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"Barack Obama's consumer-friendly FCC is asking Verizon Wireless to explain why it recently doubled Early Termination Fees for its customers. The company has until Dec. 17 to explain "the rationale" behind the higher fees. The inquiry comes after Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn) introduced a bill that would curb the penalties customers are required to pay for early cancellation of a wireless contract. On Nov. 15, Verizon raised the early termination fee for "advanced devices" to $350, from $175 earlier. "

A top affliction of privacy professionals is the growing complexity of privacy laws. The number of jurisdictions regulating data privacy and the number of other laws in which privacy provisions are tucked has increased with no letup since 2000. Like the Lilliputians in Gulliver's Travels, the tiniest jurisdictions are now lassoing their privacy ropes around the mightiest of corporations. Where does this leave those who are charged with keeping their organizations privacy-compliant? Desperately looking for a way to organize news about all of these developments. I recently surveyed the landscape of possible solutions to this problem. What did I find? Three different approaches: free Web sites, newsletters and news feeds; fee-based periodicals; and fee-based databases, such as Nymity's PrivaWorks, Cecile Park Publishing's DataGuidance and law firm Morrison and Foerster LLP's Summit Privacy. What were the pros and cons of each approach? Free sources Privacy leaders with no budget will want to exploit what's free, including these options: * Morrison & Foerster's Privacy Library, probably the most comprehensive and current free online listing of privacy laws in 95 countries. * Law firm Baker & McKenzie's annual Global Privacy Handbook, which is distributed to clients and friends. * Computerworld's own Security Newsletter, which offers a regular look at news about the technical threats to personal data. * The International Association of Privacy Professionals' Daily Dashboard, Canada Dashboard Digest and monthly Inside 1to1: Privacy. These are the best available free news feeds on privacy.

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.

"On January 20, 2009, Heartland Payment Systems reported discovering malicious software in its payment processing system, a security breach of potentially massive magnitude given that the company's handles 100 million transactions per month for more than 250,000 businesses. While the monetary and data loses following from the penetration of Heartland's systems -- the compromise that lasted for months -- are still being determined, the financial impact on Heartland's stock price alone was devastating. " The breach, in conjunction with the economic downturn, led to the loss of about $500 million in shareholder value, more than three-quarters of the company's market capitalization, two months after the news was announced. And then there's the cost of more than several dozen breach-related lawsuits filed against the company this year and related expenses. According to slides presented in August at a National Retail Federation Conference by Robert O. Carr, Heartland's founder, chairman and CEO, the breach cost the company $32 million in legal fees, fines, settlements, and forensics during just the first half of the year.

Cloud services are now vulnerable to malicious use, a security company has suggested, after a techie worked out how Amazon's EC2 service could be used as a BitTorrent file harvester and host. Amazon's Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) is a web service software developers can use to access computing, compilation and software trialling power on a dynamic basis, without having to install the resources locally. Now a developer, Brett O'Connor, has come up with a step-by-step method for using the same service to host an open source BitTorrent application called TorrentFlux. Getting this up and running on Amazon would require some technical know-how, but would be within the reach of a moderately experienced user, right down to following O'Connor's command line low-down on how to install the public TorrentFlux app straight to Amazon's EC2 rather than a user's local machine. Finding an alternative way of using BitTorrent matters to hardcore file sharers because ISPs and admins alike are increasingly keen to block such bandwidth-eating traffic on home and business links, and O'Connor's EC2 guide was clearly written to that end - using the Amazon service would make such blocking unlikely. "I created a web-based, open-source Bittorrent 'machine' that liberated my network and leveraged Amazon's instead," says O'Connor. He then quips "I can access it from anywhere, uploading Torrent files from wherever, and manage them from my iPhone." However, security company GSS claims the guide shows the scope for possible abuse, using EC2 to host or 'seed' non-legitimate BitTorrent file distribution. "This means, says Hobson, that hackers and other interested parties can simply use a prepaid (and anonymous) debit card to pay the $75 a month fee to Amazon and harvest BitTorrent applications at high speed with little or no chance of detection," said David Hobson of GSS. "The danger here is that companies may find their staff FTPing files from Amazon EC2 - a completely legitimate domain -

