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As more and more teens get their hands on mobile phones there is an increasing number of problems which can result. First is "Cyberbulling" where someone uses text messages, emails, and phone calls to hound and slander another teen. The next one, which has been in the news a lot lately, is "sexting". This is where sexually explicit texts and photos are sent from one teen to another or to a group. Both situations can put parents in the awful position of being forced to help their child to defend charges in court. In some counties prosecutors have begun using child pornography laws to prosecute teenagers who send sexually explicit photos to one another. That's why a new program you can put on your child's phone may be the answer. Security Shield Parental Control Edition works with Symbian, Windows Mobile, and BlackBerry phones. Once setup, parents can then see a log of text messages send by their child as well as calls placed and received. Reports are available through a website. The software is being offered for US$30 a year and that subscription also includes automatic software updates.

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(March 31, 2009) First Data Corp. announced on Tuesday it will use technology from Inside Contactless, a French chipmaker, for its Go-Tag product, a sticker that can be affixed to mobile phones to make them work like contactless-payment devices. Under the three-year agreement, Inside Contactless will supply so-called prelams, or chip-and-antenna elements, that card manufacturers can use to manufacture the stickers for First Data. Up to now, Go-Tags have been proprietary devices for use in so-called closed-loop networks involving individual merchants, but with Inside Contactless's technology the product will likely be usable by mid-year on the payWave and PayPass contactless platforms operated by Visa Inc. and MasterCard Inc., pending certification on those systems, according to industry sources. A First Data spokesperson will not comment beyond Tuesday's announcement concerning the company's arrangement with Inside Contactless to provide prelams for Go-Tags. In addition, CPI Card Group, a card manufacturer based in Littleton, Colo., last fall said it expected to ship millions of contactless stickers based on prelams from Inside Contactless (Digital Transactions News, Oct. 15, 2008). CPI's customers are financial institutions interested in using the stickers to permit contactless transactions on payWave and PayPass. CPI is a manufacturer of Go-Tags, but will not comment on any plans for that product. First Data's deal with Inside Contactless follows by one day an announcement by Blaze Mobile Inc., an Alameda, Calif.-based provider of applications for mobile devices, that it is introducing a similar sticker that will work on the PayPass platform. The product works with the Blaze Mobile Wallet, a service the 4-year-old company launched a year ago when it was known as Mobile Candy Dish Inc. (Digital Transactions News, April 10, 2008). The stickers link to prepaid accounts managed by MetaBank, a Storm Lake, Iowa-based unit of Meta Financial Group Inc. Devel

Banks and cellphone companies have a long way to go to persuade U.S. consumers to use their cellphones for banking, as many worry about security and extra fees and others are not even aware they can. In a survey of about 500 U.S. consumers, accounting firm KPMG found that only about 9 percent had tried mobile banking. In comparison, about 76 percent "consistently use" online banking services on computers. As many as 95 percent said they were so uncomfortable with conducting financial transactions on their phones that they've never used them to make a purchase on a retailer's Web site. About 48 percent of respondents cited security and privacy worries as their reason for not banking on their cellphones, according to KPMG. While many respondents said they believe mobile banking is important, according to the accounting firm, they do not think it is important enough to pay extra for it. Roughly 19 percent of respondents said they are "somewhat likely" to a use a mobile device for online banking in the next 12 months but only seven percent said are willing to pay a nominal fee for cellphone banking, according to the survey. And even though most of the major U.S. banks offer a mobile banking service, about 68 percent of the survey respondents said their bank does not offer the service. "The fact that the majority of U.S. consumers are not aware that their current banks offer mobile banking is clearly more perception than reality," said Carl Carande, a principal in KPMG LLP's Advisory and Banking and Finance practices. Banks offering mobile services include Citigroup Bank of America and Wells Fargo.

