Anyone charged with a felony punishable by at least five years in prison would be required to provide DNA samples to the state under a bill sent to the House floor.

The House Judiciary Committee approved the bill on a voice vote Tuesday.

The state already takes DNA samples from people convicted of felonies. But under the measure, DNA samples would be taken from people upon their arrest.

Source - WIS10

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A bill barring Minnesota's commissioner of public safety from taking any steps to implement the federal Real ID Act cleared the state Senate today on a 50-16 vote.

The bill, which Gov. Tim Pawlenty opposes, now goes to the House. Earlier this session, Pawlenty vetoed a major transportation policy bill because it contained a provision preventing the state from complying with the act.

Source - TwinCities.com

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Dave & Buster's has learned that the United States Department of Justice has charged and will prosecute the individuals responsible for the theft of credit and debit card numbers from 11 of our locations. These thefts occurred on an intermittent basis from May through August of 2007. Although the stolen data was never retained or stored by Dave & Buster's, the data was illegally accessed from the Dave & Buster's computer systems during the card verification and transmission process. No personal information such as names, addresses, phone numbers, bank account numbers, pin numbers, or social security numbers was stolen. The data that was captured consists of "track 2" data that includes the credit or debit card number and expiration date, but no other identifying data.

Dave & Buster's was alerted to the potential data intrusion in late August 2007, and immediately contacted the United States Secret Service. Dave & Buster's worked closely with both the Secret Service and Department of Justice and assisted them in their investigation. In addition, Dave & Buster's immediately retained outside security experts who identified the source of the data compromise. As a result the Company has implemented additional security measures to prevent any such incident from occurring in the future. The stores that were compromised were: Westminster, CO; Islandia and West Nyack, NY; Utica, MI; Downtown Chicago, IL; Columbus, OH; Jacksonville, FL; Frisco, Dallas (2) and Austin, TX.

Source - PR Newswire

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... Cayuga County authorities are charging 24-year-old Eddie Camacho with conspiracy, criminal impersonation and unlawful possession of personal identification information.

. Camacho is accused of telephoning people from the jail and impersonating members of the district attorney’s office to obtain personal information, including Social Security numbers. Deputies say Camacho used the information to obtain credit and services in the names of six victims.

Source - pressconnects.com

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A story from The New York Times has focused attention on the role that remote monitoring equipment can play in keeping track of school children with a history of cutting classes. Overall, the story has a feel-good vibe, describing how the monitoring helped bring some discipline to students that were otherwise interested in graduating and helped identify a few students that needed more significant interventions. But it also raises questions about various privacy issues that are worth exploring in more detail.

Source - Ars Technica

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Today at a bill signing event at Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) headquarters, Gov. Sonny Perdue signed three pieces of legislation to protect Georgia’s consumers and prosecute identity thieves: House Bill 130, Senate Bill 388 and Senate Bill 24.

Source - The Daily Citizen

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Charter Communications is sending letters to its customers informing them of an "enhanced online experience" that involves Charter monitoring its users' searches and the websites they visit, and inserting targeted third-party ads based on their web activity. Charter, which serves nearly six million customers, is requiring users who want to keep their activity private to submit their personal information to Charter via an unencrypted form and download a privacy cookie that must be downloaded again each time a user clears his web cache or uses a different browser.

Source - The Consumerist

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Bob Barr, a onetime Republican congressman from Georgia, on Monday announced his plan to run for president as a Libertarian, promising to rein in federal spending and limit military involvement abroad.... Barr, who left the Republican Party two years ago, is expected to win the Libertarian Party's nomination during its convention this month in Denver.

Source - Los Angeles Time

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If you have an unlisted phone number, you may have noticed that the monthly cost for this "service" jumped last year from 28 cents to $1.25 on your AT&T bill. It's still cheaper than Verizon, which charges $1.75 a month for an unlisted landline.

Regardless of your phone company, you might wonder whether the cost is justified and whether you can do something about it.

You can.

Sen. Sheila Kuehl, D-Santa Monica, working with consumer and privacy advocates, has been pushing legislation that would prohibit phone companies from charging an extra fee for an unlisted number. Consumer advocates argue that the costs of data processing for an unlisted number are minuscule. Privacy groups suggest it is unfair to impose a surcharge on customers who don't want their phone number or addresses exposed to telemarketers and other strangers.

The phone companies are arguing that it's inappropriate for state legislators to regulate "specific features on a phone," as Verizon spokesman Jon Davies put it, adding that there are costs associated with maintaining separate databases for listed and unlisted customers.

Source - San Francisco Chronicle

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The Australian Computer Society (ACS) has called on government to enforce rigid privacy laws on organizations which intercept employee e-mails.

Under new legislation, businesses may be given powers to intercept e-mails sent and received by staff without notification. The changes remove the need for disclosure in employee contracts, required by existing law, under the guise of counter-terrorism and national security.

ACS President Kumar Parakala said tough privacy laws are essential for interception provisions because staff often send personal e-mails from work.

Source - IDG.no

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