"A San Francisco start-up, Pay By Touch Solutions, is expected to announce today $130 million in fresh financing for a novel way of paying for groceries and other goods and services: a machine that reads your fingerprint."

"... The Diebold machines - which will be installed at voting precincts throughout Utah by 2006 - sit atop stands and have tilt-top screens and plastic covers that can be adjusted. But some voters felt they lacked privacy."

"A growing number of states are grappling with a new privacy dilemma: what to do about cars that can spy on their owners. At least two-thirds of new vehicles, including those built by General Motors Corp. and Ford Motor Co., come equipped with event data recorders -- "black boxes" that can tell tales even after a car has been totaled."

"Nuala O'Connor Kelly, the first chief privacy officer at the Homeland Security Department, announced today that she is leaving her position."

"From www.epic.org: EPIC has developed a new issue page on theme parks and privacy. The page is a single source of information for consumers to learn more about theme parks such as Walt Disney World that use fingerprint scans to control visitor access."

"Davis Wright Tremaine LLP, a national business and litigation firm, announced today the launch of the Privacy and Security Law Blog, www.privsecblog.com, focused on information security and personal privacy legal issues."

"John Roberts' ascension to chief justice is so assured that senators debating the nomination this week may spend as much time talking about President Bush's upcoming nomination to fill a second vacancy on the Supreme Court."

"... According to a Winston Group poll, 66 percent of those asked believed that the right to privacy came closer to mean "The right to be free from government intrusion - including private phone calls, private mail, private medical and financial information, and the right to raise your children as you see fit." A mere 26 percent thought it to denote "The right to make decisions free from government interference, such as the right to choose abortion.""

"The word P-R-I-V-A-C-Y does not in fact appear in the U.S. Constitution, but that document and the equally important first 10 amendments have no meaning without it."

"... "The Amish's feeling is premises registration may be step one of a five-step project that may lead to the tagging and tracking of adults and children." The Wisconsin Premises Registration Act takes effect Nov. 1 and requires anyone raising livestock to register their premises, regardless of the size of the operation."

"Lt. Governor Michael Steele says his credit reports have nothing to hide, but that doesn't mean Democratic campaign aides should have obtained the report by taking his social security number."

"The Mayflower Compact Coalition, an alliance of black leaders and patriotic Americans seeking to strengthen the health and well-being of black America, is outraged by New York Senator Chuck Schumer's Democratic Senate Campaign Committee's idea that opposition research should involve fraudulently obtaining a rival candidate's credit report, violating an individual's right to privacy."

"... "Consumers should be able to go wherever they want to go on the Web whenever they want to," said Gigi Sohn, president of Public Knowledge, a group dedicated to preserving "open access" to communications systems. Determining what should remain open and available to all, however, is not as easy as it sounds."

"People's Daily today reports that 10 behaviors have been regarded by Chinese netizens as "uncivil" in the cyber space: dissimilating rumors and false information; creating and spreading Internet virus; hackers' attacks; unsolicited mails; curses and offences at forums and chat rooms; porn chats; prying into and spreading others' privacy; usurping others' Internet accounts; unsolicited ads, downloading and registration; plugging porn, violent and eccentric contents."

"Well, we sure know by now, thanks to the John Roberts hearings, what the great issue of our times is. It's stare decisis, which is code for "the right to privacy," which is code for Roe vs. Wade, which is code for "the right to choose," which is code for abortion, which is code for keep the government out of my bedroom!"

"Symantec has attacked the perceived security advantages of Firefox and Apple Macs by drawing unfavourable comparisons with Microsoft's software and describing Mac fans as living in a "false paradise". According to the latest edition of Symantec's Internet Security Threat Report, 25 vulnerabilities were disclosed for Mozilla browsers and 13 for Microsoft Internet Explorer in the first half of 2005."

"During the first half of 2005, nearly a third of the world's bot-infected computers, called "zombies," were located in the UK, according to Symantec. Symantec estimates that there are between 1 million and 2 million computers worldwide infected with this bot software, which allows a system to be surreptitiously remote-controlled by hackers, said Dean Turner, senior manager of the Symantec Security Response team."

"In October, Estonia will offer its citizens the option of voting by Internet, a first in the EU. Germany is also considering the possibility of an online election, but not for anytime soon... Ensuring privacy, identifying registered voters and guaranteeing access to computers are all major hurdles that must be overcome before online elections could take place"

".... Data collected electronically from tickets as each fan passes through the turnstiles tells the team not only who is and isn't showing up at SBC Park, but also what time they get there and what entrances they use."

"... Abortion rights groups took no comfort in the chief justice nominee's remarks, and antiabortion groups took no offense."

"In order to ensure consumer privacy, the Generation 2 EPC tags have the option of being "killed" at the point of sale... An alternative to killing the tag is to combine RFID and EAS technologies. A logical bit can be inserted in the tag. The bit is switched on for the tags on purchased items while it remains off for items on the shelf."