"Imagine that you are vacationing and get a phone call from your neighbor telling you that your alarm just went off, but there is nothing you can do about it. You don't know what set it off and if it is just a fluke. You find yourself now wide awake, asking yourself why you got the alarm to begin with. For iPhone users, the solution to this kind of situation lies in an application provided by CAVU Mobile Surveillance Solution. This app allows you to view live footage taken from any security camera on your iPhone, transforming it into a portable advanced home security system. With the CAVU Mobile Surveillance Solution, the next time a neighbor calls to tell you that your alarm has gone off again, you can automatically see what is going on inside your house on our phone- no matter where you are. This application also lets you save footage on your phone, which is useful in case you need to show/reference the footage on the go. From your phone you can even control the position of the camera - providing you with multi-camera views. If you're thinking to yourself right now about how you wish you had been nicer to your neighbor, because then he/she would be more likely to actually call you to tell you that there is a good chance you're being robbed- stop. This iPhone app also allows for poor neighbor to neighbor relations. It provides a self sufficient, independent of any neighbor, surveillance system on your phone to tell your that there is suspicious action going on. For a cool $19.99 you can be your own FBI squad team, the C, the, S and the I in CSI Crime Scene Investigation, and most importantly, sure that your home is safe."

Do you know where your friends are? If not, Google wants to help you find them. Today, Google introduced Latitude, a new opt-in feature that lets smartphone and laptop users share their location with friends and allows those friends to share their locations in return. Although not pinpoint accurate, Latitude can display your general location based on information from GPS satellites and cell towers. Latitude works on both mobile devices and personal computers. What Latitude can do Once you and your friends have opted in to Latitude, you can see your friends' Google icon displayed on Google Maps. Clicking on their icon allows you to call, email or IM them, and you can even use the directions feature on Google Maps to help you get to their location. Google says Latitude works in 27 countries and with many mobile platforms including iGoogle with your computer. The list of compatible phones are: *Android-powered devices, such as the T-Mobile G1 *iPhone and iPod touch devices (coming soon) *most color BlackBerry devices *most Windows Mobile 5.0+ devices *most Symbian S60 devices (Nokia smartphones) *many Java-enabled (J2ME) mobile phones, such as Sony Ericsson devices (coming soon)

In the 2002 film Minority Report, video billboards scanned the irises of passing consumers and advertised to them by name. That was science fiction back then, but today's marketers are creating digital signs that can display targeted ads based on information they extract from examining the contours of individual human faces. These smart signs are proliferating in commercial establishments and public places from New York's Times Square to St. Louis area shopping malls. They are a powerful innovation in advertising, but one that raises compelling privacy issues - issues that should be addressed now, before digital signs that monitor our behavior become the new normal. The most common name for this medium is digital signage. Most digital signs are flat-screen TVs that run commercials on a continuous loop in airports, gas stations, and anywhere else marketers think they can get your attention. However, marketers have had difficulty determining exactly who sees the display units, which makes it harder to measure viewership and target ads at specific audiences. The industry's solution? Hidden facial recognition cameras. The tiny cameras can estimate the age, ethnicity and gender of people passing by and can track how long a given person watches the display. The digital sign can then play an advertisement specifically targeted to whomever happens to be watching. Tens of millions of people have already been picked up by digital signage cameras. While camera-driven systems are the most common, the industry is also utilizing mobile phones and radio frequency identification (RFID) for similar purposes. Some companies, for example, embed RFID chips in shopper loyalty cards. Digital kiosks located in stores can read the information on the cards at a distance and then display ads or print coupons based on cardholders' shopping histories. Facial recognition, RFID and mobile phone tracking are powerful tools that should be matched by business practices that protect consu

In the 2002 film Minority Report, video billboards scanned the irises of passing consumers and advertised to them by name. That was science fiction back then, but today's marketers are creating digital signs that can display targeted ads based on information they extract from examining the contours of individual human faces. These smart signs are proliferating in commercial establishments and public places from New York's Times Square to St. Louis area shopping malls. They are a powerful innovation in advertising, but one that raises compelling privacy issues - issues that should be addressed now, before digital signs that monitor our behavior become the new normal. The most common name for this medium is digital signage. Most digital signs are flat-screen TVs that run commercials on a continuous loop in airports, gas stations, and anywhere else marketers think they can get your attention. However, marketers have had difficulty determining exactly who sees the display units, which makes it harder to measure viewership and target ads at specific audiences. The industry's solution? Hidden facial recognition cameras. The tiny cameras can estimate the age, ethnicity and gender of people passing by and can track how long a given person watches the display. The digital sign can then play an advertisement specifically targeted to whomever happens to be watching. Tens of millions of people have already been picked up by digital signage cameras. While camera-driven systems are the most common, the industry is also utilizing mobile phones and radio frequency identification (RFID) for similar purposes. Some companies, for example, embed RFID chips in shopper loyalty cards. Digital kiosks located in stores can read the information on the cards at a distance and then display ads or print coupons based on cardholders' shopping histories. Facial recognition, RFID and mobile phone tracking are powerful tools that should be matched by business practices that protect consu

