According to a survey of more than 2000 adults across the U.S., two-thirds of them expect to shop online this holiday season, with 14 percent of them planning to do half or more of their holiday shopping online. But 67 percent of Internet users who were part of the study said they were likely to stop shopping at an online store if they found out that their personal information was compromised.

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Cable companies are preparing to install software on digital set-top boxes that will keep track of everything you watch. Coupling that information with your address, the software would estimate your age, gender, interests and income.

The result? Advertisers could send different commercials to different viewers.

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Senate members will soon be voting on a controversial new identity theft bill, but some experts think it doesn't have enough teeth.

The Personal Data Privacy and Security Act, sponsored by Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., and Sen. Patrick Leahy, D.-Vt., passed the Senate Judiciary Committee Thursday by a 13-5 vote, and will be soon moving into the full Senate.

"This bill will ensure that our laws keep pace with technology," said Leahy. "In this information-saturated age, the use of personal data has significant consequences for every American. People have lost jobs, mortgages and control over their credit and identities because personal information has been mishandled or listed incorrectly."

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According to the manufacturers of these devices, room key cards capture information through three embedded and encrypted tracks. Most hoteliers use track 'three,' which contains locked information that usually lists the guest's room number and check in/out dates. The remaining tracks ('one' and 'two') - if supplied by the hotel's property management system - also provides additional, limited guest information.

'The issue of identity theft is a public concern that is reported to affect many Americans,' said AH&LA President and CEO Joseph A. McInerney. 'We're doing everything in our power to inform guests that this is a myth and that this is not in anyway, affecting their personal safety.'

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The fuss last week began when Mark Russinovich, a Windows programmer and author, posted a description of how he traced some mysterious processes and hidden files on his computer back to SonyBMG's "Get Right with the Man" CD. It turned out that they were part of Sony's digital rights management technology designed to thwart illicit copying.
It's a wacky result when both Sony and its hapless customers could be embroiled in legal hot water at the same time.

Sony has backpedaled a little, saying that the hidden files can be uncloaked. But customers still have to beg for help if they want to uninstall the software.

Still, it may be too late for the entertainment giant to fend off the plaintiff's bar. One recent court case in Illinois, Soleto v. DirectRevenue, sets a nonbinding precedent that lawyers expect to be invoked against Sony.

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Most American households throw away
unwanted solicitations from credit card companies, home equity E-Z: checks,
offers for loan consolidation and even catalogs and magazines with our names
and addresses printed on them. Before you disgustedly deposit all this junk
mail in the trash, stop.
Each year, we fill our landfills with over 4.4 million pounds of junk
mail. That is the equivalent of over 259,000 trees or 340,000 garbage trucks
full of personal information.
"It is easy to just throw all that stuff in the trash, but we are doing a
great deal of damage. To our planet and potentially to our pocket books,"
says Anthony Castellano, president of ShredJunkMail.com.

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If some of the numbers being cited about identity theft are to be believed, it‘s just a matter of time before some unseen cyberhustler steals your name, empties your bank account and wrecks your financial reputation. You can almost hear the maniacal laughter.

But while it‘s certainly important to be vigilant against this potentially devastating crime, it also appears identity theft is too broadly defined and often misunderstood.

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Michael Finney has pleaded with you to buy one, and now has a warning. What makes a paper shredder so good is what makes it so potentially dangerous around your house. A close-up look shows steel teeth that can chew up more than just paper. Two-year-old Aaron Waters from just outside L.A. knows about it first hand -- literally. His fingers are all there now and he's fine, but there was a moment when that was not a sure thing.

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A man wanted in Florida and Georgia, who authorities say has eluded capture for two years by assuming the identities of physicians and other successful professionals, has been tracked to East Pasco Medical Center, where he was admitted under yet another alias, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement reported Friday.

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Banks and similar organizations already run reference and background checks on new employees, but an extra security measure is needed, according to BITS, a consortium of 100 of the largest U.S. financial institutions, including JPMorgan Chase and Wachovia. The new database, announced Wednesday, will list information on employees at financial institutions who were fired because they compromised customer data or knowingly caused financial losses, the group said.

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Forty-six state Attorneys General are calling on Congress to help protect consumers from identity theft by enacting national security breach and credit freeze legislation. The proposed laws would require businesses entrusted with personal financial data to notify consumers if their company's data files are breached and allow consumers to put a credit freeze on their accounts.

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