and other European databases held by law enforcement, immigration, financial and other official bodies – without even having to inform the databases’ custodians, let alone their subjects.

Source - thisislondon.co.uk

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THE CONTENTIOUS issue of whether telecommunications companies that participated in the Bush administration's warrantless wiretapping program should be granted retroactive immunity from being sued is a particularly disturbing example of the Internet tail wagging the legislative dog. The dispute snarled Senate passage of the latest rewrite of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act before lawmakers left town for the July 4 recess. In the interim, Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.), who indicated that he would support the compromise even with an immunity provision, is simultaneously being attacked as a flip-flopper -- he had previously vowed to filibuster any bill that shielded the companies -- and urged to flip again. An Internet petition drive is underway to pressure Mr. Obama to knuckle under. Mr. Obama should hold firm, along with other colleagues who support the underlying, painstakingly achieved bipartisan compromise.

Source - Washington Post

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The word “privacy” now appears on Google’s home page, with a link to the company’s privacy policy.

With that one word, the Web search giant heads off the growing controversy over whether its previous practice ran afoul of a California law, the California Online Privacy Protection Act of 2003, which requires the operator of a commercial Web site that collects personal information to link to its privacy policy from its home page.

Source - NY Times

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THE Data Protection Commissioner is to carry out an investigation following the discovery of confidential bank documents at a former dump.

Thousands of AIB bank documents were found at the former landfill site in Killacloyne near Glounthaune, Co Cork -- the same site where hospital patients' medical records from Cork Regional Hospital and St Finbarr's Hospital were discovered in May.

A spokesman said the commission would investigate although it had yet to be established what and how many documents were found. Early indications were that the files dated from the 1970s.

Source - Independent.ie

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Daily Mail publisher Associated Newspapers has admitted that a laptop containing financial and personal details of thousands of staff, suppliers and contributors has been stolen.

...Even those who no longer work for either Associated Newspapers, which also publishes the Mail on Sunday and the Evening Standard, and regional newspaper publisher Northcliffe Media have been affected and contacted.

Source - Guardian

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Reader Adam writes in to let us know his relative found a working Dell computer in the dumpster at his office complex. It appeared to be in functional condition, so he took it home. Sure enough, it took only a bit of tweaking before it was back to working order—as a Curves Fitness employee and customer information smorgasbord.

Adam dug around a little bit on the computer and found employee phone numbers, customer addresses, and credit card info. The Curves in question is located on 134th Street in Vancouver, WA. Adam called to let them know what happened, here was their response:

Source - The Consumerist

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Wells Fargo notified the New Hampshire Attorney General that it had notified about 24 residents that their personal information may have been compromised.

In a letter dated May 16, Wells Fargo Senior Counsel September Wethington-Smith disclosed [pdf] that a Wells Fargo employee working in their reverse mortgage servicing department had "inappropriately used" a customer's account information. The company indicated that it had taken "appropriate action against this individual."

Although Wells Fargo did not have any indication that anyone is New Hampshire suffered misuse of their personal information, the employee had access to personal information in the course of regular employment. That information included names, addresses, dates of birth, loan numbers, PIN numbers, current bank account numbers and last five digits of their Social Security numbers.

A notification to customers signed by Dane F. Byag, Vice President of Reverse Mortgaging Services, informed customers that the company was issuing new PIN numbers, encouraged them to monitor their accounts over the next year, and offered customers free credit monitoring for one year.

The total number of customers being notified nationwide was not indicated in the report.

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Facebook has closed down another of its most popular third-party applications following privacy violations.

The Information Commisioner's Office has already confirmed to New Media Age that it will be meeting Facebook UK to discuss the implications of the Top Friends leak.

Source - techradar.com

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In a District Court security breach, a contracted vendor released personal information on about 380 potential jurors to an employee's private e-mail address, court officials said Thursday.

Clark County court officials said the people affected were notified by letters sent out Monday. Court officials did not specify whether the breach was intentional or accidental. They also didn't specify when the incident occurred.

The information was transferred from the printing company that prepares jury summons notices to an unidentified employee's e-mail account.

Source - Las Vegas Review-Journal

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Google's Street View mapping tool could be suspended in the UK if the Information Commissioner finds it in breech of UK privacy laws.

The software, which has not yet been launched in the UK, is an add-on to Google Maps and Google Earth that offers photographs of streets and cities. However many of the photographs feature passers-by who have been caught unawares.

Source - PC Advisor

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A U.S. judge's order to Google to turn over YouTube user data to Viacom sparked an outcry Thursday from privacy advocates in the midst of a legal showdown over video piracy.

Viacom, owner of movie studio Paramount and MTV Networks, requested the information as part of its $1 billion copyright infringement lawsuit against the popular online video service and its deep-pocketed parent, Google.

Source - CNBC

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A State Department passport record system that holds personal data on more than 120 million Americans is wide open to abuse and unable to prevent or detect unauthorized access, investigators said Thursday.

The review by the department's inspector general was ordered after revelations in March that State Department employees and contractors had accessed the files of presidential candidates Hillary Clinton, John McCain and Barack Obama.

The IG report found a much broader problem.

Source - McClatchy

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We all cherish our privacy. Then we go and divulge everything about ourselves on Facebook, sprinkle our Social Security number like pixie dust across the Web and happily load up on tracking devices like GPS navigators and cellphones.