Naturally, privacy watchdogs answer the question in this post title with a resounding "Yes!" The answer is so emphatic, in fact, that the Center for Digital Democracy and U.S. Public Interest Research Group are filing a 52-page complaint with the FTC today alleging that mobile marketers collect so much "non personally identifiable information" that it infringes on users' privacy-and are "unfair and deceptive." Mobile devices, which know our location and other intimate details of our lives, are being turned into portable behavioral tracking and targeting tools that consumers unwittingly take with them wherever they go. (Shh! Don't tell them the FBI can remotely turn on the microphone of several cell phone brands and convert your phone into a roving bug, even when it's off!) But is the Internet private-and should it be? Is a profile that states that you are interested in outdoor rec and currently in the Santa Clara, CA, area an invasion of your privacy? And if so, should we ban all outdoor rec stores and centers in Santa Clara from collecting personally identifiable information like, say, a picture of you when you walk in their lobby? Should we prohibit all employees from asking your name and if you slip and mention it, make sure they never call you by it?

It's never been easier to get information on the run. Smart devices such as the G1 and Apple iPhone let you put the Internet in your pocket and go - down the block or across the country. But this convenience could cost plenty in lost privacy, consumer advocates and tech analysts say. Once data have been collected and warehoused, you lose control of it forever. "The Big Brother aspect of it is troubling," says Rep. Edward Markey, D-Mass., former chairman of the powerful House Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet. Mobile consumers are especially vulnerable, Markey says. Unlike PCs, cellphones tend to be used by one person exclusively. The information they telegraph - on Web browsing, lifestyle and more - tends to be "highly personalized." That's the main reason mobile data are so prized: The information is incredibly accurate. It's also why Markey and other privacy advocates say the debate about online privacy will become even more intense as advertising migrates to the mobile Web. Mobile advertising is still relatively new - G1 users, for now, get ads only through search results, for instance - but it's clearly a hot spot. The market is expected to reach $2.2 billion by 2012, from about $800 million now, according to JupiterResearch. Ultimately, it could surpass the traditional Web, now a $20 billion ad market. Yahoo, Microsoft and other ad-supported search engines collect information as Google does. But the sheer size and scope of Google's data-mining operation - the Web giant performs more than 80% of all desktop searches worldwide - makes it a uniquely pervasive presence, says Chester. Google and Yahoo, the two biggest players in search advertising, say their self-imposed privacy policies are sufficient to protect consumers, noting that they do not collect or store information in a way that can be directly tracked to an individual. Peter Fleischer, global privacy counsel for Google, says Google tries to make privacy language as

"A German computer scientist has published details of the secret code used to protect the conversations of more than 4bn mobile phone users. Karsten Nohl, working with other experts, has spent the past five months cracking the algorithm used to encrypt calls using GSM technology. GSM is the most popular standard for mobile networks around the world. The work could allow anyone - including criminals - to eavesdrop on private phone conversations. Mr Nohl told the Chaos Communication Congress in Berlin that the work showed that GSM security was "inadequate". "

Near field communication (NFC) seems to become the rising technology enabling us to pay with our mobiles in the future. Startups like Square and some programs from brands like Starbucks and Google Wallet kick off a new era where mobile payments becomes popular today.

