• Street microphones eavesdrop on crimes

    The city of Coventry has installed microphones on street at the city center; the microphones detect suspect sounds, including trigger words spoken at normal volumes as well as angry or panicked exchanges before they become violent; operators can then direct police straight to the scene

  • European bodies give Google mixed signals on data retention

    The European Commission wants Google to erase personally identifiable information from its logs after six months — but members of the European Parliament are calling for laws to require Google to retain more data for longer; these MEPs argue the data will help catch pedophiles

  • Coalition of tech heavy-weights wants U.S. privacy law revamped for Internet age

    A coalition of technology giants wants the U.S. government to revamp Internet privacy laws and make more suitable for the new age in communication; the traditional standard for the government to search one’s home or office and read one’s mail or seize one’s personal papers is a judicial warrant, the coalition says that the law needs to be clear that the same standard applies to e-mail and documents stored with a service provider; the need to update Internet privacy strictures is especially urgent now because of three trends: the popularity of smart phones with global satellite positioning features has led to a hot trend of companies offering services that play off of where people are at any given moment; and the recent economic meltdown added momentum to a shift toward people using software programs hosted as services in the Internet “cloud” instead of buying and installing applications on machines; people are also increasingly storing personal information, pictures, and videos at online social- networking or data storage Web sites

  • Toronto police to buy encrypted radios

    The Toronto police will spend CAN$35 million on encrypted radios; new system may shut out public eavesdroppers — by tow-truck drivers, the media, scanning enthusiasts — starting with the June 2010 G20 summit

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  • German court says EU phone, e-mail data retention policy must be changed

    In 2006 the EU approved a law requiring phone and e-mail providers to hold customer data for six months in case the data is needed by law enforcement; a German Federal Constitution Court called the law “inadmissable” and ruled that changes would be needed to limit its scope

  • FBI wants two year retention for ISP data

    Since 1986 U.S. phone companies have been obliged to keep records of who makes calls, who they call, when they call, and how long the call lasts; Now, the Feds want to include Web activity tools; it is not clear is whether the FBI means which Web sites are visited or the specific URLs

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  • Tories say they will set up a permanent “War Cabinet”

    The Conservative Party is favored to win the next general elections in Britain, which will be held before the summer; on Friday the party’s leader, David Cameron, set out the party’s national security plan, emphasizing cybersecurity

  • Canadian government finds support for Internet surveillance scheme

    The Canadian federal government wants to broaden its Internet surveillance capabilities; the Security Intelligence Review Committee, the watch-dog over Canada’s spy agencies, supports the idea

  • Israel says it will continue to listen-in on Hezbollah communication

    Hezbollah has its own communication network in Lebanon, separate and independent from the government’s sanctioned carrier networks; Israel says that bugging the organization’s network does not amount to a violation of Lebanon’s sovereignty

  • Robust hierarchical metropolitan quantum cryptography network

    The security of a majority of classical cryptography is based on the complexity of the cipher algorithms and the development of distributed computing and specific hacking chips; this may no longer be sufficient, as quantum computing has become a serious threat to classical cryptography; the solution: quantum encryption

  • UK.gov's G Cloud may have security silver lining after all

    Cloud computing offers many benefits, but enhanced security is not one of them — or is it? An expert says that the emergence of cloud computing is making it possible to take a new approach to security; until now, the U.K. government has kept its work on information security in specialist bodies such as GCHQ and CESG, separate from the development of business functions; “The cloud gives us the opportunity to get the specification right before we get too far down the track,” he says

  • The personal spy: the smartphone in your pocket may be spying on you, II

    The advances in smartphone technology could well be exploited in much the same way that e-mail and the Internet can be used to “phish” for personal information such as bank details

  • The personal spy: the smartphone in your pocket may be spying on you, I

    The advances in smartphone technology could well be exploited in much the same way that e-mail and the Internet can be used to “phish” for personal information such as bank details

  • Russian security services step up snooping

    The heightened interest might stem from authorities’ fear about possible public unrest connected to the economic crisis; in the first half of this year, the secret services filed nearly 77,200 requests for search warrants, more than 66,000 requests to tap phones and nearly 7,800 requests to read mail

  • U.K. authorities made more than 500,000 surveillance requests last year

    U.K. police, councils, and the intelligence services made about 1,500 surveillance requests every day last year; this is the annual equivalent to one in every 78 people being targeted