Second Life, a three-dimensional virtual world for entrepreneurs, is asking its 660,000 members to change passwords after a security breach may have exposed users' confidential data, including credit card numbers and passwords.

The company has determined that a hacker -- not a robot or automated software program -- accessed at least one Web server for up to several hours. It's unclear whether the attacker stole data, sold data or engaged in identity theft or other fraud, said Philip Rosedale, CEO and founder of San Francisco-based Linden Lab, which operates Second Life.

Many Americans take their right to privacy for granted. But most don't realize that this right doesn't extend into the place where they spend most of their waking hours: their workplace.

"There is very little, if any, privacy in the workplace, particularly in the private sector," says Jeremy Gruber, legal director of the National Workrights Institute, an advocacy group for human rights in the workplace. "Privacy is one of the most-violated principles in the American workplace. People are aware to a degree how much monitoring goes on in the workplace, but most individuals are unaware of how pervasive the lack of privacy is."

American Express, Discover Financial Services, JCB, MasterCard Worldwide and Visa International today jointly announced the formation of an independent council designed to manage the ongoing evolution of the Payment Card Industry (PCI) Data Security Standard, which focuses on improving payment account security throughout the transaction process. The founding of the PCI Security Standards Council, LLC, marks a significant milestone in the payment industry's efforts to secure payment account data in a globally consistent manner. Ultimately this means that more than a billion global payment card users will benefit from a higher level of security protection against data theft and fraud.

This makes it official, the fox is guarding the hen house. You can rest assured that your personal information is safe from the people who make their money selling it.