According to Gartner Group report, there are 141.1 million mobile payment-ready devices in circulation and that the vast portion of the world's population (mostly in Asia) is actively using NFC and other techniques to pay for items via mobile. However, the US is lagging wildly in this regard, with nearly no activity in the space at present even though two-thirds of young people would be happy to wave their phones in front of a candy machine to grab a bite. Sadly, two-thirds of older folks would balk at the opportunity.

In advanced markets, the firm believes the promise of mobile payments driven by NFC technology is at least four years away from reaching mass adoption. "The biggest hurdle is the need to change user behavior by convincing consumers to pay with mobile phones instead of cash and cards," said Sandy Shen, research director at Gartner.

Richard Acton-Maher of San Francisco was in nearby Berkeley last month and wanted to meet friends for lunch. Instead of making calls to see who was around, he looked at a digital map on his iPhone that plotted their locations. "One of my friends was also there," said Acton-Maher, 24, who used a service from a startup company called Loopt Inc. "I gave him a call and met him for lunch. It just enhances the communications tools that I already have." Google Inc., encouraged by people's willingness to share their personal lives on sites like Facebook, is betting more people like Acton-Maher will post their whereabouts online. The owner of the most popular search engine started a program this month called Latitude, seeking to compete with mobile networking services such as Loopt, Match2Blue, Whrrl and Limbo. Besides competition, Google's effort to turn mobile phones into tracking devices faces criticism from privacy advocates. Useful for friends and family, location data would also be valuable to the government, said Kevin Bankston, an attorney with the San Francisco-based Electronic Frontier Foundation, a not-for-profit organization focused on civil-liberties. "This is certainly valuable information to investigators and potentially to civil litigants," Bankston said. "This type of location information presents a very new sensitive data flow." Google says its privacy settings address such concerns. People using Google's mobile maps can opt not to use Latitude and choose whom they share their information with. The program also only stores the user's last known location, not a full history of their travels, said Steve Lee, a Google product manager. 'Ephemeral Data' While Google doesn't plan to store the data, the government could still go to court to ask for the company's help in tracking someone during an investigation, Bankston said.

The sheer volume of amateur cellphone sex videos on the Internet's porn site - while certainly culturally edifying - illustrates the new truth about sex in the 21st century: don't let anyone record it, or everyone will be enjoying it. But sometimes, the all-seeing and voyeuristic eye of consumer video culture has a happy ending: a businessman who recorded himself having sex with a university student was recently cleared of the charges after the footage was shown in court. Before the footage was presented as evidence, the judge warned both the gallery and the jury: "You are going to see a clip which from what I have been told you may find extremely distasteful." Despite this warning, though, the defense failed to exhibit a scene from Dustin Diamond's sex tape, but instead a rather traditional recording of an enthusiastic coupling. After the tape had finished playing, the judge ruled in the favor of the defendant. "You and Mr Taylor were very familiar with each other and comfortable in each other's presence." There's the possibility, of course, that the judge made the wrong decision: there could have been drugs involved. But score one for the good guys. A lot is made, rightfully, of the eradication of privacy in the digital age, but when it can help a man avoid wrongful imprisonment and the total ruin of his life, there's a bright side. The moral? If you're actively swinging, pony up for a cell phone with a good camera. And PornHub commenters say, the more megapixels, the better.

Many also may not be comfortable letting AT&T and Verizon, recently under fire for completely ignoring privacy laws, anywhere near their financial data.

There is no denying that Google is a giant success. But its size has made the "do no evil" mantra all the more difficult for it to follow - and for some of us to believe. Lately, it seems every new release and every new decision draws the ire of someone, be it politicians, privacy campaigners, or even villagers. While the Google brand is certainly in better shape than many tech firms, its constant moves to control more and more of our data and information has some up in arms. Privacy Three recent announcements have drawn the attention of privacy campaigners in the UK - Latitude, Street View, and behavioural advertising. Latitude is Google's mobile tracking system. Sign up for it, add your friends, and you can all see exactly where each other is via your mobile phone signal pinpointed on a Google map. Handy if you're bored and want to know who's out and about, but the location tracking system could be frightening for a host of other reasons, some say. Last month, Liberal Democrats Home Affairs spokesman Tom Brake filed an early day motion (EDM) asking the government to look into Latitude. Brake said: "This system poses an insidious threat to our hard-won liberties. 24-hour surveillance and a Big Brother society are new realities." But the heat was off Latitude after Street View was unveiled in the UK. The photo mapping system features street-level photos of 25 cities, offering a virtual tour of places such as London, Manchester and more. But some people aren't so happy having their homes, cars and selves photographed and mapped - even with face and number plates blurred. The backlash didn't take long to start. Within a day, Privacy International was on the case, asking the Information Commissioner to shut the site down.