As arguments swirl over online privacy, a new survey indicates the issue is a dominant concern for Americans. More than 90 percent of respondents called online privacy a "really" or "somewhat" important issue, according to the survey of more than 1,000 Americans conducted by TRUSTe, an organization that monitors the privacy practices of Web sites of companies like I.B.M., Yahoo and WebMD for a fee. When asked if they were comfortable with behavioral targeting - when advertisers use a person's browsing history or search history to decide which ad to show them - only 28 percent said they were. More than half said they were not. And more than 75 percent of respondents agreed with the statement, "The Internet is not well regulated, and naïve users can easily be taken advantage of." The survey arrives at a fractious time. Debate over behavioral advertising has intensified, with industry groups trying to avoid government intervention by creating their own regulatory standards. Still, some Congressional representatives and the Federal Trade Commission are questioning whether there are enough safeguards around the practice. Last month, the F.T.C. revised its suggestions for behavioral advertising rules for the industry, proposing, among other measures, that sites disclose when they are participating in behavioral advertising and obtain consumers' permission to do so. One F.T.C. commissioner, Jon Leibowitz, warned that if the industry did not respond, intervention would be next. "Put simply, this could be the last clear chance to show that self-regulation can - and will - effectively protect consumers' privacy," Mr. Leibowitz said, or else "it will certainly invite legislation by Congress and a more regulatory approach by our commission." Some technology companies are making changes on their own. Yahoo recently shortened the amount of time it keeps data derived from searches. It is also including a link in some ads that explains how

More than 6 million current and former customers of online brokerage TD Ameritrade Holding Corp. will be able to benefit from the settlement of a class-action lawsuit filed over the theft of client contact information. Formal notice of a settlement agreement will be sent to people who used TD Ameritrade's services before mid-September 2007. U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker in San Francisco approved a revised version of the settlement agreement earlier this month despite some misgivings about it. Last summer, Walker rejected an earlier version of the deal. Anyone who held an Ameritrade account or provided an e-mail address to the company before Sept. 14, 2007, could benefit from the lawsuit. The database that was breached included information on 6.2 million people. The plaintiffs in the lawsuit said they received unwanted e-mail ads about certain stocks. The ads appeared to be designed to manipulate the value of thinly traded stocks. Ameritrade officials and one of the lead plaintiff's attorneys, Scott Kamber, have said the data theft has not been linked to cases of identity theft. As part of the proposed settlement, the Omaha-based company will pay nearly $1.9 million in legal fees and cover the cost of one year of anti-spam service for the victims. Ameritrade also promised to better protect customer data. Those terms have not changed from the original proposed settlement. But the new agreement will more clearly state that Ameritrade customers were at risk of identity theft, and it will preserve customers' ability to pursue identity theft claims against Ameritrade. Most of the changes to the agreement happened because the Texas Attorney General's Office and a former named plaintiff objected to the previous deal. In his order, the judge questioned whether the settlement does enough to benefit Ameritrade clients whose information was stolen. "The court is particularly concerned that TD Ameritrade has agreed to pay the class counsel $1.87 million and yet the

Consumers and companies are vulnerable to hackers and identity thieves even after U.S. authorities arrested a man they said was a master hacker who stole 170 million credit and debit card numbers. Estimates on the total financial impact of breaches vary, but a study by Forrester Research put the cost at $90 to $305 per compromised record when considering the cost of upgrades, notifying customers and legal and marketing expenses. "Under our banking laws, it's the financial institutions that will be stuck paying for fraudulent use of credit cards. We have the consumers responsible for $50 and the rest winds up on the card issuer," said Joel Reidenberg, a professor at Fordham Law School who teaches privacy law. Banks in turn pass along costs to retailers as fines and fees. On Monday, three men were indicted on charges of stealing more than 130 million credit and debit card numbers in what U.S. authorities said they believed was the largest hacking and identify theft case ever prosecuted in the United States

Identity theft concerns are focused on the security and necessity of the collection process. Collecting personal information just because you can is unsafe. Organizations can reduce privacy risks by not collecting unnecessary personal info. Once the data gets into the data life cycle pipeline, the cost of managing and destroying it escalates. The Federal Trade Commission estimates that as many as 9 million people have their identities stolen every year. According to the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse, more than 200 million instances of data breaches have occurred since the beginning of 2005, and they show no signs of letting up. In the first quarter of 2008 alone, more than 85 million incidents were reported. The causes of data breaches run the gamut: Hackers get unencrypted, transmitted data and data at rest; laptops are stolen or lost; storage Relevant Products/Services devices are lost by third-party shipping companies; flash drives or PDAs are left lying around; Social Security numbers are accidentally printed on envelopes; or data is found on discarded computers. This article examines the organizational risks to CPAs and their clients or corporate employers of improperly managed data throughout the data life cycle. It also discusses best data management practices and proper procedures for responding to a data breach. Data breaches, whatever the cause, are costly. According to a study by the Ponemon Institute, the average cost of a data breach in 2007 was $6.3 million. The average cost to an organization per record compromised is about $197, which is typically spent on phone calls for customer notification, providing free credit monitoring, discounts on membership fees, or discounts on merchandise to make up for the security Relevant Products/Services breach. Some organizations also experience an increase in customer turnover. The organization typically spends additional money in data protection Relevant Products/Services enhancements. Companies sanctioned by