Researchers call this the privacy paradox: normally sane people have inconsistent and contradictory impulses and opinions when it comes to their safeguarding their own private information.

Now some new research is beginning to document and quantify the privacy paradox.

Source - Brad Stone, NY Times

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The burglary at Colt Express Outsourcing Services, Inc. over the Memorial Day weekend has affected yet another company -- Google.

As with other affected clients such as CNet, Ebara Technologies, Punahou School District, bebe stores, and Avant!, specific personal information for employees and their dependents included names, Social Security numbers, birthdates, addresses. hire dates, and relationships; but not driver's license numbers, credit card numbers. or bank account numbers (or passwords or PINs for any financial account).

Google has arranged with Kroll to provide its employees with IDTheftSmart service for one year.

There was no indication in the letter how many Google employees were affected by the burglary.

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More than half of Canadians say they are concerned about giving their personal information to retailers, according to the results of a survey commissioned by the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada.

One in two Canadians (52 per cent) indicated they have resisted a retailer’s request for personal information, such as telephone number or postal code, by asking why the information is needed. Close to half (45 per cent) have refused to provide this information altogether, and 13 per cent have deliberately provided incorrect information. Respondents who resisted or declined to provide their information indicated a number of concerns, including the safety of putting information online, identity theft and fraud.

Source - Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada

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A Charleston lawyer has been suspended from the State Bar for two years after he admitted snooping in another law firm's e-mails because he suspected his wife was having an affair with her client.

... The opinion also states that Markins' misconduct caused OFN "professional embarrassment" and made it the target of potential lawsuits. The firm had to report a security breach to its major clients because Markins not only viewed confidential personal and financial information intended only for OFN partners, but also confidential client information.

Source - Charleston Gazette

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Freedom Credit Union is warning customers of a security breach whereby debit card data was electronically captured by individuals who may have used it in a counterfeit scheme.

"We have been notified that your Debit card number was one of several obtained during the arrest and indictment of individuals in Eastern Europe and the United States," reads a June 27 letter from Freedom Credit Union to certain customers.

Source - The Republican

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A federal judge in San Francisco appeared to close the door today on an attempt to prove President Bush acted illegally in 2001 when he ordered the wiretapping of phone calls between Americans and suspected foreign terrorists without court approval.

Source - SFGate

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Yesterday, in the Viacom v. Google litigation, the federal court for the Southern District of New York ordered Google to produce:

all data from the Logging database concerning each time a YouTube video has been viewed on the YouTube website or through embedding on a third-party website

Source - EFF

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Recent press articles have mentioned Cardtronics in the context of a reported attack by hackers on ATM systems that is currently the subject of a criminal prosecution in the United States District Court in New York, New York. Cardtronics is not involved in this criminal prosecution and therefore does not anticipate that it will issue any statements with respect to this case or the alleged conduct of the defendants in this case.

Source - Cardtronics Press Release

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Does agreeing to get naked with someone mean it is lawful for them to film you in the buff without your consent?

That's the issue before the Wisconsin Court of Appeals in a case brought by a man convicted of secretly taping his girlfriend in the nude at her home.

Source - Capital Times

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California has passed a law that makes it easier to prosecute identity thieves.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed Senate Bill 612 into law this week. It allows prosecutors to charge people with identity theft in the jurisdictions where the victims live. Without the bill, prosecutions could only take place where the crime occurred, which is usually in the perpetrators' towns or cities.

Source - InformationWeek

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From the well-wait-a-minute dept.:

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An online tax system run by HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) has inadvertently exposed private business details.

The error with the pay as you earn (PAYE) application led to the name, address and phone number of one business being exposed to another company using the system later the same day.

The incident has led to fears that sensitive financial information entered into the PAYE system could also be exposed to other users.

Source - Computing

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Key members of Congress are siding with the airline industry and moving to block the administration from forcing airlines to take fingerprints of foreign visitors before they fly home.

The opposition is setting up a clash over a final Bush administration effort to tighten security and immigration by keeping better track of when visitors fly out of the country.

Source - USA Today

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Officials at the University of Nebraska at Kearney discovered a security breach involving nine university computers in early June, and this week, letters are going out to individuals who may be affected.

"The computers involved in the incident were immediately secured, and the university took additional steps to prevent unauthorized external access to any campus computers," said Deborah Schroeder, UNK assistant vice chancellor for Information Technology.

"The university has conducted a thorough investigation," Schroeder said. The incident took place on Sunday, June 8, and was discovered Monday morning, June 9. Of the nine computers involved, five contained names and partial or complete social security numbers.

The breach, which originated in the Republic of Slovenia, was confined to computers in the College of Natural and Social Sciences. Computers involved included two each in the biology, history and psychology departments; and one each in the mathematics, computer science and sociology departments. The files included advisees in the Department of History in 2002 and 2003, deciding students in Fall 2001 and Fall 2002, and students in the online Master of Science in Biology program since Spring 2005. In all, 2,035 letters are being mailed. No academic records were affected.

Source - U. Nebraska at Kearney Press Release

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Equipment used to let customers at an Albert Heijn supermarket in Breukelen pay by fingerprint has already been fooled by a rubber copy, news agency ANP reports, quoting website Webwereld..... Albert Heijn said the system was being tested so the company could learn from mistakes and make improvements.

Source - DutchNews.nl

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