contributed by Adam
Forbes Magazine hired a private eye to gather all the information he could on one of their reporters. For less than $500 he legally came up with all of the reporters financial information, unlisted phone numbers, social security number, etc... very terrifying. If you have been wondering what all this privacy hype is about then read this.

Forbes

contributed by turtlex
The American Civil Liberties Union in cooperation with the Electronic Privacy Information Center and others has started a program to monitor Echelon. The groups hope to pressure congress for an investigation into the global eavesdropping network. (For something that supposedly doesn't exist - Echelon sure gets a lot of press.)

Wired
ACLU
EPIC
Echelon Watch

contributed by Weld Pond
The National Security Agency has recently been awarded a patent for a system of automatic topic spotting and labeling of data. This could assist the agency in automatically analyzing human speech.

The London Independent
US PTO

contributed by Weld Pond
An online magazine, with news about privacy issues updated on a daily basis, PrivacyPlace includes opinions, advice, a forum for readers, an archive of articles on privacy, and a marketplace that recommends products and services available for protecting privacy. Future content includes product and book reviews, a developer's corner, and guides to encrypting e-mail and surfing the web anonymously.

PrivacyPlace
Excite News

contributed by erik
Dragonmount Networks, in hoping to expose vendors who put security on the back burner, and to salute those who make it a priority, has launched the Vendor Response Archive. The Vendor Response Archive hopes to pressure software vendors to take security seriously. If a vendor responds poorly to a problem, users should know. Likewise, if a vendor responds quickly and honestly, the vendor should be commended.

Dragonmount Networks

contributed by no0ne
Called the "Active Server Setup Security Loophole", this glitch in Microsoft Outlook and Outlook Express can download an e-mail attachment without the users knowledge. The attachment has the capability to access and delete files at will.

MSNBC

contributed by Weld Pond
While the Department of Defense may be prohibited from conducting local law enforcement they can advise or assist local police agencies in other ways such as grants, access to support services or systems, and transfers of equipment or other assets. The GAO has released a report detailing crime technology assistance from DOD to local law enforcement agencies.

GAO