The Waterkooler

The balance between security and privacy is a tenuous one. In order to know if child molesters live in your neighborhood means someone has to manage a database of everyone in you neighborhood. And that means YOUR private information is in danger of being hacked. So, is the added security worth the loss in privacy? Are there any legal solutions? Or is technology now beyond our control?

Warning on spread of state surveillance

Governments are building a "global registration and surveillance infrastructure" in the US-led "war on terror", civil liberty groups warned yesterday.

The aim is to monitor the movements and activities of entire populations in what campaigners call "an unprecedented project of social control".

Google Launches Personal History Feature

"We think there is some value in providing people with visibility into their past activity on Google," said Marissa Mayer, the company's director of consumer Web products.

But privacy rights expert Pam Dixon is worried the service will make it easier for mischief makers, snoops and perhaps even the government to get their hands on a user's entire search history.

"It's really a bad idea," said Dixon, executive director of the World Privacy Forum. "If you need to keep track of your past searches, I recommend using a notebook. It would be a lot more private and a lot less risky."

LexisNexis Warns 280,000 of Info Breach

DSW Data Theft Larger Than Predicted

IRS Flaws Expose Taxpayers to Snooping, Study Finds

NY Attorney General Spitzer Targets Identity Theft