Beyond PCI: Other Regulations to Look For in 2009 Just a few days ago, the Federal Reserve, the Office of Thrift Supervision and the National Credit Union Administration announced the enactment of comprehensive new rules regarding card practices. These rules, which will not take effect until July 1, 2010, impose restrictions on a number of controversial issuer practices, including interest rate increases, late fees and double-cycle billing. Many industry observers predict that the rules will result in less credit being made available, and on stricter terms, than has been the case over the last several years. These rules may not be the end of the matter. Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY), who in 2008 introduced the Credit Cardholders' Bill of Rights Act of 2008 (which sought to regulate many of the same practices as the then-proposed Fed rules), stated that she was disappointed in the delayed effectiveness of the Fed rules and promised to revive the Credit Cardholders' Bill of Rights in 2009 to, as she put it, "bridge the gap" between now and the effective date of the Fed rules.

There are many websites that sell or provide for free, personal information about individuals. This information is gathered from many sources including white pages listings (directory assistance), publicly-available sources and public records. * Data vendors that offer an opt out policy * Data vendors that do not offer an opt out policy Directory Listings: To prevent the cross-referencing of your address with your phone number, you can choose to not have your information available in the phone book or through directory assistance. If your number is "unlisted," your name, address and phone number will not be printed in the phone book, but the information is available through both directory assistance and reverse directory assistance. If your number is "unpublished," your information will not be printed in the phone book and is not available through directory assistance or reverse directory assistance. Or you can list your name and phone number, but not your address. Telephone companies usually charge a monthly fee to be unlisted or unpublished. Public Records: Please note that public records are often that--public. Web sites that provided personal information gathered from various sources are not required to offer a way to have that information removed or suppressed, though many will as a courtesy. The table below notes many of the more common online providers of public and non-public information that do offer an opt out mechanism. The opt out notes below usually only apply to non-public information. Not all web sites that sell personal information allow individuals to have their information removed or suppressed. Check the privacy policy of the site to see if they offer an opt-out mechanism. If one is provided, ask the online data broker for clarification on whether opting out also applies to public records information they may maintain. Some online data vendors will request information from you (such as your Social Security number or date of birth) to proce

Legislation aimed at protecting the privacy rights of car owners is drawing objections from auto manufacturers and Progressive Insurance, which hopes to introduce a program in Washington state that charges drivers based partly on how and when they drive.\n\nThe American Civil Liberties Union of Washington is pushing for the legislation, which would require automakers and other companies to inform car owners of the presence of devices that record information about their driving habits.\n\nThat includes event data recorders, or black boxes, installed on most newer cars, as well as electronic equipment such as GPS devices and OnStar, the wireless subscription service from General Motors.\n\nIn addition to requiring notification, a bill sponsored by state Sen. Claudia Kauffman, D-Kent, would clarify that vehicle owners are the owners of the data. With a few exceptions, a court order or the owner's permission would be required in order for a third party to obtain it.\n\nCarrie Tellefson, a lobbyist for Progressive Insurance, testified last week at a House Transportation Committee hearing that Substitute Senate Bill 5574 would prevent the insurance company from introducing its pioneering MyRate insurance program into Washington.\n\nProgressive Insurance first tested the idea of usage-based insurance in 1999. The company introduced the current plan, called MyRate, in 2004 and now offers it in nine states, including Oregon.\n\nCustomers who agree to opt into the program plug a device into their car's onboard diagnostic system, usually somewhere under the dashboard near the steering column. The device records information about how, when, and how much the car is driven, and wirelessly transmits the data back to Progressive's servers.\n\nCustomers are either rewarded with a discount or penalized with a higher rate depending on the information collected.\n\nThe discount can be as much as 30 percent, and the surcharge up to 9 percent.\n\nCustomers can go online and look at perso