Police in the US may soon be getting an iPhone add-on that will equip them with a facial recognition technology called MORIS (Mobile Offender Recognition and Information System). The device attaches to an iPhone like a case and allows the police to take a photo of a person to determine if they are a suspect or have a criminal history.

The arrangement between the U.S. and the EU - for which both continents vary a great deal on data protection and citizen privacy - were shot down when the Patriot Act was rushed through Congress in October 2001.

it is important to recognize that patient privacy was not at issue in Sorrell v. IMS Health because the data at question did not identify patients.

We paused, we talked, and even though we were in a scary situation with imperfect information, we made a thoughtful decision fast." That's as good a description of powerful leadership - and powerful living - in the twenty first century as I can imagine.

What constitutes unfair -- unethical -- aggregation? In the absence of a clear legal framework (the "fair use" doctrine in the U.S. is notoriously mushy), a lot of media people tend to use the "I know it when I see it" standard, echoing U.S. Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart's wry 1964 declaration about what constitutes hard-core porn.

Despite ominous reports of cyberbullying and "Facebook depression" among young people, the number of parents who are cool with their children - between the ages of 10 and 12 - having a social media account has doubled in a year.

Dropbox's efforts are so potentially meaningful because the FTC states that, among its chief priorities for any federal rules, are clear, reader-friendly contractual language and privacy policies. While Google is fighting such efforts with lobbyists, Dropbox is giving an example of how to cut legalese from a contract and let users know exactly what they're signing up for.

Contrary to initial reports, Social Intelligence doesn't store seven years worth of your social data. Rather it looks at up to seven years of your history, and stores nothing.

In the old days of storing information in filing cabinets, subpoena power was constrained because people didn't save everything and investigators had to know where to look to find incriminating evidence. Today, Gruenspecht writes, "mass digital storage ... has significantly increased the chances that records of any given document exist and is increasingly unifying the locations in which those records can be found."

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.

Now, you can either use Collusion to shock and appall yourself, or you can use it to show friends and family just how rampant behavioral tracking is. Once your mother sees that no less than five companies track her behavior when she visits MSNBC.com, and six when she visits FoxNews.com, she might be a little more cautious. She might also ask if there's a way to block the tracking cookies - at which point you promptly install Ghostery and BetterPrivacy on her computer.

Federal regulators will be able to take back two years of pay from executives held responsible for a large bank's failure. Executives deemed "negligent" and "substantially responsible" for a big bank's failure can lose all their compensation from the previous two years under a rule approved Wednesday by the board of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.

While most banking institutions focus their anti-skimming attention on unattended ATMs, such as those located at off-site locations like convenience stores or islands, these recent schemes prove that ATMs in plain sight, at the branch, could be the fraudster's best target.

These were developed for boards, but they would probably be a good basis for questions auditors could ask as well.

The industry coalition says it is enlisting the ISPs in its effort to "curb online theft" but critics say the ISPs are invading their customers' privacy and turning themselves into the Internet Secret Police.

The concept of mixed-mode surveys is nothing new, but it seems to be gaining traction in the research community. Among the issues pressing the use of mixed-mode survey designs are the need to reduce coverage bias, increase response rates and lower costs.

State and federal lawmakers continue to introduce bills regulating the collection, use and security of consumer and personal information. The proposed federal bills could change the national privacy framework. At the same time, regulators and the plaintiffs' bar remain focused on privacy and security issues and continue to initiate enforcement actions and class action suits. This program will address these developments and provide tips for managing privacy concerns in an era of fast-changing privacy laws.

Distrust of corporations remains high among American consumers three-plus years after the nation's financial crisis, with a majority (64 percent) saying it's harder for U.S. companies to gain their trust today than it was a few years ago.

Shopper insights has moved quickly across the CPG and retailing landscapes in the past decade as marketers seek to understand the shopper's entire path to purchase and increase sales. From their home (including how they use and view products; advertising media that sparks their interest in new products; how and when they decide where to purchase the product) to the store (including aisle and shelf navigation; product attribute trade-offs; and so on), shoppers are constantly making purchase-related decisions. Shopper insights seeks to holistically comprehend the shopper's environment, surroundings and influences to learn from and capitalize on all of the choices they make along the way.

The same Facebook that unites far-flung grandparents with newborn grandchildren and helps liberate the oppressed can also shatter lives and destroy careers with the click of a Send button. The same Twitter that is indispensible to the young can be utterly extraneous to their elders.