"A Danish startup is developing an RFID system that uses a zero-knowledge authentication protocol to protect consumer privacy, while allowing an item's tag to remain alive."

"The Better Business Bureau offers these tips for safe shopping on the Internet:"

"... What makes the University of Wisconsin's lab unique is the collaboration with industry and a focus on the physics and engineering behind the technology, said Sweeney, who has visited other RFID labs. Critics worry, however, that the university is contributing to technology that could ultimately track humans."

"The Customer Respect Group, the Boston research firm that conducted the study, rated the privacy practices of a whopping 72 percent of 464 North American companies it surveyed earlier this year as "poor" with respect to reusing personal data for marketing purposes."

"The results of an interesting report surfaced today: an organization called The Customer Respect Group, which calls itself "an international research and consulting firm that focuses on how corporations treat their customers online," released some teaser findings from its 2005 Privacy Report."

"Personalization remains something most consumers want, though their privacy fears continue to escalate. According to the second annual personalization study conducted by personalization vendor Choicestream, 80 percent of consumers in the 2005 survey were interested in receiving personalized content."

"An identification scanning device used in Idaho's 54 state-run liquor stores since Spring 2004 is meant to ensure driver licenses are valid, but it also has some concerned about privacy issues. One watchdog group has dubbed the machine 'Big Brother' on its web site."

"Alberta's Privacy Commissioner says a Calgary Canadian Tire store was collecting more information about customers than it should have when consumers were returning goods for refunds. A customer of the store on Hunterhorn Drive said that the store's practice of collecting and keeping customer's driver license numbers invaded his privacy."

"If you're wondering whether recent high-profile losses of customer data -- not to mention under-the-counter sales of private customer information -- are affecting end-user behavior, here's the answer: Yes. According to two new industry reports, consumers are starting to figure out that many online privacy policies marked "To Serve Customers" are actually cookbooks -- and the customers are the entree. And those customers are starting to leave the kitchen."

"... The Sorting Door project aims to examine the potential for RFID's application to surveillance, and to assess the resulting impact on privacy of such an application. The research will focus on surveillance of individuals based on RFID tags embedded in clothing they are wearing, or in devices or objects they are carrying, such as building access badges and contactless payment cards."

"Companies wishing to do on-line business in Ontario will have to take a hard look at their websites to see whether they comply with a new consumer-protection law, but it's for their own good, an Ottawa lawyer says. The Consumer Protection Act, which comes into effect Saturday, sets explicit guidelines on how Internet-based business must be conducted... The act applies to all companies, large and small, that do business in Ontario, even when one of the parties is not in the province. Problems might arise, however, if an Ontario customer runs into trouble with a foreign seller that does not feel bound by Ontario law, or has no assets in Ontario that can be seized."