I was at an advertising conference last week. Some folks are concerned that privacy advocates will press the government to regulate the most common of tracking technologies: behavioral targeting. That's the system that drops a cookie onto our computers to record many of our wanderings through the Web in hopes of targeting us with relevant ads. I had just written The Next Net, about how we'll be tracked on the mobile Internet. And I was thinking that if behavior targeting worries people, the data cascading from our phone use will terrify them. But there are also plenty of reasons to worry about regulation. First, there's a divide in our society between people extremely worried about erosion of privacy and others who appear, with their Web postings, videos and Tweets, to celebrate it. Which group wins? They both can. Take a look at this new friend-finding location-based application for Facebook, Locaccino. It comes out of Carnegie Mellon. The idea is that people can fine-tune their privacy profiles, deciding who can see where exactly they are, and who gets a blurrier vision, or none at all. The point is that millions of people are clearly eager to exchange all sorts of data. It's a way for them to learn, make friends, find things, and have fun. What's more, it supports a vibrant and innovative software market in a gloom-infested tech industry. Some of the innovation will go toward protecting privacy. Because privacy is something that both sides of this debate want and need, even if they don't agree on what it is. Regulations? The most important privacy regs, in my view, should mandate clear communications on how customer data will be used, and will limit tracking to those who have chosen to participate.

Consumers trust friends' opinions and access them on the go while shopping. 40% accessed social media via mobile phones. 37% of US social media users trust what friends and family say about brands or products on social media, compared to only 10% trust in strangers.

"Yesterday, a "Your iPhone's been hacked because it's really insecure! Please visit doiop.com/iHacked and secure your phone right now!" message popped up on the screens of a large number of automatically exploited Dutch iPhone users, demanding $4.95 for instructions on how to secure their iPhones and remove the message from appearing at startup. Through a combination of port scanning and OS fingerprinting of T-Mobile's 3G IP range, a Dutch teenager has for the first time automatically exploited a known security vulnerability introduced on jailbroken iPhones - the SSH daemon which unless modified remains running with default users root and mobile, using the same password on each and every device."

As the impact of digital advertising on consumer privacy comes under scrutiny, AT&T is taking a stance in support of stricter standards. Rep. Rick Boucher (D., Va.), chairman of the subcommittee, said in an interview Wednesday that a statute is needed to regulate how companies collect, share and use data on consumers' behavior in targeting online advertising. While ad targeting on the Web has been at the forefront of privacy advocates' concerns, worries are growing about other media, ranging from mobile phones to emerging TV technologies. To sell marketers targeted ads, technology and media companies collect data about customers, ranging from the Web sites they visit to the neighborhoods they live in to the TV shows they watch. Marketers often will pay a premium for this form of advertising because it allows them to show their ads to consumers who are likelier to buy their products or services. "Pitfalls arise because behavioral advertising in its current forms is largely invisible to consumers," says Dorothy Attwood, AT&T's senior vice president of public policy and chief privacy officer, in prepared testimony she is expected to deliver at the hearing of the House Subcommittee on Communications, Technology and the Internet. Her statement says consumers don't fully understand that their online activity is used to create detailed profiles of them. Internet and other media companies say the data they use to target ads are anonymous and can't be traced to individual consumers. AT&T plans to argue that consumers should have "full and complete" notice of what information is collected about them and how it is used and protected, and should have tools that let them determine whether their Web activities are being tracked. The company says it won't use consumer information for online behavioral advertising unless it first obtains consent from the consumers involved. AT&T's stance contrasts with the position taken by most big Internet companies and industry trade grou